1977 Tourist Trophy

During the seventies the RAC Tourist Trophy race has taken on a new mantle, that of Britain’s only representation in European series which cater for saloon cars. The formulae under which the cars have raced varied from full-blooded Group 2, in the days of four-valve-per-cylinder sixes for Ford and BMW, to the comparatively tame Trophie de l’Avenir regulations, more like those seen in our own national Championship these days.

This year’s edition of the TT, sponsored by Access for the fourth time, allowed both European Group 2 and British Group 1 cars, producing a monster 60-plus entry for the 44 places on the grid. In this case the quantity of the entry was also backed up by quality with the two Leyland-Broadspeed Jaguars taking the two premier places on the grid.

It was widely felt that this would be the race that produced a win for the two white and blue 5.4-litre coupes. Driven by the regular pairings of Andrew Rouse/Derek Bell and Tim Schenken/John Fitzpatrick, the fast corners of Silverstone were expected to spoil the 100% winning record of the BMW marque. Albeit they were private BMW CSL-equipped teams from Germany (Alpina), Belgium (Luigi) and Italy, represented by Martino Finotto‘s Imberti-prepared example, which he shares with Carlo Facetti.