Stories from Super Touring. Welcome along to another episode
of Stories from Super Touring. Bad news, I'm afraid Levi Riley
is not with us this week. So you're stuck with me, Greg
Haynes as the host for now. But the good news is we do have
the Oracle, as he's known the founder of Stories from Super
Story, Alex Clark with us, as always, as we look back at one
of the most unforgettable and one of the scariest, I would
say, weekends in the Super Touring history of the 1990s era
of the British Touring Car Championship.
And joining us today, Alex and I are real treat for you because
our special guest is motorsport photographer Jacob Ebrie, who
was right there on the ground at Alton Park on that May Monday
Bank holiday round of early 1996.
Now, if you know your BTCC history, you'll know that that
96 Alton Park meeting is infamous, remembered for all the
wrong reasons. It's remembered it's the weekend
of one of the most horrific crashes in the series history,
when Volvo's Kelvin Burt was involved in an accident in the
first race, so violent that it left everybody wondering how on
earth he survived. Another testament to the
strength of the cast and the circuit protection as well.
The images of the wreckage, which Jacob will be telling us
all about very shortly were jaw-dropping.
And at the time, nobody could have predicted the remarkable
story of recovery for Kelvin that he would go on to share.
And unbelievably, he was actually back in action just a
few races later. So we'll be hearing from Jacob
about what it was like to be there on the ground at Alton up
in Cheshire in early 96, the atmosphere, the shock and how
the incident affected everyone in the paddock.
But first of all, Jacob, welcome along for the first time to the
podcast Stories from Super Tory. How did you get into it?
What was so special for you about 1990s BTCC?
But I just loved it. Everything about it was
brilliant. I grew up in a family which is
quite into motorsport, never competed, never prepared a car,
just went to lots of races and also part of my local track.
So the Super Tours with a big event of the year and everything
about them was just amazing. The noise, the sound, the star
drivers, the teams, it was just getting bigger and bigger and
bigger and with the events at the end of 92, the world
audience got bigger so it just drew more and more people into
the sport. It was just a win, win situation
for everyone. And Alton part 96.
Probably a stupid question, but what comes first to mind when
you think of that particular race?
Meeting Well, I was a lot younger than what I am now.
So I think at that time I was 18 or so and I'd it was one of the
first big meetings I got trackside accreditation for.
I was working for a photographer called John Collie and in that
period he had the Renault contract and we did a lot of
work for Volvo as well. So a bit of pressure when you're
that age and you're shooting all of film that you've got to get
it right. Big meeting.
So pre digital age obviously. So you only had the what you did
on the day as your work and race one.
I was down at Nickerbuck Chicane and I don't know, I always
follow the racing as well as try and take the best pictures and
some are coming out of Old Hall, Darren Denton's and literally
there's a bit of a kerfuffle and Kelvin's car got fired off to
the left and instinctively I picked up a camera and shot a
sequence of photos on film. You didn't know if you had got
the accident or not, but I was fairly sure that I had.
But then the weirdest thing ever, obviously I was not used
to be in a situation where there'd be in a big accident,
especially not one of this scale.
And the violence of the accident was pretty substantial.
So it was really weird. Everything went quiet.
The medics turned up everything. I thought, what do we do now?
It's like I can't really didn't want to hang around on there.
I didn't want to take lots of photographs.
We didn't need of situation. You didn't know which way it was
going to go from. My everlasting memory is I
walked up Cascades tracksides, past the spectators, back to the
press office because it was obviously going to be quite a
long time before the restart and there was literally people
crying in the crowd. And it's something as a 18 year
old you didn't quite expect to see.
I don't know how long it took for that accident to be cleared
up, but it was just a big mess on the scene.
So. But amazingly with he only
missed one round and he was Kelvin was back out, so luckily
there was a good end to end to the story that he was back
racing again. And he's more disappointing for
Kelvin though as well because he'd won the previous round at
Silverstone. Though to be winning a race and
then being ambulanced away must have been an absolute nightmare
for a person at that point in their career.
Yeah, you took the words out of my mouth actually Jacob, because
Alex, coming to you, first of all, thank you for letting me
keep Levi's seat warm. It's a bit like have I got news
for you as a guest host, isn't it coming in at this juncture?
But no, as Jacob says, I mean, it was only 8 days before at
Silverstone when Burst had passed Roberto Ravalli in the
closing stages at Priory Corner and gone on to one.
It was the first Volvo win, wasn't it, of the 96 season.
And then this happens just days later.
Yeah, it's it's quite impressive actually.
When you think of Volvo, you think of Rydell and you always
assumed that Ricard would win the first race of the of the
year for Volvo. It was Ricard's team.
We talked about that with, with Rademacher the other day.
But it no, it Kelvin jumped into that Volvo team.
Obviously he was with Ford the previous season with the ROW
squad, jumped into the Volvo replacing Tim Harvey and landed
pretty much quickly. And yeah, as you said, won a
race. And what an absolute horrible
way to to continue that career by about his Volvo career with
such a horrific, awful shunt. I, I don't think you can use
words to to describe it. I mean, we'll talk about it
length when we talk it in, in, in the later on in the episode
when we're talking about the accent itself.
But I only saw it on the television.
I I wasn't at this race, and I think I'm quite glad I wasn't at
this race. One of the few occasions where I
can say, actually, I wish I wasn't there because I would
have been 11:00. So I don't think that's
something that I would have wanted to see.
Yeah. Just a very, very unpleasant
accident. And yeah, you know, you, you
automatically think of Greg Hansford, Keith O'door when you
see an accident like that. And thankfully he wasn't added
to that list. Yeah, I mean, what was it, 12
months? I said before when Charlie Cox
had gone Barrow rolling into the chicane, it thrust and we'd had
two huge accidents here, hadn't we?
Which thankfully the two drivers made full recoveries from.
Yeah, as you say, we'll talk more about the crash later in
the show and we've got some spectacular still imagery of
this from Jacob himself, which Alex, maybe for our Paddock Club
members, you can show us that on the camera later.
On auto. Sport Magazine.
It could be quite nice to see. I mean, spectacular shots,
Jacob, but obviously we've been in touch and you've been in
touch with all of us as well. And as expected on social media,
Kelvin Burt's monumental accident has dominated your
thoughts. So thoughts from the listeners
and the viewers. Chris Jewell had this down as
his first memory. The Burt crash, Jimmy Abrel or
Abrel Hope I'm pronouncing that correctly.
Luke Roberts and Roland Hill all said Alton, 96, the Burt crash.
Michael Taylor says he remembers going around the pits connecting
free merchandise at his first ever BTCC event and getting his
face painted at the Audi stand. Yeah, I remember that.
I remember John Wickham, the Audi T manager, having his his
war painters. Murray Walker described it later
on in the season, bright red with the white Audi rings on it
and his face was pink for a week, apparently.
Michael Taylor say he's having struggled to wash that off
afterwards. Tom B.
Tom, thanks for getting in touch.
Remembers it was the first meeting he ever went to.
He saw the Burke crash as you did Jacob at the Ave and also
remembers John Binkliff putting it in the wallet dearly in the
morning. Right.
OK, so that was in the. Morning.
He had a big one. Yeah.
That's something we didn't see on the season review video,
isn't it? Patrick Hathaway remembers
Richard Kayes, yes, the Violet looking entry into who can get
their car most airborne competition.
So yeah, we're with Kay and Bert.
We had quite a lot of that, didn't we?
On that particular weekend. Matt Brittland remembers it
being the first BTC surround he watched to have Charlie Cox on
the commentary with Murray Walker being absent.
Yes that will be I guess because it was a Bank Holiday Monday
event and they didn't have as much time to get the footage
back. He was probably away at the
Grand Prix. So Steve Slater commentator
didn't he with Charlie for that one?
Ronan G Hill says it was a shame it was a quiet race.
It was actually quite a processional 1 to introduce the
BTCC to the masses and Paul Moore remembers Paul Wilhoi had
a good start in race one. Very short lived there.
Wasn't it coming together with Radissic pretty much before they
even got going? The build up to the meeting was
unsurprisingly dominated by the talk of additional weight
penalties, with ALDI being handed an extra 30 kilogrammes
added to their cars from this weekend.
A little bit similar to the politics with AR2 years before.
ALDI made light of this by running a national ad campaign,
with drivers Frank Beeler and John Bintcliff depicted as
Michelin men. The talk in the paddock though
was that Audi was already considering its future with the
four wheel drive quattro. Audi Sport chief doctor Wolfgang
Aldrich told Autosport It is something we'll have to consider
if white penalties become search, that we cannot be
competitive with the quattro. We have two options, stop
motorsport or go front wheel drive.
The idea is to keep going with the Quattro because it is the
whole Audi Sport idea, but we'll also have to discuss this with
our marketing team. Jacob, what were your thoughts
at the time? Were you surprised there was
already murmurings this early in the season?
Obviously this was Audi's first year in the UK.
They were doing very well, but a lot of discontent wasn't there
in and around the paddock about that 4 wheel drive system.
Yeah. Well, it obviously had to be
quite a major advantage because up to Alton it had pole four of
the circuits beforehand and up to and including that I think
they had five wins out of eight races.
So I mean, obviously they're quite a good pilot in the car,
but to be that dominant that early on they obviously had some
massive technical advantage which I think putting 30 kilos
in the car wasn't going to make much difference to them
whatsoever. Just having the drive off all
the corners. And even at Alton Park, I think
qualifying was in the wet and the advantage was increased even
more. I mean, it rains quite a lot in
Britain, so it's probably quite a good move.
Yeah, it was incredible, wasn't it, the way they came in.
I mean, it must have been a bit dejecting, Alex, for everybody
else with these silver bullets just turning out from Germany
and certainly one of them pretty much dominating everything,
wasn't it at this point. Yeah, you'd you'd say so because
it wasn't just the the the four wheel drive that had the the
start advantage or the grip. They also had weird lines.
They could be quick in different parts of the track that the
front wheel drive cars just couldn't be.
And that was discussed that will that gets discussed in this
meeting actually that that bin Cliff at one point literally is
holding a train of about 6 or 7 cars in the second race.
I think it is because he's able to just go quick enough in weird
parts of the track that you probably wouldn't get that quick
in a front wheel drive car. I mean, we've had we had the
complaints of rear wheel drive from 9293 that it didn't we then
there was arrow. There was always something, but
this seemed to have a this was a major, major thing because the
front wheel drive cars now didn't only have to worry about
the rear wheel drive, but they had this 4 wheel drive.
And as Jacob mentioned, only had won a good majority of the races
so far this year. And the two of the other three
winners were rear wheel drive cars.
And Kelvin Burds Volvo was the only front wheel drive winner at
this point. So yeah, discontent that when
there's a BTCC paddock not had to discontent in it at some
point down the down the pit. It must have been tricky for
Tiger actually, considering all those different configurations
of cars you've just mentioned. Front wheel drive, rear wheel
drive, 4 wheel drive. Audi with Dunlock tyres as well,
of course, which, yeah, advantages we think over at
Nissan though, as you were pointing out to me earlier, Alex
signs that Rao Sport was strengthening their links with
the Japanese manufacturer and it was confirmed that they would be
taking on the test and development role for their
German Super Touring championship outfits.
So Andy Rouse's crew with Nissan.
Rouse, who had switched to the Semi works programme with the
Nissans after three years with Ford, had been given the
expanded role after they were concerns that the BMS Scuderia
Italia team, who were running the German squad, were unable to
run a viable test programme around their racing commitments.
The team tested Anthony Reid's BMS Premier at Alton Park on the
Tuesday prior to this race weekend with a hope that a 96
Premiera would be delivered to the team ahead of the Snetterson
races. And they were dramatic, one of
them in particular. In June.
Rouse and Gary Ailes also tested the car.
Now Alex, some interesting developments there in the Nissan
squad over this weekend. There was a lot going on.
Wasn't the behind the scenes. Yeah, there was.
I mean, so obviously it was a weird one because it was a semi
works. It wasn't it wasn't an
independent. They weren't in the the total
cup for independence. It wasn't a work squad.
It was this sort of middle of the road semi works effort.
They were old cars. They weren't up to spec cars as
as you just said, Greg, they were hoping to get delivery of a
96 Nissan by SNET. And I think it came even later
than that. And they only ever had one and,
and Gary Ailes had that. They were also running on the
Yokohama tyres, which they wanted to switch to Michelin.
And they did race and they did at some point in this weekend, I
can't remember when, I think they ran some.
It must have been in qualifying. It must have been the Michelin
wets. But Michelin didn't want to
support the team. But Michelin, we're supplying
the BMS squad. So yeah, it's all very messy,
isn't it? But it, you know, it, it looked
like it was strengthening ties with Nissan and possibly would
have been the the precursor to them taking on the full contract
when 97 came along and Nissan came into the series full time.
But as we now know, Malik took on that contract and and Rouse
lost out. It was a weird, a weird year for
Rouse. As we know, he's an incredible
engineer and car builder and designer.
It it's almost a bit of an insult that he was handed these
one to two year old super tours and don't write.
Do what you can with that. Yeah, it was a strange year for
the for the Nissans. And when we had Gary Ailes on
the podcast, he wasn't very complimentary about the cars.
Yeah, it it, it's a weird one because you would look at that
and think, well, they're building up the relationship for
a full attack, but evidently not.
But yeah, obviously a precursor to really starting in the
championship full time as well him testing in the in in the in
the Olden Park where it's the week before this meeting with
the the Scuderia Italia car. Another interesting development
behind the scenes at this time was Julian Bailey, former Grand
Prix driver, former BTCC driver, of course.
He was rumoured to be returning to the championship later in the
96 season, potentially bringing with him the Dave Cook Run
Toyota Camry that had been racing down in South Africa.
Now, Cook was understood to be eyeing a handful of selected
BTCC meetings in the second-half of 96 once that Camry was fully
prepared and competitive. And in the meantime, Bailey was
on very strong form abroad, having taken and 3rd in the most
recent South African rounds. Jacob.
I mean, we know Julian's profile don't we?
A very good driver, great character as well for the TV as
we saw on the coverage over the era.
Would have been good I guess to see him back in the series.
Yeah, we've been absolutely brilliant.
I mean it's much remembered obviously for the Silverstone
Grand Prix race support, but then what strikes me has been
exceptionally brilliant is next race out and not kill all and
win. Yes, and the Queen is only win.
Yes. That is it.
So off the back of that he literally, I mean anyone who can
win the formal Ford Festival. I think he won his third ever
international 3000 race after starting mid season.
And to get points in the Grand Prix low to in a Lotus when the
team was absolutely diabolical, to finish when you only got
points down to six and you finish fifth in a race is pretty
outstanding. But yeah, it would have been
good to see a Camry as well, but I don't know if it still worked
the same back then though. Were you allowed to run a model
which wasn't UK spec? Because I'm not sure they sold
that car in the UK. Well, I don't know if they did
or not. No, I don't know if they did or
not. You never know if that was just
Dave Cook and fishing around to get back in the Toyota Fold or
not. Possibly or I don't know.
But to see a different car I like, I love Japanese touring
cars in South Africa, Touring the Camry is a stunning,
stunning looking vehicle. Oh, it's a lot wider track than
a lot of our European cars. But yeah, no, it would have been
great to see Julian back because as you say, it's a bit of a
enigma and also very good in and out of the car.
And of course this is an excuse to mention Murray Walker as well
because you just mentioned Silverstone 93 in the Grand Prix
support, which Alex Clark of course brought one of the most
memorable Murray one liners of all time.
I do love it. The car upside down is a Toyota.
What a crate, isn't it? Superb.
I think it ties up nicely with
Murray's background in advertising as well.
Yes, absolutely. Good point.
Yeah, let's move on to check in Winklehok then, because of
course he'd been back in Britain for just a few races after
skipping the 95 season he was abroad, wasn't he?
But he'd come back for 96. Schnitzer had come back as well,
and Joe was increasingly anxious about the prospect of BMW
receiving a weight penalty as well.
A 30 kilogramme penalty maybe from the organisers, especially
after seeing what had already just happened to ALDI, the head
of this Alton Park meeting. BTCC organisers Poker run by
Alan Gau, of course, have the right to impose an extra 25
kilos on the BMW's base weight with just, would you believe, 10
days notice. Speaking to Autosport,
Winklehawk said. Unsurprisingly, I don't agree
with it, but I am certain we'll be given a weight increase in
the next few races. Alex Smokin Joe, we know he
loved Austin Park. He said it was like a mini
Nurburger ring Nord Slifer, didn't he?
But was that concerned justified regarding these potential
weights increases and ballast penalties?
Yes, I mean, he's doing well and the, the the car is doing well,
so of course he's going to be concerned with this sort of
almost like this Sword of Damocles hanging over him and
you know. If you're going to keep doing
well, we're just, we're going to stick it on you.
But of course, as you said, he's of course he's not going to
agree with it. You know, I can guarantee all
the front wheel drive teams absolutely agreed with it and
thought it should happen right here and right now.
But yeah, it's always going to be the, the, the, the, the worry
for organisers is the equalisation when you've got so
many different configurations. When they first brought in NGTC
and Alan Gow originally said, if you remember, there's not going
to be any rear wheel drive, there's not going to be any 4
wheel drive. I thought maybe you'll actually
get a towing car championship without this fighting.
But obviously they relented and the, the Audis BMWs, they were,
they were rear wheel drive. So yeah, whenever you're going
to have different configurations like this, you're always going
to get this upset and this balance of people not being
happy and impossibly getting it to balance.
I don't know how how you do it to this day because rear wheel
drive is going to have some inherent advantages over front
wheel drive and then you've got 4 wheel drive which will have a
different type of advantage over the.
It's just, I don't think you can ever really fix it.
But I always thought TOCA did quite a good job of it to be
fair, you know, yeah, I, I, I never thought it was really
ridiculously unfair. Possibly the start of this
season when the Audis were really, you know, what was it at
Thruxton when the Beeler started with a 10 centre penalty from
the back and still finished third.
So, you know, and maybe at that point it was a bit because I
think that's when they sort of woke up and went, oh, we
probably need to do something about this.
Ten days is quite a harsh, it's quite a harsh notice period,
isn't it? So yeah.
To me, it would just completely change the way the car
accelerates, brakes, change of direction and everything,
wouldn't it? But I mean, if there was
frustration, then Jacob at Audi and BMW, let's go to Ford where
things have been, let's be honest, a bit of an unmitigated
disaster so far. In 96.
It was even more difficult than 95.
They ran into each other in the very first race, didn't they?
Donning and Steve Robertson and Paul Radisson, that was a
classic TV moment. But let's talk about Steve
Robertson. He was the reigning indie lights
champion, you know, a real up and coming prospect coming over
from America back to his native Britain, given the dreaded vote
of confidence from Ford's director of European motorsport
Martin Whitaker. Before this altered around
Martin's words were Steve's got a job to do and we have to be
supportive of him. It's not easy to adapt to front
wheel drive touring cars and the last thing we need to do is to
be critical of him. We are behind him.
Whitaker's words. We know Steve did last the
season, Jacob, but a real struggle, as I say with the
Indie Lights champion, it was not very nice to to see the
struggles. Was it really?
No. And it wasn't as if he didn't
have the circuits, because he's had quite a good career in
Formula Ford and then Formula Three with the Bowman team, and
so we need the circuits. He went to America and
absolutely blitzed indie lights and I think his prize then
actually was funding towards IndyCar Drive, but he chose to
try and make a career back in Europe with the Works Touring
Club Dr instead. So the team obviously tested in
pre season so they knew what he could do.
They weren't going to sign a dud.
So you just didn't gel with it. But as you say, that incident of
Dinington basically summed up the season.
It was just that if there's one person not to hit, it's probably
a teammate, probably not in the first race and probably not on
live TV. So it didn't go down too well.
He didn't write a motor sport afterwards, though.
He had to pretty much tell a career and probably I'd say out
of anybody in touring cars, he's probably the most successful out
of it for managing Kimi Raikkonen to Formula One and
beyond. So, So yeah, I think, I think
once the driving days were over, he he engaged a different gear
and took on a lot more motor sport than anybody else.
Yeah, and, and to be fair as well, Alex, to Steve, when they
had that infamous Donnington collision, Robertson was
actually running in front of Radisson, wasn't he?
When he spun? And then Paul had nowhere to go,
but he was in front of it. That's right, because Paul I
think had a bit of a set to with smoking Joe in the because it
was the Grand Prix loop wasn't there.
I think going into the the loop the GP.
Yes, yeah, he. Had a bit of a run in with
Smoking Joe and he was recovering.
But yeah, it's just, it's a very, very, very big example of
that, how terrible that year was to Ford.
It really was. I mean, you know, let's not
forget that car was an absolute dog.
And not only that, and I'm not saying I'm not saying anything
bad about W Surrey Racing, but it was their first year of
running a touring car and they've been handed this dud and
they're probably just thinking, what have we got to do with this
sort of thing? You know, and Radisic struggled
in that car as well, and he's a double world champion.
So, you know, you've got to give Robertson his dues that yeah, he
struggled, but his very, very illustrious teammate also
struggled. Yeah, with the benefit of
hindsight, just to go back to what you said, Jacob, you know,
having turned down an IndyCar drive, you know, with the
benefit of hindsight, you would not have picked it's a 96
Monday. But he didn't know that, did he
at the time. So poor Steve Robertson and Paul
Relisic and Dick Bennett and everyone else there.
WSR just to complete the housekeeping then before we get
onto the track action, Matt Neil was actually forced to miss this
Alton round after a viral infection that threatened to
force him to miss the following meeting at Snetterton as well.
Obviously he was in a Ford Mondeo at this point before a
Nissan Primero. Halfway through the next season.
Neil initially suspected of having meningitis following his
admission to a Jersey hospital but the disease was ruled out
thankfully after a series of tests for Matt.
But Alex, a real worry there for the Neil family and dynamics.
Obviously only one driver in the team and not very nice time for
Matt. Yeah, awful.
I mean, yeah, that must be a real worry.
And thankfully, as you said, it wasn't meningitis.
But yeah, viral infections really aren't very nice.
And thankfully he was back for the next meeting.
But this did also mean that, as you say, they were what they
were down to 1 car. And it meant that Rob Gravitt,
who was Matt's teammate in 96, was able to run the 96 Mondeo
that Matt had been driving so far that season.
And I think Rob probably wished he hadn't bothered because he
was basically saying it doesn't go in a straight line.
That Mondeo in 96 was was a very poor car as well The the
Dynamics Mondeo. And as Matt told us when he was
on the podcast, he got out of the car and kissed the floor
when he didn't have to drive that thing again.
So yeah. Qualifying took place in mixed
conditions, as both sessions saw constantly changing levels of
standing water, at times barely intermediate conditions and at
others bordering on a full aquaplane situation.
Yet both were dominated with almost effortless authority by
the points leader Frank Beeler and the four wheel drive Audi
A4, which as we've already discussed, was newly burdened
with those extra 30 kilos on board.
To put it into perspective, Joe Winklehox BMW was the closest
guy to Beeler, but the 93 champion went third in session 1
and improved to 2nd in session 2 using Michelin's harder compound
wet tyre. But get this, the gap to Beeler
told the true story. 1.2 seconds in the first session and just
shy of a second in the second session.
Villa, ever cautious, said We were lucky with the weather but
I've got to say that Dunlop did a fantastic job with his new wet
compound. Winkle Hawk is excellent in the
rain but the new tyre was worth 2 seconds, he reckons.
If it's wet, are we happy? If it's dry, well at least I'm
on the front row. Jacob.
I guess in conditions like that 4 wheel drive at Alton Park with
his ups and downs, it was always going to be a bit of a case of
Audi domination wasn't it? 100%, I mean, one of the best
touring car drivers in the world, probably one of the best
people never to race in Formula One.
Multiple. The one winner after that, I
mean it was the perfect combination, best car, best
traction, best tyres and probably one of the best teams
went by John Wickham. And then literally it was all
all the ingredients to dominate really.
And Binkliff's no fool though, he's won multiple one make
series and lots of races before in everything he's raced in.
So I think it just all came together.
Fabila. Yeah, I mean, Alex, it was, it
was pretty splendid, wasn't it, what he was doing, you know,
coming straight out and winning his first race and all the rest
of it, well, dominating him. And he went both of his first
two races at Donnington, didn't he?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, and and let's also not
forget that not only was that car quick, it was bulletproof.
It just did not break down. In fact, in his first year, it
didn't break down at all. He finished every race apart
from and if there was any non finishes, it was not not
mechanical. He was it was the as Jacob said,
it was the perfect combination almost you had the top line
driver, the top car. It's if the top super tour of
the time. Yeah, it's and and the
conditions that suit those cars so perfectly as well.
You know, it's very rarely do you have qualifying times where
in any sort of touring car event where first is is a second over
a second ahead of the next person.
But that just shows what a special driver and a special car
combination it was. Winkle Hock bed In the meantime
in the BMW, he was content with his efforts.
I've got to be happy with my positions, he said.
Alton's really slippery when wet so you need good traction.
It took a few laps to heat up my tyres but after that I could
stay out. Looking for a Time B list team
mate John Binkliff. Jacob just mentioned him.
Took second in the first session, briefly holding pole
early on, but he slipped to an unrepresented 4th in session 2
after switching the car to full dry settings.
Binkliff saying it means different springs, different
gears to hold 9 yards. I had big understeer, but I
couldn't really compensate because of the gearing.
Still, it's all part of the learning curve.
Best of the front wheel drive runners was Ricard Rydell's
Volvo, 4th in session one and 3rd in session 2.
And that left the Swede far happier than he'd been at a damp
Silverstone a week earlier, Rydell said.
I'm a lot happier with the balance now.
It's not perfect, but it's closer to what it should be.
And he set both of his times on wets but felt the closing
minutes of the second session made intermediates A viable
option. And he continued by saying in
the first session there was never really a dry line, but in
the second I put it 5050 for intermediates.
Elsewhere, attempts by Renault's Allan Menu to challenge Rydell
were hindered by his choice of soft wets in session one, the
harder set merely buying him more laps to find the time, and
also hindered by oil dropped, would you believe, by his own
teammate Will Hoy's engine. In session 2, Menu began on
inters, followed by Winklehock's lead by switching to wets and
then gambored on an inter wet mix for the final few minutes
only to be caught out by the chequered flag.
So the result was 6th for him and then 5th for the two races.
Alex must have been a little bit frustrating for Alan.
So near, yet so far. Yeah, and let's not forget Alan
was a, was an expert at at Alton Park.
He won a lot of races during. In fact, there was, I'm sure I
read a stat that he won at least one or two races every year he
was at Renault, apart from obviously the first year with
the with the 19. So every year he raced a Laguna
there he won at least once. So he was a bit of a bit of an
Alton Bark specialist as well. So for him to be 6th and 5th,
yeah, it's, it's just a bit of bad luck really, I guess.
And when you've got conditions like that, that's always going
to happen. You're going to get some people
who just don't quite luck in and isn't quite full right for them.
And then you'll get others that just get that bit of bit of
extra luck and they get their bounce.
But yeah, it made for it. Would make for an interesting
race, I guess, with a bit of a shovel upgrade like that.
But yeah, I still can't get over Beeler's.
It's just incredible, isn't it? Yeah.
I mean, what was the feeling at the time, Jacob?
Were people surprised by how dominant Beeler was, or was this
becoming, you know, the norm by this point?
I think it was pretty much the norm and they say the
conditions, they'd already got the 30 kilos by Alton Park.
So the fact that it was even that much quicker than the rest
of the pack on that day probably accept everybody even more.
Yeah, it it probably didn't help their cause.
Yeah, there would not have been a lot of happy faces on the
Saturday night in the paddock. All right, well, we've had the
news, we've had qualifying. This is where the carnage really
starts. Let's get on to the races on
Bank Holiday Monday at the lights, BTCC points leader Frank
Beeler made the perfect getaway, leading his rookie teammate John
Bincliffe to form an early Audi 1/2 with Winklehawk tucked in
right behind in the BMW. But any opportunity for him to
make early progress was halted almost immediately by the now
familiar appearance of the BTCC safety car.
This time the Jaguar emerged to allow Marshalls to clear the
debris from a start line shunt. Start line shunt at Alton Park.
Would you believe it? The incident involved Roberto
Revalia's BMW, Will Hoy's Renault, Paul Radisich is Ford
and the list goes on. David Leslie's Honda and
naturally 4 drivers meant four different interpretations of
what happened, Leslie said. I was hit from both sides, but I
think Revalia helped Paul to turn around.
Hoyt offered his take. I turned in a bit early for Old
Hall, thanks to a little help. I saw Paul and next thing, Wham
bam, thank you, ma'am. Radicitt counted.
Revalia tried getting between me and Leslie.
I tried moving right and then I was slewing left and Revalia
obviously saw it differently. Again, I was side by side with
Leslie. Then he and Radicitt closed me
like a sandwich. Guys, Jacob, starting with you,
well, as we've already said, four drivers, 4 totally
different opinions, but complete carnage off the line.
Yeah, I think it's a very typical Alton Park crash because
it's quite narrow there. And the line for Old Hall is you
need to be swinging in and get into the apex.
And I think everybody just wanted to make the best start
tunnel vision and the way they went that Alton Park start crash
still happens today yes, yes, but I don't think the quid quite
as side by side as what they were then.
I think they're more spread out now.
I can't believe we're a bit of a blame for some shunts.
That's. More.
That's more. More The shocking thing about
this? Yeah, I mean, Alex, this was a
foretaste of what was to come at Brands hats, isn't it?
Just a few weeks later with Ravalia and Radissick.
Oh. Gosh, yeah, of course I saw,
I've showed you this, Greg. I saw a bit that they must have
showed at the Toker End of Season Awards, where Barry
Hinchcliffe put together a funny sketch of about 10 minutes and
they've got that piece of Roberto chasing after Paul all
around the brand's paddock. And they just keep, I don't know
if it's Charlie Lamb or I don't know whose voice it is that they
keep repeating over Roberto, Roberto, Roberto, and they just
keep playing it. It's very, very funny.
But yeah, Roberto Rovalia is, yeah.
I can't believe, as you say, he wouldn't get involved in
something like that, would he? Yeah, I know.
But in fact, I think the footage you're talking about was Roberto
chasing after Rydell. It's Nettleton because.
Sorry, yes, correct. Got evolved there as well.
Correct. Sorry, yes, he had so many
fights that year, but yeah. There was menu as well.
Wasn't there a brand tax later in the year when he tried to
block him? Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
When he was without this, yeah. One thing after the other, Hoy
as well. I mean, Alex, you've already
touched on this. Will Hoy was particularly
annoyed as you can hear now in this interview.
This is well-being caught by the PHP cameras on his way back up
the pit lane by foot as the marshals clear the wreckage from
the start straight. And Will's OK, but what
incredibly bad luck. He made an absolutely blindingly
good start straight down the outside, cleaned up.
Not his fault. Will Hoy is just one of this
championship bad luck magnets. If it's going to happen, it
seems always to have to will. Do you know who it was?
No, I don't know. Just chip me into a wall.
I can't believe it. Why are people so at a cracking
start and then somebody just pushes me into the wall?
Just not, can't believe it. Just sort of luck you need,
isn't it? Poor old Will.
At least Radisson Hoy managed to travel a few yards.
Vauxhall's James Thompson didn't even get that far because of a
leaking power steering system which sidelined him before the
race had even begun. After the sighting lap, the
Yorkshiremen sprinted off in search of the team's green tank
tops, hoping to pad out his seat back and wrestle the Vector
around with a bent arm manual steering technique.
But instead the Vector was wheeled off the grid for
repairs. Jacob, difficult times for four.
Difficult times for Vauxhall as well.
Really struggling weren't they, to get to grips with the Vectra
after winning the Championship and so much success with John
Clement in particular the previous year?
Yeah, 100%. I mean, RML are famed for their
design and development of a car. And for some reason the Vexor
just wouldn't work. I mean, having listened to John
Cohen's podcast, they said they got it out of the truck and they
didn't touch it. It was that good.
So to come into to design and build their own car, which just
didn't work was bizarre. And I think they had one win
that year later in the year with James Thompson and that was it.
But I don't know what it was about the Vectra because AAA had
all the budget in the world thrown at them to develop a
brand new Vectra later on and Super Touring and that con never
worked either. So maybe it's just cursed, but
it's just bizarre how you can dominate the championship and
then be an also around the following year.
Yeah, and not like you say, didn't even win a race.
It was Thompson, wasn't it? You had their win in 96 at
Snetterter. Al, I remember you've touched on
this in recent episodes. The Opal Vectra went a lot
better, didn't it, on the continent.
Is that because the circuits are so different?
Maybe. There's, there's the talk, there
was a talk all the way through 97 that it was the aerodynamics
that, that, that they were suited better to the, to the
European tracks rather than the British circuits.
And they are very different, the British tracks.
Are a lot different than the. European tracks, but you look at
98 where they put the new Eras package on and it was probably
the strongest apart from actually no 2000, the strongest
victor John had then he won two races, didn't he?
And and Derek won up at Knockhill.
So they won three races that year, but it was never, never a
title challenger like the Cavalier was.
In fact, I remember we did a piece with Jerry Hughes a few
years ago where he worked with AAA in 96 before he moved on to
Renault and he said it was something to do with the rear of
the car. It just the design of the car
just was not as suitable for a touring car.
That maybe that you know, the cars he went to work on
subsequently like the Laguna and the Mondeo because he moved to
Pro Drive. It was just.
Not super. There were too many compromises
that had to be made because of the because at the end of the
day, you're giving a shell, aren't you?
You're giving the car. This is what the vector is.
You can't make too many changes to that because it's got to
represent the road car. And ironically, they don't look
that much different to a Cavalier.
In fact, it was slated for not being enough of an upgrade.
Was it when, you know, infamous Jeremy Clarkson review on Top
Gear where he said it's a Cavalier with new wing mirrors?
But I don't know. It's just yeah, it just never
clicked at it. And if RML couldn't do it, they
were a crack touring car outfit. Sorry, crack touring car outfit.
If RML couldn't do it and then AAA couldn't do it, who were
another super outfit, then I guess you've got to say that it
was just a cursed car that was never going to, was never
destined to win regularly. Well, yeah, indeed, our producer
Matt Walker did the stats, didn't he?
And worked out that RML as a team, not a manufacturer but a
team, won more races than any other team in the whole of this
super tearing era between 91 and 2000.
Which is pretty impressive isn't it?
Obviously a lot with Nissan as well.
Back on track that at alternate 96 the safety car had peeled off
after just one lapse of great work from the Marshalls.
Winkle Hawk went side by side with Bin Cliff on the drag to
Old Hall and was through and into second out of the corner
and already visibly closing in on Beela as the pack rounded
cascades. Fink could have said he went
around me like he'd hit the nitrous oxide with Winklehawk
shooting through Alex. Decent restart from the German
Winklehawk to say the very least.
It was a very good restart, but you could tell that that BMW was
flying compared to the Odeon. I can already hear the, the, the
whales in the, the, the, the backgrounds.
Oh, it's 30 kilogrammes. It's too, too heavy now.
And yeah, you see with all this equalisation goes, there's
never, nobody's ever going to be happy.
But yeah, great restart from smoking Joe.
And he, there was something about him in 96, he really was
just really exciting to watch. He was either winning and
superbly quick or he was throwing off.
There was no in between. With Joe that year, it was like,
yeah, it was, it was like he was a different character.
He was, especially in that first half of the year, he was really
quick and this was another example of it.
Yeah, and some unbelievable qualifying performances as well.
Weren't there, If you've said before, Alex, on this podcast in
that car that. Yeah.
And, and, and let's just, let's just have a little nod of that
in the tip of the hat and nod of the head to the sound of that
BMW. Yes, yes, it's one of my
favourite sounds in motorsport to this day.
Brilliant sounding BMW then into the Nickerbrook chicane.
Winklehawk then carried enough extra momentum to slice up the
inside of Beeler's Audi with a decisive move so he was up into
the lead and the BMW driver was then able to manage the gap
exactly as he'd wished. And it stood at just over 5
seconds when the shortened race reached its conclusion, which
we'll come to in a moment. It could have easily been a much
bigger gap though, couldn't it? Jacob had just felt as though
the BMW was a different beast in the dry.
I think so, yeah. And smoking Joe always loved
Alton Park. He's literally, he went on and
on and on about it, how it was a Mini Nurburgring, like I
mentioned before, it was just, I don't know, his playground.
And the noise of that car was second to none.
I remember sneaking there at a test day.
I borrowed, I think must be in A levels.
So I borrowed my dad's car during the day and went to watch
some testing there and got back for the end of school.
So it looked like I'd never been away, but there's some noises
that caused testing. It was, it was Winkle Lock and I
think so for then it was unbelievable.
But yeah, if there was a man to occupancy drive for your life on
a flat out race, Smoking Joe would have to be right up there,
especially when he could, when he'd like the red rag to the
ball with him. He was gone.
I've got to say, did you did you borrow your dad's car or did you
steal your dad's car? I just.
Got I did borrow it so technically I was allowed to use
it to go to school. OK, Fair it out.
Fair it out. Fair.
It out that's good it was fine so yeah it was OK that's OK I'm
fairly sure that one day I was also coming up from Alton Park
and he was driving the other way in his works van or didn't twig
that his own car was going the other way I.
Really. Really.
Which was probably a bit more of a yeah, a bit more of a moment
for me than him. He could have called the police,
that could have been stolen. OK, yeah, that would have been a
good one. John bin Kiffin.
He was running in 3rd place and it was a tribute to the hard
work of the Audi Sport UK mechanics because he'd had an
off at Lodge during the damp morning warm up.
The car had suffered A substantial left rear bit of
damage in that and although it was patched up, it crabbed its
way around the formation lapse and required some last minute
retracking work on the grid. So great job from ALDI.
Even so, still strong enough to keep the advancing Rydell.
It is Volvo at Bay and later we heard the Swede saying there
were two places I might have been able to pass him,
Nickerbrook or Lodge. Lodge obviously the last proper
corner, the breaking zone there at the end of the lap.
He could take the inside line, close the door and break later.
It was impossible. Alex, impressive turn around
from the warm up Shun for Bincliffe and by the Audi
mechanics you're going to say? Oh absolutely.
Yeah, that car was I don't think there's a corner that was
straight on it. So yeah, very, very, very
impressive turn around. But there's Rydell there.
That's another one of the Audi trademarks of the four wheel
drive. The the the benefit of it is the
braking later as well. So you know it, as we're
discovering, as I've already mentioned once, that the Bing
Cliff held what then subsequently would become known
as a trolley training F1. Well, there was a Binkliff train
here because he was able to to to do things that you probably
wouldn't be able to do in a front wheel drive car, which is
in fairness, that's the tools he's got.
He's it's impressive that you can do that.
But yeah, impressive from the Audi Sport boys as well,
because, yeah, that car was very second hand.
You don't have a small crash at that point of the circuit, do
you? The, the, I think of all the,
all the big shunts that have happened at that point of the
circuit over the years, they've always ended up in, you know,
big messes with, with lots of damage.
And and this one was no different.
Russell Spencer's was pretty bad wasn't it in 99?
Gosh, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that.
Was at the top of that barrier. That was a yeah.
That was a horrible one, actually, yeah.
Behind Rydell, Alan Menus Renault and Kelvin Bert's Volvo
formed a tightly packed front wheel drive trio, with Rivalia
eventually latching onto the group as well.
Rivalia said. I didn't want to get too close
because it looked like there was going to be some trouble.
A bit rich, you have to say, coming from Rivalia.
By lap 7, Bert was making increasingly bold looks at the
inside of Menus, Renault into the fast left-hander at
Cascades, and on lap 11 it looked as though his moment had
finally arrived. Jacob, just before we get to the
real drama. Great action, wasn't it, in the
midfield. Yeah, brilliant.
It was some Super Touring car races were a little bit
processional, but when you got a proper feisty one, the racing
was second to none. Which is why I think there's
such love for it now still, because when you had some people
really going at it, they really went at it.
It was just phenomenal. A menu said.
Ricard slid wide out of Old Hall.
That's the course, the first corner.
Then he went right to cover the inside.
I move left and as I did there was Kelvin Bang.
I had no idea he was there. We touched just before the Crest
and I guess he was probably halfway alongside, but my mirror
was bent in but speared off on the fast downhill run towards
Cascades, suffering exactly the kind of accident that had long
been considered of the Super Touring Achilles heel, which was
high speed and a side on impact. Fortunately it was the passenger
side of the Volvo 850 that struck the jutting knuckle of
the earth bank, leaving Burke and cursed.
But otherwise would you believe, unharmed have the car gone in
driver side first? The consequences hardly bear
thinking about, especially given the similar accidents that claim
the lives, as Alex said before, of Greg Hansford and Keith
O'door the previous year. Alex, this was a really, really
horrible moment. And, you know, sometimes we love
Super Touring and touring cars in general now, don't we?
Because of the, you know, crash, bang, wallop sort of nature of
the racing. And it can be very funny.
But this was very, very serious. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, as you say that the crash, bang, wallop, bit of
nudging here and there was the the selling point almost of the
championship. It's what got it's what got me
into the championship. I'm not going to lie.
You know, I like the hustle and bustle.
I like the fact that it was the cars that your mum or dad drove,
you know, parked on the driveway as as the story goes, that's
what, you know, everyone describes it as, isn't it?
But that's the problem with those sorts of cars is that the
weak point is very much that that that side impact.
And the FIA had done a lot of work, but I still don't think,
you know, thankfully we're not discussing it.
And, and, and it wasn't this way, but I, I tried to think
what it would have been like had it been the driver side.
I think we're talking a very different incident at that
point. Yeah, it was just an awful,
awful accident. And I have to say I felt really
sorry for Alan because, yeah, he he, you know, again.
And the symptom of this type of racing was that the wing mirrors
very quickly either fell off or were bent in.
You know, we, John, John and Steve talk about that with
Silverstone 92, where John's mirror came off when he was
sideways and up in the middle of the air.
And it subsequently meant that he did had he had no idea that
Steve was still there. And, and he sounds very similar
sort of thing here. He Alan, didn't realise that
Kelvin had snuck up alongside him.
And I felt really sorry for Alan because he must have felt awful
obviously as well that that such a horrible incident occurred and
I still go cold now when I watch it.
I'll be honest with you. I've watched it obviously this
week. Now was we're as we're preparing
for this, for this episode. And you know, even when you know
that, you know, the the Kelvin ultimately comes to no harm.
I know he was concussed but made a full recovery, it's still just
sort of takes your breath away a little bit.
When you watch it, you think, you sort of wince and you just
think how how was he survived that?
Well, I mean, as Steve Ryder said, it was a sickening impact
and the on board camera footage shows just how sudden the stock
was as well, doesn't it? I mean, Alex, we're in a
privileged position here, aren't we?
Because we've got and Jacob Ebury with us now.
Jacob, you were on the scene, you were just a few metres away
from the impact. Can you remember what the
feeling was on, you know, the lead up to the event as it
happened and the minutes that. Followed well, you could see
that something was about to happen in general because the
cars were all hustling about together.
But the accident itself is really quick.
You didn't expect a car to like fly off that way.
But afterwards it's more the more the silence of all the
people in the crowd you like, you don't tend to like listen to
what the commentators are saying or bits and bobs.
I think they realised the magnitude of it and basically
just let everyone get on with what was going on.
But there's a lot of shock in the crowd and being quite young
it was quite a bit of a shock for us as well.
But as you say, Calvin made a full recovery and he still works
in motorsport now, so see him about and everything so and to
be back a few weeks later shows that whatever the FIA did and
thankfully the impact was on the other side to where he was sat
to show how strong the cars were, which we tested.
It's netted in two weeks later themselves.
Accidents or accidents and the cause of accidents.
Because it's an accident, nobody meant for it to happen.
And luckily the result was OK in the end.
I should imagine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And the, the, The funny thing you mentioned that is that
Kelvin's stand in was going to be Jamie Davis and just before
in the in and in testing prior to the the race at the next race
that Kelvin obviously was not going to be there for Jamie
Davis wrote off an 850 in a big accident as well.
So Volvo, Volvo lost two had two very big shunts at that point
and Ricard raced himself at the at the at the following meeting
because Davis had already totalled the other car.
But yeah, I mean, I've got for this.
So for our Padder club members, they might actually be able to
see this. I'm going to hold up the
addition of Autosport from the following event now, I believe.
Sorry, I'm blocking my mouth here.
So you might. Oh, that's good, Carrie, we can
hear you. We can hear you.
It's. It's this picture is yours,
Jacob from Autosport? It is.
I've not actually seen that for years.
So. That's so cool, yes.
So in the days pre digital I obviously took that photo
without realising what was on the film.
So of course fairly sure I got the crash, but until it got
developed I had no idea I'd got the crash.
So it's such a great shot as well.
Just show us that again, Alex. I'll just describe.
What we can see for. Those who can't see the video,
so we've seen the Volvo airborne tyres flying all over the place
menu and Rydell going by in the foreground and even in the
absolute foreground. Jacob, we've got a photographer
who seems to be not capturing the moment.
What's the story? Well, I think he's having a
favourite moment. I don't know who it is, but I
think they're. Changing the film or changing
the lens, which is probably not the best time to be doing that.
Yeah, but unbelievable, Alex, you can.
Put it down now. I'm quite enjoying looking at
the photo, not having to look at your face.
But Alex is back in vision for those of you who were listening
to this. But no, thank goodness.
I was just thinking, you know as well, while we were chatting, I
think it was 2007 in the Porsche Supercut, but had an enormous
shunt at Thruxton and I went rolled over the barrier coming
out of the complex. Do you remember that one?
Yeah, another reading of the Escape.
Yes, I'd forgotten about it. I literally.
Just thought about of Campbell. Cobb and Seagrove.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he got clean.
His defence he got. A touch that same day again of.
Somebody else. Did he?
Yeah. Picked him, didn't it?
Yeah. Yeah, God, I forgot that was
him. Ended up on the service Rd the.
Marshalls was it was a bit like the key third door crash, wasn't
it? At Donnington at the bottom of
the pill? Yeah, yeah, the old hairpin.
Oh well. Anyway, as we know.
Kelvin did make a full recovery thank goodness, and it was back
racing just a few races later. Safety car of course came out at
this point, starting on lap 12 at Alton Park, but it was
becoming obvious that this was a race ending incident and on the
second safety car lap the red flag came out all around the
track in Cheshire Force Majeure. Of course results were declared
for 10 laps of racing, so Winkle Hock had won in the BMW ahead of
the two outers of Beeler and Binkliff.
But not surprisingly, with the memories of odour and the Avis
tragedy still freshen his mind, Winkle Hock was noticeably
subdued after claiming his fourth Olson Park victory in the
days opening shortened race. Even so, it was another vintage
smoke in gaol performance, the kind the 93 champion seems able
to summon up at will whenever he returns to the Cheshire track.
It really was vintage Winkle Hawk Alex Clark.
I mean, he just loved the place, didn't he?
Yeah, and I think it's important to note that about.
About Keith Adore as well he had he had finished second behind
our door at Arvis in the first race when Keith was killed and
then won the second race the the the Keith was killed in.
And yeah, it must have, it must have brought back so many
memories of of that because a similar incident, you know, that
that we talked about the side impact, high speed side impacts.
So yeah, I can understand why he was not celebrating.
But classic vintage Winkle Hawk and also the Arvis incident.
Sorry to butt. In it was obviously Frank
Beeler, who unfortunately hit O'door, wasn't it?
So he was obviously thinking of this as well.
I'm sure, yeah, yeah, I'm sure yeah, yeah, yeah.
The. Awful.
Again, another awful accident that just.
Yeah, just you. You these things happen, it's an
accident and yeah, they get out and they go out in the cars
knowing that these things could happen to them.
So, but still to see a colleague lose their life and and most
likely a good friend because I've always thought that touring
car Pandex have always been particularly friendly places.
A lot of the a lot of the drivers are good friends
together. They go play a lot of golf
together. They go and drink lots of wine
and have lots of meals together. We've often heard tales of John
Cleland and Tim Harvey on the golf course and Ricardo Rydell
on the golf course. And I remember Craig Baird
telling me that Will Hoy looked after him so well off the track.
So there was a real camaraderie around around the drivers and
generally speaking they all got on really well.
Apart from Revalia, yes, unfortunately the reason with
everyone. But no, no in all.
Seriousness to to see, yeah, to see a friend and a colleague in
an accident like that, even knowing if they had survived or
not. And I suppose at this point it
was probably still, there was still a lot of question marks.
So yeah, well, yeah, I was going to ask actually, Jacob, how?
How soon? Was it until anyone got the word
that Kelvin had survived and he was all right or relatively OK?
Well, I don't really know on the day because.
Free Internet and stuff and free electronic stuff.
There wasn't really that much news on the day, I don't think,
but it's a long time ago. My memory is not quite as best
as it could be. But no, in all seriousness, I
don't think anybody really knew on the day.
Yeah, I'm sure you're right. Yeah, once you get transported.
Away from the circuit I. Think it's very hard to get news
back and in that period they're scaring a big, big escape.
Well, luckily the main drama had passed, but we still had Race 2
ahead of us. Delayed both by the fallout from
the opening race. And the usual Alton Park support
race, Chaos Race 2 finally got underway later than scheduled,
but at least managed to run its full 16 lap distance.
Beeler converted pole into an immediate lead again, with Bint
Cliff slipping into second, so Winklehawk bogged down slightly
at the start. But by the time they reached the
Nickelbrook chicane for the first time halfway around the
lap, the BMW was already attempting to replicate its Race
One charge. Winklehawk dived down the inside
and spun, rejoining at the back with terminal splitter and
steering damage. And Winklehawk was absolutely
furious. He did not hold back about John
Binkleiff. He's an asshole.
Winklehawk said. He blocked me at every single
corner. And then when I got to nick a
brook, he closed the door. But this is the last time, I
promise you. I feel sorry for the rest of the
field. Who got held up behind him?
A surprising outburst from Winkleheart.
Was it deserved, Alex? It was.
It was very, very dramatic, very vocal.
Have a cigarette joke. Come on.
Wow. Yeah.
I mean, very unlike Joe. I mean, I don't profess to know
him particularly, but he he always seemed to be the the
ultimate gentleman whenever I was in his presence.
Yeah, I've I was very surprised to say that It would have been
funnier with the German accent, but I wasn't gonna.
Attempt it. No, no, that's probably for the
best. Yeah, probably, yeah, but yeah,
very young and and not only the sort of the bit that he says or
he's an asshole, it's the whole thing.
Afterwards he blocked me this. Yes.
I close the door. It's the last time this is
sorry. Sorry for everyone else.
You got help and that's. So bitter, isn't it?
It's funny. But yeah, I mean, Joe obviously
felt he had the quickest car and wanted to get the job done as
quick as possible. And as we've sort of already
alluded to, these Audis could be hard to pass.
So I don't know, maybe it was just, again, it was just thinker
Hog being possibly very quick, but also a bit a bit too eager.
Yeah, maybe, you know, I don't want to say smarter because he
was a smart guy, but yeah, possibly he could have held off
on lap one and waited. I would have been, I don't know,
I don't know, there's a reason Joe was in the Super Tour and I
wasn't. But yeah, who am I to tell
Jovankelhock what he was doing wrong?
But yeah, it's surprising outburst for him because he
clearly and he obviously felt that the double was on.
And let's be honest, if he'd have got through, he would have
gone off into the distance just like he did in Race 1.
So I can see why he would have been aggrieved.
Yeah, absolutely. Rydell on the other.
Hand in the Volvo. The sole remaining Volvo, sadly,
was flying. He swept past Bin Cliff through
Cascades great move and closed onto Beeler's tail by lap 6 as
they climbed the start finish straight for the 7th time.
Rydell won the drag race out of Old Hall and surged into the
lead, setting himself out for his first win of the season.
Rydell said. I knew we'd be OK in the dry
against the Alders but they have such different lines through the
corners that to overtake them you you have to out drag them.
Beeler agreed with that assessment.
And he said Rydell closed up on me like a rocket.
Second was fine though and for what we're able to do at the
moment. He's obviously referring to the
weight penalty isn't he? We had a good weekend Jacob.
This was Ricard's first win of the season.
He was under pressure to him, wasn't he?
Because Kelvin Bert had won, as we said before, a week or so
earlier at Silverstone, beating the previously dominant Aldis.
Do you think this marked the first real push back from the
front wheel drive teams against what many felt was an unfair
advantage from the four wheel drive Quattro?
I think so, but you didn't. Really know how much the Aldi's
had in the bag. Still didn't want any more
weight put on them, so I'm fairly sure that they were
driving within themselves. But motorsport has a strange way
of results falling right? So after the Kelvin's crash in
the first race to evolve, their winning the second race was more
than deserved. Yeah, and quite strange really.
Not. To see an Audi win in 1996
wasn't it. Behind the leaders, Bincliffe
had already allowed one position to slip away, but he wasn't
about to surrender another. From lap 4 all the way to the
chequered flag, the Audi A4 headed A7 car train.
This is what Winkle Hawk was referring to, which frequently
ran nose to tail. Great for the crowd though.
Despite the spectacle, the order from third tonight never changed
with Bincliffe leading. Menu.
Revalia. Hoy, Leslie, Tim Harvey's
Peugeot and John Clemons Vauxhall in a conga line of
growing frustration. That's a real who's who of
1990s, isn't it? Menu said.
In a way I have to. This is another slightly
condescending remark against Wincliffe.
In a way, I have to admit he did well, but it was way over the
top. I've never, ever raced with
somebody so defensive. I was pushing hard and I nearly
lost it at Cascades once, but there was no way past.
Revalia joined it as well. The Audi's break late.
They break on the dirt. They're impossible to pass if
they don't want it. Alex, is there ever a time you
can be too defensive? Menu obviously feels there is.
Yeah, Yeah, I. No, I don't think there is.
So it's Schumacher and Barrichello in Hungary maybe?
Well. Yes, yeah.
OK, possibly. Yeah, that's too defensive.
But I, I liken this to David Coulthard and Enrique Bernaldi
and Monaco in 2001 when Ron Dennis was apoplectic that, you
know, going shouting down at Tom Walkinshaw and let him pass him.
No, it's, it was for a position. It's for a position.
No. And and if, if, if John
Binkliff, which he did, he held on to that position for the
remainder of the race and got the result he needed and fair
play to him. No, if, if, if that's what he
needed to do to maintain his position, then that's what he
needed to do where he did the best for himself and for his
team. He's not there racing for
Renault. He doesn't give us.
It's got nothing to do with, oh, I should let this Renault pass.
I really are sorry, I'm I'm being a bit defensive there.
No, no, no. And and if he's being that
defensive, then possibly there's a way through.
Again, this points back is the reason they're crowing about it
so much is because they feel there's an an inherent advantage
that the as Rivalia hinted to the impossible to pass.
They break late, they break on the dirt.
They can go on funny lines and they can still be quick.
As I sort of said earlier, it's it's their way of saying, you
know, this isn't right. It reminds me of Jason Plato's
wonderful crow. Even Stevie Wonder can see that
in right. You know, it's like it's like
that, you know, it's just it's their way of saying, come on,
this isn't fair. So I get why they're saying it.
But yeah, it's a bit it's a bit harsh on big clip, isn't it?
Yeah, it is about. I think you hit the nail on the
head as. Well, before Jacob, when you
said they're even more frustrated knowing they still
can't get through after the wait penalty has been brought in.
So maybe that's another reason Menu was so aggrieved there.
Yeah, yeah. Many was very clever.
He was very political. He knew what to say and when to
say it and how to say it again, another another Plato trait.
You know, he knew what would get listened to and and this is
obviously his way of saying, come on, this isn't right.
Well, in the independence race further down.
The field, we know Matt Neil was out of action, as we said
before, wasn't feeling very well.
Things really ended on a sour note for the Vauxhall Cavalier
of Richard Kay. After taking the opening
independent win ahead of Lee Brooks, he severely damaged his
Mint Motorsport Cavalier in a very heavy race to accident.
It was just before Ireland, said a still shaken K.
And I don't know what happened. It went one way, I caught it, it
went the other way and I gave up and waited for the accident.
It's knackered, dead, he said. Yeah, Jacob, another big one not
that far from where Bert had crashed earlier in the day,
further down the straight towards Ireland bend.
Car was airborne. It was a complete mess, wasn't
it? Yeah, it was.
I missed that one there. Yeah, you changed it.
Your film at that. Point though yeah, there's it's
amazing because Richard was so. Fast in that car all year, but I
think Lee Brooks won the title yeah, yeah, so.
But yeah, it was a pretty monumental moment, to say the
least. Interestingly, it was a very.
Tortoise and hair race that year between.
As Jacob just said, Richard Kay was probably the quicker
combination. He had the the the the Vauxhall
Cavalier which had done so well the previous year.
Where has Lee had the Karina that year, which wasn't as quick
a car, But yeah, fair play to to to Lee Brooks.
He he won that year and and and and and did the job.
But Richard Kay probably was a better, faster package.
But yeah, big nasty shunt. That was a really, really nasty
one. And if memory serves me right,
did Richard Case season not? End in a pretty heavy shunt as
well. Brands.
And he couldn't race, could he? No.
That's right. That's right, but it wasn't a
big. Independent field that year, it
was so without Matt. There were literally three of
them. There was Lee Richard and Rob
Gravitt in the second Dynamics car, so Lee Brooks pretty much
had to just keep finishing races.
If it was a bigger field, maybe it wouldn't have been the
championship wouldn't have fallen that way.
But yeah, you know, it, he had. He did what he had to do and and
but it wasn't a strong field. But Richard was often chewing on
the the tails of the likes of Robertson Radisich, the, the,
the Peugeot's of Harvey and Watts.
You know, the the sort of the the slower works cars he Richard
was often battling with them and those Nissans as well, of
course, of Macaulay and Gary Ailes.
My most memorable Richard Kay memory from 90. 6 As you say, he
was chewing on the bumper bar of some of these slower factory
cars and he was coming up to the back of Watts in the Peugeot and
Robertson on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit in the mid
season meeting. And Robertson got turned into
the Barry, if you remember, coming out of Clear Way.
That's right. Yeah, that was a classic Murray
moment as well. But it was.
Yeah, that's right. I remember that.
But Richard always seemed to have, if you had an accident, it
always seemed to be quite a big one.
Yeah. A lot of damage for an
independent team, let's not forget, yeah?
Exactly. Yeah.
Cost, yeah. So that's a wrap on our look
back at the. Unforgettable May Bank Holiday
1996 Alton Park BTCC race meeting It's a weekend that will
always be remembered, not just for the drama on the track, but
for the horrific accident involving Kelvin Burt and
incredibly and most importantly of course, his survival.
It's a story that stayed with all of us over the last three
decades and a reminder of the dangers of the sport, but also
of the resilience of the human spirit and the incredible safety
measures that have helped us shape motorsport as we know it
today. Before we sign off, a huge thank
you to Alex Clark, as always, for contributing his experience
and helping bring these incredible stories to life every
episode. Alex, for me as well, thanks
again for bringing me in as the guest host.
It's been a pleasure. No worries.
No, it's been great. No.
Thanks for coming on. It's such short notice.
It's it's been great having you on.
So no thank you. Thank you again.
And of course, most importantly, a very special thank.
You to photographer Jacob Ebree for joining us and your
experience for the first time. Jacob on the podcast, first hand
experience and insight from the event itself, which has really
helped us understand what happened there.
Hopefully you can join us again in the future.
Yeah, brilliant. Thanks ever so much for having
us. It's been.
Great fun, and there's nothing better I'd like to do than talk
about Super Touring Girls. Perfect.
Yeah. Great.
No. Cheers for coming on.
It's been great. Yeah, thank you very much.
I echo those sentiments. And of course, thank you to all
of you for listening or watching.
If you've got the video version, you saw Alex holding up the
Autosport magazine and covering his face, doing us all a favour
just a little bit earlier on in the podcast.
We'll be back soon with more stories from the golden age of
Tory car racing. So stay tuned, keep the racing
spirit alive and we'll catch you next time.
But for now, from Jacob, from Alex, from me, Greg Haynes, this
has been stories from Super Touring.
Thanks again for listening.