Stories from Super Touring. Hello and welcome to this week's
episode of Stories from Super Touring, the podcast that looks
back at the golden era of touring car racing.
Now, this week we're doing something slightly different
because we've got a returning guest to the show.
In fact, he's been on the show a number of times, has become a
bit of a friend of the show over the last few years, and in 2025
he's marking a truly incredible milestone. 50 years of
competitive motorsport? Yep. 5 decades of racing
brilliance stretching from the Circuit of Japan to the BTCC
Battlegrounds, Le Mans and beyond.
We'll be diving into the highs, the heart breaks, the hilarious
tales from his half a century from behind the wheel.
So buckle up because we've got Anthony Reed back for another
chat. Really welcome back to Stories
from Super Touring. Good.
Evening, Alex. How are you?
Yeah, I just can't quite believe I've been racing continuously
for 50 years. It only seems incredible
yesterday in 1976 that I attended the Jim Russell World,
the Jim Russell Racing School, and did some races in 1976 with
the school at Snatterton. And yeah, no, I mean, it's been
an interesting winter. I was over in Japan for two
weeks helping James Headley. I've got some nice pictures
which I've put up on Facebook with, you know, Ollie Baerman,
James, that the, the, the good buddies and Odie Berman had gone
over to, to learn the circuit, you know, for this season.
And it certainly seemed to pay off because he was testing super
formula. And they're not much slower than
their formula, you know, 6 or 7 seconds.
They they say super formula, Japanese super formula is the
second quickest formula in the world, including in IndyCar.
And the power to weight ratio is pretty immense and great
aerodynamics. So couple of weeks over there
trying to find a seat for James Hadley.
That's great. Hadley's son.
OK. Then I suddenly got called up by
the Saint Andrew's Society of Los Angeles to go over to a
Burns dinner in Beverly Hills and they awarded me a lifetime,
the Robert Burns lifetime achievement Award.
Wow, thanks. 60 years of excellence in motor racing and
previous recipients include Sean Connery, Oh, Angus Deaton, Nobel
laureates and Lloyd. He was the first Scotsman to win
an Oscar. I mean, the organisation is
almost 100 years old, so it's got a hell of a history.
Yeah. Oh, that's really incredible.
Couple of weeks in the Caribbean.
For that's lovely. Lovely.
After all that rushing around, so it's been a good winter.
Yeah, it sounds Anthony. Now obviously a lot of our
listeners will have first heard of you when you joined the
British Touring Car Championship with Nissan in 1997.
However, many of our listeners was also have heard of you from
your ex boys at Le Mans. You've got quite the history
there, haven't you? Yeah, the, I mean the race that
changed my life. Given that the up until the
previous year, the the fastest car I'd driven was a former 3
car with about 170 horsepower. To suddenly turn up at Le Mans
and be driving a car with 700 horsepower doing 225 miles an
hour on the Moors and straight, it was a real assault in the
senses. And we had a great run and, and
pretty faultless and we finished on the podium.
Tiffany Dahl, David Sears and myself, because it was a,
because it was a Japanese team, it was owned by some Japanese
property developers. They immediately invited me over
to race with Derek Bell, Tiffany Dahl in that very same car in
the Japanese Group C championship.
And then it it it meant it, I ended up racing there for five
or six years and we didn't know then what we know now.
But if you look at the wall call of names that were racing at
that time, people like Michael Schumacher, Ralph Schumacher,
Johnny Herbert, Jacques Villeneuve, Tom Christensen,
Eddie Irvine, Roland Latzenberger, you know, there's
a list of 25 drivers that went on to do great things, you know,
win Formula One World Championships, win the more 9
times. It was quite extraordinary.
And. And because, because there
wasn't such a thing as a smartphone, the Japanese, you
know, couldn't. They just thought we're all
professional drivers and we'll pay you very well.
Yeah. That game has changed completely
now, having just returned to Japan after 35 years.
Yeah, on the very few of the drivers get paid.
Some of the Japanese top drivers get paid, hardly any Europeans
get paid. A lot of people are having to
bring budget include people including people like Zach
O'Sullivan who's racing for Condo.
In fact, I what I did was some through my contacts in Japan, I
set up a test for James Edley with Condo Racing.
Well, 30 years ago, Machi Condo, this famous Japanese singer,
he's like George Michael, but he's only known really well in
Japan. He went on to buy Condo racing,
set up Condo Racing and that's and when, when he was just so
over the winner as I was when we met each other in December after
30 years. And here he is a team owner now.
And it was just, it was great to return to Japan.
Obviously, the younger people have never heard of me, but a
lot of the older people from 30 years ago were coming up to me.
I was getting mocked on pit Rd. I mean, the test was like a
Formula One race meeting because I I think, well, obviously Ollie
Berman was there. Zach O'Sullivan, Kimi Antonelli
was supposed to be there. OK, learn the circuit and, yeah,
the formula. But he didn't make it.
He was struck down with some illness at the last minute.
But there was a huge Japanese crowd there all week watching us
all testing, not me, but all these young drivers kept
messaging me and saying, have you had your seat fitting yet?
Because honestly, going back all those years, I mean, Tom,
myself, Jacques Dillon, all these drivers extremely well and
spent a lot of time together. And then I was sending pictures
of people like Kazuyushi Hoshino and Doy Doy, who was one of the
team principals at Toyota. And all these people, not names
that will be necessarily known in Europe, but Hoshino is a big
name, as you I'm sure you know. Yes, yes, he, he, he raced in
that race with James Hunt. I think Hoshino spun in front of
James Hunt. I know that must have been Bran
Villa way back 1976, but. Yeah.
Just on Michael Croom, I caught up with him.
I mean, he he went to race in Japan all these years ago and
never came back. Wow.
Oh, OK, Apart. From to race, he, he raced FIA
GT1, yeah, he won the RAC Tourist Trophy at Silverstone
and I think it was 2011 or something.
And obviously he raced Le Mans. But he he's, he lives in Japan,
married to a Japanese lady. Back what you were saying about
salary paid drivers back, you know, all those years back,
obviously, you know, the world has changed and that's why
drivers are having to take more and more money.
And, and those paid drivers like you had before back in Japan,
you know, was very it was very different then than it is now.
Just to try and give some of their listeners a bit of
understanding of that back in those many years ago, what sort
of salaries would a competitive driver be on racing F3 or you
know, their their equivalent, you know, high end series over
there? I mean I, I wasn't racing full
time in Japanese F3000, but one year I had four contracts
running for Group N, former 3, Japanese GT and oh the Japanese
Touring Car Championship. So I was on around £200,000
that. Wow, and what year was that, do
you reckon? More than 30 years ago.
So it was 199394. And then I, I was in a bar with
Eddie Irvine in, in Tokyo, a place called Wupongi.
It's like Soho is, is to London. And he was complaining bitterly
to me that he was going to have to take a significant pay cut to
leave Japan to go and race for Eddie Jordan.
Yeah, it's a bit of a common theme as well.
I think when we spoke to different people that have raced
out there, they've all said the same thing.
You know, it was such a good place to be in terms of the fact
that, you know, we all aspire to be a professional racing driver
and that'd be our career and get paid to do what we love.
So I think, you know, yeah, it was a very difficult thing for
people to then, yeah, dream job, you know, to, to and then to
come and race maybe something probably more competitive more
than public eye, but actually getting paid less or not at all.
But you into that double edged sword, isn't it?
I need to come back in a competitive, you know, limelight
in Europe, but I won't be necessarily be getting paid for
it. So it must have been difficult
decisions at times. You, you.
Jane was a bit tight with his money.
Obviously when we have to to Ferrari done very well.
Yes, yes, yeah. What, what was it like at the
time, Anthony, being part of that British contingent out in
Japan? You mentioned, you know, Eddie
Irvine was out there and yeah, I think when you raced into
touring cars as well, Steve Soap was out there for BMW and so on.
What, what was it like being out there on, as you mentioned,
pretty, pretty good money out in Japan, which is is not really
something British and European drivers seem to do as much
anymore, is it? Yeah, the IT was a fantastic
time, particularly as you as the years go back by the, you know,
the the memories become richer. You just think it was a we were
very privileged, just we hit Japan at the right time.
We're all being paid. But there was a great
camaraderie that you don't necessarily necessarily see in
in Europe because in Japan once you've signed your contracts and
we're driving, nobody was going to steal your drive unless you
kept crashing or something. So we weren't kind of nick each
other's rights. You know, we all have well paid
contracts and so there was a much more relaxed atmosphere in
in the paddock and a lot more camaraderie and fun, you know,
away from the circuit and stuff which you don't see much of
these days than I was watching them back.
Yeah. No, that's true.
It would. It's quite a contingent of of
very well known or drivers that would go on to become well
known. I mean, I'm thinking like you
said, you've already mentioned Christensen, Rydell was out
there, Eddie Irvine, you've mentioned Jacques Villeneuve.
You raced in Japanese F3 with it became a hotbed of future
motorsport talent, didn't it? Yeah, I remember racing the
Japanese GT against Ralph Schumacher.
He was in the McLaren and I was in a Porsche or a Ferrari F40,
depending on which we count. So, yeah.
And because tragically, Roland Ratzenberger, I mean, I had a
massive shunt in Japanese F3000 and testing and the car shot
into the air. I crashed at 160 miles an hour.
The car shot into the air and my helmet was knocked off and the
car landed upside down with me trapped in in the car and there
was blood, blood on the circuit. Went with a head wound.
There's a lot of blood. It's, I mean the marshals didn't
really do anything, they just assumed I was dead.
The first guy up who had to swerve to avoid being crushed by
my car when it came back onto the track was Roland's and
Roland. Roland got me out the wreck and
organised the ambulance and everything.
Wow. I woke up halfway to the
hospital and tragically, Roman was dead within 18 months.
It's actually the anniversary today.
Is it really? It is, yeah. 30th of April.
Yeah, 94. When that happened, I I wrote a
letter to his parents saying what he'd done for me in Japan.
They hadn't actually heard the story before, but it has been
published in a a number of magazines.
My story about that, what happened that day?
And yeah, Michael Schumacher didn't race full time, but he
came over and did some races, F3F3000 and C, That was Michael
Schumacher. Yeah.
Ralph, I knew better because we've done the whole season
together in Japanese GT and you know other drivers.
The that list of, you know, 25 well known drivers race AL and
Zulufsson and the list goes on and on.
Steve Sopa and Winkle Hawk, memorable stuff I can tell you.
Unbelievable. Yeah, I mean talk talking.
You mentioned Sopa there and Winkle Hawk.
You obviously raced in the Japanese Touring Car
Championship alongside those and you really came to a lot of
people's attention when you started winning in the HKS
Cavalier. Fond memories of of those times
and your first steps in Super Touring.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I realised after, I
mean, I have a lesser on my toilet wall from Eddie Jordan
saying we love Anthony Reed, he's a fantastic driver.
Subject to the right sponsorship.
But arrangements, you know, we'll give them due
consideration to race in F1. And about two weeks before I
might have, it's dated October 1990 and about two weeks before
I might have been able to sign that contract, my sponsor went
bust. I had a Japanese sponsor teed up
to write the cheque and well, the rest is history.
I mean, obviously gash, it started off and then Schumacher.
Yeah, got into a bit of every hour.
I've I've framed that letter and put it on my toilet wall.
It's a good place, yeah. Extravagantly by.
Eji can imagine. Yeah, there's.
One place in my house people will stand still for long enough
to read. Just briefly touching on EJ, who
sadly recently we lost. He was quite a character, wasn't
he? Unbelievable, especially when I
look back. He's one of those sort of guys
that could spot talent and was really encouraging of that
talent. I mean, when I was kind of
struggling a bit in Form 3, but I was showing flashes of speed.
He come up to me in the paddock and say that's a great job
you've done in qualifying today. OK.
And so he, he, he was always looking for the next
opportunity, a really quick driver, ideally with a bit of
sponsorship, which was sadly lacking in those days.
But I, I, I, I've known EJ throughout my career, well since
certainly since the early 80s. I actually raced against him at
Alton Park in a sports 2000 race.
There was a big race for the low well known drivers like Eddie
Jordan was in the race, David Leslie, myself and others.
I can't remember the others, but I mean, EJ was a a good driver,
second in that race, but he saw his future obviously as a A-Team
boss. Yeah.
It, it was a really likeable guy.
Egypt always through and then as members of of the BRDC
sometimes, you know, during the British Grand Prix, we've been
in the farm together. I'd be in my motorhome and he'd
be in his one and we'd have a glass of wine or champagne
together. Yeah, great.
Love it. Love it.
Yeah, it's not. It's of the generation that
won't be replaced. He's just an absolute legend.
Yeah. Unique.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Just touching back on Japanese Touring Car Championship,
Anthony. Well, I think because especially
to predominantly European British audience, this will be
known of what the racing was like out there.
But given that it was well funded in terms of drivers and
salaries and so on, and you were racing some big Grand Prix
tracks and other, you know, very, very good circuits out
there, what was the racing like in that championship, especially
compared to when you moved on to Germany and and Britain later
down the line? Highly competitive because not
only did you have the European drivers like Super Winklehawk,
Michael Croon, myself, Tom Christiansen, you have the the
best Japanese drivers like Hoshino, Toshio, Suzuki and
other top drivers. And it was just as cut and
thrust as anything I've seen in Europe or Britain.
It really closely matched a lot of investment by the
manufacturers, you know, Toyota, Honda and of course BMW was
Schnitzer and myself at the Opal Vetra or Vauxhall Cavalier and
HKS, which is a very famous cartoony company if you've ever
watched Fast and Furious. Yeah, all.
Their they make most of the parts for them though.
Yeah, endorsed. You know Vale side trusts all
the big and HKS was right up there.
Yeah. And it was a hell of a set up.
I mean, the factory was something like something out of
a James Bond film. Everyone wears the same
clothing, you know, top and bottom, like Euler suits.
Even the boss has cigar with Sam.
He was the H of HKS. He would dress exactly the same
so you couldn't tell what the pecking order was.
To use some charge our our workshop was up above the
factory in this incredible building with a totally marble
floor and a lift to take all the kits up and back down again.
And that's where my cars were prepared by the the best of the
engineers and mechanics that they could find from the factory
that made all these car parts. We won a lot of races together.
It was amazing. It's a beautiful car that Vectra
that you drove out there, the the multi coloured, the green
and purple with HKS all over it. It's, it's one of the iconic
super tours that wasn't from Britain and it's it's fondly
remembered by a lot of people. But Even so when so much so that
when I teamed up with Jake Hill recently at Super Touring Power,
Jake came rushing into the motor, the truck with these
bodies of the cars I'd raced, which he puts on his Tamia
Racing model car. And he got me to sign them.
The HKS I remember and the Nissan, I think because he was
only a young boy when I yes, what sort of race and Super
Touring. Yes, no, he mentioned that when
we did that piece with you, him and Richard that, yeah, he, he
was a big, big fan of. I know he loves his Tamia
models, doesn't he? And I remember he mentioned that
that was one of his favourite race cars from from that period.
So, you know, that's an example of just how much, how well loved
that was. With with the touring cars that
you did in Japan in between that, did you have a stint in
the Spanish touring cars as well?
Yes, after the season finished in Japan, I with my contacts
with Opel because I won a number of really important races in
Japanese F3, like the main support race to the to the
Japanese Grand Prix. I've been racing an Opel powered
Donaro and won a number of significant races that this was
the year after won the Japanese F3 championship and so I had
strong connections with Opel. I used to do a lot of testing
for Vauxhall the year that John Clements won the championship.
Yeah, you know, Ray Malik will get me back over here to do
testing and stuff. And so when the season finished
in Japan, I was then invited to to race in the sorry, the
Spanish during car championship for Opel in a Vauxhall Cavalier.
But Opal Vectra. Yes, yeah, yeah.
It's a Bachelor Vectra open then.
Yeah, I did a number of rounds of the Spanish championship and
then I was approached by Nissan in Spain.
Would I race for Nissan? Because, you know, tragically,
sliding doors, Keith O'door had been killed in Germany at Abus.
I mean, it's such a awful, brutal business, but they they
needed another driver. Yeah.
For the German Touring Car Championship the following year
and they they made me an offer and.
Am I, am I, am I right in remembering that the whole point
of that programme was to eventually move into the British
Championship for 97? That was the aim.
Yeah, 96 was kind of a development and preparation year
for full time assault on on the British Touring Car
Championship. Nissan recognised as a lot of
manufacturers did at that time, the profile of British touring
cars was big. I don't even know Barry Nutley
who's the commentator that I'm sure you do.
Yeah. He said that the British touring
cars was more popular than F1 in this country at that time.
He said they they compared the numbers and and the viewing
figures for British touring cars were were bigger than F1.
It was huge. It, it became around that mid to
late 90s mark, that 909596. That's when the tide really
turned and there were so many people switching on to touring
cars. And it was, for me, it was the
action of the, the racing. It was the the there was a
little bit of contact when it wasn't too much, but there was
an aggressive style of racing that really appealed to people
like me who absolutely adored it.
The the other game changer was the PlayStation.
Game, yes, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's a whole new audience
of spectators. Yes, absolutely.
And you know, I was at Goodwood a couple of weeks ago ago and
people were coming up to me. They said I used to play, I
mean, really famous drivers. I.
Remember Jake mentioning in the brand's hatch When we, we, we,
we sat down and chatted together.
It, it, that was one of the major things that got him into
touring cars was playing BTCC on, on the PlayStation, you
know, and, and, and it got so many people into the sport that,
you know, I remember in school in comprehensive, people were
going, oh, is this a PlayStation game Tokyo?
Yeah, yeah, it's very good. Well, it's actually on BBC.
If you if you want to watch it for real, it's on.
Anthony, back to your teammate in the Spanish touring cars, was
it Alex Cafe? Yeah, that's it.
I went to Alex Cafe's house in Italy with the team boss that
that was running me and I had lunch there and his house is
like a trophy cabinet to all the wins he's had.
And he released an F1, did he not?
Yes, yes, he did. Yeah.
And then we all went up to, to Falalunga for ADTM test in Alfa
Remez. And so I, I think I finished up
third quickest, what could have been my quickest lap.
I got a wheel on the grass coming down through the asses.
So that, that, that alpha seemed to be really impressed that I
didn't get the drive. But at that time this Nissan had
made an offer to me. So I thought finished general
cars is a great route. Yeah.
What, what were these DTM cars like?
Because they were, I mean, the, the Super Touring cars were
incredible from a technical standpoint already, but those
DTM cars seemed like a different beast almost.
And they, they had the same money issues, but a little bit
earlier than than Super Touring. What?
What were they like to drive? Oh really?
Another level. A lot of aero 4 wheel drive the
first time I dredge on a car with an automatic gearbox when I
said that an actual Pebble shift, but we are back in 1995 S
phenomenal tech and I really enjoyed this.
That's my kind of style of car 4 wheel drive.
You know balanced. You can take tremendous speed
into a corner and, and, and make the car turn using the dynamic
rotation of the car through the corner.
And yeah, I really enjoyed that experience.
But but it was from one and any time I I got a chance to test
DTM and I think Alpha were sort of thinking about making an
offer. It never materialised but I was
really happy with the way things turned out.
You mentioned 96 there. Was that the year of the four by
4 the four wheel drive Nissan? Yeah, there was a four wheel
drive Nissan. Yeah, and rather sad.
I don't know why Ivan Capelli decided that he should race that
car and it just wasn't a success.
It was a bit of a bow tanker 4 wheel drive.
Of course a nice thing to have is Audi proved, but it just was
not as quick as the car I was on the front wheel.
Drive with this with Sasha Mason.
Was the other driver. Sasha Mason That's that's right.
We both drove the front wheel drive cars and Ivan Capelli
drove the four wheel drive car, but it just was it, it never
really worked hard. And because of that he lost his
drive with Nissan about halfway through the year, which I
thought was a terrible thing to do.
But I mean, Ivan and I got on quite well.
And over beers he'd tell me what it was like to race for Ferrari.
He said he went down to might have been Rome for the press
conference to announce his drive in in Ferrari for Formula One.
And he had to stop at a petrol station to fill up.
And he had to queue up like any mere mortal and actually pay for
his own fuel. On the way back after the
announcement, he stopped at the same station and everyone was
cleared out. The way they fuelled his car up
first didn't have to pay. And he said in Milan or Rome,
when he went out for dinner, he always got a table and more
often than not didn't have to pay.
Superb at. The end of that year, he was
big. He was immediately back in when
the contract was, yeah. So he was back to being a mean.
Yes, Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Italian.
Yes, very much so. That's why everybody wants to
race for Ferrari down to Pineville.
But I think Mansell said the same, didn't he?
Like when you got there, you just, you just treated as one of
their own straight away. It was.
It's pretty, pretty bizarre, isn't it?
The feeling, I think, the experience.
So in into into that first year of British touring cars with Ray
Malik and Nissan in 97, was it everything you expected it to be
or was it harder or easier? What what were your expectations
going in and what was the reality of it all?
It was tough in the beginning, but the IT was just the profile
of the championship that was a bit mind blowing.
You know, being live on television grandstand with
Murray Walker commentating. Mind you Murray Walker's
commentated on quite a number of the races that I've done over
the years, especially when I was teammates with Damon Hill in
former four 2000s back in the early 80s used to commentate on
the the BBC grandstand winter series.
And so I actually knew Murray quite well.
I had his home telephone number sometimes phone him up.
He was a very kind fellow. He would say that phone me up.
I'll give you some advice or. OK.
And it was tough in the beginning because we were still
developing the car. We hadn't got the engine, the
engines really sorted out. So we were down by a few
kilometres or miles an hour. And that corresponded to where
we were initially qualified on the grid sort of, you know,
around this sort of 10th position type thing.
But then I started to get my find my stride and we got the
engine sorted out because I started life as a mechanic.
I. OK.
Back in the in the mid 70s and I found that has been incredibly
helpful throughout my career. I can imagine.
So I can feel that there's an issue with the car.
I can tell the engineers where that problem might be and what
we might need to do to fix from yeah, that helps to develop the
Nissan in 97 pretty rapidly. So by the end of the season
we're fighting. I had a pole position at
Snatterton, for example. I, I, but then I was
disqualified because the ride height was a couple of
millimetres too low or something.
The but at Donington in the RAC Tourist Trophy, I won my first
race that year against Jason Plato, Aluminium, people like
that. And then over the winter we were
developing a car we'd we'd often go to Spain to test because the
weather's very consistent in Spain, dry and for some reason
Michelin changed the construction and compound of the
tyre and it just suddenly clicked with a Nissan.
It just suited our car so well. And so from the get go in 98 we
were starting to win races on a regular basis.
Yes, you mentioned that that TT at Donington, I'd forgotten that
you'd won that for that first race of that day.
And that was a field full of the best of the European talents as
well, because you had people like Chris Nissan, Ivan Muller
came across Christian Apartment, Armin Hana, Carrie Mackin and it
it was a decent field. And for you to get your first
win in a, in a Nissan Super Tour there that would that's, that's,
that's an impressive field. When I see John Cleland these
days I'd say do you realise you cost me 25,000 bloody quid?
Oh what they did was they had two heats and a final, so
depending on where you qualified, I qualified on pole.
So for the first heat I was in pole and won it.
For the second heat, the grid was reversed from qualifying, so
I started at the back. I came up through the fields and
went to pass John Cleland coming down through the cranny curves
and he did his old favourite trick.
You know when you get 3 quarter overlap?
He gave me a pit turn. I think that's what the police
call it in America. Yeah, I see the pit manoeuvre.
Pit manoeuvre and he spun me. I flat spotted my tyres and hit
anything and I carried on. It had come in for new tyres,
but the deal was that then the combined results of the 1st and
2nd heat determined your good position for the final.
And because John had put me off, I think I, I don't know, started
10th or something and menu won at the final and the £25,000
prize hunt, which I was damn sure I could have won had John,
I said you, you bastard, you cost me £25,000.
We have to laugh about it these days.
But yeah, I mean, John will readily admits to I'm the only
driver that he's actually purposely put off the circuit.
Yes. He told, he told us this last
year. Yeah.
It was me, you and him.
And we were with Greg Haynes at the bar at Brands Hatch.
And you confronted him with it and he went guilty.
Yeah. And they just held his hands up.
It's a fellow Scott. I think he felt I was shitting
in his nest or something. Come into the.
Just to rewind just a little bit, just obviously I don't want
to breeze past the Le Monde thing that you did.
What was it like going down the Moss on straight absolutely flat
out with no chicanes? Well.
How terrifying was it? I raced there in 1990, which was
the first year in the chicanes. Oh, OK.
Was that your first year when they introduced the chicane?
Yeah. OK, I'd never raced on the
original mall. Sounds straight.
We're just like 3 miles long. Yeah.
And because I came to to the circuit with a fresh set of
eyes, if you like, during testing, we tested the, the long
the I think they call it the Lang heck, or the long tail body
work, which is very low downforce.
And then we had a short tail body which had more downforce.
I tried both back-to-back and I said, guys, because of the
chicanes and the big breaking areas, we need the short tail.
And I remember Tiff, the team, David Sears discussing backwards
and forwards. I said, look, this short tail,
we're not as quick as, you know, some of the cars on the
straight, but we're going to preserve our tyres and our
brakes and everything. It's just going to be better.
Sure enough, although we haven't qualified particularly well
during the race, we started moving up and up and up and we
finished third. And the the the the factory team
Yost had been running this low drag body work obviously, which
they had raced the previous year, but it was screwing their
tyres and that's how we managed to finish on the podium.
So which which car out because you drove the Porsche in you and
do you have go in the Lola as well in the in the prototype?
Cars, the LMP 675 and yeah, I still say to this day that was
my favourite race car of all time.
I mean, obviously the course Group C was a fantastic car, but
the Le Mans prototype MG was the best handling car I'd driven and
it was bloody quick. I mean in some it was running to
to different rules from the LMP 900, but over over the last we
were as quick as the factory audits.
So in the second year, we'd split the factory audits, we
were running third overall. Wow, and that was in 2001, 2002,
wasn't it? Yeah, O2O Zen cars also went
extremely well and. Didn't you get pole in your
class as well for that? Yeah, I did.
In the first year. It was a bit of political
shenanigans and Brundell who was Ng Sport and Racing ambassador.
We had to qualify at night because the engine had blown up
on the previous day. And anyway I went out on race
tyres and I think I qualified 6 on race tyres and I was coming
back into the pits to put qualifying tyres on and I reckon
we had a serious shot at pole position overall.
The But Mark Blundell told the management don't let Reed out of
the pits on his calling. Fine, because he's going to
crash the swine political. Mind you, he'd been shafted by a
incentive for years before. So I could go on and talk a
little about, you know, the things I've seen I.
Mean I can imagine. The the IT meant we ended up
qualifying 13th because I I wasn't allowed to go out on the
qualiters which were worth 3 seconds a lap.
And anyway, I caught up Blundell during the race and passed them
all sounds straight with my middle finger in the air.
Yeah. Brilliant.
So and then we ended up running in 3rd place overall in the
middle of the night. Then the car broke down as we
knew it would do and so I was in the bar by two O clock.
Not all bad man on TV. In into 1998 Anthony and you got
your first win in the British Tour Club Championship outside
of the Tourist Trophy victory at that eventful day at Donington
in 1998 where Mansylvania would swept the circuit.
You won the first race that day. Was that really a feeling?
Because it had been. You'd showed a lot of promise of
being fast and being on the pace all season.
That really seemed to kick start your your year and and sort of
championship challenge, didn't it?
Yeah, you know, my confidence was growing, my understanding of
the car and the the great people we have on the team, my engineer
Stewart, and we're just all gelled.
And I had a Japanese mechanic. I, I love Japanese mechanics
because they're so meticulous and hard working, do things
right. And yeah, that first win was a
fairly straightforward, comfortable win.
And I, I look back, there was a couple of events that happened
during that, that season, the 98 season that ultimately meant I
didn't win the championship. And the second race was one of
those moments. During the championship, it
started raining and the team came on on onto the radio.
You know, when you're driving a super touring car, it's like
looking through a letterbox, you know, with the, the sunstrip
visor and they said, what tyres do you want?
I could see it was raining. I thought only likely and dear
God, I mean even my wife could see that I should have put wet
tyres. But in those days they the
option of intermediates, cycle for intermediates.
And got back out into the lead. Everything was fine but the rain
started to increase, it got heavier and heavier and that
moment when Mansell came onto my rear bumper, he didn't actually
touch me. The car went off the circuit
because of the aquaplaning intermediates can clear, can
handle a certain amount of water, but it is heavy downpour
and that caused me to spin off. If if I just call for wets, that
would have been the championship over in terms of looking further
down the road. The other thing that happened
was at Thruxton. Just looking at the date here.
Is this is this Oil Gate? Yes, the season opener.
The season opener. Yeah, it's qualified second
because I had a huge moment through church, but I held it
and closed the lap. But Ricard was a bit quicker.
He got pole and then as the race started we were neck and neck as
we came round. Allard.
Ricard did the old trick. You know, if you're on the
outside of somebody and you want to kind of interrupt their flu,
just do a little shimmy with a stirring like that.
It's not a corner. And I just lifted slightly and
he got into the lead at the complex.
Well, within two laps I can see where I was going.
It was the old classic Tom Walker trip.
Definitely something was definitely going on.
I've been convinced by this for ages.
And, and of course I had, I couldn't see where I was going
and, and had to come into the pits and that cost me a certain
2nd place. Yes.
And that would have been enough to win the championship.
Yeah, no, I remember that race in particular.
You had to pit twice. And of course with those
windscreens, as soon as you start swiping them, they just
smear up, don't they? That mixture of oil and the
water and all that. And it probably just made it 10
times worse by the end of it all.
And the. Prospects Windscreen.
Wasn't. Yeah, yeah.
So yeah, a couple of times in that year.
Race 2 at Donington, oil gates at Thruxton.
Yeah, there's something like that bloody James Bond film.
Yeah, it did seem that there was definitely something, because
amazingly, the Volvos were the only ones who didn't have
anything on their windscreen. Yes, yeah, people like Frank
Williams and Tom Walker sure were regular features on Pit Rd.
Yes, yes, yes. Because the teams they they're
more than. That was it.
And you say before about how high profile things were.
That was a fine example. If if Patrick if if Frank
Williams wasn't there, Patrick Head was there and Tom
Walkinshaw was there and David Richards was there with Honda.
And it it really was, you know, it was who's who of Formula One
almost, you know, Formula One with mudguards.
I fear you've call it before. Yeah.
Party Central and the other the other key race in 98 for me, and
I know we've discussed this before with you, Anthony.
Was that Brands Hatch August bank holiday meeting which you
and we talk about Ricard again, you both it was you were
fighting for the title and the tensions were really mounting,
weren't they? Yeah, I, I sort of call it the
zenith of Super Touring that weekend, Bank holiday, 31st of
August, you know, mainstream television.
Steve Ryder presenting Murray Walker wasn't commentating that
year, but and the F1 drivers mixed in with the touring car
stars, you know, so Nigel Mansell, Derek Warwick and
Tarquini and the Mcclellans and menus and what have you.
And the the needle between Ricard and Eli was intense and
but it stands way back to when we're racing Formal 3 together.
OK, Right. Yeah.
So I, I knew Ricard very well and highly competitive as I was,
and, and neither of us were getting an inch, but I'd won the
first race. But the feature race, a race
that I hadn't actually won up until that point.
Yeah. And Ricard on this occasion was
on pole and he just got into the lead going into Druids.
But then he backed me into the field.
It was a bit of bumper rubbing. So I was, I was swallowed by the
clelons and menus and people like that.
But because of the compulsory pit stop I got my head down and
the car was flying and I overtook loads of people going
into paddock. And then after a great pit stop
by Ray Malik with about 3 laps to go I caught Rickard coming
into Druids. And what had happened was that
Top Gear they wanted to do a feature on the success of Super
Touring. So they entered Nissan, entered
1/3 car for Tiffany Dell who was the Top Gear present, one of the
Top Gear along Clark. But site Clarkson entered in the
third Nissan. So we ever so gently touched
coming into the apex at Druids, Ricard had a little shimmy and I
went through on the inside. Then as we came through bottom
band there was my third team mate Tiff and he just politely
waved me through and then blocked Ricard.
So I won it on the road. Then I got a two second penalty
which then just put me behind Ricard.
So he, that was the win that got away from me.
But yeah, no, I mean we came into the collecting area live on
television. Ricard threw a steering wheel
onto the dash and came over and started to throttling me before
I had a chance to get out of my car.
But it was all live on television.
They work on got a £2000 fine for that.
Yeah. Because the MSUK do or the RAC
frown on any fisticuffs or. Yes, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Looking back at that move now, I mean, I, I don't think there's
that much. I mean, there's a.
Little bit of contact, but I'm not sure it was quite as
dramatic as Ricard seemed to think it was.
Ricard made. Out I I I practically murdered
him or. Something Ricard was a bit like
that. He did love a bit of a bone
though, didn't he? He did.
Yeah. So the the thing was that like
all the top cars, what the Nissan, for example, you know,
the front plastic bumper and also the rear bumper, they had a
sort of cow bar. Well, it was basically roll
tubing which profiled the inside of the bumper and bolted onto
the chassis legs. So if somebody was trying to
brake test you, they'd be fired off like the golf ball being hit
by a drive. Yeah, I remember that year,
John, the John Clelands usual shenanigans.
I was leading. He was second.
It was wet and coming. This is at Donington.
And coming into the chicane, the safety car had been called
outside, sort of backed off a bit and he tried to pump me off
by hitting the back of my car. Yes, she came and but my car
just was just like a light nudge.
But when I looked in the mirror, the front of John's car was
plastered up over his windscreen.
And yet probably retiring the spot my car carried on
regardless without any damage. The all these sort of memories
come back, you know, of all the crazy things that used to occur.
It's like the start of the can opener, Anthony.
Matt Neil's a master of that. If somebody turns in slightly
late for clearways, he fires it up the inside at a speed which
would mean normally he'd slide off the racing line but just
gently nudge the car that had left the door open, which would
keep him offline and he'd go through.
Yeah. So the the Volvo also had this
roll cage at the back, so we never so slightly touched, but
it was enough to make them have a chilli and I passed them on
the inside. In my book that's completely
fair. But.
Yeah. I I, I didn't quite get, I mean,
there was some moves that year that certainly were worse than
that and they didn't really seem to do anything.
But yeah, I guess, I guess the the drama of a championship
finale put a bit more focus. On that I'm sure breathing.
That that also, yeah. Won the title up until that
point. Yes, of course.
Yeah, I. Don't know how politics plays
out? That's true, absolutely.
Yeah, the IT was a sell out crowd because I mean worse than
how it is now. I mean, if you weren't in the
circuit by 7:00 in the morning, you were stuck in a massive
queue outside the track. And I got as far as the big
roundabout on top of the M25. I've been got up a little bit
late from the hotel and the queue was all the way back to
there. And so I made a quick phone
call. One of my mechanics had a
motorbike, so he came out and picked me up.
I just dumped the car on the roundabout, just left it there.
He picked me up on his motorbike and I made it in time for warm
up. Yeah, that day it was all those
elements to to, to me made it just one of the great weekends
of that sort of era. Yeah, I was at that meeting and
it was very much a case of it. You're right.
It was the the zenith. It was.
The crowd was absolutely packed to the capacity.
It was crazing. The sub was shining.
As you say, the queues to get into the circuits were just
crazy. It really was the peak of
touring car racing. Super Touring.
Yeah, it's yeah, you're right. It was super top.
Gear feature again, that's on YouTube.
But yes, at one point TIFF and Nigel Mansell, we're having a
bit of a set to in the paddock. I don't know if you remember
that at the back of the pits because they've never been the
best of friends ever since Tiff had well, Nigel, Tiff reckons
that Nigel nicked his British Leyland former three drive and
all those years before. I mean, the car was a bit of a
dog, but just, you know, sliding doors, fate.
The next race that Nigel did in that car, which Tiff had
basically given up on, happened to be wet.
And I think it was Silverstone and it finished on the podium.
Yes. Yeah.
It's. You know, yeah.
That's life. It's.
Amazing. So at the end of your Nissan
time, he then obviously switches manufacture.
How did that, going over to Pro Drive, going over to the Mondeo
and the 14 now, how did that all sort of come about?
Is that something that started whilst you're still with Nissan?
It was very much at the end of the season, offseason, through
the winter. So kind of in the summer that
year, I was approached by Pro Drive.
The thing about motor racing is if you're lucky enough to get
paid well, yeah, the I had a young family at the time, so
you've got to think of their future too.
And basically Ford, you know, you're a long time retired and
motor racing, although somehow I'm still racing, intend to
retire. But you know, I had to think of
the future and finances and stuff and Ford made me an offer
that, well, I mean, I believe Frank Williams said at the time
I wouldn't even pay my F1 drivers that much money because
menu obviously left Williams. He got a great offer, I got a
great offer and we, you know, combined salaries were over
£1,000,000 or something. So difficult to resist that.
I mean, the, the, the shame of it was that I had such a great
relationship with Nissan. Alec Poole, Kyoki Sam, who's in
charge of Nissan Motor Sport Europe, Ray Malik.
And I knew that Nissan was going to pull out at the end of the
following year. Somebody said that that the
budget exceeded the entire year's profit that they made
Nissan selling cars in Britain. Wow, was Bob Neville told me
that. And and I thought, yeah, but
Ford, we're going to be in it for another two years.
And I thought, OK, next year is not going to be great and I'll
miss the opportunity of perhaps winning the championship for
Nissan. But they were going to carry on
into 2000s. And I felt that I, you know,
could win in the second year, which of course I nearly did.
But the problem was the Nissan had my DNA in it and it really
suited my driving style, whereas the Ford was more sort of Alan
Menus driving style and it didn't really have my DNA Alan
and taken a number of people from Renault.
Yes. To to pro Drive.
But you know, I missed that by a couple of points.
I mean the pro pro drive fantastic team and you know, the
most advanced super touring car I ever drove in the fastest.
But the driving the way it was balanced didn't quite suit me.
It was a bit too knife edgy at the rear because the Nissan
flowed great rotation but nonetheless what what an
experience driving for Ford. We learnt all about the
importance of vehicle dynamics, polar moment of inertia, dynamic
index because they were able to build the cars 120 kilogrammes
under the weight limit and then we could ballast up.
Put the light where you wanted it.
Yeah, and what what a difference that made, you know, C of G,
centre of gravity, dynamic index.
Yeah. Well, what I did discover was
although the car was easier with the weight further out at the
front and at the rear, it was easier to drive, more
predictable. It just killed your race
evolution because it's, it's the like the difference between a
dumbbell and a barbell during the course of a race kind of
tell a turn a barbell through asses and corners would just
shag the tyres. So you had to have the weight in
the middle and the car was more nervous, but it over a race
distance it was much more consistent.
Yeah. Yeah, so I learnt a lot of that
vehicle dynamics with my days at I.
I can imagine. Yeah, it must.
Have been a hell of an experience because you've gone
obviously you've got mallocs which are absolutely one of the
best there's ever been and ever will be, and the same with Pro
Drive as well. So to go from 1 mega fantastic
team and a setup to another must be obviously it's perfect from a
racing driver's perspective, but what was there any key
differences in terms of like the management side of that and and
how the teams will run or they're very similar the.
Ray Malik My time at Nissan was my favourite period.
Selling touring cars shears the way we gelled as a team.
Lots of young engineers, mechanics, clever people.
But two years later, working for Prodrive, there are more kind of
cutthroat, which doesn't bother me at all.
I mean, I want people can help me win races.
Yeah, yeah, They, they, it wasn't quite such a friendly
atmosphere, I would say a Prodrive, but it highly
professional and they, they win at just about everything they
do. And yeah, when they had a human
performance department. So they they work not only on
the cars, but on the drivers fitness and, you know, like boot
camps in New Yorker and France's and dry, you know, and, and, and
you know, training with people like Richard Burns and Uha
Kanken because they'd and UHA Kanken were all dropped to the
back of the peloton, drew on the pipes.
And then suddenly and him, his teammate, I'd see them later in
the evening, his Co driver. Oh, we just went down to visit
some cousins in the port. Nefarious activities.
Yes, yeah. So I mean, Pro drive is right up
there, but I, I probably, you know, enjoy being with RML
better. But you know, two years, things
change a lot in the development of cars and they were working at
a new higher level. I've been with Cosworth, had
been the tuner of the engine in the first year with Ford and
Prodrive, just stick an axe to Cosworth and started doing the
engines in the house. And that was transformational,
yeah, suddenly the engines became really fast and but
Prodrive had that speed of adaptability.
If something's not working, they'll deal with it
immediately, change it, and yes. I imagine a lot of that come
came from their rally experience as well because obviously that's
a very fast-paced environment. There's a lot of rounds of the
championship breakages reacting to stuff.
You know, they're used to a faster pace environment.
I think between races that probably helps.
Yeah, yeah. No, I think you're absolutely
right there. So 2 great experiences working
with the top teams in motorsport, British motorsport
and then having the privilege of working with Dick Bennett's.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. If MG.
Yeah. Yeah.
Absolutely. I used to take the piss out of
Dick a little bit because you'd go into his office and he had a
filing cabinet full of all the years and the drivers, you know,
right, full scalp. But there was this red folder on
top of the filing cabinet which just said 80 Senna 1983.
Wow, was it 80? 4.
Anyone that. When they won F3, yeah.
So a bit like a bit like I said that you're a bit like my
father. He won't talk about the war.
He was quite happy to talk about Mika Hakkinen, Yeah, all these
famous, but he would never talk about seller.
Interesting. Reason not really no, he was
quite come out with all the stories of the other drivers
Yeah, but that's folder on top of the fight it it'll probably
be there still there to. Wow, yeah, that's really
interesting. Is it that that year, it's such
a pivotal year of W Surrey as well, you know, winning the 1983
Championship with, with him so. Yeah, Yeah.
That's interesting, that one and it's another.
They all have their own styles, these top teams.
Dick Bennett's style was a little different from the others
and but all at at an equally high level.
Quite amazing. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Interesting.
Just just to touch on, you mentioned that you knew when you
made the decision to leave Nissan for Ford, you knew that
that Nissan would be pulling out at the end of 99.
I don't mean something we really touched on when we we first
spoke. Any other times you've spoken
with you given that you knew that?
And then at the end of 98, we'd already seen Peugeot and Audi
pull out. Did you kind of had this?
Did you kind of have this feeling that you knew at the end
of that Ford contract potentially the the touring car
landscape would look as different as it ended up looking
going into 2001, 2002 that you then had with with SRV races and
MG? Or was it kind of something that
you thought teams will pull out, that someone might replace them
or it will evolve in a slightly more less dramatic way than it
did perhaps? Yeah, See, inevitably you hear
people talking the whether it be the sponsors, manufacturers.
I could see the direction of travel.
I kind of sensed at the end of 2000 that would be the end of
Super Touring. And then of course, Alan Guy
brought in the new generation touring car, which was far less
sophisticated and but by by racing for Ford, I put myself in
the frame with MG and yes, thanks to Tony Blair.
And I don't normally vote for Labour because there was a big
election coming up at the beginning of.
Yeah, there wasn't. No one.
Wasn't there? Yeah, 2. 1001, yeah.
And BMW just wanted to wind up the MG, the MG Rover company.
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown went up and had a meeting with BMW
and said, look, you can't, you can't wind up MG Rover because
they're going to be 50,000 people unemployed in the streets
of warming. And so they was.
The BMW were persuaded by Tony Blair to sell out to the Phoenix
Consortium for Individuals, John Towers and what have you.
And also give them a billion # legacy, sort of, yeah.
Handshake. If that hadn't happened, we
wouldn't have gone racing with MG can tell you that.
No, at Le Mans and also in British touring cars.
But again, sliding doors. Who could have predicted that?
But so I'd been, because I'd sensed that this was kind of
happening from what you hear in the sport.
I, I, I'd sort of, I knew Mars and Bahrain anyway.
But I've kept some regular contact.
Yeah. So when that deal happens, I
slid out of the Ford contract and straight away into the MG
Rover. Nice.
Pretty, pretty bloody amazing. Yeah, yeah, that that, that
first year of the MG, you actually stopped Vauxhall
winning the whitewash of the series, didn't you?
Because you won that last race in the ZS at Brands Hatch in
that absolutely downpour that that weather was just horrific
and you pulled it off on slicks. Yeah, the extraordinary thing
was I arrived at the circuit early in the morning and there
were were all the Vauxhalls lined up with all of the
trophies and the press shots being taken.
It was also going to go into the press the following morning.
So they they've won everything. And so I thought this is motor
racing. You can never tell what my but
in the NGTC rules everyone had to have five wheel nuts.
That's right, yes. So when it started raining, I
figured out very quickly, short lap, I could put everyone a lap
down, which is exactly what I did by just staying out.
Warren came into the pits to put Wets on but I stayed out and
fortunately was it. James Case spun off and got
stuck in the gravel just at the end of the race as the Vauxhall
still catching me up and of course red flag and the result
was declared on the previous lap which I am leading and Vauxhall
were really pissed off. All that effort, you know, shots
and they couldn't use him. Brilliant.
I love stories like that. And another another race that I
think we should talk about in in in your career is that very
special 2004 one off race that they did at the Donington finale
where they celebrated the BTCC Masters where all 16 there were
16 drivers from the era of Super Touring.
All the drivers that won the championships were invited and
all other other star names were invited, which of course you
were. You were one of.
And 16 of you entered in identical lay ONS.
I believe it was a lay on. Yeah.
And one of the most entertaining races I think I've ever watched.
Ever. It's a carnage, wasn't it?
Let's put all these these household name nut cases all in
the same manufactured car. I didn't know it was a good
advert for Seattle or not, to be honest.
I. Mean it's got a ring about it.
The BTCC Masters, they're like the Augusta Masters.
George Yes. You know, if you look at the
roll call of veins in that race, yes, I mean, it's not much
talked about these days, but that that trophy is pride of
place in in my living room. Excellent.
It's a real blingy trophy, but I'm actually really quite proud
of it. And of course, YouTube, you can
you can watch it on YouTube the whole race.
So I'm, I'm, I'm proud of that because we're all theoretically
in identical cars and some of the best names in the Super
Touring era were in that race. Yes, yeah, they really were.
And I won it. Yeah, you talk of like you say
the roll call. I will name them now.
It's you add John Cleland, you Julian Bailey, Patrick Watts,
Jason Plato, Matt Neal, Kelvin Burke, Johnny Cicotto, Alan
Menu, Tim Harvey, Frank Beeler, Jeff Allen, Rob Gravitt, Frank
Sitner, Paul Radicich, Gabrielli Tarquini, all all top, top class
touring car drivers that won races in that era of Super
Touring throughout Europe and throughout the globe.
Yeah, just what a what a what a list of names and, and yeah, to
see you triumphed out of them all.
I, I, I can see why you're so why you're so proud of it.
Yeah, the I've got a great photograph of myself on the top
step of the podium with Alan Menu and Tarquini next to me.
Yeah, yeah, it's very cool. Anthony, tell us a little bit
more about about your time at Goodwood.
Yeah, I mean my my profile which developed by Racing Super
Touring and winning lead on to my racing at Google do over the
last 25 years. Yes, of course, yeah.
I'm just ordered a house captaincy, absolutely the
members meeting. So it's strange with the way
things develop and, and I mean racing at Goodwood has extended
my career by 10 years and counting.
As I say, 2 weeks ago I was racing at Capri.
Yeah, it's related to Silica. Yes.
Along some side some of the big names, so super great names.
So that's that's been a lovely way to because I'm about to turn
68 in two weeks and wow, Goodwood has been just a great
way to sort of finish off my career.
Yeah. And hopefully keep missing that
for a number of years to come. For for someone that's not been
to a Goodwood meeting before for that festival of speeds revival
members meeting, myself being one of those included, I
definitely want to occur at some point.
What is it that makes that place so seemingly special?
Even someone that's not been, it seems like, you know, you
mentioned like a a customer national in golf and so on.
What? What makes Goodwood feel like
such a special venue for motorsport for you?
Well, Pete, given that Goodwood in motor racing terms has a
fantastic history between 1948 and 1966 with drivers like
Sterling Moss, Graham Hill, Boy Salvadori, Dan Gurney, they all
raced there in periods. And then to have this bull, the
events that are put on by Goodwood are totally unique
globally. There's nothing white at that
level. It's the pinnacle, especially
the if you go to to Revival. Yeah, it it everyone dresses up
in periods costumed from the the the period 48 to 66.
And only six, Yeah. All the races are recreated from
that period too. So the the cars have to be, you
know, 66 or older in order to be available.
And it's by invitation only. And it attracts the top names in
motorsport. I mean, I've seen them all
there, Sterling Moss, Jackie Stewart, Roy Salvadori and the
list goes on and on. Sadly some of those individuals
are no longer with us but and the sort of younger professional
drivers like Tom Christensen and people like that, they all want
to be at the event and everyone wants an entry, but it's by
invitation only. Yes, it's highly exclusive.
And you know, the, the, the parties, the socialising that
takes place. Any fantastic racing.
I don't know if you watched members meeting.
Yes, yeah. TV, there was some it's great
races. There really.
Is Members Meeting is a sort of revivalist period?
Yeah, of course. You've got the Goodwood Fest of
Speed, which I've won four times, twice outright, twice in
the still the power she's had. I love that event too.
And then members meeting is it's much more of a pure racing
meeting and not so commercialised.
It's run by the. Members.
Yeah. Yeah, it's yeah.
And quintessentially English, you know, all the field sports
because if you take the family to a race meeting, of course the
people that are racing the cars have a lot of fun.
But what what do the other members of the family do?
Well, with the members meeting, they've got all these
quintessentially English field sports like tug of war, croquet,
axe burn, they're baiting president.
But you know, I've done ferret racing and duck herding and if
the weather's nice, all the family, the members get involved
and they're scoring points for their house.
And so in 10 years as a House captain, one year was disrupted
by COVID. But my house, Matthew, and is
the winning most House of all. The house.
If we won five out of nine editions of the House Shield,
they'd call it. Yes, yeah, no, it's it's
incredible how, as you say, your profile that you garnered during
the Super Touring era has that's done you so much good later on.
I mean, you talk of other there's other types of historic
racing. For the last two years you've
raced your 98 Nissan at Brands Hatch for super towing power.
I mean, I bet you never thought in 98 that you'd be racing the
same car nearly 30 years later on one of the same tracks.
Well, that's quite extraordinary because most of the people
working on that car, yeah, wow, weren't even born.
Yeah, just the way things have turned out.
You can be granted, but it's such fun.
Yeah, it's it, it, it was really special.
And what I loved about it is obviously big shout out to the
guys at John Danby, because they looked after us at the, at the
last two meetings that we've been to.
They've been really great, great, really great to us.
Really, really hospitable. But also it just the way that
the, the, the, the, the team were presented.
You still have the backboards, you still had all the kits, the
uniforms, the the cars are immaculately prepared.
And he still has his team jacket, which you.
Proudly wore jacket. Yeah, it was incredible.
It felt like you were transformed back.
Going back into the road, it was a little bit like going back in
time and nostalgia that was there for me.
It was incredible. Anthony, once again, thank you
for joining us this evening to look back at your incredible 50
years of motorsport. If I could just finally pinpoint
1 moment of your career that you look at as your most fond,
fondly remembered, you talk about your time at Nissan.
Is, is that through your whole career?
Is that is that the moment that you love the most during your 50
years? Well, there's so many
interesting things that have happened throughout my time in
Japan. My favourite period was in with
respect to Super Touring was racing for Ray Malik.
Yeah. And Alex Poole.
Yeah, the was my immediate boss. But there was a race that
changed my life. Not, not not finishing third Le
Mans so much, but I won the main support race the previous year
at the British Grand Prix for Opal in an Opal Lotus.
OK, Opal, Lotus, Vauxhall Lotus was the main support race to the
British Grand Prix because presumably Opal had paid.
You can write sort of money to. Yes, yeah.
The F3 race was the previous day, but we were on the circuits
a couple of hours or an hour before the the British Grand
Prix and I put my last money into Peter Thompson that I had
at that time to buy a drive and I stuck it on pole and won it
TAB against some great names of that time, the best of the
Europeans and somebody called Bose Scramdel watched it on
cable or satellite television. Whatever it was in those days
was live. And he phoned me up and said,
look, we're putting together a Group C team, would you like to
come down to Monza for a driver or audition test?
OK. And I went down for that test,
won the audition, got signed up. And that meant on to me racing
at the mall summer of the following year.
Yeah. There's one thing, one race that
changed my life. It probably was that because
otherwise the opportunity, I wouldn't have got that phone
call. Yeah, absolutely.
In fact, my brother, who rarely ever takes messages or did in
those days, wrote down the guy's name and the telephone number.
I got in. I must have gone out to the
public. So when I got in, I phoned up
the following morning. It's a good job you called
because otherwise we're going to call the next guy on the list.
Wow. And it's all stand flowed from
that, that sort of final row of device.
Wow. It's it's little stories like
that that amaze me, isn't it? All these little what if moments
that just, yeah. What if your brother hadn't
taken that message or whatnot, you know?
But yeah. But again, Anthony, just thank
you so much for joining us today.
Coming on the show again, You're always a, you're always a fan
favourite whenever, whenever you come on the show.
And thanks for giving us your time today and celebrating all
things Anthony Reed in your 50 years of motorsport.
Thanks guys. Thanks, Alex.
It's great. Thank you too, for listening to
this week's episode of Stories for Super Toy.
Please make sure you'll join us again next week.
Goodbye.