Jeff Allam

Jeff Allam
Allam in 2017
Nationality	British
Born	(1954-12-19) 19 December 1954 (age 70) Epsom, Surrey, England
British Saloon / Touring Car Championship
Years active	1977–1983, 1986–1987, 1989–1995
Teams	Allam Motor Services Triplex Esso Motor Team Tom Walkinshaw Racing R.A. Potter Racing Developments Trakstar Motorsport Vic Lee Motorsport Dave Cook Racing Services Ray Mallock Ltd.
Starts	146
Wins	17
Poles	9
Fastest laps	23
Best finish	4th in 1977, 1982, 1992

Jeffrey Frank Allam (born 19 December 1954 in Epsom, England), is a former British racing driver who made his name in Saloon Car racing. He now works as Head of Business for Allam Motor Services in Epsom which are a Skoda sales and service and Vauxhall servicing dealership.

Racing career

Starting in kart racing he soon progressed to saloon car racing winning regularly in Vauxhalls. He first entered the British Saloon Car Championship in 1978 driving a Ford Capri 3.0, finishing 2nd in class. In 1979 he repeated this with another 2nd place in class. In 1981 he drove a TWR Rover Vitesse, taking Rover's first overall win in the championship. Allam continued to drive for TWR Rover again in 1982, this time winning the class title. He was paired with Frank Sytner for the 1982 season, but Sytner left the team partway through the year. The following year saw Allam partnering Steve Soper and Pete Lovett in the Rover team, and the three drivers dominated the year, easily winning the manufacturers championship and Soper winning the drivers' title.^[1] However, the success was short-lived, as the Rovers were found to be in breach of the regulations regarding the engine installation, and TWR was thrown out of the championship, handing victory to Andy Rouse.^[2]

His success continued afterwards, winning the new Group A class at the 1984 Bathurst 1000 in Australia driving a TWR Rover partnered by regular ETCC co-driver Armin Hahne from Germany. This was followed in 1986 when he won the prestigious ETCC Tourist Trophy at Silverstone in a TWR prepared Rover along with co-driver, former Formula One World Champion Denny Hulme. He was then champion in the TVR Tuscan Challenge in 1989.^[3]

Allam continued to be a regular at the Bathurst 1000 after his 1984 class win. In 1985 he was lead driver in the 2nd TWR Jaguar XJS with Aussie Ron Dickson, qualifying a fine second behind team boss Walkinshaw, but was out on lap 3 after broken headlight glass found its way into the Jaguar's V12 engine causing enough damage to stop the car. TWR itself dominated the 1985 race with the team's 3rd car (driven by Hahne and Aussie John Goss) winning with Walkinshaw and Win Percy finishing 3rd in the lead car after late race problems which saw a split oil line.^[4] He missed both 1986 and 1987, before returning in 1988 with Walkinshaw to drive the new Fuel injected Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV. The race ended early for the duo when the suspension collapsed under the Boss after just 5 laps. After driving a Rover, Jaguar and a Holden in Australia's Great Race, Allam drove a Ford Sierra RS500 in 1989 for Dick Johnson Racing. He finished 8th in 1989 (team boss Dick Johnson and regular team driver John Bowe won the race), before recording his best finish in 1990, again in a Johnson Sierra, when he partnered Kiwi racer Paul Radisich to second place. Ironically, the winner of the 1990 Bathurst 1000 was the Holden Racing Team VL Commodore SS Group A SV driven by Allan Grice and Allam's long time TWR teammate Win Percy. The Winning Commodore was in fact the same car (rebuilt) that Allam was to drive with Walkinshaw in the 1988 race.^[5]

In 1990 Allam returned to the British Touring Car Championship (formerly the British Saloon Car Championship) driving a BMW M3 in the 2.0l class for Vic Lee Motorsport, placing 6th in the series. In 1991 he drove for the works Vauxhall team in a Vauxhall Cavalier finishing sixth. He stayed with the Vauxhall team a further three years, partnering John Cleland, finishing in 4th place with two race wins in 1992 and a 9th-place finishing in 1993.^[6] In 1994 he placed 10th overall and was replaced the following year by James Thompson. He made a one-off comeback to the BTCC in 1995 replacing the injured Thompson at Knockhill.

In 2004 he was selected to drive in the BTCC Masters event at Donington Park. a race which was set up by the director of TOCA Alan J. Gow featuring former champions and legends. Driving the same SEAT Leon Cupras, he finished 8th out of a field of sixteen drivers.

In May 2011 Jeff Allam was appointed as Driving Standards Advisor to the BTCC, assisting the Clerk of the Course in investigating on-track incidents between competitors. He previously held this role in the mid-late Nineties.^[7]

Racing record

Complete British Saloon / Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1973–1990 in class) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded ?–1989 in class)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	DC	Pts	Class
1977	Allam Motor Services	Vauxhall Firenza Magnum	C	SIL 5	BRH 5	OUL 8†	THR 10	SIL 8	THR	DON 4†	SIL 7	DON 5†	BRH 5	THR 7	BRH 4														4th	29	2nd
1978	Allam Motor Services	Ford Capri II 3.0s	D	SIL 4	OUL 4†	THR 4	BRH 7†	SIL 3†	DON 3†	MAL 3†	BRH 1	DON 1†	BRH 3	THR 7	OUL Ret†														NC	0	NC
1979	Allam Motor Services	Ford Capri III 3.0s	D	SIL 3	OUL 5†	THR 5	SIL 1	DON 2	SIL 6	MAL 8†	DON Ret	BRH Ret	THR 2	SNE 1	OUL 2†														8th	45	2nd
1980	Triplex Esso Motor Team	Rover 3500 S	D	MAL Ret†	OUL 5†	THR 5	SIL ?	SIL DNS	BRH 1	MAL	BRH ?	THR 3	SIL Ret																NC	18	NC
1981	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Rover 3500 S	D	MAL 8†	SIL 4	OUL Ret†	THR 5	BRH 3†	SIL Ret	SIL 2	DON Ret†	BRH 1	THR 1	SIL 1															7th	50	2nd
1982	Team Sanyo Racing with Esso	Rover 3500 S	D	SIL 1	MAL 1†	OUL 5†	THR 4	THR Ret	SIL 1	DON 2	BRH 3	DON 1	BRH 3	SIL 5															4th	60	1st
1983	Team Sanyo Racing with Esso	Rover 3500 S	A	SIL 2	OUL 1	THR 2	BRH 2	THR 2	SIL Ret	DON Ret	SIL 3	DON Ret	BRH 4	SIL 1															DSQ	53	DSQ
1986	TWR – Herbie Clips	Rover Vitesse	A	SIL	THR	SIL	DON	BRH 1	SNE	BRH	DON	SIL																	18th	9	6th
1987	R.A. Potter Racing Developments with Castrol	Rover Vitesse	A	SIL	OUL	THR	THR	SIL	SIL	BRH	SNE	DON	OUL 2‡	DON	SIL														25th	7	11th
1989	Trakstar Motorsport	Ford Sierra RS500	A	OUL	SIL	THR	DON 2‡	THR	SIL	SIL	BRH	SNE	BRH	BIR	DON	SIL													36th	6	13th
1990	Vic Lee Motorsport	BMW M3	B	OUL	DON	THR 8	SIL 8	OUL 11	SIL 10	BRH 8	SNE 10	BRH 9	BIR 7	DON 9	THR 11	SIL 9													6th	124	3rd
1991	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Cavalier		SIL 2	SNE 4	DON 5	THR 2	SIL 2^1	BRH 5	SIL 8	DON 1 5	DON 2 Ret	OUL Ret	BRH 1 8	BRH 2 Ret	DON 6	THR 10	SIL 8											6th	80
1992	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Cavalier		SIL 3	THR 3	OUL 3	SNE 6	BRH 2	DON 1 5	DON 2 Ret	SIL 1	KNO 1 1	KNO 2 2	PEM 6	BRH 1 5	BRH 2 9	DON 14	SIL 2											4th	137
1993	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Cavalier		SIL 5	DON 6	SNE DNS	DON 2	OUL 3	BRH 1 7	BRH 2 3	PEM 10	SIL 18	KNO 1 6	KNO 2 6	OUL 6	BRH 15	THR 13	DON 1 11	DON 2 12	SIL 9									9th	67
1994	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Cavalier 16v		THR 14	BRH 1 6	BRH 2 5	SNE 6	SIL 1 12	SIL 2 9	OUL 6	DON 1 6	DON 2 3	BRH 1 19	BRH 2 10	SIL 7	KNO 1 4	KNO 2 5	OUL 12	BRH 1 13	BRH 2 Ret	SIL 1 8	SIL 2 9	DON 1 9	DON 2 13					10th	76
1995	Vauxhall Sport	Vauxhall Cavalier 16v		DON 1	DON 2	BRH 1	BRH 2	THR 1	THR 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	OUL 1	OUL 2	BRH 1	BRH 2	DON 1	DON 2	SIL	KNO 1 8	KNO 2 12	BRH 1	BRH 2	SNE 1	SNE 2	OUL 1	OUL 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	25th	3

1. ^ – Race was stopped due to heavy rain. No points were awarded.

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

‡ Endurance driver.

Complete European Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	DC	Points
1985	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Rover Vitesse	MNZ 3	VAL 3	DON 3	AND 3	BRN 9	ZEL Ret	SAL 5	NUR Ret	SPA Ret	SIL Ret	NOG 3	ZOL 3	EST 4	JAR 4	8th	140
1986	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Rover Vitesse	MNZ 2	DON 4	HOC Ret	MIS Ret	AND 3	BRN 5	ZEL 19	NUR	SPA 6	SIL 1	NOG	ZOL 13	JAR 4	EST 3	13th	130
1988	Wolf Racing Team	Ford Sierra RS500	MNZ	DON Ret	EST Ret	JAR	DIJ	VAL	NUR Ret	SPA	ZOL						NC	0
	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A										SIL 15	NOG

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1987	Tom Walkinshaw Racing	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A	MNZ	JAR	DIJ	NUR Ret	SPA	BNO						NC	0
	Wolf Racing Team	Ford Sierra RS500							SIL ovr:9 cls:2†	BAT	CLD	WEL	FJI

† Not eligible for series points

Complete Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	DC	Points
1988	Holden Special Vehicles	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	BAT Ret	WEL Ret	PUK	FJI	NC	0

Complete Australian Super Touring Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Pts
1995	Ross Palmer Motorsport	Ford Mondeo	PHI 1	PHI 2	ORA 1 6	ORA 2 9	SYM 1 Ret	SYM 2 5	CAL 1 3	CAL 2 3	MAL 1 Ret	MAL 2 Ret	LAK 1 7	LAK 2 6	WIN 1 6	WIN 2 6	EAS 1	EAS 2	7th	62

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1984	Mobil Rover Racing	Armin Hahne	Rover Vitesse	Group A	152	12th	1st
1985	JRA Ltd	Ron Dickson	Jaguar XJS	C	3	DNF	DNF
1988	Holden Special Vehicles	Tom Walkinshaw	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	C	5	DNF	DNF
1989	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Robb Gravett	Ford Sierra RS500	A	158	8th	8th
1990	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Paul Radisich	Ford Sierra RS500	Div.1	161	2nd	2nd
1994	Allan Moffat Enterprises	Andrew Miedecke	Ford EB Falcon	A	157	8th	9th

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1983	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Steve Soper James Weaver	Mazda 717C	C Jr	267	18th	2nd

References

1. "Goodwood - Legends at FoS: '80s tin-top titans". Goodwood.com. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
2. "Jeff Allam". Archived from the original on 10 May 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
3. "Jeff Allam". Motorsportmagazine.com. 7 July 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
4. "Rover Vitesse in Motorsport Australia". Roversd1australia.com. 8 October 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
5. "Saturday Sleuthing: HRT's First Bathurst Winner". Supercars.com. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
6. "BTCC Pages - British Touring Car Championship". Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2008.
7. "Allam Returns to BTCC as Driving Standards Advisor – BTCC Crazy". Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.