OneMoreFord One is Never Enough!
How about this! Andy Rouse’s ‘missing’ 1989 BTCC car has been discovered and is for sale through iconicauctioneers.com (formally Silverstone).
#0189 was driven and prepared by Andy Rouse during the entire 1989 British Touring Car Championship, achieving six wins, six poles, and four fastest laps resulting in third overall in the Championship and first in Class A. At the end of the season, the car was shipped to Macau in company with Tim Harvey’s similar car (also run by Andy Rouse Engineering) to participate in the ‘Group A’ Saloon Car race which traditionally supported the Macau GP. Despite an early lead, a failed left front shock absorber allowed Tim past for the win, with Andy a distant second, but at least it was a first and second for the team.
After the race, the car was sold to a Japanese team who used it for six races in 1990 and one in 1991 wearing the Power Craft livery that you can see in some of the pictures. However, the era of the Nissan GTR was about to commence, rendering the RS500 a bit less competitive so, after its one outing in 1991, the car was ‘retired’ and presumably sold privately in Japan, quietly disappearing for almost 30 years.
After starting work on the car, various ‘ARE’ – labelled (Andy Rouse Engineering) parts started to be found which naturally raised his curiosity. Whilst gently stripping areas of paint, two previous liveries could be seen with the famous Kaliber colours at the bottom. As he continued to work on the car, more and more clues appeared, suggesting that this might just be something ‘rather special’, so the first move was to contact Andy for a discreet chat about what he had found. Andy asked for various pictures, which were duly sent and then Andy suggested that he should come and see the car for himself. After briefly looking underneath, he immediately confirmed that this was, in fact, his 1989 BTCC and Macau car. Apparently none of his cars used chassis plates and he knew that this was his car as there was only ever one chassis like #0189, given various clues from the suspension and roll cage. Remarkably, Andy also confirmed that the original engine was still in place, incredibly rare for a competition car of this nature – quite a remarkable day for everyone involved.
More details and photos over on the website here: www.iconicauctioneers.com
