Lot 204: 1991 Johor race winning T hunder Saloon, The ‘Stars and Stripes’
1987 Opel Manta 400 Chevrolet V8

The ‘Stars and Stripes’ Opel V8 became both a major and winning player in UK national motor racing during the late 1980s and early 1990s with 19 outright wins in Thunder Saloons including a victory for the Sultan of Johor in Malaysia in 1991. Specifically constructed at a cost of £60,000 to comply with the BRSCC’s bill-topping Thunder Saloon category, a 2-door Opel Manta 400 body shell was extensively prepared by GM competitions and roll-cage specialists Safety Devices to accept a 7.1-litre Pontiac Vandelly V8 producing 650bhp at 7000rpm with 550lbs of torque at 4000rpm. The resultant Opel-Pontiac 400 recorded a 0-60mph time of 3.8sec and could reach 100mph from a standstill in 7.7sec. Paddock whispers at the time reckoned the top speed to be in excess of 200mph!

To withstand such performance, the transmission selected for the Nick Oatway inspired project had to be extremely strong, hence a 5-speed heavy-duty 700 gearbox by X-Trac and a strengthened Jaguar differential. Wisely, AP Racing brake discs were fitted all round, balance being adjustable by drivers Nick Oatway and Les Blackburn, who also had six settings of rear anti roll-bar stiffness to choose from whilst racing.

Currently fitted is the original V8, retained as a spare power unit by the Oatway team, though this 6.2-litre short-block Chevrolet race engine has been freshly prepared by Mike Connors, whilst the X-Trac has also been recently rebuilt. The exhaust noise on start-up is certainly truly thunderous, while the vendor reports that the performance was awesome during a pre-auction test session at Enstone where both rebuilt engine and transmission were said to perform beautifully.

The front suspension from those race winning ‘Days of Thunder’ is still rose-jointed and fully-adjustable, consisting of wishbones with heavy-duty springs and competition shock absorbers; the rear independent with twin coil springs and shock absorbers. The wheels, three-piece alloys by Compomotive (12ins x 16ins at the front, 16ins x 16ins at the back), are currently shod with Hoosier race tyres, there being a spare set of alloys for wets. Spares with the car include a water radiator, bell-housing to link X-Trac 700 to a Chevrolet V8, gearbox casing and spacer as well as assorted X-Trac 700 gears and parts. There are also some period photos and a VHS of the car racing.

Although no picture in close-up these days, the Stars and Stripes Manta would quickly respond to some cosmetic TLC and, given a spanner check and the now necessary updating of safety equipment to comply with current MSA regs and satisfy event scrutineers, it would surely make a most entertaining club racer or hill climb/sprint car. There can also be few wilder ways to achieve such a high power to weight for such a modest outlay – and one day, perhaps, Thunder Saloons like this might become eligible for historic racing and could again become the star turn of the meeting as they were nearly twenty years ago.