26 Facts About Bernard Unett

William Bernard Unett was a British racing driver and development engineer, three times winner of the British Saloon Car Championship in 1974,1976 and 1977.

Bernard Unett's parents ran a farm and it was being around, then helping repair the farm machinery sparked his interest in mechanics.

Bernard Unett was now working at Rootes' new technical centre at Whitley where he worked on vehicle evaluation under Graham Robson.

Bernard Unett was setting lap records in the Imp at Brands Hatch.

Bernard Unett had won the Westover Saloon car Championship, a 'free formula' Saloon car series run at Brans Hatch, with 41 points.

Bernard Unett was having great success racing a Sunbeam Tiger, registration number ADU 180B, in the 1965 season.

Bernard Unett, having modified the car, had little trouble beating the competition, receiving glowing press reports.

Bernard Unett just fell short of winning the Autosport championship in the final race of the competition, due to a broken fan belt and a broken rear axle.

Bernard Unett finished 2nd overall in the Fred W Dixon Marque Trophy in the Monster Tiger.

Bernard Unett went on to race in the single seat Imp powered Vixen cars that dominated the BP Formula 4 championship in 1968, the Vixens winning the first 6 places, With Bernard Unett winning the BP title.

Bernard Unett already had a brief go at Formula 3 using a Lotus 31 in the 'Les Leston Championship' in 1967, and he started to develop a Holbay powered car for Vixen.

However, Bernard Unett crashed the car at Silverstone on its first test and that's as far as the project got.

Bernard Unett was a last-minute stand in for a three-man private entry for the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally, using a Hillman Hunter.

Bernard Unett was to buy a Lola Cars T 142 from racing driver Derek Williams.

Bernard Unett won the 1600cc class on eight occasions, with victories at Brands Hatch, Mallory Park, Snetterton, the Thruxton Circuit and Ingliston.

In 1975 Bernard Unett was elected to the British racing drivers club, but the 1600cc Avenger was not competitive enough to get consistent results against the newly introduced Toyota Celica and finished up with only three class wins and out of the top three in the Saloon Car championship.

Bernard Unett sidestepped the Toyotas in the following two years by dropping a class racing a 1300 cc car.

MOPAR, the parts and accessories firm sponsored the car, with Bernard Unett himself running the operation from his Wolvey home with mechanic Tony Bradshaw and Bernard Unett's wife Joan who managed the team.

Bernard Unett began to compete in rallies and in 1977 he took part in the Galway International Rally using Hillman Avenger modified for group 1, finishing 6th overall and winning the team prize with Robin Eyre-Maunsell and Derek McMahon.

Bernard Unett entered the Manx rally in an Avenger with Paul White as co-driver, finishing in 6th place with 13021 points.

In 1978 Bernard Unett did the development testing for the Chrysler Sunbeam Lotus, which was renamed the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus when Chrysler sold the company to Peugeot.

Bernard Unett became involved in world class competition when The Sunbeam Lotus took part in international rallying, going on to win the RAC Rally in 1980 in the hands of Henri Toivonen and the world rally championship 1981, with Bernard Unett being development engineer, test driver and part of the roadside rally support team.

Bernard Unett remained in Coventry and in 1981 worked on the development of the Talbot Samba for rallying, but this project was abandoned the following year, ending competition participation in Britain for several years.

Bernard Unett co-ordinated the 'Sunbeam Ti Challenge' series, a competition for less experienced young rally drivers, using an uprated version of the road going 205 Ti model.

Bernard Unett was forced into retirement in 1988 when a back injury he suffered in a shunt ended his direct involvement in motorsport.

In 1995 Bernard Unett became a Life member of the British racing drivers club.