Not Erkki Pitkannen,so has to be the other,Timo Salonen ,who was signed up to drive the "Total Escort" in 1979,until he tried to wriggle out of some of the contract to Drive some events for Nissan,notably the Safari.He was told all the Sedan Open Championship or none.SO
Ford gave Henri Toivonen the drive
....and thus helped Salonen make his name by putting a Group 2 Nissan into 3rd O/L on the 79 RAC, in amongst all the works Escorts with their massive horsepower advantage...
It could have been in some respects (suspension mountings was a Nissan favourite wasn't it...and then there was the alleged big bore engines...) but wasn't that one an 8 valve single cam, so not much to come as regards outright power, whatever you did?
Andy Dawson was always pointing out a Gp2 Nissan was as cheap to build as a Gp1 RS2000 - but I never saw him claim running costs were (a mate of mine bought a full house 1300 Gp2 Starlet - and for a diff rebuild paid 4 times what he was paying for his Escort diff rebuild).
Now there,s a name Andy Dawson!
The last I saw of Andy was when he was based at Silverstone,and he was preparing and running a Sierra Cosworth for someone.Dont know if it was,nt Paul Lee ,Barry,s son ,but Paul and Barry had no time for each other then,dont know if they speak to each other now.
It could have been in some respects (suspension mountings was a Nissan favourite wasn't it...and then there was the alleged big bore engines...) but wasn't that one an 8 valve single cam, so not much to come as regards outright power, whatever you did?
Andy Dawson was always pointing out a Gp2 Nissan was as cheap to build as a Gp1 RS2000 - but I never saw him claim running costs were (a mate of mine bought a full house 1300 Gp2 Starlet - and for a diff rebuild paid 4 times what he was paying for his Escort diff rebuild).
I'd have to refresh my memory of the 79 RAC but I think there was thick fog on all the stages in the southern part of Wales on the final leg, the works Escorts were cruising by then (and Vatanen had a time penalty in about 4th and Alen in the Stratos in about 5th wasn't aware of it?), so Salonen in 3rd in the fog was not so disadvantaged by a less powerfull car.
(The fog cleared as I crossed the Severn Bridge on the way home, which was as well, since I'd averaged about 20 mph in the early hours of the morning from Brecon service to Chepstow and I had to be home in Surrey and on the train to work in London).
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