1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:03,360 Look at the flames bounced out in the back of Ryndale's car. 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:05,040 Looks like spust too, not a ball book. 3 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:07,240 Menus hit him. They've been. 4 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:09,840 Pushed from behind, three melted down the fairways. 5 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:12,720 Look at the front of it. It's like a scene out of Mad 6 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:15,360 Max. Unhurtly. 7 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,080 Nervous in racing like those British touring cars has. 8 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:20,360 Certainly Eclipse. Anything we've ever seen before. 9 00:00:26,220 --> 00:00:30,300 Hello, and welcome to our brand new podcast, the Super Touring 10 00:00:30,300 --> 00:00:35,160 Years, a bonus podcast series created exclusively for Paddock 11 00:00:35,160 --> 00:00:38,440 Club members. I'm Levi Riley, and for the 12 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,960 first series of this bonus podcast, we're going back to 13 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:46,960 1998's British Touring Car Championship, breaking it down 14 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,520 race meeting by race meeting, from the season opener right 15 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:54,360 through to the finale. This series exists because you 16 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:57,040 asked for it. Paddock Club listeners voted on 17 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:02,120 Patreon for a full deep dive into the 1998 season, and this 18 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,239 is the result. Each episode focuses on a single 19 00:01:05,239 --> 00:01:08,200 race meeting, examining the story as it unfolded at the 20 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:12,800 time, the build up, the key moments, the controversies and 21 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,760 how each we can shape the championship as a whole. 22 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,960 Alongside regular stories from Super Touring contributors, 23 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,480 we'll analyse the season with the benefit of hindsight but 24 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:27,320 without rewriting history. Normally this podcast is for 25 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:31,000 members of our Paddock Club only, but for this first episode 26 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:34,480 we have decided to open up to everyone and if you like it, 27 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:36,720 make sure you subscribe to our Paddock Club. 28 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:40,400 It's usually £4 a month, but it's going to be 2 LB a month as 29 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:44,200 a special offer for your first month, where you'll also be able 30 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,600 to listen to the whole series along with many other benefits 31 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:50,800 and exclusive content. Joining me this week to look 32 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:55,240 back at the opening meeting of the 1998 BTCC season are Rammets 33 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:59,240 Clark, the creator and writer of our podcasts, and Greg Haynes, 34 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,880 World Super Bike commentator, Super Touring expert and a 35 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:06,000 familiar voice to regular listeners of our main podcast, 36 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,039 Stories from Super Touring Gents. 37 00:02:09,039 --> 00:02:11,200 Great to have you both with us. How are you? 38 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:12,360 Yeah, fine. Thanks. 39 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:16,720 We're in a funny mood here because as we record Alexis 40 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:19,480 camera keeps zooming in on him for some reason, which is the 41 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:22,480 last thing anyone needs. But it's entertaining, isn't it? 42 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,120 It's, it must be just the latest Apple technology. 43 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:28,080 I don't know. It's yeah, it just seems to be 44 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:29,440 zooming in and out on me, doesn't it? 45 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:32,920 So apologies for anyone frightened by that. 46 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:34,960 But we are also excited, aren't we? 47 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,600 Because I think we will probably all agree that the 1998 British 48 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:42,160 Touring Car season is probably our favourite motorsport season 49 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:43,120 ever. It's certainly mine. 50 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,000 Out of any motorsport discipline whatsoever, yes, absolutely. 51 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,200 There's something about this season. 52 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,320 It just had everything. All the ingredients just seemed 53 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:56,720 to add up and it created one of the most spectacular 54 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,040 championships in motorsport history. 55 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:02,920 And I know people will say, oh, it's just, you know, they're 56 00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:05,840 looking through those tinted spectacles or not watch this 57 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:07,840 season back. If you've got the season review, 58 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,920 if you've got footage from this season, if you watch it on 59 00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:12,880 YouTube, I know there's bits of it on YouTube. 60 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,880 Go back and watch it and you will just see that there is not 61 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,400 a dull moment throughout this season. 62 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:23,640 Every single race has something special about it, has a story, 63 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:29,040 has a plot and it's so great and I was secretly delighted when 64 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:31,640 this was chosen because it became. 65 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:37,000 There is a three horse race between 9193 and 98. 66 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:41,360 I quite like the idea of 91 first because it would be the 67 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,760 first year of full Super Touring or as it was called then, the 68 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:49,960 two litre Touring car formula. But I don't think, I don't think 69 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,720 anyone would be disappointed to do 1998 first because as, as 70 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:56,000 Greg has just said, one of the most incredible seasons of 71 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:00,520 motorsport in any discipline, any category in certainly our 72 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:02,840 lifetimes. Yeah, and of course, one of the 73 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:06,240 two seasons that were covered in the Legendary Legendary code, 74 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:08,960 Masters games, Token, Story card, Charity, and of course 75 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:11,680 this was Token 2, PC and PlayStation. 76 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:14,160 And I don't know about you guys, but if it wasn't for those 77 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:17,560 games, I definitely would not be here talking to you now. 78 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,200 I wouldn't have had the career I've had so far, if you can call 79 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:22,480 it a career. It was all down to those games 80 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:24,720 and the seasons that those games were based on. 81 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,480 I mean, we had variety, we had drama, we had controversy 82 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,560 through the year, we had pretty much every weather condition 83 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,520 imaginable. It stops different looks to the 84 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:36,800 television coverage. It was just an incredible 85 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:38,080 classic. Yeah, wasn't it? 86 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:41,360 With some of the most iconic looking and sounding touring 87 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,480 cars ever. As you say, absolutely silly and 88 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,760 we'll get more into it both today and in the next few weeks, 89 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,760 but there were an awful lot of unknowns leading up to the 90 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,280 opening rounds of the 1998 season. 91 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,640 After a year of domination by Williams Renault in 1997, were 92 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:00,600 any of the teams going to be able to fight back this season? 93 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:03,920 With eight well funded manufacture entries and with the 94 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:06,640 possibility of a ninth coming into the series during the 95 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:11,240 second-half of the season, the BTCC was clearly riding as two 96 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:13,560 both said on the Crest of a wave. 97 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,560 The BBC had committed to showing more live events on BBC One 98 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:22,120 Grandstand and the introduction of a BTCC game on PlayStation. 99 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,160 The PC in the form of the Toker series had gained the series 100 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,720 even more fans than before. The major talking points of the 101 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:32,880 pre season were the introduction of new race links in 1998. 102 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,120 Each round was now split into a Sprint race and a feature race, 103 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:40,200 the feature race being twice the length of the opening Sprint 104 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:44,360 race with a mandatory pit stop to change A minimum of two tyres 105 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:48,920 also added into the mix. Guys, we'd love to know your 106 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:51,920 thoughts on the changes to the championship for the 1998 season 107 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,320 with both the Sprint and the feature races, and also the pit 108 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:57,120 stops as well. Well. 109 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,400 Just as you mentioned Toker then it reminded me the computer game 110 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:02,800 and we've just been talking about it. 111 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:04,760 Sorry. I'm I'm we'll go back to your 112 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:08,000 question now, but it reminds me of a story that Reedy has told 113 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,720 me. Anthony Reed has told me that he 114 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:12,200 was. I can't remember where he said 115 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:16,320 he was, but he was at some sort of event race meeting and 116 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:21,480 Romaine Dumas, the French sports car driver, was there. 117 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:23,360 I think it was a good word or something. 118 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:24,680 Good word. Yeah. 119 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:28,000 And and and I think Anthony introduced himself. 120 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,680 And the third thing Roman Dumas said was, Oh my God, I used to 121 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,600 play as you on Toca 2. So that's the sort of reach that 122 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:37,320 the game had. And I just think that was a 123 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:38,800 great, that's a great story, isn't it? 124 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:41,520 Yeah, and people often used to say to John Cleland as well, you 125 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:43,800 took me off on Take a Two last night or whatever. 126 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:46,080 I remember it was always Derek Warwick that took me off on the 127 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:47,640 game. It was always Warwick. 128 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:51,960 Very, very realistic actually. Always rude boy Tim Harvey for. 129 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:54,200 Rude boy. Rude boy. 130 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:56,920 So, but it was so realistic, wasn't it? 131 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:00,560 I mean, the sounds of the cars as well and they were and the 132 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:02,120 damage. Because back then you're up 133 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:04,160 against things like Gran Turismo, which didn't really 134 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:07,560 feature any car damage at all. And those Code Masters games 135 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:11,040 were absolutely phenomenal. And just also, as you touched on 136 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:14,520 Levi BBC Grandstand, it was getting coverage everywhere 137 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,040 because we've talked about this in earlier series of the 138 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:19,440 podcast, in the regular series of the regular episodes. 139 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:23,240 But Nigel Mansell even appeared for a second time on the one and 140 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,160 only Knowles house party. And that at that point, late 90s 141 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,240 was getting anything between 6 and 10 million viewers on a 142 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:33,800 Saturday evening to preview his Donnington races. 143 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,400 I mean, that is amazing. They even did the Ford launch in 144 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,720 the BBC television studio on the set of Knowles House party. 145 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:43,560 This was huge. And Williams, Renault of course, 146 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,360 were the reigning champions, as you said, not just in the 147 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:48,840 touring car world but also in Formula One as well. 148 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,160 So this was a huge time, a massive time. 149 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:55,520 Formula One teams in the paddock bringing their knowledge in for 150 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:58,080 the pit stops. The likes of TWR with Volvo, 151 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:00,560 Williams of course, with Renault. 152 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:04,920 Absolutely amazing. Well, you mentioned the F1 teams 153 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:09,200 and it's notable that every single team principal involved 154 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,920 in Formula One was flew straight over from the Argentine Grand 155 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:16,520 Prix on the Sunday for this event. 156 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:19,000 On the Monday you had Frank Williams was there, Tom 157 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:23,120 Walkinshaw was there and Dr Dave Richards was there for with the 158 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:26,240 with the Honda Pro Drive team. They flew over straight from the 159 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:30,680 Grand Prix, all to be there. And I think that just shows how 160 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:34,840 serious this championship was, was it wasn't becoming, was. 161 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:37,039 Right, then back to the question though. 162 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:39,679 Sorry, sorry, sorry. It's my fault. 163 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:43,720 What what did you guys think of of the changes for 9910? 164 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,560 We also had the the one shot qualifier thrown in the mix as 165 00:08:46,560 --> 00:08:49,400 well, which we'll get on to. I thought it was great. 166 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:50,800 I thought it was absolutely fantastic. 167 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:52,640 So yeah, like you say, we'll get on to it. 168 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:55,120 But the One Shot Showdown was the second of the qualifying 169 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:57,200 sessions to take place, but actually decided the grid for 170 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:00,440 the Sprint race, the first race and then we had the long feature 171 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,200 race in the afternoon with the pit stops. 172 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:05,080 Brilliance of the point system as well. 173 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:09,960 Awarded a bonus point to anybody who stayed out and LED a lap. 174 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:11,920 Alexis cameras doing funny things again, which is making me 175 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:13,920 laugh. But if you led a lap of the 176 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:15,960 feature race, if you crossed the finish line in the lead 177 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:18,680 position, you scored a point. So it encouraged a lot of the 178 00:09:18,680 --> 00:09:21,440 teams who started further back to stay out on a latest 179 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:23,520 strategy. Sometimes the front runners 180 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:26,760 would come in first and then they'd be out on fresh tyres in 181 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:29,400 clear space, but then they'd start catching these slower cars 182 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:31,800 and it absolutely shook things up. 183 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:34,000 And we saw a lot of races, particularly early on in the 184 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,840 Year 1, and more importantly lost because of slow pit stops 185 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:40,240 or poor strategies or getting stuck in the traffic. 186 00:09:40,680 --> 00:09:45,160 So I thought it was brilliant. Yeah, I was concerned about the 187 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:48,400 pit stops. The only concern I had was that 188 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:53,600 it would diminish the racing because they would sort of say, 189 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:55,200 Oh well, I'll wait to the pit stop. 190 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:58,960 But it that never really came out, that never really became an 191 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:02,760 issue. Overtaking was still happening 192 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:05,360 on track. So it was, yeah, it was never 193 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:07,960 really a massive issue. I like the fact that it brought 194 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:12,080 the teams in a bit more as well. Yeah, I like the fact that they 195 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:16,040 were longer races. I've always thought that, OK, 196 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:17,480 you don't want to race, it's too long. 197 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:22,760 But the current, the the prior to 98, the races are about 25 198 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:26,720 minutes, half an hour each race. And I like the fact that you had 199 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:30,240 maybe a 25 minute race, but then like a 50 minute race and I 200 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:33,760 thought that was really cool. You know, 50 laps of Brands 201 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:35,600 Hatch. That's really cool for a touring 202 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,400 car race, you know. So yeah, I liked all the changes 203 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:45,320 and I particularly like the One Shot Showdown because you had 204 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:49,400 drivers just going out there and if you went to a qualifying day 205 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:55,360 at touring cars, it wouldn't be the most interesting session to 206 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:57,800 watch the 30 minute qualifying session. 207 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:04,600 Whereas when they just had one lap to just go for it, balls out 208 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:08,800 the bath type thing and just really try and nail a lap and 209 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:14,360 you had incidents like plot twist or so, plot spoiler menu, 210 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:17,600 losing it at the club chicane, cutting through the chicane, 211 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:19,880 taking pole and then getting thrown to the back of the grid. 212 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:24,120 You know, that created great drama for the races too. 213 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:28,080 So yeah, no, everything that there's introduced I really 214 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:29,920 liked. And I liked, as Greg mentioned, 215 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:33,320 the point because I can particularly recall at Oldham 216 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:35,920 Park, and I'm sure we'll discuss it when we get to that meeting 217 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:40,680 where Paul Radisson just is, will be still, many will be 218 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:43,880 spitting blood trying to get past Paul Radisson because he's 219 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:46,760 just there constantly just hanging on for this one point 220 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:49,560 and possibly the only point that Peugeot would score that day 221 00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:51,200 because they were struggling at this point. 222 00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:54,320 So it's brilliant. It added another dimension to 223 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:57,920 the feature race that, you know, this Peugeot suddenly with A, 224 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,520 was in the lead of a race and B could score a point when 225 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,720 ordinarily it would have just been languishing in 14th place 226 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:08,000 and wouldn't wouldn't have seen very much of either coverage or 227 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,520 B the race, to be honest, you know, So, yeah, brilliant. 228 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:14,800 They were all excellent ideas. Yeah, commercially it was great 229 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:16,600 as well for some of those smaller teams because they were 230 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:19,400 getting more TV time, you know, some of the dicing with the 231 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:21,840 leaders, as you've just said, Alex, because, you know, they're 232 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:24,360 mixed up because of pit stops. And let's just remember why they 233 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,600 did this as well. The BTCC always has done, 234 00:12:26,680 --> 00:12:30,120 certainly since the Alan Gow era began in the late 80s, early 90s 235 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:32,920 and even to this day prided itself on being completely 236 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:36,880 unpredictable, which means not having another 1997 which was 237 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:40,360 utterly dominated wasn't it, by Menu and the Renault, Laguna and 238 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:42,960 Williams? So it was very much done to stop 239 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:46,160 them, very much like the 2003 F one season I feel, when we had a 240 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:48,640 massive shake up in the rules with the point systems and 241 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,920 qualifying change there as well. In the end Schumacher did win 242 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:55,280 the F1 title in 2003 but it went right down to the wire for the 243 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:59,080 first time in a long time. So yeah, you have to say the 244 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,520 victims in many ways were Menu and Williams and Renault, but 245 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:05,360 from our point of view it was absolutely brilliant, wasn't it? 246 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,680 Yeah, absolutely. One other major change for the 247 00:13:08,680 --> 00:13:13,080 1998 season was the departure of Murray Walker from the BTCC 248 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:17,840 commentary box, with the BBC deciding to promote his 1997 249 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:22,240 sidekick Charlie Cox into the lead commentary position, with 250 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,640 former F1 race winner John Watson hired to accompany him. 251 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:28,080 When the deal was announced, Cox said. 252 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,440 Well, the way I look at it, I'm taking over from Murray, not 253 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:34,680 replacing him. Nobody could do that so I won't 254 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:38,120 even try. I'll be loud, boisterous and 255 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:41,080 we'll continue the Wise cracking and highlighting the funny side 256 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:43,520 of the things. I don't intend to change that 257 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,920 and the Beeb don't want me to. It'll be different working with 258 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:49,760 John Watson who is a driver of undisputed pedigree. 259 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,560 He's not backwards in coming forwards either so his views 260 00:13:53,560 --> 00:13:58,080 will be entertaining, which I think ended up happening during 261 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:02,360 our practise runs together. I think we crushed 2 careers and 262 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:05,840 rivalled three other people within the 1st 7 minutes. 263 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:09,880 I mean, I think I know the answer to to what you guys will 264 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:12,760 say to this question, but do you think the BBC got this this 265 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:15,480 decision right of the pairing? Oh, absolutely. 266 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:17,120 Yes, they did. Yeah. 267 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:22,920 Charlie was the perfect lead commentator. 268 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,320 And what? He was the perfect foil because 269 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:30,800 as I've said many Times Now, I liked Charlie's wisecracks. 270 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:33,320 You know, he talked about highlighting the funny side of 271 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:35,400 things. You know, his catchphrases were 272 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,880 really memorable. He was just a brilliant talker 273 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:45,080 and he made things sound so much fun that he was perfect for the 274 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:49,240 role. And I know we had a debate about 275 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:53,360 this in the last series, didn't really have the main pod when 276 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:56,760 Jake, one of our regular listeners, said that he 277 00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:58,720 preferred Charlie and Watty to Murray. 278 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:00,600 And I agree with him totally, 100%. 279 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:02,880 I think they suited the style of racing better. 280 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:06,280 And I really like the fact that you had somebody in Watty that 281 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:12,120 would call out bad driving and really say it as it is, which as 282 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,400 much as I love Murray Walker, he would never really do that, 283 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:16,320 would he? You know, he was always. 284 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:19,880 Sunnyside up. Yes, that's a very good way of 285 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,960 putting it, you know. Oh, Martin, you are a cynical 286 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,800 chap. Ironically, in 98. 287 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:30,720 Yeah. So yeah, it was the perfect the 288 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:33,640 the the perfect pairing as far as I was concerned. 289 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:35,920 Yeah, it's obviously things have changed, haven't they? 290 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:38,440 Because Murray I still believe is one of the greatest people in 291 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,280 the history of not just motor racing, but certainly the BTCC 292 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:43,760 and what he did along with Steve Ryder and obviously they're 293 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:46,160 absolutely PHP. But things have changed, haven't 294 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:47,600 they? The year before in 97, they'd 295 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:50,800 gone from 1/2 hour highlights programme to a 30 sorry, to from 296 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:52,880 1/2 hour our highlights programme to a one hour 297 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,640 highlights programme. Murray had focused on F1 and 298 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,080 Watty and Cox. They had to get this right and 299 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:01,680 they really did. And I never knew until John said 300 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:05,680 to us on this very podcast that he was going to be the lead. 301 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,200 That was the original idea because he'd LED commentaries 302 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,080 before. He'd been doing a sort of joint 303 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:13,800 lead role effectively with Ben Edwards in previous years on 304 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:17,080 Eurosport for Formula One. And that's a dream team as well, 305 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:20,440 Watty and Ben. But with Charlie it worked 306 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:22,360 brilliantly as well, didn't it? And we know they had a few 307 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:25,760 Contra tonnes between them be trucks to 99, as they both said 308 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:28,960 to us on this podcast. You know, it got a bit heated, a 309 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:31,440 bit like James Hunt and Mary Walker back in the day. 310 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:33,920 But it really, really did work, didn't it? 311 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,560 And it was a great dynamic. There were some really funny 312 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,000 moments. And it's exactly what the 313 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:40,880 temperature needed. Because that could have made or 314 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,200 or broken the whole TV situation. 315 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:45,560 Actually, it really could. Yeah, the wrong appointment 316 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:47,560 there could have killed it. Yeah, yeah. 317 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:50,600 And you're never going to replace, as Charlie said in that 318 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:53,000 quote, you've just read, Leave Like Murray Walker. 319 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:55,080 But he did it his way, and that's the way you have to do 320 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:55,880 it. And it was brilliant. 321 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:58,720 Whether it was the recorded highlights that made touring 322 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:02,040 cars what it was back then, all the few live rounds they were 323 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:04,640 then beginning to have, it worked really well in both 324 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:06,440 cases. Silent. 325 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:12,880 The first round of the 1998 season was held at Froxton on a 326 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:17,280 Bank Holiday weekend. Now before we get into the the 327 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:19,800 Sprint race side of things, probably the first thing to 328 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,520 address in terms of the on track action that weekend was the 329 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:25,920 Sprint qualifying. We've already alluded to it, but 330 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:31,480 Alan then knew Completely unstoppable in 1997 pretty much 331 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:35,840 puts in a pretty much hell of a lap to be honest. 332 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:39,320 A 90% of the way around the club Chicane all goes wrong doesn't 333 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:40,760 it? And he misses it. 334 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:45,720 That was really the the first kind of wake up call that the 98 335 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:50,040 might be different, wasn't it? Yeah, well, as he put it in his 336 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:54,280 interview post qualifying, it's exactly what Toko was looking 337 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:57,800 for. And it was because he said, you 338 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:02,000 know, as he says in the interview, what Toca wanted was 339 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,480 somebody quick to be at the back and have to fight their way 340 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:07,400 through the field. And that's exactly what they 341 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:09,320 got. And he was saying, I bet they 342 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:13,400 were happy at Toca. And it's a slightly barbed 343 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:15,680 response, but it's exactly right. 344 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:17,680 He's spot on. That's exactly what they would 345 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:20,280 have looked for. They would have wanted somebody 346 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,000 or the the grid to be shuffled up enough that would create a 347 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:26,360 bit more drama for the for the opening race. 348 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:29,440 Yeah, this race meeting in my opinion could not have been 349 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:31,200 better. Actually you had quite a lot of 350 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:33,280 different looking cars. Let's also not forget that the 351 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,120 Renault Lagoon has gone from yellow to green paint with the 352 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:38,320 Nest Cafe Blend 37 colour scheme. 353 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,480 Huge difference, especially to people like Kirstie Were really 354 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:44,200 into the helmet designs and the liveries of the cars. 355 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:48,400 And it had the rear light clusters were new and the smoked 356 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:50,680 front lights, yeah. All this ball who could. 357 00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:52,400 The the. Smoked. 358 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:55,200 Front lights. Alan Partridge is amongst us. 359 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:57,640 Did they have a Toblerone on board? 360 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:02,520 But no, it was, it was it was a perfect way to start, wasn't it? 361 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:04,920 And to see menu coming through we'll get to the race in a 362 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:07,320 moment was absolutely spectacular. 363 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:09,520 Let's also not forget that it was only the second time in the 364 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,320 whole of the Super Touring era that Thruxton actually started 365 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:14,280 the season 94 was the previous time. 366 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:16,800 It's not often that Thruxton starts a season in any 367 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:19,960 motorsport, and track activity at Thruxton is very limited 368 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:21,800 through a year because noise restrictions. 369 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:25,000 So whether it's bikes or cars, Thruxton tends to throw up 370 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,600 normally in most seasons. Quite a different result to the 371 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:31,200 rest of that year. And it looked. 372 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:34,040 I won't spoil the results, but I'm sure those of you who are 373 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:35,200 listening to this already know them. 374 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:39,440 But it looked at the end of the weekend like a normalish weekend 375 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:41,280 for results. But it was certainly not to be 376 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:43,720 the pattern for the season ahead, was it? 377 00:19:44,360 --> 00:19:47,920 And then, as you know, we get to the start then of that very 378 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,720 first race and Will Hoy and Matt Neil didn't exactly get off on 379 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:56,400 the front foot on the first lap. Did they just just guide us 380 00:19:56,400 --> 00:20:01,560 through their little battle and inevitable demise in this Sprint 381 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,000 race? Well, first of all, Rydell had 382 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,400 made a bad start, hadn't he, from pole and dropped to the 383 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:09,600 third behind James Thompson's Honda and Plato's Renault? 384 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:11,880 And then yes, we get through church on the first lap. 385 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:14,400 I remember the coverage showed on board with Tim Harvey's 386 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:16,920 Peugeot. You got smoke everywhere and 387 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:19,040 Warwick is spinning the Vauxhall Vectra. 388 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:21,080 It's not even the end of the first lap of the season and 389 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:23,520 Warwick's off and then everyone was trying to back out the way, 390 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,040 dart around him. Binkliff got involved in the 391 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:29,320 ALDI and I remember Matt Neil saying Will jammed his foot on 392 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:32,360 the brake going through church. He went into the back of him and 393 00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:34,960 then I think someone lost it and sideswiped Matt Neil. 394 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:38,400 And the next thing you see is I think Matt Neil was described as 395 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,720 the two would and Will Hoy was the golf ball by so a great one 396 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,080 liner already from Charlie in the first lap of the year. 397 00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:47,520 And Alex, we see Will Hoy shooting off the infield a 398 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:49,800 little bit like Mike Smith had done at Donnington some years 399 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,200 before. Doing a bit of mowing, I think 400 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:57,120 was it was described as. And yeah, Will, I love the fact 401 00:20:57,120 --> 00:21:00,200 that Will's just sort of trundling along the grass. 402 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:01,720 All you can hear is him just go. Oh, shit. 403 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,240 Yeah, yeah. Sorry, sorry. 404 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:07,200 Well, I didn't hear that, but what's up? 405 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:12,880 And yeah, it was a it was a weird, a weird accident, but 406 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:18,400 very, very much a typical first lap bit of dumping and boring 407 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,880 that that just ended up with, with Will Harley, not for the 408 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:24,760 first time, coming off worst. Yeah, and ironically, of course 409 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:27,560 we didn't know this at the time, but Fast forward just over a 410 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:29,760 year and we had a similar incident with Menu in Plato on 411 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:32,920 the opening lap of a race coming out of church in 99. 412 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,640 So it kind of happened. Cold tyres, tyre warmers were 413 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:39,640 being used, weren't they, in 98 for the first time for the BTCC. 414 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:42,160 But Even so, cold tyres, first lap, fastest corner in the 415 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:44,960 country, fastest track in the country, carnage. 416 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:48,680 Good for the TV viewers though. And then is she, is she 417 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:52,840 mentioned Greg, right? I had a pretty customary poor 418 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:58,160 start firing fuel out of the back of a car as well as we'll 419 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:00,400 probably come back to in a little bit. 420 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:05,800 From then on though, it looked pretty much like it kind of felt 421 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:11,360 after qualifying that that Volvo in Rickard's hands was really 422 00:22:11,360 --> 00:22:14,480 somewhat the class of the field in especially a shorter race 423 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:15,320 ball. And that wasn't it. 424 00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:18,920 Yeah, it's interesting because quite there was quite a few 425 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,160 people when they're up at the front representing their team, 426 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:23,960 their brand, their manufacturer, Thompson in the lead Honda. 427 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:26,000 Plays their lead. Renner because many would have 428 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:29,200 his problem in qualifying. Claire Andrews up there in a 429 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,880 Vauxhall which we haven't seen for a very, very long time since 430 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,160 the end of 95 when he won in the Cavalier the championship. 431 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:39,400 But yeah, Rydell, not only was he a long way ahead of his ex F1 432 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:41,800 teammate Morbidelli. Morbidelli having come in from 433 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:44,800 Saud with the previous year. But he just looks so much more 434 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:46,480 comfortable, didn't he, with the car underneath him? 435 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,440 The only question mark, though, was menu because he was fighting 436 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:51,120 his way through the field. Yeah. 437 00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:52,800 So we're all thinking what's going to happen in the feature 438 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,000 race later. But Rydell, definitely. 439 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,360 You could tell they'd made a huge step forward, couldn't you, 440 00:22:57,360 --> 00:23:00,520 over the winter? Well, Rydell's pole lap was a 441 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:02,800 second quicker than Thompson, who was alongside him on the 442 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:04,040 front row. That's madness. 443 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,640 As Greg said, you don't need a discounted menu there. 444 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,680 Who was going quicker at the time before he had his his 445 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:15,040 mistake in club. But yeah, that was that's one 446 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:19,280 heck of a lap. That's that's as good a lap as 447 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,680 possibly as Bathurst pole lap. It's a shame he can't start. 448 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:26,560 Yeah, yeah, imagine how many titles he'd probably want to, 449 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:29,760 because. He'd certainly lost a lot of 450 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:33,000 races, didn't in a lot of points through 1995. 451 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,960 Yes, 1998, you know, and other times as well. 452 00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:39,240 Yeah, absolutely. But there was also massive 453 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:41,280 pressure wasn't as we said, Tom Wilkins show was there. 454 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:44,280 He'd been with arrows with Damon Hill and Pedro de Nirs in 455 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,560 Argentina the day before flying back across the Atlantic. 456 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:52,360 Jet lags, I'm sure to to hell, but was there. 457 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,280 But there was pressure because this was the fifth year revolver 458 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,520 in TWR. And as John Watson alluded to in 459 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:00,920 the season review video, there was almost the threat that if we 460 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:03,560 don't get this done, you know, we might go somewhere else. 461 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:05,480 TWI might have lost the contract. 462 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:07,440 How long was Rickard Rydell going to stick? 463 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:08,640 Right? You just didn't know, did you? 464 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:11,000 The pressure was building. They had to before. 465 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,520 It reminds me of Reedy's quote at the end of this season when 466 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:19,520 they're fighting for the title and someone said to read, you 467 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:21,000 must be feeling the pressure anyway. 468 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:24,800 Well, I'm not the one in the 50th, my manufacturer contract 469 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,480 trying to win the championship. Am I also along those lines? 470 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,360 And yeah, so that, yeah, it just shows, isn't it? 471 00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:33,760 That yeah, I've got a funny feeling something would have 472 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,120 happened in Volvo hoods let this slip through their fingers. 473 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,640 Yeah, and the second year of the S40, of course, also in a new 474 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:42,520 colour scheme. It had gone from white to silver 475 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:44,200 and blue. I much prefer the silver and 476 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:45,880 blue. Yeah, it looked fantastic, 477 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:47,800 didn't it? Yeah, it looked amazing. 478 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:49,760 But yeah, the pressure was really, really on. 479 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,520 So psychologically, that was probably the most important 480 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,360 element of that women and. And as as we've already 481 00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:59,480 mentioned, Alan was pretty much the style of the show in the 482 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:05,280 Sprint race, wasn't he? It's hard to the amount of moves 483 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:08,480 that he pulled, you'd have been easily forgiven for thinking 484 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,240 that was the feature I see did all that work in it. 485 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:15,080 It was pretty spectacular that charge up the field, wasn't it? 486 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,200 And showed that he may have made a mistake, but he was still 487 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:20,160 around. He was in the quickest car 488 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:24,800 though. He was the quickest car. 489 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,200 Would you have the Volvo? Well, over one lap he was 490 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:30,200 quicker. He was on point to be quicker. 491 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:31,920 Yeah. So I don't know. 492 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:36,200 But I mean, you, you look at the feature race and the rain was 493 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:40,360 quicker than the revolver. So, you know, you've got your 494 00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:44,640 star driver who's probably the the world's leading Super 495 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:48,600 Touring driver at that point in what everyone still assumed at 496 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:51,320 that point was the world leading super Touring car. 497 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:57,600 And you're cutting through a field of yeah, I don't know. 498 00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:00,560 No, it was a good drive. I'm not trivialising. 499 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:04,560 It was a very good drive. But the first person he come 500 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:10,560 across without a problem or that was decent and had a good pace 501 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,360 and he couldn't get past him. And I guess to get on to that, 502 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,800 the flip side of that is also to highlight John Cleland and 503 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:22,600 Vauxhall and AAA had done a magnificent job in the winter. 504 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:26,880 Quite clearly from what was some, you know, 96 wasn't the 505 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:31,760 easiest first year of the Vectra. 97 was a pretty terrible 506 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:33,520 year from a Vauxhall perspective. 507 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:35,560 They were batting for bang, weren't they, John? 508 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,600 John held off Allan brilliantly in in. 509 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,640 It was just like old times. John Kerlan battling Allan menu 510 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:44,080 at the front end of a Super Touring race. 511 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:45,720 It's how it should have been, shouldn't, wasn't it? 512 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:49,760 Yeah, I mean, Coland at this point, don't forget having won 513 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:54,400 his second title in 95, first in 89 in an Astra, second in 95 in 514 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,160 the Cavalier, then hadn't won a race in still at this point had 515 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,720 not won a race since winning the championship in 95. 516 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,320 And again, the pressure was on. It was the third year with the 517 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,960 Vectra 888, the Derek Warwick organisation with Mike Nicholson 518 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:08,960 and Co. We're running the cars now and 519 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,040 had been since 97. New car came in about halfway 520 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:13,760 through, 1/3 of the way through 97 didn't it? 521 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:16,760 But the error package had been sorted out, but it had never 522 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:19,120 really translated properly. Had it from the Opal Vector on 523 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:21,600 the continent, which is designed for very different circuits. 524 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:25,960 They now are fantastic, full of character, quirky, tight, 525 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,200 twisty, strange tracks we've got in the UK. 526 00:27:28,360 --> 00:27:31,520 It's the same with motorbikes. The way the vehicle uses its 527 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,640 power or traction to the ground and all these other things is 528 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:39,600 very different to what you see a normally flatter, quicker tracks 529 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:42,640 on mainland Europe. And finally Clinton was up there 530 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:45,680 and that battle we saw between the two of them, we hadn't seen 531 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:47,880 menu like this for a long time, had we? 532 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:50,840 He'd been very careful in 97, often winning from the front, 533 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:52,840 didn't need to fight. But this was great. 534 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:55,280 He was sideways, he was bagging into people, he was bumping into 535 00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:57,480 the back of people. And it's it for this 536 00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,680 championship itself. I really don't think it could 537 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,240 have been better. If you'd written a script, this 538 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,840 would have been more or less the sort of thing you'd gone for. 539 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:10,600 Yeah, John's defensive of many was brilliant. 540 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:14,240 It was incredible. And Alan, was he getting 541 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,640 frustrated behind him because there was a lot of contact. 542 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,600 There was a lot of contact. And I love the interview 543 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:25,560 afterwards where Alan says that John was a crafty little booger. 544 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:31,560 Yeah. And, you know, play, you know, 545 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:35,360 John SAT it in the exact right point. 546 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,840 It needed to be. Alan was not getting past there. 547 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,520 Was that incident coming out of Campbell Colvin Seagrave on the 548 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:46,040 last lap where, Yeah, where Alan tags the back and. 549 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:48,200 Tags the back, yeah. It's not really mentioned in the 550 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:50,720 commentary or anything, but that say from John Cleland is 551 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:53,240 incredible. It really is. 552 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:58,160 It's a really good save. The camera just about catches 553 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:00,120 it, I think. I don't think it's mentioned 554 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,320 because it's not, it's not really focused on it. 555 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:06,280 But if you watch, if you watch the Vauxhall rather than the 556 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:09,080 Renault, you can see it's a hell of a catch. 557 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:14,120 And, and, yeah, great driving and and great to see JC up there 558 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:19,360 because people were starting to question had had had his time 559 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,840 come and gone, you know, was it time to get someone younger in 560 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:26,000 the Vectra? Had had John Cleland, you know, 561 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:28,480 was he wasting a seat type thing? 562 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:33,160 And I'm glad to say that, you know, he put on a real good 563 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:34,560 show. It was great to see a Vauxhall 564 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,720 back at the front. And that pretty much sums up the 565 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:40,600 Sprint race to to recap the top five. 566 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,400 There you add Rydell winning Plato second, Thompson in 3rd in 567 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:47,680 the Honda which we haven't really mentioned, but a solid 568 00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:51,440 drive from James, and then McClelland in Vauxhall Vectra 569 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:55,600 4th and a menu 5th leading independent Mark Lemma in the 570 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,360 Vauxhall Vectra. Impressive because it was the 571 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:01,600 the the least funded outfit on the grid. 572 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:04,600 Yeah, he was coming from the vector challenge. 573 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:11,400 Yeah, good performance from Lemma so. 574 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:14,760 Coming to the feature race then and before I guess we get into 575 00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:19,360 the mid race element of the pit stops for the first time, we 576 00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:23,560 have the second sighting of Frost 2 off the line as it was 577 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:27,760 described in commentary. We've been, we've mentioned it 578 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:32,480 before, haven't been on the main podcast with the Volvo and it's 579 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:36,040 an ongoing mystery. The seat, was it deliberate? 580 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:38,160 Was it an accident? Yeah. 581 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:44,040 It did lead to oil gating race. It wasn't really. 582 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:46,960 We saw the flames in the Sprint race, but it didn't really seem 583 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:48,520 to affect anything. In the feature race. 584 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:52,560 It became quite a problem and one that became worse at the pit 585 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:54,400 stops depending on team's actions. 586 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:58,800 I mean, when you think about it now, if that's something like 587 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:01,920 that happened in a race, now they'd probably stop the race, I 588 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:03,040 think. It was. 589 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:07,760 Really dangerous in hindsight. Yeah, it was crazy. 590 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:13,280 And I know there was debate on whether it was many was blaming 591 00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:17,840 Reed. Someone else was blaming Reedy 592 00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:21,840 as well. I can't remember who, but it was 593 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:23,880 very clear where the oil was coming from. 594 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:31,240 You know, those big black scorch marks are basically bumpers and 595 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:35,800 then leading from the exhaust up to the back of the boots to the 596 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:39,760 point where you couldn't read Volvo on the on the boot. 597 00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:46,920 Yeah, just bizarre. I mean, and, and, and the amount 598 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:51,400 of cars that had to come in for their pit stops anyway. 599 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:54,400 And when they were coming in, they were saying can you clean 600 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:57,320 the window for me? And all it was doing because you 601 00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:01,000 had rain in the air as well. All it was doing was just 602 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:08,080 smearing a layer of just this horrible film on the prospects 603 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:13,240 of the polycarbonate, sorry to give it its proper, proper name 604 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:16,280 windscreen, because obviously these were in glass at this 605 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:20,560 point. And it just left. 606 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:25,640 There was one bit of footage from Reed's Nissan and he just, 607 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:27,760 you just couldn't see. And he, in fact, he came in 608 00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:29,680 again and said, I can't see a thing. 609 00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:31,000 You're going to have to clean it. 610 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,480 Yeah, but funny enough, not one smudge on the Volvo windscreens. 611 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,240 Interesting coincidence, I'm sure. 612 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:44,160 It was a bit like some sort of Wacky Races deployment Dick 613 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:46,880 Dastardly sort of thing, wasn't it switched the oil on. 614 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:49,600 But it was, it was a terrible mess and like you say, the fact 615 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:53,080 it mixed and maybe everything will opaque on the windows. 616 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:56,400 It was, it was strange and we've never really known to this day 617 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,280 have we? Were surely they didn't do it on 618 00:32:58,280 --> 00:32:59,840 purpose. I can't imagine for one second 619 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:02,120 they do it on purpose. But they were clearly running a 620 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,800 very fuelly car and it never happened again. 621 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,520 So I don't know what the background is, whether they were 622 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:10,480 asked to do something different or what, but it never happened 623 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:11,360 again. They were. 624 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:15,440 They were asked, they say. We'll talk about it in this week 625 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:19,480 next week's episode. Before the pit stop phase, we 626 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,720 did have another car that you know, probably to back up the 627 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:25,720 theory it was coming from the Volvos that didn't have anything 628 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,240 on his windscreen was Ala menu out front. 629 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:34,120 Before the pit stop phase, it seemed like a pretty good race 630 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,200 was developing between him and Rydell. 631 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,000 It for a moment, felt like the makings of a classic was on, 632 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,880 didn't it? Yeah, it was a good battle. 633 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:48,880 It was a good battle that I don't know about anyone else, 634 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:55,440 but I just assumed wrongly in this case that Williams, well, 635 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:57,480 they've got a Formula One team so they're pit stops are going 636 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:03,120 to be brilliant. And it turned out to be that's a 637 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:08,000 rubbish because the pit stop was awful compared to the vulnerable 638 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:12,239 boys, in fairness, who also had Formula One experience with, 639 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:17,679 with Arrows, with TWR arrows. However, I remember we've, we've 640 00:34:17,679 --> 00:34:25,000 talked about this before, there wasn't that much F1 information 641 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:29,880 or advice poured down into Touring Car Williams Touring, 642 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:34,159 certainly Williams anyway, Williams Touring Car Engineering 643 00:34:34,159 --> 00:34:35,760 seemed to be quite a separate entity. 644 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,960 So despite the fact that they were part of the Williams 645 00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:45,120 Formula One team, there wasn't that much advice coming down 646 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,239 from from from the from the Grand Prix side of things. 647 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,560 One thing we did see though is the season went on was with Menu 648 00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:53,360 in particular. He became the master of the 649 00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:56,080 Schumacher approach to approaching the speed line, 650 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:57,680 didn't it? The greatest possible speed, 651 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:01,960 slamming the brakes on to lose his little possible time, but 652 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:04,680 coming into the pits and then obviously a rapid outlap as 653 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:06,200 well. Remember Reed being asked to 654 00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:09,160 push really hard on outlaps later on in the season? 655 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,240 We should obviously just mention that Renault did have to clear 656 00:35:12,240 --> 00:35:15,120 the screen, but Even so, it was not a good pit stop and they 657 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:16,720 they cracked under pressure, didn't they? 658 00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:19,040 And Menu, who'd pulled a great move on Rydell earlier in the 659 00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:21,600 race, had all that hard work to do again. 660 00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:24,800 But it probably actually gave us a better race because had it 661 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,360 been a non pit stop race, Menu probably would have been gone, 662 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:31,000 having passed Rydell into the complex quite early on. 663 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:34,280 So it put Rydell back in front and Menu had to hunt him down. 664 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:37,240 So that pit stop thing was already working well, wasn't it, 665 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:38,640 in terms of shaking up the order? 666 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:43,240 Yeah. And as she say, probably if it 667 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:45,840 had been not a piss race, it would have been a last race 668 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:49,320 because once he was through, he then just. 669 00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:51,880 It felt like 1997 all over again, didn't it? 670 00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:56,040 Alan Menu romped home to victory, and perhaps it was just 671 00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:58,000 a blip, was what we were thinking, wasn't it? 672 00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:02,120 Yeah, I remember John Watson was a real advocate of Menu in the 673 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:04,320 commentary at the time, saying, you know, he's still very much 674 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,160 the favourite. I mean, the movie pulled around 675 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:10,320 the back of the circuit down through Goodwood and into church 676 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:12,120 was incredible in those conditions. 677 00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:14,720 I think Ryder was probably being a bit careful, bearing in mind 678 00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:16,560 he'd won the race. He was already playing the 679 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:20,520 percentages, I think. But great, great move from Menu. 680 00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:22,720 And let's be honest, I don't. Alex, you were there, weren't 681 00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:24,240 you, on the day? I mean, surely you would have 682 00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:27,760 felt you would have had to be quite brave or maybe a bit silly 683 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:29,320 to bet against Menu at that time. 684 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:31,680 I mean, he'd been so dominant the year before. 685 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:33,680 Absolutely. And if you think as well, he 686 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:37,240 would have stuck it on pole in the Sprint race, yeah, had he 687 00:36:37,240 --> 00:36:41,880 not made the mistake at club Rydell makes the same start 688 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:43,840 menu, goes off into the distance and probably wins. 689 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:48,240 So yeah, in another world menu, that's a double win and you're 690 00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:52,520 probably thinking whatever took a throw at it, Williams and 691 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:56,640 Renault, we just got the answer. Yes and what was also great 692 00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:59,000 there was just the fact the field had Constantine hadn't it? 693 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:01,640 Obviously those who prefer the bat had more ground to make up, 694 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:04,440 but it was definitely, definitely closer with all the 695 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:07,160 different teams and that was brilliant because we saw some 696 00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:10,040 great fighting in the midfield. There was 1 little incident, 697 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:11,800 wasn't on the foot. I say little because quite big 698 00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:13,720 actually. On the first lap Tommy Rushdad 699 00:37:13,720 --> 00:37:17,440 in the ex Plato car from the year before went off contact 700 00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:19,800 with Radissitch at the chicane and hit the barrier heavily. 701 00:37:20,240 --> 00:37:24,520 Yeah, but it was a relatively incident free race day wasn't 702 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:25,960 it? Not too many big impacts, a few 703 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,240 incidents, but not too many. Big impacts, nothing major. 704 00:37:28,240 --> 00:37:32,840 The only one that's rings a bell is Beardo having his door, 705 00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:37,360 having to be having his door taped back on because him and 706 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:43,080 him and Moby Daly had a bit of a Contra to the club chicane and 707 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:45,400 they looked like a pair of midnight mini cabs. 708 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:50,360 And that's not my line. You'll be surprised to know good 709 00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:52,680 old Charlie. But yeah, it was pretty instant 710 00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:54,160 free apart from a couple of bits. 711 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:57,400 And actually, that kind of summed up Morbidelian bed 712 00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:00,800 seasons right there, didn't it? Right from the first meeting of 713 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:02,120 the season. Pretty much, yeah. 714 00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:05,320 Yeah. And it wouldn't be a British 715 00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:07,760 April Day, perhaps with some showers. 716 00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:11,840 And one of those showers turned into a flurry of snow at the end 717 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:15,360 of the race. Alex, we already mentioned you 718 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:18,200 were there. That pretty chilly that sounds, 719 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:22,760 doesn't it, for Easter? It was freezing, but bizarre 720 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:26,280 because I don't remember ever being a racetrack before or 721 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:30,160 since, and it's snowing, so the only time I can think of that 722 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:31,240 happening. And. 723 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,240 And yeah, it wasn't sticking because it would already rained 724 00:38:34,240 --> 00:38:36,720 a fair bit. Yeah. 725 00:38:36,720 --> 00:38:41,280 It was just unusual that he didn't really expect it to be a 726 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:43,800 BTCC event and it starts snowing. 727 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:47,240 Yeah, a bit of an odd one. One final thing I'm just going 728 00:38:47,240 --> 00:38:50,560 to throw in here because I think it's important is the dismal 729 00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:53,440 start to the season for Anthony Reed and Nissan, who of course 730 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:56,640 would go on to be the closest challenger to Rydell right down 731 00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:58,960 to the last race meeting. He was pretty much nowhere at 732 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:00,200 this point. All sorts of problems. 733 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:02,960 They were well off the pace. So just bear that in mind, the 734 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:05,480 progress Nissan were to make, not just before the next round 735 00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:08,000 at Silverstone, but all across the rest of the season because 736 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:11,720 it was not a good start for Ray Malik and for the Nissan team. 737 00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:15,480 And it was a weekend really, that showcased the new rules 738 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:18,120 designed to spice up the British Touring Car Championship, 739 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:21,040 especially after the domination of Williams in Renault the 740 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:23,760 previous season. Final thoughts from you 2 741 00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:26,280 gentlemen? Do you think the new rules had 742 00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:29,680 worked on evidence of the first race meeting in 1998? 743 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:34,360 Yes, yeah, absolutely. Everything ticked the box. 744 00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:36,360 There wasn't one. There wasn't one ruler. 745 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:40,440 I thought, no, that that that really didn't work out. 746 00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:44,000 Everything was brilliant. The only thing is you couldn't 747 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:46,160 really see the yellow strips under the names because they 748 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:50,000 were so thin, which they amended for the next race. 749 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:54,920 So Alan Gow was listening. That just about wraps up our 750 00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:59,680 look back at the opening round of the 1998 BTCC season at 751 00:39:59,720 --> 00:40:03,200 Froxton. A fast, unforgiving circuit, a 752 00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:06,280 sacked grid and all the ingredients that made Super 753 00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:10,360 Touring such a special era. Intensity, intrigue and 754 00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:14,200 absolutely no margin for error. Thanks for joining us for the 755 00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:18,320 first episode of the Super Touring years exclusively for 756 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:21,360 Paddock Club members. If you enjoy diving a little 757 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:24,600 deeper into the stories behind the races, there's plenty more 758 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:27,400 to come. If you aren't yet a member of 759 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:30,680 the Paddock Club and enjoyed this first episode, subscribe to 760 00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:34,040 The Paddock Club on our Patreon. The link is in the description 761 00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:36,800 of this episode and you can then listen to the rest of the 762 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,720 series. We'll be back next week as the 763 00:40:39,720 --> 00:40:42,760 championship heads to Silverstone for round two of the 764 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:45,640 season. Bigger speeds, bigger stakes and 765 00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:48,880 more twists in a season that was only just getting started. 766 00:40:49,520 --> 00:40:51,080 Until then, thanks for listening. 767 00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:52,920 Then we'll see you at Silverstone.