Triumph TR7 V8 Rally Car
British Leyland's works team rallied the TR7 from 1976 to 1980, first with 16-valve engines and then, as the TR7 V8, with Rover's V8: the car that won the 24 Hours of Ypres and the Manx twice for Tony Pond, and four American titles for John Buffum.
One of the works TR7 V8s, SJW 540S, in the hall of the British Motor Museum, Gaydon, in June 2018, lamp pods on its nose and its competition number on the door.Vauxford, CC BY-SA 4.0
In June 1978 a works Triumph won the 24 Hours of Ypres, in Belgium, ahead of Tony Carello's Lancia Stratos and Gilbert Staepelaere's works Ford Escort. Tony Pond and Fred Gallagher drove it, SJW 540S, on its first event, and with Rover's V8 under its bonnet (hood) it had become what a Motor Sport headline called a new Healey for Abingdon. Abingdon's competitions department ran the works cars for five seasons, and in North America John Buffum won four championships in a row. The results below list the works cars' events as the records hold them.source 1source 2source 3source 4source 5
The 16-valve cars, 1976–77
The team was British Leyland's own, run from the old BMC competitions department at Abingdon as Leyland ST, under Bill Price. It hired Pond from Dealer Opel Team in the autumn of 1975, with Dave Richards to read his notes in 1976, and Brian Culcheth with Johnstone Syer; from 1977 John Davenport ran BL's motor sport. The first cars were TR7 coupés with the Dolomite Sprint's 16-valve engine in competition form, giving about 220 bhp by 1977, with twin Weber carburettors and the rally rules' Group 4 freedoms. How the rally cars came to be homologated with 16-valve engines, and what the road-going Sprints had to do with it, is told on the TR7 Sprint page.
The first season was hard. Both cars retired on the Welsh and Scottish rallies with engine trouble, but Pond finished 3rd on the Manx in September and on the Castrol in October, and that month, with Mike Nicholson, won the Raylor, a national rally: the TR7's first win. On the RAC Rally he ran 3rd at half-way before his suspension broke. For 1977 Davenport found Pond a new co-driver:
John asked whether I'd like to partner Tony Pond in a Triumph TR7 in 1977. Talk about cloud nine… He suggested we do the Boucles de Spa, to make sure we got along …
They won it, in February 1977: the works TR7's first international win. Pond was 3rd on the Tour of Elba and 2nd on the Scottish, and Culcheth 2nd on the Manx and 4th on the Mille Pistes. Corsica went badly. Pond, after three weeks there, told Motor Sport "we've done three laps of the complete route", and retired on the first stage with gear-selector trouble; Culcheth was 11th. By then, by the figures Gallagher gave the magazine, the works TR7s had made 19 international starts, with one win, two seconds, three thirds, a ninth, an eleventh and eleven retirements. Pond's 8th place on the RAC Rally in November was the best of the team's four cars.
The TR7 V8
The V8 began in May 1977, when Abingdon took delivery of a new left-hand-drive TR8, Motor Sport's Jeremy Walton reported. Its V8, subframe and gearbox (transmission) mounting went into a right-hand-drive rally shell, which Walton names as KDU 496N, a plate the TR Drivers Club's register of the works cars does not list, and testing began that October. The car was homologated for Group 4 on 1 April 1978. Walton explained the name:
Journalists have been asked not to call the car TR8, because that is the car the Americans have been waiting so patiently for …
Wikipedia quotes Graham Robson's history of the works Triumphs as saying the name was a compromise to keep BL's marketing staff happy. The car's first public run was a televised Texaco rallysprint at Esgair Dafydd in April; Pond finished 2nd, 2.2 seconds behind Hannu Mikkola. A fortnight later, in OOM 512R, he won the Granite City Rally by 12 seconds from Nigel Rockey's Escort RS1800: a win on the V8's first rally.
Inside the cars
Abingdon's V8 began with two Weber carburettors on an Offenhauser crossover manifold, and gave about 240, then 260 bhp; by the Burmah Rally of August 1978 it gave 293 bhp at the flywheel, Walton wrote. The cars kept twin carburettors until August 1979, the museum's notes record. Pierburg fuel injection was tried from the 1000 Lakes that month and proved troublesome, and for 1980 the engine had four Weber 48 DCOEs, giving about 300 bhp or more, by the TR Drivers Club's figures; Ate Up With Motor gives as much as 320 with injection. Solid tappets replaced the production engine's hydraulic ones, raising the speed at which the valves floated from 6,500 to 7,200 rpm; there was a dry sump made at Abingdon, and pistons for an 11:1 compression ratio, by Walton's account, where the club's specification gives 10.7:1.
The five-speed gearbox was Rover's, with an internal oil pump, and the club's specification gives its ratios as 2.33, 1.611, 1.30, 1.00 and 0.833:1, with a Salisbury Power-Lok differential and axle ratios from 3.9 to 5.3:1. The axle had a lateral arm added to its four links, the struts were Bilstein's, the roll cage carried suspension loads, and the front brakes were ventilated discs with Lockheed four-pot calipers. For loose surfaces in 1978 the front track was narrowed by 51 mm (2 in). The fuel tank held 100 litres (22 imperial gallons).
It was a tarmac car above all. Its short wheelbase, wide track, little rear-axle travel and enormous torque made it hard to drive quickly on gravel, as Walton and the TR Drivers Club both describe. From 1978 the cars were red, white and blue, SJW 533S the first so painted; they wore British Airways colours on the 1978 RAC, and Roger Clark's of 1980 those of Sparkrite.source 2source 1source 5source 10source 4source 8
1978
The spring went badly: Pond retired on the Circuit of Ireland in March, then, in the V8, on the Welsh in May and the Scottish in June. Before Ypres, Davenport told Motor Sport what he wanted most:
My greatest ambition would be to go out and win the 1,000 Lakes with Tony Pond and the TR.
Then came Ypres, in SJW 540S. In August Buffum, over from America, was 8th on the Burmah in OOM 512R, and in September Pond won the Manx, where Mikkola, the only driver to stay with him, crashed after a puncture. In Corsica both V8s retired when their gearboxes ran dry, and Pond finished the year 4th on the RAC Rally. He then left for Chrysler and Talbot, to drive the Sunbeam Lotus in 1979.
1979 and 1980
Without Pond, Per Eklund led the team in 1979, with Simo Lampinen, Jean-Luc Thérier, Graham Elsmore, Terry Kaby and Derek Boyd. Gallagher was badly hurt on the Galway Rally in February, when Boyd crashed, and spent two months in hospital. Eklund was 2nd on the Mintex, on snow, 3rd on the Scottish and 8th on the 1000 Lakes despite fuel starvation with the new injection; Lampinen and Eklund both retired on the Sanremo in October. On the RAC Rally five V8s started and Eklund's 13th place was the best of them.
Pond came back for 1980. He won the Rothmans Manx Stages in May, Ypres again in June, now in TUD 683T, the Manx in September and the Eaton Yale television rallysprint in October, while Eklund was 3rd on the 1000 Lakes, his best result there, and Clark ran the Sparkrite cars. The team's last event was the RAC Rally in November, where Pond hit a fence and a pile of railway sleepers on the first stage and still finished 7th.
Buffum's four Pro Rally titles of the Sports Car Club of America, 1977 to 1980, were all won in TR7s and TR7 V8s; in 1977, the first of them, BL's North American cars won eight rallies and Buffum seven of them, by Ate Up With Motor's count from the Triumph Newsletter. In 1979 he and Gallagher won California's La Jornada Trabajosa.source 1source 10source 12source 3source 4
The end and the survivors
BL stopped its works rallying after the RAC Rally of 1980, to save money. A BL Motorsport memo of December 1980 mentions "the (now scrapped) 1981 rally TR8", a car that had been in preparation. Pond stayed under contract, and later drove BL's Metro 6R4.
The works cars are best known by their plates, but a plate did not always mean one car: five registrations were each carried by two cars, and for the 1980 RAC Rally TUD 683T wore a borrowed plate, JJO 931W. The notable cars list them car by car. SJW 540S is at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon; the TR Drivers Club's register records HRW 250V in Unipart colours, and SJW 533S and SJW 548S in private hands.source 5source 3source 12source 15source 1
Results
A yellow year marks a win.
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
Burmah Rally 1976
August 1976. Brian Culcheth and Johnstone Syer (co-driver), in KDU 497N (first car): 15th overallsource 1
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
- 1976
Castrol '76 Rally
October 1976. Brian Culcheth and Johnstone Syer (co-driver), in KDU 497N (first car): 8th overallsource 1
- 1976
- 1976
Lindisfarne Rally 1976
October 1976. Brian Culcheth and Johnstone Syer (co-driver), in KDU 497N (first car): retired: electricssource 1
- 1976
Lombard RAC Rally 1976
November 1976, Great Britain. Brian Culcheth and Johnstone Syer (co-driver), in OOE 937R: 9th overallsource 1
- 1976
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
Mintex Rally 1977
February 1977. Brian Culcheth and Johnstone Syer (co-driver), in OOE 937R: 17th overallsource 1
- 1977
- 1977
Tour of Elba 1977
April 1977, Elba, Italy. Brian Culcheth and Johnstone Syer (co-driver), in KDU 497N (first car): retired: throttle linkagesource 1
- 1977
Welsh Rally 1977
May 1977, Wales. Brian Culcheth and Johnstone Syer (co-driver), in OOE 937R: retired: enginesource 1
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
Scottish Rally 1977
June 1977, Scotland. Brian Culcheth and Johnstone Syer (co-driver), in KDU 497N (first car): 9th overallsource 1
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
- 1977
Lombard RAC Rally 1977
November 1977, Great Britain. Markku Saaristo and Ian Grindrod (co-driver), in SCE 645S: 37th overallsource 1
- 1977
- 1977
Lombard RAC Rally 1977
November 1977, Great Britain. Pat Ryan and Mike Nicholson (co-driver), in OOM 513R: retired: gearboxsource 1
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
Burmah Rally 1978
August 1978. John Buffum and N. Wilson (co-driver), in OOM 512R: 8th overallsource 1
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
Manx Trophy Rally 1978
September 1978, Isle of Man. Derek Boyd and R. Kernaghan (co-driver), in KDU 497N (second car): retired: enginesource 1
- 1978
Critérium du Québec 1978
October 1978, Quebec, Canada. John Buffum: disqualified: drove out of a stage without crash helmets after losing a wheelsource 10
- 1978
Cork Rally 1978
October 1978, Ireland. Derek Boyd and R. Cole (co-driver), in KDU 497N (second car): retired: gearboxsource 1
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978
Lombard RAC Rally 1978
November 1978, Great Britain. Simo Lampinen and R. Broad (co-driver), in SJW 548S: retired: clutchsource 1
- 1979
Boucles de Spa 1979
February 1979, Spa, Belgium. Jean-Luc Thérier and M. Vial (co-driver), in SJW 548S: retired: distributorsource 1
- 1979
- 1979
- 1979
- 1979
Galway Rally 1979
February 1979, Ireland. Graham Elsmore and S. Harrold (co-driver), in UYH 863S (first car): retired: accidentsource 1
- 1979
Circuit of Ireland 1979
April 1979, Ireland. Derek Boyd and R. Kernaghan (co-driver), in SJW 533S: retired: accidentsource 1
- 1979
Circuit of Ireland 1979
April 1979, Ireland. Graham Elsmore and S. Harrold (co-driver), in SJW 546S: retired: accidentsource 1
- 1979
Circuit of Ireland 1979
April 1979, Ireland. Per Eklund and H. Sylvan (co-driver), in TUD 682T: retired: enginesource 1
- 1979
Welsh Rally 1979
May 1979, Wales. Simo Lampinen and Ian Grindrod (co-driver), in SJW 548S: 12th overallsource 1
- 1979
- 1979
Welsh Rally 1979
May 1979, Wales. Per Eklund and H. Sylvan (co-driver), in TUD 682T: retired: enginesource 1
- 1979
- 1979
Scottish Rally 1979
June 1979, Scotland. Simo Lampinen and Fred Gallagher (co-driver), in SJW 548S: 13th overallsource 1
- 1979
- 1979
BP TV Rallysprint 1979
June 1979. Per Eklund and H. Sylvan (co-driver), in TUD 683T (first car): 1st overallsource 1
- 1979
- 1979
1000 Lakes Rally 1979
August 1979, Finland. Simo Lampinen and J. Markkanen (co-driver), in TUD 683T (first car): retired: distributorsource 1
- 1979
Peter Russek Manuals Rally 1979
August 1979. Graham Elsmore and S. Harrold (co-driver), in OOM 514R (second car): 1st overallsource 1
- 1979
- 1979
- 1979
Halewood Stages 1979
August 1979. Graham Elsmore and I. Scott (co-driver), in OOM 514R (second car): 2nd overallsource 1
- 1979
Manx Trophy Rally 1979
September 1979, Isle of Man. Graham Elsmore and Fred Gallagher (co-driver), in SJW 546S: 3rd overallsource 1
- 1979
- 1979
- 1979
- 1979
- 1979
Lombard RAC Rally 1979
November 1979, Great Britain. Graham Elsmore and S. Harrold (co-driver), in SJW 546S: 16th overallsource 1
- 1979
Lombard RAC Rally 1979
November 1979, Great Britain. Simo Lampinen and Fred Gallagher (co-driver), in TUD 683T (first car): 17th overallsource 1
- 1979
Lombard RAC Rally 1979
November 1979, Great Britain. Terry Kaby and B. Rainbow (co-driver), in UYH 863S (second car): retired: enginesource 1
- 1979
Lombard RAC Rally 1979
November 1979, Great Britain. John Buffum, in TUD 682T: source 1
- 1980
Mintex Rally 1980
February 1980. Roger Clark and Jim Porter (co-driver), in SJW 546S: retired: enginesource 1
- 1980
Galway Rally 1980
February 1980, Ireland. Roger Clark and Jim Porter (co-driver), in SJW 546S: retired: enginesource 1
- 1980
- 1980
- 1980
Circuit of Ireland 1980
April 1980, Ireland. Roger Clark and Jim Porter (co-driver), in XJO 414V (second car): retired: enginesource 1
- 1980
- 1980
- 1980
Daily Mirror TV Rallysprint 1980
May 1980. Per Eklund and H. Sylvan (co-driver), in HRW 251V: 2nd overallsource 1
- 1980
- 1980
Critérium Alpin 1980
May 1980, France. Per Eklund and H. Sylvan (co-driver), in TUD 686T: retired: alternatorsource 1
- 1980
- 1980
24 Hours of Ypres 1980
June 1980, Ypres, Belgium. Per Eklund and H. Sylvan (co-driver), in TUD 686T: retiredsource 1
- 1980
- 1980
- 1980
Scottish Rally 1980
June 1980, Scotland. Per Eklund and H. Sylvan (co-driver), in HRW 251V: retired: enginesource 1
- 1980
1000 Lakes Rally 1980
August 1980, Finland. Per Eklund and H. Sylvan (co-driver), in TUD 686T: 3rd overallsource 1
- 1980
1000 Lakes Rally 1980
August 1980, Finland. Timo Mäkinen and E. Salonen (co-driver), in HRW 251V: retired: fuelsource 1
- 1980
- 1980
- 1980
Manx Trophy Rally 1980
September 1980, Isle of Man. Roger Clark and Jim Porter (co-driver), in XJO 414V (second car): retired: axlesource 1
- 1980
- 1980
- 1980
Lombard RAC Rally 1980
November 1980, Great Britain. John Buffum and Ian Grindrod (co-driver), in HRW 251V: retired: axlesource 1
- 1980
Lombard RAC Rally 1980
November 1980, Great Britain. Per Eklund and H. Sylvan (co-driver), in TUD 686T: retired: enginesource 1
- 1980
Lombard RAC Rally 1980
November 1980, Great Britain. Roger Clark and N. Wilson (co-driver), in XJO 414V (second car): retired: enginesource 1
- 1983
Himalayan Rally 1983
1983. In HRW 250V: retired: halfshaftsource 1
- 1998
Sources
Every source the site cites is on the sources page.
- Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
- Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
- Uncheckedencyclopaedias and enthusiast sites: cited beside a good source, named in the sentence, or marked Unchecked
- Chris Turner (credited by the club), "The Works Triumph TR7 V8 Rally Cars" and the car pages (group), TR Drivers Club, rally history; SJW 540S; rally history, 1976–77; the Raylor; Spa; the car pages; homologation, 1 April 1978, no. 654; the register; rally history and specification: the gearbox ratios, differential, axles, suspension, tank, consumption, compression, four Webers, the livery, six LHD cars, HRW 251V the last; rally history, 1978; the car pages; rally history, 1979–80; the car pages; the register: the plates on two cars; HRW 250V; SJW 533S and SJW 548S; car page, KDU 497N; car page, KDU 498N; car page, OOE 937R; car page, OOE 938R; car page, OOM 513R; car page, OOM 512R; car page, OOM 514R; car page, SCE 645S; car page, SJW 533S; car page, SJW 540S; car page, SJW 548S; car page, UYH 863S; car page, SJW 546S; car page, TUD 682T; car page, TUD 683T; car page, XJO 414V; car page, HRW 250V; car page, HRW 251V; car page, TUD 686T; car page, JJO 931W. trdrivers.com/articles21/rallyhistory.html Reference
- Jeremy Walton, "Abingdon finds a new Healey called Triumph", Motor Sport, Sep 1978, p. 30, p. 30, Ypres 1978; p. 30, the LHD TR8 of May 1977, KDU 496N, testing from October 1977, the power and torque; "Journalists have been asked not to call the car TR8 …"; "truly a TR8"; "over 400 road cars"; p. 30, the Webers on an Offenhauser manifold; 240, 260 and 293 bhp; the valve gear, dry sump and pistons; the gearbox; the track; the brakes; the car on tarmac and loose; p. 30, Ypres; "My greatest ambition …"; p. 30. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/september-1978/30/abingdon-finds-new-healey-called-triumph Primary
- John Davenport, "Public face, private man" (Tony Pond), Motor Sport, Apr 2002, p. 60, p. 60, Ypres 1978; p. 60, Ypres and the RAC; p. 60, Pond's year with the Sunbeam Lotus and his return; p. 60, the end of the programme; p. 60. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/april-2002/60/public-face-private-man Reference
- Aaron Severson, "Way of the Wedge: The Triumph TR7 and TR8", Ate Up With Motor, 5 Feb 2012, pp. 1–5, p. 3, the works cars; Buffum; p. 3, the 16-valve engine's power; Spa; p. 3, sidebar: the V8's power by induction; p. 3, Buffum's titles; seven of eight in 1977, citing the Triumph Newsletter; p. 3. ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/triumph-tr7-tr8 Reference
- Keith Cox, "Gaydon cars with a TR7 connection", TR Drivers Club, rally car: the end in November 1980; rally car: Esgair Dafydd; rally car: twin carburettors until August 1979; over 300 bhp; rally car: the end in November 1980; SJW 540S at the museum; rally car. trdrivers.com/articles21/gaydoncars.html Reference
- Jeremy Walton ("J.W."), "Rallying TR7", Motor Sport, May 1976, p. 76, p. 76, the car; Bill Price's team. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/may-1976/76/rallying-tr7 Primary
- Jeremy Walton, "Tony Pond" (interview), Motor Sport, Jan 1976, p. 21, p. 21, Pond hired. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/january-1976/21/tony-pond Primary
- Motor Sport, News, editorials and short items on the TR7 (group), Jul 1975 – Aug 1981; Apr 2002, Nov 1975, Pond; Mar 1977, p. 53, the 1977 car and engine, Davenport; Nov 1978, p. 69, British Airways; Feb 1980, p. 28, Sparkrite; Nov 1978, p. 69, Pond to Talbot. motorsportmagazine.com/archive Primary
- Clive Richardson ("C.R."), "Triumph TR7: sports car or two-seater saloon?", Motor Sport, Jun 1976, p. 63, p. 63, the rally cars' homologation. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/june-1976/63/triumpuh-tr7 Primary
- Motor Sport, Rally reports on the works TR7s (group), Jun 1976 – Jan 1981, Jun 1976, p. 32; Jul 1976, p. 32; Nov 1976, p. 33; Jan 1977, p. 24; Dec 1977, p. 25; Jan 1978, p. 43; Dec 1978, p. 68, the rallysprint "the following day" and the Granite City; Oct 1979, p. 87, the Pierburg injection; May 1978, p. 49; Jun 1978, p. 32; Nov 1978, p. 69; Dec 1978, pp. 62, 68; Jan 1979, p. 47; Apr 1979, p. 63; Jun 1979, p. 60; Aug 1979, p. 52; Oct 1979, p. 87; Nov 1979, p. 46; Jan 1980, p. 63; Apr 1980, p. 54; Jul 1980, p. 111; Aug 1980, p. 92; Oct 1980, p. 102; Jan 1981, p. 67; Jun 1976, p. 32; Jul 1976, p. 32; Nov 1976, p. 33; Jan 1977, p. 24; Dec 1977, p. 25; Jan 1978, p. 43; May 1978, p. 49; Dec 1978, p. 68; Jun 1978, p. 32; Nov 1978, p. 69, Rally Review; Dec 1978, p. 62; Jan 1979, p. 47; Apr 1979, p. 63; Aug 1979, p. 52; Oct 1979, p. 87; Nov 1979, p. 46; Jan 1980, p. 63; Apr 1980, p. 54; Jun 1980, p. 54; Aug 1980, p. 92; Jul 1980, p. 111; Oct 1980, p. 102; Jan 1981, p. 67. motorsportmagazine.com/archive Primary
- Jeremy Walton ("J.W."), "It's a long way to Ajaccio…", Motor Sport, Jan 1978, p. 55, p. 55, Corsica 1977; "We've been here three weeks …"; the team's international record; p. 55. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/january-1978/55/it-s-long-way-ajacciao-long-long-way-tow Primary
- Motor Sport, "Lunch with Fred Gallagher", Apr 2019, p. 53, p. 53, "John asked whether I'd like to partner Tony Pond …"; p. 53, Pond's deal with Talbot; p. 53, Galway 1979; La Jornada Trabajosa; p. 53, the end; p. 53. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/april-2019/53/lunch-with-fred-gallagher Reference
- Paul Towle and Rex Holford (update) and Mark Elbers (update), "TR7 & TR8 Identification & Production Data Explained", TR Drivers Club, 1987, updated (© 2016), ACN, about 150 pre-production V8 coupés. trdrivers.com/tr7_-_tr8_vin_numbers.htm Reference
- Wikipedia (EN), "Triumph TR7", 2026, Robson's account of the name, citing The Works Triumphs. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_TR7 Unchecked
- R. Hurdwell (BL Motorsport, Abingdon), "TR8 Modifications" (memo, 4 pp.), BL Motorsport (via the Triumph Wedge Owners Association), 16 Dec 1980, "the (now scrapped) 1981 rally TR8". triumphwedgeowners.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Hurdwell-Memo.pdf Primary