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BTCC: Memorable Drives [Part 1]
The car on its roof, is a Toyota! Image Credit: SpeedHunters,com
When we look back into the tyre marked pages of history, we often find ourselves remembering the extreme achievements; the best drivers, the worst drivers or even the ‘best’ crashes. It is very easy to say that the greatest driver in a championship in a certain year is the one that wins the title outright. But for this motorsport writer, history is written not only with the grand events and big names, but the individual moments that illuminate the darkness of history. Sometimes to brilliance comes from the midfield. For me, I wish to remember the memorable; the moments that truly prove the greatness of the British Touring Car Championship.
This is a personal list compiled for you wonderful readers. When I think of the BTCC, these are the memorable drives that come to mind. Some of these may be obvious, some of these may be shocking, but they are all moments that define a legendary championship. In no way is this exhaustive; I would love to hear what your would make up your memorable drives in the series!
Andy Priaulx in 2002 with the new look Honda Racing
Andy Priaulx was one of the standout drivers of 2002. Image Credit: mattsalisbury.co.uk
My opening entry comes from a driver who many forget ever competed in the BTCC; Andy Priaulx is most known for his highly successful ETCC/WTCC career in which he won multiple titles. However, before he made his move to the European and World stage, he thought he would throw himself in at the deep end and enter the BTCC with the then returning Honda Racing team in the Civic Type-R. This was the first time Honda had entered the British championship since the departure from the Super Touring regulations in 2000. Developments throughout the year surged Priaulx up to the back bumpers of the all conquering Vaxuhall team. His crowning moment came at Knockhill in ever-stormy conditions he battled the elements to gain his first race win (almost throwing it off in the process). He may not have been a championship contender in 2002, but Andy Priaulx showed true racing talent in challenging the established front runners in what was only his first year in the BTCC (in a brand new car don’t forget). Never give up. Never give in. Never quit.
John B&Q – Candidate for Ultimate Film Biopic
John B&Q never achieved much success, but the name lives on. Image Credit: Kelvin Fagan
If ever there was a driver who deserved a Hollywood epic (or maybe indie British film) made about his life, it would have to be John Batchelor. John was a racing driver, businessman, political activist and football club owner (York City FC). This was a man who was so desperate to compete in the BTCC, that he even changed his name to John B&Q so as to secure funding from, yes you guessed it. He competed in 2001 in the production class of the series, never gaining any significant success. In fact, he spent most time getting involved in incidents or having mechanical issue. But as a driver, you could just tell he was happy to be there. The saddest part of the story, he died in 2010 as a result of liver disease brought on by alcoholism. He may not have gotten any trophies or championship success, but the name of John B&Q will go down in BTCC history.
Alain Menu 1997 – ‘I’ve been the bridesmaid too long, now it’s my turn’
Alain Menu in his title destroying Laguna in 1997. Image Credit: btccrazy.net
When it comes to memorable drives, there are few that can rival the season long performance of Alain Menu in 1997. For 3 years in a row, Menu had finished 2nd in the drivers standings. So as 1997 came along, Menu and his Williams Renault team decided that enough was enough. Not only did he win the ’97 championship, but he had the championship sewn up nearly half way through the season. It was a totally dominant drive from one of the greatest touring car drivers that there has ever been.
Tommy Rustad 1998 – How did he do that?!
In 1998, this is usually how Rustad’s car would look. Image Credit: SuperTouringRegister.com
Tommy Rustad competed in the BTCC in 1998 as an independent, entering an ex-factory Renault Laguna. If ever you watch back the review of the 1998 season, you would very often see Rustad’s car involved in some form of incident that would lead him to retire from the race. In fact, the picture you see above is how most people got to know his car in the ’98 season. And yet, somehow, as if by some dark spell from an ancient sorcerer, he managed to win the Independents Championship. How is it possible for a man who spent much of his time crashing to win the BTCC Independents Championship? It utterly blows my uncomprehending brain-box. It is by this miracle that makes Tommy Rustad a worthy recipient of a place in my memorable drives list. How can anyone forget a man so unlucky yet luckier than any other driver I know?
Nigel Mansell – 1998 Donington Park – The greatest race ever captured on film
One former F1 driver. One wet race. True excellence. Image Credit: Motorsportretro.com
The year was 1998. The location was Donington Park. Nigel Mansell made his spectacular return to the BTCC. Due to his off in the first race, he had to start the soaking feature race from the back. What followed was most possibly the greatest motor race to ever have taken place. From last to 1st, then eventually in 4th. If you don’t believe me, here is a video clip from the race to prove it:
Nigel Mansell Takes On The Touring Cars
It takes a lot to render Charlie Cox and John Watson almost speechless, able only to shout the names of the drivers swapping positions every second. The Ford Mondeo was not a race winning car in 1998, but they do say that rain is a great leveller. To have a F1 legend taking part in a championship is one thing, but to have him challenging for the race win is just unbelievable. Nigel Mansell is not only a great driver, but the perfect showman. He should have taken on the BTCC in a full season. You could not write that script. I will go as far as saying that this race alone cemented the BTCC as the best touring car series not only in Britain, or Europe, but the world. As John Watson says,
“British Touring Cars has certainly eclipsed anything we have ever seen before”
This opening entry in the ‘memorable drives’ series only contains 5 entries so far. There is very good reason for this; we need your views. Who am I to say what the most memorable drives in the championship are? As this little mini-series goes on, I hope to include your suggestions as well as mine. Many races left untouched. Many moments remain.
– Season performances
– Race performances
– Overtakes
What memorable moments make up the BTCC for you?
Let me know and join the conversation on Twitter: @lewisglynn69
Keep Driving People!
Peace and Love!
The Car That Started The War
Today is November 11th – Armistice Day and the UK’s day for remembering soldiers who were killed in the wars, kind of like ANZAC Day here in Australia and New Zealand. So in honour of the day, let’s take a little look at a particular car that played a role in detonating World War 1.
The car in question was a Gräf and Stift Double Phaeton built in 1911. It was smooth, large and luxurious, having the grand total of two cylinders and having a maximum power output of 32 horsepower – heady stuff back then! Gräf and Stift was a company that was just breaking into the new field of automobiles, and was based in Vienna, Austria. They specialised in luxury cars popular with royalty, and buses and trams. Over the years, the luxury cars have dropped by the wayside, and Gräf and Stift kept on going with the buses. In fact, they still do make the buses, although the company got the new name MAN Nutzfahrzeuge Österreich AG courtesy of a bunch of mergers (a bit of a mouthful but probably easy to say if you speak German).
The fateful Gräf and Stift Double Phaeton was the property of Count Franz von Harrach rather than Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. The Archduke certainly had motor vehicles of his own – in fact, he once employed the brilliant Austrian engineer Ferdinand Porsche as his chauffeur when Herr Porsche was doing his compulsory stint in the military. Fans of the 911 and the Boxter are probably very grateful that Austro-Daimler bagged him once his military service was over. Just think what the world would have missed if Porsche had stayed on in royal service and had continued as the Archduke’s chauffeur. Instead, the car’s owner was the driver that day.
Why did they choose that particular car for the Archduke for his motorcade procession through the streets of Sarajavo? It was probably because it was large and luxurious, and because it was a soft-top convertible so the Archduke and his wife, Duchess Sophie, could be seen sitting side by side – something slightly controversial and radical, given that she was not of royal birth and it was a “morganatic” marriage. The Rules said that because of her humble origins, she could only be by his side if he was acting in a military capacity but not on other state occasions. As the Archduke was going on an official inspection of the Bosnian Army, they took the chance to appear in public together and to be seen as a proper royal couple. Hence the need for a large car with an open top so they could be in comfort.
Would a different car have changed the course of history by making it harder for an assassin to have reached the Archduke? Possibly. The more closed in design of the 1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost would have protected him. The lack of a running board on the 1910 Mercedes Skiff, plus the extra “windscreen” in front of the back seat could have made it harder for the assassin to get close to the royal couple.
The fact that it was a soft-top saved them during the initial assassination attempt where a bomb was thrown at the motorcade. This bomb hit the Gräf and Stift Double Phaeton all right, but it hit the folded down soft top and bounced off, rolling under another car, where it exploded, wounding a number of the crowd. Ultimately, this led to a change in plans that saw the route of the procession being changed so the Archduke and the Duchess could visit the wounded in hospital. Unfortunately, some of the drivers weren’t informed of this change, and some started heading along the original route. During the few moments when the mistake was being realised and cars were being reversed to get back on the right road, a Serbian rebel named Gavrilo Princip saw his chance and stepped in with a pistol…
Then everything went mad across Europe as treaties and alliances called one country after another into conflict, with the colonies across the world following suit.
It’s interesting to speculate about what would have happened to the automotive world if World War I had not broken out. The desire for better weapons and more efficient troop transport spurred development and design. Would technology have been delayed without this spur? Perhaps… but perhaps not. The glamour sport of motor racing was doing its bit to encourage development (nothing’s changed there!), so who knows?
And what happened to the Gräf and Stift Double Phaeton? Because of its significance in history, it has been preserved in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna.
Having THAT Conversation With Grandpa
It was one of those conversations. I don’t think that I’ve seen a look on my mother’s face like that since my younger brothers were teenagers. No, my mum wasn’t complaining about anything I was doing. What she was frustrated about was an upcoming conversation she was going to have to have with my 91-year-old grandfather. “If I ever get like that,” she said through gritted teeth, “just take the keys away from me.”
The tricky conversations she was having with my grandfather were about his driving. Yes, he still had all his marbles and his eyesight. He’d passed his medical tests for driving. However, my grandfather is the stereotyped absent-minded professor who will serenely ignore all sorts of chaos around him and keep on going regardless. “Keep Calm and Carry On” is advice he doesn’t need. He is the sort of person who would be so busy doing complicated mathematical operations with the numbers on the rego plate of the in front of him that he wouldn’t pay much attention to the sirens blaring and bearing down on him from behind. He just couldn’t see what the problem was about and why we were all making a fuss about how he drove around town without his glasses – he was going to the optometrist’s wasn’t he? And didn’t he know the way there? OK, he wrote off his Fiat Uno in one ding a few years ago and has had a couple of close calls in the Suzuki Swift that replaced it. And so what if he dies in a crash – he’s over 90 and ready to go, isn’t he? So what was the problem?
The problem is that we have all seen him making all those scary last-minute dodges, getting lost after a detour around road works sends him somewhere that doesn’t look the way it did as he remembered it 30 years ago. We’ve seen him getting in and out of the car park and nearly collecting other cars and a tree. Quite frankly, I would rather ride in a car driven by my learner-licence teenage son than by my grandfather. And we don’t want him to kill himself by accident in a car crash even if this idea doesn’t bother him. He could easily take someone with him. Or he could not see that kid on a bike that he doesn’t expect. My mother was having THAT conversation because a few people had expressed concern about his driving.
Australia has phased out driving tests for older drivers on the grounds that a lot of older drivers are perfectly competent on the roads. Fair enough, too. You don’t magically become exactly like everybody else the moment that you have a certain birthday. Older people need to stay independent for as long as possible, and this often means driving.
However, there are some factors that put older drivers at risk. Older bones are more brittle and healing takes longer, so a ding that would merely bruise a younger driver could send Great-Aunt Mary to hospital with a fracture. Reaction times do get slower. Add in the way that a lot of older people prefer little hatchbacks that aren’t quite as sturdy in a collision and you have a recipe for trouble, especially in combination with absent-mindedness.
It’s tricky, though, telling an older driver that they’re becoming a hazard. It requires tact, sensitivity and delicate handling. I certainly don’t envy my mother the task (and am grateful that she has given me permission to just take the keys when the day comes). Mind you, my mother already had THAT conversation once before many years ago when my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s was starting to kick in and affect her driving.
It’s better for everyone if older drivers are honest with themselves about their ability to drive safely. The Transport Accident Commission has put together a list of warning signs that perhaps it’s time to think through your options (hire a chauffeur? public transport?). These warning signs are:
- Serious health conditions such as arthritis, epilepsy, high blood pressure, anxiety or a heart condition;
- Medication that impairs driving;
- Difficulty reacting to what other drivers are doing;
- Regularly driving at inappropriate speeds, either too fast or too slow;
- Always needing passengers to give you directions and tell you when it’s safe to enter intersections;
- Regularly ignoring or misunderstanding traffic signs and signals;
- Difficulty judging distances between vehicles
- Getting easily flustered or angry;
- Difficulty turning your body, head or neck for extra visibility;
- Problems with glare from shiny things or other cars, especially at dawn or dusk;
- One or more accidents in a short space of time;
- Easily tired after driving for an hour or more;
- Problems concentrating when driving;
- Passengers pointing hazards out to you that you haven’t seen or don’t see until later
- Feeling uncomfortable in heavy traffic.
(more information at the TAC website: http://www.tac.vic.gov.au/road-safety/safe-driving/older-drivers).
But there may be another solution. A lot of modern cars have collision avoidance systems, blind spot monitoring and sensors here there and everywhere. While these probably ought to be avoided like Ebola for learner drivers, they are just what an older driver needs to rein in a wandering mind or to supplement slowing reactions, or to point out hazards when you don’t have a handy passenger to do this for you. So there you have it: permission to go and grab a new sports car for your old age!
Happy driving, no matter how old you are,
Megan
BTCC 2015: New Team go to Infiniti and Beyond!
Just as the current class has taken their final curtain call for 2014 and the lights fade on yet another season of the British Touring Car Championship, already there comes exciting news from afar. The first announcement regarding the 2015 season has been made, and it is something huge. A new manufacturer has appeared on the horizon, working in conjunction with a team that welcomes a whole new era in motorsport. Ladies and gentleman, may I present to you, ‘Support Our Paras Racing’ and Infiniti Motorsport.
Buzz Lightyear would be proud. Image Credit: BTCC.net
Initially, you may be wondering what or who exactly Infiniti happen to be. Looking at the glorious picture you see before you, it may ring some familiar bells in your mind. One of these bells that may now be ringing with an ever increasing intensity is the similarity in look between the Infiniti and Lexus, and you would be correct in noticing that. In fact, Infiniti and Lexus do indeed share a considerable similarity; they are both the luxury division of famous Japanese manufacturers. Lexus hails from the capable hands of Toyota, while Infiniti is the product of the genius minds of Nissan.
Now when it comes to the BTCC, Nissan is somewhat of a legendary name. Throughout the mid-late 90s, Nissan rose to become one of the best teams the championship had ever seen. In 1998 they clinched the manufacturers title under the piloting of Anthony Reid and the late-great David Leslie. But that was not enough for them, so in 1999 they returned; Leslie along with his new team mate Laurent Aiello clinched both the manufacturers and drivers title, with Aiello just beating Leslie in the drivers title fight. The Vodafone Nissan, along with its drivers became a true legend of the Super Touring era of the BTCC, and their cars can still be seen today racing in the official Historic Super Touring series. With the announcement that Infiniti have entered the championship as a fully fledged manufacturer for 2015, you could just say that an ancient power force is rising from the ashes of the past ready to reignite the Nissan flame once more.
The all conquering Vodafone Nissan Primera has become an icon of 90s BTCC. Image Credit: Piston Heads
Just to add to the excitement of a neo-Nissan return to the sport, the team that is entering the two Infiniti Q50s is called ‘Support Our Paras Racing’. The addition of this team to the championship represents the dawning of a new era in British motorsport. As well as gunning for championship glory, the central aim of the team is to raise both awareness and funds for ‘Support Our Paras’, the official charity for the British Parachute Regiment. Most importantly, any profit the team makes as a result of championship entry will be donated directly to the charity itself.
The charity’s focal objective is to donate money towards the welfare of both injured paras along with their families. Not only that, but as a juicy addition to this, the team will include a number of injured paratroopers who will work in the team to prepare the cars for each race weekend. It truly is a momentous occasion within the BTCC to have such a campaign changing the way we think about motorsport and its ability to impact on people’s lives. The team will not only give work to those injured serviceman who can no longer serve in the parachute regiment but also raise awareness to a whole new motorsport audience.
The new team will give work to those injured in the British Parachute Regiment. Image Credit: BTCC.net
Its a proud moment seeing the ‘Support Our Paras’ logo atop the mighty Infiniti. Image Credit: BTCC.net
‘Support Our Paras Racing’ is headed by Derek Palmer, while the drivers will be Derek Palmer Junior (shockingly it is the son of Derek Palmber senior) and Richard Hawken. Hawken has won previous club championships along with testing for Speedworks. The Palmer father-son duo are most well known for their involvement in the Historic Super Touring series that has taken place in the UK over the last few years. Both are proven race winners, and it would not surprise me if they were up there challenging for wins throughout next year.
Alan Gow, the series Director and main man of the BTCC said:
“It’s fantastic to welcome a new manufacturer to the BTCC and particularly a premium brand such as Infiniti. There’s a great initiative behind the team too, with the ‘Support Our Paras’ charity being such a worthwhile cause. The record-breaking 2014 BTCC season concluded in fine style at Brands Hatch last weekend and the interest in the series continues to grow year-on-year. These entries from Infiniti are further testament to that and we look forward to welcoming the team to Britain’s best championship in 2015.”
There are not enough words in existence that give justice to just how significant this is for not only the BTCC but for motorsport in general. Motorsport has always had a significant following, so to combine this with charity work is a stroke of genius. The British Touring Car Championship in recent years has undergone somewhat of a rebirth, and the addition of a non-profit charity based team will further add to the growing success of the series. In many ways, everyone will benefit from this. The return of a neo-Nissan team, giving injured serviceman jobs in the motorsport industry and most importantly raising awareness and funds is one of the most exciting things to come from British motorsport in recent years.
BTCC is evolving. A new era is upon us. Watch this space
To Infinity and Beyond!
Keep Driving People!
Join the chat on Twitter @lewisglynn69
Peace and Love
When I first heard Paras, I will admit I did think Pokemon…
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