Stories from Super Touring. Bourd's 200th victory in the
British Touring Car Championship was also the maiden victory for
New Zealand's Paul Radasich, who had already impressed everyone
in his previous five appearances in the brand new Ford Mondeo.
Welcome to the latest episode of Stories from Super Touring.
I'm Levi Riley and to help us look back at the 1993 August
Bank Holiday meeting at Brands Hatch is most sports
photographer Greg Denton. Greg, welcome to your first
appearance of Series 5 at the Pod.
How are you? Yeah, very good.
Thank you. And yeah, thank you for
welcoming me, inviting me back again for Series 5.
It's a real, real pleasure. So as ever, we'll come to our
guest for our usual opening question first.
So, Greg, what comes to mind for you when you think about this
memorable meeting on the August Bank Holiday at Brands in 1993?
Yeah, I think clearly Ford's 200th win in in touring cars,
that's a major milestone, the first Mondeo win.
But also haven't just watched back the the highlights.
It was an absolutely cracking race.
You know, I forgot how good the race actually was.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's something
before we started recording, we've all mentioned how good the
race was and we'll we'll come to that, I'm sure throughout the
podcast. Adam coming to you next.
What jumps into your mind when you think about this race?
Always, Greg, I'll be. I mean, you can't avoid the fact
that obviously Mondeo got their 200 victory in the Touring Car
champion, which was an absolute milestone beyond belief.
But I think just generally it was just just your absolute
classic touring car race where it was just action going off
everywhere. And also David Leslie on Paul.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And it was a great qualifying
performance, one of a couple that he had at Brands Hatch that
season. And finally coming to you, what
are your memories about this lovely hot and then not so hot
weekend in August that year? Yeah, the weather was funny this
this weekend. It was torrential one minute and
then dry the next. But my one abiding memory is the
very venerable Ford Sierra Sapphire of Bob Berridge, which
looked archaic compared to when it was being lapped by by Paul
Radisich and the brand new Mondeo.
It looked genuinely archaic. Next.
It looked like it was lost on like a historic race.
It did look like it took a wrong turn, didn't they?
It just looks so old compared to that one there.
And it was only a couple of years old.
It wasn't, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't that old, but just
that's that's I guess how quick the, the, the formula was
evolving at that point. But it used to always just make
me laugh. It's just like, look how old
that thing looks. Yeah, it looked dated, didn't
it? Really dated.
Compared to that, not brand new Monday, absolutely, yeah.
I always think it's quite interesting with that car.
I think Jim Wheels first appeared in it in Snetterton.
I think he blew the engine up, so hardly any photographs of it.
And then I think he sold it to Bob Berridge.
And yeah, then he bought it out. But you're right, it was so old.
It wasn't particularly competitive in 91.
And to be fair, Bob peddled it pretty hard.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He he became quite decisive in
this race actually, didn't he? As always, we've asked our
faithful listeners what they also thought of about this race
meeting and that we'll glisten to some of what they've come up
with now getting in touch on Facebook.
Dougie Dowson, who was the brother of Roger Dowson, who was
overseeing the master team in the early 90s, and he got in
touch to say that he just remembers the brilliant race in
that weekend and also the Pat grandstands.
And I think the Pat grandstands really became a key feature of
this August brands meeting throughout the rest of the 90s.
Definitely some of the most monumental crowds, as we've
discussed on the podcast before. Yes, absolutely.
Daniel Parker got in touch to add that it was a brilliant
race. Tim Davies remembers Steve
Sofa's rough pass on Rob Gravitt, which I'm sure we'll
we'll talk about as a very big conversation topic, especially
with with championship implications at that stage where
Shepherd got in touch. So it's the race where, as Alex
mentioned, Bob Beveridge in his Ford Sierra made his only
appearance in the season review video.
And what an appearance it was, one that I don't think many
people have forgotten either. And Jon Corley finally got in
touch remember Rob Gravet's second place finish for Peugeot
and said that he'd always been a big fan of Gravet and this sort
of result showed just how good he was when the machinery was
working for him. Heading into the weekend it was
announced that Chris Goodman would be making his debut in the
championship. At this meeting he would be
racing 1/3 Acura across Vauxhall in the car that was built for
the Spa 24 hour race. It's a turning point, Goodwin
said before the race. The idea is to set me up for a
full season in 1994. Greg Christie get his full
season in 1994, but after that we never saw him on a BTCC grid
again. Was he a Miss Hammond on the
grid only being around for one and a bit seasons?
Yeah, I think Chris was another example of a really talented
racer that didn't quite get his chance in touring cars.
I think if he had it done, it would have gone on to really
good things. You know, fantastic racer,
carried on in GTS, made great success.
But I guess it just showed how difficult it was even in those
days to get the budget together to to get full seasons together
and also be snapped up for works at work still.
You know, when we look at some of the drivers that ended up in
Super Touring, you think, would you have done a better job than
some of them? Morbidly Boolean.
Yeah, yeah. I don't think it's done much,
much worse than them. Tiftadel returned to the grid in
a third Nissan Primera, whilst his teammate Keith Odorf spoke
to Auto Sport before the race and claimed that any one of 12
drivers could win the upcoming race.
Alex with Keith Rey. The field closed up that much
from the start of the season where the BMWs were much more on
top and dominant. Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, you just have to look at this race to see, you know,
you're about about 30 laps in. The top five are all separated
by just over a second. They're all different
manufacturers. Yeah, they're all different
cars. You've got a Ford, Peugeot, BMW,
Toyota, Keith himself in the Nissan, Patrick Watson.
The Mazda was competitive. You had David Leslie in the
Kiriakos, RML Vauxhall that was getting pole positions
everywhere. The field, the field had closed
up considerably. And then, of course, you've got
the addition of the four Mondeos, which didn't race at
the first race of Brands Hatch. They had come in from from
Pembrey. And as the races went on, they
were getting more and more competitive.
And yeah, you know, Paul stuck it on the the front row of the
grid here as a as a prime example.
They ran 1-2 in the race for a lot of this race.
So yes, the the field had closed up dramatically compared to the
start of the season where it pretty much was a BMW
demonstration at most tracks. The 1994 calendar was also
announced over this weekend, with the vast majority of
meetings for the new season now having two races per meeting.
Adam Especially in this modern age of three races a day, the
BTCCC events, it's mad to think, looking back, isn't it, that you
had some meetings that only had one race, isn't it?
It is, but back then it was the norm, wasn't it?
You know, it was just the norm. You were all geared up to watch
one race or as a driver. They were all geared up to do
one race and everything, everything counted, everything
mattered. But then I remember being it
was, it was big news and he said, well, how's that going to
go? Or don't know if that's going to
work. And obviously you don't, you
have your doubts about how to, don't you?
But it was a big announcement. But from a team's perspective
and a driver's perspective, there's a lot more to think
about. You can't necessarily go
completely gung ho or they wouldn't necessarily see that in
any BTCC race that people are backing off.
But you can't afford to have a lot of damage in the first race
knowing that you've got to then get it ready for the second
race. So the teams would have felt a
bit of pressure there on from the drivers thinking, look,
bring this thing home. But so it's a case of we need to
score maximum points but at the same time don't do anything
stupid. But now I think you just added
to the complete excitement for a fan, knowing that you're going
to witness these twice in a day, which was absolutely brilliant.
As Adam said, there were the double race meetings up to 1995.
There were 10 minutes between the races.
Yeah. You know what I was going to
say? Which was which that was bonkers
in itself. You know, you couldn't, you
know, you try spinning the car around.
It's a case of just, you know, oil levels or dumping the oil,
fresh oil if they were doing that.
But it's fuel and tires and any minor adjustments like you have
no time to really do anything. Yeah, if you had damage to the
car, body work damage, you couldn't stick a new wing on it.
You couldn't stick a new bumper on it.
It was just keeps back on because you had 10 minutes, you
had to be back out there when that they had, they had a board,
a timing board with 10 minutes on the clock and you you could
watch it countdown and it's mad to think of it now, isn't it?
I think some drivers is probably just enough to get a comfort
break before the next race. Exactly, Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Jump, jump out, maybe a banana
or something, quick snack just to get your energy levels back
up because it's hard fought racing, isn't it?
Especially around a tight twisted circuit like brand and
especially on the some of the summer days around there can be
really, really hot and intense. So yeah, it wasn't really a
break for a driver because you're still sat in the, you
know, you're like you said, a quick comfort break back in the
heat of the car. That's that wasn't penetrating
through there that, you know, you've got to get back in your
sweaty race suit. You might go and change your
underwear top, you know, you know, mixed top underneath your
suit. Maybe just try and freshen up a
little bit. But that probably wouldn't.
To be honest though, you know, imagine just smoking.
Joe just sat there having a cigarette and a biscuit canoe
with his open face helmet on. Just, you know.
I reckon he probably got through a packet in that 10 minutes
like. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Saturday it was sunny and hot
for qualifying, which probably slowed the track by a couple
attempts, but that didn't stop the Touring Carboys rivaling the
time setting qualifying in cooler conditions during the
June meeting. David Leslie took pole at that
brand's meeting in June and was one of the favourites for the
top slot again. The Scott, however, was faced
with the same dilemma as the rest.
I went out on the first set of Donmap tyres and set a
reasonable timing came into the pits.
Then I couldn't decide whether to wait for the second session
in the hope that it would get cooler or to use the other two
tyres when I slipped from 1st to 5th in the times I went out
again and it was a good lap, everything worked, he said after
the session. As in June, Leslie proved that
the Dunlop tyres had a significant advantage over the
Yokohama's on that all important hot lap.
This time, however, we had a new element in the shape of Michelin
which the new four team was running.
Ranasicha put the Mondeo into second slot on the grid and was
now confident of a good result, while teammate Andy Rouse was
ruining a potential pole lap which had been spoiled when one
of the Nissans got in his way. Greg a real sign there with the
pace and qualifier that these falls were now up to speed and
finally competitive after delayed star entry into the
season and then slowly finding their feet in the first few
meetings after their debut at Pembrey.
Hey guys, it's Matt Clawson, your host of the All Automotive
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Yeah, I think as you said, considering the start of the
year, you know, the whole just is it front wheel drive, is it
rear wheel drive turning up at race meetings, being totally
uncompetitive. Like last series, we talked
about Donnington 93 for the European Grand Prix round where
they tested and then withdrew because it would have not been
the right thing to do. The fact that they were now
really setting the pace I think showed how amazing the job that
Andy Rouse and the team did to turn that car into a really
competitive proposition. Splitting the two fours was
Vinkelhock, He too reckoned that he'd been blocked on his best
lap, but he had kept 2 brand new tyres for the race and was super
confident. His teammate Steve Soper was
fifth fastest, just 100th of a second slower than rounds Adam.
It's Brands Hatch in the indie circuit, so the gaps are always
going to be close on that time. But 100th of a second between
drivers is is just incredible, isn't?
It is, you know, it takes you longer to blink and that sort of
puts things into perspective a little bit from a fan from a fan
to try and understand what that means.
But even you know, we it's not uncommon and you're seeing for
even in Formula One, you will attack and all the everything
they have touring cars, you've always been hundreds of a
second, a 10th of a second, 2/10 per second like is literally the
blink of an eye. And and it's always been close.
And that's what made the championship as good as the ease
because it's competitive. And that's what people want to
see close racing. No one wants to see a car that
is a second lap faster than anybody else.
But brands is a particularly hard circuit to overtake on and
even the default GP circuit. So it means even more to be, you
know, a row ahead or a car ahead in qualifying.
So, you know, to to, to qualify the front there.
I was never fortunate to be on the front row around there.
But I've had reverse grades where I've been closer to the
front. But yeah, it's such a hotly
contested race because if you're in the middle of the pack, you
know, you've got to have your wits about you on it from all
angles because you just, you can just easily get mugged around
there. You know, you if someone has the
inside of you and then you, you've had to give a bit of room
for them and another one quickly follows through.
It's that type of OK. So yeah, it's difficult.
But yeah, you are talking hundreds, thousands of a second
sometimes. Yeah.
So it would have been frustrating for him to miss out
by that. But, you know, he tried his
hardest to get it back. Didn't.
Rob Gravett was an excellent 6th in his Peugeot Four O 5.
For the first time this year, the car was looking genuinely
competitive. I'm very happy, said Robert.
The point is we've improved again since Alton and it was
better than it ever been before there.
Alex. Is it good to see Peugeot
finally putting together a competitive package here at
Brands? Absolutely.
It's Peugeot was steadily and slowly improving throughout the
second-half of 1993. If you remember in our episode
with Ian Flux he told us in at at Not killed in 93 the two
works Peugeots had brand new engine designs and his Peugeot
was not allowed that new engine. And if you remember, he
described his engine as one that had come out of a Leeds taxi.
Standard Ian flux then. Yeah, so that did push Peugeot
more towards the front of the grid, but this was another step
forward again. And the team were a bit sort of
illicit. They didn't really want to say
what they'd done, but apparently there were major chassis
changes. The front subframe had had been
altered and redesigned and and apparently that was a real
breakthrough on, on the competitiveness of this four and
five sadly didn't really follow through and the competitiveness
didn't move on and on. And you know, this was one of
well, it was, it was the joint best result that Peugeot ever
got in the BTCC. We've talked long and long and
hard about their their issues in in this podcast, haven't we,
that that Peugeot had during the era.
So it's a real shame that they didn't bounce, bounce forward
from this momentum and and, and get that elusive win that never
quite got got to them. So it's a shame.
But yeah, great to see the 405 up there because I always
thought it was a nice looking touring car.
I think it was a bit of a Gravity special circuit as well
because if you remember 91 in the track * Sierra, that was
actually his best race in that one where I think he finished
second. So it was clearly one of
Gravity's favorite tracks as well.
The most confused and depressed drivers on the grid were found
in 17th and 21st position. The men, who occupied 3rd and
6th in the championship standings before the race, could
not understand why their Vauxhall Sport Cavaliers were so
slow. It feels good, but it's just not
doing the times we want, explained John Cleland.
If you're going on the wine tonight, I'm going on the
whiskey, teammate Jeff Allen joked to Cleland after the
session. Even the use of the revised
engine with a reverse cylinder head wasn't enough to help Jeff.
It was just three hundredths of a second faster than Ian Khan's
ex Acuria cost Cavalier, which was the fastest of the
privateers. Greg really not a happy time at
the factory Vauxhall team, especially considering there's a
Cavalier on pole and it's not theirs.
Yeah, I think it was really not a good race at all.
You know, they were really off the pace.
And I think what was surprising, watching the coverage again, to
not really hear John Cleland mentioned very often or not seen
at all, just showed you how far off the pace they were.
I think the 93 voxel Cavalier really wasn't a particularly
great car. Yeah, they were high in the
championship, but it didn't seem to be a very consistent car.
And clearly that was probably the final nail in the coffin for
Dave Cook because obviously they then swapped to 94 to Ray Malik.
So yeah, you could clearly see the team was was struggling.
Andy Rouser was quietly confident that today would be
the day that Ford would take its 200th tour in car victory.
Well, it's, it's a good chance, yes.
We're both starting fall of ourselves, starting at the front
of the field and it's a, it's a long race, so anything can
happen. Hopefully we can work our way to
the front. It's always going to be
difficult, but certainly we're in with a very good chance of
that 200th win today. Heavy rain overnight looked set
to change everything for the race though, and a 10 minute
familiarisation session was quickly arranged.
A couple of hours before the start of the race, Rob Gravett
told BBC Grandstand just how much work was required with the
change of conditions. If you have to come in and pit,
then basically the race is over. So we've got to make the
decision. It's very, very difficult today
because the weather here could be wet, could be dry.
The weather forecast is that it is going to be wet.
But if we had to run right now then I'd run as a dry setup and
that means changing the gear ratios, changing the front and
the rear roll bars and the spring.
So we've got a lot to do to the car and I have to give at least
25 minutes for them to be able to change.
The teams are able to change those parts on the car.
By the time they were out, however, the track was drying.
Slicks was soon the order of the day and little was learned.
Adam, a quick question to you. From a driver's point of view,
these familiarization sessions when the weather changes over
the weekend, how important are they for the drivers and can
sometimes actually they end up being a little bit counter
intuitive, especially in a situation where as we've seen on
race day, it started wet and then dried for the race.
Yeah, so, so did they make this session available?
Like literally no notice, just looking all the time.
That's right, yeah. I've got things out of order.
I absolutely don't agree with it at all.
I think for anyone that's not confident to go out there yet,
they're going to be all over it. But I'd love to know whether the
manufacturers have been instigated that or as a couple
of drivers got together and made that happen and and swayed
because I can't see Alan Gal wanting them to do it either to
be honest. But it's part of racing.
It's the same for everybody. I thought I've done stuff like
that. All of a sudden if he pees down
with rain and you're on slicks and you've got time to act the
way it's on, get out there, get it done.
That's part of the fun. That's part of who's going to
find the grip the most, who's going to, you know, get the best
and take the advantage and and, you know, rise above it all.
You know, conditions like that just sort something out from the
boys. So absolutely not.
The start is always creature at Brands Hatch, so let's say what
David Leslie had to say to BBCTV before the race start.
I've made some absolutely diabolical starts this year.
We've done some work on that to try and help my start both my
practicing and some work. With the car.
So therefore I'm hoping that I will make some better start
today than I have done in the past.
As the lights went out, Randositch jumped Leslie from
the start to lead into Paddock 36.
Laps of action all the way coming up.
So watch Winklehawk in the white BMW row, two Radish each moves
to the right to box him in and he passes David Leslie into the
lead. Can it bend?
It's Radish each leading Leslie second, Winklehawk third, Steve
Sofa running wide. I've been working on that all
night, said Paul at about 4:00 AM.
It was good too. More seriously, the team had
been working hard to get the engine mapping right for the
race starts and it had appeared to have paid off.
Alex, that's a pretty demon start from Raddatz.
I don't think it's quite on the level of Pembrey for me.
Another. Year.
But it was a very good start, wasn't it?
It was a brilliant start. And yeah, I felt for David
Leslie saying before the race that, you know, he'd made some
terrible starts throughout the year and that he was determined
to make a better start this time.
And same thing really happened, didn't it?
But yeah, whatever Paul Radisich was doing at Foy and in the
hotel, it worked because it was a brilliant start.
And and and he led, yes, jumped straight into the lead from from
Paddock. So yeah, excellent start
considering as well. He had a couple of BMWs behind
him, you know. Yeah, excellent to take the lead
in the in the Ford. Brilliant start.
Because that easily could have gone the other way with the BMWs
because like Sober and Wilcock weren't that there are only a
couple of rows behind. And that's doable with BMWs.
We've seen it in through my era. Yes, yeah, yeah.
Wayne Pat, that house. So when I watched the race
again, I looked at it and I thought, well, I fancied one of
the BMW used to at least be first or second into that.
Very Paddock Runnersitch kept his lead ahead of Leslie whilst
Rouse, Winkle, Hop and Super were free abreast down the hill
and up into Struid's Round Druids and down into Graham Hill
Bend. Winklehok and Leslie then made
contact. Greg.
There seemed to be a lot of incidents of Leslie and
Winklehok throughout 1993, didn't there?
Yeah, I think they were. They seemed to be quite
attracted to each other. And what what I was thinking is
actually how the discussions after those incidents would have
gone. So David Leslie with his broad
Scottish accent, Winkle Hock with his limited understanding
of of English. I dread to think what was being
discussed and what was being understood from those
conversations. With a cigarette break every 3
minutes as well. Sadly for David Leslie, he
normally came off worst. Yeah.
I guess that's expected. Two really hard races at the
front of the grid. That's true.
It's going to happen. That's true, yeah.
Although Leslie held the slide free, contact Vinkelhock, SOPA
and rounds for free up at Clearways, it was the BMWs that
got in a tangle, resulting in Super going wide and dropping to
6th behind Gravett Adam. Deep breath.
That's quite an exciting first lap, isn't it there?
Yeah, it's exactly as a fan, it's exactly what you want to
see and it's what you sort of got to expect from the touring
car Championship. But it was so much that was
going on, like let obviously Lily had a poor start.
Then he's he's he's collided with the BMW, I think sober
throat. Was it Winkle off at the front,
at the inside of him at Graham Hill and him sideways.
Who's come out at the bottom of Graham Hill?
The old Graham Hill. Yeah, fast Graham Hill,
completely sideways. Like look like he's going to
have a big tank slapper at some point because that could have
gone really bad. But he did well to save that
one. But you can't afford for any
incident, if you'd like. I said before you just go
tumbling down the order. And obviously the BMW sort of
got tangled up into clear ways. Didn't know where.
I think Sobrist tried to cut back on Wink a lot, but he
couldn't. And then he's gone wide on all
the dirt and the crap on the outside, and then he's lost it
with momentum coming onto the stride.
So there's lots going on, lots going on.
But it's, yeah, completely great as a driver if you're part of
it, but you're benefiting from all of that absolute nightmare
of a first lap if you're not benefited from that because you
just plumbing down the order. But yeah, as a fan, it was it
was great to watch it back, to be honest.
It's just mega. With similar battles happening
all the way down the field, Radicich LED Vinkelhok, Rouse,
Leslie Gravitt, Super Nidel O'dell, Eugene O'Brien and Will
Hoy over the line for lap one. It didn't take long, however,
for Vinkelhok to close the gap to Radicich.
The Kiwis healthy first lap lead of 1.09 seconds quickly dwindled
and Vinkelhok was only 6 temps adrift at the end of lap 2.
It was on lap 4, but the drama all started.
Peter Panic, and that is David Leslie, third in the Acura
across Vauxhall, well ahead of Cleland and alum in the works
cars in fact, up into druids and Leslie's attacking for second,
attacking Winklehog and he's hit Winklehog and they're all
pouring past the German and David Leslie, well, Leslie
rejoins. Winklehock is looking for a
weigh in. He's having trouble in finding
it. He rejoins with Jeff Allen's
battered Vauxhall and Jeff is down in 18th place.
Leslie was the fastest man on the track, coming within 100th
of a second of the lap record at Druids.
Leslie made his move and he and Vinglehop touched again,
smoking. Joey spun twice and David was
stuck behind him as the traffic streamed past.
They eventually both resumed down the field, Leslie in 14th
and Vinkelhock in 19th. Alex, thoughts on this one?
Racing incident, 5050 Yeah. Leslie, go wide.
Finkelhock tired. And what?
What do you think? No, no, no, for me, 5050 Leslie
had enough of a of a gap at the inside.
He was enough at the inside to justify being there and it's I
think it's just a typical Brands Hatch style incident.
It's just too as, as Greg said not long ago, 2 hard fast races
fighting for the same bit of tarmac and yeah, for me, just a
racing incident. Really unfortunate that they
both were Winklehox spun and and and David was sort of stuck
behind him and they really dropped down the order.
You know, half the time they probably would have just rubbed
panels and both got away with it.
But yeah, just a really unlucky racing incident.
I don't think there's any blame to be had here in the sense of
one is more to blame than the other.
I think it was just a a typical 5050 style race incident that
that happens. Yeah, from my point of view, I
think it is definitely a 5050 that the rumours there for
Leslie to make the move, he's made the most of it.
He's probably slightly missed the apex as you see them
initially looks to hit it and then as they start coming round,
Drew, as you can see, he's just coming away from it and and
that's where he's drifted. But it's nothing that really
equally probably Joe should have seen that one a little bit as
well and it's turned in a little.
So on both ways you can see this this a little bit of fault there
something they both could have done to avoid it and neither of
them have. So that to me is a textbook
5050. If the cars were in opposite
positions and it was smoking, Joe got up the inside of Leslie,
it would have been fine because Les is in a front wheel drive
car. He just kept his foot in it and
he just stayed in it. The problem you have with the
BMWs in any championship is their rear wheel drive and once
they get so far they're a passenger, it will spin.
That can only get, So you look at him, he's gone full lock, he
can't give it anymore. If he nails the throttle, it's
just going to help the spin. He's going to spin him around.
If he backs off, he won't even. It just gets to that certain
point where pivots round and once it goes a degree beyond
that you've gone. But front wheel drive, that's
the benefit. You can just nail it and you'd
stay in it and that and that's the difference.
So Winkle Hawk maybe could give me a little bit more room.
And I think he probably just looked worse on Leslie's part
because it was a BMW and he ended up spinning.
If that had to be in another front wheel draft car that both
would come out the end of that kind of a bit wide that the one
on the outside had carried on. He's just that characteristic of
a BMW. All this left Ruddersitch
leading Rouse, Gravit, Super Nidal, O'dor, Hoy, O'Brien and
Allan Menu all streaming through virtually nose the tail.
The first gap of more than one second between cars was between
Dave Pinckney and Alex Portman who were fighting for 25th and
26th position. Greg, this must be one of the
closest touring car races there's ever been, not just in
Super Tour, but throughout history.
Yeah, I think so. You know, it was competitive all
the way through the field. You know, at the front we had
Ford, Peugeot, BMW, Nissan, Toyota, different time
manufacturers as well. But to have it so close through
the whole field with the privateers as well, I think it
was a, you know, a real great example of that.
And I think the other question as well, I always ask myself,
was this really great, a great example to say why pre aero
Super Touring was better than post aero Super Touring.
And on the view of the the highlights of this race, you'd
say, well pre aero Super Touring was pretty damn good.
Yeah, absolutely. With different time
manufacturers as well, then for them to get so close, you know,
it's, it's, you know, testament to them really.
The fact that you've got such, well, I say such different
times, there must have been very, very close.
But to have two different time manufacturers, but to still put
the car so competitive, you know, against each other, you
know, testament to them. But I think that's the beauty of
brands as well. The indie circuit and and Gal
would have known that with the indie circuit that you don't get
spread out so much. Yeah, and I think it's the way
the cars evolved as well during the race.
You know the Mondo's were fast at the start.
They will Hoy in the Toyota at one point 10, but he was really
coming through the field. The Nissan's as well.
I think the cars were evolving as the race progressed as well,
which was also made a really exciting.
Yeah, and that's another good reason for wanting to be at the
front because at least you could just defend like crazy and still
potentially hold the cars, you know, in any any category that
you see around that circuit really.
You can keep the cars behind you for for pretty much the whole
race if you if you're struggling.
But you know, with the circuits like Silverstone or, you know,
it's a lot more spread out, you wouldn't get away with that.
So that's why being at the front of brands is so important.
And I said even Bob Beverage was hanging in there and he sits
Sierra. On lap 6, Keefe Dor moved up
into fifth place. It was a planned move, explained
teammate Nadel after the race, who dropped dutifully back to
6th. Tiff wasn't going to be involved
in the race for much longer though, as on lap 12 he was
involved in a collision with Will Hoy.
In car with Will Hoy up to Druids 4 and he hits than his
hand pushes pushes Tiffany Dell out of his way.
Will goes on ahead of a brown and menu, but poor Tiff's got to
wait and rejoin and he'll be practically last when he does
so. Oh, and Will's not going to be
very popular for that. I was visited by the Archangel
Hoi, said Tiff after the race. I'm afraid I was the offender
this time, said Will. Tiff soon pitted and called it a
day. Adam Wilho is being very honest
and upfront about his role in this one.
Can you blame him? I felt like he had no other
option. Probably.
Looking at, yeah, as of all the excuses and of all the things
that we've heard from all the drivers, even the ones that try
and blame it on a racing incident, it was such an I'll
timed manoeuvre that even he couldn't say it was a racing
incident, you know, and he's super experienced as well.
You just feel like a disappointed parent, don't you?
Look back at the punches, you're thinking, well, what was you
doing? I mean, I'm not angry, I'm just
disappointed. It's just one of those.
But he got his nose at the inside.
And again, you have to be, you have to have your nose sort of
at the inside of the the rear quarter panel as you're going
down the dip and up the hill before you then lunge because
the other car knows that you're there.
They can't really turn in now at this point.
So the laughing around the middle of Druids to sort of give
you the space. But he's tried the manoeuvre
from from way back and you can just see that the time they
actually turn into the corner, he's then just, he's then also
locked up because he's realized and panicked, like I'm not going
to slow this down enough. And as you get to the top of
Druids, it sort of flattens out. So you've got all that
compression, it's so steep. So you can brake so late.
That's what people don't realize.
You brake so late today, like you're barely breaking really
down a couple of gears. So you don't have that braking
distance to launch it at the inside of someone and, and have
the space to do it. And that's where you have to be
partially and nose at the inside of them as you're coming out of
the first corner down the dip. But you can just say that he's
just, he's just quite completely wrong.
And then he locked up and hit him as well.
And it was just a disaster. But yeah, he couldn't, you know,
he had to hold his hands if he couldn't do any more.
You can't start saying that's a racing incident because he was
so blatant that I don't think he was.
He wasn't deliberate. He was just so blatantly a bad,
bad call. He just made a bad call.
I don't know what Will had for breakfast, but he was a
different beast on race status this race meeting because it was
quick in a. Straight line as well.
There was a few people that, yeah, but there was a few people
he had run insurance with and he sort of had bits of contact
with. It was a very Will Hoy like
performance. Yeah, he was.
And that's what I mean, it was like such a gentleman and but he
was a tough racer. But he sort of he was just one
of those days where he must have just drove home and just thought
I've had an absolute. You don't want to forget about
it because it's just uncharacteristic of him.
But but when he watched the footage, I mean, the car was
quick, you know, he was quick. He was good down the down the
straights as well. Had a strong engine in it.
And but yeah, you just desperate, desperate measures
really to try and get past. But it's tough.
But I guess some of it was with one race per weekend as well,
you didn't have the chance to be a little bit reserved.
You had to go for. It that's.
True, it's not like you. Oh, I've gained 10 places.
I'll settle for this or reverse grid or yeah you know, I've got
bagged a load of points. I'm now, you know, I'm now sick
for whatever and then I can then start the second race in that
position and then I'll just try and do the same again.
You one race, you've done all that practice, all that
qualifying for over 3 days for that one race.
So you know, you, you, you don't get the chances that you get now
we've reversed grades three races in the day.
You know, we spoke about two races, but obviously then we've
increased it to three. So you have to remember that
that time back then wasn't like it is now.
Completely different era. Rather, such continued on his
relentless pace at the front, chased by Rouse and the
seemingly attached Gravit and Sopa.
Greg. It's only fair to know at this
point that this is a really strong performance from the
Peugeot in the hands of Rob Gravit, isn't it?
Yeah, I think we've already mentioned this was was this the
breakthrough moment for Peugeot? You really we all hoped it was.
Again, it was another one of those folks false dawns.
Even sitting watching the highlights again, I was sort of
sitting there willing gravity to get on and win.
Yeah, please. Come on, Rob, let's get a
Peugeot win in that. But it's like another one of
those moments where it's just flattered to deceive because we
it didn't happen again. So yeah, frustrating, but it was
really good to see them up front.
Leslie and Vinkelhock were both charging and by lap 13 were back
up into 11th and 15th places. Leslie's progress ended there,
however, as more contact put him off the track at Clearways and
teammate Harry Nussell collected him.
Out of Clark Kerb at 90 miles an hour into the top straight and
two Vauxhall go up and their teammates, the Akuri accost
team, David Leslie, Harry Nuttall.
Well, Nuttall stops. Leslie goes on and Harry Nuttall
seems to be a bit put out about that.
Not surprising really. And he stomps off behind the ARM
code of safety. Leslie dropped down to 19th and
Nuttall was out, his car heavily damaged.
I was on the pace again and I'm sure I would have got a points
finish again, Nuttall told Auto Sport after the race.
The Curia cost misery was complete on the next lap when
Goodwin, who ran an excellent 10th, made a move down the
inside of menu into Druids. It didn't work, the pair touched
and Goodwin was left with a flat tyre and a broken track rod.
Alex, Another weekend for lots of promise for a Curia cost.
And much like a lot of these weekends that they had promise
on in 1993, it ended in disappointment for them, didn't
it? Yeah, it did.
I think this was David's third or fourth pole position of the
season, and he had yet to convert any of those into a win.
Closest he got was at Pembrey when he was leading comfortably
and then a car failure put him out again.
Yeah, it's just incidents in this race, as we've already
discussed with Winkle Hawk, and then it was another incident
that put him wide and he's come back on track and he's been
collected by Harry Nuttall, who is his teammate of all people.
For him to sort of run into. Harry was doing well.
I found his reaction quite funny.
Just I was in the air. When he got out of the car and
he just started waving his arms and then, yeah, as you say,
Chris Goodwin, who was in the third car.
For the weekend was running 10th instantly menu yeah OK it didn't
come off the shame but yeah the a curia cost the car clearly had
pace and was clearly one of the front runners, but they just
weren't getting enough out of it through one reason or another so
but better to be that way than than slow and not being able to
get anything at all I guess but. And all started from a bad
start. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Or from a bad start. Yeah, if if Leslie had LED into
the first corner, as you say, Adam, that probably would have
been it. Yeah.
It was hotting up at the front too as Gravett continued his
strong showing and took second place from Andy Rouse.
Gravett made his move up to Druids and emerged in second.
Super also took advantage and pulled alongside Rouse through
Graham Hill and secured third position at Cersei's.
Peugeot must be delighted with their work because Rob's staying
ahead of the BMW. In fact, he's trying for 2nd
place. He's not only trying, he's
taking it. Cast Andy Rouse and no contact.
Brilliant. Meanwhile, through all of this,
Odor and Hoy latched onto the back of the leading group.
Adam, Is this one of the closest touring car races you've ever
seen? Completely there's been so many,
obviously, that we've discussed and we've witnessed and we've
been there and the and This is why we love it.
You know, This is why we love it because it, it's just real race,
isn't it? And the cars are so competitive
and the racing is close. And, and again, This is why
brands will always be on the calendar for me, because and on
the indie circuit, you know, such a small circuit, it just
creates that type of atmosphere where you just know it's going
to be close racing. And you'd, like I said before,
you'd sometimes you, you, you can, some people can do a
desperate move because they're just trying to everything to get
past. And you get so little chances to
do that around there. And that's why it's always a
spectacle of brands. And I think that's why you get
the big crowds in all weathers. You know, everybody wants to see
touring cars around brands because it is so competitive.
But yeah, it doesn't get much closer than that race.
And, you know, when I watch the footage back, it just reminds
you just, again, another great bit of touring car racing that
we used to witness there. And it just reminds you why we
do this, because it was just bloody brilliant.
Yeah, yeah. That, that clip of Murray
commentating and he lists off the names one after the other
and they are literally right behind each other.
It is a six car snake and they're all, and I think the the
extra thing to add is they're all different manufacturers.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's incredible.
You've got Ford, Peugeot, BMW, Nissan, And who's the Toyota
with Will Hoy? Yes, the battering ram.
Can you imagine how how great that was as a commentator?
Yeah, exactly. It's brilliant because.
It's almost like, you know, every race it's going to kick
off, you know it's going to be a spectacle.
It's not. They haven't got to think of
anything to say because it's all, there's so much happening
at one time. It's like, oh, he's done this
and he's done that all. He's gone off there.
Oh my God. Sometimes you see Murray just
having a bit of a meltdown at time because you don't know
where to look. Yeah, but compared to like,
obviously Formula One, where they're longer races and they're
not that close to each other like touring cars, it's absolute
chalk and cheese. So he must have absolutely loved
it. Yeah, Murray probably came in on
the Tuesday or Wednesday, whenever they were recorded at
the HP and watched the race and fought.
Oh, yeah. OK, This this one's bad.
This one's good. This'll.
Do Yeah, yeah, I'll do this one. This will be a blinder, yeah.
He did have this down as one of his favorite touring car races
actually on. But he did.
On Murray's Motorsport Spectacular, I don't know if
anyone remembers that VHS. I'm sure lots of people.
Oh yes, and he had this race down as one of his favorite
editorian car races and, and we can see why.
Yes, he can't help but love the whole Spectacle Canyon from a
from a commentator to a fan to a driver, it's just got
everything. Yeah, and Murray was the right.
The rest was He's just a fan, wasn't he?
Yeah. As the 6th battled up from
Vinkel, Hock was making a miracle recovery and was closing
in on them in 7th position, setting lap records in the
process. Greg, he was up and down the
road, sort of like a yo-yo, but this was some drive from Smoke
and Joe, wasn't it? Yeah, I think Smoking Joe was
one nickname. Yo-yo Joe was another, you know,
96. Yes.
Yeah, it was a prelude to what we were going to see.
And I think this was Joe through and through some, you know,
super blindingly quick, sometimes erratic.
You never knew what you were quite going to get from Joe.
I think probably the the car was quite grateful there was only
one race that that day, because I'm sure he got one hell of a
thrashing. He was absolutely on the ragged
edge a lot to really make those gaps up.
On lap 25, Ador and Hoy both pushed themselves past Andy
Rouse and dropped them on day down the order, Rouse explained
after the race. I locked up a rear tyre at
Paddock which slowed me. Keith got past and will manage
to follow him through. It was now all up for gravs as
gravit and sopa were right on Radissitch's tail.
And at 30s look at this first, second, third, 4th, 5th as fast
as I can say it in five different makes Port Peugeot,
BMW, Nissan, Toyota where win the Toyota Wilhoi 5th place
Keith O'door ahead in the black Nissan is 4th.
That's the end of another lap and they are nose to.
Tail five different makes in the top five.
It's all covered by just over a second.
Alex, this race is absolutely bonkers, isn't it?
We've touched on it before, but I think it's hard for us to put
into words how close and competitive this race was.
Yeah, anyone who hasn't seen this race before or needs a
reminder of this race, get on to the 1993 season review and watch
it because they do show a lot of this race and it's brilliant.
As I said just a couple of minutes ago, you know, five
different manufacturers in the top five, all covered by two
seconds Max. It's just brilliant.
And they're all top touring car drivers as well.
They're all at the top of this sport.
It's it's a brilliant watch and it's pretty clean as well.
In fairness, I have to say that I know we've had the odds
incident here and there, but generally it was a clean race as
well. You know, we we'll, we've not
got on to that yet. But Sopas, move on Rouse, Sorry,
Gravitz, move on Rouse. We'll talk about it in a bit.
I'm sure was superb, absolutely superb.
And as Murray said in the commentary, and no contact,
Brilliant. But but if you used to meet
somebody tomorrow who knew nothing about motorsport
whatsoever and you're trying to describe touring car races into
them, you'd say right? Watch Brands 93.
Yeah, this would be one of the races you'd.
Show you'd say nothing. You just say watch Brands 93 and
that will tell you what touring car is.
Yeah, bit like the M25 on a rush hour.
Yeah, it was. Yeah, there's always someone in
a Sierra holding you. On lap 30, Vinkelhock dived
inside Rouse at Paddock for 6th, but Rouse wasn't giving up.
He was faster out of clearways and grabbed the place back up.
The straight. Smokin Joe was right on his tail
but suddenly he was out of contention.
The BMW went straight on at Graham Hill with a front tyre
flat after he sworn it right through by locking up under
breaking. He pitted and rejoined but
finished only 21st. Adam ultimately a disappointing
and Joe's roller coaster of a race there.
It is, and this is what we said before, that you can have a
really joyous race if you're at the front and it's all clean and
you're not involved in anything. But if you're all of a sudden,
you know, 1/4 of the way down the grid or halfway down the
grid, you can get into such drama and bother where it's
kicking off in front of you, it's kicking off next to you,
it's kicking off behind you. And then he just had one of
those races where he was involved in a bit of everything,
really. And it just sort of just
somebody's race up, to be honest.
And again, I think you'd be one of them.
We'll just be glad to drive home and just think I've had them
there. That's a nightmare of a day.
And I'm glad to get home because it can go.
It can go like that very, very easily.
You know, he's one of the fastest cars out there, one of
the fastest drivers out there. But it just shows you how things
can change. The hole he put in the tire was
the Crucible. Yeah.
No, it's bizarre, isn't it? The actual hole he put in the
tire was. It must have been one hell of a
lock up. Yeah.
Yeah, he's looking to get it back to the pits because.
Yeah, yeah, that. Would have destroyed the front
wing, the whale and everything. But yeah, bizarre 1.
Drama at the front, meanwhile, was getting complicated as the
leaders came up to lap Bob Berridge and Dave Pinckney.
And the leaders now are coming up to lap.
Bob Berridge is Sierra and David Pinckney BMW.
Ready Siege is flashing his lights because the lead could
change here. He's got Rob Gravit on his boot
lid and he's got Sofa on his boot lid.
Now. If Barrage and Pinckney don't
move over and let the leaders through, we can certainly get a
change because Rob Gravit can see his opportunity to get past
Ready Siege. Sofa can see his opportunity to
get past Rob Gravit. Anything could happen up to 30s.
On to clear ways. Randisich got through cleanly
while Super grabbed his chance and muscled by into second.
It wasn't the cleanest of moves on.
Cram it there. Greg, What do you think about
this incident? Yeah, I think the term muscled
is probably the right one. It was, I think we've seen him
given before, but I think he was a little bit too, too robust and
probably the right result in the end with the with the penalty
that he got. But yeah, I think as a racing
driver, you, you see a chance, you see a gap, you go for it.
He made a gap there that didn't he?
Yes, like as drivers go, I mean they don't come much tougher
than what Steve Soap was made out of, like some manoeuvres and
hard race and he was super quick.
Like he didn't care like he was, he was as tough as it gets.
But yeah, you look at that, he that was like a can opener
maneuver that yeah, that was worse than Mr. Reed, wasn't it?
I was about to say the can opener that's.
Yeah, that manoeuvre there completely was, how Mr. Reed
describes it, Anthony himself. That was a can opener maneuver
like that. Gap was not even there.
Bulbs blocking got him excluded for careless driving, although
it was good to see that the venerable Sierra Sapphire was
much closer to the pace. Adam, the right call for bearish
there on the exclusion. Yeah, you know, you, it's a
tough one. When you come across Batmark is
because your heart sinks. You know, when you when you're
at the front and you come across a Batmark, you're thinking you
best have seen me, you best have seen me.
Because sometimes they can be in their own race, you know,
they're having their own rice. And I've I've had this in all
categories where they're having their own rice.
Yeah, if you look back, you can see that Beverage is actually in
a battle with Pinckney as well. So they're battling it out, too.
So have they seen us? Have they seen the leaders?
You just don't. No deal.
I think the irony of the whole thing was the beverage car was
actually a Andy Rouse built car. Back in. 1990 See the fact one
of his cars ended up being quite influential in making sure they
got their 200th win in the first of the Monday was probably
probably not in the script at the start of the day.
Yeah. And who'd have known when he
built the car what it was going to do exactly?
The stewards also decided to penalize Super for his move on
Gravett, switching the result so Gravett finished second ahead of
Super and 3rd Alex. Do you think that was a fair
decision on that one there from the stewards?
Yeah, as we, as we alluded to just now, umm, it was a bit too
robust. There wasn't really, I mean,
Steve didn't really have a nose at the inside at all.
It was, it was umm, he sort of bludgeoned his way past umm, uh,
and if you look at uh, later on after the incident, you look at
the door of the Persia and it's, it's proper caved in like it
was. Yeah, it was, it was a really
hard wallop He gave, he gave the, the 405.
Yeah. I did think it was a bit of a
can open a moment, but but a bit too extreme as you say, throwing
the can at the wall rather than, you know, gently opening the
can. I think it was a it was a cango
hammer moment. I.
Think. But with clear waves, because
there's no massive curb on the inside, it invites you to put
two wheels on the grass if you need to.
So it gives you the space to do that.
So even if you're defending and you're literally nearly on the
white line, you're always never going to be as far over.
So it's almost like you need to get your own car onto the onto
the grass a little bit to stop the likes of that happening.
But he would never have expected Steve to do that.
Well, it was such a big hit because the BMW stepped out and
then the back end of it gave him a, gave him, gave him A and he.
But Steve kept his foot in there.
He wasn't. Going to speed because.
He had, he had Rob's car to lean on all the way through, hence
hence the amount, the damage down the side of it.
But yeah, that was too tough a manoeuvre to get away with that
one. Paul Ratasich, meanwhile, took
Ford's 200th BTCC win after wrapping up the victory.
I just had enough on the straights to Ford powers, just
enough to keep the future and the BMW at Bay.
And they gave me a bit of breather and it was concentrated
through the corners and just sort of instead of trying to
pull away, I just kept it in front of them and drive a ski
race. Words just can't say how I feel.
It's terrific for Ford, thanks to Andy Rouse.
I mean, one day I was here to stay.
Ford's definitely back and I'm looking forward to the next win.
Greg The Blue Oval very famous for its touring car success over
the years, but this is quite an achievement at the time for
them, especially with a brand new car, wasn't it?
Yeah, I think, you know, a stalwart of the championship,
you know, food, food, many eras, Lotus Cortinas, Galaxies, than
the glory days of the RS5 hundreds.
Where was the dominant winning car?
They went through that period of a little bit of a doldrum, and
then the Mondeo came along and they really made a big thing of
it. I remember they did a fantastic
poster where they had a picture of every single car and the
obviously the Mondeo number #200 I think I've probably still got
a copy of it somewhere, but it was a a real walk through
history. But yeah, they really made a
big, big thing of it with their world car and so forth.
So yeah, I think a major milestone for them.
Yeah, the Ford Mondeo was the first global car, wasn't it,
that they produced that had been released literally worldwide.
And that was the big part of the the BTCC program was to because
the Sierra, the the the motorsport program transformed
the image of the Sierra. And I'm sure they were hoping
that they would do same with the Mondeo.
So, yeah, to to come in and be successful in only a sixth race
against the might of Schnitzer and BMW is it is extremely
impressive from, from Ralph Sport.
Yeah. Fair play.
I think it still amazes me as well when you look at the 93
Championship table and all the races they missed and he still
finished third in the championship.
Yes, very. Important.
It was like it was such a run at the end of the season, it was
quite unbelievable. Just settled on one of the best
touring car races ever at the time and certainly the most
exciting race of 1993. The BTCC had found a new hero,
with Paul Radisich taking his first ever BTCC victory.
Isn't it a shame that Paul didn't do more because as as you
say, the BTCC had found a new hero?
This guy was blindingly quick come over, raced a front wheel
drive car for the first time and after six races had won a race.
And if you were to say at this point that he was only ever
going to win five more races in the series, you wouldn't you
wouldn't believe it. I know he was world champion in
the Ford as well, but you've just, you would look back and
think, I so wish you'd done more because you're such a likable
chap as well. Yeah, I mean, imagine saying at
the start of 94 he's not going to win a championship and he's
he's going to win a handful of races.
He probably would have made. I mean, August 93 probably would
have gone. OK, that sounds a bit weird, but
especially by the start of 94, not that world championship,
World Cup win. Yeah, he was a star at the time,
wasn't he? Yeah, it's, it's a real, real
what if scenario for me that if, if Paul had found himself in in
good cars, I think he would have definitely won, won, won a
championship. Yeah, I think his loyalty to
Ford is very honourable, but some of the absolute dogs that
he got to drive the 90. 6. Car.
And went on to Peugeot and yeah, it was just such a waste of a
talent. Absolutely, Yeah.
Yeah. Devastating actually.
You think, oh, I just wish I'd like to have seen him in like a
97 Laguna or 99 and Nissan just to see what he would have been
like. And I no doubt he'd have been
right up the front fighting for the championship.
I'd like to thank Greg Denton for joining us once again to
look back at this race and we hope that we'll see you on Story
Some Super Touring again soon, Greg.
Yeah, again, thank you for having me this time.
What I really love is that we keep on unearthing these gems of
races. It wasn't on my list of top
races, but now God what a brilliant race this was.
That's exactly it, isn't it? Because everyone talks about the
the obvious ones, Donnington 98, Donnington 99, Silverstone 92,
but there are some real hidden gems amongst and a lot of them
are Brands Hatch. Actually one of my favorites is
brands 98. One of my favorite toy car races
that isn't so well known. And this is a absolutely Corkin
race. And our thanks, as ever go to
you guys for listening to the show.
And if you enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to
give us the review five star rating and subscribe to the
podcast feed on your podcast app of choice.
In the meantime, we'll see you next week.
Goodbye.