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, Allam 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 second 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. 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.
Jeff 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. Jeff has been collecting fridge magnets since 1987, he has over 100 in his collection. Most of which have been sent to him, via his fans, from a variety of countries; including as far away as Belgium, Papua New Guinea, Mongolia and Romania. His ambition is to have one from each country of the world. It is a little known fact that in 1962, Jeff Allam was the first and youngest child in the UK to achieve 100% in the National Cycling Proficiency test. Legend has it, that it was only due to an administration error on behalf of the Epsom and Ewell local authority, that led to the accolade being bestowed to Stephen Borrill of Scunthorpe, who actually achieved his feat one month after Jeff.
Allam's 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. In 1987, he raced as a guest entry at Goodwood in the MG Maestro Challenge.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p8v1f-MZZ_U He was then champion in the TVR Tuscan Challenge in 1989.
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 third car (driven by Hahne and Aussie John Goss) winning with Walkinshaw and Win Percy finishing third in the lead car after late race problems which saw a split oil line. 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 five 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 eighth 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.
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 fourth place with two race wins in 1992 and a ninth-place finishing in 1993. In 1994, he placed tenth 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, Allam 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 eighth out of a field of sixteen drivers.
In May 2011, 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.
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 SILovr:5cls:2 BRHovr:5cls:3 OULovr:8†cls:2† THRovr:10cls:3 SILovr:8cls:1 THR DONovr:4†cls:2† SILovr:7cls:3 DONovr:5†cls:2† BRHovr:5cls:3 THRovr:7cls:3 BRHovr:4cls:1 4th 29 2nd 1978 Allam Motor Services Ford Capri II 3.0s SILovr:4cls:3 OULovr:4†cls:4† THRovr:4cls:4 BRHovr:7†cls:5† SILovr:3†cls:3† DONovr:3†cls:3† MALovr:3†cls:3† BRHovr:1cls:1 DONovr:2†cls:2† BRHovr:3cls:3 THRovr:7cls:7 OULRet† NC 0 NC 1979 Allam Motor Services Ford Capri III 3.0s SILovr:3cls:3 OULovr:5†cls:5† THRovr:5cls:5 SILovr:1cls:1 DONovr:2cls:2 SILovr:6cls:6 MALovr:8†cls:4† DONRet BRHRet THRovr:2cls:2 SNEovr:1cls:1 OULovr:2†cls:2† 8th 45 2nd 1980 Triplex Esso Motor Team Rover 3500 S MALRet† OULovr:5†cls:5† THRovr:5cls:4 SILRet SILDNS BRHovr:1cls:1 MAL BRHovr:?cls:? THRovr:3cls:3 SILRet NC 18 NC 1981 Tom Walkinshaw Racing Rover 3500 S MALovr:8†cls:7† SILovr:4cls:4 OULRet† THRovr:5cls:4 BRHovr:3†cls:2† SILRet SILovr:2cls:2 DONRet† BRHovr:1cls:1 THRovr:1cls:1 SILovr:1cls:1 7th 50 2nd 1982 Team Sanyo Racingwith Esso Rover 3500 S SILovr:1cls:1 MALovr:1†cls:1† OULovr:5†cls:5† THRovr:4cls:4 THRRet SILovr:1cls:1 DONovr:2cls:2 BRHovr:3cls:3 DONovr:1cls:1 BRHovr:3cls:3 SILovr:5cls:5 4th 60 1st 1983 Team Sanyo Racingwith Esso Rover 3500 S SILovr:2cls:2 OULovr:1cls:1 THRovr:2cls:2 BRHovr:2cls:2 THRovr:2cls:2 SILRet DONRet SILovr:3cls:3 DONRet BRHovr:4cls:4 SILovr:1cls:1 DSQ 53 DSQ 1986 TWR – Herbie Clips Rover Vitesse SIL THR SIL DON BRHovr:1cls:1 SNE BRH DON SIL 18th 9 6th 1987 R.A. Potter Racing Developmentswith Castrol Rover Vitesse SIL OUL THR THR SIL SIL BRH SNE DON OULovr:2‡cls:2‡ DON SIL 25th 7 11th 1989 Trakstar Motorsport Ford Sierra RS500 OUL SIL THR DONovr:2‡cls:2‡ THR SIL SIL BRH SNE BRH BIR DON SIL 36th 6 13th 1990 Vic Lee Motorsport BMW M3 OUL DON THRovr:8cls:2 SILovr:8cls:3 OULovr:11cls:3 SILovr:10cls:3 BRHovr:8cls:5 SNEovr:10cls:5 BRHovr:9cls:3 BIRovr:7cls:2 DONovr:9cls:3 THRovr:11cls:6 SILovr:9cls:3 6th 124 3rd 1991 Vauxhall Sport Vauxhall Cavalier SIL2 SNE4 DON5 THR2 SIL2 BRH5 SIL8 DON15 DON2Ret OULRet BRH18 BRH2Ret DON6 THR10 SIL8 6th 80 1992 Vauxhall Sport Vauxhall Cavalier SIL3 THR3 OUL3 SNE6 BRH2 DON15 DON2Ret SIL1 KNO11 KNO22 PEM6 BRH15 BRH29 DON14 SIL2 4th 137 1993 Vauxhall Sport Vauxhall Cavalier SIL5 DON6 SNEDNS DON2 OUL3 BRH17 BRH23 PEM10 SIL18 KNO16 KNO26 OUL6 BRH15 THR13 DON111 DON212 SIL9 9th 67 1994 Vauxhall Sport Vauxhall Cavalier 16v THR14 BRH16 BRH25 SNE6 SIL112 SIL29 OUL6 DON16 DON23 BRH119 BRH210 SIL7 KNO14 KNO25 OUL12 BRH113 BRH2Ret SIL18 SIL29 DON19 DON213 10th 76 1995 Vauxhall Sport Vauxhall Cavalier 16v DON1 DON2 BRH1 BRH2 THR1 THR2 SIL1 SIL2 OUL1 OUL2 BRH1 BRH2 DON1 DON2 SIL KNO18 KNO212 BRH1 BRH2 SNE1 SNE2 OUL1 OUL2 SIL1 SIL2 25th 3 – 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 MNZ3 VAL3 DON3 AND3 BRN9 ZELRet SAL5 NURRet SPARet SILRet NOG3 ZOL3 EST4 JAR4 8th 140 1986 Tom Walkinshaw Racing Rover Vitesse MNZ2 DON4 HOCRet MISRet AND3 BRN5 ZEL19 NUR SPA6 SIL1 NOG ZOL13 JAR4 EST3 13th 130 1988 Wolf Racing Team Ford Sierra RS500 MNZ DONRet ESTRet JAR DIJ VAL NURRet SPA ZOL NC 0 Tom Walkinshaw Racing Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SIL15 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 NURRet SPA BNO NC 0 Wolf Racing Team Ford Sierra RS500 SILovr:9cls: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 BATRet WELRet 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 PHI1 PHI2 ORA16 ORA29 SYM1Ret SYM25 CAL13 CAL23 MAL1Ret MAL2Ret LAK17 LAK26 WIN16 WIN26 EAS1 EAS2 7th 62
Complete Bathurst 1000 results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1984 Mobil Rover Racing Armin Hahne Rover Vitesse Group A 152 12th 1st 1985 JRA Ltd / Jaguar Racing 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 1983 Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd. Steve Soper James Weaver Mazda 717C C Jr 267 18th 2nd
References