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Stories from Super Touring. 
David Leslie and Will Hoy showed

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that there was still life in the
elder statesman of the British 

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Touring Car Championship at 
Silverstone in 1998 as they took

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the first wins for Nissan and 
Ford, respectively for many 

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seasons in the rain on the 
international circuit at 

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Silverstone. 
Welcome to the latest episode of

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Stories from Super Touring. 
I'm Levi Riley and joining me to

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look back at this eventful race 
meeting are the creator and 

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writer of Stories from 
supertouringalexclarkeditorialdirector@therace.com,

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Glenn Freeman and World Super 
Light commentator Greg Haynes. 

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Gentlemen, welcome back to the 
podcast. 

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How are we all this evening? 
Yeah, yeah. 

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Not bad. 
Thank you. 

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This this is one of my favourite
meetings from the season, which 

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is actually my favourite season 
as well. 

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So it's really high up there 
because there's just a few 

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things that go on that you know,
it it that didn't you know, 

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Nissan, Ford, Vauxhall all 
fighting for the lead. 

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We hadn't seen a Nissan win for 
years. 

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We haven't seen a Ford win for 
years. 

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It was just an interesting 
meeting and what I liked about 

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it was the punchiness of the 
what you would call elder 

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statesman of the championship at
that time. 

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The series had started to become
dominated by lots of younger 

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foreign drivers coming over and 
winning races and championships.

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And it was good that to 
stalwarts of the series, then 

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we're able to still show that 
there was there was a lot of 

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talent in in the in the home 
drivers, too. 

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I like this weekend because 
Froxton, obviously Ryderwood 

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didn't win both races, but you 
did kind of get that feeling of,

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OK, this is Ryder on Volvo's 
year. 

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There's that Froxton qualify lap
by his miles ahead. 

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And you think we just had Audi 
dominated the season, Renault 

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have dominated the season. 
Is this going to be Volvo? 

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And you just have this weekend 
where on on any lap of either of

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the races you go, I've no idea 
what position these cars are in,

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but there's a Vauxhall battling,
A Peugeot battling, an ALDI 

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battling in this and which I 
think was really good and sort 

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of summed up where we're going 
to be with the championship. 

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I'm a little bit concerned. 
Obviously glad to be back on the

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show. 
This is my second appearance on 

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the show and both times I've 
talked about 1998 races at 

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Silverstone. 
So I do slightly fear that this 

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is me done now because I've run 
out of it serial. 

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No, I'm sure that you're not 
Glenn Burt. 

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No, this is great. 
It's going to be great to review

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this one, isn't it? 
Because like you've just said, 

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we were thinking are Volvo going
to dominate? 

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Are Renault are going to be 
back? 

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Was it just a a tricky start at 
Thruxton and this is when menu 

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starts winning again. 
It definitely wasn't, was it? 

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But yeah, four different winners
from the first four races. 

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Bit of a spoiler alert there. 
And four different 

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manufacturers. 
For me, it just underlines why 

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we all love motor racing, 
doesn't it? 

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That anything can happen and how
quickly things can change. 

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It's great. 
And Glenn, starting with you 

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this week, welcome back to the 
podcast. 

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It's great to have you on for 
another episode. 

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Looking back, when you first 
think of this meeting, it's 

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Austin, the first meeting from 
1998, What's what's the first 

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memory that comes to your mind? 
Pure and simple Ford just just 

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being stunned that a Ford won a 
race. 

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It just, it didn't feel like it 
was it was on the cards. 

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Obviously they've been in the 
doldrums for a couple of years. 

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There weren't really any signs 
in early 98 that that was going 

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to change. 
And then obviously with the help

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of the conditions and some 
brilliance from Will Hoy in 

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particular, just go, that's 
brilliant. 

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I love them. 
Ford of one race. 

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Again. 
And Greg coming to you next, 

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what jumps into your mind when 
you think about this race 

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meeting? 
What? 

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Would be the good old boys, you 
know, Warwick, Kleland, Hoy, as 

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Glenn has just said. 
And the fact they're all mixing 

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it up with all these foreign 
drivers. 

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Some of the names you can't 
pronounce quite so easily. 

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And I think also the fact that 
all the manufacturers had 

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flashes of brilliance through 
these two races, didn't they, 

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because of the conditions of 
different entire choices and all

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the drama going on. 
But also the menu downfall and 

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menu season already starting to 
unravel. 

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And we saw some good examples, 
didn't we, of him not reacting 

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very well. 
So things going wrong and it 

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kind of characterised this 
season, but this is where it 

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really started to kick in, 
wasn't it? 

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Yeah, it definitely was. 
It so wasn't as happiest hunting

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ground in 1998 as we'll we'll 
get on to. 

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And they're finally coming to 
you. 

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Alex, what are your memories 
from this memorable meeting of 

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of 98? 
Quite simple as Charlie Cox put 

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it in the season review Will Hoy
and the Ford Mondeo in first 

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place. 
It was brilliant to see Will, 

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one of my favourite drivers of 
the era, win once again. 

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He hadn't won since the rear end
of 1995 with Renault. 

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His move to Ford and subsequent 
fall from competitiveness meant 

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that there were a few 
questioning whether he was still

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able to win, whether he still 
had the competitive edge. 

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So it was nice to see one of the
most popular touring car wins of

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that series of that era because 
everyone was happy. 

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Everyone was happy for will you 
look at the the, the post race 

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interview that he does with 
Charlie Cox in the BBC coverage 

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that's not on the season review.
And there are drivers just 

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coming up to him from all the 
teams just congratulating him, 

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all thrilled to bits that he 
won. 

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So yeah, a popular win for one 
of the most popular drivers of 

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the era. 
And as ever, we've asked our 

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faithful listeners what they 
thought of this race meeting for

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our social media channels and 
Rhys Smith got in touch so that 

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he remembers Alan Menu and David
Leslie's Boxing scrap, whilst 

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Thomas Knight similarly 
remembers the race for Menus 

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Double DNF as Greg's already 
touched on them. 

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Sure, we'll go into a lot of 
detail about Alan's first of 

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many stroppy days of 98. 
David Hill remembers being 

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there, saying that the rain is 
the main memory for him from 

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this race meeting, which was 
pretty, pretty heavy rain wasn't

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it that day to shake it up. 
Neil Scullard says he remembers 

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watching it with his dad, which 
is a memory I saw I'm sure a lot

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of us share. 
While Stan Bailey says he 

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remembers Charlie Cox's 
memorable floats on race day as 

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an acronym Ford, with David 
Dowdle saying he remembers the 

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race for it being Will Hoy's 
memorable last victory in the 

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BTCC. 
Barry Pierce remember shouting 

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come on Rydell at the screen 
during the race, whilst Jeremy 

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Lin simply says look at the 
state of it, it looks like it's 

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done 10 rounds with Frank Bruna.
Finally, Daniel Barr says he 

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remembers Rydell crashing out, 
saying that the feature race of 

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this meeting must be a contender
for the race of the season of 

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1998 Pitch. 
I mean, he's definitely a 

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contender. 
You would say it normally in a 

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normal season, yes, but so many 
good races in 19 so, but it is 

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up there definitely. 
It's a great one. 

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Yeah. 
And for me also just to throw in

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thinking about the TV coverage, 
the use of the pic radio 

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communications, which we're so 
used to, as we've said in 

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previous shows now and have been
for the last 20 odd years, 

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haven't we, in F1? 
But particularly during that pit

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stop chaos in Race 2, a lot of 
it was just listening to the pit

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confusion, wasn't it? 
Which was great. 

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The build up to this race 
meeting was dominated by talk of

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Nigel Mansell's first Test in 
the Ford Mondeo that he was 

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going to race for three meetings
later on in the 1998 season. 

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The 1992 F One World Champion 
had successfully completed the 

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shakedown in a 97 Mondeo at Mira
before taking part in the 

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official BTCC test at 
Silverstone, marking AU turn 

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from the original decision of 
making his circuit debut in 

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Private Glen. 
Why do you think that Mansell 

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shakedown in the first Test of 
the Mondeiro was dominating the 

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paddock gospel at this time? 
I'm perhaps asking an obvious 

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question here. 
Yeah, I was going to say the 

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answer really is because he's 
Nigel Mansell, but you have to 

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remember he's he was genuinely 
still box office at this point 

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in the 90s. 
He's it, He's only six years 

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removed from being F1 world 
champion, which means five years

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removed from being IndyCar 
champion. 

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And it's only what, 3 and a bit 
years since his last F1 win at 

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the end of 94. 
So he is still really current 

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because he he raced on so long, 
like into the start of his 40s 

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still as an F1 driver. 
I mean, as we're recording this 

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in 2026, it's almost the same 
distance of time ago since Lewis

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Hamilton last won a 
championship. 

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And I know Lewis has remained an
active F1 driver. 

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But if you kind of think like 
Lewis being an F1 world champion

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doesn't feel like that long ago.
And that's what it was for Nigel

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in 98, which I think gives it 
some perspective. 

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The other thing though, I think 
is that it still seemed 

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unbelievable that he was going 
to do this because it seemed so 

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unlikely that it was going to go
well. 

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So the interest was everyone 
going like, I can't believe this

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is happening. 
And then when he drives the car,

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you're almost going, is he 234 
seconds off the pace? 

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Like, And that's not a knock on 
Nigel, that's because going to 

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front wheel drive touring car 
racing when aside from the odd 

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very memorable outing earlier in
the 90s, you've never done it. 

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It's such a specialist 
discipline and this is at a time

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when the BTCC was almost at its 
its peak for for driver and team

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ability. 
So there wasn't, there was 

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always, there wasn't a harder 
time to go and do it. 

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So I think the fascination came 
from the assumption that it was 

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too difficult even for the great
Nigel Mansell. 

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Yeah, for even people who were a
bit less supportive of Nigel, 

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00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:05,960
shall we say, it was there was 
still that intrigue, wasn't 

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there? 
That you would think, well, come

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on, how? 
How is he going to do? 

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Is he going to prove you wrong? 
Is he going to? 

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00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:14,960
Which Nigel are you going to 
get? 

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And whether you whether you 
loved him, whether you hated 

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him, Nigel Mansell was always 
hot topic of conversation. 

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You and and got people talking, 
got people into the circuits. 

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You, you, you can't deny it. 
The man was box office. 

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I was really impressed that 
Nigel did an official Toker test

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this early on, said Dick 
Bennett's boss of W Surrey 

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Racing, who were running the 
Ford contract. 

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I admire his approach. 
A lot of people would try to 

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stick a knife in his back but he
showed a lot of interest and 

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00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:50,400
wanted to sit in on the debriefs
and help William Craig. 

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00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:54,320
It was an eventful run for 
Nigel, he told Autosport. 

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00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:56,920
It's brought back a lot of fond 
memories. 

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00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,720
There was an incident on my last
run, 2 cars collided in front of

200
00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:04,040
me. 
Amusing to watch but not so much

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to be a part of. 
Then John Kellen's drive shaft 

202
00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:10,520
nearly hit me. 
It's all been very exciting. 

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00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,560
Whilst it was exciting, the test
was frustrating for the Ford 

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00:11:14,560 --> 00:11:17,640
camp with only hung for mourning
of any dry running. 

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00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:23,040
Still, Nigel was only one second
from Wilhoi, who is in the 1998 

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00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:25,640
Ford Mondeaux. 
Things were looking promising 

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00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:29,840
for the former F1 champion. 
It's been very fruitful. 

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00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:33,080
I've learned an awful lot about 
the team and the car, mainly 

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00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,000
because the conditions have been
changing every 15 minutes. 

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00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,360
I had a few moments, all of 
which I caught. 

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00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:44,600
I've had a lot of fun, Greg. 
That's an impressive performance

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00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:48,240
for Mansell to be running only 
one second behind Wilhoi in his 

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00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,560
first run in the car. 
It is that, as you just touched 

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on Glenn, it's such a 
specialised formula, isn't it? 

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00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,400
A front wheel drive touring car 
with what, 300 horsepower? 

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00:11:57,400 --> 00:11:59,240
Whatever. 
It was really interesting as 

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00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:00,560
well. 
You buy that quote you just read

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00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:03,680
from Dick Bennett's that Nigel's
in the debrief, in Dick 

219
00:12:03,680 --> 00:12:05,800
Bennett's words, helping Craig 
and Will. 

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00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:07,920
I'm not sure Craig and Will 
would have seen it that way. 

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00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:10,360
You know, they were a touring 
car specialist, weren't they? 

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00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:13,760
OK, Craig Baird hadn't really 
done anything front wheel drive 

223
00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:15,120
before. 
It'll be in rear wheel drive, 

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00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:18,360
BMWs mostly having it down under
in the Southern Hemisphere. 

225
00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:21,000
But I don't think Will Hoy would
have taken to that line. 

226
00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:24,160
He needs Mansell coming in and 
giving him advice because it was

227
00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:25,840
such a different kettle of fish,
isn't it? 

228
00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:28,320
A front wheel drive touring car?
So it tells you about the 

229
00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,040
mindset, doesn't it, in the Ford
camp and addicts. 

230
00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:32,600
I know you've touched on this 
before, haven't you? 

231
00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:35,720
The way Craig Baird was was 
dealt with that season was not 

232
00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:38,040
very good at all. 
But it tells you sort of the, 

233
00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:40,800
the mentality within the team, 
doesn't it? 

234
00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:43,520
As though Nigel's coming in to 
help Will Hoy of all people. 

235
00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:47,280
Well, you say that and as, as 
you've just brought up now, I've

236
00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:52,440
obviously spoken to Craig about 
this in depth and a, he said, 

237
00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,320
you know, how he was treated 
about, you know, getting elbowed

238
00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:56,960
for the three meetings and 
whatnot. 

239
00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:02,880
But also he felt that when him 
and Will were going in One 

240
00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:08,040
Direction with the car, the 
mechanics would gravitate 

241
00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:12,960
towards Nigel's opinion more, 
probably because of his stature.

242
00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:14,840
They wouldn't dare disagree with
him, would they? 

243
00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:18,720
Possibly, but very much Nigel 
gave an opinion and that 

244
00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:20,720
automatically carried a lot more
weight. 

245
00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:25,240
And they tend to listen to Nigel
more than they would Craig. 

246
00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:28,960
And yeah, that must suck when 
you're the, when you're the 

247
00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,440
permanent driver there, you're 
there for the, for the whole 

248
00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:34,760
season and your mechanics aren't
listening to you. 

249
00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,720
And they'd rather listen to the,
to the guest driver who's doing 

250
00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:40,040
3 meetings. 
I mean, we've got a caveat that 

251
00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,480
that's Craig's opinion and and 
it might come, it might be a 

252
00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:45,120
different view from Nigel's 
side. 

253
00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:50,840
But yeah, as you said, that's an
interesting way of looking at 

254
00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:55,480
it, that he's in there helping 
the drivers who've been in this 

255
00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:59,120
category for a very long time, 
albeit as you say, beard with a 

256
00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:01,480
slightly different drive drive 
set up. 

257
00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:03,040
I. 
Suppose there's different ways 

258
00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:05,240
of looking at it as well. 
We know how Nigel adapted from 

259
00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:08,640
F1 to IndyCar and held the two 
titles for three weeks, didn't 

260
00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:10,400
he? 
As he likes to remind people, 

261
00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:12,800
and quite rightly so. 
But then look how many Grand 

262
00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,520
Prix drivers struggled coming 
into the BTCC, Warwick and 

263
00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,040
Lammers and morbid Delhi. 
Obviously Takwini was an 

264
00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:21,840
exception, but yeah, it shows, 
it shows the mentality in that 

265
00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:26,600
four team, doesn't it? 
With the with the crew, I can't 

266
00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:29,240
understand the crew being 
starstruck by Nigel when he's 

267
00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:32,680
kind of in the garage. 
I'm surprised, though, that once

268
00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:35,200
the dust settles and he's left 
for the day, they wouldn't sit 

269
00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,480
down and go, OK, but let's 
listen to what will Hoyt thinks,

270
00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:40,520
really, Because he's the guy who
knows what he's doing here. 

271
00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:45,200
Yeah, yeah. 
I mean, again, if if Will was 

272
00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:47,120
still with us, he might have a 
different view as well, then 

273
00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:48,520
they might well have listened to
Will. 

274
00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:52,680
But Craig, that's how Craig felt
when when I was chatting with 

275
00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:54,760
him. 
And I can imagine that must be 

276
00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:57,440
tough, especially coming over 
from literally the other side of

277
00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:03,440
the world to to race a car. 
And he was promised a lot, which

278
00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:07,400
in his words didn't materialise.
So yeah, it was tough year for 

279
00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:10,040
Craig away. 
From Mansell, it was James 

280
00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:12,920
Thompson who was making the most
noise off the track. 

281
00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:16,920
I haven't been this excited 
about a race meeting in ages, 

282
00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:20,280
Thompson said before the race. 
We didn't have the pace at 

283
00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:24,280
Froxen 2 weeks ago, but we don't
expect that to be the case here 

284
00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,880
at Silverstone. 
Honda team manager Dave Bimbo 

285
00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:32,040
shared Thompson's optimism. 
I would certainly be expecting 

286
00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,040
to repeat our performance in the
test. 

287
00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:38,200
So that means both cars in the 
top six then? 

288
00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:41,720
Were Honda and Thompson right to
have their sights aimed a bit 

289
00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,040
higher up than they they were at
Froxton? 

290
00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:45,680
I think they're a right to aim 
high. 

291
00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,800
I mean, Froxton wasn't a 
disaster results wise. 

292
00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:51,760
I know, I know they weren't 
necessarily in the fight for the

293
00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:54,440
win, but was it 2 podiums in the
end for for Thompson? 

294
00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:59,440
I think at Froxton, but the kind
of the positive vibes there, 

295
00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:02,760
that's kind of mirror what I was
expecting or hoping from Honda 

296
00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:04,680
and Thompson this year. 
And they kind of feel like this 

297
00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:08,960
might be their time to take 
that, to take that step up. 

298
00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,840
And if, as we found out through 
this weekend, if you're looking 

299
00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,960
at going the 98 seasons going to
be more open, Thompson and 

300
00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:19,560
Honda, one of the combinations 
that I was hoping might be able 

301
00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:23,160
to take advantage of that and be
a force every weekend. 

302
00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:27,520
And in the end, I feel like they
weren't really many or any 

303
00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:31,040
weekends where you ever felt 
that the Honda was the package 

304
00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,480
to have, but Thompson would get 
good results out of it here and 

305
00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:35,760
there. 
But there was always you come 

306
00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:38,200
away for a weekend going. 
The Volvo was bang on this 

307
00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:40,160
weekend. 
Renault got it together there. 

308
00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:42,360
The Nissan has been brilliant 
for three weekends in a row 

309
00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:43,760
whenever it was later in the 
season. 

310
00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:46,160
I never felt like you came away 
for a weekend going. 

311
00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:48,560
The Honda. 
Honda absolutely nailed that. 

312
00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:52,720
Thompson kind of kept getting 
the results and kept chipping 

313
00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:56,760
away and but it although he 
ended up up there in the points,

314
00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:00,320
you never felt like he was a 
real, real contender. 

315
00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:04,560
I didn't feel that we got the 
the dominant performances that 

316
00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:07,920
you need to see from someone 
who's going to turn it into a 

317
00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:11,079
championship fight. 
But I did share their optimism 

318
00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:13,880
at the time. 
I I I had high expectations for 

319
00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:16,640
Honda and Thompson at this stage
of 98. 

320
00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:20,400
In other news, the revived 
Touring Car World Cup scheduled 

321
00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:24,000
for Kailami at the end of the 
season looked to be in doubt 

322
00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:28,760
after it emerged that an X round
of the FIAGT Championship had 

323
00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:30,640
been proposed to take it's 
place. 

324
00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:34,800
The boss of Kailami, Selwyn 
Nathan, said that Bernie 

325
00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:37,840
Eccleston had proposed the GT 
round to him when it emerged 

326
00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:41,600
that the World Cup return did 
not have the blanket support of 

327
00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,680
the Super Touring manufacturers.
Jonathan Ashman, who is head of 

328
00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:48,440
the FI as Touring Car 
Commission, told Autosport. 

329
00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,080
Half of the manufacturers are 
interested. 

330
00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:54,680
The others are waiting to see 
what TV coverage of the event 

331
00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:57,760
there is. 
Alex, I'll come to you for this 

332
00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:00,840
one as you have a particular on 
this for the various non 

333
00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:04,560
championship events that took 
place in particularly the mid 

334
00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:05,600
90s. 
Yeah. 

335
00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:09,240
Is it a shame that this revival 
never came to fruition? 

336
00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:14,800
I personally would say no 
because I thought we had a 

337
00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:18,840
better out of season race at 
Bathurst that year when the 

338
00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:23,160
Super Tours were were running on
the hill and they had that 

339
00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:27,600
incredible battle between Matt 
Neil and Rydell for nearly two 

340
00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:29,480
hours, which was wonderful to 
watch. 

341
00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:33,920
The touring car World Cup. 
The first two were great. 

342
00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:38,440
There was, the first one was at 
Monzer in 93, then the second 

343
00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,560
one at Donington in 94 was 
incredible because not only did 

344
00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:46,120
they have the the touring car 
World Cup, they also had the 

345
00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:49,200
Toker Shootout. 
So there were about 60 Super 

346
00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:51,600
Tours at Donnington that 
weekend, which was incredible. 

347
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:56,200
The last one was at Paul Ricard 
and it didn't get as much 

348
00:18:56,200 --> 00:19:01,120
interest as the other two. 
So no. 

349
00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:03,160
And the reason the 
manufacturers, you know, half 

350
00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,800
the manufacturers are 
interested, but they wanted to 

351
00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,360
know what sort of sponsorship 
they'd be, what TV coverage of 

352
00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:11,480
the event there would be so they
could sell that to their 

353
00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:13,200
sponsors. 
Because ultimately they're not 

354
00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:14,840
going to do it if it's going to 
cost them more money. 

355
00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,200
They will only do it if they can
either raise awareness of their 

356
00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,440
product for their team or their 
sponsors or make money from it. 

357
00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:24,520
And there wasn't really the 
interest. 

358
00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:28,920
There was no TV channel that was
offering the the sort of 

359
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:30,800
coverage that that people 
wanted. 

360
00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:35,560
So it collapsed really and, and 
it never really got going again.

361
00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:38,720
It like I say, we had a better 
race out at Bathurst. 

362
00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:45,120
I loved those two race meetings 
that they had down, down at down

363
00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:48,800
at Bathurst for 97 and 98. 
So no, I don't think we really 

364
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:54,160
missed out on anything, although
it was always good when you had 

365
00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:57,440
the championships all coming 
together to challenge each other

366
00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:03,720
like we had at the the the TTS 
in 96 and 97 when you had a few 

367
00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:05,600
foreign entries come and race 
and. 

368
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,640
I like you say, I love these non
championship races. 

369
00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:13,520
They all threw in rather mixed 
grids from various different 

370
00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,640
championships across Europe and 
that was always very interesting

371
00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,720
to see because it was always 
thought that the BTCC was 

372
00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:21,320
effectively the world 
championship. 

373
00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:25,400
But it was always good to see, 
well what can they do? 

374
00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:29,320
What can people from the STW do 
when they come and race against 

375
00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:34,640
us but no in in I? 
I don't think we missed much, 

376
00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,000
let's put it that way. 
Another test that was getting a 

377
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:40,440
lot of interest was former 
Peugeot driver Patrick Watts 

378
00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:44,680
testing the Rouse Sport built 
Toyota Corolla Supertora, which 

379
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:48,680
Rouse was hoping to debut later 
on in the 1998 season. 

380
00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:52,040
Now, Alex, you've written a fair
bit about this car and you've 

381
00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:54,600
spoken to Patrick about it 
before as well. 

382
00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:57,840
There was a lot of interest in 
this entry from the fans. 

383
00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:01,160
Can you understand why? 
Yes, because it's something new,

384
00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:04,000
isn't it? 
It's and it's something unique 

385
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:06,880
and whenever there's something 
new, people really want to know 

386
00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:11,520
all about it. 
I, oh, am I going to upset 

387
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:13,000
people here? 
I thought it was hideous. 

388
00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:19,000
I don't think it looked like a 
super tour. 

389
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:23,680
It was too small and the Corolla
looked so good as a rally car. 

390
00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:27,080
Yes. 
But what are you doing put and 

391
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,480
it was the lift back version. 
It wasn't that hatchback that 

392
00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:31,560
they were racing. 
It's the rear end for. 

393
00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:32,600
Me. 
Yeah, it. 

394
00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,160
It's awful. 
It just didn't look right. 

395
00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,520
But according to Patrick, it was
a it was a good car. 

396
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:42,720
It was, it was what you'd expect
from an Andy Rouse built car. 

397
00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,680
You know, it was solid, it was 
reliable, it was quick. 

398
00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:49,640
It was basic is the wrong word, 
but you know what I mean. 

399
00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:54,520
It wasn't too trick and the idea
was that it would be available 

400
00:21:54,520 --> 00:22:00,040
for Independence to purchase at 
a lot cheaper price than last 

401
00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:01,840
year's cast offs from the works 
teams. 

402
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:06,160
It's a good theory and it 
probably would have worked had 

403
00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,800
Toyota allowed the homologation 
of it. 

404
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:10,400
And that's where it all went 
wrong. 

405
00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:14,720
Because Toyota didn't want to 
back the project and even though

406
00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:17,760
it wasn't a Toyota Works 
programme, they still had to 

407
00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:20,520
agree the homologation of the 
car and they didn't want to. 

408
00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:25,920
Which you can understand because
if a manufacturer wants their 

409
00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:28,400
brand being represented, I'm 
guessing they're going to want 

410
00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:31,040
it done properly. 
And when it's not under their 

411
00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,560
control, that's less likely, I 
guess. 

412
00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:39,760
Yeah, it was so interesting car.
It would have been interesting 

413
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,720
to see whether it would have 
competed where it would have 

414
00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:45,800
been in the grid. 
I'm guessing it would have been 

415
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,200
fighting with the independence. 
I can't imagine it would be 

416
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:50,680
ruffling any serious works 
feathers. 

417
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:55,800
But yeah, I just wish it looked 
better because I should be 

418
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:57,400
honest, I just thought it was an
ugly car. 

419
00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:00,560
But there we go. 
That'll upset somebody. 

420
00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:02,760
What colour was the actual car 
they tested? 

421
00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:04,480
Have you got a picture of it? 
I'd like to see this. 

422
00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,400
Was it just a plain? 
It was, it was white, they 

423
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:12,880
tested it in white, It was just 
a plain white livery and at some

424
00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:18,520
point it grew Castrol flicks but
it was blue and white, red, blue

425
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,680
and red rather than green and 
red, which was a bit bizarre. 

426
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:25,440
The car raced on the club 
circuits for a couple. 

427
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:30,640
I saw it at Castle Coombe in 
like 1999, but it never, it 

428
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:35,840
never raced at any sort of high 
level then, should we say? 

429
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,440
But yeah, interesting car. 
I'll have to show you a picture 

430
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:43,240
of it, Greg. 
Hideous. 

431
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:47,360
I really look forward to seeing 
that there. 

432
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,320
Thank you. 
The final big news story prior 

433
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,360
to this meeting was Volvo once 
again denying responsibility for

434
00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:58,800
spraying chasing cars with oil 
and fuel at the season, Oprah at

435
00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:03,040
Fruxton where drivers found 
themselves unable to see where 

436
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,200
they were going, especially when
it started to rain. 

437
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,040
TWR received a letter from the 
series organisers prior to 

438
00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:13,920
Silverstone ordering the team to
literally clean up its acts. 

439
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,880
Rydell's race engineer Graham 
Taylor hit back, telling 

440
00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:20,880
Autosport. 
Maybe we do secrete a small 

441
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:24,160
amount of oil, but I do not 
think that letter was fair. 

442
00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:27,480
Taylor claimed that the black 
substance on the back of the 

443
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:31,680
Volvos after the race was set, 
but Ray Malik was not having it.

444
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:36,120
It was definitely not set. 
I think it was a combination of 

445
00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:40,120
oil and fuel, he said. 
When asked if TWR had made any 

446
00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:43,080
changes to the Volvo 
Silverstone, Taylor said. 

447
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,640
We have responded to the letter.
That's a yes then. 

448
00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:52,600
Greg, we talked about this issue
when you did this episode of Us 

449
00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:54,840
for the Super Touring Years 
Bonus Podcast. 

450
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,400
That was Volvo right to be 
feeling aggrieved after 

451
00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:02,000
receiving that letter. 
I suppose so, because nobody 

452
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,000
really likes to be put in their 
place, do they? 

453
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,080
But I mean, I, I like to think 
they didn't do it on purpose. 

454
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:08,880
But it is very Wacky Races, 
isn't it? 

455
00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,840
As I said in the in the Super 
Touring Years episode earlier 

456
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,720
this year. 
But it was a mess, wasn't it? 

457
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:17,040
It was an absolute mess at 
Throuxton and with the rain as 

458
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:18,560
well. 
It was smearing everyone else's 

459
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:20,640
windscreens, wasn't it? 
I don't think they did it on 

460
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,600
purpose because, you know, it 
could have affected the other 

461
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:26,920
Volvo or, you know, or each of 
the Volvos if Morpity's being 

462
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:28,800
lapped or they're out of 
position with pit stops. 

463
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,040
But it was clearly from the 
Volvo, so they had to say 

464
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:33,160
something. 
But they were never going to be 

465
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:35,840
happy about it, were they? 
Particularly if the changes they

466
00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:40,000
had to make, as Alex says, it 
was pretty much a yes, had a 

467
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:41,960
negative effect on their 
performance in some way. 

468
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:43,920
We'll never really know. 
Although if you look at the 

469
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:46,120
results from Throuxton compared 
with Silverstone, you might 

470
00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:48,160
suggest it did. 
Although you've got a factor. 

471
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:52,280
The weather in, who knows? 
But yeah, they had to be told. 

472
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,080
I'm not surprised they were 
annoyed about it, but the 

473
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:55,720
organisers had to say something,
didn't they? 

474
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,600
Yeah, definitely. 
And then I do like the the line 

475
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,600
of maybe we do secrete a little 
bit of oil. 

476
00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:08,120
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
It wasn't a denier, was it? 

477
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:12,240
I love the F1 nature of it all. 
You know, Ray Malik, it's back. 

478
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:17,560
It's brilliant. 
I yeah, I mean, that's as, 

479
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,360
that's as much an admission of 
guilt as you're going to get, 

480
00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:22,200
isn't it? 
Oh, maybe you do a little bit of

481
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:24,000
it. 
And yes, we've responded to the 

482
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,240
letter. 
And funnily enough, the back of 

483
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,840
the Volvo was never as messy and
as mucky as it was. 

484
00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:36,920
And suddenly there wasn't 6 cars
driving around not being able to

485
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:43,600
see through their windscreen. 
Yeah, so it's funny, isn't it? 

486
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,840
It's. 
You know, how, how, how such a 

487
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:50,000
little thing can cause such a 
big argument and such a big 

488
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,640
disagreement. 
But you're right. 

489
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,800
They, I, they wouldn't have 
meant to do it. 

490
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:57,920
Obviously, like as Greg said, 
they're not, it's not a wacky 

491
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:04,120
racist type thing, but it 
probably was just a consequence 

492
00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:06,160
of the setup of the car that 
they were using. 

493
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:13,160
And they've changed it. 
And yeah, it the, the thing, the

494
00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:15,800
thing that makes me laugh the 
most is that none of this is in 

495
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:17,920
the season review. 
So there's probably a few people

496
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:20,320
listening, going, what, what are
they on about? 

497
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:26,200
So for those who don't know, 
the, the, the back of the Volvo 

498
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:31,000
was black full of oil at at the 
first race at Thruxton. 

499
00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:35,280
And there were six or seven cars
behind it having to pit because 

500
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:37,760
their windscreens were so mucky 
they couldn't actually see any 

501
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,400
more. 
So yeah, But none of that is in 

502
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,040
the season review so. 
Well, there's. 

503
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:44,360
To be fair though, Clark, if you
had your way, the season review 

504
00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:47,600
would probably be about 13 hours
long and need 3 cassette tapes. 

505
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:48,920
Because you can't. 
Get it all in. 

506
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,800
No, that's very true. 
I would literally just release 

507
00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:53,200
all the BBC footage. 
Yeah, yeah. 

508
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:55,240
Well, three VHSS I should say, 
not cassette tapes. 

509
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:57,920
And also say as well when when 
Walconshaw was involved, as he 

510
00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:00,960
obviously was, he was a feisty 
character the best of times. 

511
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:01,720
Wasn't he? 
Yeah. 

512
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,440
The season review would be like 
one of those sort of long edits 

513
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:06,720
of Lord of the Rings, wouldn't 
it? 

514
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,520
But it's kind of the way that 
the F1 season reviews went when 

515
00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:12,520
they went on. 
Let's just make the multidisk. 

516
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,680
And yeah, yeah. 
And actually they, they sort of 

517
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:17,640
became unwatchable because they 
were too long. 

518
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:20,320
But what you described there, 
Alex, was exactly my situation 

519
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:22,800
for years. 
I relived this season through 

520
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,440
the admittedly brilliant season 
review. 

521
00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:27,280
Yeah. 
And all the stuff was Charlie 

522
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:30,360
Cox and Watty in the in the Cafe
and all that sort of stuff is 

523
00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:32,000
brilliant. 
But yeah, this wasn't in there 

524
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,240
so until you guys did your 
Froxton 98 episode. 

525
00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:36,560
So I think you've done it in the
main. 

526
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:39,280
Show as well. 
Yeah, that was when I was 

527
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:41,520
reminded of it. 
I mean, wow, that has completely

528
00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:44,800
skipped my memory because all 
I'd been using to record the 

529
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,200
season have been the the review 
VHS. 

530
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:49,760
So I thank this show for 
bringing it back to my 

531
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:51,360
attention. 
Yeah. 

532
00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:53,080
And also, Glenn, wasn't that 
review great? 

533
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,920
Because that 98 review had, I 
would say, more in it than we 

534
00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:59,000
didn't see in the grandstand 
coverage all through the season 

535
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,960
than any other review because of
that stuff from Watty and 

536
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,320
Charlie and the cafe was great 
inside. 

537
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,440
It was a real extra, wasn't it? 
Yeah. 

538
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,600
I mean, compared to the F1 
reviews at the time, F1 reviews 

539
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:11,360
were just getting a little bit 
better at that point. 

540
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,520
So we're using digital stuff, 
but the storytelling wasn't the 

541
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:17,720
same. 
And what the BTCC edits did at 

542
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:18,840
the time, they kind of went 
right. 

543
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,800
We're going to show you 15 
minutes of this mega feature 

544
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:24,840
race and then we're going to 
skip past the brands weekend in 

545
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:27,440
the early part of the year 
almost entirely because nothing 

546
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,160
happened and it's quite risky to
go. 

547
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,640
We're going to not give each 
race weekend equal billing, but 

548
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:35,480
it it made it much more 
watchable. 

549
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:37,640
I think it was a really good 
editorial decision. 

550
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:39,160
I. 
Remember when I was a kid as 

551
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:42,000
well in the 90s getting those F1
reviews hoping every year Murray

552
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:43,560
would be on it this time, but 
they obviously. 

553
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:45,640
Didn't use any. 
Of the commentary, did they? 

554
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:48,720
No. 
Toca created the One Shot 

555
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,200
Showdown to add a bit of 
jeopardy and excitement into the

556
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:56,000
qualifying sessions, but it was 
the feature is qualifying which 

557
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,720
was the one to watch at 
Silverstone as the tracks 

558
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:02,320
started wet and was gradually 
drying throughout the session. 

559
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,760
Is there anything more exciting 
than a qualifying session that 

560
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,680
starts wet and tries out during 
the session? 

561
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:14,200
Not really, it's the dream 
scenario for unpredictable 

562
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:17,480
action, hopefully giving you a 
mixed up grid. 

563
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:21,160
It's, there's obviously a big 
element of it is luck of the 

564
00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,720
draw, but it's not complete luck
if, if you end up being the 

565
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,840
person who crosses the line at 
the right moment, you've still 

566
00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:32,040
got to deliver the lap. 
And there's usually very little 

567
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,320
margin for error. 
Because if you're on a drying 

568
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,520
track, that means you're not on 
a perfectly dry track, which 

569
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,600
means you've got to be really 
careful around damp patches and 

570
00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:42,360
dry lines and all that sort of 
thing. 

571
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:46,200
So it's still a massive ask even
if you end up with the perfect 

572
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:49,040
timing. 
It's a massive ask to to bang in

573
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:52,440
that mega lap and to make the 
most of the opportunity to see 

574
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:54,600
you've been given. 
So I think it's always still 

575
00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:57,600
really hairy for the drivers and
whoever gets it right. 

576
00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:00,600
Yes, there's an element of OK, 
he crossed the finish line at 

577
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:04,680
the right moment to start his 
lap, but at the same time that 

578
00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:08,160
drivers then also had to really 
hang it out to deliver and to 

579
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:09,960
take advantage of the situation 
they're in. 

580
00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:19,880
The conditions resulted in a 
frantic half hour warning 

581
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:23,240
session, with the different 
drivers seemingly unpole every 

582
00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,960
minute before Jason Plato 
eventually secured top spot for 

583
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:29,360
Renault. 
The Englishman was among the 

584
00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:32,600
first to switch to slick tyres, 
bringing them up to temperature 

585
00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:34,760
during the closing stages of 
qualifying. 

586
00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:38,320
On the final lap, it became a 
straight shootout between his 

587
00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:41,360
Laguna and David Leslie in the 
Nissan Primera. 

588
00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:45,440
Scott was ahead at the halfway 
split, approaching Abbey only to

589
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,960
carry too much speed into the 
Priory left-hander, allowing 

590
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,880
Plato to snatch pull for the 
feature race by a narrow margin.

591
00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:56,080
Throughout the session we were 
working out the time we had 

592
00:31:56,080 --> 00:32:00,280
left, Plato told Autosport. 
Going out for my last run, I 

593
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,160
backed off to give myself some 
space and it worked absolutely. 

594
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:08,120
To plan the whole session was 
time to perfection by the team. 

595
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:11,280
Alex Jason mentions the team 
there. 

596
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:14,880
How much of A pole like that 
comes down to driver instinct 

597
00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:19,560
versus team strategy to get the 
driver on the right part of the 

598
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:23,680
track at the right time? 
It's just a it's just a mixture 

599
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:25,600
really isn't it? 
It's you've got to have the best

600
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:27,480
of both to get the result you 
want. 

601
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:31,720
The team have got to put the 
driver in the situation for him 

602
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:35,840
to get the best out of the car 
and the tyres and the timing of 

603
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:38,200
it all. 
It's very much a team effort 

604
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:42,080
and, and obviously that's why 
Jason is at pains to to praise 

605
00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:44,960
his team. 
But in fairness as well, he's 

606
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:47,400
got the best in the business at 
Williams Touring Car 

607
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,160
Engineering, hasn't he? 
You know, they've got they they 

608
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,200
they've just dominated the 
championship with the Laguna the

609
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:56,480
previous year there. 
It's basically a who's who of 

610
00:32:56,480 --> 00:33:01,800
touring cars running that, that 
that squad, a lot of them with a

611
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,400
lot of experience with F1 with 
Williams as well. 

612
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:09,920
So yeah, it's a crack team and 
they'll have set him up 

613
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:13,160
perfectly to get that lap time. 
But he's still got to go out 

614
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:14,760
there. 
As Glenn just said, he's got to 

615
00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:18,440
go out there and perform. 
And yeah, it's, it's it's, it's,

616
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:22,040
it's just a, it's just a good 
mix of of of the two. 

617
00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,080
The team have got to be right on
it and so is the driver. 

618
00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:27,680
And if one of them isn't, you're
not going to get the result you 

619
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:30,600
need. 
So yeah, fair play to Plato, who

620
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:34,040
pulled out of the lap at the 
right time, and fair play to the

621
00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:36,760
team to give him that 
opportunity to do so by putting 

622
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:38,200
him in the right place at the 
right time. 

623
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:43,240
Meanwhile, Honda's James 
Thompson made good on his 

624
00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:46,760
promise to be more competitive 
at this meeting, taking pole 

625
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:50,320
position for the Sprint race. 
Leslie would join Thompson on 

626
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,080
the front row and behind them 
Gianni Morbidelli would 

627
00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:57,360
outqualify his Volvo teammate 
and find himself on the 2nd row 

628
00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:01,920
of the grid alongside feature 
race pole sitter Plato Greg. 

629
00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:06,000
Impressive pace from Orbidelli 
considering his showing at 

630
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:11,000
Fruxton wasn't the farthest. 
Yeah, quite surprising actually 

631
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:12,560
in some ways. 
We talked about some of the F1 

632
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:14,880
drivers before, didn't we, who 
struggled in a tin top. 

633
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:18,320
Jonathan Palmer was another one.
I didn't throw his name into the

634
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:20,520
hat before, but he was one of 
the best examples, 

635
00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:22,400
unfortunately. 
Sorry Jonathan, if you're 

636
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,280
listening, but I guess more than
any new Silverstone, although 

637
00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:28,639
not the international, but 
obviously more of an F1 track 

638
00:34:28,639 --> 00:34:30,920
obviously than Thruxton, which 
is very bumpy. 

639
00:34:31,199 --> 00:34:32,600
Knew the car, knew the team 
better. 

640
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,440
But yeah, I don't know whether 
the conditions had much to play 

641
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,199
in that much of A part to play 
in that, but it was quite 

642
00:34:38,199 --> 00:34:40,600
surprising. 
And I think Rydell, you know, 

643
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:43,920
the master of the one lap, I 
think Rydell, I don't know if he

644
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,480
was the most poles from a Super 
Touring driver through the area,

645
00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:47,719
but he was certainly right up 
there. 

646
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:49,719
So yeah, you would not have 
expected that. 

647
00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:51,719
There was a good start. 
To be fair though, morbidly had 

648
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:53,800
a good qualifying for the first 
race. 

649
00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:56,360
I remember at Thruxton as well, 
I think he was on the 2nd row 

650
00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:58,400
there. 
So he was actually going quite 

651
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:01,520
well in terms of one lap pace 
early on in the season. 

652
00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:05,840
It was just stringing a race 
together with the chaotic nature

653
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:07,280
of the British touring car 
temperature. 

654
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:08,800
That was catching him out, 
wasn't it? 

655
00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:12,000
We we mentioned the season 
review earlier. 

656
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:16,720
I think morbidly is high points.
There were more of them than I 

657
00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:18,560
realised. 
With the help of. 

658
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,160
With help of. 
Alex's archive, I'm now more 

659
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:24,400
aware of bits that weren't in a 
season review that I was a year 

660
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:26,440
or two ago. 
But yeah, there were, there were

661
00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:28,720
decent morbidly qualifying 
performances. 

662
00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:30,600
There were flashes in some of 
the races. 

663
00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:34,040
I guess because the end result 
was rarely there, it didn't 

664
00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:36,360
really make it into the season 
review narrative. 

665
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:39,440
But yeah, he's one of those 
drivers who is no criticism of 

666
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:42,920
the review, but he's done a 
disservice slightly because his 

667
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:46,160
his moments where he didn't look
completely off and completely 

668
00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:48,880
out of his depth in the British 
story Card Championship didn't 

669
00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:51,160
make it into the review. 
Yeah. 

670
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:52,960
And I can't help feeling 
sometimes, I don't know whether 

671
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,640
you guys agree that these F1 
drivers did have a target on 

672
00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:59,280
their back and they would have 
been taken out sometimes by a 

673
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:01,880
Tim Harvey or whoever who didn't
really give a damn. 

674
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:04,240
You know, they're not going to 
be beaten by these people coming

675
00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:05,720
in. 
And it does feel like they were 

676
00:36:05,720 --> 00:36:09,360
ganged up on sometimes. 
Well, look at what John told us 

677
00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:12,720
when we did our watch along with
him for Donnington 98. 

678
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:15,600
You know, he said as long as my 
art points out, there's no way 

679
00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:19,160
he's winning that day. 
Yeah, Sorry. 

680
00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:19,600
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

681
00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:25,960
About Nigel and very much. 
He said that you very much had 

682
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:29,000
that. 
He's not coming onto our turf 

683
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:30,800
and showing us up. 
Yeah. 

684
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:33,240
You know, Yeah, I think. 
A bit like a little bit like 

685
00:36:33,240 --> 00:36:37,640
when Shumi came back into F1 in 
2010 and we saw it several 

686
00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:38,800
times, didn't we? 
Yeah. 

687
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:40,960
People were not going to. 
They didn't give a damn. 

688
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:43,160
It was Michael Schumacher. 
They didn't care that they were 

689
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:45,320
not. 
In fact, even more so, they're 

690
00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:48,080
even more desperate to be to put
him in his place. 

691
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:54,680
Another surprise in the one Shot
showdown was another error from 

692
00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:58,560
reigning champion Ala Menu. 
He lost it at Beckett's, which 

693
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:02,160
was the second time this season 
he had messed up in the new 

694
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:06,040
qualifying rules. 
I ran wide over the curb at cops

695
00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:10,440
and maybe I got a little on the 
grassy side, got to Beckett's, 

696
00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:13,360
and as soon as I leaned on the 
left rear, that was it. 

697
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:19,840
Glenn Was it a surprise to see 
someone with the reputation and 

698
00:37:20,240 --> 00:37:23,880
generally the speed and 
consistency of menu to be 

699
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:27,880
struggling so much with this new
qualifying sets up? 

700
00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:33,000
Yeah, I think it was primarily 
because of the way he put his 97

701
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:38,120
season together. 
He'd been so methodical and you 

702
00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:40,680
could almost say like Alan 
Prost, like in the way that he'd

703
00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:42,440
gone about, he just didn't miss 
a beat. 

704
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,960
So you wouldn't expect him to be
the kind of guy who would come a

705
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:50,680
cropper by this new format. 
Obviously you could say quite 

706
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:53,560
small errors that you played 
quite a big penalty for, but 

707
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:56,200
that's the nature of one shot 
qualifying. 

708
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:59,080
I do wonder though if it's also 
a reflection the fact that 

709
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:01,760
Renault lost its advantage from 
the year before. 

710
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:06,920
I sort of feel that if we'd had 
one shot qualifying in 97, would

711
00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:10,760
he have been pushing that close 
to the limit if he knew that he 

712
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:14,040
had a bigger car advantage 
underneath him? 

713
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:18,280
So either he thinks I can go to 
98% and maybe still be on pole 

714
00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:20,880
or he thinks it's fine to be on 
the 2nd row of the grid because 

715
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:23,640
I'm going to win anyway. 
Whereas in 98, he maybe feels 

716
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:28,520
that he does have to go to 100%.
So I think there was maybe a bit

717
00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:31,200
of that as well. 
But as you guys have discussed 

718
00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:33,880
previously with Thruxton stuff 
where he got caught out there 

719
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:36,840
and as he said at the time, it 
was ideal for the championship. 

720
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:38,240
It's exactly what the 
championship wanted. 

721
00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:41,520
It wanted. 
It didn't want the independents 

722
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:44,960
or the the Peugeot's to be 
getting it wrong in in one shot.

723
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:47,760
Qualifying wanted big names down
the back of the grid having to 

724
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,520
make their way back through, and
menu gave Toka what it wanted at

725
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:54,120
the start of the year. 
The next shot was the 

726
00:38:54,120 --> 00:38:58,000
comparative lack of pace for the
points leader Ricard Riedel. 

727
00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:02,360
The double pole winner at 
Frogson was down 6th and 12th 

728
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:05,080
with his Volvo. 
He felt that he didn't have a 

729
00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:08,600
good lap in feature qualifying 
but was another that ran wide 

730
00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:11,280
during the one shot showdown for
the feature. 

731
00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:15,800
And finally a nod to a Van 
Miller got his Audi into 5th for

732
00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:19,040
the feature race, a position 
that the ALDI didn't really 

733
00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,320
deserve at this point in the 
season. 

734
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:27,600
On a damp day at Silverstone, 
the Crowns packed into the 

735
00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:31,400
circuit, undeterred by the 
conditions to watch the action 

736
00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:35,440
unfold at the start, David 
Leslie made a lightning getaway 

737
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,640
in the Nissan, beating James 
Thompson's Honda Accord into 

738
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:41,880
cops corner. 
I felt I had a slightly drier 

739
00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:44,000
line off the grid than James, 
said the Scott. 

740
00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:47,040
He didn't get his clutch 
operation quite as good as he 

741
00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:50,040
could, but I guess that's just 
experience for you. 

742
00:39:51,240 --> 00:39:54,640
Just behind, Peter Cox's race 
came to an end at the very first

743
00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:58,280
corner with his Accord getting 
beached into the cops travel 

744
00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:00,640
trap after contact with Yvonne 
Miller. 

745
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,920
This brought out the safety car 
for the first time in the 98 

746
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:09,320
season, Alex. 
Not the greatest first lap that 

747
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:13,960
Honda would ever have there. 
Well, what did you make of Cox 

748
00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:16,440
and Miller's incident? 
A racing incident there. 

749
00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:19,240
Yes. 
I just want to say first, 

750
00:40:19,240 --> 00:40:21,600
though, that when going back 
through the quotes when I was 

751
00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:25,240
researching this, how sassy 
David Leslie seemed to be this 

752
00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:27,880
weekend. 
He was, there's this one and 

753
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:29,600
there's another quote that's 
really quite sassy. 

754
00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:33,400
It's quite funny. 
But now As for the yeah, it was 

755
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:37,040
a racing incident, your typical 
first corner slippery 

756
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:39,240
conditions. 
Yeah, it was. 

757
00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:43,880
It was something or nothing, 
what he called it, right. 

758
00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:46,400
Just a simple first corner 
incident. 

759
00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:48,720
Nobody really to blame. 
It just happens. 

760
00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:52,920
However, I wonder if this was 
the start of the not so well 

761
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:56,800
known feud that went on between 
Peter Cox and Ivan Mueller 

762
00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:01,760
because those two by the 
midpoint of 1999 hated each 

763
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:07,680
other and it's not that well 
known it it peaked at the night 

764
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:10,680
race in 99 where they literally 
started swearing each other in 

765
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:15,080
the post race press conference. 
But I wonder if this was the 

766
00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:17,760
start of it all. 
I might not have been, I don't 

767
00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:20,520
know. 
But yeah, these two did not get 

768
00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:23,040
on. 
So I wonder if this was the the 

769
00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:27,080
first signs of, of of the the 
downfall in the relationship. 

770
00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:30,960
But a complete racing incident. 
No, no apportion to be blamed. 

771
00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:34,560
Yeah, Peter Cox, though it's 
always seems to be Peter Cox, 

772
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:38,520
didn't they? 
Yeah, especially in 98 I, I 

773
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:40,720
think the racing incident, 
because it's lap one. 

774
00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:45,160
If, if, if, if you make a move 
like that later in the race, 

775
00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:48,760
it's maybe clearly that you're 
not far enough alongside. 

776
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:51,440
But on lap one, you're entitled 
to be there, and you can't 

777
00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:53,680
vanish when it suddenly looks 
like the guy's not going to give

778
00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:56,160
you space. 
Yeah, and also coming back to 

779
00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:59,080
that Snetter 1099 press 
conference, Alex, I bet Mark 

780
00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:02,200
Fogarty loved that because he 
used to try and stoke the fire 

781
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:04,120
anyway, didn't he? 
He would, absolutely. 

782
00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:07,760
Love that. 
Yeah, absolutely. 

783
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:11,680
Yeah, and The thing is, what we 
do, we're going quite off topic 

784
00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:14,680
here, but what made that really 
quite funny was that it wasn't 

785
00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:19,240
even involving Peter Cox anyway.
It was about, it was about when 

786
00:42:19,240 --> 00:42:24,080
Muller went into the side of 
Thompson at the bum hole and 

787
00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:26,200
Muller said something like I 
don't mind because it was 

788
00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:28,400
Thompson. 
That's it, however. 

789
00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:31,240
If it had been the other idiot 
in the other Honda, I would have

790
00:42:31,240 --> 00:42:31,720
been. 
Really. 

791
00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:38,560
Brilliant. 
To be fair, as great a talent he

792
00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:41,800
was, Mueller doesn't seem to be 
very well liked by many of his 

793
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:45,640
contemporaries, does he? 
Mueller didn't take prisoners, 

794
00:42:45,720 --> 00:42:48,280
from what I know, from what I 
can gather. 

795
00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:50,800
It's not your job to be liked, 
is it? 

796
00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:52,440
It's your job to win, true. 
Yeah, true. 

797
00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:53,640
Yeah, true. 
And Mueller? 

798
00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:55,720
The BTCC was great for that as 
well, wasn't it? 

799
00:42:55,720 --> 00:42:57,400
We needed villains. 
We needed a revival. 

800
00:42:57,400 --> 00:42:59,800
Yeah, or a mother, you know, 
that's something I think. 

801
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,120
Well, Glenn, you're working in 
F1, you know better than me. 

802
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:04,400
But sometimes it feels like 
everyone's a bit too lovely, 

803
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:07,320
dovey and friendly these days. 
Definitely these days, yeah. 

804
00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:09,240
We need more arguments, more 
falling doubt. 

805
00:43:09,240 --> 00:43:13,320
I'm all for it. 
That first lap featured a great 

806
00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:16,800
battle between Will Hoy who 
jumped up to 5th from the start,

807
00:43:17,240 --> 00:43:19,600
Derek Warwick and Gianni 
Morbidelli. 

808
00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:24,040
Greg a great little opening that
battle between the three there 

809
00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:26,800
to serve up a great start to the
race. 

810
00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:30,920
Yeah, I think as well, more than
anything, that and all the 

811
00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:33,120
qualifying stuff we just talked 
about, it showed how close 

812
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:35,120
things were, didn't it? 
At this point of the season, you

813
00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:38,040
know who really did have the 
best car driver package? 

814
00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:41,080
I'm not sure anyone did because 
we went to different circuits. 

815
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,000
I'm sure anyone listening to 
this will know by now that we 

816
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:46,560
ended up having five different 
winners in five different cars 

817
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:50,160
from the first five races. 
With these new regulations, you 

818
00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:51,960
have to start from the back 
because of problems in 

819
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:54,160
qualifying. 
As we've just said, it showed 

820
00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:58,000
how close it was, how important 
qualifying was and it was on a 

821
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:00,520
knife edge wasn't it? 
As Glenn has said, it's exactly 

822
00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:03,680
what the organisers wanted. 
They wanted it completely blown 

823
00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:05,920
wide open and with the help of 
the rain as well, it's what we 

824
00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:07,760
got. 
It was perfect, really. 

825
00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:11,080
That start by Will Hoy is 
incredible. 

826
00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:14,160
Yeah, if you watch it, he's 
flying. 

827
00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:16,840
Yeah, absolutely. 
Shooting out on the outside. 

828
00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:21,240
Yeah, yeah, that's it. 
Incredible start and fair play. 

829
00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:24,640
We talk about the Will Hoy and 
the the the pace in the wet. 

830
00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:30,160
This was OK, it was damp, it 
wasn't don't bone dry, but we'll

831
00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:33,160
still had pace this weekend in 
drier conditions than the second

832
00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:39,720
race showed, you know. 
Reigning champion Alan Knew, 

833
00:44:39,720 --> 00:44:42,880
meanwhile, was out after a 
collision with Matt Neil in the 

834
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:46,040
complex. 
Neil was not far behind, with 

835
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:48,520
both drivers seemingly blaming 
each other. 

836
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:51,760
Guys, what did you all make of 
that incident? 

837
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:55,240
A few comments that it was 
another example of menu 

838
00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:57,960
struggling to race wheel to 
wheel in the pack. 

839
00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:02,400
Following is is pretty dominant 
97 Alex, let's start with you. 

840
00:45:03,520 --> 00:45:06,440
I mean, that's I, I don't agree 
with that. 

841
00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:11,520
I mean, Alan didn't struggle 
previously to 97 to race in the 

842
00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:13,360
pack. 
So he wouldn't have lost that. 

843
00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:17,800
He probably would have been a 
lot more frustrated that the 

844
00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:22,840
Renault had lost some of its 
edge compared to its its rivals.

845
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:25,000
But. 
Yeah. 

846
00:45:26,240 --> 00:45:31,840
It's a funny 1, isn't it? 
It, it, it, it's like, I don't 

847
00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:37,080
know, I can't put a finger on it
as to why Alan did seem to just 

848
00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:41,400
have a miserable 98. 
He either was brilliant and 

849
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:44,920
dominant and won races, or he 
seemed to just be getting 

850
00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:48,720
embroiled in battles that he 
probably didn't need to get 

851
00:45:48,720 --> 00:45:53,000
involved in. 
This one I think was just again,

852
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:56,080
a nature of the slippery 
conditions. 

853
00:45:56,080 --> 00:46:01,480
It was just, yeah, he sort of 
slipped into into Matt, didn't 

854
00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:03,480
he? 
And Matt had that pendulum 

855
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:06,120
effect that meant he cannoned 
back. 

856
00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:08,800
You know, it's a big hit. 
Actually, if you notice the in 

857
00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:12,120
car camera, it moves. 
So it was, it was a it was a, it

858
00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:17,200
was a big, a big wallop. 
But he probably didn't like the 

859
00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:19,920
fact he was racing independent 
in the 1st place as well. 

860
00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:22,760
There is that. 
I can imagine that a few of the 

861
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:27,760
drivers had this arrogance 
towards the independence. 

862
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:29,680
I should not be racing against 
people like you. 

863
00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:33,400
I'm paid to race here. 
Do you know what I mean? 

864
00:46:34,840 --> 00:46:38,360
Warwick used to mention that a 
lot in his post race interviews.

865
00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:41,320
He'd always say like I'm, I'm 
battling with the independence. 

866
00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:42,720
I'm not here to do that sort of 
thing. 

867
00:46:44,240 --> 00:46:46,000
His employer would agreed. 
Yeah. 

868
00:46:46,960 --> 00:46:49,840
Very true. 
But yeah, I, I don't know, it 

869
00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:54,600
was a funny one, but yeah, just 
another sign of Alan's 

870
00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:56,240
frustration. 
Maybe I I don't know. 

871
00:46:56,240 --> 00:46:59,680
But as a, as an incident itself,
I think it was just a recent 

872
00:46:59,680 --> 00:47:03,760
incident. 
I don't think there was blamed 

873
00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:06,520
to be apportioned on either 
side. 

874
00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:09,200
It was just unlucky. 
It was unlucky that Matt got 

875
00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:13,720
caught and got caught, caught 
it, but then swung back the 

876
00:47:13,720 --> 00:47:17,240
other way. 
Alan probably didn't know that. 

877
00:47:17,240 --> 00:47:19,360
He probably just thought that 
Matt drove into him. 

878
00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:22,440
So when he's interviewed and 
he's moaning about it, he's 

879
00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:25,520
probably not seen it. 
So his opinion, I'm sure, would 

880
00:47:25,520 --> 00:47:26,920
have changed when he saw the 
incident. 

881
00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:30,840
So yeah. 
That's my favourite thing about 

882
00:47:30,840 --> 00:47:33,600
this is the interviews 
afterwards or they both accuse 

883
00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:37,160
the other of basically driving 
back into them on purpose when 

884
00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:40,280
in fact it's just it's the 
dynamics of what happens had no 

885
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:43,560
pun intended. 
When a touring car gets put in 

886
00:47:43,560 --> 00:47:46,600
that situation, Matt does what 
he has to do, which is boot the 

887
00:47:46,600 --> 00:47:48,280
throttle to bring the car back 
round. 

888
00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:52,520
The pendulum effect happens and 
Menu thinks that Matt's 

889
00:47:52,520 --> 00:47:55,280
basically booted the throttle 
and turned left into him, which 

890
00:47:55,280 --> 00:47:57,160
is not true. 
Neil's thinking, well, I'm 

891
00:47:57,160 --> 00:48:00,200
catching this and then he's 
driven across on the right to me

892
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:03,040
when actually Menus pretty much 
held his line and Matt in 

893
00:48:03,040 --> 00:48:05,160
catching the moment. 
It just needed a bit more space.

894
00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:08,520
So they both end up in on the 
wanting the same bit of track, 

895
00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:11,320
but it's nobody's fault that 
they end up there. 

896
00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:15,320
And it's also, I think, a legacy
of the fact that these days, by 

897
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:18,920
the time you get back to the 
garage, your team have seen have

898
00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:21,320
seen it on live footage, which 
they wouldn't have had at the 

899
00:48:21,320 --> 00:48:22,960
time. 
Someone's got it on their phone,

900
00:48:22,960 --> 00:48:24,440
someone shows it to you 
immediately. 

901
00:48:24,560 --> 00:48:27,160
These guys probably went to bed 
that night still not really 

902
00:48:27,160 --> 00:48:29,800
knowing what had happened 
because the footage wasn't just 

903
00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:31,800
that readily available. 
So it just shows what a 

904
00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:34,160
different world it was. 
Yeah, that's true actually, 

905
00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:38,040
because when we've talked with 
Steve Super and John Cleland 

906
00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:43,760
about 92 and that infamous 
finale at Silverstone, Steve 

907
00:48:43,760 --> 00:48:47,880
said the first thing he did on 
the Monday was ring up BHP Barry

908
00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:50,400
Hinchliffe Productions and say, 
right, I want all the tapes. 

909
00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:54,560
So you're right, he won't have 
seen any of his incident until 

910
00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:57,720
the tapes were given to him. 
So yeah, it's probably a similar

911
00:48:57,720 --> 00:49:00,560
thing in in at this point. 
Yeah, it's funny to think how 

912
00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:02,040
the technology will have changed
that. 

913
00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:05,280
Yeah, I completely agree with 
everything you've all just said.

914
00:49:05,280 --> 00:49:07,880
I do think that there was an 
element of menu being asked to 

915
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:12,360
practise at accepting 
responsibility and or defeat and

916
00:49:12,360 --> 00:49:15,400
we've seen this before with 
Valentino Rossi on two wheels. 

917
00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:19,800
Definitely with Schumacher, 
sometimes they were in the right

918
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:21,720
but sometimes they were in the 
wrong and they just could not 

919
00:49:21,720 --> 00:49:23,200
accept it. 
Have you seen the interviews? 

920
00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:25,600
Derek Warwickster when he said 
Shumi got annoyed with him once 

921
00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:28,640
in sports cars in qualifying and
swiped across him. 

922
00:49:28,640 --> 00:49:30,920
I think it was at the 
Nurburgring once and took his 

923
00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:33,920
friend wheel off and he said he 
just could not look me in the 

924
00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:38,400
eye and accept the fact he'd 
done it on purpose or it was his

925
00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:39,800
fault. 
And Warrick had just lost his 

926
00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:41,200
brother hadn't he not long 
before? 

927
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:44,280
And he said these great 
champions are just so selfish 

928
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:47,040
and self centred, that's why 
they are so good, but they just 

929
00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:50,320
cannot accept. 
They may have slipped up, or 

930
00:49:50,320 --> 00:49:52,840
maybe they know they have, but 
they just will never admit it 

931
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:55,120
publicly. 
And I do think we had an element

932
00:49:55,120 --> 00:49:59,240
of that with Menu without Doubt.
Leslie remained completely 

933
00:49:59,240 --> 00:50:03,080
unfazed, bursting clear at the 
restart and quickly building a 

934
00:50:03,080 --> 00:50:07,960
1.6 second gap over Thompson as 
the track continued to dry. 

935
00:50:07,960 --> 00:50:12,080
His advantage only grew stronger
with his premiere having started

936
00:50:12,080 --> 00:50:15,680
on full dry settings. 
He explained decisively. 

937
00:50:15,840 --> 00:50:18,240
I made-up my mind on the setup 
very quickly. 

938
00:50:18,720 --> 00:50:22,520
That's why people employ me and 
my teammate Anthony Reed. 

939
00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:25,880
Cleanse. 
Some more sassy fighting talk 

940
00:50:26,040 --> 00:50:29,360
there from David, wasn't it? 
Yeah, this is the other sass 

941
00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:33,800
that we said was coming. 
I, I, I, I say rightly so. 

942
00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:35,800
Absolutely. 
If you put in a performance like

943
00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:39,320
he did here and you, you should 
take the credit for it. 

944
00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:45,160
It's a, it's a commanding Dr 
Looking back, I, I sort of 

945
00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:48,800
thought this was going to be 
Nissan and Leslie laying down a 

946
00:50:48,800 --> 00:50:52,600
marker for the season after a 
bit of a subdued opening 

947
00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:54,920
weekend. 
Obviously we got there in the 

948
00:50:54,960 --> 00:50:58,400
end, but it did take a bit 
longer than we perhaps expected 

949
00:50:58,400 --> 00:51:01,440
for Nissan to, to become 
consistent, to consistently 

950
00:51:01,440 --> 00:51:04,600
reach this sort of level. 
They, they couldn't quite hit 

951
00:51:04,600 --> 00:51:08,200
this sweet spot over and over 
again in the first half of the 

952
00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:10,480
season. 
And ultimately that that proved 

953
00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:12,760
really costly. 
I mean, they got it right in 99,

954
00:51:13,080 --> 00:51:16,760
but they it just took them a 
little bit too long to find to 

955
00:51:16,760 --> 00:51:19,400
find this sweet spot over and 
over again in 98. 

956
00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:24,800
Yeah, Leslie was appallingly 
inconsistent actually, wasn't he

957
00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:27,320
over a race meeting? 
He was the first twin 2 races. 

958
00:51:27,520 --> 00:51:29,800
Levi I think it was you, wasn't 
it in a recent episode of the 

959
00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:32,440
Super Touring years? 
Who said it wasn't until he the 

960
00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:36,320
was it Croft or Snitzen that he 
didn't even have two finishes in

961
00:51:36,320 --> 00:51:38,680
in the I love. 
That stat I couldn't. 

962
00:51:38,680 --> 00:51:41,160
Believe that. 
It's bizarre that, isn't it. 

963
00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:45,840
Yeah, just a crazy lack of 
consistency, wasn't it? 

964
00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:48,200
But there's also. 
You wouldn't expect it from 

965
00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:49,840
David. 
Sorry, Alex, you wouldn't expect

966
00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:52,720
it from David, would you? 
Because he was usually bang on 

967
00:51:52,720 --> 00:51:55,040
consistent. 
Yeah, but you look at the first 

968
00:51:55,040 --> 00:51:57,600
half of the year as well and 
David Leslie is doing all the 

969
00:51:57,600 --> 00:52:00,800
winning for Nissan. 
It's not until round 12 where 

970
00:52:00,800 --> 00:52:03,960
Reed actually wins round 11, 
sorry, where Reed wins his first

971
00:52:03,960 --> 00:52:07,760
race and then goes on that run. 
If you looked at the standings 

972
00:52:07,760 --> 00:52:12,120
at Donnington in a couple of 
rounds time here now, you would 

973
00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:14,720
never look at Reed and go, oh, 
he's going to be the challenger.

974
00:52:15,280 --> 00:52:19,240
It's it's a funny year for this 
and it's really topsy turvy. 

975
00:52:19,840 --> 00:52:22,480
The only problem for Leslie, 
though, is that if he wasn't in 

976
00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:24,440
the pit, if he wasn't winning, 
he was either in the kit, in the

977
00:52:24,440 --> 00:52:27,160
pits with a mechanical, or in a 
gravel trap somewhere. 

978
00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:29,920
Yeah, yeah. 
As Leslie pulled away, the 

979
00:52:29,920 --> 00:52:33,440
battle for fifth was getting 
even more intense with the 2 

980
00:52:33,440 --> 00:52:37,160
Volvo's getting past Wilhoi with
the likes of Cleland and Reed 

981
00:52:37,160 --> 00:52:41,200
also joining in Alex. 
It's a really great midfield 

982
00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:45,520
battle going on and a real shot 
in the arm for Ford after just a

983
00:52:45,520 --> 00:52:48,760
really barren few years for the 
Blue Oval, wasn't it? 

984
00:52:49,600 --> 00:52:53,280
Yeah, I mean, you look back at 
the in 96 and that was really 

985
00:52:53,280 --> 00:52:57,640
the worst year when they had 
barely anything to they had no, 

986
00:52:57,920 --> 00:53:00,600
they had no performance, they 
had no reliability. 

987
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:05,760
It was a an absolute shit show 
for for Ford in 96 and a real 

988
00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:09,320
really tough year to make their 
debut for W Surrey. 

989
00:53:09,800 --> 00:53:14,800
Things improved in 97 with the 
the Mark 2 Mondeo, but it did 

990
00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:17,040
seem to be getting better. 
As I mentioned at the start, 

991
00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:21,560
Will was quick in practise, Will
was quick in qualifying and that

992
00:53:21,560 --> 00:53:25,480
wasn't in the wet conditions 
that we grew so accustomed to 

993
00:53:25,480 --> 00:53:29,760
afford doing well in. 
So it did have pace at times. 

994
00:53:29,760 --> 00:53:35,040
It didn't always show it, but it
wasn't it wasn't a bad a car as 

995
00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:37,640
some people maybe try and 
remember. 

996
00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:42,200
But it was great to have Ford 
and as you said, you had Cleland

997
00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:46,440
and Warwick joining in. 
It was good to have Vauxhall, 

998
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:50,360
you know, Vauxhall the the the 
past champions, you know, 

999
00:53:50,360 --> 00:53:54,600
Cleland double champion done so 
much in the championship. 

1000
00:53:55,040 --> 00:53:59,760
It was good to have them back up
fighting and competitive because

1001
00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:02,520
it was good for the championship
to have more manufacturers, 

1002
00:54:02,520 --> 00:54:05,240
especially ones that were 
stalwarts of the championship 

1003
00:54:05,240 --> 00:54:09,160
like Vauxhall and Ford. 
You know, ultimately, if they 

1004
00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:14,120
had kept at at the uncompetitive
level they were showing, would 

1005
00:54:14,120 --> 00:54:16,000
they have remained for as long 
as they did? 

1006
00:54:16,080 --> 00:54:18,600
Vauxhall stayed for years after 
the Super Touring year, didn't 

1007
00:54:18,600 --> 00:54:20,960
they? 
You know, so it was good for the

1008
00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:25,400
championship that they were more
manufacturers and more drivers 

1009
00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:30,720
fighting in that midfield. 
And apart from Peugeot, pretty 

1010
00:54:30,720 --> 00:54:34,400
much everyone had their day at 
some point in the 98 season. 

1011
00:54:34,600 --> 00:54:37,520
OK, Audi didn't win a race, but 
Muller certainly got the car on 

1012
00:54:37,520 --> 00:54:39,440
the podium a few times toward 
the end of the year. 

1013
00:54:42,520 --> 00:54:46,240
Further back, Rob Gravitt was in
hot water with Craig Baird, who 

1014
00:54:46,240 --> 00:54:49,360
felt that Rob ruined his race by
hitting him up at Abbey. 

1015
00:54:50,080 --> 00:54:51,800
Greg, what are your thoughts on 
that one? 

1016
00:54:53,920 --> 00:54:57,560
Thought we on the spot. 
My thoughts are it seems like 

1017
00:54:57,560 --> 00:55:00,080
Rob Grantley, it wasn't very 
popular with these fellow 

1018
00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:02,040
drivers. 
A little bit like Mueller 

1019
00:55:02,040 --> 00:55:04,320
really. 
Charlie Cox actually says in the

1020
00:55:04,320 --> 00:55:06,680
commentary, doesn't he, that I 
understand completely how he 

1021
00:55:06,680 --> 00:55:08,800
feels because Rob did the same 
thing to me at that Abbey 

1022
00:55:08,800 --> 00:55:10,920
airpin. 
I think it was back in 95, 

1023
00:55:10,920 --> 00:55:13,280
wasn't it, when Charlie was in 
his Monday as an independent? 

1024
00:55:14,320 --> 00:55:18,120
Obviously Rob, he's a fantastic 
driver, was the series champion 

1025
00:55:18,120 --> 00:55:21,360
in 1990 pre super soaring, 
obviously in the Sierra. 

1026
00:55:21,760 --> 00:55:24,720
But yeah, he just seemed to be 
maybe a bit like Matt Neil. 

1027
00:55:24,720 --> 00:55:27,240
They got quite excited to be 
fighting with the works drivers 

1028
00:55:27,240 --> 00:55:28,680
and maybe got a bit giddy at 
times. 

1029
00:55:28,680 --> 00:55:31,200
And it was obviously just a bad 
error, wasn't it from Rob? 

1030
00:55:31,200 --> 00:55:32,560
I'm sure it wasn't done on 
purpose. 

1031
00:55:32,880 --> 00:55:36,400
No, no, it was. 
It was a feral wallop though, to

1032
00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:38,080
be fair. 
Yeah, it was. 

1033
00:55:38,080 --> 00:55:40,880
Yeah, it was a bad. 
It was a bit like what Reid did 

1034
00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:43,760
to Thompson, isn't it? 
At the same corner at the final 

1035
00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:47,440
event like in the? 
In the closing laps, Leslie held

1036
00:55:47,440 --> 00:55:50,920
a comfortable lead, but 
Thompson's grip on 2nd place 

1037
00:55:50,920 --> 00:55:53,880
came under pressure from Plato 
in the remaining Renault. 

1038
00:55:54,680 --> 00:55:57,800
Over the final couple of laps, 
Thompson was forced onto the 

1039
00:55:57,800 --> 00:56:00,520
defensive. 
Reflecting on the battle, the 

1040
00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:04,160
Renault driver admitted James 
drives a very wide car. 

1041
00:56:04,440 --> 00:56:07,440
He's a professional guy and he 
knows where to place it. 

1042
00:56:08,680 --> 00:56:14,160
Further back Derek Warwick's 
accord his burst Further back 

1043
00:56:14,160 --> 00:56:18,160
Derek Warwick secured his best 
ever BTCC result, finishing 

1044
00:56:18,160 --> 00:56:22,200
fourth in the Vauxhall Vectra. 
The former F1 driver had lined 

1045
00:56:22,200 --> 00:56:25,680
up on the grid with two new 
tyres after suffering A puncture

1046
00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:29,360
during the warm up, and he had 
inadvertently held up the field 

1047
00:56:29,400 --> 00:56:31,160
while bringing them up to 
temperature. 

1048
00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:34,440
Glen nicer. 
See Warwick getting closer to 

1049
00:56:34,440 --> 00:56:36,640
the front of the BTCC pack, 
isn't it? 

1050
00:56:37,440 --> 00:56:39,440
Yeah, definitely. 
Kind of coming back to what we 

1051
00:56:39,440 --> 00:56:43,360
said earlier about the fact that
so many F1 drivers struggled and

1052
00:56:43,360 --> 00:56:46,320
a lot of them got cast off 
before they had the chance to 

1053
00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:49,800
maybe turn it around. 
So it's good that Warwick got to

1054
00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:54,600
show a few glimmers of getting a
hang of it in 98. 

1055
00:56:54,600 --> 00:56:58,400
But to, to echo what Alex said, 
the big thing for me it was over

1056
00:56:58,400 --> 00:57:01,160
these first two weekends was it 
was good to see the Voxel were 

1057
00:57:01,160 --> 00:57:05,400
back after that miserable 97. 
You know, we're not we're not 

1058
00:57:05,400 --> 00:57:08,760
back to the levels we've seen or
expected from Voxel in the first

1059
00:57:08,760 --> 00:57:11,840
half of the decade, but it felt 
like they were making themselves

1060
00:57:11,840 --> 00:57:14,200
a factor again. 
So yeah, it was good to see 

1061
00:57:14,200 --> 00:57:16,800
Warwick up there, but it was 
good to see Warwick and Cleland 

1062
00:57:17,040 --> 00:57:20,080
were able to mix it and fight 
for kind of points positions 

1063
00:57:20,080 --> 00:57:24,600
that felt like they mattered. 
Yeah, I always, when I was 

1064
00:57:24,600 --> 00:57:27,840
younger and when I was watching 
Super Touring at the time, I 

1065
00:57:27,840 --> 00:57:31,880
always saw Warwick as a, a bit 
of a figure of fun because he 

1066
00:57:31,880 --> 00:57:34,280
was always getting caught. 
You know, even Charlie Cox used 

1067
00:57:34,280 --> 00:57:36,920
to call it the, the patented 
Derek Warwick battering ram. 

1068
00:57:37,320 --> 00:57:40,040
It was always something going on
with with Derek. 

1069
00:57:40,040 --> 00:57:45,320
And I, yeah, I feel bad now 
because he's such a lovely fella

1070
00:57:45,520 --> 00:57:49,400
and he's such a, you know, he 
put so much effort into this, 

1071
00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:54,000
this championship because 
obviously he was involved in the

1072
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:57,120
team itself. 
He wasn't just driver, he was 

1073
00:57:57,120 --> 00:58:00,200
also driver, manager, team owner
and when he left the 

1074
00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:02,960
championship as a driver at the 
end of this year, he then 

1075
00:58:02,960 --> 00:58:06,000
continued to be the principal, 
team principal for, for Vauxhall

1076
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:09,520
for many years. 
And, and AAA went and done, went

1077
00:58:09,520 --> 00:58:13,680
and did so much good for the 
championship after Super Touring

1078
00:58:14,080 --> 00:58:16,400
that I always feel a bit bad 
because he's a really, really 

1079
00:58:16,400 --> 00:58:19,240
nice chap. 
But he was a bit of a figure of 

1080
00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:24,040
fun at times during this era. 
So it's good to see him doing 

1081
00:58:24,040 --> 00:58:26,960
well and and and fighting up at 
the sharp end. 

1082
00:58:27,560 --> 00:58:29,040
Yeah, I would just throw that in
as well. 

1083
00:58:29,320 --> 00:58:33,120
Without doubt one of the nicest 
people in motor racing, Derek 

1084
00:58:33,120 --> 00:58:35,160
Warwick. 
So unfortunately he never really

1085
00:58:35,160 --> 00:58:37,560
seemed to be in the right place 
at the right time. 

1086
00:58:37,560 --> 00:58:38,960
Did he? 
All through his F1 career? 

1087
00:58:39,160 --> 00:58:40,920
Should have won an F1 Grand 
Prix, really. 

1088
00:58:41,000 --> 00:58:42,760
Yeah, I think he came close 
once. 

1089
00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:44,640
I think he was about to take the
lead in one of the races in 

1090
00:58:44,640 --> 00:58:48,680
America and spun just as he was 
taking the lead from somebody. 

1091
00:58:48,680 --> 00:58:52,360
I'm trying to remember where it 
was now, but yeah, lovely man. 

1092
00:58:52,360 --> 00:58:54,680
And if it was for being a nice 
person, he should have had many 

1093
00:58:54,680 --> 00:58:57,040
more races, shouldn't he? 
But yeah, it was nice. 

1094
00:58:57,040 --> 00:58:59,080
We saw some flashes of 
brilliance and it was also nice 

1095
00:58:59,080 --> 00:59:02,560
we saw him ahead of Clarence for
a while, who obviously was a 

1096
00:59:02,560 --> 00:59:04,840
double champion. 
So it's nice to see Warwick sort

1097
00:59:04,840 --> 00:59:07,040
of flying the flag for Vauxhall 
there. 

1098
00:59:09,640 --> 00:59:12,800
Behind him, Gianni Malboderi 
Volvo initially applied 

1099
00:59:12,800 --> 00:59:16,840
pressure, but when the Italian 
began experiencing fraud issues 

1100
00:59:17,200 --> 00:59:20,520
along with an engine running 
effectively on just two of its 

1101
00:59:20,520 --> 00:59:24,080
five cylinders, it was Rydell's 
sister car that mounted the 

1102
00:59:24,080 --> 00:59:27,040
challenge. 
Instead, Morbidelli ultimately 

1103
00:59:27,040 --> 00:59:30,320
slipped down to 8th place, 
finishing behind John Cleland 

1104
00:59:31,200 --> 00:59:32,720
Alex. 
Despite the issue, that was 

1105
00:59:32,880 --> 00:59:37,320
still a strong showing from Jani
after a pretty miserable day of 

1106
00:59:37,320 --> 00:59:39,640
here at Frogston. 
Yeah. 

1107
00:59:39,680 --> 00:59:41,480
I mean, we've, we've kind of 
touched on it already. 

1108
00:59:41,480 --> 00:59:46,760
As Glenn said, Jani Mobideli 
showed a lot more pace and a lot

1109
00:59:46,760 --> 00:59:50,480
more promise than people will 
probably remember because of the

1110
00:59:50,480 --> 00:59:55,080
season review. 
But he did have his show. 

1111
00:59:55,080 --> 00:59:57,920
There were showings where you 
thought actually, you know, 

1112
00:59:57,920 --> 01:00:02,680
there's a tidy Super Touring tin
top driver in here, especially 

1113
01:00:02,680 --> 01:00:05,640
in qualifying. 
And as we've already touched on,

1114
01:00:05,640 --> 01:00:09,680
maybe the hustle and bustle of 
touring car racing, particularly

1115
01:00:09,680 --> 01:00:13,240
in this era, probably didn't 
suit. 

1116
01:00:14,320 --> 01:00:17,200
We could again, because we could
then attribute that to Derek 

1117
01:00:17,200 --> 01:00:21,120
Warwick a bit, who didn't like 
the hustle and bustle of it 

1118
01:00:21,120 --> 01:00:23,200
either. 
You know, he used to complain or

1119
01:00:23,200 --> 01:00:26,240
used to compare it sorry to to, 
you know, or if I was in a Grand

1120
01:00:26,240 --> 01:00:29,560
Prix car, I'd turn over and I I 
remember always thinking, yeah, 

1121
01:00:29,560 --> 01:00:34,360
but you're not, you know, and I 
think that probably applies to 

1122
01:00:34,360 --> 01:00:37,680
Morbid daily a bit as well. 
But no, it was a great showing. 

1123
01:00:37,680 --> 01:00:40,560
And until he had his issues, I 
didn't. 

1124
01:00:40,640 --> 01:00:45,160
I don't think Ryder would have 
got passed on pace because, you 

1125
01:00:45,160 --> 01:00:47,880
know, you know, he was showing 
just as every bit just as every 

1126
01:00:47,880 --> 01:00:51,760
bit as quick as Rydell was. 
And yeah, running at the front 

1127
01:00:52,960 --> 01:00:57,040
in in fairness to him, as as 
Greg said earlier in in in the 

1128
01:00:57,040 --> 01:01:00,440
show, he did qualify well at 
Thruxton. 

1129
01:01:00,720 --> 01:01:02,080
I think he was. 
I think you're right. 

1130
01:01:02,080 --> 01:01:06,440
He was fourth on the grid. 
Yeah, but again, in the race 

1131
01:01:06,440 --> 01:01:09,320
dropped back and ended up 
tangling with Craig Beard at 

1132
01:01:09,320 --> 01:01:14,360
club. 
But no, good to see that again. 

1133
01:01:15,040 --> 01:01:17,440
I look back at Johnny Bobodale 
and think, well, he didn't do 

1134
01:01:17,440 --> 01:01:19,440
much, did he? 
But actually, when you sit down 

1135
01:01:19,440 --> 01:01:22,240
and look at it, he did he. 
There were moments where he had 

1136
01:01:22,560 --> 01:01:25,320
genuine pace. 
Yeah, we shouldn't underestimate

1137
01:01:25,320 --> 01:01:28,800
either how tricky it is to learn
the British circuits, especially

1138
01:01:28,800 --> 01:01:31,280
if we're getting strivers who've
been on them for years. 

1139
01:01:31,280 --> 01:01:33,800
You know the John Clellons of 
this well, it's a shame really 

1140
01:01:33,800 --> 01:01:35,120
that he didn't get a second 
season. 

1141
01:01:35,120 --> 01:01:37,360
And the same with John 
Christophe on a year later. 

1142
01:01:37,600 --> 01:01:39,520
It would have been interesting 
to see what they could have done

1143
01:01:39,520 --> 01:01:44,240
in a second season of the BTCC. 
Well Greg, you and I have spoke 

1144
01:01:44,240 --> 01:01:49,520
to have spoken to Laura Aiello 
about this and his reaction when

1145
01:01:49,520 --> 01:01:51,400
he first stepped foot at Knock 
Hill. 

1146
01:01:52,680 --> 01:01:55,720
Yes. 
What? 

1147
01:01:56,880 --> 01:01:57,640
Yeah. 
You know. 

1148
01:01:57,760 --> 01:01:59,440
Yeah. 
So, yeah, British tracks. 

1149
01:01:59,440 --> 01:02:01,720
Very, very unique. 
Very unique. 

1150
01:02:02,000 --> 01:02:05,480
Yeah, and that's why people like
Aiello, Winkle, Hawk and Co were

1151
01:02:05,480 --> 01:02:09,520
so impressive, isn't it really? 
Because to be honest, Sopa and 

1152
01:02:09,520 --> 01:02:11,800
Leslie probably should have won 
those titles when their 

1153
01:02:11,800 --> 01:02:14,800
teammates won the, you know, 
learning faces like Alton Park 

1154
01:02:15,320 --> 01:02:17,960
and Knock Hill, like you say. 
I mean, that's tricky. 

1155
01:02:18,200 --> 01:02:19,400
Very tricky. 
Yeah. 

1156
01:02:22,080 --> 01:02:26,080
Upfront, it was to be Nissan's 
first win since Keefy Door took 

1157
01:02:26,080 --> 01:02:30,600
victory at Silverstone in 1993, 
with Leslie taking a dominant 

1158
01:02:30,600 --> 01:02:35,880
victory by over 6 seconds. 
Greg A richly deserved win for 

1159
01:02:35,880 --> 01:02:38,040
Leslie, RML and Nissan wasn't 
it. 

1160
01:02:39,080 --> 01:02:40,880
Yeah, really, really was, wasn't
it? 

1161
01:02:40,880 --> 01:02:44,480
And the start with Key, as we 
said, it was so close, you know,

1162
01:02:44,720 --> 01:02:47,040
it's not the easiest place to 
pass either is or wasn't the 

1163
01:02:47,040 --> 01:02:51,160
Silverstone International 
Service fast flowing pops have 

1164
01:02:51,160 --> 01:02:54,800
been opened up, hadn't it for 97
after it was closed up after the

1165
01:02:54,800 --> 01:02:58,080
centre accident, but then was 
opened up again for 97. 

1166
01:02:58,080 --> 01:03:00,000
So it was a fast flowing 
quarterback, quite difficult. 

1167
01:03:00,080 --> 01:03:03,720
No real major heavy breaking 
zones apart from Abbey. 

1168
01:03:04,200 --> 01:03:07,360
So it's not the easiest place to
pass to the start with Key and 

1169
01:03:07,360 --> 01:03:08,600
and Leslie got it all right, 
didn't he? 

1170
01:03:08,600 --> 01:03:11,480
Great start, great restart and 
just kept his head while there 

1171
01:03:11,480 --> 01:03:14,320
was a lot of chaos behind. 
But all that hard work from 

1172
01:03:14,320 --> 01:03:18,240
Nissan was paying off wasn't it?
Towards the end of 97 and they'd

1173
01:03:18,240 --> 01:03:20,840
also done a load of development.
Where hadn't they since Thruxton

1174
01:03:21,200 --> 01:03:25,000
and before Silverstone? 
Yes, Yeah, yeah, they had, yeah.

1175
01:03:29,040 --> 01:03:31,560
Following the opening race, 
which delivered a third 

1176
01:03:31,560 --> 01:03:34,520
different winner in as many 
rounds, the drivers began 

1177
01:03:34,520 --> 01:03:37,800
assembling on the grid for the 
afternoon's second contest, the 

1178
01:03:37,800 --> 01:03:41,080
feature race. 
As the field lined up, rain 

1179
01:03:41,080 --> 01:03:44,720
began to fall and the race was 
officially declared a wet race 

1180
01:03:44,720 --> 01:03:48,800
moments before the start. 
It was a cleaner start this time

1181
01:03:48,800 --> 01:03:52,000
around, as Plato took advantage 
of his pole position to lead 

1182
01:03:52,000 --> 01:03:54,640
into Cops. 
It was Thompson who emerged 

1183
01:03:54,640 --> 01:03:57,480
second when Leslie and Menu 
ended up colliding with each 

1184
01:03:57,480 --> 01:04:01,320
other three times from the run 
of Abbey up to Bridge. 

1185
01:04:05,040 --> 01:04:08,800
Menu was out on the spot, with 
Leslie carrying on at a very 

1186
01:04:08,800 --> 01:04:12,600
slow pace. 
Gentlemen, what did you think of

1187
01:04:12,600 --> 01:04:16,360
that sequence at events? 
It was all quite messy, wasn't 

1188
01:04:16,400 --> 01:04:17,760
it? 
Glenn, we'll start with you. 

1189
01:04:18,160 --> 01:04:21,880
What did you make of that one? 
I've watched this back so many 

1190
01:04:21,880 --> 01:04:26,720
times to try to form an opinion 
about it and I've kind of ended 

1191
01:04:26,720 --> 01:04:29,720
up at the point I'm going to use
one of my favourite Murray 

1192
01:04:29,720 --> 01:04:32,400
Walker quotes from when I first 
started watching F1, which is 

1193
01:04:32,400 --> 01:04:36,200
one time I heard him say 3 into 
1 doesn't go and we end up with 

1194
01:04:36,200 --> 01:04:38,960
that situation. 
Obviously because I think Leslie

1195
01:04:38,960 --> 01:04:43,280
gets out of shape Abby and 
without that I don't think the 

1196
01:04:43,280 --> 01:04:45,840
situation arises. 
Doesn't make it his fault, but 

1197
01:04:45,840 --> 01:04:49,840
once they end up 3 abreast on 
that little run to bridge, it 

1198
01:04:49,840 --> 01:04:51,360
was always going to end in 
tears. 

1199
01:04:51,840 --> 01:04:54,480
In a way that kind of means it's
nobody's fault because you just 

1200
01:04:54,480 --> 01:04:58,120
can't get 3 cars through there. 
So the guy in the middle is 

1201
01:04:58,120 --> 01:05:00,840
probably he's going to either 
bounce off the one on the inside

1202
01:05:00,840 --> 01:05:02,600
and then hit the one on the 
outsider, he's going to hit the 

1203
01:05:02,600 --> 01:05:05,120
one on the outside 1st and then 
come back across. 

1204
01:05:05,360 --> 01:05:09,120
It was never going to work. 
I can't really apportion blame 

1205
01:05:09,480 --> 01:05:13,360
because I just think once those 
cars ended up side by side in 

1206
01:05:13,360 --> 01:05:16,960
that situation, it was just 
guaranteed to end in tears. 

1207
01:05:17,840 --> 01:05:22,120
Yeah, as Glenn said, Leslie got 
out of shape coming out of Abbey

1208
01:05:22,640 --> 01:05:26,320
and Menu just pounced and it's 
quite an aggressive attack 

1209
01:05:26,320 --> 01:05:31,360
because he goes on the on on the
left hand side of David and I 

1210
01:05:31,360 --> 01:05:34,920
don't think David is expecting 
it and they make contact. 

1211
01:05:36,320 --> 01:05:42,520
But then yeah, it's just one of 
those things that you can't I I 

1212
01:05:42,520 --> 01:05:46,320
agree with Glenn, you can't 
really apportion blame Bridge is

1213
01:05:46,320 --> 01:05:50,480
not a corner to go side by side 
in and as soon as that. 

1214
01:05:50,480 --> 01:05:52,480
Even with two cars. 
Even with two cars. 

1215
01:05:52,720 --> 01:05:56,720
And as soon as that second hit 
happens, it's almost again like 

1216
01:05:56,720 --> 01:06:00,280
that pendulum effect, that menu 
sort of swings back out and then

1217
01:06:00,280 --> 01:06:01,840
straight back in for the third 
hit. 

1218
01:06:02,280 --> 01:06:05,560
And it's that final hit that's 
terminal for both of them 

1219
01:06:05,920 --> 01:06:09,200
because menu is, as you said, 
Levi menu's out on the spot. 

1220
01:06:09,560 --> 01:06:13,080
Leslie is crawling round and 
surprisingly doesn't go into the

1221
01:06:13,080 --> 01:06:14,760
pits. 
It carries on. 

1222
01:06:14,760 --> 01:06:21,640
But yeah, it was probably born 
out of frustration for Alan and 

1223
01:06:21,920 --> 01:06:26,520
an unfortunate error coming out 
of Abbey for for Leslie. 

1224
01:06:27,280 --> 01:06:31,280
But for the actual contact, it's
a it's a racing incident. 

1225
01:06:31,280 --> 01:06:35,160
It it happens. 
And yeah, I do think that the 

1226
01:06:35,160 --> 01:06:38,160
third one was very much an 
effect of the pendulum. 

1227
01:06:39,400 --> 01:06:41,680
It was a big sang as well, 
wasn't it? 

1228
01:06:41,680 --> 01:06:43,400
So much damage to both of the 
car. 

1229
01:06:43,600 --> 01:06:46,400
Also during you go karting and 
you make contact, as soon as 

1230
01:06:46,400 --> 01:06:48,600
contacts made, the red mist 
comes down, doesn't it? 

1231
01:06:48,600 --> 01:06:50,440
And you're not going to give in 
there. 

1232
01:06:50,440 --> 01:06:52,920
And I think they both sort of 
forgot there was a corner coming

1233
01:06:52,960 --> 01:06:54,520
out. 
Thompson did a good job to get 

1234
01:06:54,520 --> 01:06:56,800
through cleaning, I thought. 
Yes, and so did Derek Warwick 

1235
01:06:56,800 --> 01:06:58,360
and everyone else behind to not 
get involved. 

1236
01:06:58,360 --> 01:07:01,160
They saw it building I guess. 
But Leslie must have just 

1237
01:07:01,160 --> 01:07:03,080
panicked, wasn't he? 
Thought oh boom, there's a 

1238
01:07:03,080 --> 01:07:04,840
contact there. 
Then Thompson's on that side, 

1239
01:07:04,840 --> 01:07:07,440
where do you go? 
Very unfortunate though. 

1240
01:07:08,800 --> 01:07:10,960
Yeah. 
And it's as you say, an example 

1241
01:07:10,960 --> 01:07:16,120
of that win or bust not 
mentality that, but it wasn't a 

1242
01:07:16,120 --> 01:07:20,080
mentality that Leslie would have
used, but it very much had that 

1243
01:07:20,080 --> 01:07:23,520
result then of of Leslie either 
winning or been in it. 

1244
01:07:24,640 --> 01:07:27,480
Yeah, and also the second time 
he bought 4 races that Leslie 

1245
01:07:27,480 --> 01:07:29,960
ends up out after contact with a
Renault because he'd had that 

1246
01:07:29,960 --> 01:07:33,040
incident with Plato back at 
Tonnington only just a few weeks

1247
01:07:33,040 --> 01:07:35,360
before. 
After. 

1248
01:07:36,480 --> 01:07:37,400
No, it was after. 
Sorry. 

1249
01:07:37,400 --> 01:07:38,560
Yes, yes, you're right. 
Sorry. 

1250
01:07:38,560 --> 01:07:41,120
That really bizarre one. 
That really bizarre 1. 

1251
01:07:41,120 --> 01:07:41,880
Where? 
So it's 2. 

1252
01:07:41,920 --> 01:07:43,240
So actually it's two races in a 
row. 

1253
01:07:43,240 --> 01:07:44,560
Yeah. 
Yeah, the Sprint race that 

1254
01:07:44,560 --> 01:07:46,200
really. 
Bizarre one, because I still 

1255
01:07:46,200 --> 01:07:48,320
think this day. 
I thought I was stupid at the 

1256
01:07:48,320 --> 01:07:51,680
time, saying yeah, yeah, yeah, 
yeah. 

1257
01:07:51,760 --> 01:07:53,640
Well, he turns left for a right 
hammer. 

1258
01:07:53,640 --> 01:07:54,480
He. 
Does. 

1259
01:07:54,520 --> 01:07:56,880
Yeah. 
It was humanity, Raskas. 

1260
01:07:57,040 --> 01:07:58,720
Exactly. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

1261
01:07:59,880 --> 01:08:02,280
So yeah, I mean, again, and just
to come back to what we said 

1262
01:08:02,280 --> 01:08:05,280
before, Leslie's just losing 
points hand over first, isn't 

1263
01:08:05,280 --> 01:08:07,080
he? 
Some great results and great, a 

1264
01:08:07,080 --> 01:08:09,480
great win. 
And then otherwise he's in a 

1265
01:08:09,480 --> 01:08:11,480
gravel trap somewhere. 
It was a mess. 

1266
01:08:13,600 --> 01:08:17,279
The light rain became a lot 
heavier by lap 5, and as he was 

1267
01:08:17,279 --> 01:08:20,640
leading, Plato was the first to 
arrive at Beckett's, where the 

1268
01:08:20,640 --> 01:08:23,560
rain was at its heaviest and 
sort of straight on. 

1269
01:08:24,319 --> 01:08:25,960
Reflecting on the moment, he 
said. 

1270
01:08:26,160 --> 01:08:30,000
I was first into the deluge and 
it caught me out for adding. 

1271
01:08:30,000 --> 01:08:33,240
With a shrug, I put two wheels 
on the dirt and was heading off 

1272
01:08:33,240 --> 01:08:35,120
to the Silverstone Driving 
Centre. 

1273
01:08:36,439 --> 01:08:38,960
Glenn, It's always apparent, 
isn't it, when you're first on 

1274
01:08:38,960 --> 01:08:42,880
the track in in such conditions 
that you're the first to the 

1275
01:08:42,880 --> 01:08:45,640
scene of the newly wettest part 
of the track, isn't it? 

1276
01:08:46,319 --> 01:08:49,920
Yeah, you're, you're kind of 
doomed either the way in those 

1277
01:08:49,920 --> 01:08:53,600
situations because either when 
the weather changes, you you 

1278
01:08:53,600 --> 01:08:57,279
tread too carefully and you get 
swallowed up by the field, or 

1279
01:08:57,600 --> 01:09:01,240
you you push on and the 
weather's changed and you're the

1280
01:09:01,240 --> 01:09:04,240
guy who encounters kind of the 
flooded circuit and you go off, 

1281
01:09:04,240 --> 01:09:05,600
which is kind of what happened 
to Jason. 

1282
01:09:05,960 --> 01:09:09,720
What surprised me, and maybe the
giveaway here is that he said he

1283
01:09:09,720 --> 01:09:12,920
put two wheels on a dirt because
it surprised me watching about 

1284
01:09:12,920 --> 01:09:14,840
that. 
No one else goes off with him. 

1285
01:09:15,240 --> 01:09:17,920
And I wonder if that's just 
because, yes, it was low grit, 

1286
01:09:17,920 --> 01:09:21,080
but if you kept it off the 
grass, you're able to kind of 

1287
01:09:21,080 --> 01:09:25,000
scurry round. 
So I guess it's either that or 

1288
01:09:25,160 --> 01:09:28,920
maybe everyone was just far 
enough back that they could see 

1289
01:09:28,920 --> 01:09:31,600
Jason's got into hot, they can 
see he's got it wrong, and 

1290
01:09:31,600 --> 01:09:34,279
they're all able to just back 
off that little bit. 

1291
01:09:34,279 --> 01:09:37,240
But yeah, watching about I do, I
did kind of expect it to be one 

1292
01:09:37,240 --> 01:09:40,240
of those shots where the camera 
follows the lead has gone off 

1293
01:09:40,479 --> 01:09:43,319
and they'll load more cars in 
the background or the foreground

1294
01:09:43,319 --> 01:09:45,080
having got it wrong as well. 
But we didn't get that. 

1295
01:09:47,560 --> 01:09:50,920
As the pit stop window opened, 
Plato dived into the pits from 

1296
01:09:50,920 --> 01:09:54,960
17th place whilst Thompson 
capitalised to take the lead 

1297
01:09:55,200 --> 01:09:57,520
ahead of the Vauxhall's of 
Warwick and Cleland. 

1298
01:09:58,240 --> 01:10:02,440
A lap later the Honda pitted as 
well, but Will became jammed as 

1299
01:10:02,440 --> 01:10:05,120
Pro Dr attempted to switch to 
the wet weather tyres. 

1300
01:10:05,920 --> 01:10:09,440
This promoted Warwick into the 
lead, though he was soon joined 

1301
01:10:09,440 --> 01:10:12,680
in the fight at the front by 
Will Hoy, whose Mondeo appeared 

1302
01:10:12,680 --> 01:10:15,280
to thrive as the rain continued 
to fall. 

1303
01:10:16,520 --> 01:10:18,400
Greg. 
As Charlie Cox pointed out in 

1304
01:10:18,400 --> 01:10:21,520
commentary, Ford and Vauxhall 
battling for the lead in the 

1305
01:10:21,520 --> 01:10:25,520
BTCC race was not something 
we've seen since 1995, was it? 

1306
01:10:26,400 --> 01:10:29,920
No, I mean, we use the word 
unbelievable a lot, don't we? 

1307
01:10:30,240 --> 01:10:32,080
Impact the racing. 
But this almost was 

1308
01:10:32,080 --> 01:10:36,000
unbelievable. 
Menu out, Leslie in a right mess

1309
01:10:36,000 --> 01:10:38,240
and out. 
And then, yeah, we've got a 

1310
01:10:38,240 --> 01:10:41,720
Vauxhall Vectra and a Ford 
Mondeo fighting for the lead 

1311
01:10:41,720 --> 01:10:44,640
with Derek Warwick, who'd never 
won a BTCC race at this point, 

1312
01:10:45,240 --> 01:10:48,240
and Will Hoy, who hadn't won 
since, what, 95? 

1313
01:10:48,240 --> 01:10:51,960
It must have been in the Laguna.
Yeah, yeah, the brand's hatch, I

1314
01:10:51,960 --> 01:10:52,680
think. 
Or no. 

1315
01:10:52,680 --> 01:10:55,040
Silverstone wasn't it? 
Last race in 95, ironically. 

1316
01:10:55,040 --> 01:10:58,120
So, yeah, it was absolutely 
incredible. 

1317
01:10:58,160 --> 01:11:00,920
And like we said before, exactly
what Toker wanted with this 

1318
01:11:00,920 --> 01:11:03,480
shaker after the domination of 
Renault the previous year. 

1319
01:11:04,560 --> 01:11:08,040
Well, he got past Boricon lap 
eight with his Ford looking very

1320
01:11:08,040 --> 01:11:11,600
good in these conditions. 
Alex, we've talked before about 

1321
01:11:11,600 --> 01:11:14,520
why this Bondur was so good in 
the wet conditions, haven't we? 

1322
01:11:15,080 --> 01:11:19,040
Yeah, not to go over to too much
old ground, but Craig Baird told

1323
01:11:19,040 --> 01:11:23,720
me it's very much down to the 
the weight of the front of the 

1324
01:11:23,720 --> 01:11:26,560
car. 
With the heavy V6 that the the 

1325
01:11:26,560 --> 01:11:30,120
Mondeo had, it meant that it 
chewed its tyres a bit too 

1326
01:11:30,120 --> 01:11:33,640
quickly in dry conditions, but 
it meant in the wet conditions 

1327
01:11:33,640 --> 01:11:37,880
it got a lot more grip and it 
suited the car, It suited the 

1328
01:11:37,880 --> 01:11:40,920
conditions a lot better and it 
just was inherently quicker. 

1329
01:11:42,000 --> 01:11:46,400
It also helped that unluckily 
for Ford, all their pre season 

1330
01:11:46,400 --> 01:11:51,280
testing schedule was wet. 
I think they had half a day of 

1331
01:11:51,280 --> 01:11:53,520
sunshine at Pembrey and that was
it. 

1332
01:11:53,880 --> 01:11:57,680
And that was with Nigel Mansell.
Not to, not to, you know, have a

1333
01:11:57,680 --> 01:12:01,880
downer on Nigel Mansell. 
But you don't want, you would 

1334
01:12:01,880 --> 01:12:06,040
prefer it to be your, your main 
drivers getting the the dry 

1335
01:12:06,040 --> 01:12:09,200
session then, wouldn't you? 
That's what I'm trying to say. 

1336
01:12:10,880 --> 01:12:17,560
So yeah, I guess a mixture of 
conditions for their pre season 

1337
01:12:17,600 --> 01:12:20,440
meant that they had a lot of 
data to play to play with when 

1338
01:12:20,440 --> 01:12:24,280
it came to the wet conditions, 
but the car characteristics lent

1339
01:12:24,280 --> 01:12:27,360
themselves to being more 
competitive in these conditions 

1340
01:12:27,360 --> 01:12:29,880
too. 
Yeah, and famously we obviously 

1341
01:12:29,880 --> 01:12:32,720
saw Mansell have his moments in 
the sun, not literally at 

1342
01:12:32,720 --> 01:12:35,600
Donnington in the rain. 
And Craig behead, not killed, 

1343
01:12:35,600 --> 01:12:38,120
didn't we they? 
Yeah, exactly. 

1344
01:12:40,640 --> 01:12:44,640
Hoy eventually made his pit stop
at the start of lap 9, opting 

1345
01:12:44,640 --> 01:12:48,400
for intermediate tyres, a 
crucial decision as most of the 

1346
01:12:48,400 --> 01:12:52,360
field chose full wets. 
This handed independent driver 

1347
01:12:52,360 --> 01:12:55,520
Rob Gravet A brief spell in the 
spotlight as the Brooks 

1348
01:12:55,520 --> 01:12:59,480
Motorsport Run Honda Accord lead
for three laps, Gravet staying 

1349
01:12:59,480 --> 01:13:02,160
out on slicks just long enough 
for the circuit to bring in 

1350
01:13:02,160 --> 01:13:05,880
trying once more. 
As conditions improved, it 

1351
01:13:05,880 --> 01:13:08,640
quickly became clear that 
intermediate tyres were the 

1352
01:13:08,640 --> 01:13:11,920
ideal choice. 
HOI began closing rapidly, 

1353
01:13:12,160 --> 01:13:16,440
gaining around 3 seconds per lap
on Ivan Bolizaldi as he chased 

1354
01:13:16,440 --> 01:13:20,480
him down for 2nd place whilst 
Gravett held the lead. 

1355
01:13:20,720 --> 01:13:24,400
Ricard rider was caught out by 
the treacherous conditions, his 

1356
01:13:24,400 --> 01:13:27,680
Volvo ACT failing off the 
circuit at the Island chicane. 

1357
01:13:28,320 --> 01:13:32,360
He slammed into the Onco barrier
at high speed, heavily damaging 

1358
01:13:32,360 --> 01:13:37,200
the front of his Volvo S4C. 
It was a significant impact, but

1359
01:13:37,200 --> 01:13:40,080
fortunately the Swedish driver 
emerged from the incident 

1360
01:13:40,080 --> 01:13:43,280
unhurt. 
Then that was a pretty horrible 

1361
01:13:43,280 --> 01:13:46,360
shunt for Rydell, wasn't it? 
And it's on fast, Like it 

1362
01:13:46,360 --> 01:13:50,400
doesn't look too bad, but then 
you see how badly damaged that 

1363
01:13:50,400 --> 01:13:54,280
Volvo was and you realise it was
a pretty serious accident, 

1364
01:13:54,280 --> 01:13:56,680
wasn't it? 
How badly damaged the barrier 

1365
01:13:56,680 --> 01:14:00,040
was as well. 
It's it's it's ugly. 

1366
01:14:01,280 --> 01:14:03,320
Correct me if I'm wrong. 
I don't think there's brilliant 

1367
01:14:03,320 --> 01:14:08,040
footage of it is there from, 
from extra rear camera from 

1368
01:14:08,040 --> 01:14:09,800
Rydell's, which obviously 
doesn't tell the whole story. 

1369
01:14:09,800 --> 01:14:12,240
It's only once you see the 
wreckage and you see the the 

1370
01:14:12,240 --> 01:14:15,040
dent in the barrier and the 
state of the front of the Volvo 

1371
01:14:15,040 --> 01:14:19,640
and you go, oh, it's like 
horrible, horrible big hit from 

1372
01:14:19,640 --> 01:14:22,240
from looking at that rear facing
on board camera. 

1373
01:14:22,240 --> 01:14:25,840
It just looks like he kind of 
gets out of the wheel tracks of 

1374
01:14:25,840 --> 01:14:28,040
the cars that have been going 
through before, which means he 

1375
01:14:28,040 --> 01:14:30,760
hits standing water instead of 
slightly cleared. 

1376
01:14:31,440 --> 01:14:34,400
What's so a really small error. 
And then once, once he's 

1377
01:14:34,400 --> 01:14:36,480
aquaplaning, there's nothing he 
can do. 

1378
01:14:36,480 --> 01:14:38,840
Obviously horrible hit with that
barrier. 

1379
01:14:38,840 --> 01:14:43,080
I guess the barriers unprotected
in terms of tyre walls and stuff

1380
01:14:43,080 --> 01:14:44,920
because in the dryer no one 
would ever go. 

1381
01:14:44,920 --> 01:14:47,440
Off there. 
But yeah, really nasty. 

1382
01:14:47,440 --> 01:14:51,440
And the wreckage afterwards, to 
see how quickly he gets out of 

1383
01:14:51,440 --> 01:14:55,000
the car and just like walks away
is, is a relief really. 

1384
01:14:55,000 --> 01:14:57,080
Because, yeah, nasty, nasty 
impact. 

1385
01:14:58,240 --> 01:15:01,400
Such was Hoy's pace, he was able
to catch back up to grab it 

1386
01:15:01,400 --> 01:15:04,960
before he made his pit stop and 
retake the lead of the race. 

1387
01:15:05,360 --> 01:15:09,000
And by lap 16, his lead was over
12 seconds. 

1388
01:15:09,760 --> 01:15:12,520
Greg, this is a pretty 
impeccable drive from Hoy, 

1389
01:15:12,520 --> 01:15:14,960
wasn't it? 
Yeah, Alex and I were chatting 

1390
01:15:14,960 --> 01:15:18,400
about this off air early before 
we started recording, and the 

1391
01:15:18,440 --> 01:15:21,360
advantage he had was it was up 
to about 20 seconds, wasn't it? 

1392
01:15:21,360 --> 01:15:22,880
At one point in the closing 
stages? 

1393
01:15:23,000 --> 01:15:26,280
It was also, I thought, remember
when Senna used to stay out in 

1394
01:15:26,280 --> 01:15:27,760
the rain and keep track 
position? 

1395
01:15:28,080 --> 01:15:30,320
It was like that. 
Everyone else was coming in, 

1396
01:15:30,320 --> 01:15:34,040
there was chaos in the pits, 
cars everywhere, and Hoy just 

1397
01:15:34,040 --> 01:15:36,920
stayed out, had clear track. 
Watson mentioned it didn't in 

1398
01:15:36,920 --> 01:15:38,840
the commentary, nothing around 
him distracting him. 

1399
01:15:39,160 --> 01:15:42,520
It was really impressive feel 
wasn't it from Hoy? 

1400
01:15:43,240 --> 01:15:47,120
Yeah, it was you. 
You could you, as you say, what 

1401
01:15:47,120 --> 01:15:52,000
he mentioned, you know, nothing,
nothing around him able to 

1402
01:15:52,000 --> 01:15:54,080
concentrate. 
But you could watch, you could 

1403
01:15:54,080 --> 01:15:57,880
see his arm moving and he had 
understeer, oversteer as he was 

1404
01:15:57,880 --> 01:15:59,640
trying to keep that car on the 
track. 

1405
01:15:59,960 --> 01:16:02,600
And when you look at some people
struggling to keep it on the 

1406
01:16:02,600 --> 01:16:05,680
track with inters and wets on, 
and then look at Hoyer, he's 

1407
01:16:05,680 --> 01:16:09,320
still on slicks and he's leading
this race and pulling away. 

1408
01:16:09,880 --> 01:16:11,840
It's impressive, Very, very 
impressive. 

1409
01:16:12,120 --> 01:16:15,040
Regardless of any inherent 
advantage that the car might 

1410
01:16:15,040 --> 01:16:19,000
have in in those conditions, 
it's still a very impressive 

1411
01:16:19,000 --> 01:16:20,920
drive from Wilhoi. 
Yeah. 

1412
01:16:21,440 --> 01:16:24,360
Especially when you consider 
like, you know, even Tim Harvey,

1413
01:16:24,360 --> 01:16:28,440
he was an absolute rain master. 
He spun in this race, didn't he?

1414
01:16:28,440 --> 01:16:29,600
Yeah. 
There were people going off all 

1415
01:16:29,600 --> 01:16:30,720
over the place. 
Yeah. 

1416
01:16:31,440 --> 01:16:33,400
A lot of people panicked, didn't
they? 

1417
01:16:33,400 --> 01:16:36,240
You know, you guys talked 
earlier about the the pit radio 

1418
01:16:36,240 --> 01:16:38,320
communications where it seemed 
like they were playing multiple 

1419
01:16:38,320 --> 01:16:41,960
teams radios at the same time. 
People shouting wet people shout

1420
01:16:41,960 --> 01:16:43,480
intermediate. 
No, I want this. 

1421
01:16:43,480 --> 01:16:44,840
I want that one. 
Not all this. 

1422
01:16:44,840 --> 01:16:48,000
It was it was chaos on the pit 
Warner, I think in the in the 

1423
01:16:48,000 --> 01:16:49,320
cockpit. 
And that's why some of those 

1424
01:16:49,320 --> 01:16:52,640
guys panicked, ended up on full 
wets and they, you know, they 

1425
01:16:52,880 --> 01:16:55,440
they were cooked long before the
end of the race. 

1426
01:16:55,440 --> 01:16:57,320
You did need to try and hold 
your nerve. 

1427
01:16:57,840 --> 01:17:01,320
As the race moved into its 
closing stages, an intense 

1428
01:17:01,320 --> 01:17:05,680
battle for 4th place unfolded, 
led by Craig Baird in the second

1429
01:17:05,680 --> 01:17:10,680
Ford close behind Warwick. 
Plato, Radissitch and Reed were 

1430
01:17:10,680 --> 01:17:14,000
all in pursuit, with the latter 
free running on intermediate 

1431
01:17:14,000 --> 01:17:16,800
ties and carving their way up 
through the field. 

1432
01:17:17,680 --> 01:17:20,640
With the advantage of the right 
tyre choice, they soon sliced 

1433
01:17:20,640 --> 01:17:24,440
both paired and Warwick before 
setting their sights on Thompson

1434
01:17:24,440 --> 01:17:27,520
in second. 
Reed produced a stunning move 

1435
01:17:27,520 --> 01:17:31,240
into Abbey, sweeping around the 
outside of Thompson before 

1436
01:17:31,240 --> 01:17:36,120
darting up the inside of Plato. 
However, he later ran wide on 

1437
01:17:36,120 --> 01:17:40,040
the exit of Ireland, allowing 
Plato to slip back through into 

1438
01:17:40,040 --> 01:17:42,160
what had now become second 
place. 

1439
01:17:42,960 --> 01:17:46,200
The gap between Wilho in the 
lead and Plato in second was 

1440
01:17:46,200 --> 01:17:50,160
over 20 seconds, but Plato 
managed to whistle that down to 

1441
01:17:50,160 --> 01:17:54,480
just 6.6 seconds by the time the
chequered flag fell, with the 

1442
01:17:54,480 --> 01:17:58,440
four driver also undoubtedly 
coasting slightly to ensure 

1443
01:17:58,440 --> 01:18:02,760
Ford's first BTCC victory since 
Kelvin Bert's when it's 

1444
01:18:02,760 --> 01:18:07,400
Snetterton in 1995. 
Alex, That was some fight back 

1445
01:18:07,400 --> 01:18:11,160
from Plato and I guess just what
could have been on a on a day 

1446
01:18:11,160 --> 01:18:14,400
where he did seem to have a 
really good Renault package. 

1447
01:18:14,880 --> 01:18:18,240
Yes, it was a good fight back 
when you consider he went 

1448
01:18:18,240 --> 01:18:23,400
spinning at the start of the 
race and he was down in 17th 

1449
01:18:23,560 --> 01:18:29,280
when he made his pit stop to end
up second and to close down Will

1450
01:18:29,280 --> 01:18:33,440
Hoy with the pace that he had 
very, very impressive. 

1451
01:18:34,320 --> 01:18:38,080
As you mentioned, Hoy was 
probably backing off to ensure 

1452
01:18:38,080 --> 01:18:40,120
victory. 
He wouldn't have been pushing 

1453
01:18:40,120 --> 01:18:43,400
100% at this point. 
He had a 22nd lead, which is 

1454
01:18:43,400 --> 01:18:45,360
almost unheard of in touring 
cars, isn't it? 

1455
01:18:45,360 --> 01:18:49,520
You know, there was no way that 
Will was pushing, especially in 

1456
01:18:49,520 --> 01:18:52,560
such treacherous conditions. 
He would have just been told to 

1457
01:18:52,760 --> 01:18:56,080
get that car home, especially 
having not won a race for the 

1458
01:18:56,080 --> 01:18:58,880
for the, you know, the the W 
Surrey had never won a touring 

1459
01:18:58,880 --> 01:19:01,440
car race. 
This was their first touring car

1460
01:19:01,440 --> 01:19:03,640
win. 
And Ford hadn't won a race since

1461
01:19:03,640 --> 01:19:08,640
Andy Rouse was running the team.
So yeah, regardless of that 

1462
01:19:08,640 --> 01:19:12,840
scythe his way through the field
like he did, brilliant, You 

1463
01:19:13,360 --> 01:19:16,960
know, a very, very impressive 
race, almost. 

1464
01:19:16,960 --> 01:19:21,760
Dare I say he's upstaged his 
more decorated teammate at this 

1465
01:19:21,760 --> 01:19:24,760
point? 
Reed finished first to round off

1466
01:19:24,760 --> 01:19:28,320
a good day for Nissan, whilst 
Paul Radesich gave Peugeot a 

1467
01:19:28,320 --> 01:19:32,280
shot in the arm with a brilliant
4th place finish despite being 

1468
01:19:32,280 --> 01:19:35,840
delayed in the pits by having to
remove the rear bumper after an 

1469
01:19:35,920 --> 01:19:39,080
early altercation with Riedel 
Glen. 

1470
01:19:39,200 --> 01:19:42,040
A decent drive and a great 
result for Peugeot there, and 

1471
01:19:42,360 --> 01:19:45,560
potentially they're a real high 
point of 98 as well. 

1472
01:19:46,400 --> 01:19:48,520
Yeah, we've set us a lot. 
I love the reference to the 

1473
01:19:48,520 --> 01:19:52,000
bumper being ripped off that 
that gave me Toca game vibes 

1474
01:19:52,000 --> 01:19:54,320
when you used to be able to have
bumpers hanging off the cars. 

1475
01:19:54,800 --> 01:19:57,640
But yeah, when when you're in a 
situation like Peugeot Marine 

1476
01:19:57,640 --> 01:20:00,560
where they're so uncompetitive 
as they are at this point, if a 

1477
01:20:00,560 --> 01:20:04,800
race goes a bit crazy, you have 
to find a way to capitalise on 

1478
01:20:04,800 --> 01:20:06,880
it. 
So yeah, I say massive credit to

1479
01:20:06,880 --> 01:20:09,720
Radish it for using all of his 
experience. 

1480
01:20:10,200 --> 01:20:12,960
To pull that off here, because 
there's no way a Peugeot was 

1481
01:20:12,960 --> 01:20:15,280
getting anywhere near a result 
like that in a conventional 

1482
01:20:15,280 --> 01:20:18,000
race. 
And he took a driver as 

1483
01:20:18,480 --> 01:20:22,680
accomplished and capable of 
finding a way through the mayhem

1484
01:20:22,960 --> 01:20:27,000
as Paul was to to drag a result 
that, yeah, ultimately, sadly, 

1485
01:20:27,000 --> 01:20:30,320
the car didn't deserve. 
I love that car as well and 

1486
01:20:30,320 --> 01:20:31,640
we've talked about it many 
times. 

1487
01:20:31,640 --> 01:20:33,760
I just love that livery. 
I love that car. 

1488
01:20:34,000 --> 01:20:36,000
It's a favourite of so many 
people's. 

1489
01:20:36,240 --> 01:20:40,920
It's just great to see you up 
front battling it when it, you 

1490
01:20:40,920 --> 01:20:42,880
know, it didn't really do that 
very much. 

1491
01:20:44,400 --> 01:20:48,480
And what could have been because
had Peugeot not had to spend a 

1492
01:20:48,480 --> 01:20:51,760
good, it was a long pit stop. 
It was a lot. 

1493
01:20:51,760 --> 01:20:55,200
It was an extra 20 odd seconds 
because they were trying to pull

1494
01:20:55,200 --> 01:20:59,560
the bumper off, but because it 
had only been detached at 1/2 

1495
01:20:59,560 --> 01:21:02,440
and it was sort of clipping and 
bouncing under the car. 

1496
01:21:02,920 --> 01:21:06,200
So they decided to RIP it off. 
But it was still connected on 

1497
01:21:06,200 --> 01:21:08,680
the left hand side. 
So effectively they ripped the 

1498
01:21:09,000 --> 01:21:11,920
the material. 
They ripped the actual bumper 

1499
01:21:12,320 --> 01:21:16,160
off rather than dislodging it, 
if you know what I mean. 

1500
01:21:17,520 --> 01:21:21,880
So it took a lengthy pit stop 
and what could have been, you 

1501
01:21:21,880 --> 01:21:23,600
could have had the pleasure on 
the podium, you know? 

1502
01:21:23,600 --> 01:21:29,000
But still a great, great result,
and well deserved for one of the

1503
01:21:29,000 --> 01:21:33,560
unluckiest drivers in possibly 
touring car history. 

1504
01:21:34,320 --> 01:21:39,920
Yeah, yeah, completely agree. 
The standout story of the 

1505
01:21:39,920 --> 01:21:43,720
weekend without question though,
was the remarkable victory for 

1506
01:21:43,720 --> 01:21:46,440
Will Hoy. 
After enduring a difficult 

1507
01:21:46,440 --> 01:21:51,320
couple of seasons in 1996 and 
97, it felt like a long-awaited 

1508
01:21:51,320 --> 01:21:54,480
return to form Greg. 
Just how special was it to seem 

1509
01:21:54,480 --> 01:21:56,480
back on the top step of the 
podium? 

1510
01:21:57,440 --> 01:22:00,680
Really special and quite sad 
actually now, isn't it? 

1511
01:22:00,680 --> 01:22:03,560
With the benefit of hindsight, 
knowing that that was Will's 

1512
01:22:03,560 --> 01:22:08,240
last ever BTCC, when I remember 
when I went to the Touring cars 

1513
01:22:08,240 --> 01:22:11,480
only the second time I was 10 
and it was the year 2000 and 

1514
01:22:11,480 --> 01:22:15,600
Will was there in a Class B 
Peugeot 306. 

1515
01:22:15,600 --> 01:22:18,120
Alan Morrison's teammate and I 
really feel privileged to have 

1516
01:22:18,120 --> 01:22:24,600
seen Will Hoy racing as a kid. 
And yeah, it's sad to look back 

1517
01:22:24,600 --> 01:22:28,840
now, but it's lovely that he did
get that win and lovely that he 

1518
01:22:28,840 --> 01:22:31,240
was in a position to make a 
difference because others, as we

1519
01:22:31,240 --> 01:22:35,000
said, panicked, made mistakes. 
The team did a great job, didn't

1520
01:22:35,000 --> 01:22:36,920
they? 
They also made sure that Baird 

1521
01:22:36,920 --> 01:22:39,960
moved out of the way in the 
closing stages when he was being

1522
01:22:39,960 --> 01:22:41,560
lapped. 
It's a shame. 

1523
01:22:41,560 --> 01:22:44,320
I was just checking while we 
were talking that when the last 

1524
01:22:44,320 --> 01:22:49,320
44 podium had been and it was 
snethers in 95 because Gravit 

1525
01:22:49,320 --> 01:22:50,920
got on the podium and he's 
independent Monday. 

1526
01:22:50,920 --> 01:22:54,040
Oh, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. 
With Bert winning so it would 

1527
01:22:54,040 --> 01:22:57,240
have been nice to see them both 
up there but no really special 

1528
01:22:57,240 --> 01:23:01,640
and great to see as as well said
himself the good old Mondeo on 

1529
01:23:01,640 --> 01:23:03,960
the top step. 
And I also think looking back 

1530
01:23:03,960 --> 01:23:06,760
now, that probably spurred on 
John Cleland even more as well 

1531
01:23:06,760 --> 01:23:10,000
for his win at the next round at
Donnington because he must have 

1532
01:23:10,000 --> 01:23:11,280
been thinking what if Wilkin 
still win. 

1533
01:23:11,280 --> 01:23:14,040
I'm sure I definitely can yeah. 
It was great there to see like 

1534
01:23:14,040 --> 01:23:17,960
superstars, like many winner 
idol winning, but also the over 

1535
01:23:17,960 --> 01:23:22,920
40s club and these real veterans
of the BTCC in the chance as 

1536
01:23:22,920 --> 01:23:25,240
well. 
And it's just, well, it's why we

1537
01:23:25,240 --> 01:23:29,080
love 1998 so much, isn't it? 
Yeah, David Leslie and Will 

1538
01:23:29,080 --> 01:23:32,080
Holly were two two of my 
favourite drivers in the era, 

1539
01:23:32,960 --> 01:23:39,120
both top gentlemen and Will was 
1, undoubtedly one of the most 

1540
01:23:39,120 --> 01:23:44,080
popular members of the paddock 
within amongst all the teams. 

1541
01:23:45,280 --> 01:23:50,080
That has to be one of the most 
popular touring car victories I 

1542
01:23:50,080 --> 01:23:54,800
think I've ever seen because 
everyone and I mean every single

1543
01:23:54,800 --> 01:23:58,360
person, every driver came up to 
congratulate him. 

1544
01:23:59,160 --> 01:24:01,880
If you watch the interview, Will
does after the race where he 

1545
01:24:01,880 --> 01:24:03,920
does, you know where he says 
brilliant result for us good on 

1546
01:24:03,920 --> 01:24:07,480
Mondeo. 
It's only again, we go back to 

1547
01:24:07,480 --> 01:24:10,440
the review and what was in 
grandstand in the review. 

1548
01:24:10,440 --> 01:24:13,880
It's only a part of that 
interview that gets aired. 

1549
01:24:15,000 --> 01:24:19,120
The full review at the full 
interview on on on Grandstand. 

1550
01:24:19,880 --> 01:24:22,920
You've got all the drivers 
coming up to him, congratulating

1551
01:24:22,920 --> 01:24:26,280
him during the interview and 
they're all just really chuffed 

1552
01:24:26,280 --> 01:24:28,280
for him. 
And let's not forget as well, 

1553
01:24:28,280 --> 01:24:31,720
Will Hoy won British train car 
races for four different 

1554
01:24:31,720 --> 01:24:36,560
manufacturers in this super era,
BMW, Toyota, Renault and now 

1555
01:24:36,560 --> 01:24:38,680
Ford. 
I can't think of many other 

1556
01:24:38,680 --> 01:24:41,960
people who won for even 3, let 
alone four different 

1557
01:24:41,960 --> 01:24:43,320
manufacturers. 
I'm not sure. 

1558
01:24:43,320 --> 01:24:46,840
Yeah, I'm not sure there is. 
And he came so, so close to 

1559
01:24:46,840 --> 01:24:51,360
winning back-to-back titles with
different manufacturers as well.

1560
01:24:52,520 --> 01:24:54,600
Very, very close to managing 
that feat. 

1561
01:24:54,600 --> 01:24:58,000
So a true Titan wasn't a yeah, 
yeah. 

1562
01:25:00,280 --> 01:25:02,960
That brings us to the end of a 
remarkable story. 

1563
01:25:02,960 --> 01:25:07,040
The race that delivered the Ford
Mondeo, its first BCCC victory 

1564
01:25:07,200 --> 01:25:11,200
in the three years and the final
win in the championship for the 

1565
01:25:11,200 --> 01:25:15,080
ever popular Wilhoi. 
A fitting and memorable moment 

1566
01:25:15,080 --> 01:25:18,800
in Super Touring history. 
A huge thank you to Glenn 

1567
01:25:18,800 --> 01:25:22,000
Freeman and Grecan for joining 
us once again to relive this 

1568
01:25:22,000 --> 01:25:25,800
classic race and we hope to have
you both back on Stories from 

1569
01:25:25,800 --> 01:25:28,520
Super Tour and very soon guys. 
Thank you very much. 

1570
01:25:28,560 --> 01:25:30,600
Looking forward to it. 
And Glenn, nice to meet you as 

1571
01:25:30,600 --> 01:25:33,400
well virtually. 
Yeah, there's, as I said 

1572
01:25:33,400 --> 01:25:35,400
earlier, I feel like we know 
each other because we've 

1573
01:25:35,400 --> 01:25:39,120
listened to episodes that we've 
not been on together to be on 

1574
01:25:39,120 --> 01:25:40,640
one together. 
Thanks for having me back. 

1575
01:25:40,680 --> 01:25:43,440
And yeah, definitely look 
forward to coming back again. 

1576
01:25:43,920 --> 01:25:45,120
You'll have a. 
You'll have to have a different 

1577
01:25:45,120 --> 01:25:48,360
track next time, Glenn. 
I know what are we going to do? 

1578
01:25:48,600 --> 01:25:51,840
We've run out of my special 
formula of Silverstone in 98. 

1579
01:25:52,680 --> 01:25:55,320
And of course, our biggest 
thanks goes to you for 

1580
01:25:55,320 --> 01:25:57,480
listening. 
If you enjoyed today's episode, 

1581
01:25:57,480 --> 01:26:00,840
please take a moment to leave us
a review, drop a five star 

1582
01:26:00,840 --> 01:26:04,400
rating and subscribe to the 
podcast on your favourite app. 

1583
01:26:04,760 --> 01:26:08,320
It really helps us grow and 
bring you more of these stories.

1584
01:26:09,040 --> 01:26:12,400
Don't forget, if you'd like even
more content, including the full

1585
01:26:12,400 --> 01:26:17,160
story of the 1998 season in our 
exclusive members Only episodes,

1586
01:26:17,440 --> 01:26:22,880
you can support us over on 
patreon@patreon.com/super 

1587
01:26:22,880 --> 01:26:25,840
Touring pod. 
You can also get in touch with 

1588
01:26:25,840 --> 01:26:28,800
your thoughts on today's 
episode, the podcast in general,

1589
01:26:29,000 --> 01:26:34,160
all suggestions for future shows
by emailing us at pod at 1990s 

1590
01:26:34,160 --> 01:26:38,160
btcc.com. 
Until then, we'll see you next 

1591
01:26:38,160 --> 01:26:39,400
week. 
Goodbye.