International Trophy

Mike Thackwell became the first drive to win an F3000 race his third International Trophy win with Ralt in four years. As usual, the weather conditions were appaling (Above, top) Michel Ferte led the race in the middle, dry, period but after a spin in the rain came home second behind John Neilsen’s Ralt. (Above) Claudio Langes in one of the Barron team’s Tyrrell 012s, which have yet to show themselves to be fully competitive. (BeIow) Lack of development has so far prevented the AGS team’s regular driver, Philippe Streiff, from demonstrating his considerable talents

Easter Monday Thruxton

Emanuele Pirro (above top) made the wrong tyre choice at Silverstone but the right one at Thruxton and he dominated the race from lap four onwards when the track began to dry. (Above) Thierry Tassin in one of the Williams FW08 cars run by PMC which are still in need of further testing. (Right) After an early pit stop to replace a damaged front wing Mike Thackwell charged back through the field to finish a close second to Pirro. (Below) Juan Manuel Fangio Ill in one of the.new Lola T950 cars which are based on the company’s Indycar design and which have yet to be fully sorted.

Circuit of Ireland Rally

Jimmy McRae, above, partnered by Ian Grindrod,had a furious battle with his team mate Russell Brookes, also in an Opel Manta 400. McRae, however, cruised home to his fourth Circuit of Ireland victory in five years after team orders were applied. Tony Pond and Rob Arthur (above right) led Group A from start to finish in their 290 bhp Rover Vitesse, finishing sixth overall. Bernard Beguin and Jean-Jacques Leone (below) were the revelation of the rally in their Rothmans Porsche, setting highly competitive times but restricted to fourth place after encountering mechanical problems.

Portuguese Rally

Timo Salonen and Seppo Harjanne (above) scored their first WRC victory since 1981 and gave Peugeot its sixth successive victory with the 205 T16. Ari Vatanen, who usually does the winning for the Peugeot team, retired with collapsed suspension. Close behind Salonen came the Lancia Rally of Massimo Biasion (below) whose second place was his best-ever WCR finish. After holding the lead for much of the way before mechanical problems intervened, Walter Rohrl brought his short Audi Quattro home third.

WEC Mugello

Only seventeen cars started the first round of the 1985 WEC and once again it was a win for the works Rothmans team. Jochen Mass and Jacky lckx were only fourth fastest in practice with their Porsche 962C (above) but played the role of the tortoise to conserve fuel and were rewarded with victory. (Below) Riccardo Patrese (3.0 Lancia Martini LC2/85) set pole position and made the early running in the race setting a new lap record. Both he and his co-driver Alessandro Nannini were later delayed by minor incidents and the car finally expired with no oil pressure. In the early stages, Stefan BeIlof (Brun Porsche 962C) closely pursued Patrese and took the lead on lap 24 but later he and co-driver Thierry Boutsen had to slow to conserve fuel and came home third.

(Above) The Roy Baker-entered Tiga GC84 Ford C2 fitted with the Ford BDT engine which is destined for the RS200 has been quietly used as a test-bed. At Mugello, driven by Paul Smith, Dudley Wood and Jeremy Rossiter, it was classified 13th and last after losing fuel pressure. (Right) Once again, the Gordon Spice Tiga GC85, co-driven by Ray BeIlm, won the Group C2 class, this time by 12 laps after a delay caused by dirt in the fuel.

(Above) The Bellof / Boutsen Porsche 962C takes on fuel while (below) it passes the Hans Stuck / Derek Bell 962C yards from the line to take third. Stuck had stopped for fear of running out of fuel on what would have been his last lap but his last completed lap took longer than permitted and so the car was disqualified.

VSCC Silverstone

(Above) Bob Burrell’s V12 Bentley Royce seems to be intimidating Stuart Harper’s Morgan EB WARE during the Prewar Allcomers’ Scratch Race. (Below left) Anthony Mayman had his ex-Louis Rosier Ferrari 500/625 out for the first time. This began life in 1951 as a 2-litre F2 car but was updated in 1954 to 2 1/2 litre form. (Below right) It is 24 years since a Vanwall was last seen racing. Tony Merrick was entrusted with this GKN-approved replica built from genuine Vanwall parts and finished fifth in the Allcomers’ Scratch Race showing steady improvement over the day.

(Below) As the shape of the front wheels of ERA R5B shows, the Hon Patrick Lindsay fought David Black’s Alfa Romeo Tipo B all the way to the line. Both men led at different times but it was Black who was able to acknowledge the chequered flag.

Safari Rally

Rauno Aaltonen (above) led much of the rally in his works Opel Manta 400 but, once again, victory eluded him and he had to be content with fifth place following transmission troubles. Juha Kankkunen (below) was contesting the Safari for the first time but took a surprise victory in his works Toyota Celica Turbo after a well-judged drive.

(Above) Nissan did not have a good Safari but Mike Kirkland salvaged third place in the latest 240 RS after a dice with Bjorn Waldegard. (Right) Markku Alen led initially in his Lancia Rally but retired with a three inch hole in his cylinder block. (Below right) Ari Vatanen’s Peugeot was not as competitive as expected and eventually succumbed to head gasket failure. (Below) Audi’s six speed gearbox was not a success but it was a broken crankshaft that eliminated Hannu Mikkola’s Sport Quattro.