Well, it depends on how you define a "homologation special".Carledo wrote: ↑Tue Oct 09, 2018 8:38 pm
I don't know much about the O series development, but Sprints are a different thing! It was never a Homologation special, like the TR7 Sprint was and I rather fancy that the original Triumph plan for the slant motor was that it WOULD have replaced the venerable inline 6 in the T2000 and it's replacement, had not the SD1 come along (which was originally designated RT1)
The first 2000 (not 5000) Sprints, all in Mimosa yellow, were built prior to the model launch in June 73 and it was a kind of "put a toe in the water" experiment, to see if they would sell! When they did, production recommenced around August 73 and a range of colours and trim options became available. But the Sprint was ALWAYS a niche market, production hotrod, in the same fashion as the RS2000 Escort, Droop Snoot Firenza, HS Chevette etc and as such, never built or sold in large numbers. In a sense, it was the rally and race winning hook they used to catch customers for the lower output models.
Steve
But the use of the Dolomite Sprint in the Group 1 British Saloon Car Championship required 5000 Dolomite Sprints built "for the normal sale" i.e. "distribution of cars to individual purchasers through the normal commercial channels of the manufacturer" in a 12 month period to gain approval. This requirement is from the FIA's 1971 Appendix J to the International Sporting Code: Classification definition and specifications of cars, Articles 251 & 252. That it was met is shown in the FIA Form of Recognition No. 5542, approved 1 Jan 1974; however, the date on which the production reached 5000 is blank.
I know that in 1978, an article in Autosport said that Group 4 approvals could be given before the full production of 400 cars were built, and that looks to have happened with the TR8, with about 150 ACT cars built before the 1 April 1978 approval date and about 250 TCT cars built after. But as the 1973 production of Dolomite Sprints was above 5000, it looks like approval was granted on those - not just the Mimosa cars (though I think there were actually 2100, possibly 2200, or so of those, despite what the PR dept wrote).
However, the timing can also be interpreted as showing it was specifically built for that when the BSCC went Group 1 and Ford/Cosworth wouldn't/couldn't build the 5000 BDA engined RS1600s needed to compete in it.
I also know that BL never said anything about its role in the homologation of the Group 1 race car. However, they never admitted the FHC TR8 was one, though they built only enough for its homologation, i.e. 400 (or so) and then quietly sold them off, without ever mentioning its role. So, I think BL policy was, as Dashiell Hammett put it, "Don't never tell nobody nothing".
Graham
