077 - C944OTW - 2.1 E2 - LHD - White - Current owner known (RA) - Mallorca

Here is a list of every chassis along with any information I have found about it
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Justin Smith
Posts: 518
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:15 pm

077 - C944OTW - 2.1 E2 - LHD - White - Current owner known (RA) - Mallorca

Post by Justin Smith »

Up until 2009 all I knew about this car was from FORD documents I had seen which implied that this car was first owned by Thor Bratlie in Norway. I had found reference to the car being a rolling shell and from the price I think it was sold for this might well be correct.

Also amongst the paperwork was a letter on FORD paper stating this car was subsequently uprated to "Full Evolution Specification" but whilst the letter was penned as having been written by Bob Howe, it was not his signature ?

Then, late in December 2009, I learnt that the car was alive and well and that it had been living in the UK for some time. I was told the car had surfaced in order to find a new owner (RA) and Geoff Page was giving the car some attention. Geoff sent me some images.

I went down and was given some paperwork that had come with the car so I could try and trace it's history - Which I did.

The paperwork was in the name of Jurgen Schemel from Frankfurt and showed that the car had been registered as F-EV 700 in Germany from 12.12.1991. The last stamp was dated 29.4.2002 There was then another German document which was dated 28.10.2002 Also present in the folder was a UK MOT certifcate dated June 11th 2007 with the car still displaying FEV700 and with a mileage of 000017 from a garage in Uttoxeter.

Using my friend (and fellow 200 nut) Petter in Norway I found that Thor was in his girlfriends family !! - Would you beleive it !!

Petter spoke to Thor about the car and this is the email I received...
1988: Sold to Tore Bratlie

1988: Gordon Spooner upgrade(has to be verified). Brian Hart tuned engine.

1988 – 1990: 28-29 races started, 9 of them with official rankings.

Rank 1 Hillclimb Festningsløpet 1988 Ford RS 200
Rank 1 Hillclimb Vinstra 1988 Ford RS 200
Rank 3B RCEM Lyngås 1988 Ford RS 200
Rank 1 Hillclimb Vammaløpet 1989 Ford RS 200
Rank 1 Hillclimb Fredrikstad 1989 Ford RS 200
Rank 2 Hillclimb Bergen 1989 Ford RS 200
Rank 16 RCEM Lyngås 1989 Ford RS 200
Rank 2 NM Hillclimb 1989 Ford RS 200
Rank 1 Nordic Hillclimb 1989 Ford RS 200

1990: Shipped to Gordon Spooner 10th of April for conversion back to road spec. Since Ford had a deal with a man in Canada, where one guy was interested in all 34 cars in the storage, they build the car in the same spec as the cars exported to Canada, therefore “S” conversion. The reason why it was build to the same spec was that they assumed that the Canadian would buy Tores car as well since it in addition to being a genuine RS200 also had history from RallyX. It was never shipped to Canada.

1991: Gordon spooner sold #77 to Germany late that year. Friends of Tore Bratlie have seen the car in a museum in Germany, so we assume that the car at some point went to a museum. The car was first time registered in Germany 17th of December 1991.

2002: Shipped/Sold to UK 28th of October.

Just so that you get a picture, this is only the races which he got ranking with RS200, he has many many other starts. He has also 215(!!!) other rankings with other type of cars, such as MG Metro 6r4.

I can sort out another thing that you may have been wondering about regarding the paperwork for the RS200s that went to Norway. Thor Holm was the one that had the contacts at Boreham, so almost every RS200 that norwegians bought for rallycross etc went through Thor Holm. Tore Bratlie bought the RS200 #77 for himself, but via Thor Holm.
Petter pointed out "Thor didn't get what he was hoping for. He liked the power, but he downside he says, is that he felt the RS200 drove him around the track not the other way around. He didn't like the bingo-driving. Tore wanted more prediction."

To finish this story off, the car has a new owner (RA) and I have seen it many times at Geoff Page's workshops and have helped it gain a UK registration) which I can't remember. The car lives in Mallorca but spends quite a bit of time in the UK being fettled having been given some beans quite often !



If you find out anything else about this car please drop me an email and i'll update the cars entry !

justin.smith@rs200.org

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