Motorsport History - BLS Automotive

BLS Automotive Alfa Romeo Specialists in Lincoln

ALFA ROMEO AND FIAT SERVICING - PARTS - RACE & RALLY PREPARATION - MECHANICAL RESTORATION

Alfa Romeo has always been associated with competition and with a background including single seaters and touring cars it was inevitable that BLS would continue in that tradition. Over the past twenty plus years many cars incorporating advanced concepts have been built in Lincoln. They include Mark Riddle’s Supercharged Sud Ti and 33, Ted Pearson’s championship winning 1.7 Sud Ti and Vic Woods’ 3.3 litre GTV6 (the first big capacity V6 in the AROC Championship which in Chris Snowdon’s hands subsequently went on to dominate the championship for several seasons). In recent years Graham Presley, Bryan Shrubb and John Clonis have continued the BLS trademark of immaculately turned out race and class winning Alfa Romeos.
BLS have also successfully prepared Bertone Coupe’s and Spiders for the HSCC series and other marques such as John Clonis’s endurance specification Porsche 993.

A full list of race results (AROC and ARCA) are detailed below. This does not include numerous successes achieved in various road saloons and historic series since the early 1980’s.

YEAR	1st overall	2nd overall	3rd overall	1st in class	2nd in class	3rd in class	Notable Others
1983							1x 6th overall
1984	1						1x 4th overall
1985				1			1x 4th overall
1986		1	1	2	1		1x 5th overall
1987	1	1	1	1	1	2	1x 6th overall
1988	5	2	2	5	4	1
1989	13	5	2	18	3	1
1990	2	4	1	11	3	2
1991	3	2	2	15	1	1
1992	2	2	5	15	4	1	5x 4th overall
1993	1	3	3	3	6	10
1994	1	2	1	6	11	8	5x 4th overall
1995	8	7	3	14	21	14	5x 4th overall
1996	2	0	0	2	10	1
1997	7	5	2	11	13	0	4x 4th overall
1998	7	1	3	10	6	1
1999	5	5	4	11	9	2	5x 4th overall
2000	2	5	3	2	8	4
2001	4	9	1	9	9	1	5x 4th overall
2002	7	6	0	10	4	0
2003	3	1	1	5	3	4	3x 4th overall
2004	0	2	2	3	5	3
2005	0	2	1	2	2	2
2006	0	0	7	10	6	4
2007	0	0	3	0	1	2
2008	0	0	5	0	4	3	1 x 4th overall
2009							Did Not Compete
2010	?	?	?	?	?	?

Totals	74	65	53	166	135	67

BLS have prepared many cars for racing over the years in which the owners have successfully competed. Below is a list of some of those drivers. In some cases the cars have been prepared by BLS from scratch, whilst others have benefited from BLS built engines, gearboxes or suspension modifications.

Stuart Abbott – Alfasud Ti
Terry Back – Alfasud Ti and Alfa 33 – Road Saloons
Nick Bayntun – Alfasud Ti
Nick Broomhall - Alfasud Ti and Alfa 33 – Road Saloons
Duncan Burge – Alfasud Ti
David Cannard – Alfasud Ti
John Clonis – Alfasud Sprint and Alfa 33 16v
Shane Crumpler – Alfa Arna
Andy Curtis – Alfasud Ti and Alfa 33 16v
Hugh Elliot – Alfasud Ti
Mary Elliot – Alfasud Ti
Peter Faulstroh – Alfasud Sprint
Bob Griffiths – Alfasud Ti
Kevin Griffiths – Alfa 33 16v
Simon Griffiths – Alfa 33 16v
Charles Hill – Alfasud Ti
Steven James – Alfa 33
Alan Marshall – Alfasud Ti
Simon Mawbey – Alfasud Ti
Stephen Milne – Alfasud Ti
David Morris – Alfasud Ti – Road Saloons
Ted Pearson – Alfasud Ti
Simon Poole – Alfa GTV 3.0 24v
Graham Presley – Alfasud Ti and Alfa 75 1.8 Turbo
Mark Riddle – Alfasud Ti, Alfasud Ti Supercharged and Alfa 33 Supercharged
Steve Rogers – Alfasud Sprint, Alfa 75 3.0 V6, Alfa 2.0 GTV
Anthony Ross – Alfa Spider (HSCC)
Bryan Shrubb – Alfasud Ti and Alfa 33
Dave Streather – Alfa Arna, Alfa 33, Alfa 33 16v and Alfa GTV 3.0 24v
Vic Woods – Alfasud Ti and Alfa 3.3 GTV6
Keith Woolhouse – Alfasud Sprint
Michael Zotos – Alfa 33

Championship Victories

1988 Class Overall Champion AutoItalia
1991 Overall AROC Champion
1992 Overall AROC Champion
1994 Overall Class C Champion (AROC)
1998 Class A Overall Champion (AROC)
1999 Class B Overall Champion (AROC)
2000 Class B Overall Champion (AROC)
2001 Class B Overall Champion (AROC)
2002 Class A Overall Champion (ARCA)
2006 Class C Overall Champion (ARCA)

Rallying Results

1978 – 1983

Alfasud 1.2 Ti, 1.3 Ti and 1.5 Ti

Driver:- Charles Hill
Co-driver/navigator:- John Vincent

52 starts
47 finishes
35 top ten overall finishes
22 class wins

These events were a mixture of stage, single venue and night rallies. The rules were essentially ‘Group A’ of that time. Typical opposition in the up to 1600cc class included BDA and Twin-Cam engined Escorts, Opel Kadetts and Talbot Sunbeams. Overall victory was usually disputed between Escorts (Group 4 2 litre versions), TR7 V8’s and Sunbeam Lotuses. As can be seen from the statistics, the Sud was a very competitive package – not only in class but overall too.

1983

6th in class Manx International Rally

1984

Alfasud 1.5 Ti
Driver:- Mark Riddle

East Midlands Tarmac Rally Champions
5 Class wins
3 x 2nd in Class

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