50 not out…………
The British Touring Car Championship clicked-up its first half century when
the new season got underway at Brands Hatch in March. It’s seen a few
changes during that time, as was amply visible when inaugural champion
Jack Sears and his Austin Westminster posed on the grid with reigning
champion Fabrizio Giovanardi’s Vauxhall Vectra at the pre-season media
day.
For a start, the venue – Rockingham – didn’t exist in 1958, and there weren’t
too many Italians man-handling unwieldy ‘50’s saloons round the
predominantly ex airfield British circuits. Not that they wouldn’t have been
welcome, just that it was very much a British affair. Actually, aside from the
odd passing antipodean, foreign drivers did not impact upon the British scene,
or the British Saloon Car Championship as it was originally known, until the
days of Super Touring in the 1990’s.
That Austin Westminster seemed a slightly unlikely racer even then, looking
more at home at vicar’s tea-parties and the like, but at the time Britain did
actually have a motor industry and so the grid was full of home-grown
products like the Austin A35, Riley 1.5, Ford Zephyr and Jaguar 3.4, just the
occasional Borgward Isabella or Volvo Amazon to liven things up. Although
the series went through various incarnations over the years, there was a class
structure in place all the way through to the end of the 1980’s – only with the
advent of Super Touring did it become single class. Consequently the variety
of cars racing was huge; pick your class carefully and it was quite possible to
achieve success with a tiddler. John Whitmore took overall honours in 1961 at
the wheel of a 1-litre Mini, for example.
By 1963 things were getting a bit more serious though. John Cooper talked
BMC into producing the Mini Cooper, the little rocket storming both the race
and rally worlds. Ford were not to be outdone, Walter Hayes and Colin
Chapman put their heads together to come up with the Lotus Cortina, again a
car that achieved succes on both road and track. After starting the season
with a Willment-prepared Cortina GT, Jack Sears switched to a Lotus version
once it was ready, to scoop his second title. The year was notable for the
arrival of the ‘big bangers’ from the ‘States though. Graham Hill won the over
3-litre class, using a 7-litre Ford Galaxie as well as a 3.8 Jag.
The following year, 1964, is remembered as the year Jim Clark swept all
before him in a works Team Lotus Cortina – and remember, he was reigning
Formula 1 World Champion at the time! Don’t quite see Kimmi Raikkonen
fitting-in an Italian national series in an Alfa 156 between Grand Prix
commitments this year, do you? It is slightly amusing that one of the most-
often published pictures of that season depicts Clark three-wheeling at
Brands Hatch; the factory records show that he actually lost a wheel during
that race!
Clark and Hill were not the only Grand Prix stars to grace the saloon car grids
either. Clark was regularly partnered by Peter Arundel and also Trevor Taylor
whilst Roy Salvadori was a Jaguar exponent, Jack Brabham and Jackie Oliver
drove Mustangs and South African John Love was an early Mini Cooper pilot.
Vic Elford even raced a Porsche 911 which became a touring car by dint of
its’ internal dimensions meeting the criteria! Stirling Moss is remembered for
his exploits in big Jaguars early in his career, but how many of you recall him
teaming-up with Martin Brundle in a pair of Richard Lloyd-run Audi 80’s in the
early 1980’s? More recently Jonathan Palmer had a stab at racing a BMW
but is mostly remembered for receiving a very public ear-bashing from
Swedish “lady” racer Nettan Lindgren! Jan Lammers arrived with Volvo in 1994
and Derek Warwick was lured into the fray by Alfa Romeo in 1995 but did not
meet with huge success. Others to have tried F1 include Jo Winkelhock,
Christian Danner, Gabriele Tarquini, Johnny Cecotto and David Brabham.
It took until 1965 for one of the big V8’s to win overall, Roy Pierpoint doing the
honours in a Ford Mustang in what was to be the last season run to Group 2
reulations. The introduction the following year of Group 5 led to slightly more
standard-looking machinery but with greater engine modifications allowed.
Consequently John Fitzpatrick claimed the crown that year in a Broadspeed-
prepared Ford Anglia 1000cc screamer, before Aussie Frank Gardner
dominated for a couple of seasons with various Alan Mann-built Fords. A
mighty 4.7-litre Falcon did the job in ’66 giving away initially to a BDA-engined
MK2 Lotus Cortina the following year, switching to the then-new Escort Twin
Cam during the season.
It was back to the ‘baby boomers’ after that. Alec Poole was champion in
1969 with a Cooper S, whilst Bill McGovern locked-up the next three seasons
with the diminutive rear-engined Sunbeam Imp prepared by George Bevan
down on the south coast. He benefitted from the more intense battles in the
bigger classes but things switched back to Gardner in ’73, armed with a 7-
litre Camaro, before the rules changed yet again.
By now the Middle East war and the attendant oil crisis had made itself felt
and the governing body, the RAC, adopted Group 1 rules in an effort to reign-
in costs (sound familiar?). Again smaller cars came to the fore, with Bernard
Unett taking the title three times (1974, 1976-77) with Hillman/Chrysler
Avengers. Richard Longman followed suit with a self-prepared Mini 1275GT in
78-79. The interloper was Andy Rouse in ’75 with a Broadspeed Triumph
Dolomite Sprint. The ‘Yank Tanks’ were effectively legislated out by the end of
that season, former ‘bike racer Stuart Graham being the last to win the big
class with a Camaro. After that 3-litre Capris were as big as it got, and pretty
entertaining they were, in the hands of such as Gordon Spice.
Things seemed to go in threes after that, the extremely popular Win Percy
taking the title in 1980-81 with a rotary-engined Mazda RX7, before switching
to a Toyota Corolla in 1982. By now the big class was all about the Rover
SD1, initially in 3500 form before becoming the Vitesse at a later date. Jeff
Allam and Pete Lovett were the successful pilots of the gorgeous-sounding
V8’s initially. Following on from Percy it was Rouse’s turn to pick-up a trio of
titles, remarkably in three very different cars – Alfa Romeo GTV6 (1983),
Rover Vitesse (1984) and Ford Sierra Turbo (1985). Rouse is the BTCC’s
most winning-est driver with 60 victories to his credit.
After winning the small class in 1985 at the wheel of a Ford Escort RS1600i
Chris Hodgetts - who really was the fastest milkman in the west - took the
honours over the next couple of seasons with a Toyota Corolla GT before
Frank Sytner claimed BMW’s first title at the wheel an M3. By now the car to
have in the top class was a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and although John
Cleland set-off his touring car career by winning the title with a Vauxhall Astra
GTE, the writing was on the wall, Robb Gravett getting the best of the Sierra
tussles in 1990.
All change from 1991 onwards however. Feeling they could do a better job
themselves, a group of team-owners got together to form an organisation
called TOCA to oversee things. Aussie Alan Gow, who at that time was
working for Rouse, was given the job of administering things – and what a job
he has done! After the much-missed Will Hoy took the single-class
championship in 1990 with a Vic Lee Motorsport BMW M3, the Super Touring
formula for 2-litre cars took over from 1991 onwars and battle commenced in
spectacular style. The title went to Tim Harvey’s BMW 318is, again run by
VLM, but only after his main rival Cleland was very publicly torpedoed out of
the final race at Silverstone by Harvey’s team-mate Steve Soper. The massive
crowds the series was now attracting loved it!
The series took another step forward in 1993 when the BMW factory sent
along the crack Schnitzer team to run a pair of 318i’s for Jo Winkelhock and
Steve Soper. Despite being new to the circuit Charly Lamm and his boys
quickly adapted to things in Britain, to the extent that ‘Smokin’ Jo ran out a
very popular champion at the end of the year.
The invasion didn’t end there though. Alfa Corse arrived in 1994 with a pair of
blood-red 155’s (series’ PR Jonathan Gill used that line so often during the
season it’s still ingrained on the mind!) with which F1 refugee Gabriele
Tarquini and Giampiero Simoni cleaned up, the affable Tarquini winning eight
out of 21 races, whilst Simoni won the last race of the year after playing
faithful rear-gunner all season. Tarquini finished the year 76 points clear of
nearest rival Alain Menu despite the Italian team withdrawing from one
meeting altogether. It was a controversial season though...
It wasn’t just the snow that shocked the Alfa Corse team when they arrived at
Thruxton’s season opener, for they weren’t quite prepared for the frosty
reception that greeted their interpretation of the rules. Giorgio Pianta and
Ninni Russo headed the operation and they are seasoned campaigners on
the world stage and so naturally had read the rule book very closely before
embarking on a new challenge, even though it wasn’t written in their native
tongue. Consequently they worked-out just what they had to do to make the
155 competitive. The result? One special-edition model available from your
local dealer complete with an adjustable front and rear spoiler kit packed
away in the boot!
That didn’t go down at all well with the good ‘ol boys who had been caught
napping. Rouse in particular was very voluble on the subject, not helped by
the fact that he had been struggling to make the Ford Mondeo truly
competitive. There was a certain irony as those with long memories recalled
that the some of the components on the self-prepared Alfa Rouse won his
title with ten years ago wouldn’t have borne too close a scrutiny.... Whatever,
the matter rumbled on for a while until compromise was reached and the
Alfa’s front splitter was run in a fixed position. Through it all Alfa won many
fans, sold a few cars, and Tarquini was a popular champion.
By now things were at fever pitch. Almost overshadowed by the Alfa saga
was the fact that Volvo also arrived on the scene. Accepting that it was going
to take a while to turn the big 850 into a front-runner, the TWR-run oufit
accepted the public perception of the previously staid Swedish marque by
racing an Estate. They might not win many races but they got plenty of
publicity! And by 1995 they were one of ten manufacturers represented on the
grid – Alfa Romeo, BMW, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Peugeot, Renault, Toyota,
Vauxhall and Volvo. Alfa left at the end of ’95 to be replaced by Audi. Nissan
came and went too.
Things sort of returned to normal in ’95 when Cleland clinched the crown in
Cavalier fashion, the Vauxhalls now under the control of Ray Mallock and his
highly respected RML oufit. There was another rude awakening the following
year in the shape of the all-wheel drive Audi A4 quattro, Frank Biela cruising
to the title in a controlled manner. Alain Menu had been around since the
beginning of Super Touring after being rescued from a hand-to-mouth single-
seater existence by Prodrive. His first season was disrupted by a leg-
breaking quadbike accident but when Renault arrived for 1993 the Swiss-
French driver was a shoe-in, together with Tim Harvey. Bit of a poisoned
chalice in a way as the narrow-tracked Renault 19 was a pretty evil device,
only really coming into it’s own at the soaking wet Grand Prix meeting at
Donington. Cleland for some reason was a bit suspicious of Menu, but after
following the wayward Renault round Brands during a qualifying session he
gave him some grudging respect, commenting to me that whatever Alain was
being paid it wasn’t enough!
Whatever, the 19 eventually gave way to the Laguna and a switch of team,
preparation being taken on by Williams Grand Prix Engineering no less, a
measure of the regard that BTCC was being held in those days. That led to
Menu winning the title in ’97, a feat he repeated in 2000, back with Prodrive
but this time driving a Mondeo. Ford rather did the rounds of the preparation
outfits in an effort to achieve success with the Mondeo, but it was a long time
coming. The 1998 season finally fell to Rickard Rydell and Volvo, the 850
having long since been replaced by the more compact S40, The century
ended with another success for RML, but this time it was with Nissan and
Frenchman Laurent Aiello, ably supported by David Leslie.
Jason Plato courted controversy almost from the day he first arrived in the
BTCC as Menu’s team-mate and even though he took the title for Vauxhall in
2001 he was politely (or not!) shown the door by boss Mike Nicholson at
season’s end! Incidentally, Super Touring had run its course by this time,
massively escalating costs having frightened most of the manufacturers
away. Something of a hybrid formula was introduced designed to appeal to
independent teams, but with the rules being peculiar to Britain (ST had
become a worldwide phenomenon) the series rather lost its way, not helped
by a turbulent period in TOCA management which saw Gow off the scene for
a while.
Vauxhall remained loyal to the cause however and that paid off with a further
three titles – James Thompson in 2002 & 2004, sandwiching Frenchman
Yvan Muller - with facory opposition being limited to a relatively low-key
Honda effort. The BTCC has always had a strong contingent of privateers,
none more so than Matt Neal. Like Thompson, his height effectively ruled him
out of a single-seater career, and remarkably he has raced in BTCC since
1992, usually at the wheel of a car run by his family outfit, Team Dynamics,
headed by father Steve, himself a former Mini driver. Neal was always very
much the fan’s favourite, none more so than when he claimed a £100,000-
prize put-up by TOCA for the first privateer to win a race outright, this in the
heady days of multi-manufacturer involvement. Since then he has won back-
to-back titles in ‘05/’06 with Dynamics-run Hondas. After being beaten by
Vauxhall last year he joins reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi in the
works team for this season. It will be interesting to see how he gets on, for he
has tried this before – once with Vauxhall and once with Vic Lee’s Peugeot
406 Coupe squad, but never met with the success he has had with own team.
This season sees the biggest entry list for a while, and with Gow firmly at the
helm together with extensive ITV coverage things are looking healthier than for
a while. On the manufacturer front, Vauxhall have fought-out the manufacturer
title with SEAT over the past couple of seasons and the Spanish company
have made history by bringing diesel power to the BTCC for the first time this
year – winning a race as early as the third meeting of the season.. We have
already seen experiments with LPG and bio-ethanol as the search goes on to
find alternative fuel sources.
My apologies for getting carried away with the Super Touring era, but I was
there and it was fun! When I first got involved in freelance race reporting I
rather concentrated on F3, Formula Ford etc, but having covered the early
exploits of David Coulthard and Dario Franchitti for The Glasgow Herald they
asked me if I could do something on touring cars, as at that time Scotland
was well-represented by Cleland, Leslie and Ian Forrest. I quickly got hooked
and even though the Herald lost interest after a couple of years I had other
outlets. We really were one big happy travelling circus for a few years – in
effect a world championship, albeit with the races all in one country. If you
look at the entry lists of the re-invented World Touring Car Championship of
the last year or two you will see amongst others the names of Gabriele
Tarquini, Alain Menu, Rickard Rydell, Jason Plato, James Thompson and
Yvan Muller, all former BTCC champions.
My memories go back a lot further though! As an 11-year-old, I remember
patiently waiting for Jim Clark to sign my autograph book as he changed out
of his overalls in the back of a Cortina at Snetterton – no motorhomes then! I
remember seeing my first Ford Mustang, practically a life-changing
experience and still one of my favourite cars. Best of all was that magic
season in 1994 when Gabriele Tarquini and Alfa Romeo swept all before
them, but then there are those who will say I am biased!
John Elwin, June 2008
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