Stories from Super Touring. Hello and welcome to this week's
episode of Stories from Super Touring.
I'm your host Levi Riley and this week we are diving into a
meeting that shaped British Touring Car Championship
history, the very first BTCC race at Scotland's legendary
Knoxville circuit in 1992. As we all know, 1992 was a
season packed with high octane action, fierce rivalries and
some of the most iconic touring cars of the era.
But when the championship made its debut at Not Hill, a tight
undulating track known for its unpredictable weather and
dramatic elevation changes, it became an instant fan favourite.
To help us look back at this race weekend, we are joined once
again by motorsport photographer Greg Denton.
Greg, welcome back to the pods. Great to have you on again.
How are you doing this evening? Yeah, very good.
Thank you. And it's really great to be
invited back for another episode and to reminisce on the Nokia
192. Fit and we'll stick with you
first for our usual opening question, what first comes to
mind when you think about the very first not kill event back
in 1992? Yeah, I think it's two things
really. First of all, as you said, it
was the first visit to Knockhill, so it was a brand new
circuit. So we, you know, all the fans
went there not really knowing what to expect when we did get
there. I think the weather was
something that dominated the the weekend and I'm sure we'll talk
about that later because it got very, very wet.
Yeah, it definitely did. And that's a a common theme of
not kill meetings normally. And 92 was the start if you need
to go on exactly. And Alan with us, as always, is
Alan Clark and Alan coming to you.
What are your memories of this race meeting?
My first overriding memory is that iconic footage from John
Cleland where they cut to the in car and it is as Greg just said,
the weather was teeming it down and all you can hear is a
bewildered John Glennon. We cannot see a thing where the
Hell's the track? And you can't if the wipers go
in the fastest speed you've ever seen a wiper go and it still
isn't clearing enough water feature actually see.
And I did wonder how at that point did they keep it on?
And we've mentioned it before about bad weather.
Certainly Brands 95 we've talked about it.
Silverstone 99, the finale again.
I think this is another race where, had it been held these
days, they would not have run in those conditions.
Yeah. As always, we also asked our
faithful listeners what they thought of this race meeting,
and they've come up with some of the following.
Alistair Sloane remembers going to his 18th birthday party.
He said it was very, very wet, which we've already mentioned a
couple of times and we'll get into much more about that later
on in the episode. Andy Taylor got in touch to say
his memory of this race is John Cleland going down the back
straight towards the hairpin ranting about not being able to
see a thing and you guessed it, the driving rain.
Whilst Dougie Dowson got in touch to tell us that he spent a
whole week up there playing golf and had a great time, which I
can imagine some brilliant golf courses in that part of the
world. Dougie Dougie is Roger Dowson's
brother and this was by far the strongest weekend that Mazda
that Roger Dawson's team were running and obviously the first
year they were in the championship in 92 Mazda.
By far the most competitive showing for the three 2-3 in 92
was here, and Patrick does feature a fair bit in in this
episode so. I think he was near the front
and then he threw it off again, didn't he?
Yeah, yeah. Which doesn't sound like
Patrick, does it? Oh, Patrick.
Ahead of the first ever BTCC meeting at Knock Hill, the
biggest news circulating in the paddock was Renault's potential
entry into the series for 1993 with their 19 model.
The French manufacturer was reportedly evaluating the
championship as a platform to showcase its competitiveness and
touring car racing, with the Renault 19 seen as a strong
contender against the established grid.
Their entry would complete their involvement in the new Super
meeting package that Toker had recently announced.
No decisions have been made yet, said Renault's Tim Jackson.
It would certainly be the final piece of the jigsaw to have BTCC
entry, though if confirmed, Renault's arrival would have
added further depth to an already fiercely competitive
championship. Greg, we obviously now know that
this rumour was indeed true and that Renault ended the series at
the start of 1993. Was this the first manufacturer
seeing what benefits there were of being involved in the
championship? Yeah, I think we'd already seen
manufacturers that were mainly specifically in touring cars,
you know, Vauxhall, BMW, Ford, but I think Renault was the
first one that was involved in other motorsport, obviously
Formula One, and this was their first move into a touring car
racing campaign. So I really think it showed
that, you know, where the focus was and the benefits of entering
the British touring cars was was clear to see.
So yeah, I think it was a real signal of intent.
And then many followed after that.
Prior to the meeting, Peugeot confirmed that their works team
would not be making the trip to Scotland, the team instead
preferring to remain in England and concentrating on the
development of the four O 5. The project had lost valuable
time after the car was damaged at the previous meeting at
Donington Park, team manager Mick Linford told Autosport.
By doing this, the car will take a definite step forward when we
head to Pembrey for the next meeting.
Alex, this Perjury team were having a really tough debut
season in the Championship world and they may be a sign of things
to come as well for the. Era, yeah, I mean, we all know
now, don't we? Having heard from the horse's
mouth about just how bad or how tough things were bad makes it
sound like it was a bad team. It wasn't a bad team.
It was a team full of great people, Mick being one of them.
But a tough environment. And, yeah, Persia were
struggling. They hadn't done anything,
really with the 405. In fact, later on in this series
season, Gary Ailes would come over to the Donnington meeting.
That's it. Yeah.
And score more points in one meeting with the Persia Italia
car than Persia had scored up until that point that season.
As we know, that was all a very political argument that they
were having no data being shared.
Yeah, You see, you know, listeners will know exactly why
Peugeot was such a a tough place to be in in this era, but a wise
choice to to not make, not make the trip.
It didn't happen very often in this era.
It sort of reared its head again in the mid, mid 10s.
If you remember, quite a few teams used to skip, not kill,
just because of the cost of getting up here.
But if Peugeot felt they were better suited to take in some
time out and testing at Pembrey to try and get the car sorted,
then you know it's worth it. It's worth a go.
I really think that the, the programme probably suffered with
only having one driver at this point.
I think it it got stronger that 93 car by mid season was
actually quite, quite decent. And as we know Patrick got some
good results in the 94405. So yeah, I, I do think that they
needed, they needed something whether that was going to, to,
to Pembrey and testing, I think it probably sorted one problem.
But from what we can gather, you saw one problem here at Peugeot.
And three or four of others arrive.
Others pop up in another part of the team.
So yeah, I don't know about anyone else, but when I listened
to that Meek Linford episode or when we when we were speaking
with him, I just felt really sorry for him.
Yeah. Just wanted to give a big hug.
It still staggers me now why they've got no support.
It wasn't as though they were competing with France.
There was, I could never, ever see any reason why it was like
it was. It just made no sense.
It's as though they entered it against the will of the French
team and that's what they were being punished for it.
But it wasn't like that. It just just never made any
sense. No, no, it never, never ever,
ever made any sense. Every other works programme when
Honda entered MSD built about 10 Accords, 11 Accords and two of
them went to Germany, three of them went to Britain, 11 spare,
two of them went to to Japan and whatnot.
They were all the same cars. It was the same when the Vector
launched every, every championship had the same car.
In fact, that's why Vauxhall struggled.
If you listen to to certain people is because they reckon
that the the error of the Vector was more suited to the European
circuits. I don't know, it's the whole
Peugeot thing was a very strange and very odd setup and yeah, it
didn't do much good, but it it was worth a go, I guess.
Making a one off appearance at Not Kill for BMW was British
rally champion Colin McRae. Prodrive entered a guest car for
McRae as part of the promotion for the inaugural race at the
Scottish circuit. Scott had minimal circuit racing
experience and did not test the BMW until the day before the
start of the weekend, with the team noting that Mcrae's focus
was fully on rallying rather than racing in the BTCC.
Alex Colin might not yet have been a huge style that he became
later on in his career, but he was already by this point a
British Rally Champion and had already finished on the podium
in the World Rally Championship. So an exciting guest appearance
that is for the championship? Yeah, exciting.
For people within motorsport, if you're a motorsport fan, you
would have known who Colin McRae was.
It wasn't to the level of, say, Mansell the Toker Shootout.
It wasn't a well known name. We're not, we're not talking
Colin McRae post 95, you know, and he would say when, you know,
when he had his own computer game and he had all the all the
image rights and Colin McRae was like just cool, you know, it
wasn't to that level. But if you knew MO, if you were
into motorsport, you would know Colin McRae.
Well, yeah, he's Jimmy Son and he's doing great things in the
British championship. He's finished on the podium in
the world. He's going to be a great rally
driver. So it wasn't it might have drawn
a few more in on the on the on the gate at Knock Hill,
especially up in Scotland. An exciting guest appearance for
motorsport fans, but not not one that would bring in, you know,
Mansell at Donnington in 93 levels then, if you get what I'm
saying. But definitely an exciting
driver. I mean, everyone knows what what
what how exciting Colin McRae was to watch on a rally stage
and there was no reason why he wouldn't bring similar levels of
excitement to the BTCC, especially when he refuses to
use ABS. Yes.
And was it right in the Matt Neil episode he said he didn't
actually have a licence to race. Yeah, for somehow he got onto
the grid. Yeah, I mean, that's mad isn't
it? You think about that now.
It would never happen though. But yeah, he didn't actually
have a a racing licence to to race on the circuit Accord.
I'd never heard that before. But yeah, I I was shocked when
Matt said that, which probably angered Steve Neil even more
than not. Not that I want to drop any
spoilers, but Steve Neil does get a little irate in this
episode. The Saturday practise sessions
were both dominated by the weather.
The mixed conditions shook up the order and a Curia cost were
the biggest beneficiaries, with David Leslie taking pole and
teammate Bobby Verdon rose securing a front row lookout for
the Scottish squad at their home race.
Team manager Ray Malik explained the result.
The balance of the cars has been good all weekend and we're on
the right tyres at the right time.
It was important to stay out there whilst the track was
drying. I'm surprised that Moore didn't
do the same. Leslie was delighted too.
An Arcuria cost 1-2 in Scotland, What more could you want?
Verdun Roy, meanwhile, thought he could have had the pole.
I had to lift off at the chicane on my best lap when John Clement
got in my way, explained Bobby after the session.
Greg, that's a great start to the weekend for the Arcuria
costume, isn't it? Yeah, I think you've heard of I
wrote that script before and they'd have been very, very
pleased. But I think also it's like the
the emergence of a Curia cost as a team into the British Touring
Cars. It was their first year,
obviously run by Ray Malik, the start of Ray Malik's journey
into the British Touring Car Championship and also really the
start of David Leslie's career as well.
So, you know, I think there's a number of things that this was
the emergence and I can only imagine that the the works
Vauxhall team of Dave Cook, this was probably the first sign that
all someone might be looking for our work still for the future
years, which we know is what actually happened.
So yeah, new team of Vauxhall, old Dave Cook cars on the grid
and outperforming the works cars.
So yeah, quite a, quite a shock. Jeff Allen's recent fine form
continued as he set the third fastest time, with Steve Sober
four fastest, just ahead of his Bickley Most Sport teammate Tim
Harvey. The pair were well clear of the
rest of the BMW 318IS contingent, all of whom
benefited from recent rule adjustments which had narrowed
the weight differential between front and rear wheel drive cars
by 25 kilos. Mcrae's debut in the
championship was one of the struggle in the practise
sessions column. Was really quite blase about the
whole thing, said Tom Hunt, team manager to Most Sport magazine
in 2006. At the time we were running ABS
and sucked in a menu. Was saying during the test that
they couldn't break over the bump.
Colin told them if you want to break there, just break there.
He maintained that he'd be better off without the ABS so we
removed it for one of the sessions.
Within 3 laps he'd put it into the gravel.
That's quite an interesting first aid for Colin isn't it?
Behind the wheel of a circuit racing car.
Yeah, well, I think again, it was his like approach to
rallying. I think many, many times he said
the only way to find the limit is to go over it.
And I think we saw that in in his early rallying days where
cars were absolutely wrecked and in pieces.
I remember one RAC rally and then Rs Cosworth, the whole car
was nearly destroyed. Similarly Subaru Legacy.
So I think it was just him applying the limits, finding
where they were, stepping over them and then adapting his
driving style accordingly. But that was what made him such
a such an amazing talent, I think.
Yeah, Yeah. I mean that's, it's very Colin
McRae, isn't it? That so if you just want to
break there, just break there. And to sort of say that he would
be better without ABS and then within 3 laps putting it in the
gravel. I mean, but as you say, Greg,
that's just him pushing the limits, finding out, you know
what, I'm going to try it without and see where we go.
And yeah, that's what he became famous for.
You know, you know, later on in his rally in Korea, we've we've
seen Ford Focuses with wheels collapsed and he's just dragging
them along. In fact, the other day it popped
up on my socials feed, a clip of him.
And I think Nikki Grist was talking about an incident where
they done something to the suspension or they bent an arm
really quite badly. So Colin got out, got the car
up, took the arm off and he's literally with a boulder
slamming it back straight, put it back on the car and got to
the got to the timing line. Very, very, very short amount of
time before he would be penalised.
But they got there and he didn't get penalised and it was just
incredible. That's just the the the the
nature of the man that he was. Yeah.
The thought of just him throwing it around in A318IS Super Tour
or two litre car at this point, Yeah, it's just quite funny
really isn't it? Yeah, yeah.
Patrick Watts had the Mazda going superbly again as Roger
Dowson's efficient team continued to make good progress
with the 323. He was a head of championship
leader John Cleland, who was eighth.
We were on the right ties at the wrong time or vice versa, said
John after the sessions. Alan Menus, Peretti
intermediates were on the point of coming good when the rain
came down again. His ninth fastest time was a
great effort set on wets when the track was well past its
best. For other reasons he wouldn't
start the race. A story we will cover shortly.
In 10th and 11th were the Toyota pair of Andy Rouse and Wilhoi.
Both were struggling to find a good wet setup.
Willard also had a very big accident at Duffer's Dip on
Thursday. Sterling work by Rouses crew had
the car straightened on the jig at a local dealer back in shape
by Friday evening. But Will was suffering.
His helmet had hit the steering wheel in the impact and he'd
pulled a lot of neck and back muscles.
He was trying herbal remedies, frequent massages and even
acupuncture to put himself back on form.
Greg not kills. Not really the place you want to
be if you suffer from neck and back pain is it?
No, I definitely not. I think, I think with the the
undulated nature of it, it's a really fast lap.
I don't think there's really any straights apart from the start
line straight, which doesn't last very long where you have
any time to to rest or so forth. So yeah, I can only imagine that
was a tough, tough weekend for him after his crash on the
Thursday. Talking of injuries, Ala Menu
season was over on the Saturday night when he suffered a
compound fracture of his right leg along with ligament damage
after kitting a car horse riding a quad bike through the paddock.
Menu had moved across to give an oncoming Volkswagen room but
lost control and hit the car head on instead.
He underwent an initial operation in Dunfermline the
following day, with experts suggesting that the ligament
damage would see him out of action for the next 6 months.
Alex, that's a big shame for Menu.
He was having a really decent debut season.
Yeah, he was, and a lot of people forget that actually our
Menu made his debut in the series in a BMW.
Lots of people associate Menu with starting with Renault, but
he was quietly getting a decent return from that BMW.
If you remember, this was the BMW that A was struggling at the
start of the year and B was the pro drive BMW, which as we have
learned since was, even though looking very similar, were
definitely very different under the under the under the bonnet
in the sense that the teams went their own way.
They didn't, they weren't collaborating together and that
is why the VL, the VLRVLM, sorry, BMWs went on to be so
dominant, whereas the other works team, because they were
both BMW supported entries, the Pro Dr entries never really
matched that dominance. So yeah, Alan finished on the
podium before this accident. And yeah, he was having a good,
a good debut season, clearly one to watch.
He was still harbouring dreams of single seat or Formula One at
this point. But yeah, I mean, this accident,
from what I'm led to believe, for a very long time afterwards,
Alan wasn't able to go running or jogging or anything.
So it it, it sounded like it was quite a, quite a nasty incident
and it left quite left him in quite a bad way.
It's a shame because obviously they would have had three cars
out this weekend with McRae as well.
So, yeah, I just feel for the Volkswagen driver as well,
because yeah, you, yeah, you know, nobody wants to, nobody
wants to run anyone over in the in the in the paddock.
But yeah, just a very unfortunate accident.
Sadly that that meant that Alan's season came to a halt and
with BMW leaving the championship at the end of 92
originally, it was only when they fell out with the DTM
bosses that Steve Super mentioned a couple of episodes
ago the BMW then returned that Alan had lined up his contract
with Renault who as you just said Levi were looking at
entering the series at this point.
Makes me wonder how much contact Alan had had with Renault at
this point you know. But had this not happened, would
he have stayed with BMW? Would be would he have been a
BMW driver? Who knows?
I love these little, these two segues.
Yeah. What if this had happened?
And what if that happened and all these alternate universe
type things, You know, would he have stayed with BMW?
Would he have been champion in 93?
Would he have knocked Winkle? Or would he have, you know,
would Winkle out not have come across, you know, all these
things? Interesting.
But yeah, a shame that his debut season was cut short in what
sounded like quite a nasty accident.
Race day morning was drier and the 15 minute warm up session
was a slick shot affair for all. Ralphs proved quickest ahead of
Super and Alum. It was still dry for the first
race and the whole grid started on slicks.
Leslie got away with Elm from pole to leave comfortably from
his teammate Vernon Rowe so you could dive down the inside of
Verdun Row into McIntyre to move briefly up to second.
Verdun Row was pushed wide and dropped welm back while Soap was
also delayed and alum snatched second at the end of the first
lap. With that in mind, at the end of
the first lap Leslie led by 1.12 seconds from alum Super Harvey
Watts and Cleland Alex. The first lap at not kill one
that would become the norm over the years at this circuit.
Not kills, not kill, isn't it? I mean, you just have to look at
it and say and, and, and know that it's going to be a bit of
carnage, isn't it? You know, we were talking last
couple of weeks ago about Aiello and, and how impressive it was
that he got used to British tracks in in that one season he
came and won. You know, I'd love to have seen
his face when he first rocked up at Noch Hill and thought, what?
Where am I? What is this?
Where am I, you know? And yeah, no kill.
It's just, it's just wild, isn't it?
You look at it, you don't think they don't race around here,
surely. But yeah, no Kill, as we now
have come to know very well, is definitely a track that causes a
fair bit of chaos, certainly on opening laps and especially in
this era. It wouldn't have been.
It wouldn't be the last time. Allen immediately started to
chip away at Leslie's lead, and by the end of lap three he was
right with him. Meanwhile, after a strong start,
Watts ran wide at the final hairpin on lap 2, dropping from
5th to 9th. Alex, It's another early visit
to the Patrick Watts Sympathy Corner this series, isn't it?
Welcome to the Patrick Watts Sympathy Corner.
I I'd forgotten that Patrick runs so well until I researched
this script, this race for them to to write this script.
I'd forgotten and I was watching it thinking Patrick's up in
fourth. Look, he's right behind so
Prudential and and I was think he doesn't stay there shortly.
And then literally as I say that he wants off the track in the
hairpin and I'm just like and in my head I'm going, Oh, Patrick.
And then you hear Murray going, Oh, Patrick, a real shame.
But it still ends up being a good weekend for this little
master that as I said at the start of the show, it wasn't
really the most competitive touring car a master produced as
we know. But at this little twisty knock
hill, it seemed to suit it. And Patrick really dragged what
results he could out of it. And interesting I think the only
car in this era with pop up headlights.
Yes, you're probably right, yeah.
I'm trying to think of another one and a place like Knock Hill
in the way in the rain. I can't.
I can't think of another super tour in this era that had pop up
headlights. No, I think you'll be right.
I don't think there's many cars in that era that had Mazda was
like MX Fives and so forth. I can't think there was anyone
else that actually had that as. Well, no, no, You might have had
some. You might have had some in the
mid 80s, but yeah, certainly in the 90s there weren't any
mothers. No.
Yeah. Fill out the toy to Karina.
That was the only car with mudflaps.
Yes. Not sure that was an aerodynamic
device for the future, but yeah. Also with mudflaps needed later
on in the day. Yes, absolutely.
Jeff Allen continued to nipple away at Leslie's advantage at
the front until lap 7. David made a bit of a mistake at
the chicane and I seized my chance, explained Allen.
Greg, was that a good move from him there?
Yeah, I think so. And I think it became a it's
become a standard move at not kill.
So you know, you come down Duffer's Dip, you go through the
chicane. If you get a wide line there,
then you you go out into the gravel.
Now if you get a nice line through there, you can cut up
and then it's on. Is it the railway straight and
then into Denton's? I think it is, I have to say,
not named after me. I wish it.
Was so yeah, yeah. When we went there, we did
think, well, actually has this been named after us as we were
visiting fans, but clearly not, not the case.
But yeah, I think it's become a a classic not kill move.
So yeah, it was a it was good to see Jeff pull in such a move.
Wasn't it named after this at some point?
Wasn't it named the real radio hairpin or something like that
if I remember right? Now might have done, there's a
little shed there as well that you could stand in.
So yes, this is like some of the quirks of Knockhill, some very
strange stands and places to watch it.
Going back to the previous question, it was like when you
turned up there, this circuit was in the middle of nowhere on
the side of a hill. You could stand in the centre of
the circuit and see the whole thing.
Totally unique, no debris fencing anywhere.
The tyre barriers were agricultural.
I would say at the start it was just a fantastic experience.
Where you thought, is it really right?
These cars are racing here. Padding was tiny, everyone was
condensed in together. But it was, it was brilliant.
Yeah, I remember later on in the year it was the only place where
they didn't do the compulsory pit stops because the pit lane
and the padding were just too tight.
It was just too small. I've not been to Knockhill since
98 and I don't know if anyone's been later, but it doesn't look
like it's changed a bit really. No, no, my my friend went this
year and again he said it's very much the same as what it was.
Yes, they've upgraded some of the facilities, but it's still
got that really lovely close knit feel to it.
Yeah, yeah. Leslie's race would come to an
end on lap 13 with the Scott going off track.
I made a mistake at Duffer's and Tim went down the inside at
McIntyre, said Leslie. He didn't make a mistake.
I lined him up and took my chance, said Tim.
That wasn't the end of it because at Clark, Leslie tried
to come back at him on the outside, was left with no room
and skated off the track. He managed to keep it all going
but it picked up a puncture so returned to the pits to prepare
for Race 2. Greg that that unravelled into
quite a hectic racer. Let's do that, didn't it?
Yeah, I think after the start of the Saturday and the good
qualifying, it all sort of started to unravel through a
curia cost. I've got a great picture of him
in the dirt and car absolutely covered in in mud and so forth.
So yeah, it was AI guess a bit of the the baptism of the
British Touring Car Championship to David, which I'm sure we
learned a lot from them, how he carried on improving his
racecraft. But yeah, had a tough start.
Allen was left clear at the front and consolidated his
position to win by a clear 5 seconds.
The next 4 continued to keep the crowd entertained as they ran
close together. Harvey was fairly secure in
second but when Super Run wide at Clark Round slipped fast into
third. Cleland was fifth on the road
but he was deemed to have ignored a black and orange flag
shown to him as his back bumper was hanging off.
Cleland's race ended after 21 laps.
He was furious, pointing out that Leslie was unpenalised so
much of the Grand Prix support race with the same issue.
Why am I black one? Why am I black and on for that
skipping never end it noise. The bloody bumper won't come off
it. Alex, do you think John had a
point there with the the direction of that race?
Yes, I do actually. And it's this age-old motorsport
problem that we still have today.
It's consistency among a long decisions.
John is completely right. Someone else, I think it was
Leslie. Yeah, that was that was yeah,
Leslie did have a very similar even the same car.
So, you know, had the same problem at at Silverstone and
nothing was done about it. So why should John suffer?
I mean, this inconsistency in in in decision making could cost,
could have cost John the championship.
I mean, there's no good of about it.
It had an effect because John lost the championship by a
number of points to Tim, didn't he, as we did?
Was it much of A decider that year?
I can't really. Remember, I don't think people
really remember. So yeah, that's all.
Any driver fan team, that's all we want is consistency of
decisions if this has happened and this needs to happen.
So say someone's bumper is hanging off, needs to go into
the pits and get it taken off. And if not, this is the
appropriate penalty. And if that's applied across the
board every time it happens, fair enough.
You can't have any arguments. The drivers know where they
stand. The team, the team managers,
teams know where they stand. The fans know where these rules
stand. It's when it's, it's when it's
ad hoc. It's like, yeah, well, OK, we'll
penalise him. We won't penalise him.
That's that's when it's not fair.
And I get why it happens. I get why there's
inconsistencies because you do have that.
You don't have the same steward at every meeting.
The same is not the same group of stewards.
But yeah, it's very frustrating and I can totally see where John
is coming from when he's like, I mean, he gets quite vociferous.
He could, he called it stupid. He called the organiser stupid.
So it's not like John. I know.
But yeah, no, he totally had a point.
And what you've got to remember is that the, the, the, the
championship, the way the championship was organised at
that time, if you were at the back, if you were out in race
one, you're at the back for race 2.
So it not only ruins you, you one race, it ruins your whole
weekend. And unlike now where you've got
a race three with a reverse grid to aim for, you think I can get
to 12 or whatever? And see, see where I fall up on
the on the reverse grid. That was it.
Your second race, you're starting from the back again.
And that was it. So I did feel for John.
I've not really thought about it in the terms of the context of
the championship, but it very much affected John's
championship chances. If he didn't get black and
orange flags, he would have finished in the points.
He would have been higher up in race to.
Do you see where this goes? It's just, yeah, it's, it's
frustrating, but it's, it's not just in motorsport, it's the
same in football with penalty contentious decisions on fouls.
They still suffer with an F1 now so.
You know, I was going to say 33 years later, the.
Same thing happened this weekend exactly.
That really. Yeah.
Is it consistent? Is it fair?
Exactly. We've just had a Mexican Grand
Prix Where you know, not to go off track too much, but a bit
like Charles Leclerc really, where he went off track and I
thought that was a penalty and it wasn't.
And then a couple of laps later Hamilton does something similar
and gets a 10 second penalty. It's all all people want is
consistency. Yes.
All this attrition left Colin McRae to score a point on his
BTCC debut in 8th place and despite all the drama there was
still more to come as the second race was even more chaotic than
the first. There were a lot of unhappy
people in the pits as they prepared for the second race.
John Cleland was as Anthony Reed would describe hopping mad
whilst the Curia, Cost boys and Patrick Watts all discovered
that as non finishes in the first race that meant they would
have to start race 2 from the pit lane.
At the start was all action. Alan got away well as did Sopa
who ran side by side with Harvey through Duffer's and McIntyre.
As these two slowed each other rounds jumped both to be second
out of Clark. It all mattered little however
because at the back Leslie had hit the tyre wall at the bottom
of Duffers and rolled bringing out the red flag.
David was one of those who had joined from the pits without a
warm up lap. I was taking it easy knowing the
tyres were cold, felt there was something wrong coming out.
The right-hander turned left and nothing happened.
Alex That's probably the dangers of racing on cold tyres rearing
its head there, isn't it? Yes, yeah, undoubtedly.
Cold tyres, Very, very tricky conditions.
Yeah. He, he, he was already angry as
well, so you'd have been riled up.
Yeah, it was a recipe for disaster almost.
And yeah, it meant that David's. It's a shame, isn't it?
Because as we've sort of said throughout tonight's episode of
today's episode, the curio costs were really doing things with a
Vauxhall that let's not forget, these are year old Vauxhalls.
Yeah. So David has gone from being on
pole position in race one to having all that chaos in the
first race and then ending on his roof at the end of the first
lap in race 2. It's a, it's a real what if
because those cars were really quick and it's a shame that and,
and David's really quick. So it's a shame that that his
race ended the way he did. It took some time for Leslie's
car to be retrieved and for the tyre barrier to be repaired and
as the countdown sequence began a rain cloud approached.
The track was already damp as they started the Walmart lap and
as they returned to the grid the start delayed board was
displayed. This time the first race
retirees were allowed to do the Walmart lap and then re enter
the race. By the time the race was
restarted the Scottish weather was doing it's worst and the
heavens had opened. The pit starters joined the
Walmart lap and formed up on the grid.
At the green. Harvey got a perfect start to
lead, I took it away almost like a road car and it worked
perfectly, said Tim after the race.
Alan tried a similar approach but his engine bogged down and
it was Belm who was second into Duffus.
Greg, looking back, this is probably one of the worst
conditions the championship raced in during this era, wasn't
it? Yeah, absolutely.
I think there's a there's a few that were on similar level, but
yeah, this was pretty bad. Obviously the Donnington 1993
European Grand Prix support race was pretty bad as well.
We've already discussed that one in the previous episode.
And then there was also the round at Silverstone that
actually got abandoned in the end because of a like a monsoon
that hit the circuit. And this is the one where Frank
Sittner thought it'd won because he was leading.
He started the race on on wet tyres and yeah, I think John
Cleland was then declared the winner, but then it hadn't made
enough distance. But that was also pretty
horrific. But yeah, Nokia was was up there
with one of the worst ones off I've been in and yeah, there was
nowhere to shelter at. Nokia was, I said, very few
grandstands. So I seem to remember we got a
good good soaking like the cars did as well.
On lap 2, Super moved up to 3rd at the expense of his teammate.
I thought I'd better let him free, Belm said after the race.
Belm's race then continued to go backwards as Rouse moved past,
while Super, moving across to defend his line from Rouse into
Taylor's, found quite a large puddle.
He had complained off and rejoined at the tail of the
field. This meant Rouse was up to
third. Meanwhile, it was John Cleland
who was the man on the move. I was so angry after that first
race, he said. But I thought, I've got nothing
to lose, I'll just go for it and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Will Hoy's miserable weekend fizzled out with terminal clutch
slip. My back will be back and so will
I, he claimed. Matt Neil was another star of
the show, running as high as 4th until clowning got by.
He then came under increasing pressure from McRae, who was far
away at home in these conditions.
The Scott spent almost the first half of the race trying to get
past until he turned nil around at the exit of the final corner
on lap 9. Over the course of a lap I was
definitely faster than him, so I was determined to find a way
past, McCray told Motorsport magazine in 2006 when looking
back at this meeting. Then at the hairpin he seemed to
break harder than usual and there was absolutely nowhere for
me to go. I couldn't help giving an
attack. I kept going and he didn't.
I thought that's what touring cars are all about.
Anyway, this is a fairly controversial 1 gents.
What are your views on it? How?
I'll let you go first. I mean, it's a proper show,
isn't it? It really is.
There's no, there's no two ways about it.
He shoves him and then doesn't back off.
And of course Matt's Matt's in a rear wheel drive car and he just
keeps driving at him and the pendulum swings and Matt just
ends up in the the the most boggy sodden ground that you
could and he's never going to get out of there.
I feel really sorry for Matt because as you mentioned, just
just at the start of this, of this section that he was up in
4th at one point in, in the old M3.
And yeah, he, he was, he was doing really, really well.
And for, for Mccree to come along and just just do that.
I just, I don't know, slightly disrespectful maybe.
I'm not sure the, the dismissive nature of the, I thought that's
what Touring Cars is about anyway.
It's such a shame it ended in that way because because
obviously Colin was doing well to be running as high as he was.
I mean, the conditions were ideal for him, I guess.
You know, it's, it suited him to a tee, these sorts of slippery
conditions. But yeah, a shame for, for, for
Matt. And yeah, I don't think I'd want
to be on the end of Steve Neal's chat talking about anyone else.
I'm not sure about that. Yeah.
I think just back in a while said I think it was a really
naughty move, shove a tap. I think that's going to look not
really far enough. It was a proper just push you
out the way and then snow plough you and get get you gone.
I I think the irony of the whole thing, if you remember at the
penultimate round of the championship, Matt had a big
crash in his M3 and wrote it off and he turned up at the last
round of the championship in a white 318IS coupe.
I don't track all the history of the chassis, but that was the
third pro drive car that Colin drove.
And I'm pretty sure that the car that back then finished the
championship in was more like most likely to be the car that
he got shoved off and not killed by by Colin McRae.
So is that always a bit of an irony car that knocked him off
the became his saviour because if he didn't get that car he had
nothing to race at the last round?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The incident saw Neil retire
from the race whilst McRae was disqualified having crossed the
finishing line in an impressive fifth position before the
stewards naturally had quite a stern word with him.
One thing I'd like to wonder, I'd like I do wonder, and this
is only ever since Matt told us this, is that what licence did
he get his points on? Yes, exactly.
At the front, Holly kept a small gap to Alum unsure until they
got among the back markers and the Cavaliers lights came on
just exactly where Jeff was. Alum settled for second.
I was much quicker than him through the chicane and Clark
explained Jeff, but I just couldn't see anything there.
Meanwhile 3rd place had wonders for Clemens morale and also his
temper whilst rousing Forth felt that the Vauxhall slightly
different Yokohama wets worked better than his.
Mcrae's exclusion gave an ecstatic Patrick Watts his best
result of the season and 5th. But there was still more McRae
drama to come. Rimstone Racing team was Steve
Neil wanted to have his own chapter Colin so that he could
find McRae, RIP his head off and shit down his neck.
I can imagine Steve saying that as well, can't you?
McRae remembered Matt was none too pleased, but Steve was
definitely the spokesman. The quickest I went all weekend
was probably that run back to the motorhome after the race.
Alex, Steve Nils. Not exactly somebody you want to
cut off the wrong side of. No, no, no, he's quite.
I don't know if how many of our listeners had ever met Steve or,
or stood next to him, for example, but he was a big bloke
and very, very, yeah, he just had a an aura around him that
was quite menacing. Yeah, I can definitely imagine
Steve not being very happy and wanting to have a little chat
with Colin. And I'm never sure, I don't
know, ever. I'm never sure whether to be
surprised or not about Colin's reaction, because I always
thought Colin would be the sort of blase.
I don't care. You can say what he wants to me.
But you know from what? From, from, from that interview
there where Colin gave to I think, Motorsport magazine, we
got the quotes from in 2006. Yeah, he clearly was quite
scared. But yeah, he didn't want to run
into Steve, let's put it that way.
And I can imagine Steve being because that would have been rim
stock racing's best result of the season by some stretch.
You know, we talk about privateers and best finishing
positions. It wouldn't have been until 1995
where Charlie Cox finished fifth at Brands Hatch, where a
privately A finish as high as fifth again.
So, yeah, so. So that would have been some
result for for Steve, Matt and rim stock.
So I get why he wasn't very happy.
Yeah. I always remember being slightly
surprised about Colin's reaction and possibly expecting him to be
a bit more blasey about it. Not Kills BTCC debut was one to
be remembered with the legendary Colin McRae causing all sorts of
drama in his one off BTCC appearance.
I'd like Frank Greg Denton for joining us once again to look
back at this race and hope we'll see you on Stories From Super
Touring again very soon. Greg.
Again, I thank you again for inviting me.
And it's that it's always great reminiscing on the on these
classic races from the history of the touring car
championships. And yeah, hopefully we can do
another episode in the future. Sure we will, Greg.
I'm sure we will. Oh, thanks as ever, go to you
guys to listening to the show and if you enjoyed today's
episode, please make sure to give us a review five star
rating and subscribe to the podcast feed on your podcast
type of choice. In the mean time, we will see
you next week. Goodbye.