Old Rovers

Isle Of Man TT, 6th June 1990

The 800th post on The Amazo Effect


On 6 June 1990 Tony Pond completed the first ever lap of the famous Isle Of Man TT motorcycle course at an average of over 100mph in a car - a Rover 827i Vitesse, standard apart from a safety harness, a fire extinguisher and racing tyres.
Back in 1988, Pond missed the 100mph average by a mere six seconds, but he returned with an ‘unmodified’ Rover Vitesse in 1990 and successfully beat the magical target; the actual average being 102.19mph with a lap time of 22 minutes 9.1 seconds. Although his in-car commentary is dead-pan, listening to what he says is riveting, giving the viewer a true insight into a driving genius’ mindset.
As a marketing effort, the 100mph lap was masterful, although Rover’s assertion that the car was standard was I feel stretching it a little bit. Mind you, even if the exhaust - which apparently made the Vitesse sound like a Honda NSX - wasn't standard and might have added a little power, it doesn't distract from the scale of this achievement in a car that was never really renowned for its agile handling.
The record stood until 2011, when British rally driver Mark Higgins in a standard Subaru WRX STI set an average speed of 115.3mph with a lap time of 19 minutes 37.4 seconds.

- Mr Fabulous

Digging The Crates - Rover 800 Supplement

More Rover 800 goodies for all of you fans, hot from the storage bunkers at Amazo Towers. We showed you this lovely R17 a while back, now its the turn of the original 800 in the Amazo Effect spotlight. These scans are from a supplement tha came with the October 24th 1987 issue of Motor magazine, to showcase just what a great car the 800 was at launch. A vital one to Austin Rover too; it paved the way for a whole range of new Rovers and the revival of the brand as a whole over the next five years. The supplement is a pretty good read if you're in the mood; best make a cuppa though as its 24 pages...
From here.

Rover 827i Coupé - A (Gentle)Man's Best Friend

The Rover 800, a fallen star of the British motor industry in need of some old-school lovin'. Once hailed as the saviour of Rover, now near-forgotten by the mainstream and the enthusiast and rapidly nearing extinction; when was the last time you saw a pre-facelift Rover 800? The R17 (the facelift model) is faring a little better; helped by the poster boy of the 800 line, the Coupé. Every time I see one of these cars, I get the urge to scour eBay and buy one; I've fully-specced 820 turbos (and the Honda/Rover V6 models if you're really lucky) going for the price of a cheap flatscreen TV, which is not much in the way of Sterling (arf) for a car that to my mind has the junior-league Bentley thang sewn-up like a Barbour Putney Sportsquilt. Add a little altitude adjustment to the ride height, and I think the air of authority is complete.
More here, perversely from a German classic site; just add translation. And no, I'm not sure if the pictures are of two cars or it can change wheels at will.

- Amazosan