Russell Brookes
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Russell Brookes (born: 16 August 1945) was an English rally driver. He made his competetive debut in 1968.
Brookes won the 1977 and 1985 British Rally Championships driving a Ford Escort RS1800 and a Opel Manta 400 respectively.
Brookes championed a number of privately entered cars including a BMC Mini Cooper until 1973 when he was signed by the official Ford works team to drive an Escort RS1600. When the team progressed onto the new model Escort, the RS1800, Brookes found himself in formidable company within the team, Björn Waldegård and Hannu Mikkola being his team-mates. He stayed with Ford until the end of the 1979 World Rally Championship season.
Two years in the Talbot team followed before he joined Vauxhall/Opel dealer team, first in the Chevette then the mighty Group B Opel Manta 400. Brookes rejoined Ford in 1989 for an assault on the British Rally Championship, championing a Sierra Cosworth. Here he stayed until the end of 1992 when he more or less retired from competitive rallying.
In 1978 Brookes started one of the longest sponsorship deals in motorsport when he signed with Andrews - Heat for Hire (an air conditioning company). Their distinctive colour scheme graced all of his cars through to 1992.
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