Jeff Allam on his tin-top career
Jeff Allam had a long and successful touring car career, and was a highly regarded works driver for Rover and Vauxhall. Then he spent his weekends policing his successors… Time to look back at a BTCC life spanning almost 45 years
He’s gone from being a protege of Gerry Marshall to a factory touring car driver in the glory years of the British Touring Car Championship, via success in Europe and Australia, and he’s had a long spell as the BTCC’S ‘policeman’. It’s fair to say that Jeff Allam has seen it all. For Epsom-born Allam, the love of motorsport was kindled by his garage-owner father, and their many visits to Brands Hatch and Lydden Hill. From there he got involved in karting, but it was the friendship of his father with ex-mclaren mechanic Mike Barley that kickstarted his car racing career. “My dad had an old part-exchange Vauxhall Viva, and unbeknown to me he and Mike put together a racing car for me,” he recalls. “it was a very crude saloon car in those days, and I had my first run in it at Brands Hatch. I’ll never forget the day I dropped down Paddock Hill Bend, as it felt like a bit of a roller-coaster, but that was it.”
It wasn’t long before the fresh-faced Allam was racing against and beating Britain’s best in Special Saloons and Group 1, forming a friendship with flamboyant touring car superstar Marshall. This fasttracked his route to becoming a professional. “i guess the first real taste of top-end performance cars was the [Vauxhall] Firenzas against Gerry [in the works DTV Vauxhall] and Tony Dron in the Dolomite Sprint,” he says. “That’s when it all started to happen, and it put me on the map really because I was as quick or quicker than Gerry. I was knocking up the odd win or finishing on the podium, and I started to get recognised.
“They were heroes of mine. Gerry taught me an awful lot about car racing, car control, how to perform and start to win races. He taught me the basics and I will never forget that. It wasn’t like Jason Plato and Matt Neal beating each other up. The saloon car boys stuck together and helped each other out. The first time I beat Gerry, he was the first to come over to pat me on the back and say well done.”
A host of victories followed, first in his own Allam Motor Services-run Vauxhall, and then overall wins in Mk2 and Mk3 Ford Capris in the British Saloon Car Championship (now known as the BTCC) from 1977-79. This was enough to land the dream of a factory paid drive with works the Rover squad run by Twickenham-based David Price Racing for 1980 at the age of 25.
Allam’s first season as a works driver in the Rover 3500 S was highlighted by a win in the British Grand Prix support round at Brands Hatch, but much more was to follow once the Rover contract landed in the hands of determined Scot Tom Walkinshaw. “That stepping stone in 1980, to get a works drive and suddenly get paid and all the benefits that go with it, and to have the machinery to do the job, was the icing on the cake for me,” he reflects. “It turned a bit sour, the link between Austin Rover and David Price Racing, and that’s when Tom Walkinshaw came in the back door and basically nicked the deal off of Dave Price and took it in-house with TWR, and I didn’t look back after that.”
Indeed, Allam would go on to become one of Walkinshaw’s favourites, triggering a lucrative touring car career during which he raced in Britain, Europe, and as far afield as Australia and New Zealand. “Tom was a big player, and fortunately for me I did a good job,” Allam explains. “We
had Peter Lovett and myself. The first three races of the season with the Rovers, Tom just wanted the cars to finish – they were capable of beating the Capris. The cars were so fast, but he didn’t want us bashing into each other trying to win. He wanted to keep his deal sweet with British Leyland. They were great times.
“I just fitted in with Tom’s outlook and what he wanted from his drivers, and I became one of the inner-sanctum drivers of his saloon car team. Wherever we went racing I was always part of the team and I was proud of that. A lot of people have criticised Tom, but he produced fantastic touring cars and he never let me down.”
In 1982, Allam pipped Capri ace Vince Woodman to claim the British Saloon Car Championship Class A title with four outright victories, but a maximum score for Toyota Corolla GT racer Win Percy in the 1600cc class win meant no one else was going to get a look-in for the overall crown. “there’s nothing better than winning a race, but to win your class you had to be on the podium and win races,” says Allam. “it felt
“To get to the finish of Le Mans is quite difficult – it wasa bastard ofa car to drive”
like winning a championship in a way.”
The following season would prove a turning point as Allam discovered his true calling – as an endurance driver. TWR continued to race in the British Saloon Car Championship with the impressive new Rover Vitesse as the series welcomed Group A regulations in place of the old Group 1. The Rovers conquered the opposition, with Allam finishing fourth behind new team-mate and provisional champion Steve Soper and runner-up Lovett. But all three entries were disqualified from the championship six months later, due to illegal body modifications and non-compliant engine components.
That aside, 1983 was the year when Allam enjoyed success in two of the world’s most famous endurance races: the 24-hour events at Le Mans and Spa. The French classic provided an all-new challenge as Walkinshaw called upon Allam to drive one of two Twr-run factory Mazda 717Cs in the Group C Junior class. It was the Japanese marque’s first prototype sportscar to tackle Le Mans.
It proved successful, with Allam, Soper and James Weaver finishing second in class behind the the sister Mazda of Takashi Yorino, Yojiro Terada and Yoshimi Katayama. “to get to the finish of Le Mans is quite difficult – it was a bastard of a car to drive, it was not easy, ”he recalls. Just a month later, Allam combined with Soper and Lovett to guide a factory Rover Vitesse to third in the twice-round-the-clock epic at Spa at his third attempt.
Allam became a mainstay of the TWR Rover European Touring Car Championship squad from 1984-86. He was a consistent podium finisher in 1985, predominantly with Armin Hahne, but arguably his greatest achievement came with victory in the 1986 Silverstone round for the coveted Tourist Trophy. Paired with 1967 Formula 1 world champion Denny Hulme, the duo took their semi-factory Vitesse to honours in the 500km race, with what would turn out to be a rather
good development engine. The triumph would spark a perhaps unlikely link-up and friendship with Hulme.
“The story behind that was there was a development engine that Tom [Walkinshaw] didn’t want to run, and I said,‘ can I take the engine and run it?’” says Allam .“at the time I didn’t want to be in that car – I wanted to be in the factory car. Tom said he didn’t know how reliable it was, but it was a quick motor and we won the race. Denny was one of the most laidback characters you could ever come across. We became great friends, and he used to stay round my house. When we weren’t racing, he would just emerge in my garage at the showroom and come to my office.
“The nicest thing about the Tourist Trophy win was as we went into the press conference the announcer said, ‘denny Hulme and Jeff Allam won the TT’. And Denny interrupted and said,‘ no, Jeff Allam and Denny Hulme won the TT’. That was how nice he was. He said,‘ i only had to bring it home, Jeff did all the hard work’. To say you’ve won a race with a Formula 1 world champion does mean something.”
Allam’s relationship with Walkinshaw continued until 1988.
TWR was now in sportscars with Jaguar, before eventually moving into Formula 1, and it left the Surrey motor trader looking for drives and back in the shop window. But it was Walkinshaw who introduced Allam to Australia’s Great Race, the Bathurst 1000, which would provide opportunities to further his career.
After three attempts as part of Walkinshaw’s operation, in Rover (he scored a class win with Hahne), Jaguar XJS and Holden Commodore, Allam had proved himself enough to receive a call-up from Australian touring car legend Dick Johnson. The Queenslander elected to place him in one of his famous Shell-backed Ford Sierra RS500S for the 1989 and 1990 editions. After finishing eighth alongside fellow BTCC ace Robb Gravett in 1989, Allam was teamed with the talented but then-littleknown Kiwi Paul Radisich for 1990, and it would prove to be one of the most controversial races of his career.
The much-fancied pairing of Johnson and John Bowe retired the sister car due to a turbo failure with 67 laps remaining, and Allam takes up the story: “we were going well. We were obviously not allowed to run the boost that Dick and John were allowed to use in their car. We were actually leading, but there was some commotion in the pits. We had made a bit of a wrong tyre call where we put it on intermediates/wets when we should have stuck with dries. Two-thirds into the race I was told over the radio, ‘can you put the seat back as Dick is going to get in’. I was thinking Paul and me had done all the hard work, we were on course to finish on the podium, and at that moment we were winning.
“The cars in those days had sliding seats with a little adjustable notch that you pulled to move it backwards and forwards. I was thinking, ‘how can I not let Dick in the car? ’i bent the bar down so the seat wouldn’t adjust, so when I came into the pits the seat was well forward for Paul and me and it wouldn’t move. In the end we lost about 30 seconds in the pits, which would have won us the race, but in the end Paul got back in. When I returned to the paddock after the race I pulled the lever back up and it worked perfectly. If you get on the podium at Bathurst you’ve done a good job. I was disappointed not to win it as we threw the chances away with the seat and the tyre call. We would have won it; we definitely had the fastest car.”
Allam’s second place was the best he achieved at the famed Mount Panorama, where he made one more appearance, in 1994. In the meantime, he won the all-new TVR Tuscan Challenge in 1989 and returned to his BTCC roots in 1990, driving a converted Bigazzi
Motorsport BMW M3 for Vic Lee Motorsport. It was perfect timing, because this was the inaugural season of what would become known as Super Touring…
The racing became a huge hit with fans and attracted countless manufacturers, which in turn made the drivers superstars – and not short on salaries. The lure of a Vauxhall factory deal for 1991 was too hard to ignore, and Allam, already a dealer for the manufacturer, would team up with 1989 champion John Cleland for four seasons in the marque’s Cavaliers.
“There was always a question of, ‘should I have stuck with Vic and maybe win the championship in 1991, which Will Hoy did in what was my car, or go to a works deal with Vauxhall? ’i didn’t think twice really. Getting paid to do what I wanted to do – there wasn’t a choice. We absolutely felt like superstars [as the BTCC became more popular]. John Cleland and myself got on really well and we are still best of friends, we talk every week. A lot of money was being washed around and there were great drivers in it. We had great 20,000-plus crowds, a bit like today. In those days it felt as big as it is now.”
Allam also played a role in the moment that arguably put the BTCC on the map: the storied 1992 title showdown at Silverstone. A run of seven podiums in 10 races, including two wins, had put him in among the title contenders, but ultimately it would be decided between team-mate Cleland, Toyota star Hoy and the late-season form man: Tim Harvey in his Vic Lee-run BMW.
Harvey had Soper, who had missed some races due to his DTM commitments with BMW, as a‘ wingman’. And, while Allam went on to finish second to Andy Rouse in that finale, and claim fourth in the standings, he saw it all kick off in his mirrors. “i could see it going on behind me, ”he says. “i knew if you start racing against yourself and not other guys you will slow down, and I can remember being out there with David Leslie, and Andy Rouse was ahead of us.
“Nobody seems to have picked up on it, but how do you crash a car like Steve did [in the early stages], with it all distorted, and then come back and race John Cleland for the title? Read into that what you want. I was glad to be out of it. The only disappointing thing was I didn’t win the race, as it was such a historic race. It put BTCC on the map.
John obviously took a long time to get over it, Steve got over it quite quickly and Tim went on to be champion.”
The 1992 season was Allam’s Super Touring highlight and, while happy to have played a part in some of the BTCC’S glory years, he found himself calling it a day after 1994, when he was replaced by the fiery young James Thompson. He had a substitute outing for the injured Thompson at Knockhill in 1995, but his final campaign was a showing in the 1995 Australian Super Touring Championship in a Ford Mondeo.
“I was a really good long-distance driver, having done ETCC, Le Mans and Bathurst, ”allam reflects. “to come back and be in the cut-throat crash-and-bash no-quarters-given touring cars was a little bit more hard work for me. I was quite a natural driver, but those sprint races didn’t suit me. I used to come into the pits and my brake pads weren’t worn out, whereas John’s were. He was more aggressive with the machinery.
“I wouldn’t have changed anything, because as a touring car driver I wanted to be part of the BTCC. My BTCC career was curtailed because of my age really [he was almost 40 by the end of the 1994 season], but it stopped for me too early. I could have done a couple more years in it.”
After a sustained period in the motorsport wilderness, focusing on his Vauxhall dealership, Allam’s career turned full circle when he was asked to return to the BTCC twice as its Driving Standards Advisor to arrest the ‘crashing and bashing ’that had afflicted the series. It was the result of a rekindling of an old relationship with series boss Alan Gow that saw Allam originally installed as the BTCC’S new policeman in the mid-to-late 1990s, before returning for a second 10-year spell in 2011.
The return was a mercy call from the teams and the series to restore order after a turbulent period of slipping standards both on and off the track, and was triggered after Jason Plato’s famous roll in the Chevrolet Cruze at Donington Park. That year also featured the infamous pitlane clash between arch rivals Plato and Matt Neal at Rockingham, where punches were thrown and team members had to separate the pair after an incident in qualifying.
“Things needed changing as there was too much crashing and bashing and I took that job on with relish, I enjoyed it,” says Allam. “i’d stopped for a bit, and then they didn’t have a driving standards advisor for a couple of years and it got worse. There were loads of accidents going on, and a lot going on between team managers and drivers. There was a lot of aggression out there. Fortunately that [Plato/neal Rockingham clash] was on a Saturday, and my job was only on the Sunday!
“The rivalry and hatred between Plato’s team and Matt Neal’s team was pretty intense. They would use anything in the book they could to make the other one guilty. We had to calm all that down as it had got out of hand. They had to listen to the governing body, and at the end of the day they got punished and the punishments were quite tough.”
Allam was able to clamp down on some of the antics thanks to improved technology and the use of more advanced in-car and judicial cameras capturing every driver’s move, although he still feels there is work to be done on strengthening punishments for indiscretions. “i think in the last couple of years we’ve made a big difference,” he says. “i think the drivers have respected me. We have cut out a lot of the crashing and bashing that went on. I think the last two years have been quite clean, especially last year. In some races we had virtually nothing to do. But I still think now the punishments or the fines are not harsh enough.”
This year the policeman’s baton will be passed to former BTCC racer James Cole: “i said to myself that if I was getting bored then I should stop. I think James is going to do a good job. I think I have stopped [racing]. I haven’t had a racing licence for a couple of years, and I don’t think it whets my appetite to go back and drive some of these historic cars. It’s going to be a busy Sunday afternoon on the television with F1, Motogp and BTCC on!”
So he’s out, settling down with his slippers on to watch everything on the telly. “it was a paid hobby, ”he smiles. “i would have driven all those cars for nothing because I loved what I was doing.”
“Things needed changing as there was too much crashing and bashing”