ROVER VITESSE GENTLE GIANT WITH A STING IN ITS TAIL
The big Rover V8 crossed the Group 1 and Group A eras, winning in both. After overcoming the Ford Capri, the Rover remained a threat until Ford moved the game forward with turbocharging.
The Vitesse won every round in 1983 and rising star Steve Soper would have won the drivers’ crown had he not been disqualified for running adjustable rockers. Andy Rouse – who inherited that crown in his Class B Alfa Romeo GTV6
– made up for that the following year by using a Vitesse to take his third title, as Rovers won nine of the 11 rounds.
The Vitesse’s final victory – and class title, with BTCC rookie Tim Harvey – came in 1987. And the car still rates as one of Harvey’s favourites: “I couldn’t have had a better first car in touring cars because it was a big, friendly, lovely beast. It was the perfect combination of grip, power, and on-the-limit handling.
“It was a well-balanced car, very progressive on the limit, not stiff and snappy, but it still reacted very well to driver input. It was a very easy car to get in. And anything with a Rover V8 in is good.”
We are fortunate to be driving the first Group A Rover built in our test – even though this is, in fact, chassis 02. It was Soper’s car throughout his ’83 BTCC campaign and it also competed in the Tourist Trophy at Silverstone, a round of the European Touring Car Championship. The result was victory for Soper and Rene Metge. Owner and Rover expert (and former TWR mechanic) Ken 34 AUGUST 16 2018 Clarke, who has nine Rovers on his books, runs the 3.5-litre machine in TT specification today. At the end of 1983, chassis 02 was retired and later became a Bastos show car. It was eventually found in a breakers yard and saved by Andre Aerts. It had no engine or gearbox and lived in Aerts’s showroom before a business partner sold it to a dealer. Clarke eventually got his hands on it and restored it – one of his customers bought the sister chassis, so Ken made all the parts required for both. The Rover finally returned to competition in 2017, with second in class at Oulton Park a highlight.
The first thing you notice climbing into the SD1 is the basic interior – all very 1980s. Only the rev counter has been updated. Clarke wanted to keep everything simple and to spec, and few know that spec as well as he does. It’s rough and ready on the inside, but gorgeous from the outside.
The V8 engine needs just a tickle of throttle to coax it into life at first, because it can easily flood with fuel when cold. It’s reluctant initially, but eventually roars into life and we are away. On a freezing-cold, damp day at Brands this is an absolute beast of a car to drive. Tim Harvey reckons they were good cars in the
‘I FEEL LIKE THIS ROVER IS TRYING TO KILL ME AT EVERY TURN. IT’S A REAL MONSTER AND I CLING ON FOR DEAR LIFE’
wet, but I feel like this one is trying to kill me at every turn! It’s super-stiff and totally unforgiving.
“They only got stiffer,” is Clarke’s reply when I query this. He says there is no adjustable damping either, so there is very little to be done, only a rollbar to disconnect. The V8 engine has a wide power band between 4000 and 7000rpm but when you reach it the thing just wants to light up the rear tyres – even so much as a glance at the throttle and the car just snarls angrily back at you.
It’s a real monster, and I spend pretty much my entire run just clinging on for dear life, living on my wits, constantly correcting the steering and trying desperately not to throw it at the scenery.
Clarke asks me at the end of my run to report temperature readings, but I’m simply too busy trying to stay alive to provide any useful information. On slicks at Silverstone in bone-dry conditions I bet it’s absolutely mighty. But this is not such a day.
This car is pretty much the opposite of the Camaro – specced properly to race but just too stiff. The Camaro is benign and thus perfect for the conditions, but would quickly get found out in a proper dry race against the Rover. But even though the experience was emotionally draining, I loved my time in the SD1. I imagine what it would be like to throw it around at the Silverstone Classic and then I can start to see exactly what Harvey was talking about.