REVIEW : DUNLOP SALOON CAR CUP
Paul Mensley ’ s RS500
Plenty of promise
The Dunlop Saloon Car Cup has a fairly mixed season across three double-headers at Silverstone GP , Donington Park and Oulton Park . The spectacle of Silverstone in particular showed that the series has great potential .
With a wonderfully diverse array of cars there were always battles down the field and the cars are clearly crowd pleasers . They look right , they sound right and they go extremely well . The DSCC grid featured quality in abundance , both in terms of drivers and cars . The season opened with two races on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit during the International Trophy meeting in May . Up front Simon Garrad was the class of the field and won convincingly in his mighty flame-spitting Nissan Skyline . In his wake , the other Skyline of Ric Wood ran second until slowing in the final laps and was nearly caught by the battling Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworths of Dave Coyne and Sean Brown .
Garrad picked up where he left off on Saturday to guide the mighty Nissan Skyline home for a commanding win in
Sunday ’ s second race . However , he was never too far ahead as Paul Mensley drove a fine race in his Sierra RS500 to lead the chase .
Next up was Donington Park at the end of June for two more races . The opener featured two separate safety car periods , but that didn ’ t stop Garrad romping home in the DSCC in the Nissan Skyline from the battling pair of Sean Brown ( Sierra RS500 ) and Jason Hughes ( Vauxhall Vectra ). Touring car legend Steve Soper ( BMW M3 ) took advantage of Garrad ’ s absence to win the second race .
Elsewhere in a fine entry , Tony Absolom ( Vauxhall Cavalier ), John Pearson ( Alfa Romeo 155SP ) and Andy Hack ( Peugeot 405 ) flew the flag for the Super Touring and Super Production classes . John Young and David Clark joined the grid in their Chevrolet Camaros as did the Volvo 242 Turbo of Phil Perryman and Howard Spooner was another class winner in the gorgeous Ford Capri RS2600 on loan from Philip Walker .
In the smaller-engined cars , notable performances came from Joe Gomm in his Ford Escort Mk1 and John Danby in the raucous Toyota Corolla , while Gary Pearson ’ s Cologne Capri was a very welcome addition to the grid along with the Super Touring Vauxhall Vectra of Jason Hughes and the BMW M3 of Nick Bartlett .
Just over a month later , Garrad blitzed the opening race at Oulton Park in his Skyline as the Sierra RS500s of Coyne and David Tomlin battled for second . Unfortunately , Garrad was side-lined from the second race with a worsening misfire , so Wood , running his Holden Commodore in the invitation class after his Nissan hit problems in qualifying , took over for victory from Mark Wright , now in his RS500 after Coyne raced it in the opener .
The Corolla of John Danby
Tony Absolom ’ s Super Touring Cavalier
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