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From Blydenstein to Bertha-the Story of Dealer Team Vauxhall In 1966 racing driver and cylinder head guru Bill Blydenstein read a report in a motor magazine about the new HB Viva. Bored with shoehorning bigger and bigger engines into Minis he wrote to Vauxhall to suggest some assistance in preparing one of the new cars for racing. Fortunately a number of enthusiasts at Luton persuaded the management of the day to work a little “back door” magic and the result was the 1967 Shaw & Kilburn Special Viva. A tuned, pushrod engined HB, it was developed and built by Blydenstein in the double garage at the side of his house and driven by him to a sensational debut class win at Snetterton. But capable driver that Bill was, he realised that if he was to concentrate on getting the best out of the car, they would need to get another driver. Enter larger-than-life Gerry Marshall, to start a career that would take Vauxhall to the top of saloon car racing in the UK and earn Gerry the title “Mr Vauxhall”. Used to more powerful Elans and TVRs, he took time to adapt to the puny 95 bhp Viva and everyone in the fledgling team looked forward to the launch of the 2 litre “slant four” overhead-camshaft engine due in the 1968 Viva GT. By 1969 the Viva had won its first race in 2 litre guise and the team was joined by “the other Gerry”, preparation expert Gerry Johnstone. Following a very successful 1970 season, in January 1971 a group of London Region Vauxhall dealers decided to circumvent any opposition from GM or Vauxhall to racing by forming Dealer Team Vauxhall or DTV. Alan Maidens of GN Croydon was the first Chairman and the venture was funded by a dealer subscription. Also in 1971 the team switched to the new Firenza body style and a range of specialised racing engines were developed over the next few years with Tecalemit fuel injection and special heads with capacities between 2.0 and 2.6 litres. The final iteration used Lotus LV240 16-valve heads and with a capacity of 2.3 litres developed around 230bhp. The chassis was continually developed too, acquiring a five speed ZF gearbox and droop snoot in sympathy with the 1974 HP Firenza. The car became the stuff of legend, achieving 63 victories and many championships in its long career and earning the nickname “Old Nail”. This historic car is now on loan to the Vauxhall Heritage Collection from Gerry Marshall’s family, but sadly it is no longer a runner. Viva and Firenza based special saloons also dominated the Irish and Scottish championships with Des Donelly and Bill Dryden at the wheel. In 1971 the concept of production car racing was re-introduced to the UK and Gerry started to compete in his 2 litre Vauxhall supplied Firenza road car! This led to official DTV entries of more suitable 2 litre and the later 2.3 litre Firenza versions. This category continued to grow in popularity and a number of individual dealers built and entered Firenzas and Magnums, notably Hamilton Motors, SMT and Stock’s of Copdock. Gerry Marshall, partnered by Australia’s Peter Brock, scored a marvellous swan-song result for the Magnum by finishing second overall in the 1977 International Spa 24 hour race, one of few Vauxhall international results. In 1974 a totally bizarre and unique race was held at Thruxton. Called a selling plate it was modelled on horse races of that name where the runners were sold by auction in the paddock after the race. A sort of try and buy by proxy approach. Twenty DTV Sportpart dealers prepared twenty Firenza HP road cars and drivers from the feature saloon car and Formula 5000 races that day were invited to drive the cars. Predictably, mayhem ensued and a fair amount of damage was incurred. How many of the cars were sold on the spot and how many had to be returned to the sponsoring dealer for repair is not recorded. Who won also seems shrouded in mystery! By 1974 Vauxhall were well advanced with a prototype Ventora FE V-8 road car, both the FD and FE models being designed with this possibility in mind. Vauxhall were keen to promote this venture by developing a racing car first, which could double as a promotional display car. In the event, the road car never made it and “Big Bertha”, as the racer was aptly called, had a very short life indeed. Designed by aerodynamics expert Frank Costin and Vauxhall stylist John Taylor, the car used a front mounted Repco Holden 5 litre V-8 producing nearly 500bhp, De Dion rear suspension and was clothed in a sensational show quality fibreglass “replica” FE body some 10 inches wider than the original. The car proved to be a handful even for the burly Marshall and in only its fourth appearance disaster struck. New brake callipers had been fitted after practice but the usual locking wire not applied to the pad retaining pins. The result was a major fright for Marshall and a badly damaged car. Blisteringly fast though it was, with the V-8 road car project already cancelled there was little point in persevering with this heavy car which was compromised for racing by the now unnecessary need to look like a road car. No time was lost in installing the engine into a much lighter Firenza based creation which was immediately dubbed “Baby Bertha”. In May 1975 Gerry switched from “Old Nail” to debut the new car which was successful “straight out of the box”. Loud and sideways was the only way to drive Gerry knew and the crowds loved it, taking the car and Gerry into their hearts. Only ever beaten once, “Baby Bertha” won the Super Saloon titles in 1975 and 1976 and entered the motor sport hall of fame alongside “Old Nail”, which continued as a DTV entry with Scottish ace Bill Dryden at the wheel. Last raced by Gerry in October 1977 at Thruxton, “Baby Bertha” remains active today and this still raucous projectile has been a star at the Goodwood Festival of Motoring and other major classic events to the delight of the crowds. By the end of 1977 neither the Firenza nor successor Magnum range would still be part of the Vauxhall road car range, so decisions had to be made for the 1978 season. The first decision was to go rallying with the Chevette and the second was to create a Cavalier to continue in special saloon car racing. This latter design comprised a sensational John Taylor penned Mark 1 Cavalier fibreglass body stretched over a space frame chassis. It was designed to take either a 2.5 litre turbocharged Opel engine or, incredibly, an 8.1 litre Reynolds Aluminium-Chevrolet engine used by the all-conquering McLarens in the US Can-Am race series. The project was cancelled in mid 1977. The car is now in Ireland and will hopefully be restored to working order so we will be able to see how “Mega Bertha” would have performed. Sadly, this cancellation brought an end to DTV racing operations after 10 years of uninterrupted success for the Luton marque. Sad though this undoubtedly was, the move to rallying signalled an intention to move out of the UK club motor sport arena and into international competition. Ford was Vauxhall’s biggest rival in the showroom and it was into everything from Formula 1 to World rallying. By comparison, Vauxhall had acquired a sporting reputation “on the cheap” through the magnificent efforts of their dealers, the Shepreth team and a few dedicated Vauxhall staffers. Since the Viva days, a rally preparation operation had been run by Coburn Improvements (sometimes known as Cockup Impairments by frustrated customers) from their base in Banbury. Brought under the DTV banner, works drivers Will Sparrow, Chris Coburn and Chris Sclater were regulars on British championship events in Firenzas and Magnums. In 1974 Sparrow won the RAC Group 1 Rally championship with a 2.3 Magnum. In 1975 the rally programme was taken over by Shepreth. For 1978 Vauxhall created the limited production HS Chevette specifically with homologation to International Group 2 in mind. It used a 2.3 litre Vauxhall “slant four” engine with a special twin cam head, a Getrag 5-speed gearbox and a torque tube rear axle layout borrowed from Opel. For rallying, better breathing Lotus heads from their alloy version of the Vauxhall engine design were employed and a “rock crusher” ZF gearbox. Changing the ‘box was within the regulations, but the heads later caused a major homologation row as they were not fitted to the required 400 road cars. Despite these difficulties, the car brought team drivers, Finn Pentti Airikkala and Chris Sclater, three victories in its first season and in 1979 Airikkala won the British Open Rally Championship outright. In 1980 an “evolution” car was produced by the Shrepreth operation. Called the HSR it featured flared arches to accommodate wider wheels and a revised rear axle location. 40 were required for homologation and the hilarious stories of the homologation inspections by the FIA for both HS and HSR Chevettes probably explains why nothing like the homologation numbers can be accounted for today. Once again a number of dealers sponsored cars in both international and club events, SMT and the Martin Group being amongst the most successful. The 1981 franchise merger of Vauxhall and Opel also brought DTV and the Opel dealer team, DOT, under one marketing umbrella. However, with contracts already in place for the coming season, nothing much changed on the motor sport front for the next eighteen months and Chevette HSRs and Ascona or successor Manta 400s, continued to go head to head for rally honours. A new organisation called General Motors Dealer Sport was then formed and the doors closed on the magnificent era of DTV. Competition cars don’t usually make it to a ripe old age, but a surprising number of the cars referred to above joined a special display of competition cars at the 2005 VBOA National Rally at Billing. In 2005 the motor racing and Vauxhall world was saddened when Gerry Marshall died while practising for yet another race. At their 25th anniversary dinner, the Droop Snoot Group paid a fitting tribute to Gerry by inviting ex-DTV personalities Bill Blydenstein and Gerry Johnstone and setting a place at top table for their missing hero, complete with cigar and pint of beer. “Big Gerry” would have appreciated that. © Ian Coomber 2006 Thanks to Andrew Duerden for refreshing my memory and also for pictures. Photos also from: The Vauxhall Sports Car Club www.vxlscc.co.uk Simon Panton www.simonpanton.co.uk