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Stories from Super Touring 
It was to be the first BTCC race

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to be held at Croft in the 
modern era of the championship, 

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but would it go ahead? 
A number of problems beset the 

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cross circuit ahead of the BTCCS
return to the circuit, but 

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eventually the cars got on track
for an intriguing pair of races.

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Welcome to the latest episode of
Stories from Super Touring. 

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I'm Levi Riley and to help us 
look back at the debut visit to 

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Croft in the modern touring car 
era is Touring car journalist 

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Andrew Charman. 
Andrew, you're back again with 

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us in Series 5. 
How are you this evening? 

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Good evening all, delighted to 
be here. 

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How am I apart from being 
absolutely knackered? 

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Hi, because my day job at the 
moment is to have me driving 

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strange new road cars every day 
and I've spent the whole day 

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trying to find myself around the
University of Warwick which 

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apparently is in Coventry. 
Someone please explain that to 

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me. 
And sitting in an all day 

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conference on things that will 
strike fear into the heart of 

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many of our listeners. 
Electric vehicles. 

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Oh, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. 
We don't want to lose the 

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listeners, Andrew. 
Well, Andrew, we'll stick with 

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you first for our usual opening 
question and what first comes to

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mind when you think about cross 
debut in the modern history of 

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the BTCC back in 1997. 
Yeah, it's funny because 

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obviously, I mean, as people 
know, I covered every single 

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range from 93 to 2000 and some 
of them is hard to remember. 

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The moment you mentioned this 
one, I think of mud and 

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mudslinging. 
So it was a heck of a lot of mud

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over the weekend because we had 
biblical weather and there was a

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lot of mudslinging over safety 
of the circuit and other aggro 

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that we'll talk about a bit more
as we go on. 

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And Adam coming to you next, 
what jumps into your mind when 

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you think about this race 
meeting? 

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There was a couple of things 
actually, which there always is 

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when you look back at these 
races, because there's always so

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much to talk about. 
There's always so much going on.

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But I think the biggest thing 
for without, obviously I don't 

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want to go into that because 
I'll start giving some of the 

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things away that we're going to 
talk about. 

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But in the biggest thing for me 
was just that there's a new 

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circuit, absolutely new circuit.
Obviously we're going to go into

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a bit bit of detail now about 
that, but it's just a new 

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circuit and, and just exciting. 
You don't really know who's 

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going to be the fastest 1, how 
the team's going to react to, 

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how the car's going to react to 
it. 

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Because some cars work better on
some circuits than others, and 

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some drivers adapt to new stuff 
better than others. 

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So there's a lot to think about 
South from a fan's perspective. 

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Yeah, just pure excitement. 
Because you just don't get new 

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circuits launched or, you know, 
very often, do you? 

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So yeah, that's good. 
And coming to you now, Al, what 

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are your memories when you think
that that interestingly laid out

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and meteorologically 
interestingly can? 

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Yeah, yeah, actually it's 
probably not going to be 

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anything to do with the weather 
or driving standards or safety 

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or anything. 
As you know, I'm a bit of a fan 

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of our Charlie Cox and it's it's
another game of Bin Cliff 

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billiards when the Audis yet 
again came together on lap one 

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on the opening lap of a race. 
But this time it was Binkliff 

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that came off worst, and like 
Flaxton where it was Beeler that

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came off. 
But bitches down. 

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Did you see that the first race 
when his old carnies were going 

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off here, there and everywhere, 
did you just say Patrick Watts 

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come out? 
Because he'd already gone off. 

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Binkliff had gone off. 
And then poor old Big Cliff, 

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mind his own business screaming,
comes through Patrick Watts and 

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hits him again. 
And not just was just thinking 

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what on earth is happening. 
Yeah, Patrick didn't seem to 

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care at that point that he. 
Just drove straight to the 

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siren, didn't have a boat trying
to catch up the leaders of both 

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in two different accidents, but 
still managed to drive into the 

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side of him. 
Yeah, I think Patrick had about 

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10 different accidents in this. 
Bless him. 

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And finally, we'll crossover to 
producing that. 

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Hope you're well this evening, 
then we'll get into what? 

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What are your thoughts when you 
think back to this race weekend?

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Oh hi all. 
It's pretty much the same as 

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what Adam and Alex have hinted 
at at least. 

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Like the new circuit was 
brilliant. 

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I knew obviously the computer 
game was coming out and I 

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couldn't wait to go on Croft 
because it was going to be a new

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layout and all of this sort of 
stuff and could I beat my 

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brother in learning which way 
the track goes and all of that 

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sort of stuff. 
But the other thing I I was 

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always a bit of a secret 
Binkliff fan. 

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I'm afraid for my sin. 
But I do remember he got 2 

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lightning starts and in both 
races he he out dragged Beeler 

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off the line despite starting 
three places behind him. 

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That's right, He did actually. 
Yeah, he had a good, good 

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weekend for that. 
Yeah, so that was that was one 

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thing. 
I remember being able to 

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actually cheer him on for once. 
And produce that. 

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We'll come back to you later in 
the show for your maths facts as

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well. 
Looking forward to that as 

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always. 
We've also asked our faithful 

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listeners what they thought of 
when they think back to this 

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race meeting and this is what 
they've come up with getting in 

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touch on X. 
Andy Hopley remembers both the 

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Hondas of James Thompson and 
Gabrielle Tarquini having 

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similar incidents in Race 2, 
whilst Carlos and Ray Smith says

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he remembers that second race 
being a bit of a destruction 

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title, which I'm sure we'll get 
on to plenty of discussion of 

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that interesting race. 
One of the most interesting 

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races I've watched in the Witch 
Touring Car Championship. 

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There were multiple lovers that 
mentioned the two eerily similar

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Honda crashes, Paul Walton was 
one along with Paul Devonish, 

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Daniel Barr and Michael Mammy. 
Adam Little remembers it was the

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last time that you they used the
old Vauxhalls that season, the 

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previous RML Vauxhalls and that 
the BBC used Robert Miles's 

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children on the coverage, which 
harken back to Alex's first 

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memory of the event. 
It is funny some of the things 

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that people remember from coming
up to first years ago, isn't it?

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Yeah, I mean, it's a strange 
one, but there's certain things 

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people always gone about those 
little Matchbox cars that they 

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did for Brands 99. 
Yeah, there's a few different 

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things that they did during the 
build up to these races in the 

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latter part of the of the era. 
And yeah, I guess funny things, 

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you know, stick in people's 
minds. 

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And finally, Simon Mays 
remembers that qualifying was a 

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complete washout this weekend. 
And again, something so bizarre 

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for a race meeting was 
remembered by a few other 

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people, Ben Keating, John Corley
and Roland to also getting in 

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touch to let us know about that 
one. 

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Heading into the weekend, it was
announced that the race would go

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ahead as planned, despite the 
drivers boycotting the first 3 

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hours of the official test the 
week before the event. 

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Only the quick work by the 
circuit saw the team's complete 

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4 hours of running in the 
afternoon of the official test, 

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with a written guarantee that 
further modifications would be 

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undertaken before the race 
weekend arrived. 

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This didn't calm the anger of 
Vauxhall's Derek Warwick, 

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however, who was angry that it 
was down to the direct action 

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from the drivers to force the 
changes they wanted through. 

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I find it outrageous that the 
driver should find themselves 

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into this position, Warwick told
Autosport. 

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We are not militants, all we 
want to do is our job, but the 

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situation here is totally 
unacceptable. 

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Adam, some pretty strong words 
and Derek Warwick there about 

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the preparations of the race 
weekend, isn't it? 

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Yeah, I think they've got every 
right to. 

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You know, this is no different 
to what you see with Formula One

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and Moto GP and, well, super 
bikes and all the other popular 

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sports, you know, motorsport 
particularly that I follow 

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closely. 
And they've got every right to 

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do that. 
You know, this is an example of 

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people power and if there's 
safety comes the end of the day,

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no official, no team principal, 
no team members out there, only 

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the driver. 
So if there are safety concerns,

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they have to be obviously put 
out there. 

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But you'd like to think that 
you've got certain members 

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within that organization or 
drivers that could go out to to 

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view the circuits prior to the 
test, prior to the race to try 

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and iron a few things out first 
as opposed to arriving at the 

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test. 
So then realize actually that's 

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an accident way to happen. 
That's an accident way to 

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happen. 
But, you know, I think he was 

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just talking about half of of 
everybody else. 

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And, you know, clearly the 
points raised were dealt with 

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and Alan Gale got them to sign 
what was basically a contract to

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to get the rest of it sorted, 
you know, prior to the race 

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weekend. 
So I don't blame them. 

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And you know, I'd have, I'd have
done the same. 

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And I think it's just, you know,
respect to the drivers for for 

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standing up really, because 
there are moments where as a 

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driver, you, you just put it 
with it. 

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You know, you're not necessarily
the biggest name out on the grid

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or in whatever category you're 
in. 

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But yeah, fair play to them. 
I'm pleased they did and they 

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got what they needed because why
we don't want to go down that 

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road like we saw with Centre and
there's too many accidents that 

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have happened and fatalities 
before something then gets done 

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about it, you know. 
And that's that, that's what I 

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love about having the, you know,
the drivers get together and 

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look at the concerns and, and 
the safety aspect. 

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I mean, I think it should be 
done more to be honest. 

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Warrick explained that some 
runoff areas and curbs were 

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unsatisfactory, while some 
barriers were not adequately 

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protected. 
People say we race at more 

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dangerous places, and they might
be right. 

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You expect a new circuit to 
comply with the latest safety 

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standards. 
We race at 11 temps. 

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We don't want to kill ourselves.
Andrew, you were covering the 

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championship at this point for 
Touring Car Worldwide. 

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What do you remember of sort of 
this week lead up to the event 

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and this story of the track 
safety issues? 

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Yeah, I, I have an editorial 
page in Touring Car Worldwide, 

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and I commented very extensively
on this subject in the issue 

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that calendar meeting, because 
the drivers are completely right

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to be concerned. 
I was an expert when I got 

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there, but I can see that there 
were some areas that were a 

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little bit iffy, but it wasn't 
the circuit's fault. 

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To put it all into context, 
Croft had last hosted Touring 

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Cars of about 1970. 
The circuit had then closed for 

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several years. 
It had reopened 2 years before 

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and to secure ABTCC they they 
spent a whole lot of money. 

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They built a completely new pit 
complex, garages start finish, 

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straight set of two, two final 
corners. 

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A new final complex was all new.
Apparently they ended up 

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spending one and a half million,
which in 1997 was rather a lot 

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more money than it is now. 
They then got licence from the 

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RACMSA so not surprising they 
thought they were where they 

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should be. 
Now. 

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A Circa is not going to it that 
hasn't hosted touring cars for 

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many many years is not going to 
know what's required. 

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But you could expect the RACMSA 
to know what should be required 

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and point it out. 
And clearly they didn't. 

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Clearly the error was with the 
rule makers because it shouldn't

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be up to the drivers to have to 
threaten to boycott races to get

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things done. 
The circuit wasn't to know. 

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Once the drivers complained at 
the test, the circuit again 

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spent a whole lot more money 
trying to put all of their all 

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their concerns to bed. 
But clearly there was an issue 

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at a higher level. 
But let's face it, we allowed 

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touring cars to race past the 
knuckle end of an Armco barrier.

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Alton Park for years and years 
and years until Kelvin folded 

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his Volvo. 
So clearly, yeah, there were 

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problems. 
Croft got the bad end of the 

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stick. 
But also think that he's also, 

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and I've, I've said this before,
I think to you guys when I was 

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at the Super tour is where when 
you've got some officials in 

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place or some people that are 
within an organization that are 

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inspecting the circuits, you 
need some current people. 

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You need current people that 
might be next drivers. 

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That wasn't all that long ago 
still with it in terms of the 

225
00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:02,760
safety and the speed. 
And you know, we're racing the 

226
00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:05,120
triumph pedal around there. 
You know, we're racing something

227
00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:08,080
a bit quicker than that. 
And, and again, that all should 

228
00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:10,840
have one is obviously the 
organization at the time didn't 

229
00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:12,520
have the right people within 
there because like I said, 

230
00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:14,360
they've stamped it and passed it
off, signed it off. 

231
00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:17,200
But if you, I think you've had 
some, someone current in there, 

232
00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:21,320
you know, like an ex driver or 
current driver to go and do all 

233
00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,800
of that inspections beforehand 
as part of the RACMSA, you know,

234
00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,320
golden stamp as such, then they 
wouldn't have had the issues 

235
00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,000
they had. 
Yeah, well, they shouldn't have 

236
00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:31,920
done that. 
I think they would have had a 

237
00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:37,520
problem actually taking a 
current BTCC driver of the time 

238
00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:42,200
on inspections with them, 
because in those days the 

239
00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:46,120
drivers really were out for 
their own. 

240
00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:47,480
Oh, absolutely. 
Yeah. 

241
00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,240
And what people did, but you 
could have taken an experienced 

242
00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:53,680
driver from another form. 
You say, yeah, we're running 

243
00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:55,280
PTCZ on this. 
Is it up? 

244
00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:58,680
To the mark, yeah, absolutely. 
GT driver or someone from 

245
00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:01,000
another formula that still 
current that can still see 

246
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,000
because they're going to be 
going racing there at some point

247
00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:04,920
as well. 
It just could have been done 

248
00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:06,600
differently. 
But like everything it's it's 

249
00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:09,320
ifs but some maybes and you know
on site isn't it? 

250
00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,120
Certainly was. 
Croft responded to the requests 

251
00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:16,040
by completing all of the 
required changes by Monday 

252
00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:20,480
afternoon of the test, with Alan
Gown saying the circuit has been

253
00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:23,440
very obliging. 
After investing millions of 

254
00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:27,400
pounds to get the BTCC here, 
they wouldn't jeopardize that 

255
00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:32,400
for the sake of a few. 1000. 
Warwick called down any talk of 

256
00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:35,640
a race boycott too. 
I'll have a look around on 

257
00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:39,000
Friday morning but I've got 
cross guarantee that things will

258
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,400
be rectified. 
He said Volvo's Kelvin Burke got

259
00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,600
involved in the debate too, 
saying that other circuits 

260
00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:50,040
needed similar treatment. 
There are other places which 

261
00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:52,200
haven't been addressed for 
years, he said. 

262
00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:55,600
Just because we've raced there 
and nobody has hit anything 

263
00:14:55,840 --> 00:15:00,520
doesn't mean it isn't dangerous.
Alex, sort of Kelvin Burke 

264
00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:03,680
getting involved and we've 
already mentioned his previous 

265
00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:07,720
history with with incidents that
tracked where maybe the safety 

266
00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:10,520
standards weren't correct. 
It's sort of showing that the 

267
00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:13,680
safety issue is very strongly 
felt about by the drivers in the

268
00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:15,800
grid. 
Yeah, and there's two drivers 

269
00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:20,240
there who have, you know, felt 
the very, you know, problems 

270
00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:23,560
that come with big accidents. 
You know, Kelvin had his own big

271
00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:26,600
accident at Alton, as Andrew 
said only. 

272
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:29,360
To be alive after. 
That only the previous season. 

273
00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:33,440
And yeah, as you say, Adam, 
lucky to be alive. 

274
00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:35,000
Very lucky. 
Do you remember, do you remember

275
00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,760
watching that on the? 
Passenger drive on the passenger

276
00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:39,440
side. 
You know when it was crashes 

277
00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:41,440
where you witness it and you 
watch it on the TV and you're 

278
00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:43,520
thinking, yeah. 
That. 

279
00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,320
That I might just witness 
something really bad here. 5 

280
00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:51,400
minutes after that accident at 
the circuit was not a nice place

281
00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:53,120
to be at because we all feel the
worst. 

282
00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:55,640
It was a very. 
So that's something, yeah. 

283
00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:57,480
You have that good that you have
that thing in your stomach, 

284
00:15:57,480 --> 00:15:58,960
don't you, where you think 
you've just witnessed something 

285
00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:00,960
really terrible. 
Yeah, I remember that. 

286
00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:04,080
They all part very well. 
We we didn't want to be around 

287
00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:06,360
there for a good one until it 
actually transpired. 

288
00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:08,360
But he wasn't nearly as hurt as 
he should have been. 

289
00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:11,960
Yeah, yeah. 
And of course, another tragedy 

290
00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:15,720
at Alton Park was obviously 
Derek's brother Paul was lost in

291
00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:20,600
1991 there. 
So, you know, Derek became very,

292
00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:24,800
very safety conscious after that
and, and, and was the sort of 

293
00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:28,600
unofficial drivers elected 
representative then, shall we 

294
00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:30,760
say, when it came to things like
this. 

295
00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:34,200
So yeah, there were two people 
who'd really felt the effects of

296
00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:37,960
massive shunts and Super Touring
had lost there. 

297
00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:40,520
You know, there have been 2 
fatalities at this point. 

298
00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:43,280
Some of the, you know, some 
people maybe have been a bit 

299
00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,440
lucky in the BTCC. 
As we say, if Kelvin had been on

300
00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:49,760
the other side of the, of the, 
of the car, you know, who knows?

301
00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:54,280
But yeah, I don't blame them for
feeling very strongly about 

302
00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:56,560
this. 
And, and, and I was interested 

303
00:16:56,560 --> 00:16:58,920
and I agree entirely with what 
Kelvin said there. 

304
00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:02,600
Just because nobody has hit 
anything, it doesn't mean it's 

305
00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:05,119
not dangerous, because there's 
always danger. 

306
00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:06,599
There's always a first time, 
isn't there? 

307
00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:10,599
So no, I don't blame them. 
I don't blame them at all. 

308
00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:14,040
Because, you know, at the end of
the day, it's, it's, you know, 

309
00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:16,400
it's their livelihood, but it's 
also their life. 

310
00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:20,400
You know, they, they, nobody 
wants to see a big shunt and, 

311
00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:22,280
and, and, and a driver not go 
home. 

312
00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:24,040
So. 
And there were two people that 

313
00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:27,200
are absolutely perfectly placed 
to lead that discussion from a 

314
00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:28,560
driver's perspective. 
Absolutely. 

315
00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:31,240
Like I said, exactly what he 
said about Derek Warwick and and

316
00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:35,280
obviously Calvin, you know, 
experiencing bad things so you 

317
00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:37,400
know better for it to come from 
really. 

318
00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:43,040
Nothing but admiration for Derek
because I remember he he spoke 

319
00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:47,440
out after Thompson's shunt at 
not Kill in 95 about the 

320
00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:49,440
standards they're not being good
enough. 

321
00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,720
And in, you know, he always 
stuck up for his fellow drivers 

322
00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:54,960
when it came to safety. 
And I've got a lot of time for 

323
00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:57,560
that. 
With the changes implemented, 

324
00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:00,000
the teams finally got testing at
the circuit. 

325
00:18:00,360 --> 00:18:04,320
We've really setting the pace. 
Unsurprisingly, they finished 

326
00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:08,680
1-2 in the test, with Honda and 
ALDI squabbling behind for the 

327
00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:12,440
best of the rest. 
And it was hardly a surprise at 

328
00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,960
this point in 1997 to see when a
lead in the way and testing was 

329
00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:21,000
it. 
No, I mean, it wasn't something 

330
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:22,920
new to them. 
You know, we know how 

331
00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:25,360
competitive they are. 
We know how fast the drivers are

332
00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:30,080
and how good the team is. 
So no, this wasn't really a 

333
00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,480
surprise to anybody. 
You know, there were the whole 

334
00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:34,920
package and obviously men you've
been on pole. 

335
00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:37,000
He just said it. 
Oh, really, They were they were 

336
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:37,520
there. 
It's a win. 

337
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:41,160
And you know you if he was a 
Betty man, you'd always play 

338
00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:43,120
suddenly come them for a for a 
win, weren't you, Because it was

339
00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:47,840
always that just an overall 
strong package and and menu was 

340
00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:49,000
always someone you could rely on
as well. 

341
00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:50,520
Really couldn't. 
He was very consistent, wasn't 

342
00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:52,840
it? 
One man who wouldn't be on the 

343
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:56,360
grid ahead of the weekend at 
Croft was Premade Sports Ian 

344
00:18:56,360 --> 00:18:59,840
Hewitt, who had suffered a nasty
accident whilst preparing for 

345
00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:02,600
the event. 
Hew had caught his hand between 

346
00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,440
the brake caliper and wheel 
whilst unloading it for some 

347
00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:09,600
rolling Rd. tests, breaking 2 
fingers and losing part of 

348
00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:13,960
another finger in the process. 
He vowed to be back for the next

349
00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:16,800
meeting at Notch Hill. 
Whilst he didn't make it back 

350
00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:19,720
for Notch Hill, Hewitt did 
attempt to qualify his old 

351
00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:23,840
Cavalier at Snetterton, Thruxton
and Silverstone at the end of 

352
00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:29,000
the season but failed to do so. 
Andrew Ian Hewitt doesn't get 

353
00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,960
discussed much on this pod, so 
let's give him some time now. 

354
00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:36,640
He tried very, very hard to get 
a very ageing Vauxhall Cavalier 

355
00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:41,280
on the grid, didn't he? 
Yeah, he doesn't get mentioned 

356
00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:46,200
much on the pod because the BTCC
was the step too far for Ian 

357
00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:51,080
Hewitt at a time when the 
champion, you know, of mega 

358
00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:55,520
budgets even in the Total Cup, 
the last year for the Total Cup,

359
00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:01,640
he was way out of his debt. 
He wasn't that bad a driver. 

360
00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:05,040
He got a couple of reasonable 
results in other formulae, but 

361
00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:12,560
he was never cut out. 
The BTCC for the start, the 

362
00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:17,240
touring, touring cars had 
reached the the level at that 

363
00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:19,280
point where you couldn't just 
bring. 

364
00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:24,160
An old car out and compete. 
If you had an old car, you were 

365
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,280
going to be a moving chicane, 
and that's what Ian Hubert was. 

366
00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,360
Yeah, yeah, there there weren't 
many drivers that failed to 

367
00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:36,120
qualify cars no. 
And in and you know as as Andrew

368
00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:39,880
just said now the the the the 
Cavalier, sorry, not the vector 

369
00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:44,600
the Cavalier he was trying to 
qualify was a 93 Cavalier. 

370
00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:50,120
So, you know, it's only four 
years old now people, people 

371
00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:52,240
who, you know, watch modern 
touring cars and they say, well,

372
00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:54,760
that's, that's all right. 
That's not a problem. 

373
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,200
Back then, it was that was, that
was ancient. 

374
00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,040
Yeah, we had Jamie Walker in the
championship in the Cavalier and

375
00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:03,040
he was doing. 
That's true. 

376
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:08,960
I think and Ian Heward would 
probably do better in today's 

377
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:10,520
championship. 
Yeah. 

378
00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,520
Because the level of the 
championship, as, as you know, 

379
00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:17,640
I've always said it was an 
international championship that 

380
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,320
just happened to help rule its 
rounds in one country. 

381
00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:22,200
Absolutely. 
It really was. 

382
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:27,000
So yeah, he was definitely 
several levels above what his 

383
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,640
natural one was at the time. 
Most people probably have never 

384
00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:32,800
even seen the 97 version of his 
car. 

385
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:38,200
So to paint the picture, it was 
very garish yellow with red, 

386
00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:42,600
orange sort of designs on the 
side. 

387
00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:45,800
It was very bright. 
So when it was being lapped, 

388
00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,880
when it was on track, you know, 
you saw it. 

389
00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:55,520
Well, several drivers still 
managed to hit it. 888's highly 

390
00:21:55,520 --> 00:22:01,240
anticipated 1997 Vauxhall Vectra
was nearing completion, but the 

391
00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:05,080
planned Davy of the car at Croft
was put back until Knock Hill a 

392
00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:08,760
few weeks later. 
Cleland and Warwick instead had 

393
00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:12,840
to continue with the 1996 B 
machines they had raced all 

394
00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:18,080
season. 888 designer John Gentry
said one of the Newcastle do rig

395
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:20,720
testing and the other will be 
running on the circuit. 

396
00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:24,840
That way we'll be able to iron 
out any bugs and get them sorted

397
00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:28,760
before we go racing. 
Gentry was quick to point out 

398
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:33,600
that the first full AAA car 
would be the 1998 machine, which

399
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:38,120
he had just started working on 
at The new 1997 car still 

400
00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:41,960
carried the old RML suspension 
and aerodynamic kit developed by

401
00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:46,840
Opel in Germany. 
Alex, After a testing season, 

402
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:49,840
was there a feeling that 
Vauxhall were finally making 

403
00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:54,840
progress with the Vectra? 
It wasn't looking that way at 

404
00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:58,640
the time, but when you look and,
you know, as John Gentry said, 

405
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:02,160
they're the first full AAA car 
was in 98 and they won three 

406
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:04,880
races. 
So obviously that was an 

407
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:07,880
improvement. 
But for 97, it was still stuck 

408
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:11,800
with the aero that was designed 
for Europe and supposedly not 

409
00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:16,520
very good for British circuits. 
And I remember talking to Jerry 

410
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:20,040
Hughes, who worked at Vauxhall 
at the time or in 96 or he was 

411
00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:24,400
at Renault in, in 97. 
He moved to Williams for, for, 

412
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:28,960
for the 97 season. 
And he just said it was just the

413
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,320
layout of the car. 
Nobody got the count, the vector

414
00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:35,120
of winning regularly, did they? 
You know, not even in 2000 where

415
00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:38,440
it was a lot more competitive 
than it had been in previous 

416
00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,280
years. 
But it was never at the level of

417
00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:45,440
the Cavalier. 
And I remember Jerry saying that

418
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:49,840
it was just the layout of the 
car, the way the car was that 

419
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:55,320
they just, it had so many 
negative points that you can't 

420
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:58,480
do anything about because at the
end of the day, you're given a 

421
00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,880
car and and that is that is what
you've got to work with. 

422
00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:06,440
If it's got inherent problems, 
then only so much you can do 

423
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:08,680
about those. 
And, and the Vector carried a 

424
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,040
lot more inherent problems than 
the Cavalier ever did. 

425
00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:16,000
So they did make progress, they 
did win races with it, but it 

426
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,280
was never a real championship 
challenger, was it? 

427
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,800
And and that's not at the hands 
of Triple AI. 

428
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,040
Just think it was a problem for 
the Vector in general. 

429
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,680
If the drivers possibly 
boycotting the Croft races had 

430
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:36,000
originally put the race meeting 
and down, the weather was the 

431
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,520
next problem for the circuit to 
contend with. 

432
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,480
A biblical amount of rainfall 
meant the drivers could not 

433
00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:46,880
venture out onto the circuit in 
anger, instead completing 3 

434
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,520
required laps each behind the 
safety car. 

435
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:54,760
But how to form the grid? 
Enter Alan GAO, who took a vote 

436
00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:58,160
from the drivers and teams to 
decide how the fields two by two

437
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:02,840
formation would line up. 
The Pre Croft Championship 

438
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,480
positions eventually prevailed, 
although other methods put 

439
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:10,000
forward for approval included 
the order from Friday's official

440
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:15,520
test session and a 1997 Super 
grid where each driver's average

441
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:18,400
qualifying position that year 
would have set the grid. 

442
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,200
Gown also privately admitted 
that he would have liked the 

443
00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:26,080
idea of making the whole thing a
little bit more interesting by 

444
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:30,160
putting the top 6 into a hat. 
I'm not sure that idea would 

445
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:31,840
ever catch on in modern touring 
cars. 

446
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:37,560
While Adam, which of these ideas
do you think you'd have liked as

447
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:39,920
a driver to set the grid for for
a stay? 

448
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:44,680
Well as a driver, depends if I 
was in the 1st in the 

449
00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:48,480
championship or quickest in the 
test. 

450
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,520
But I just can't help but look 
at it from a fan. 

451
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:53,520
You know? 
How good would it have been as a

452
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,120
fan for all their names to go in
a pot in a hat and just pull a 

453
00:25:57,120 --> 00:26:00,720
hat, pull a number out, or just 
absolutely be done with it and 

454
00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:03,200
go championship order reverse 
grid? 

455
00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:06,480
Yeah. 
You know, just as like a one off

456
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:08,200
every season, do that as a one 
off. 

457
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,720
You know, darling does need to 
announce when it's going to be 

458
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:13,640
or they can be pre agreed 
somewhere. 

459
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:15,920
But just to literally do a 
complete reverse grid. 

460
00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:19,320
If anyone that's been introduced
as BTCC Racing thinks it's 

461
00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:24,160
carnage, imagine a reverse grid 
with menu starting at the back 

462
00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:25,920
and then you've got the 
privateers starting at the 

463
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:27,840
front. 
He did get that eventually with 

464
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,560
Throuxton in 98 when he 
introduced the one shot didn't 

465
00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:32,960
he? 
And mainly balls it up and and 

466
00:26:33,120 --> 00:26:35,160
came from the back and it 
produced a brilliant race 

467
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:37,400
actually because Menu fought 
through the 4th. 

468
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,280
I think it also gives from a 
payoff perspective and, and 

469
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:43,280
giving the privateers the 
opportunity of getting out. 

470
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:46,920
They're still working like super
hard on sponsors and, and 

471
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,400
everything that goes with it. 
We'd love to just to give them 

472
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,000
that one shot, you know, even if
it's just, you know, one out of 

473
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,360
the three races now, just do 
that reverse grid just to give 

474
00:26:55,360 --> 00:26:57,880
them the air time really on the 
grid with the grid walks and the

475
00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,000
interviews and nothing that goes
with it. 

476
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:01,800
Just to help you all tick over 
really. 

477
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:03,400
I mean, as a privateer, I love 
that. 

478
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:07,880
Also, I was part of reverse 
grids if I was in the top 10 or 

479
00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:09,280
whatever they did back then when
I did it. 

480
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,080
But I think if they made it a 
regular thing, I think it'd 

481
00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:14,160
definitely help. 
It would have helped the 

482
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,600
privateers more back then. 
You know, they're all privateers

483
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:19,120
now, aren't they? 
Pretty much, but. 

484
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:22,560
Two years earlier I'd 
interviewed Alan Gau and he'd 

485
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:26,120
said we don't do gimmicks in the
BTC. 

486
00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:28,800
So yeah. 
Yeah, yeah, but write a check 

487
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:35,600
for you if you're winning. 
I Levi, you know my thoughts on 

488
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:40,440
things like pulling numbers out 
of a bowl to give pole position 

489
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:50,920
and I I really I, I absolutely 
hate the fact that a top line 

490
00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:54,760
national and at the time, as 
Andrew said, effectively an 

491
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:57,960
international championship. 
The thought of pulling out 

492
00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:04,080
numbers from a bold to to choose
a grid astonishes me, and I 

493
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:06,160
prefer. 
Shorty sticks or something like 

494
00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:07,760
that. 
Or I mean, or just not. 

495
00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:11,480
Or nothing at all. 
It's just what's wrong with the 

496
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:15,360
qualifying session. 
I mean, obviously, yeah, yeah, 

497
00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:16,720
you couldn't do it. 
I get that. 

498
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:24,360
But I hate the the the grid roll
draw thing in in current BTCCI. 

499
00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:28,800
Think it's absolutely awful. 
But that's just me. 

500
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:31,480
That's probably upset a few 
people now, but I don't care. 

501
00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:36,200
Yeah, you've upset me now. 
I just think. 

502
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:38,880
Just the fact that he gives us a
chance, not the whole grid 

503
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:40,880
obviously, was like the top ten.
I think when I did it was I. 

504
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:44,920
Think if you do a reverse grid 
with a set, I understand that 

505
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,800
that can also be abused with. 
Plato did it when he was a say. 

506
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:49,840
I didn't know, but yeah. 
Yeah, that's the problem. 

507
00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:54,120
We've got a set number. 
I just, I just like meritocracy.

508
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:59,800
I think, you know, if you're in 
the, you know, it's, it's it's 

509
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:02,720
crazy that somebody's 
championship could fall apart 

510
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:08,360
effectively by a grid ball being
drawn, a wrong grid ball being 

511
00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:10,800
drawn, the money effort. 
Yeah, yeah. 

512
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:15,880
That, that's the thing that I, I
I find bizarre, but people love 

513
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,680
it. 
So I'm just a party pooper. 

514
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:24,480
Alan Menu wasn't bothered about 
which of the three serious 

515
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:28,400
proposals went through. 
Whatever happens, I'm on pole, 

516
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:31,560
he grinned from the dry safety 
of the Williams Renault warning.

517
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:32,880
There we go. 
See Alan. 

518
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:34,000
Serious. 
See. 

519
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:37,880
Bold, not serious. 
Well done, Alan. 

520
00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:44,680
Others inevitably found 
themselves either in luck or are

521
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:48,320
done by Volvo's. 
Ricard Rydell, for instance, had

522
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:52,600
struggled to get his S40 onto 
the front row all season, but 

523
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,400
his form in the races had put 
him into second place in the 

524
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:59,360
standings for Honda Pere 
Gabrielli Tarquini and James 

525
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,760
Thompson, 5th and 6th 
respectively in the standings. 

526
00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:05,920
After a pretty much win on bust 
first half to the season. 

527
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:09,720
It didn't work out. 
In fact, it was Thompson's 

528
00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:13,640
lowest grid placing all year. 
You can never keep all of the 

529
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:17,840
people happy all of the time and
Alan Gale admitted each option 

530
00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,960
suited different people but the 
one we used was most popular. 

531
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:25,920
Andrew, do you think Gower got 
it right with using the 

532
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:27,920
championship positions to set 
the grid? 

533
00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:33,560
Yeah, I think he did. 
And it's normal in several 

534
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:37,440
series these days to do that. 
NASCAR does it all the time when

535
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:38,960
they're qualifying, gets rained 
out. 

536
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:41,040
They always set it on 
championship positions. 

537
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:46,080
As you say, you're never going 
to keep everybody happy, but 

538
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:51,320
that's a fairly sensible way to 
do it because the rewards 

539
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:55,920
results. 
I think at this point we should 

540
00:30:55,920 --> 00:31:00,640
perhaps put into context what 
that Saturday was like in there 

541
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:06,480
because how heavy the rain was. 
I mean, the media centre at the 

542
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:12,240
very first Prof meeting was a 
marquee and by the dawn of 

543
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,560
Sunday you could virtually not 
get into it. 

544
00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,880
I came home with mud up to be 
knees on me. 

545
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:25,840
It was when we left the circuit 
on Saturday night, we didn't 

546
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:28,160
actually know there was going to
be, whether there was going to 

547
00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:29,800
be a race the following day. 
They were going to make a 

548
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:35,440
decision at 11:30. 
There's a corner called Sunny at

549
00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:40,000
Croft. 
It's named That's it and it's 

550
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,440
known because the Nissan factory
is just up the road. 

551
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:52,000
Nissan, Sunny, Curve and the 
three new corners at the time 

552
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:55,200
that had just been built. 
They weren't named, and by the 

553
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,560
end of Saturday someone in the 
touring car paddock had coined 

554
00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:05,920
Wet, Wetter and Wettest. 
But overnight, again, Croft went

555
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:10,720
to work. 
They pumped 120,000 gallons of 

556
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:13,400
water out of the circuit 
overnight. 

557
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,160
Jeez. 
Oh, that's the other thing I 

558
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:18,360
forgot to mention. 
The Formula Renault team at the 

559
00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:21,760
end of Saturday were floating a 
dinghy on that complex of 

560
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:23,160
corners. 
It was that bad. 

561
00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:25,160
You. 
Don't know what your jeans were 

562
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:26,920
so wet they were pumping it into
your hospitality. 

563
00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:33,520
All of the hospitality people 
went out and bought Dang grate 

564
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:38,040
dumpy bags of gravel which they 
spread outside their hospitality

565
00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:41,480
to ensure they could actually 
get their guests in on Sunday. 

566
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:44,960
Peugeot had to go and buy three 
times as much because one of the

567
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:48,440
circuit tankers emptied its 
water right outside their. 

568
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:53,440
But yeah, when we came into the 
circuit on Sunday morning, we 

569
00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,960
really didn't know if there was 
going to be a race, but it was. 

570
00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:01,080
The weather was dry, there was 
no more rain falling and 28,000 

571
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:04,560
people turned up so I think my 
laptop knew there was going to 

572
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:06,840
be a. 
Race that's that's typical of 

573
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:09,480
Peugeot's sort of luck in the 
PTC. 

574
00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:12,680
And this was the season they 
were actually quite good. 

575
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:14,640
Yes, they were quite good this 
season, yeah. 

576
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,920
The rain that beset the cross 
circuit for the whole of the 

577
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:26,320
weekend had relented and race 
day was generally dry off the 

578
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:28,440
line. 
In race one it was right down 

579
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:33,040
that jumped menu to lead into 
Clearvo, followed by Binkliff, 

580
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:38,760
Beeler, Plato and Tarquini. 
Alex, it's nice, for once to be 

581
00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,880
talking about a great getaway 
off the line from Rickard 

582
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,720
Rydell, isn't it? 
I feel a bit harsh saying that, 

583
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:49,440
but yeah, yeah, it is because 
not known for his best starts. 

584
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,040
Was he Ricard? 
But yeah, it was nice, it was 

585
00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:55,440
good. 
Nice to see the Volvo lead in 

586
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:57,840
for the first time, the new 
Volvo S40, of course. 

587
00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:03,520
So yeah, brilliant. 
And it made the race probably a 

588
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:07,480
little bit more interesting 
because had Alan got into the 

589
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,679
lead, it would have been another
Renault demonstration because 

590
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:14,199
they were just that good. 
They were just that, that good. 

591
00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:18,639
And even though Ricard was 
leading, you know, I we'll 

592
00:34:18,639 --> 00:34:21,760
discuss it in a bit, but it was 
probably a question of when the 

593
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:24,560
knot if the. 
How could be that Volvo sound 

594
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:26,920
really watching the footage? 
Oh, it's beautiful, isn't it? 

595
00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:28,960
So then the engine is just 
super. 

596
00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:31,199
Never get bored of it, can you? 
No, lovely. 

597
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,679
The Aldis weren't going to be 
behind menu for long, however, 

598
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:39,040
as B the tapped teammate 
Binkliff as they entered the 

599
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:42,600
slow complex of corners at the 
end of the lap, pushing the 

600
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:44,920
Yorkshiremen off the road and 
into the spin. 

601
00:34:45,679 --> 00:34:46,840
There's contact between the 
Audis. 

602
00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:49,679
Murray, we've got another game 
of Bincliff billiards here. 

603
00:34:49,679 --> 00:34:52,280
It's both the Audis off this 
time it's Fearless scoring the 

604
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,920
two points for the cannon. 
Bincliff's off backwards now, 

605
00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:57,280
he's going to try to snare a 
gear and get going again. 

606
00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:00,960
The Audis weren't going to be 
behind menu for long, however, 

607
00:35:01,240 --> 00:35:04,520
as Beale of tapped teammate 
Bincliff as they ended the slow 

608
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:07,640
complex of corners at the end of
the lap, pushing the 

609
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:09,920
Yorkshiremen off the road and 
into a spin. 

610
00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:14,440
He was early on the brakes. 
I was surprised, explained the 

611
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:17,480
German. 
Binkliff, who had punted be the 

612
00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:19,920
Roth at Froxton two months ago, 
shrugged. 

613
00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:24,280
It's juice between us now. 
I just couldn't save the slide. 

614
00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:27,400
Adam, how are we calling that 
one? 

615
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:29,720
A little bit clumsy there 
really. 

616
00:35:29,720 --> 00:35:32,800
Between teammates? 
Not for the first time in 1997. 

617
00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:35,360
Completely. 
If I was Binkliff, I'd be pissed

618
00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:39,600
off because first race, new 
circuit, who says you're braking

619
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:40,560
too early? 
We don't know where we're 

620
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,600
braking on full tanks on a first
lap of a race. 

621
00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:45,760
We don't know where the breaking
point is in a race is different.

622
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:48,840
When you're on qualifying rubber
and low fuel tanks, the car 

623
00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:50,720
weighs different. 
You know, the, the tyres were 

624
00:35:50,720 --> 00:35:53,440
cool. 
You know, you, you do pretend to

625
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:55,120
brake a bit earlier. 
Everywhere, everywhere is a bit 

626
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,840
slower. 
So it would have been too 

627
00:35:57,840 --> 00:35:59,440
pleased if I was the team 
manager. 

628
00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:01,360
Obviously you've got a champion 
in the other car that's actually

629
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:04,520
done it, so you don't want to, 
you know, it's an awkward one, 

630
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:06,840
but even more awkward for being 
like, what were you doing? 

631
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,280
Yeah, it's absolutely, 100% 
being his fault. 

632
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:16,040
And but yeah, I'd be, I'd be 
still annoyed now if I was being

633
00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:19,720
Cliff, to be honest. 
Harsh on being Cliff because. 

634
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:21,480
Yeah, he didn't. 
Deserve it, didn't he? 

635
00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:23,120
As Matt said, I mean at the 
proper. 

636
00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:27,880
Start did the job on the champ 
and like get beefed off by Yeah,

637
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:29,560
yeah or did. 
Baila feel like he. 

638
00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:32,160
Had that power and then team 
where do you know what? 

639
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:34,040
I'm not saying he did it to him,
but. 

640
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:37,720
What do you think? 
That it did it, but what they're

641
00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:41,480
going to do sack me like, you 
know, being within Audi was a he

642
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:44,600
was a strong force, wasn't he? 
So although he's really harsh 

643
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:47,400
and really unlucky, I'm big 
cliffs are part there because 

644
00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,880
he, like said, he had a cracking
start, did the job and I was 

645
00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:53,560
just and not even no one was in 
the groove at that point, you 

646
00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:55,240
know, not even completed a lap 
at that point. 

647
00:36:55,240 --> 00:36:58,200
And then you get beefed off by 
all the people you bloody 

648
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:02,200
teammate Rydell was pushing. 
Hard in the early stages. 

649
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:06,440
I think Alan was taking it easy 
in the first few laps, he said. 

650
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:10,600
I was trying really hard but I 
was also being cautious not to 

651
00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:14,800
overwork the tyres. 
Andrew, we've already touched on

652
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:18,040
the extremely strong performance
from Renault over the course of 

653
00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:21,200
the season. 
Do you think it was always a 

654
00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:23,960
case of when Menu would make the
move rather than if? 

655
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:26,960
Oh yeah, absolutely. 
Yeah, I was just waiting for it 

656
00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:28,520
to happen. 
I knew once he was passed, he'd 

657
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:32,480
drive away because this was one 
of the rare seasons in the BTC 

658
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:36,800
city where one team was totally 
dominant. 

659
00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:41,360
And William, all the preparation
Williams had done in previous 

660
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:45,960
seasons had all come to roost. 
And this was he was just 

661
00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:47,880
steadily on his way to the 
championship. 

662
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:50,800
And it wasn't just the case of 
when would he win the race. 

663
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:52,120
Yeah. 
When would he go past and win 

664
00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:54,480
the race? 
It was just how soon in the 

665
00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:56,800
season would he be champion? 
Yeah. 

666
00:37:57,560 --> 00:37:58,920
Yeah. 
It was just, you know, it. 

667
00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:03,760
It was fair to company, really, 
it was the perfect combo. 

668
00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:05,400
Really. 
Wasn't it, you know, the world's

669
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:09,240
top touring car driver at the 
time in the world's best touring

670
00:38:09,240 --> 00:38:13,320
car at the time, in the world's 
best touring car championship at

671
00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:15,760
the time? 
So yeah, it was it was very much

672
00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:17,680
rising star as. 
His teammate as well. 

673
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,720
Yes, Absolutely, yeah. 
Yeah, no Sloucho, Jason. 

674
00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:23,440
And he shafted. 
Jason right at the end of the 

675
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:24,960
season, too. 
He did, yeah. 

676
00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:27,280
Yes. 
He did not, getting second in 

677
00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:29,360
the championship. 
By robbing, robbing some 

678
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,520
positions. 
Why Allah never did that I do 

679
00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:35,680
not know, but yeah. 
Yeah, that's that's a mad one, 

680
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:37,600
and one we'll discuss at some 
point, I'm sure. 

681
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:39,360
Actually, Yeah, yeah, I'd love 
to talk. 

682
00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:40,680
About that another. 
Occasion. 

683
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:44,760
Yeah, on lap 8. 
There was a controversial clash 

684
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:46,880
between Thompson and Bert at the
Hairpin. 

685
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:48,880
Well, that's not the only 
leaning. 

686
00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:51,360
Charlie, look at Thompson 
leaning on Bert. 

687
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,200
In fact, he's leaned him right 
off the track, helving Berg, 

688
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:56,040
bouncing his way across the 
grass. 

689
00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:57,640
Well, I don't know what happened
there. 

690
00:38:57,720 --> 00:38:59,840
That was a a real coming 
together. 

691
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:01,600
What happened? 
We'll soon see. 

692
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:04,280
But now Cleland is Thompson had 
taken. 

693
00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:07,960
The Volvo on the inside of the 
hairpin and then swerved sharply

694
00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:11,160
right and taken Bert clean off 
the road on exit. 

695
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:14,440
Thompson alleged that there was 
more to it than that. 

696
00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:19,000
The problem was I got hooked on 
a spitter that took the wheel 

697
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,480
out of my hands with full right 
hand lock. 

698
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:27,520
I thought, shit, we're both 
heading for the stands guys. 

699
00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:29,480
Let's have all three of you on 
this one. 

700
00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:33,080
What are your opinions on this, 
this incident? 

701
00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:35,840
On the surface, that's fairly 
clear cut. 

702
00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:40,240
Do we buy James's explanation of
getting hooked on the spitter or

703
00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:44,480
or not? 
I do definitely because there 

704
00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:46,840
is. 
No way that is so violent. 

705
00:39:47,240 --> 00:39:52,480
The way it Spears off sideways, 
there's no way James would do 

706
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:55,960
that. 
And you know, as trying to 

707
00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:00,240
remove the abstraction on the 
side because he would know that 

708
00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:03,240
he would never get away with 
something as blatant as that 

709
00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:04,760
one. 
I reckon he clearly had an 

710
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:06,680
issue. 
You're on TV, but you've also. 

711
00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:09,800
All got a camera inside your 
cars that GAO and the officials 

712
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,000
look at should every time 
there's an incident so you get 

713
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:13,760
pulled in the bus, there's your 
footage. 

714
00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:17,360
What you got to say about that? 
So, yeah, it was too from the 

715
00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:18,680
from the camera, from the rear. 
Yeah. 

716
00:40:18,720 --> 00:40:20,640
It looked like he's just 
literally turned to the side and

717
00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:21,920
had him off. 
Like you're on the Dodger. 

718
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:23,680
Not going to do that. 
Not that. 

719
00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:25,480
Violent. 
No, no, I think that just just. 

720
00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:27,560
The way the wheels connected, it
just pulled the one into the 

721
00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:29,720
other and you know, they could 
just thought they couldn't 

722
00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:31,000
separate themselves from each 
other. 

723
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:34,160
The cars just called themselves 
to each other. 

724
00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:35,680
Thing is, he's completed the 
move. 

725
00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:39,080
So he's not going to waste that 
by then just shoving him off. 

726
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:42,720
Is this pointless? 
You know TomTom had nothing to 

727
00:40:42,720 --> 00:40:46,080
gain from just shoving Kelvin 
off there back up at the. 

728
00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:49,800
Front and things changed for 
Menu when he had started to come

729
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:53,160
under pressure from Tarquini, 
who had passed Bieber at the 

730
00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:58,000
right-handed tower on lap 6. 
Ricard was pushing hard so I was

731
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:00,680
happy to settle back in, Second 
Menu said. 

732
00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:04,800
But when Tarquini overtook 
Beeler I had to go for it. 

733
00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:09,280
Rydell, who reckoned his fall 
would be around half a second 

734
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:12,960
pull up slower than his two 
chasers, couldn't defend forever

735
00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:16,440
and succumb to the run out on 
tower on lap 11. 

736
00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:22,280
Alex pretty tough in nice six 
circumstances for I delta hold 

737
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:25,920
on to lead not just against the 
all conquering Renault, but what

738
00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:29,720
was a fairly tidy Honda package 
in the hands of Tarquini in 97 

739
00:41:29,720 --> 00:41:31,720
as well. 
Yeah I mean. 

740
00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:34,800
You know, Ricard reckons he was 
half a second slower than the 

741
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:36,880
two of them. 
So if that's the case, then 

742
00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:38,960
yeah, it's going to be hard to 
hold on. 

743
00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:45,240
And as soon as Tarquini was on 
menus tale Alan knew yeah, yeah,

744
00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:46,840
I've got to I've got to make a 
move now. 

745
00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:50,000
He was probably quite happy to 
sit behind for a couple of laps 

746
00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:53,760
and then as soon as it right, 
OK, shit, I've got I've got 

747
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:56,240
Gabrielli. 
We I mean, I have time to time 

748
00:41:56,240 --> 00:41:58,920
to make a move. 
And yeah, it was, as we've 

749
00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:02,880
already said a couple of times, 
the case of when and not if 

750
00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:06,760
anyway, Alan was going to win 
that race. 

751
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:11,120
It was just made a little bit 
more interesting because Ricardo

752
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:13,760
jumped in at the start. 
But yeah, if you're half a 

753
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:17,840
second slow around a track, it's
going to be hard to to to hold 

754
00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:19,240
on to any sort of lead, isn't 
it? 

755
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:22,080
And in fairness, Ricard put up a
good fight. 

756
00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:25,720
I thought the the battle between
him and Tarquini I thought was 

757
00:42:25,720 --> 00:42:29,400
very, very good for a few laps 
meanwhile. 

758
00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:32,840
Towards the rear of the pack, 
the independents were having a 

759
00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:37,400
fantastic battle with Rob 
Gravitt, Jamie Wool, Matt Neil 

760
00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:41,440
and Lee Brooks all fighting for 
the lead in the total Cup. 

761
00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:46,400
Andrew great battle and what was
really a great field of the 

762
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:50,040
independent class this season 
that really seems to stand out 

763
00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:53,800
amongst a lot of other seasons 
for the independents it. 

764
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:59,080
Did this was a very. 
Good year where you had several,

765
00:42:59,080 --> 00:43:02,600
well several, I mean, you know, 
it was four or five cars, but 

766
00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:05,440
they were all fairly evenly 
matched. 

767
00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:09,680
It was greatly helped by the 
fact that Macneil's Nissan was 

768
00:43:09,680 --> 00:43:12,880
not the class of the field like 
the team dynamics cars tended to

769
00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:16,840
be. 
And we got some great scratch 

770
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:20,440
through the season. 
And the the Total Cup in terms 

771
00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:24,280
of championship went a lot 
further than the overall BTCC 

772
00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:28,840
because it went to, I'm trying 
to remember if it went to the 

773
00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:31,840
final meeting or not, but it 
was, it was a long time after 

774
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:33,440
Adam and you had set up his 
championship. 

775
00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:37,960
I think it did, didn't it? 
Because I wasn't Lee Brooks 

776
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:39,400
still in contention for the 
title. 

777
00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:41,440
And then he put the Peugeot in 
the wall, didn't he? 

778
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:43,240
He did. 
Because that final. 

779
00:43:43,240 --> 00:43:46,880
Round that. 
Was the. 

780
00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:52,960
Amazing weekend where the Brooks
team, he'd done it in practice 

781
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:56,080
and like, or was it the first 
race and they thought there is 

782
00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:58,640
no, you know, there's no way to 
come out. 

783
00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:05,200
And his private team was garage 
between MSD Peugeot and W Surrey

784
00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:07,440
Racing. 
And before we all knew what was 

785
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:12,360
happening, there was all of the 
Peugeot in the W Surrey teams in

786
00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:15,560
Lee Brooks, his garage pulling 
his car apart and rebuilding it.

787
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:18,120
That's brilliant it. 
Was a great piece of. 

788
00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:20,720
BTCC camaraderie. 
You know, that's cool. 

789
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:23,840
You don't see it that often. 
Yeah. 

790
00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:30,280
And you know, Rob Bravick, Colin
Galley and the BMW, They, they, 

791
00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:32,680
they thought there were, there 
were three or four people who 

792
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:35,040
were really in with a good shout
all the way through the season. 

793
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:36,640
It was a very good year for the 
total Cap. 

794
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:40,240
And of course the last year at 
the total cap because Paul, Paul

795
00:44:40,240 --> 00:44:43,320
their support the end of season,
which was a great shame because 

796
00:44:43,320 --> 00:44:47,600
they used to feed us journalists
fully full English breakfasts on

797
00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:51,440
race day in every meeting. 
So we missed technical. 

798
00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:53,440
When they went Autosport didn't 
do the same. 

799
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:59,120
With the Autosport cap then no. 
Of course, at this time we're 

800
00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:02,120
also having the ALDI lunches and
the ALDI lunches were amazing 

801
00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:05,520
because the the real core 
journalist, it was only about 

802
00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:08,560
half a dozen of us. 
We had this standing invite on 

803
00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:12,000
race day to have lunch in the 
ALDI motorhome, which included 

804
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:17,080
ice Spear. 
How we ever managed to compose 

805
00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:19,960
our race reports in the 
afternoon this is I will not 

806
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:23,640
know because because I look back
and think, how did I ever do 

807
00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:26,040
that? 
How did I ever get away with? 

808
00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:34,120
That just yeah, different times.
Yeah, it was all very good back 

809
00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:37,440
at the front and. 
Tarquini forced his way past on 

810
00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:43,000
lap 12, but at this stage menu 
was 1.4 seconds to the good and 

811
00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:45,640
Tarquini struggled to stay in 
touch with the Renault. 

812
00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:50,120
He made little inroads into the 
Martian for a few laps and had 

813
00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:53,880
just set the fastest lap and 
chipped into the gap again when 

814
00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:57,360
disaster struck. 
Coming around to lamp rob 

815
00:45:57,360 --> 00:46:01,320
Gravette, Tarquini swept around 
the outside and onto the damp 

816
00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:03,680
which lay just off the racing 
line. 

817
00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:07,560
There was no way he could 
control it and he shot off into 

818
00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:11,800
the mud and grazed the barrier. 
I don't understand Gravette. 

819
00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:15,720
It was either crash into him or 
go off, complained Tarquini 

820
00:46:15,720 --> 00:46:19,160
after the race. 
Adam, a bit of a strange 

821
00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:23,280
incident here where sort of it 
just doesn't seem to go right 

822
00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:26,280
for Calvary at all, does it? 
Well, first, I think it's more 

823
00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:27,840
of a. 
Strange comment than a than a 

824
00:46:27,840 --> 00:46:31,520
strange incident. 
I mean guys, and also tell me I 

825
00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:33,600
know you know, don't be afraid 
to speak up here. 

826
00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:35,240
Don't you still sat on that 
fence. 

827
00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:38,000
But have I missed something 
here? 

828
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:40,120
Because when I watched the 
footage he was nowhere near 

829
00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:42,080
graphic. 
No I I in my. 

830
00:46:42,080 --> 00:46:44,040
Eyes, I think he's got. 
It wrong because you looked how 

831
00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:48,160
dirty the circuit was and and 
muddy and damp and horrible on 

832
00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:49,720
stinks. 
It just looks like one of those 

833
00:46:49,720 --> 00:46:51,760
scenarios where he's lost his 
concentration. 

834
00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:53,320
He's gone in a bit quick or a 
bit wide. 

835
00:46:53,320 --> 00:46:56,360
His goal on all the crap on the 
outside, it's just sucked him 

836
00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:58,400
off onto the wet. 
That's how I saw it. 

837
00:46:59,240 --> 00:47:03,160
So yeah, yeah, I did agree. 
I missed something. 

838
00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:06,360
I think that's just a bit of a 
lame excuse to come out with and

839
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:09,200
say, oh, all that will hit him. 
Even now we're near him. 

840
00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:13,600
Yeah. 
So yeah, tell me if I'm wrong 

841
00:47:13,600 --> 00:47:17,000
guys, but that's actually 
sitting for me, no offence. 

842
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:18,520
Sitting for me. 
I'm totally in agreement with 

843
00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:20,160
you, Adam. 
It's he. 

844
00:47:20,240 --> 00:47:22,360
He wasn't right up with gravity 
anyway. 

845
00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:25,240
No, he was never going to 
actually lap him into that 

846
00:47:25,240 --> 00:47:26,480
corner. 
It would have been a bit further

847
00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:28,440
on round, absolutely another 
234. 

848
00:47:28,440 --> 00:47:30,080
Corners round the round the 
complex and the right 

849
00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:33,840
opportunity really for gravity 
to let somebody pass because you

850
00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:36,880
look back at the footage and 
there is mud and water 

851
00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:39,440
everywhere offline. 
So Ravi would have had to have 

852
00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:41,960
been careful where he was going 
to move over to allow that to 

853
00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:43,960
happen because he's going to put
himself in danger. 

854
00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:47,520
So yeah, really strange. 
I didn't even seem to be close 

855
00:47:47,520 --> 00:47:50,200
to even pass him at the next two
or three corners anyway. 

856
00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:52,720
So yeah, bit of a strange 
comment. 

857
00:47:52,720 --> 00:47:54,320
I think that's just one of those
desperation. 

858
00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:56,160
I'm embarrassed. 
I need to blame someone. 

859
00:47:57,040 --> 00:48:00,360
I'll blame him. 
That's how I that's how I saw 

860
00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:02,280
it. 
I did wonder if there was. 

861
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:06,320
Maybe a theory that Rob would be
a little more cooperative 

862
00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:08,680
because of course they're both 
in Hondas, same cars. 

863
00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:10,240
Yeah, and. 
You know, maybe he. 

864
00:48:10,240 --> 00:48:13,280
Thought that he'd get a bit of a
helping hand, but, you know, 

865
00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:16,480
Rob's there doing his own race, 
you know, with his own agendas. 

866
00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:20,400
So even even if Gabrielli was 
right with him, I don't think 

867
00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:22,280
that should have come into it. 
No. 

868
00:48:22,320 --> 00:48:23,360
Well, exactly. 
And Rob would have had. 

869
00:48:23,360 --> 00:48:25,160
To have let him pass on the 
strike because Rob doesn't want 

870
00:48:25,160 --> 00:48:27,600
to put his car in that situation
where all the mud and the rain, 

871
00:48:27,600 --> 00:48:29,600
the water is all on the on the 
side of the circuit. 

872
00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:32,120
So you'd have done it on a 
straight, you'd have waved him 

873
00:48:32,120 --> 00:48:35,000
past there. 
So yeah, real strange one for me

874
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:38,000
as Tarquini. 
Made his way back onto the 

875
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:41,680
track, he spun on the soaking 
wet grass and ended up broadside

876
00:48:41,680 --> 00:48:45,560
on the track, having thrown mud 
everywhere onto the circuit. 

877
00:48:46,680 --> 00:48:49,440
Gravette responded to Tarquini 
and was unhappy. 

878
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:53,400
It was miles behind me. 
I was at the next corner when he

879
00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:57,760
had his accident. 
Alex, we obviously touched on 

880
00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:00,240
this a bit. 
I think it's fairly unanimous, 

881
00:49:00,240 --> 00:49:01,960
but but who are you siding with 
here? 

882
00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:03,360
Yeah, it's bizarre, isn't it? 
I. 

883
00:49:03,360 --> 00:49:05,680
Just, I mean, I love Gabrielli 
at the time. 

884
00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:10,240
I love Gabrielli now. 
I think he's brilliant, but I 

885
00:49:10,240 --> 00:49:13,840
just don't get it. 
I just don't be. 

886
00:49:13,840 --> 00:49:15,160
He was looking for someone to 
blame. 

887
00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:17,400
Perhaps he just got it wrong. 
Didn't he just got? 

888
00:49:17,600 --> 00:49:21,200
It all wrong and yeah. 
I can imagine Rob Gravitt being 

889
00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:24,280
totally surprised at what he was
doing. 

890
00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:28,720
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
And yeah, what compounded it, as

891
00:49:28,720 --> 00:49:34,200
Adam said, is obviously, as 
Andrew explained, the amount of 

892
00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:37,920
water that fell, the amount of 
rain that fell through that 

893
00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:41,080
Saturday and. 
And there was blood everywhere. 

894
00:49:41,080 --> 00:49:42,600
Yeah, the. 
The the grass. 

895
00:49:42,760 --> 00:49:46,320
The the, the you know, the grass
on off the circuit was still 

896
00:49:46,320 --> 00:49:48,760
saturated and it and it was one 
of the circuits. 

897
00:49:48,760 --> 00:49:51,040
Directly off the where the 
tarmac ends and the white line, 

898
00:49:51,040 --> 00:49:53,240
the grass starts. 
There's no extra bit of tarmac 

899
00:49:53,240 --> 00:49:55,200
like Silverstone or a bit of 
gravel. 

900
00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:59,200
It is wet, so yeah, it. 
It looked more like a rally car 

901
00:49:59,200 --> 00:50:03,320
by the end of by the end of the 
incident because he not only 

902
00:50:03,360 --> 00:50:06,080
then got back on the track and 
spun because of freezing cold 

903
00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:10,600
tyres that were soaking wet, he 
flung mud all over the place as 

904
00:50:10,600 --> 00:50:12,720
well. 
So it looked more like a pro 

905
00:50:12,720 --> 00:50:15,560
drive Subaru than a pro drive 
Honda Accord Super Tour. 

906
00:50:15,640 --> 00:50:17,200
Yeah, well, but that have gone 
to rally. 

907
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:18,360
Cross track there as well, 
haven't they? 

908
00:50:19,840 --> 00:50:20,960
So. 
Maybe you just had second 

909
00:50:20,960 --> 00:50:23,040
thoughts. 
Salquini, eventually. 

910
00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:26,960
Got back to the pits and retired
his accord, which ended any 

911
00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:31,000
challenge to Menu, who went on 
to take his ninth victory of the

912
00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:34,440
season. 
Gabrielli was a big threat so I 

913
00:50:34,440 --> 00:50:37,280
was happy when he went off. 
He joked off for the race. 

914
00:50:37,880 --> 00:50:41,960
Well no, not happy because I 
quite like him, but relieved. 

915
00:50:43,080 --> 00:50:46,560
Plato finished behind Alan to 
make it another one to finish 

916
00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:49,720
for Renault, with Rydell 
finishing third for Volvo. 

917
00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:54,560
Beena suffered from a front end 
vibration on his way to 4th but 

918
00:50:54,560 --> 00:50:57,640
was still comfortably clear of 
5th place James Thompson. 

919
00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:04,440
After his brilliant. 
Race one start Rydell was 

920
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:08,880
sluggish away for race 2 and 
Menu converted pole position 

921
00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:11,760
into the lead. 
The Renault driver was to be 

922
00:51:11,760 --> 00:51:15,080
given a big advantage as the 
fast starting Binkliff and 

923
00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:19,320
Rydell collided at Hawthorns 
sending the Volvo flying off the

924
00:51:19,320 --> 00:51:24,120
road and into last place. 
Further down the field, Wilhoit 

925
00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:27,280
brought the safety car out, 
beached into the gravel at Turn 

926
00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:30,560
1 whilst rudder Citation Watts 
were in the pits. 

927
00:51:30,760 --> 00:51:32,880
The Peugeot with front end 
damage. 

928
00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:39,120
Andrew, a bit of a crazy start 
and maybe a tone setter for the 

929
00:51:39,120 --> 00:51:43,680
second race there, yeah. 
I think there's a number of 

930
00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:47,400
things here. 
Firstly, when you have two races

931
00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:51,680
of a meeting, you expect the 
chaos in the second race because

932
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:56,920
drivers can be mildly more 
circumspect in the first one 

933
00:51:56,920 --> 00:51:59,000
because they want to make sure 
they've got the car for the 

934
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:04,760
second one. 
Also with Croft, obviously the 

935
00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:08,800
first one had started after a 
lot of aggro, so you could argue

936
00:52:08,800 --> 00:52:11,720
there might have been a little 
bit of going careful in the 

937
00:52:11,720 --> 00:52:14,440
first couple of laps, even by 
touring car standards. 

938
00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:20,040
The other thing is Croft. 
The first two corners of Croft 

939
00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:25,160
have always amazed me. 
Every time I've seen a touring 

940
00:52:25,160 --> 00:52:29,160
car race start at Croft, I 
always expect absolute chaos at 

941
00:52:29,160 --> 00:52:31,400
that first corner because it 
seems to. 

942
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:34,960
It spreads them all out and then
compresses them all in again. 

943
00:52:35,600 --> 00:52:39,360
So when you see three or four 
cars fly off, I'm not really 

944
00:52:39,360 --> 00:52:41,080
surprised. 
No, no. 

945
00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:44,000
No, yeah, like you say, it 
spreads them out, compresses 

946
00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:46,080
them and then forces them 
through a tight chicane. 

947
00:52:47,080 --> 00:52:49,000
You just you have to get into a 
single file at. 

948
00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:53,160
That point, yeah, yeah, yeah. 
At the restart. 

949
00:52:53,240 --> 00:52:57,720
Thompson moved into second place
after Plato's attempted pass on 

950
00:52:57,720 --> 00:53:01,080
Beeler went wrong. 
Thompson started to chase down 

951
00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:05,000
menu, but after setting the 
fastest laps of the race, his 

952
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:08,800
teammate Tarquini shot across 
the track exiting the chicane 

953
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:13,160
and slammed head on into the 
Armco he hasn't had. 

954
00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:15,720
The best of meetings so. 
Far he. 

955
00:53:15,720 --> 00:53:17,760
Had a big one. 
Oh, a big, big one. 

956
00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:19,680
It's. 
Tarquini. 

957
00:53:20,720 --> 00:53:24,480
Tarquini What? 
A meeting off into the mud in 

958
00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:27,200
race. 
One off in race 2 earlier and 

959
00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:29,600
now this. 
He's hit the Anko very. 

960
00:53:29,600 --> 00:53:32,080
Very hard on the outside of the 
circuit straight after the 

961
00:53:32,080 --> 00:53:33,120
chicane. 
Murray, he's OK. 

962
00:53:33,120 --> 00:53:36,040
He's jumped out of the car. 
Oh, that's good to see he's all 

963
00:53:36,040 --> 00:53:36,920
right. 
He's over the fence. 

964
00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:38,120
And behind the protected 
barrier. 

965
00:53:38,160 --> 00:53:41,000
But he's gone in really hard. 
The Honda was severely. 

966
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:43,240
Damaged and sat in the middle of
the track. 

967
00:53:43,960 --> 00:53:47,360
I took the curb as normal and I 
don't know why it happened, he 

968
00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:50,120
shrugged. 
Maybe there was some oil on the 

969
00:53:50,120 --> 00:53:52,720
track. 
Adam, that was a. 

970
00:53:53,040 --> 00:53:55,440
Very nasty shunt for Tarquini 
there. 

971
00:53:56,400 --> 00:53:59,240
Is there anything you could see 
from the footage that might have

972
00:53:59,240 --> 00:54:02,320
caused that incident at all? 
To be honest, it's just that 

973
00:54:02,320 --> 00:54:06,960
typical. 
Cold rear tyres and it's a cold 

974
00:54:07,040 --> 00:54:09,360
damp day anyway. 
Generally, obviously with front 

975
00:54:09,360 --> 00:54:11,640
wheel drive cars you have, 
you've always got to be 

976
00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:13,600
conscious of the temperature 
you're trying to generate in 

977
00:54:13,600 --> 00:54:15,400
your rear tyres before you, 
before you start. 

978
00:54:15,400 --> 00:54:18,960
But the rears, not the right 
rear particularly doesn't really

979
00:54:18,960 --> 00:54:20,160
do a lot. 
I remember racing around there 

980
00:54:20,160 --> 00:54:22,960
myself where you'd always almost
like a bit of a hold your breath

981
00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:25,360
moment for the chicane where you
have to be committed. 

982
00:54:26,160 --> 00:54:28,480
If you're going through there 
and the back end steps out on 

983
00:54:28,480 --> 00:54:32,240
the left part of it. 
You've got to just already tell 

984
00:54:32,240 --> 00:54:34,840
yourself I'm committing to 
staying out with this because if

985
00:54:34,840 --> 00:54:37,880
he steps out now, that's what's 
going to happen. 

986
00:54:38,200 --> 00:54:40,280
So you have to really have to 
commit to it. 

987
00:54:40,280 --> 00:54:42,360
It's a funny one, but I used to 
love it going through there. 

988
00:54:42,360 --> 00:54:45,320
But yeah, I think he just got it
wrong. 

989
00:54:45,600 --> 00:54:47,120
He just had a bad weekend, 
didn't he? 

990
00:54:47,120 --> 00:54:50,520
He got it wrong. 
Yeah, unfortunately it smashed 

991
00:54:50,520 --> 00:54:52,480
the car to bits, didn't it? 
If you look at the. 

992
00:54:52,480 --> 00:54:57,480
Replay and the slow MO of him 
going through the chicane you 

993
00:54:57,520 --> 00:55:02,800
actually see that he clips the 
tire wall on the inside, which I

994
00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:04,960
think knocks him wide he's. 
Probably in there as well. 

995
00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:06,480
You the what again? 
What, You haven't got that extra

996
00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:09,280
one or two feet of tarmac? 
Yeah, a drop. 

997
00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:11,240
Of grass so if he's. 
Dropped his right rear on today 

998
00:55:11,360 --> 00:55:12,880
on the grass, which he probably 
has. 

999
00:55:13,480 --> 00:55:14,800
That's where it's all gone wrong
for him. 

1000
00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:18,280
Yeah, and, and no room forever. 
And Thompson said as well. 

1001
00:55:18,960 --> 00:55:23,640
After his not to spoil it, but 
he does have a similar shunt 

1002
00:55:23,640 --> 00:55:28,000
shortly that the edge of the 
track was getting more and more 

1003
00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:32,240
damp and muddy from just things 
being thrown up, you know, as it

1004
00:55:32,240 --> 00:55:33,880
does offline during the race 
weekend. 

1005
00:55:34,040 --> 00:55:39,200
But instead of, you know, 
marbles, it's it's water and mud

1006
00:55:39,200 --> 00:55:43,240
basically from from the from the
rainfall on what is also your 

1007
00:55:43,240 --> 00:55:45,200
coldest. 
Tire on the car as well, so 

1008
00:55:45,200 --> 00:55:47,400
you're getting nothing from it. 
So as you say, it's pushed him 

1009
00:55:47,400 --> 00:55:49,440
wide. 
And it's put him round because 

1010
00:55:49,440 --> 00:55:53,640
he's run offline. 
So yeah, unfortunate, but these 

1011
00:55:53,640 --> 00:55:54,920
things happen. 
And that's probably why he 

1012
00:55:54,920 --> 00:55:58,280
thought it was oil, because it 
was so slippery because of the 

1013
00:55:58,280 --> 00:56:02,560
conditions the safety car was. 
Dispatched again, but nice 

1014
00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:06,040
sooner had it returned to the 
pits that Tarquini's teammate 

1015
00:56:06,040 --> 00:56:10,120
Thompson duplicated the Italians
accident, hitting the same 

1016
00:56:10,120 --> 00:56:13,400
barrier and having an almost 
identical accident. 

1017
00:56:14,320 --> 00:56:18,360
Thompson however was trapped in 
the car for a considerable time 

1018
00:56:18,600 --> 00:56:21,800
and the race was red flags 
Andrew. 

1019
00:56:21,880 --> 00:56:25,600
Unbelievable that such an 
identical accident could happen 

1020
00:56:25,600 --> 00:56:29,400
to teammates of all 1. 
Scene after the other, isn't it?

1021
00:56:30,440 --> 00:56:33,120
Yeah, I mean. 
It was a bit writing the script 

1022
00:56:33,120 --> 00:56:36,400
wasn't it, The fact that it 
happened to two identical cars, 

1023
00:56:36,800 --> 00:56:45,000
so unfortunate coincidence. 
They were obviously very careful

1024
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:47,120
with James. 
I remember talking to Doctor 

1025
00:56:47,120 --> 00:56:50,800
Rafford at the time and he said 
they did think back a couple of 

1026
00:56:50,800 --> 00:56:54,080
seasons to James's huge accident
at Nokia and they wanted to be 

1027
00:56:54,080 --> 00:56:56,840
very careful in extracting and 
which was understandable. 

1028
00:56:58,280 --> 00:57:00,280
I think it was unfortunately it 
happened to the Hondas. 

1029
00:57:00,280 --> 00:57:02,160
I think it could have happened 
to any of the cars out there 

1030
00:57:02,160 --> 00:57:05,840
because as Tim Harvey said 
afterwards, you toured around 

1031
00:57:05,840 --> 00:57:09,120
behind the safety car and the 
safety car and that in those 

1032
00:57:09,120 --> 00:57:16,400
days was a Jaguar XJ6 and in and
it didn't go that fast and. 

1033
00:57:16,640 --> 00:57:19,600
It was. 
It was quite easy for the cars 

1034
00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:21,800
to lose all their temperature. 
So once you've got Calgary 

1035
00:57:21,800 --> 00:57:24,680
tyres, as Adam has said, that's 
not the cooling you want to be 

1036
00:57:24,680 --> 00:57:30,920
coming out with Calgary tyres. 
So yes, unfortunate, but there 

1037
00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:32,640
you go. 
But in the context. 

1038
00:57:32,640 --> 00:57:36,640
That the Autosport report says 
that the the Jaguar safety car 

1039
00:57:36,800 --> 00:57:41,880
was lapping 55 seconds slower 
than the racing lap. 

1040
00:57:41,880 --> 00:57:46,080
So that's how how much slower 
they were going and in those 

1041
00:57:46,080 --> 00:57:50,480
cool and wet temp, the 
atmosphere you're going to lose 

1042
00:57:50,600 --> 00:57:54,400
as as Andrew just said, all the 
all the temp in the tyres, the 

1043
00:57:54,400 --> 00:57:57,320
race was never. 
Restarted and the result was 

1044
00:57:57,320 --> 00:58:01,600
declared from the previous slap.
This resulted in the absent 

1045
00:58:01,600 --> 00:58:05,720
Thompson, taken second from a 
highly pleased Leslie, followed 

1046
00:58:05,720 --> 00:58:10,920
by Plato, Cleland and Binkliff. 
Thompson was quick and it would 

1047
00:58:10,920 --> 00:58:14,560
have been hard in the last few 
laps, said menu of the challenge

1048
00:58:14,600 --> 00:58:17,320
that never materialized. 
Alex. 

1049
00:58:17,560 --> 00:58:21,200
Right Decision to stop the race 
and then to not restart it, do 

1050
00:58:21,200 --> 00:58:23,240
you think? 
Yeah, absolutely. 

1051
00:58:23,240 --> 00:58:29,160
I think, I think it's the right 
call it it's, it was a nasty old

1052
00:58:29,160 --> 00:58:32,920
accident and it took a long time
to clear up. 

1053
00:58:33,840 --> 00:58:40,000
You're always going to get one 
or two drivers who looking at 

1054
00:58:40,000 --> 00:58:42,720
themselves thinking I could bag 
a better result if we carried on

1055
00:58:42,720 --> 00:58:44,480
the race or restarted it or 
whatnot. 

1056
00:58:44,480 --> 00:58:52,000
But again, no, it was pretty 
much a a unified group saying 

1057
00:58:52,000 --> 00:58:55,720
no, that's fine. 
Led by again, Derek Warwick, 

1058
00:58:55,720 --> 00:58:58,560
that again it wasn't the. 
Circuits. 

1059
00:58:58,560 --> 00:59:00,880
Fault. 
But by that point and I can 

1060
00:59:00,880 --> 00:59:04,240
remember, we basically all just 
wanted to get out of there and 

1061
00:59:04,240 --> 00:59:09,080
go home because it's one of 
those weekends you just very 

1062
00:59:09,080 --> 00:59:12,240
occasion you have a weekend 
where nothing seems to go right.

1063
00:59:12,240 --> 00:59:15,760
And Croft 97 was one of them. 
No one I remember much much 

1064
00:59:15,760 --> 00:59:21,360
later, way past the Super 
Touring era about 20/14/2015 was

1065
00:59:21,360 --> 00:59:24,800
Snetterton where they had the 
massive crash on the straight 

1066
00:59:25,000 --> 00:59:31,560
and then the in the third race 
where the Chevrolet took down 

1067
00:59:31,560 --> 00:59:34,000
the TV tower. 
That was one. 

1068
00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:36,160
Of those days, we think. 
Can we just go home? 

1069
00:59:36,320 --> 00:59:38,520
Because, you know, that's 
enough. 

1070
00:59:38,520 --> 00:59:41,640
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
And that's what Croft was like. 

1071
00:59:41,640 --> 00:59:45,000
At that point we just wanted to 
and when we left there, there 

1072
00:59:45,560 --> 00:59:47,880
you got the impression that not 
many people wanted to go back 

1073
00:59:47,880 --> 00:59:51,720
again the following year. 
But of course again, it wasn't 

1074
00:59:52,120 --> 00:59:56,400
Circuit's fault and Croft became
regular fixture after that. 

1075
00:59:56,520 --> 00:59:57,840
It's a pretty good circuit 
though. 

1076
00:59:57,840 --> 01:00:00,360
It's probably one of my 
favourites when I was in BTC, so

1077
01:00:00,360 --> 01:00:02,160
really enjoyed it. 
Really good. 

1078
01:00:02,280 --> 01:00:04,000
Challenging as well, 
particularly out of the back 

1079
01:00:04,000 --> 01:00:05,400
through the essays. 
You know, it's really quick. 

1080
01:00:05,400 --> 01:00:07,440
You watch the footage back when 
they go for the essays that left

1081
01:00:07,440 --> 01:00:10,560
the right and then that on the 
brakes into Sunny in like you're

1082
01:00:10,560 --> 01:00:13,120
tanking it down there. 
You know, it's it's really, 

1083
01:00:13,120 --> 01:00:13,960
really good. 
Yeah, yeah. 

1084
01:00:13,960 --> 01:00:16,160
What? 
Good circuit watching the cars 

1085
01:00:16,160 --> 01:00:18,600
go through, dancing through 
there, yeah. 

1086
01:00:18,840 --> 01:00:19,840
Brilliant. 
Love it. 

1087
01:00:24,080 --> 01:00:27,240
Roth's debut in the. 
Modern era of touring car racing

1088
01:00:27,240 --> 01:00:31,560
nearly didn't happen at all, and
when it did, it ended early 

1089
01:00:31,720 --> 01:00:34,360
after James Thompson's 
frightening accident. 

1090
01:00:35,680 --> 01:00:38,440
It's now that part of the show 
where we'll cross over to 

1091
01:00:38,440 --> 01:00:42,600
producer Matt, who's going to 
give us the Matt's facts 

1092
01:00:43,280 --> 01:00:47,160
following that wonderful, 
interesting weekend at Crofton 

1093
01:00:47,160 --> 01:00:49,360
1997. 
So I'll now hand it over. 

1094
01:00:49,640 --> 01:00:52,120
Producer Matt, what facts you 
have for us this week. 

1095
01:00:52,160 --> 01:00:55,680
Come on, Stato. 
Yeah. 

1096
01:00:55,680 --> 01:00:58,040
Drum roll please. 
No sitting on the fences here. 

1097
01:00:58,040 --> 01:01:02,040
Let's just get on with it so. 
So this. 

1098
01:01:02,040 --> 01:01:05,640
Was the first of two meetings in
1997 where traditional 

1099
01:01:05,640 --> 01:01:07,720
qualifying had to be abandoned. 
Uh. 

1100
01:01:07,800 --> 01:01:10,440
The second was Brand Taxi in 
September, where the track 

1101
01:01:10,440 --> 01:01:13,600
action was cancelled on the 
Saturday due to the funeral of 

1102
01:01:13,600 --> 01:01:17,480
Diana, Princess of Wales. 
Umm if you remember that time 

1103
01:01:17,480 --> 01:01:21,200
they didn't do UMM championship 
positions qualifying. 

1104
01:01:21,200 --> 01:01:24,200
They, they did a very short, I 
think it was a 15 minute session

1105
01:01:24,200 --> 01:01:27,200
on the Sunday morning for race 
one and then they took the 

1106
01:01:27,200 --> 01:01:31,120
fastest laps of race one for 
race 2. 

1107
01:01:31,120 --> 01:01:32,720
It's made a very interesting 
race weekend. 

1108
01:01:32,800 --> 01:01:35,800
It did, actually I quite liked. 
The first racer that weekend 

1109
01:01:35,800 --> 01:01:39,080
when you had obviously people 
racing and then you had people 

1110
01:01:39,080 --> 01:01:43,080
gambling and thinking right, if 
I pit for tyres, I can earn 

1111
01:01:43,080 --> 01:01:46,280
myself a nice little grid slot. 
And I remember Paul Radicich 

1112
01:01:47,040 --> 01:01:50,120
flying around trying to set a 
hot lap as other people are 

1113
01:01:50,120 --> 01:01:52,200
racing. 
And it was just really, really 

1114
01:01:52,200 --> 01:01:55,200
bizarre when it worked because 
he got the Mondeo I think in the

1115
01:01:55,200 --> 01:02:01,160
4th on the grid, which it had no
right of being in it in 1997. 

1116
01:02:01,800 --> 01:02:05,720
But yeah, that was I quite like 
that brand's idea, 

1117
01:02:06,920 --> 01:02:09,840
interestingly, that thing. 
About Paul Radesich being 4th, 

1118
01:02:10,120 --> 01:02:13,360
that does show what we talked 
about earlier about potential 

1119
01:02:13,360 --> 01:02:16,840
part reverse grids because he 
hung on up there at that, that 

1120
01:02:16,840 --> 01:02:20,800
day at Branson, which she can do
any would have. 

1121
01:02:20,800 --> 01:02:22,440
Known that not. 
Having the fastest car because 

1122
01:02:22,440 --> 01:02:25,720
it's so difficult to overtake 
good, you know qualifying super 

1123
01:02:25,720 --> 01:02:30,240
important so despite. 
All of the carnage of of Croft. 

1124
01:02:30,240 --> 01:02:33,120
There were surprisingly only 
four retirements from each race 

1125
01:02:33,440 --> 01:02:36,400
and it would be no surprise that
the only driver that retired 

1126
01:02:36,400 --> 01:02:38,480
from both was Paul Gabriel 
Tarquini. 

1127
01:02:41,320 --> 01:02:44,000
With a 6th and a place and. 
A fifth place finish, this was 

1128
01:02:44,000 --> 01:02:46,960
John Clelland's best weekend of 
the season in terms of results. 

1129
01:02:47,320 --> 01:02:50,400
However, this would prove to be 
his worst ever best weekend. 

1130
01:02:51,640 --> 01:02:56,400
Oh, oh, OK, yeah, OK. 
That's that's that's going deep 

1131
01:02:56,400 --> 01:02:57,400
into stats. 
That is. 

1132
01:02:58,160 --> 01:03:00,720
I like it. 
Frank Baylor's 17th place. 

1133
01:03:00,720 --> 01:03:03,720
Finish in Race 2 was his worst 
ever finishing position in the 

1134
01:03:03,720 --> 01:03:06,040
BTCC race. 
Apart from retirements. 

1135
01:03:06,440 --> 01:03:09,760
He would go on to finish 15th in
the season finale and this was 

1136
01:03:09,760 --> 01:03:12,240
his second worst result. 
John. 

1137
01:03:12,240 --> 01:03:16,720
Binkliff likes this. 
Yeah. 

1138
01:03:17,720 --> 01:03:19,720
Panting him off. 
Yeah, but he does. 

1139
01:03:20,680 --> 01:03:22,600
This was the. 
Fourth time this season that 

1140
01:03:22,600 --> 01:03:25,320
Alemenyu won both races at the 
same weekend. 

1141
01:03:25,800 --> 01:03:28,720
The first time he achieved this 
in his career was at Alton Park 

1142
01:03:28,720 --> 01:03:31,360
in 1995. 
He did it again at Brand 

1143
01:03:31,360 --> 01:03:35,800
Thatcher in 1996 and then after 
this year, the 7th and final 

1144
01:03:35,800 --> 01:03:38,040
time he achieved it was at 
Donnington in 2000. 

1145
01:03:38,920 --> 01:03:41,640
And then finally going to end 
this one on a fact and a bit of 

1146
01:03:41,640 --> 01:03:46,120
a question for you guys. 
So this was the only ever. 

1147
01:03:46,120 --> 01:03:49,120
Meeting for the BTCC with 
multiple races that had 

1148
01:03:49,120 --> 01:03:53,280
identical grids. 
Despite this, only two drivers 

1149
01:03:53,280 --> 01:03:55,640
finished in the same position in
both races. 

1150
01:03:56,480 --> 01:04:00,240
We know that Alan Menu won both,
so who was the other? 

1151
01:04:07,560 --> 01:04:11,440
I have no idea. 
Derek Warwick. 

1152
01:04:12,040 --> 01:04:14,880
I wouldn't have been Thompson. 
Because the clowns 5th in race 

1153
01:04:14,880 --> 01:04:16,600
too. 
And Thompson. 

1154
01:04:16,600 --> 01:04:17,920
Crashed. 
Yeah, because they could be 

1155
01:04:17,920 --> 01:04:20,280
Tarquini. 
He had the same same result in 

1156
01:04:20,280 --> 01:04:25,800
both DNF. 
I don't know. 

1157
01:04:25,920 --> 01:04:27,920
It was. 
I wasn't. 

1158
01:04:27,920 --> 01:04:29,080
Going down, we even. 
Pulled it off. 

1159
01:04:30,640 --> 01:04:32,560
Jim Harvick. 
Levi was actually. 

1160
01:04:32,560 --> 01:04:34,240
Closest on on the right lines 
there. 

1161
01:04:34,240 --> 01:04:37,960
Remember when I was 7% earlier? 
Yeah, well. 

1162
01:04:38,880 --> 01:04:41,160
Then Adam. 
Disappointingly, it's 12th. 

1163
01:04:41,160 --> 01:04:44,840
In both races, obviously not 
helped by by James in race one. 

1164
01:04:44,920 --> 01:04:47,800
Yes, yes. 
Yes, yeah, yeah. 

1165
01:04:48,680 --> 01:04:53,680
What's that? 
Three points and we'll look 

1166
01:04:53,680 --> 01:04:55,520
forward to. 
Hearing more of Matt's facts in 

1167
01:04:55,520 --> 01:04:58,080
a future episode, Future week. 
Thank you very much. 

1168
01:05:02,520 --> 01:05:04,800
I'd like to thank AS. 
Well, Andrew Charming for 

1169
01:05:04,800 --> 01:05:08,400
joining us once again to look 
back at this race and we hope 

1170
01:05:08,400 --> 01:05:10,920
we'll see you on stories from 
Super Touring against SIM 

1171
01:05:10,920 --> 01:05:14,280
Andrew, I'll be. 
Obviously more than happy to 

1172
01:05:14,400 --> 01:05:18,720
come back whenever you want me 
as you well know and our thanks.

1173
01:05:18,720 --> 01:05:21,920
As ever, go to you guys for 
listening to the show and if you

1174
01:05:21,920 --> 01:05:25,080
enjoyed today's episode, please 
make sure to give us a review, 

1175
01:05:25,400 --> 01:05:29,040
five star rating and subscribe 
to the podcast feed on your 

1176
01:05:29,040 --> 01:05:32,840
podcast a of choice. 
In the meantime, we will see you

1177
01:05:32,840 --> 01:05:34,240
next week. 
Goodbye.