1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:17,340 Stories from Super Touring. Mansel 2 00:00:17,340 --> 00:00:19,980 Mania descended onto Darlington Park for rounds 3 00:00:19,980 --> 00:00:23,020 11 and 12 of the British Touring Car Championship in 4 00:00:23,020 --> 00:00:26,800 1998. As the 1992 Formula One World 5 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:29,900 Champion made his highly anticipated debut in the 6 00:00:29,900 --> 00:00:33,520 Championship. Nobody quite knew what to expect, 7 00:00:33,980 --> 00:00:36,480 but what the viewers got was possibly the greatest 8 00:00:36,480 --> 00:00:39,620 touring car race of all time. Welcome 9 00:00:39,620 --> 00:00:42,240 to the latest episode of Stories from Super Touring. 10 00:00:42,580 --> 00:00:44,520 I'm Levi Riley and as this is 11 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:47,680 such a big episode, Alex Adam and myself are joined 12 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,740 by two guests for this week episode. Making 13 00:00:50,740 --> 00:00:53,440 his first appearance of series four is touring car 14 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:55,760 journalist Andrew Charman. Whilst 15 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,800 it's a stories from Super Touring debut for Eurorsport 16 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,680 commentator Greg Haynes. Thanks 17 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:03,200 for joining us everyone. How 18 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:04,819 are we all this evening? Very 19 00:01:04,819 --> 00:01:08,200 well, thank you. Yeah, very excited to finally 20 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:10,620 look back at this race. And 21 00:01:10,620 --> 00:01:14,880 I say finally because I felt we needed to go in a 22 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:17,960 few series before we actually started looking at 23 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:20,120 this one because it's a cracker. Certainly 24 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:22,680 is. Yeah. Still for me, it's the 25 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,640 best touring car race, maybe even motorsport race 26 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,120 I've ever seen. Me too. I 27 00:01:29,128 --> 00:01:31,220 agree. And I can't believe that I can 28 00:01:31,220 --> 00:01:33,200 actually see all of your faces and not just voices 29 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:35,360 after listening to all these podcasts back to 30 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:36,820 back. It's a bit like Christmas for 31 00:01:36,820 --> 00:01:38,040 you as well though, Greg, really. When 32 00:01:38,048 --> 00:01:39,960 we see you on Superbikes. Yeah, 33 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,620 I suppose it's got a face for radio, but I can't 34 00:01:42,620 --> 00:01:44,840 believe my first stories from Super Touring is 35 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:47,740 Donnington 98. Incredible. Fantastic. And 36 00:01:47,740 --> 00:01:50,700 now Greg, coming to you first, as Adam has 37 00:01:50,700 --> 00:01:53,180 mentioned, you work and commentate in the world of 38 00:01:53,180 --> 00:01:55,480 Superbikes in your career. So 39 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,240 where does Super Touring fit into your life then? 40 00:01:59,820 --> 00:02:01,080 Basically, Levi, it's how it all 41 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:02,760 started. I started playing in the 42 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,520 games on the computer, the Codemasters games, the 43 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:07,340 Legendary games, which of course you mentioned on the 44 00:02:07,340 --> 00:02:09,460 show before. And then from there, I started 45 00:02:09,460 --> 00:02:12,800 watching the actual BTCC on the Tele, and that was the 46 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:15,960 year 2000. The BTCC and Touring cars is 47 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,580 to thank for my whole life, my whole interest in 48 00:02:18,580 --> 00:02:20,980 motorsport, my career so far, if you can call it 49 00:02:20,980 --> 00:02:23,980 that. It's just how it all started, 50 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,460 and it was amazing to go from watching, playing the 51 00:02:26,460 --> 00:02:29,580 games to seeing it in real life and then going to my 52 00:02:29,580 --> 00:02:31,380 first race meetings at Donnington and then 53 00:02:31,380 --> 00:02:33,680 Silverstone in the year 2000. However, 54 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,300 I then started going back through the videos and 55 00:02:36,300 --> 00:02:39,880 watching them. And 98 is my favorite season. 56 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:41,140 There's no doubt about it. And 57 00:02:41,140 --> 00:02:44,440 as Alex has already said, Donnington round 12 in 58 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,300 particular, 98 is my favorite ever motor race 59 00:02:47,300 --> 00:02:49,240 because it had everything, the nostalgia, super 60 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:53,600 touring, Tokutu, and it was just a crazy race. We've 61 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:57,380 obviously had some man -somania and just carnage, 62 00:02:57,520 --> 00:02:59,540 but incredible. Do you know, it's funny you 63 00:02:59,540 --> 00:03:02,100 say that about you were playing the games first and 64 00:03:02,100 --> 00:03:05,560 then became a fan. Today, this morning, I shared a 65 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:09,420 video of Donnington 98 as a clip and saying, yeah, 66 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:12,720 we're recording this episode this evening. And 67 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:14,960 one of the comments underneath it was, wait, 68 00:03:15,180 --> 00:03:22,040 this wasn't just a game. Welcome 69 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:24,160 to the party 25 years late. But 70 00:03:24,168 --> 00:03:27,020 you know, I remember like getting Tokutu on the 71 00:03:27,020 --> 00:03:29,160 because obviously that was based on the 98 season. So 72 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:30,720 it must have been Christmas 99. I 73 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:32,980 just turned 10 years of age. And 74 00:03:32,980 --> 00:03:35,000 my brother and I getting all excited because the 75 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,740 Renault is green. You know, we were used to a 76 00:03:36,740 --> 00:03:39,360 yellow Renault. And Ravisic, Ravisic isn't in 77 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:40,780 the, oh, we're always in the Peugeot. And 78 00:03:40,780 --> 00:03:43,160 that's how I was getting to learn about the BTCC 79 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,440 through the game. Yeah. But do you find that when 80 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:47,880 you, I know you said you're watching some of the 81 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:50,680 footage back and do you find that, but she just 82 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:52,240 all comes back to you straight away. There 83 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,980 are certain moments like in time. Yeah. 84 00:03:55,300 --> 00:03:56,500 Yeah. It's a bloody long time ago, 85 00:03:56,500 --> 00:03:58,880 but I just find that when like watching this race 86 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:00,640 back, I've just thought, God, yeah, I remember that. 87 00:04:01,060 --> 00:04:02,040 I remember that. I 88 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,360 remember that. But like just like it was 89 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,200 yesterday, it's amazing what you store and what you 90 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,660 remember because it was an iconic race out of the 91 00:04:10,660 --> 00:04:14,700 complete, you know, all the eras of touring car racing. 92 00:04:14,900 --> 00:04:16,220 And like I'll said, of, you 93 00:04:16,220 --> 00:04:17,640 know, motorsport generally, it's got to be up there 94 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:18,839 as one of the best ever. Yeah, 95 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:20,339 definitely. And I think the fact it was, 96 00:04:20,500 --> 00:04:22,079 the coverage was so good as well. Those 97 00:04:22,079 --> 00:04:25,640 recorded highlights by BHP, it's preserved it in time. 98 00:04:25,780 --> 00:04:26,840 It's like good music, I guess 99 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:28,540 it doesn't age. Does it? I 100 00:04:28,540 --> 00:04:30,460 know this was a live round, which is another 101 00:04:30,460 --> 00:04:32,380 thing that made it so special. There 102 00:04:32,380 --> 00:04:34,080 weren't so many live rounds, whether as we know, 103 00:04:34,140 --> 00:04:36,040 you've spoken with Barry Nutley and people before on 104 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:38,180 the show, but I just incredible. I 105 00:04:38,180 --> 00:04:40,260 often spend in my free time, I'll just put it on 106 00:04:40,260 --> 00:04:42,540 in the background season of these, and particularly 107 00:04:42,540 --> 00:04:47,260 Donington, 98. And I think we'll stick with 108 00:04:47,260 --> 00:04:50,800 you, Greg, for our usual opening question. You've 109 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,260 already sort of touched on all the different bits that 110 00:04:53,260 --> 00:04:55,800 came together in this event, but what is sort of 111 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:58,060 the first thing you think comes to mind about this 112 00:04:58,060 --> 00:05:00,560 race at Donington? Probably because I always want to 113 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:02,400 do a commentator. It's the commentary from Charlie 114 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,120 Cox and John Watson and the absolute excitement and 115 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:06,540 disbelief. They're even struggling to get 116 00:05:06,540 --> 00:05:08,560 their words out, weren't they, at some points. Reed 117 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:11,340 spinning off is the image I think of immediately. And 118 00:05:11,340 --> 00:05:13,380 he didn't just spin off, he went spectacularly often, 119 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:17,000 he signed into the wall, the bumping and barging up 120 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,120 to Coffees with Manson and Cleland and Leslie, great 121 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:21,840 names, and then they all just disappear into the 122 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:24,260 Dunlop Bridge. What about Muller as well? I 123 00:05:24,260 --> 00:05:25,900 was watching that back earlier. If 124 00:05:25,900 --> 00:05:28,060 you watch Muller, he's on the inside into Goddards 125 00:05:28,060 --> 00:05:30,720 and somehow comes out of there in third and ends up 126 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:32,480 in the lead. So those are the images that 127 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:34,780 come into my head. And obviously Manson and Cleland 128 00:05:34,780 --> 00:05:36,740 shoving each other off, coming out of Redgate too. 129 00:05:37,220 --> 00:05:38,240 Those are the first things I 130 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:39,660 think of. But yeah, it's the commentary, 131 00:05:39,900 --> 00:05:42,140 to be honest. That's the thing I most remember. 132 00:05:42,780 --> 00:05:45,280 Andrew, coming to you now, you 133 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:47,800 were actually working at the meeting at Donington in 134 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,880 1998. What are your first memories? Is 135 00:05:50,888 --> 00:05:53,660 it maybe something in the press box or around the 136 00:05:53,660 --> 00:05:54,700 circuit? What is it? Yeah, 137 00:05:54,780 --> 00:05:56,860 I mean, I listened to you all and you would say, and 138 00:05:56,860 --> 00:05:59,720 I was 10 and I was 12 and I was in my first 139 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,140 meeting. How old were you? Let 140 00:06:02,140 --> 00:06:08,219 me think, was it 98? Minus 61 from 98? Mid 141 00:06:08,219 --> 00:06:10,420 -30s. Well, obviously, as I've said 142 00:06:10,420 --> 00:06:13,860 once or twice before, Super Touring Era was definitely 143 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,260 the most evocative time of my entire career. And 144 00:06:17,260 --> 00:06:19,560 when people mention Super Touring to me, some 145 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:22,080 memories come straight into my head, obviously the 92 146 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:25,280 finale, the whole year of 95 when I was doing Super 147 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:28,180 Touring magazine. But always this one, this 148 00:06:28,180 --> 00:06:30,840 particular meeting comes straight into the head. And 149 00:06:30,847 --> 00:06:33,980 the one image I always get, which I'll talk about 150 00:06:33,980 --> 00:06:36,980 in a bit more detail later, is what was going 151 00:06:36,980 --> 00:06:40,300 on in the press box, in the media centre, in the 152 00:06:40,300 --> 00:06:42,120 second half of that second race. It 153 00:06:42,128 --> 00:06:46,960 was seared itself into my brain. It's 154 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:48,900 been there ever since. I can imagine. I 155 00:06:48,900 --> 00:06:52,840 think we'll definitely touch on that view that none of 156 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:55,420 us would have had definitely later in the 157 00:06:55,420 --> 00:06:57,820 episode. Adam, coming to you next, 158 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:01,700 Donnington 98, first thoughts for you? I 159 00:07:01,700 --> 00:07:03,380 think Alan, you guys are probably going to know what 160 00:07:03,380 --> 00:07:07,520 I'm first going to say. My hero, my nige, my nige, 161 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:12,600 Mansell Mania. Again, these are all great ones 162 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:13,740 to cover what we're doing. But 163 00:07:13,748 --> 00:07:15,440 obviously, soon as I knew this was the one where 164 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:18,440 Nigel was in it. And yeah, again, just floating 165 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:22,120 back, Mansell Mania, Nigel, he was my hero growing up. 166 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:24,020 Still, he's absolutely legend of 167 00:07:24,020 --> 00:07:26,020 the sport and what he did for the UK motorsport 168 00:07:26,020 --> 00:07:28,300 generally. And he created Mansell Mania. 169 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:30,040 Look what he did. So, 170 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:34,980 I think the sort of almost like a transition, you 171 00:07:34,980 --> 00:07:36,700 think of obviously F1 fans. But 172 00:07:36,700 --> 00:07:39,840 I think he bought F1 fans into touring cars. You 173 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:41,840 can normally a single seat or F1 fan or you're a 174 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,260 touring car fan. But I think there's a synergy 175 00:07:44,260 --> 00:07:46,360 there where he bought a lot of fans to the 176 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:49,900 championship. But I just remember Nigel, a 177 00:07:49,900 --> 00:07:53,260 wet meeting, safety cars and just pure excitement 178 00:07:53,260 --> 00:07:56,320 that weekend for me. And like I said earlier, when 179 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,420 I watched this footage back, so much of it come 180 00:07:59,420 --> 00:08:01,940 flooding back that you do forget, but it's amazing 181 00:08:01,940 --> 00:08:04,800 how well you remember those moments. And 182 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:06,100 it was a long time ago. But 183 00:08:06,100 --> 00:08:08,200 yeah, it was just pure excitement that weekend for 184 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:09,960 me. And finally, coming to you out, 185 00:08:10,140 --> 00:08:12,360 what are your memories of this memorable race from 186 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:16,740 1998? Well, I dried off yesterday. So 187 00:08:16,740 --> 00:08:22,780 it was wet. It was soaking wet. I 188 00:08:22,780 --> 00:08:26,219 was lucky enough to be there. And 189 00:08:26,219 --> 00:08:29,960 just what a wonderful, wonderful experience because 190 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:33,580 as I said at the start of the show, one of the best 191 00:08:33,580 --> 00:08:36,679 touring car, the best touring car race I've ever 192 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:40,000 seen. And yeah, it was just, it just 193 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,360 had everything, the race that had everything, 194 00:08:42,659 --> 00:08:44,460 especially the feature race. I 195 00:08:44,460 --> 00:08:47,140 love the extra story that the pit stops brought into 196 00:08:47,140 --> 00:08:51,560 the race. It told a nice little story, 197 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:53,980 whereas I don't think you get that in more modern 198 00:08:53,980 --> 00:08:56,260 touring car races where they're just sprints. I 199 00:08:56,260 --> 00:08:59,460 love the Mansell cameo. And yep, that's me on record 200 00:08:59,460 --> 00:09:01,160 saying something nice about Nigel. I 201 00:09:01,168 --> 00:09:02,780 know. Come on, go on, Alex. I 202 00:09:02,780 --> 00:09:04,420 know you're a secret fan. It's 203 00:09:04,420 --> 00:09:05,520 fine. You can let it out. Just 204 00:09:05,528 --> 00:09:06,680 block the therapy session. Hey, 205 00:09:06,780 --> 00:09:10,020 you can do it. Yeah. It was just the perfect 206 00:09:10,020 --> 00:09:12,300 race. The buzz in the paddock, the 207 00:09:12,300 --> 00:09:14,660 buzz in the crowds, the pit lane walkabout. I 208 00:09:14,668 --> 00:09:16,320 mean, Nigel couldn't go anywhere. He 209 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:20,720 was absolutely swamped. I remember seeing a six foot 210 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:24,980 cardboard cutout of Nigel Mansell, complete with 211 00:09:24,980 --> 00:09:27,020 Moustache, because obviously he'd lost the Moustache for 212 00:09:27,020 --> 00:09:29,600 98, hadn't he? But that somebody had got 213 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:31,680 signed by him and was just carrying around with him 214 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:34,840 for the rest of the week. Which 215 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:36,400 probably got a bit damp, actually. But 216 00:09:36,408 --> 00:09:37,640 yeah, it was just... I was about to get it in 217 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,740 the car in the car park. Just 218 00:09:40,740 --> 00:09:42,800 carrying around with this six foot Mansell at the 219 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:45,320 result. But yeah, if you're listening 220 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:48,120 now, I hope that it dried and I hope it's still... 221 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:49,740 Yeah, yeah, that's good. Yeah. 222 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:51,800 Please show us. It's still a picture. Yeah, 223 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:54,340 it's still a picture. But yeah, it was just... I 224 00:09:54,348 --> 00:09:56,820 think the media attention as well was amazing because 225 00:09:56,820 --> 00:09:59,520 I know you've talked about Noel's house party, haven't 226 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,860 you, on a previous episode I've been to here. Nigel 227 00:10:02,860 --> 00:10:04,660 was on Noel's house party on the run -up to 228 00:10:04,660 --> 00:10:07,640 Dunnington 98 with the overalls on and they even 229 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:10,760 did the launch for Ford in that very BBC studio. Yeah, 230 00:10:10,768 --> 00:10:12,040 they did, yeah. Didn't they? I 231 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:14,020 was at that launch. Were you? So 232 00:10:14,020 --> 00:10:17,920 you were in the Noel's house party studio? I'd 233 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:19,960 completely forgotten about it until you mentioned it 234 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:23,240 and I thought, yeah, I remember being there. Was 235 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:24,880 Mr Blobby there or...? Don't 236 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:27,120 think he made an appearance, but if he did, 237 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,480 I certainly banished it from my mind. I'm 238 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:32,360 sure he remembers that one. It 239 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:33,900 was such a carnage wasn't it? I 240 00:10:33,900 --> 00:10:35,780 mean, how can we put that into perspective now for 241 00:10:35,780 --> 00:10:37,680 anyone who can't remember Noel's house party? It's 242 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:39,880 like a current... It's like a retired F1 driver 243 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:42,840 going and racing in the B2CC now and making an 244 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:44,760 appearance on Anton Deck Saturday night takeaway 245 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,100 before having to promote it. It 246 00:10:47,100 --> 00:10:49,800 almost seems impossible now. As 247 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:52,480 ever, we have asked our faithful listeners what they 248 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:54,760 thought of this race meeting as well through our 249 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,320 social media channels. Kicking 250 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:00,540 things off, Daniel Francis just says that he also 251 00:11:00,540 --> 00:11:04,580 remembers, like Alex, how wet it was that day. Well, 252 00:11:04,620 --> 00:11:08,020 Spenley says he remembers his dad going on a golfing 253 00:11:08,020 --> 00:11:12,960 day instead of taking him to Donington and that might 254 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:15,420 be the saddest story I've heard for the week. Some 255 00:11:15,420 --> 00:11:18,380 of the drivers had sad stories that weekend, but 256 00:11:18,380 --> 00:11:20,760 then I think that might be the most heart breaking of 257 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:23,800 all of them. Jonathan Zifovich, I hope I've got 258 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:24,860 that right for you there. He 259 00:11:24,860 --> 00:11:28,060 says that his one memory of this meeting is much 260 00:11:28,060 --> 00:11:31,220 like Greg, the commentary, and he can hear John 261 00:11:31,220 --> 00:11:34,260 Watson shouting, British touring cars, a certain 262 00:11:34,260 --> 00:11:37,300 near -clipped anything we have ever seen even now. 263 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:40,340 Barry Pierce, he got in touch to 264 00:11:40,340 --> 00:11:43,080 say his memories are of Clelland and Mantle's fight 265 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:46,260 for the win. And John Corley added that he 266 00:11:46,260 --> 00:11:48,300 was gutted when Anthony Reid spun off in the 267 00:11:48,300 --> 00:11:50,740 feature race, wondering how the race would have 268 00:11:50,740 --> 00:11:54,000 unfolded had he not gone off and continued. Certainly 269 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,440 an interesting thought there. How 270 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:59,060 quick those Nissan's were that weekend. Yeah, 271 00:11:59,060 --> 00:12:01,760 they were. Yeah, they were. Andy 272 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:03,920 Taylor, he got in touch to say it was the hope that 273 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:06,820 Mantle could actually win in a touring car and that 274 00:12:06,820 --> 00:12:09,340 he certainly showed his elbow's outstyle in 275 00:12:09,340 --> 00:12:13,000 abundance, whilst Andy Hopley remembers Rob Gravitt 276 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:15,980 and Riccardo Adele both facing the wrong way up 277 00:12:15,980 --> 00:12:17,960 the pit straight. And I think we'll probably get 278 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:22,380 into the 800 point turns that they both had to pull 279 00:12:22,380 --> 00:12:25,340 mid -race on the pit straight. Yeah, 280 00:12:25,460 --> 00:12:27,780 the steering lock on those things are clearly not 281 00:12:27,780 --> 00:12:32,180 great at all. No, no. Mike 282 00:12:32,180 --> 00:12:34,480 Fisher said that it was the last time he's ever 283 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,200 shouted at his TV. Of course, as Greg's mentioned, 284 00:12:38,340 --> 00:12:40,920 this was one of the live races that GranStand 285 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:45,280 broadcasted in 1998. Whilst Gary Bonsall says that he 286 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:48,100 remembers it because it was his first ever British 287 00:12:48,100 --> 00:12:49,780 touring car race to attend. And 288 00:12:49,788 --> 00:12:52,760 you know, what a race to start with, probably the 289 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:56,800 best one ever. Well, all of them. Aaron 290 00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:59,620 Collins, he says his first memory of this race is the 291 00:12:59,620 --> 00:13:02,300 image of Tim Harvey, Anthony Reid and Wilhoi, 292 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:05,300 all looking a bit annoyed and glam, missing all the 293 00:13:05,300 --> 00:13:07,900 fun at McClain's corner after they'd all bind it 294 00:13:07,900 --> 00:13:11,420 themselves. And Mark Sullivan, he's got in 295 00:13:11,420 --> 00:13:12,620 touch with an interesting one. So 296 00:13:12,628 --> 00:13:14,540 he's a good job that Mansell didn't run the 297 00:13:14,540 --> 00:13:17,600 whole season before, or he thinks he'd have run away 298 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:20,500 with the season. I remember the first of those 299 00:13:20,500 --> 00:13:22,800 live races, the previous season. And 300 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:26,120 of course, none of us were standing on the grid on 301 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:29,680 our then brand new mobile phones, phoning home and 302 00:13:29,680 --> 00:13:33,800 saying, can you see me on the telly? Didn't 303 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:39,380 do that at all. Not at all, honest. That's 304 00:13:39,380 --> 00:13:43,060 an interesting one from Mark there. I 305 00:13:43,060 --> 00:13:47,160 mean, I know I'm not Nigel's biggest supporter, 306 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:53,980 but I can't imagine he'd have run away with it 307 00:13:53,980 --> 00:13:56,140 personally. Now I have more to say on 308 00:13:56,140 --> 00:13:59,980 that subject a little bit later. That's 309 00:13:59,980 --> 00:14:02,240 one of the biggest fans known to man, you know, 310 00:14:02,839 --> 00:14:05,100 let's have the balance. Yeah, 311 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,460 it would have absolutely ronked it lads, let's be 312 00:14:07,460 --> 00:14:11,600 honest. Of course, you wouldn't. You've 313 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:14,380 got too many experienced BCCC drivers like top end 314 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:17,540 drivers that he was never going to, you know, I know 315 00:14:17,540 --> 00:14:20,140 it's wishful thinking and, you know, I'm sure Mark, 316 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:21,800 that's what he wanted to have happened. And 317 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:23,700 that's an ideal world, Mansell Maynion, what we're 318 00:14:23,700 --> 00:14:26,140 all live for. But that would never have 319 00:14:26,140 --> 00:14:29,140 happened at the condition suited and with Helts Nigel 320 00:14:29,140 --> 00:14:31,240 that weekend, the fact that it brings everything more 321 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:33,440 to a level playing field. And 322 00:14:33,448 --> 00:14:36,020 but saying that, the lack of experience that he had 323 00:14:36,020 --> 00:14:39,660 in the tin top, he did brilliant. Yeah, 324 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:42,040 I think, you know, you look at the dry races he 325 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:46,560 did at Silverstone and Brands Hatch and that's 326 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,700 more of your level that he was at realistically because 327 00:14:49,700 --> 00:14:52,140 you look at it and even his teammate Will Hoy, one 328 00:14:52,140 --> 00:14:54,680 of the most experienced touring car racers out 329 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:56,680 there at the time, you know, he wasn't able to 330 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:58,860 get much out of the Mondeo in the dry. So 331 00:14:58,860 --> 00:15:03,920 it wasn't a competitive car. Nigel 332 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:09,120 Mansell would not have been able to to romp it. But 333 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:12,380 I think even if he was, you know, a pole position 334 00:15:12,380 --> 00:15:14,580 car, a winning car, I don't think he would have 335 00:15:14,580 --> 00:15:17,040 because all the different circuits, they know, them 336 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:18,780 cars are way more complicated than any of the 337 00:15:18,780 --> 00:15:22,500 current cars now. And to go from such a 338 00:15:22,500 --> 00:15:26,820 different discipline of going from single seaters, 339 00:15:26,820 --> 00:15:29,760 different suspension brakes, everything to something 340 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:33,360 that's so alien compared to that, to just go in there 341 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:35,720 and expect to, you know, everyone would have wished 342 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:36,720 for it. I would have wished for it 343 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:39,220 obviously at the time, but you know, there's a big 344 00:15:39,220 --> 00:15:41,520 ask when you're up against the likes of Muller, 345 00:15:41,980 --> 00:15:45,040 Clelland, exactly, you know, Menu, Rydel, Harvey, they're 346 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:47,560 all, you know, these guys have, that's they've been 347 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:49,400 their life and they knew them cars better than 348 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:50,920 anybody. So for Nigel to come in and 349 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:53,360 wipe the floor with them, that wasn't really going to 350 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,600 happen. Yeah, I think his ability to 351 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:58,660 adapt to circumstances show, didn't it? As 352 00:15:58,660 --> 00:16:01,060 we've seen in F1 and seen in, you know, the junior 353 00:16:01,060 --> 00:16:03,480 Formula E and then over in America as well. But 354 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:05,380 ultimately, lack of experience did cost him, 355 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:06,620 didn't it? I don't think he changed the 356 00:16:06,620 --> 00:16:08,440 brake bias as he should have done. I 357 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:10,900 think Clelland said once, which is why he locked up 358 00:16:10,900 --> 00:16:13,040 again, didn't he, down into Goddard as he'd done in 359 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:15,780 the first race and gone off at Coppers. But 360 00:16:15,780 --> 00:16:17,480 his pure talent just came through, didn't it? And 361 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:19,360 the fact it was Nigel Mansell, you know, Mary 362 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:21,600 Walker always said there was always drama where 363 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:23,660 Nigel was. And there was, it couldn't have 364 00:16:23,660 --> 00:16:25,680 been any better. And I guess the fact it wasn't 365 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,460 a front -running car, that season, made it even more 366 00:16:28,460 --> 00:16:31,140 special. But he was lucky that Ford had 367 00:16:31,140 --> 00:16:33,160 done a lot of wet weather testing, hadn't they, pre 368 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:35,080 -season, I believe, which obviously played into his 369 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,260 hands at Donnington, but just goes down in motor 370 00:16:38,260 --> 00:16:39,540 racing folklore, doesn't it? What 371 00:16:39,540 --> 00:16:43,239 an incredible set of circumstances. I 372 00:16:43,239 --> 00:16:47,040 said in our Brands Hatch 98 episode back in Series 373 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:54,120 1 that that race meeting we saw the very best of 374 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:56,760 Nigel Mansell. Yeah. You know, this was the 375 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:59,560 complete opposite. Nigel was incredible all weekend. 376 00:17:00,380 --> 00:17:02,140 There's no other way of wording 377 00:17:02,140 --> 00:17:04,200 it. Especially bearing in mind, he had, 378 00:17:04,260 --> 00:17:07,099 you know, stuffed it into the tyre wall in a fairly 379 00:17:07,099 --> 00:17:08,780 big accident in the first race. It 380 00:17:08,780 --> 00:17:10,319 had a bit of a stiff neck, he said, didn't he? 381 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:12,400 Yeah, well, there was an incident 382 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:14,900 with, we'll talk about it later on, but he had a 383 00:17:14,900 --> 00:17:17,940 bit of an incident with Lemmer in the pre -race 384 00:17:17,940 --> 00:17:19,760 test. And the car had to be sent 385 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:22,680 back to West Surrey to be to basically have a new 386 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:26,720 back end put on it. So yeah, in the wars, as 387 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:33,500 always with Nigel. Heading into the weekend and 388 00:17:33,500 --> 00:17:37,480 unsurprisingly, everyone was talking about Nigel Mansell. 389 00:17:38,260 --> 00:17:39,900 Donnington Park was to be the first 390 00:17:39,900 --> 00:17:43,720 of three appearances in the BTCC for Ford, replacing 391 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,740 Craig Baird in the second one day at Donnington, the 392 00:17:46,740 --> 00:17:49,500 August Bank holiday meeting at Grands Hatch and the 393 00:17:49,500 --> 00:17:52,520 Silverstone season finale. The 394 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:55,420 fact that the 1992 F1 World Champion was taking 395 00:17:55,420 --> 00:17:58,440 part in the BTCC meant that the focus on the 396 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:02,260 championship was at the highest level ever. BBC 397 00:18:02,260 --> 00:18:05,720 Grandstand's Pitlane reporter Mark Fogarty wrote in an 398 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:09,180 autosport column, Nigel's entry into the series will 399 00:18:09,180 --> 00:18:12,620 bring interest in the BTCC from the Fleet Street Fish 400 00:18:12,620 --> 00:18:15,140 Wrappers, which normally treat the series as some 401 00:18:15,140 --> 00:18:17,420 sort of dog and pony show. From 402 00:18:17,420 --> 00:18:20,220 now until Monday, tin tops will be the tassel of the 403 00:18:20,220 --> 00:18:24,220 tabloids and the babble of the broadsheets. Andrew, 404 00:18:24,380 --> 00:18:27,240 as a journalist in the media, scrum around the 405 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:29,180 series at the time. Do you know how it was a 406 00:18:29,180 --> 00:18:31,540 fair assessment of the increased interest in the 407 00:18:31,540 --> 00:18:33,600 series because of Nigel's entry? Scrub? 408 00:18:34,060 --> 00:18:38,540 We were far more posh than scrum. Well, 409 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:43,380 firstly, mentioning Mark Fogarty, I mean, that 410 00:18:43,380 --> 00:18:45,200 brings back some very special memories because 411 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,440 he's an Australian journalist and he was a 412 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:50,920 lot more than the BBC's Pitlane reporter because in 413 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:54,040 those days we used to get post -race press conferences 414 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:56,760 with the top three finishers and the total Cup 415 00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:59,040 independence winner after each race. And 416 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:03,240 Mark hosted them. He was never subtle with his 417 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:05,160 grilling of the drivers. He called them out, but he 418 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:08,040 thought they were at fault and the sparring between 419 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:12,920 him and certain drivers, did anyone say Cleland? It 420 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:15,940 was something we all always looked forward to. I 421 00:19:15,940 --> 00:19:18,160 mean, the post -race press conferences were 422 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:19,700 entertainment in their own right. They 423 00:19:19,700 --> 00:19:22,320 were great and it's yet another thing we don't get 424 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,720 today. To be honest, I think the 425 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:30,120 Mansell Mania bit had more traction outside the BTCC 426 00:19:30,120 --> 00:19:33,320 than within it. And again, this is where I'm 427 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,240 going to be the latest to come up against Adam here. 428 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:42,740 It was a very easy story for 429 00:19:42,740 --> 00:19:44,760 the Fleet Street tabloids because obviously, you know, 430 00:19:44,820 --> 00:19:48,260 our nige. Those of us in the, shall we 431 00:19:48,260 --> 00:19:52,900 say, serious BTCC media pack who, especially those 432 00:19:52,900 --> 00:19:55,720 of us who had been at Niger's previous flirtation 433 00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:59,020 with the series in the 93 Tokyo shootout, and we 434 00:19:59,020 --> 00:20:02,520 remember these big accident and the way he never 435 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:06,220 stopped blaming the totally innocent Tiffany Dale. We 436 00:20:06,220 --> 00:20:08,220 were probably a bit cynical about his comeback, to be 437 00:20:08,220 --> 00:20:11,540 honest, especially as this time he hadn't been doing 438 00:20:11,540 --> 00:20:16,800 a lot, whereas in 93 he just won the F1 title and 439 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:19,820 the IndyCar championship in successive years. So 440 00:20:19,820 --> 00:20:24,820 yeah, there was a lot of hype, but most of it was 441 00:20:24,820 --> 00:20:27,900 outside the series and not really affecting those that 442 00:20:27,900 --> 00:20:28,780 were in the middle of it. Those 443 00:20:28,780 --> 00:20:30,580 of us that were in the middle of it. That's 444 00:20:30,580 --> 00:20:36,320 an interesting column from Mark Fogarty. I 445 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:39,240 don't know, it just seems rather scathing and 446 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:42,100 obviously that ties in with what Andrew was saying 447 00:20:42,100 --> 00:20:45,660 about his post -Post -Race press conferences that he 448 00:20:45,660 --> 00:20:48,320 didn't hold back. Manson and Fogarty knew each other 449 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:53,210 pretty well because I think Mark used to do F1 press 450 00:20:53,210 --> 00:20:55,170 conferences as well, especially in Australia. 451 00:20:58,410 --> 00:21:02,990 Mark was quite well known. I've 452 00:21:02,990 --> 00:21:07,250 heard and till at least recent years that he was 453 00:21:07,250 --> 00:21:09,270 doing the same thing in V8 Supercars, but I don't know 454 00:21:09,270 --> 00:21:10,490 if that's still the case. But 455 00:21:10,498 --> 00:21:13,410 yes, he was a heck of a character, definite 456 00:21:13,410 --> 00:21:15,730 character. From what I can gather, he is 457 00:21:15,730 --> 00:21:18,610 in Australia doing pretty much what you said with 458 00:21:18,610 --> 00:21:21,650 V8s. Manson spoke about his reasons for 459 00:21:21,650 --> 00:21:24,390 taking part in the Free Race meetings for Ford in 460 00:21:24,390 --> 00:21:26,850 the Pre -Race Press Conference. Let's 461 00:21:26,850 --> 00:21:29,030 hear now what he had to say. I 462 00:21:29,030 --> 00:21:31,590 think the big question everybody is wondering is 463 00:21:31,590 --> 00:21:35,710 having conquered the world of Formula One and Indy 464 00:21:35,710 --> 00:21:38,610 cars, had to go to saloon, why after a five -year 465 00:21:38,610 --> 00:21:41,910 break come back? That's a good question. It 466 00:21:41,918 --> 00:21:44,990 seemed a good idea at the time, but seriously 467 00:21:44,990 --> 00:21:49,350 everybody. We've come on board with Ford 468 00:21:49,350 --> 00:21:53,670 Motor Company. They've obviously not as competitive 469 00:21:53,670 --> 00:21:56,070 as they wish to have been in the last couple of 470 00:21:56,070 --> 00:21:59,410 years. They asked whether I'd come on 471 00:21:59,410 --> 00:22:03,390 board to consult, to help develop, to test, and to 472 00:22:03,390 --> 00:22:05,690 do three races for them. It 473 00:22:05,690 --> 00:22:08,770 was actually my idea to do the three races as well 474 00:22:08,770 --> 00:22:11,030 because it doesn't until you get in the thick of 475 00:22:11,030 --> 00:22:13,150 it the weekend that you see how everything operates. 476 00:22:14,150 --> 00:22:16,130 We've been working there for a 477 00:22:16,130 --> 00:22:19,290 good period of time behind the scenes. With 478 00:22:19,290 --> 00:22:22,050 excitement building for Nidale's debut at Dyington, 479 00:22:22,630 --> 00:22:25,610 talks of another XF1 star joining him on the grid 480 00:22:25,610 --> 00:22:30,150 with Gathering Pace. 1979 F1 world champion Jody 481 00:22:30,150 --> 00:22:32,830 Shepter was being touted for a drive with either 482 00:22:32,830 --> 00:22:35,810 Nissan, Renault or Honda. He 483 00:22:35,810 --> 00:22:38,010 was rumoured to have been penciled in to race at the 484 00:22:38,010 --> 00:22:41,350 same three meetings that Mansell was contesting. In 485 00:22:41,350 --> 00:22:45,530 May, BTCC boss Alan Gow claimed an 80 % chance of 486 00:22:45,530 --> 00:22:48,590 the deal happening, whilst Jody wanted a deal done by 487 00:22:48,590 --> 00:22:51,870 the end of May. A decision is going to be 488 00:22:51,870 --> 00:22:54,210 made either way by Friday. Last 489 00:22:54,210 --> 00:22:57,110 week I was going to say no, but something came up 490 00:22:57,110 --> 00:22:59,390 which could be interesting. If 491 00:22:59,390 --> 00:23:01,550 they can do it with everything being right, I 492 00:23:01,550 --> 00:23:04,230 will race. If it isn't decided by the 493 00:23:04,230 --> 00:23:06,870 end of the week, it will be too late. It 494 00:23:06,870 --> 00:23:09,910 already is really, but that is half the fun of it. 495 00:23:11,130 --> 00:23:12,630 Whilst we now know that the deal 496 00:23:12,630 --> 00:23:14,690 never took place and Shepter never made the 497 00:23:14,690 --> 00:23:18,050 grid, how do you guys think he would have got on 498 00:23:18,050 --> 00:23:20,910 compared to Mansell and the rest of the grid that 499 00:23:20,910 --> 00:23:24,370 weekend? Depends on what the last time he 500 00:23:24,370 --> 00:23:26,470 actually drove something competitive prior to that 501 00:23:26,470 --> 00:23:29,470 meeting. I know Nidale hadn't done a 502 00:23:29,470 --> 00:23:31,830 lot prior to that compared to obviously when he got 503 00:23:31,830 --> 00:23:33,610 thrown in at the Tuckershoots out in 1993, 504 00:23:33,810 --> 00:23:36,950 F1 World Champion 1992, Indy Car 93, let's just 505 00:23:36,950 --> 00:23:40,490 throw in the touring car race at the same time. A 506 00:23:40,490 --> 00:23:43,710 million dollar question is that we can all say he 507 00:23:43,710 --> 00:23:45,170 could have wiped the floor with everyone at the same 508 00:23:45,170 --> 00:23:46,970 time. He could have been twiddling 509 00:23:46,970 --> 00:23:49,990 around at the back. That's one of the reasons I love 510 00:23:49,990 --> 00:23:52,730 doing this podcast because I had completely forgotten 511 00:23:52,730 --> 00:23:54,810 about this until I saw the script and then suddenly 512 00:23:54,810 --> 00:23:58,650 came back to me. We can only speculate. He 513 00:23:58,650 --> 00:24:01,470 could have been great. He could have been rubbish and 514 00:24:01,470 --> 00:24:04,010 if he had been rubbish, it wouldn't have been that 515 00:24:04,010 --> 00:24:07,730 surprising. Many a leading F1 driver was 516 00:24:07,730 --> 00:24:10,730 brought down a few notches by no holds barred racing 517 00:24:10,730 --> 00:24:14,450 we saw in the BTCC and I think a prime example at 518 00:24:14,450 --> 00:24:17,690 the time was Derrick Warwick who never really 519 00:24:17,690 --> 00:24:19,970 looked comfortable in the tin top. But 520 00:24:19,970 --> 00:24:22,670 then there was other single -seater hot shoes who 521 00:24:22,670 --> 00:24:26,910 totally adapted to touring cars extremely well. I 522 00:24:26,918 --> 00:24:29,270 mean, the two obvious ones are Alan Mignou and Rick 523 00:24:29,270 --> 00:24:32,030 Hardly -Dale who both had very good single -seater 524 00:24:32,030 --> 00:24:34,850 careers and they were climbing rapidly and could 525 00:24:34,850 --> 00:24:38,610 possibly have made F1, especially Ryder, if their 526 00:24:38,610 --> 00:24:42,070 career hadn't turned left into cars with roofs. So 527 00:24:42,078 --> 00:24:48,850 yeah, it's really some F1 drivers adapt very well to 528 00:24:48,850 --> 00:24:51,450 tin tops, others don't. The only way we could have 529 00:24:51,450 --> 00:24:54,250 found out is once checked, was in the car. I 530 00:24:54,250 --> 00:24:57,090 think anyone being thrown in at the deep end amongst 531 00:24:57,090 --> 00:25:00,970 this talented field of drivers would have struggled 532 00:25:00,970 --> 00:25:03,990 in a car that they probably weren't going to 533 00:25:03,990 --> 00:25:08,130 be testing either very much or if at all. No 534 00:25:08,130 --> 00:25:09,590 matter who they are, I think they were going to 535 00:25:09,590 --> 00:25:12,870 struggle. So yeah, I can't see him 536 00:25:12,870 --> 00:25:16,290 getting to the front of the grid. I 537 00:25:16,290 --> 00:25:18,410 wouldn't have envisaged that but maybe he would have 538 00:25:18,410 --> 00:25:20,530 surprised. Who knows? That's 539 00:25:20,530 --> 00:25:22,630 the beauty of podcasts like this, isn't it? You 540 00:25:22,638 --> 00:25:25,570 know, you can have a look and think maybe he would 541 00:25:25,570 --> 00:25:28,830 have done but nobody really knows. But 542 00:25:28,830 --> 00:25:30,890 for me, he probably would have struggled and would 543 00:25:30,890 --> 00:25:33,390 have been towards the rear. Yeah, 544 00:25:33,430 --> 00:25:34,950 I think I have to agree whether it would have been 545 00:25:34,950 --> 00:25:36,830 a Nissan Renault or a Honda, all competitive 546 00:25:36,830 --> 00:25:40,010 packages in 1998. But I mean, Jody wouldn't have 547 00:25:40,010 --> 00:25:41,490 known Donnington that well, would he? Let's 548 00:25:41,490 --> 00:25:44,230 be honest, starting there. Did 549 00:25:44,230 --> 00:25:46,110 he have any tin top experience, as anybody would 550 00:25:46,110 --> 00:25:47,410 know? I can't think of him doing 551 00:25:47,410 --> 00:25:48,810 anything on a regular basis. Maybe 552 00:25:48,810 --> 00:25:51,650 a few guest races. They did an F1 race at the 553 00:25:51,650 --> 00:25:52,890 Nurburgring, didn't they? They 554 00:25:52,890 --> 00:25:56,570 reopened in 1985, well, with F1 drivers in Mercedes 555 00:25:56,570 --> 00:25:59,090 saloon cars. And I'm pretty sure Jody was 556 00:25:59,090 --> 00:26:02,810 in that. But I think we'd be... I 557 00:26:02,810 --> 00:26:04,670 can't see him making a big impression, if I'm honest. 558 00:26:04,770 --> 00:26:05,870 Unless something happened like Rain 559 00:26:05,870 --> 00:26:08,030 and he could have done what Nigel did, but you 560 00:26:08,030 --> 00:26:09,690 have to feel it would have been a struggle. Nothing 561 00:26:09,690 --> 00:26:11,810 against Jody Schechter but I think he would have been 562 00:26:11,810 --> 00:26:14,390 a struggle. Nigel, meanwhile, was in good 563 00:26:14,390 --> 00:26:17,030 spirits ahead of the meeting and was confident 564 00:26:17,030 --> 00:26:19,910 of a good showing at Donnington Park. He 565 00:26:19,910 --> 00:26:23,590 did over 250 miles of testing at Pembray prior to 566 00:26:23,590 --> 00:26:26,090 the meeting at Donnington, with team boss Dick 567 00:26:26,090 --> 00:26:29,310 Bennett's very pleas of his progress. Nigel's 568 00:26:29,310 --> 00:26:31,370 feeling part of the car now. He's 569 00:26:31,370 --> 00:26:34,010 tried several things, but we mainly ran him with a 570 00:26:34,010 --> 00:26:36,950 known quantity to allow him to get some miles. He 571 00:26:36,950 --> 00:26:40,470 really impressed me through the fast corners. Team 572 00:26:40,470 --> 00:26:42,990 mate Will Hoy was equally impressed. He 573 00:26:42,990 --> 00:26:45,430 was committed and close enough to me to be a pain 574 00:26:45,430 --> 00:26:48,190 in the ass. We'll be pleased if it is wet. 575 00:26:49,569 --> 00:26:51,670 Adam, 250 miles before your first 576 00:26:51,670 --> 00:26:54,270 race, that's not the worst testing schedule in the 577 00:26:54,270 --> 00:26:56,530 world, is it? Damn, it's a lot better than any 578 00:26:56,530 --> 00:27:00,370 testing schedule I've ever had in my whole career. I 579 00:27:00,370 --> 00:27:01,890 was always like throwing in the deep end, you know, 580 00:27:01,930 --> 00:27:03,370 straight into practice on the Saturday. I'd 581 00:27:03,370 --> 00:27:05,430 never got to do any of that. But 582 00:27:05,430 --> 00:27:10,350 this is Nigel and he would have known the pressures in 583 00:27:10,350 --> 00:27:12,990 terms of spotlight on him. So 584 00:27:12,990 --> 00:27:15,370 he would have wanted to have come in and made sure 585 00:27:15,370 --> 00:27:17,690 there was a proper testing schedule there for him, 586 00:27:17,770 --> 00:27:19,710 knowing that he's got to come in, find his feet, 587 00:27:20,190 --> 00:27:22,530 learn as much about that car as possible because you 588 00:27:22,530 --> 00:27:24,270 would not want to go in there with minimal amount 589 00:27:24,270 --> 00:27:26,910 thrown in the deep end, all the spotlights, all the 590 00:27:26,910 --> 00:27:30,090 cameras, the whole world looking at you. So 591 00:27:30,090 --> 00:27:32,090 he would have wanted, as a professional, you know, he 592 00:27:32,098 --> 00:27:33,930 would say, I think that's sort of where we're going 593 00:27:33,930 --> 00:27:35,710 with Jody. You know, he's like, the 594 00:27:35,710 --> 00:27:37,810 decision of history has been made, but we need 595 00:27:37,810 --> 00:27:39,690 another couple of days and that's it because you've 596 00:27:39,690 --> 00:27:40,870 got a factor in testing. You 597 00:27:40,870 --> 00:27:43,570 can't just jump in the car and understand and how it 598 00:27:43,570 --> 00:27:45,650 works. Now it's going to handle and 599 00:27:45,650 --> 00:27:47,110 how, you know, you've got to adapt. It's 600 00:27:47,110 --> 00:27:48,710 such a different environment. So 601 00:27:48,710 --> 00:27:51,410 250 miles. And the fact that Willard 602 00:27:51,410 --> 00:27:54,830 mentioned that they'd be pleased if it was wet just 603 00:27:54,830 --> 00:27:56,690 makes it sound that the time they did spend at 604 00:27:56,690 --> 00:27:59,570 Pembroke is very wet. So I imagine the predominant 605 00:27:59,570 --> 00:28:01,910 very likely. Yeah. Well, the fact that it's 606 00:28:01,910 --> 00:28:03,950 in Wales and it's very green, there's a reason why 607 00:28:03,950 --> 00:28:07,370 it's green. But the fact that he made that 608 00:28:07,370 --> 00:28:10,390 comment made it sound that he's done more wet testing 609 00:28:10,390 --> 00:28:13,230 than he did dry. So it all works out in his 610 00:28:13,230 --> 00:28:15,590 favour. Let's hear what Nigel had to say 611 00:28:15,590 --> 00:28:18,450 about testing prior to the weekend and the Nigel 612 00:28:18,450 --> 00:28:21,030 Mansell's touring car year program. Oh, 613 00:28:21,090 --> 00:28:23,530 here we are. I mean, getting some open 614 00:28:23,530 --> 00:28:26,110 practice here on Monday and you can see the weather 615 00:28:26,110 --> 00:28:28,310 is, it's actually quite good. It's 616 00:28:28,310 --> 00:28:29,850 raining a lot harder earlier. We're 617 00:28:29,850 --> 00:28:32,010 actually going very well today. The 618 00:28:32,010 --> 00:28:34,050 car is very competitive in these type of conditions. 619 00:28:34,830 --> 00:28:36,150 As you know, the team did a 620 00:28:36,150 --> 00:28:37,930 great job earlier in the year with Will winning at 621 00:28:37,930 --> 00:28:40,650 Silverstone and secretly in a way, we're sort of 622 00:28:40,650 --> 00:28:43,170 hoping that it might be a bit damp the weekend. But 623 00:28:43,170 --> 00:28:45,630 very encouraged. We've done some good times on 624 00:28:45,630 --> 00:28:48,610 within upwards of half a second of Will's time and, 625 00:28:48,670 --> 00:28:51,530 you know, we're getting there and he's got some 626 00:28:51,530 --> 00:28:53,490 development bits on his car, which will be on my 627 00:28:53,490 --> 00:28:56,250 car, hopefully for the practice on Thursday. And 628 00:28:56,250 --> 00:28:58,110 I think that relates to about three tenths of a 629 00:28:58,110 --> 00:29:00,690 second lap. So we're greatly encouraged and 630 00:29:00,690 --> 00:29:03,250 really looking forward to this coming weekend. 631 00:29:03,930 --> 00:29:05,750 Elsewhere in the paddock, there were 632 00:29:05,750 --> 00:29:08,010 rumors of reshuffling starting to happen at 633 00:29:08,010 --> 00:29:10,650 Honda. Jason Plato had been linked with 634 00:29:10,650 --> 00:29:14,110 Taken over the second Honda alongside James Thompson for 635 00:29:14,110 --> 00:29:17,030 1999. Whilst there were also strong 636 00:29:17,030 --> 00:29:19,670 rumors that Pro Drive had lost the deal to run the 637 00:29:19,670 --> 00:29:23,270 Hondas for 99 with Vostek a rumoured outfit ready to 638 00:29:23,270 --> 00:29:26,890 take over. Greg, to bring you in here, are 639 00:29:26,890 --> 00:29:29,470 you surprised like teams like Honda were sniffing 640 00:29:29,470 --> 00:29:32,790 around Plato at this time during his second season in 641 00:29:32,790 --> 00:29:35,410 the series? It seems strange thinking back 642 00:29:35,410 --> 00:29:37,050 now because you always think of Plato and a 643 00:29:37,050 --> 00:29:38,930 Renault Laguna, don't you until he went to Voxel. 644 00:29:39,130 --> 00:29:40,290 But no, I can't say I'm 645 00:29:40,290 --> 00:29:43,390 surprised because he'd come in so strongly the year 646 00:29:43,390 --> 00:29:45,650 before, hadn't he? Probably should have finished second 647 00:29:45,650 --> 00:29:47,690 in the championship. But then you put the Mandas on 648 00:29:47,690 --> 00:29:50,150 him in that last round, that last meeting at 649 00:29:50,150 --> 00:29:52,650 Silverstone through the island Chican and Frank 650 00:29:52,650 --> 00:29:54,610 Beeler ended up taking his second in the championship. 651 00:29:54,890 --> 00:29:57,370 But he'd won three races at 652 00:29:57,370 --> 00:29:58,870 this point in time, hadn't he? He'd 653 00:29:58,870 --> 00:30:01,230 won at Alton Park just before Donnington 98 and 654 00:30:01,230 --> 00:30:04,370 his 297 wins as well. It's Netton and then the last 655 00:30:04,370 --> 00:30:06,630 race at Silverstone. So no, I'm not surprised and 656 00:30:06,630 --> 00:30:08,230 obviously he didn't quite know what was happening. 657 00:30:09,550 --> 00:30:10,690 Alex has told me he had an 658 00:30:10,690 --> 00:30:12,530 option, I think, on his Renault contract. Daniel 659 00:30:12,530 --> 00:30:14,590 Renault had the option for a third year, but Plato 660 00:30:14,590 --> 00:30:16,390 didn't necessarily know what was going to happen there. 661 00:30:16,550 --> 00:30:17,370 So he'd have to be looking 662 00:30:17,370 --> 00:30:19,430 around and who wouldn't want to speak to Plato and 663 00:30:19,430 --> 00:30:21,870 why would Plato not want to speak to certain teams? 664 00:30:22,110 --> 00:30:23,630 But FosTech, interestingly, was 665 00:30:23,630 --> 00:30:25,770 run by James Thompson's dad, was it not? And 666 00:30:25,770 --> 00:30:27,190 they got on well, didn't they? Unless 667 00:30:27,190 --> 00:30:30,150 it was brand 97, they normally got on well. So 668 00:30:30,150 --> 00:30:33,910 yeah, you could see that happening, I suppose. Yeah, 669 00:30:33,970 --> 00:30:36,870 and Al, sort of on the subject of FosTech, what 670 00:30:36,870 --> 00:30:39,250 were your thoughts on the rumors of pro -drive and 671 00:30:39,250 --> 00:30:41,710 Honda splitting at the end of 98? I 672 00:30:41,710 --> 00:30:44,570 mean, it's not a major surprise that Honda were 673 00:30:44,570 --> 00:30:47,970 looking elsewhere because I thought personally, under 674 00:30:47,970 --> 00:30:51,370 the pro -drive program, the Hondas had underperformed 675 00:30:52,290 --> 00:30:55,550 since pro -drive became involved with them at the 676 00:30:55,550 --> 00:30:59,210 start of 97. And if you believe the rumors 677 00:30:59,210 --> 00:31:01,370 at the time, the split from pro -drive had already 678 00:31:01,370 --> 00:31:04,190 happened effectively, but just hadn't been announced. 679 00:31:04,649 --> 00:31:06,450 And as we all know now, it 680 00:31:06,450 --> 00:31:10,070 eventually went to West Surrey Racing for 1999. But 681 00:31:10,070 --> 00:31:13,410 I can see why FosTech were linked because, as Greg 682 00:31:13,410 --> 00:31:17,550 just said, David Thompson was the owner of FosTech, 683 00:31:17,650 --> 00:31:19,910 who was James Thompson's dad. They 684 00:31:19,910 --> 00:31:22,230 were already building the cars of pro -drive. So 685 00:31:22,230 --> 00:31:25,230 yeah, it's an obvious link to make. But 686 00:31:25,230 --> 00:31:28,550 just after this race, David Thompson came out and said 687 00:31:28,550 --> 00:31:29,910 that they were not interested in the running 688 00:31:29,910 --> 00:31:32,010 of the team. And as we know, as I just 689 00:31:32,010 --> 00:31:33,770 said, it went to West Surrey Racing eventually. 690 00:31:34,630 --> 00:31:36,170 And FosTech still had that 691 00:31:36,170 --> 00:31:37,990 relationship with West Surrey. So 692 00:31:37,998 --> 00:31:39,930 even after pro -drive moved on. So 693 00:31:39,930 --> 00:31:45,110 yeah, it wasn't a surprise to me because Honda had, 694 00:31:45,250 --> 00:31:49,110 they hadn't won at all in 1998 up until this point. 695 00:31:50,010 --> 00:31:51,590 They'd only taken a winner piece 696 00:31:51,590 --> 00:31:54,970 with Thompson and Tarqueen in 97. So 697 00:31:54,970 --> 00:31:58,750 when MSD had the program in 96, Honda took four 698 00:31:58,750 --> 00:32:04,210 wins with David Leslie. So yeah, I can see why Honda 699 00:32:04,210 --> 00:32:06,770 were looking elsewhere for 99. Yeah. 700 00:32:06,830 --> 00:32:09,150 And also the fact Peter Cox had been struggling so 701 00:32:09,150 --> 00:32:10,430 far. And he's obviously much better 702 00:32:10,430 --> 00:32:11,790 than he showed in the BTCC. So 703 00:32:11,790 --> 00:32:13,530 you only have the one winded near Snepperton in 704 00:32:13,530 --> 00:32:16,790 the night race in 99. But he had been struggling. So 705 00:32:16,790 --> 00:32:18,990 there would be rumors about people maybe replacing him 706 00:32:18,990 --> 00:32:20,690 and others in the field. And 707 00:32:20,690 --> 00:32:22,050 you never know, maybe it was something to do with 708 00:32:22,050 --> 00:32:23,990 Peter and his management as well wanting to spread a 709 00:32:23,990 --> 00:32:26,330 few rumors around. Because I know drivers and riders 710 00:32:26,330 --> 00:32:28,870 do this to just send a bit of a warning shot to 711 00:32:28,870 --> 00:32:31,110 Renault who probably would have wanted to keep him 712 00:32:31,110 --> 00:32:33,490 and we know they did in the end, get a few rumors 713 00:32:33,490 --> 00:32:35,650 spreading around, perhaps, you know, I might be off 714 00:32:35,650 --> 00:32:38,170 somewhere else. They do do that sometimes. Yeah. 715 00:32:38,670 --> 00:32:39,850 Yeah. Cox was quick. He 716 00:32:39,850 --> 00:32:42,190 just, he seemed to struggle. He 717 00:32:42,190 --> 00:32:45,170 was very quick in this BMW when he was racing a Super 718 00:32:45,170 --> 00:32:48,050 Touring BMW. So yeah, it was a shame it 719 00:32:48,050 --> 00:32:55,690 didn't really work out for him at Honda. For 720 00:32:55,690 --> 00:32:57,950 this series of stories from Super Touring, we are 721 00:32:57,950 --> 00:33:00,550 delighted to be teaming up with Brands Hatch to give 722 00:33:00,550 --> 00:33:03,550 away two tickets to Super Touring Power Two, which is 723 00:33:03,550 --> 00:33:06,290 being held at the famous circuit on the 29th and 724 00:33:06,290 --> 00:33:10,370 30th of June, 2024. The award -nominated event was a 725 00:33:10,370 --> 00:33:12,850 smash hit last year when its debut edition 726 00:33:12,850 --> 00:33:15,710 transported fans back to the 90s. And 727 00:33:15,710 --> 00:33:18,430 this year's event will once again celebrate one of 728 00:33:18,430 --> 00:33:21,950 touring car racing's most fondly remembered eras. To 729 00:33:21,950 --> 00:33:24,210 enter the competition, just answer the following 730 00:33:24,210 --> 00:33:27,690 question. Who was the first ever guest 731 00:33:27,690 --> 00:33:31,790 to star on stories from Super Touring? Send 732 00:33:31,790 --> 00:33:36,910 your answers to podd at 1990sbtcc .com and we'll 733 00:33:36,910 --> 00:33:39,330 announce the winner on a later episode this series. 734 00:33:40,250 --> 00:33:41,430 Meanwhile, let's get back to the 735 00:33:41,430 --> 00:33:50,210 episode. Qualifying would be an interesting 736 00:33:50,210 --> 00:33:53,690 affair, with everyone's eyes on how Mansell would do. 737 00:33:54,650 --> 00:33:56,450 After an incident in the Thursday 738 00:33:56,450 --> 00:33:59,010 test session with Mark Lemmer, Mansell was 739 00:33:59,010 --> 00:34:01,730 complaining about pain in his neck. Let's 740 00:34:01,730 --> 00:34:03,970 hear now from Nigel about that. I've 741 00:34:03,970 --> 00:34:06,310 only done two laps this morning. It 742 00:34:06,310 --> 00:34:08,810 was an unfortunate situation where I was coming down 743 00:34:08,810 --> 00:34:13,050 the straight and the car behind lost control and hit 744 00:34:13,050 --> 00:34:15,290 me rather hard while I was going and turning into the 745 00:34:15,290 --> 00:34:18,370 chicane. So obviously being quite a lot 746 00:34:18,370 --> 00:34:21,429 of damage done to his car and a significant amount of 747 00:34:21,429 --> 00:34:23,409 damage done to mine whereby it's got to go back to 748 00:34:23,409 --> 00:34:25,330 the workshops tonight to have a complete new back 749 00:34:25,330 --> 00:34:28,330 end. That is a fire again at 750 00:34:28,330 --> 00:34:30,429 Donnington. You seem to always provide 751 00:34:30,429 --> 00:34:32,770 something special for the media in particular. Well 752 00:34:32,777 --> 00:34:34,449 no, it's not me. I think I just paint a 753 00:34:34,449 --> 00:34:35,909 bullseye on the back of the car. I 754 00:34:35,917 --> 00:34:38,670 think. What did you say to Mark Lemmer 755 00:34:38,670 --> 00:34:41,130 that you mentioned? Well I asked him if he was all 756 00:34:41,130 --> 00:34:43,409 right. I said you're a splendid 757 00:34:43,409 --> 00:34:47,889 fellow. Give me a bit of a neck, eh? 758 00:34:48,469 --> 00:34:50,290 Everyone's focus soon changed to 759 00:34:50,290 --> 00:34:53,230 Anthony Reid, however, as the Nissan driver was in 760 00:34:53,230 --> 00:34:56,170 stunning form and grabbed both pole positions in the 761 00:34:56,170 --> 00:34:59,030 damp conditions. He would be joined on the 762 00:34:59,030 --> 00:35:01,310 front row in the sprint race by championship leader 763 00:35:01,310 --> 00:35:05,330 Richard Riedel with Paul Radisic in third until Toca 764 00:35:05,330 --> 00:35:07,790 threw out the Kiwi for dumping oil on the track 765 00:35:07,790 --> 00:35:12,270 during the session. Pertre Posse -McLinford was furious. 766 00:35:13,130 --> 00:35:14,570 We are feeling very aggrieved 767 00:35:14,570 --> 00:35:17,190 about this decision and it is hardly the way to keep 768 00:35:17,190 --> 00:35:19,830 a manufacturer in the championship, he said after 769 00:35:19,830 --> 00:35:22,970 the session. Andrew, there were a lot of 770 00:35:22,970 --> 00:35:26,090 arguments about cars leaking oil throughout the 1998 771 00:35:26,090 --> 00:35:28,970 season. Do you think this was an 772 00:35:28,970 --> 00:35:32,390 unfair decision by the Toca stewards or overall 773 00:35:32,390 --> 00:35:35,070 punishment fit the crime? Punishment 774 00:35:35,070 --> 00:35:38,030 absolutely fit the crime. If 775 00:35:38,030 --> 00:35:41,150 you can't stop your car spewing oil all over the 776 00:35:41,150 --> 00:35:44,830 place and it shouldn't be on the circuit, officials 777 00:35:44,830 --> 00:35:47,750 don't tend to make up such things as that and cars 778 00:35:47,750 --> 00:35:50,330 leaking oil do tend to have pretty damning evidence 779 00:35:50,330 --> 00:35:53,910 on their rear end. So, you know, bang to rights. 780 00:35:54,390 --> 00:35:56,250 But what did occasionally 781 00:35:56,250 --> 00:36:00,030 happen, it probably still happens today, was giving 782 00:36:00,030 --> 00:36:03,890 the teams and the team bosses reason to be annoyed 783 00:36:03,890 --> 00:36:07,510 was inconsistency in the officiating and the 784 00:36:07,510 --> 00:36:10,510 penalties. It was over this year or the 785 00:36:10,510 --> 00:36:14,370 year after I was watching ride height tests in 786 00:36:14,370 --> 00:36:18,690 qualifying at Stettaton and the car drives up onto the 787 00:36:18,690 --> 00:36:20,830 flat pad, they do the ride height test and off it 788 00:36:20,830 --> 00:36:23,230 goes again. And they did one of the 789 00:36:23,230 --> 00:36:25,990 nissans and I happened to notice that it was sort of 790 00:36:25,990 --> 00:36:30,490 parked sort of half on and half off the pad and they 791 00:36:30,490 --> 00:36:34,570 still did the test and it failed. And 792 00:36:34,570 --> 00:36:37,390 so it's time for thrown out. And 793 00:36:37,390 --> 00:36:41,010 I've made the mistake of subsequently mentioning this 794 00:36:41,010 --> 00:36:45,730 to RML Botheray Malek in the panic. About 795 00:36:45,730 --> 00:36:51,050 20 minutes later, I'm find myself as RML star witness 796 00:36:51,050 --> 00:36:55,110 as they appear to get disqualification of their 797 00:36:55,110 --> 00:36:57,410 times and I'm sitting in this tiny room alongside 798 00:36:57,410 --> 00:37:00,530 Ray Malek facing Bob Kettleborough who was the 799 00:37:00,530 --> 00:37:03,530 clerk of the course and the BTCC's chief scrutiny 800 00:37:03,530 --> 00:37:06,770 of Peter Richie's, both of them looking at me as if 801 00:37:06,770 --> 00:37:09,070 they wanted basically to turn me into a small pile 802 00:37:09,070 --> 00:37:12,590 of dust. And yes, RML lost the appeal 803 00:37:12,590 --> 00:37:15,610 and I remember as we exited Richie's, who I'd 804 00:37:15,610 --> 00:37:17,890 known for years at that point, that walked past me 805 00:37:17,890 --> 00:37:19,870 and muttered bloody journalists shouldn't get 806 00:37:19,870 --> 00:37:24,070 involved in such things as this and carried on. So 807 00:37:24,070 --> 00:37:26,250 yeah, there was some inconsistencies. But 808 00:37:26,250 --> 00:37:29,850 yeah, I mean, if you spew oil, you should expect to 809 00:37:29,850 --> 00:37:32,770 lose out. I thought that was quite an 810 00:37:32,770 --> 00:37:35,030 interesting comment from Mick Linford though. I 811 00:37:35,030 --> 00:37:38,150 felt that that showed the pressure he was possibly 812 00:37:38,150 --> 00:37:39,710 under. He was by then. By 813 00:37:39,710 --> 00:37:43,750 saying, you know, but this is hardly the way to keep 814 00:37:43,750 --> 00:37:45,290 a manufacturer in the championship. I 815 00:37:45,298 --> 00:37:48,250 mean, that's quite a big thing to say, I think. Did 816 00:37:48,250 --> 00:37:50,750 he know there were things about leaving by that 817 00:37:50,750 --> 00:37:53,590 point? Possibly. The results weren't showing 818 00:37:53,590 --> 00:37:56,270 were they? It was a tough year. The 819 00:37:56,270 --> 00:37:58,830 engines kept breaking in the 406s. So 820 00:37:58,837 --> 00:38:03,050 did he feel that, yeah, his possible chance of 821 00:38:03,050 --> 00:38:05,490 going to Persia and saying, look, look, this is 822 00:38:05,490 --> 00:38:09,050 progress. We're making progress here. And 823 00:38:09,050 --> 00:38:11,290 it's been taken away from him. So 824 00:38:11,298 --> 00:38:14,290 I just get that. Well, not only that being thrown 825 00:38:14,290 --> 00:38:17,310 out, being thrown out, being disqualified from even 826 00:38:17,310 --> 00:38:20,370 a qualifying session is not the kind of publicity that 827 00:38:20,370 --> 00:38:22,750 the bean counters are going to want to see, is it? 828 00:38:23,590 --> 00:38:25,050 That decision by the stewards 829 00:38:25,050 --> 00:38:28,270 promoted Nigel Mansell into third place on the grid 830 00:38:28,270 --> 00:38:31,810 for the first race. For me, the weekend has already 831 00:38:31,810 --> 00:38:34,130 been made worthwhile, he said. Third, 832 00:38:34,590 --> 00:38:36,790 that's pretty hard, the grid, really. I 833 00:38:36,790 --> 00:38:38,950 think an awful lot of people will be queuing up 834 00:38:38,950 --> 00:38:41,850 behind me in the race. Adam, 835 00:38:42,090 --> 00:38:44,590 after all the hype and build up, that's not a bad 836 00:38:44,590 --> 00:38:46,690 first showing from the former world champion, is 837 00:38:46,698 --> 00:38:48,910 it? No, completely. Like 838 00:38:48,910 --> 00:38:52,590 I said before, you know, he's got such the 839 00:38:52,590 --> 00:38:55,070 disciplines from what he'd been used to racing in 840 00:38:55,070 --> 00:38:56,650 single seats. So this was huge. So 841 00:38:56,650 --> 00:39:00,810 to be like P3 on the grid, like, yeah, 842 00:39:00,810 --> 00:39:02,590 completely. And obviously, you play it down 843 00:39:02,590 --> 00:39:03,970 a little bit saying there's going to be a queue behind 844 00:39:03,970 --> 00:39:05,010 him and what have you. We'll 845 00:39:05,010 --> 00:39:06,410 just lay that out there, just so people aren't 846 00:39:06,410 --> 00:39:09,830 expecting two great things, expecting me to be the 847 00:39:09,830 --> 00:39:12,330 first corner first. But you'll always play it down 848 00:39:12,330 --> 00:39:14,810 that way. But yeah, really good. Really 849 00:39:14,810 --> 00:39:15,890 good. He'd have been really pleased 850 00:39:15,890 --> 00:39:19,110 with that, I think. After the session, Anthony Reid 851 00:39:19,110 --> 00:39:22,950 attributed his 0 .6 second gap for feature race poll 852 00:39:22,950 --> 00:39:26,250 on his tyre choice. I went out first on the 853 00:39:26,250 --> 00:39:28,910 intermediates, and I saw there was a fine scotch 854 00:39:28,910 --> 00:39:31,290 mist ascending on my windscreen. So 855 00:39:31,290 --> 00:39:34,050 I dived into the pits, changed his slicks and 856 00:39:34,050 --> 00:39:38,090 bagged the time. Great. First of all, that's one 857 00:39:38,090 --> 00:39:41,090 of the most Anthony Reid style Anthony Reid quotes I 858 00:39:41,090 --> 00:39:43,790 think I've ever read out there. The 859 00:39:43,790 --> 00:39:48,450 scotch mist ascending. But that's some performance, 860 00:39:48,650 --> 00:39:50,890 isn't it? To get you first two British 861 00:39:50,890 --> 00:39:54,430 touring card pole positions in that style is pretty 862 00:39:54,430 --> 00:39:56,570 impressive for Anthony, isn't it? And 863 00:39:56,570 --> 00:39:58,770 bearing in mind, let's be honest, he was under some 864 00:39:58,770 --> 00:40:00,830 pressure, wasn't he? Because at this point in the 865 00:40:00,830 --> 00:40:03,790 season, we'd had 10 races, only Rydel, Menuhin, 866 00:40:04,210 --> 00:40:06,210 Anthony's teammate David Lezzi had won more than 867 00:40:06,210 --> 00:40:08,610 one. He still hadn't won a BTCC 868 00:40:08,610 --> 00:40:10,890 race, had he, until round 11 at Donington on this 869 00:40:10,890 --> 00:40:13,690 very weekend. He'd nearly won at Brans, he, I 870 00:40:13,690 --> 00:40:15,630 remember, the end of the previous year, but Rydel 871 00:40:15,630 --> 00:40:18,710 had got past it. And of course, he came with a 872 00:40:18,710 --> 00:40:20,010 massive reputation, didn't he? He'd 873 00:40:20,010 --> 00:40:22,150 done a Tokyo shootout or two in the past at 874 00:40:22,150 --> 00:40:23,550 Donington, I remember, with some of the other British 875 00:40:23,550 --> 00:40:25,530 drivers. But he'd been very quick in 876 00:40:25,530 --> 00:40:28,110 Japan, he'd been quick in South Africa. But 877 00:40:28,110 --> 00:40:29,090 the pressure was on there. He 878 00:40:29,090 --> 00:40:31,470 was behind David Lezzi in the championship, wasn't he? 879 00:40:31,570 --> 00:40:33,270 So he needed to start, I 880 00:40:33,270 --> 00:40:35,010 remember John Watson actually on the, on the 881 00:40:35,010 --> 00:40:36,970 season review saying Anthony must have been feeling, 882 00:40:36,970 --> 00:40:39,190 when am I ever going to win a race? And 883 00:40:39,190 --> 00:40:40,910 of course, part of that he's taking the pole 884 00:40:40,910 --> 00:40:43,010 position. So yeah, tremendous stuff. I 885 00:40:43,010 --> 00:40:45,050 suppose let's be honest, the sixth tense was tire 886 00:40:45,050 --> 00:40:47,550 choice and also the fact all that oil had been 887 00:40:47,550 --> 00:40:49,230 dropped by the Peugeot probably helped a little 888 00:40:49,230 --> 00:40:51,850 bit as well for everybody else's headshot showdown 889 00:40:51,850 --> 00:40:54,210 performances. But yeah, Reed showed his past, 890 00:40:54,310 --> 00:40:55,470 didn't he? But he did need to because he 891 00:40:55,470 --> 00:40:58,510 was under pressure. And they'd under delivered a 892 00:40:58,510 --> 00:41:00,750 little bit, hadn't they? So far that year. Yeah, 893 00:41:00,790 --> 00:41:03,250 yeah. Yeah, but he changed the slicks 894 00:41:03,250 --> 00:41:06,670 and bagged the time. Got to miss this ending. 895 00:41:09,530 --> 00:41:11,670 Championship leader, Richard Rydel would 896 00:41:11,670 --> 00:41:14,530 find himself back in 16th for the feature race. 897 00:41:14,970 --> 00:41:16,990 Whilst reigning champion Alema knew 898 00:41:16,990 --> 00:41:19,590 had a miserable day as well, the Swiss driver 899 00:41:19,590 --> 00:41:22,670 qualifying 10th for race one and being sent to the 900 00:41:22,670 --> 00:41:25,530 back of the grid for race two for a failing a ride 901 00:41:25,530 --> 00:41:29,030 height test. Alex, that's pretty tough 902 00:41:29,030 --> 00:41:31,930 qualifying session for two major championship 903 00:41:31,930 --> 00:41:36,150 protagonists there. Yeah, it was tough, especially 904 00:41:36,150 --> 00:41:39,270 with Reed taking both poles or although as I say that 905 00:41:39,270 --> 00:41:41,350 the funny thing at that point of the season, as 906 00:41:41,350 --> 00:41:43,590 Greg just said, is that we didn't actually know Reed 907 00:41:43,590 --> 00:41:46,390 was going to be the one that Rydel that ran Rydel 908 00:41:46,390 --> 00:41:48,790 the closest at the end of the season. He 909 00:41:48,790 --> 00:41:50,490 was struggling at the start of the season. It 910 00:41:50,490 --> 00:41:53,230 was Leslie that was leading the Nissan charge. He 911 00:41:53,230 --> 00:41:55,710 took two victories at the start of the season. And 912 00:41:55,710 --> 00:42:00,130 in the first victories for the P11 version of the 913 00:42:00,130 --> 00:42:02,330 Primera. And it was only actually after 914 00:42:02,330 --> 00:42:06,070 this meeting that Reed gained the momentum and 915 00:42:06,070 --> 00:42:07,750 went on to push. If you remember after this 916 00:42:07,750 --> 00:42:11,070 race meeting, he won pretty much I think six or seven 917 00:42:11,070 --> 00:42:12,590 sprint races in a row. Yeah. 918 00:42:12,930 --> 00:42:17,570 And went on this wonderful charge to be able to 919 00:42:17,570 --> 00:42:19,370 challenge Ricard right at the end. And 920 00:42:19,377 --> 00:42:22,370 but yeah, it's a very tough qualifying session, 921 00:42:22,930 --> 00:42:26,330 very tough year for our menu so far this season up 922 00:42:26,330 --> 00:42:29,790 until Donnington. So yeah, but would make it 923 00:42:29,790 --> 00:42:35,010 very interesting for the races. Race 924 00:42:35,010 --> 00:42:38,130 day dawned and it was wet. As 925 00:42:38,130 --> 00:42:40,690 the crowns were pouring into the circuit, there was 926 00:42:40,690 --> 00:42:44,690 already drama unfolding. In the pre race warm up, 927 00:42:44,990 --> 00:42:47,330 Mansel and Clellan to clash coming through the crane of 928 00:42:47,330 --> 00:42:49,390 curves. The Vauxhall and the Ford 929 00:42:49,390 --> 00:42:52,370 briefly touching wing mirrors, which left Mansel 930 00:42:52,370 --> 00:42:55,410 furious. Andrew, only the morning warm up 931 00:42:55,410 --> 00:42:58,330 and already is kicking off. Could 932 00:42:58,330 --> 00:43:00,630 you sense from that it was going to potentially be 933 00:43:00,630 --> 00:43:05,830 quite a dramatic day? Not especially no. Obviously, 934 00:43:06,050 --> 00:43:08,550 you know, you went into a BTCC weekend, you never 935 00:43:08,550 --> 00:43:11,170 knew what you were going to get. As 936 00:43:11,170 --> 00:43:14,170 I've said, Mansel had a bit of a reputation for 937 00:43:14,170 --> 00:43:17,870 his moaning. So we probably weren't that 938 00:43:17,870 --> 00:43:20,050 surprised that he was moaning. And 939 00:43:20,058 --> 00:43:23,350 if anyone's going to be, you know, if you're going 940 00:43:23,350 --> 00:43:25,290 to like anyone's touch paper, it's going to be 941 00:43:25,290 --> 00:43:29,170 Mr. Clellan. So yeah, it was fairly par 942 00:43:29,170 --> 00:43:31,790 for the course. We certainly had no inkling 943 00:43:31,790 --> 00:43:34,270 what was to come later that day. So, 944 00:43:34,310 --> 00:43:37,830 you know, it was at that point a reasonably typical 945 00:43:37,830 --> 00:43:44,570 BTCC weekend with some F1 guy in it. Adam, 946 00:43:44,690 --> 00:43:46,850 that was just an interesting welcome to 947 00:43:46,850 --> 00:43:49,790 touring cars for Mansel from Clellan there. I'm 948 00:43:49,790 --> 00:43:52,050 just wondering, did you have a similar welcome when 949 00:43:52,050 --> 00:43:55,010 you joined the series and what are your thoughts on 950 00:43:55,010 --> 00:43:57,250 that incident in particular? Well, 951 00:43:57,530 --> 00:43:59,850 the incident, it was just Clellan, if anyone's going 952 00:43:59,850 --> 00:44:05,470 to say, I'm John Clellan, welcome to BTCC. Don't 953 00:44:05,470 --> 00:44:07,390 think you're going to have an effing easy ride here. 954 00:44:07,770 --> 00:44:10,750 Like, this is how it is. You 955 00:44:10,758 --> 00:44:11,930 know, and then it's how it is. You 956 00:44:11,937 --> 00:44:14,030 know, that wouldn't be anything untoward to any 957 00:44:14,030 --> 00:44:15,890 touring car, current touring car drive. It's 958 00:44:15,890 --> 00:44:17,290 just one of the things that you carry on. But 959 00:44:17,290 --> 00:44:19,410 the fact that it's happened to Nigel, he's probably had 960 00:44:19,410 --> 00:44:21,350 this bit of a bosh down the side, lost his mirror 961 00:44:21,350 --> 00:44:22,890 and what have you, and then it's the end of the 962 00:44:22,890 --> 00:44:25,730 world. But yeah, listen, like it was 963 00:44:25,730 --> 00:44:27,730 nothing really. But in terms of me having that 964 00:44:27,730 --> 00:44:29,810 experience, no, the first year I did it, when I was 965 00:44:29,810 --> 00:44:31,590 in the Lexus, the Lexus was that slow, I couldn't 966 00:44:31,590 --> 00:44:32,990 even keep up with the pack anyway. So 967 00:44:35,350 --> 00:44:37,230 there was no, there was nobody that I could get 968 00:44:37,230 --> 00:44:38,870 anywhere near other than the start of like the 969 00:44:38,870 --> 00:44:40,950 first two laps. And then I'd, you know, the 970 00:44:40,950 --> 00:44:42,970 four or five cars, I'd get it done the start that 971 00:44:42,970 --> 00:44:44,330 ended up coming back past me anyway. But 972 00:44:44,330 --> 00:44:46,430 it was only the second year when we had the 973 00:44:46,430 --> 00:44:49,990 Toledo that I just knew all about the championship. 974 00:44:50,090 --> 00:44:51,910 And I just knew with my sort 975 00:44:51,910 --> 00:44:54,810 of personality, karting, and that type of environment, 976 00:44:54,990 --> 00:44:58,650 close racing and growing up through the ranks, you, I 977 00:44:58,650 --> 00:45:00,670 was fully aware of what touring car was all about. 978 00:45:00,910 --> 00:45:02,150 So you just got to give as 979 00:45:02,150 --> 00:45:03,750 good as you get. I think it's great. It's 980 00:45:03,750 --> 00:45:06,330 great drama, isn't it? And it's probably exactly the 981 00:45:06,330 --> 00:45:08,450 reaction JC wanted from Nigel. Having 982 00:45:08,450 --> 00:45:10,290 said that, in Nigel's defence, Adam, had that 983 00:45:10,290 --> 00:45:12,970 happened to you in a warmup, wouldn't you have 984 00:45:12,970 --> 00:45:15,650 been annoyed with the other driver in a warmup or a 985 00:45:15,650 --> 00:45:17,470 practice session? Yeah, you'd probably be annoyed, 986 00:45:17,610 --> 00:45:22,490 but he's Nigel Mansel. He probably wouldn't have 987 00:45:22,490 --> 00:45:24,650 happened to me, but he's Nigel Mansel. If 988 00:45:24,650 --> 00:45:26,470 anyone was going to do it, who better than John to do 989 00:45:26,470 --> 00:45:28,550 it? That's true. He's 990 00:45:28,550 --> 00:45:30,610 a Scotsman that's just going to, you know, we 991 00:45:30,610 --> 00:45:33,270 haven't formally introduced ourselves, but we have now. 992 00:45:33,550 --> 00:45:35,230 We have now. You 993 00:45:35,230 --> 00:45:37,590 know, that sort of how it goes, but it's just 994 00:45:37,590 --> 00:45:39,010 something that Nigel has never been used to, and 995 00:45:39,018 --> 00:45:40,550 John would have been fully aware that it would have 996 00:45:40,550 --> 00:45:42,150 angered Nigel. Oh yeah. Just 997 00:45:42,150 --> 00:45:43,710 to wind him up. Which does make it hilarious, 998 00:45:43,870 --> 00:45:44,410 that's for your own good. Yeah, 999 00:45:44,450 --> 00:45:49,050 he does. It's remonstrated with Clelland 1000 00:45:49,050 --> 00:45:52,550 in the paddock after the warmup, but it was soon 1001 00:45:52,550 --> 00:45:58,970 time for the race. Race one started in wet 1002 00:45:58,970 --> 00:46:01,790 conditions with Reid taking the lead from pole 1003 00:46:01,790 --> 00:46:04,650 position. Clelland made the best start, 1004 00:46:04,950 --> 00:46:08,030 jumping from fifth to second, edging Mansel onto 1005 00:46:08,030 --> 00:46:11,470 the grass in the process, dropping him from third to 1006 00:46:11,470 --> 00:46:14,110 eighth. The lights are green and 1007 00:46:14,110 --> 00:46:16,730 they're away. Struggling for traction in the wet 1008 00:46:16,730 --> 00:46:19,410 conditions look like a flying start from Reid. 1009 00:46:19,610 --> 00:46:20,790 Yes, a great start from Anthony 1010 00:46:20,790 --> 00:46:22,090 Reid. They're flying down there now. 1011 00:46:22,230 --> 00:46:23,330 Mansel's got away. Okay. 1012 00:46:23,850 --> 00:46:26,290 It's Reid on the left, right behind him. A 1013 00:46:26,290 --> 00:46:28,670 storming start as well, but John Clell an absolute 1014 00:46:28,670 --> 00:46:30,190 flyer through the field. Salam 1015 00:46:30,190 --> 00:46:32,090 on the inside. Leslie is run wide. That's 1016 00:46:32,090 --> 00:46:34,210 Leslie on the left hand side of the screen, flying 1017 00:46:34,210 --> 00:46:36,110 down into the crane. It curves now. Mansel 1018 00:46:36,110 --> 00:46:37,230 being shuffled back a bit. The 1019 00:46:37,230 --> 00:46:38,910 pack seems to have gone through a red gate all 1020 00:46:38,910 --> 00:46:40,730 right. The pawling view from the front 1021 00:46:40,730 --> 00:46:42,950 of James Thompson's car, you can see the water just 1022 00:46:42,950 --> 00:46:45,430 sheathing through and they all look to be away 1023 00:46:45,430 --> 00:46:46,990 cleanly. John Clell did an absolutely 1024 00:46:46,990 --> 00:46:49,390 wizard start again. Once again, we've seen him do 1025 00:46:49,390 --> 00:46:52,310 that before, an absolute cragger. Greg, 1026 00:46:52,410 --> 00:46:54,770 a sensible start from everyone considering the 1027 00:46:54,770 --> 00:46:57,570 conditions on the trapped here, I think. The 1028 00:46:57,570 --> 00:47:00,630 spray was pretty horrendous going down the cranes, 1029 00:47:00,770 --> 00:47:03,850 wasn't it? Yeah, obviously the second race 1030 00:47:03,850 --> 00:47:05,510 start, there was a bit more drama, wasn't there, 1031 00:47:05,570 --> 00:47:06,990 which we'll talk about later. But 1032 00:47:06,990 --> 00:47:09,070 I guess Mansel wasn't particularly pleased that he 1033 00:47:09,070 --> 00:47:12,150 had another little coming together and was off again. 1034 00:47:12,690 --> 00:47:13,690 And of course, there'd be 1035 00:47:13,690 --> 00:47:16,910 another one later on in race two. He 1036 00:47:16,910 --> 00:47:21,270 was pretty hilarious. But no, yeah, not too bad. Not 1037 00:47:21,270 --> 00:47:22,730 too bad. They all got through cleanly and 1038 00:47:22,730 --> 00:47:24,210 obviously all the drama would be coming a little 1039 00:47:24,210 --> 00:47:27,190 bit later. Reed pulled out a second lead 1040 00:47:27,190 --> 00:47:29,630 over Clelland, but it wasn't long before the 1041 00:47:29,630 --> 00:47:33,370 safety car came out. Mansel was in the wall at Coppiss 1042 00:47:33,370 --> 00:47:37,210 and out of the race. Reed was told over the radio 1043 00:47:37,210 --> 00:47:39,710 that the safety car was out, but made the mistake 1044 00:47:39,710 --> 00:47:42,910 of backing off before crossing the line. Clelland 1045 00:47:42,910 --> 00:47:45,290 challenged him into the chicane, but the two made 1046 00:47:45,290 --> 00:47:48,130 contact with the vectors front end getting damaged. 1047 00:47:49,270 --> 00:47:50,870 Just as you get in Indy cars, 1048 00:47:51,050 --> 00:47:53,090 there was some tactical battling going on before 1049 00:47:53,090 --> 00:47:56,050 the line, said Reed after the race. I 1050 00:47:56,050 --> 00:47:58,830 eased off going into the chicane, and he made a do 1051 00:47:58,830 --> 00:48:02,030 or die move to pass. He nearly ran me off the 1052 00:48:02,030 --> 00:48:05,650 circuit. Alex, your view on this, was 1053 00:48:05,650 --> 00:48:09,810 that all fair or a little bit too much? Well, 1054 00:48:09,830 --> 00:48:13,270 we've often been asked how John Clelland's grill ended 1055 00:48:13,270 --> 00:48:17,150 up damaged in both races, actually, because the car 1056 00:48:17,150 --> 00:48:19,650 looks pretty much identical at the end of each race. 1057 00:48:20,250 --> 00:48:23,490 And now people know, because 1058 00:48:23,490 --> 00:48:26,070 annoyingly, this race hardly features on the series 1059 00:48:26,070 --> 00:48:30,450 review that was put together and people really 1060 00:48:30,450 --> 00:48:33,450 have missed out on a cracker. It's 1061 00:48:33,450 --> 00:48:35,090 a 50 -50 incident for me. I 1062 00:48:35,090 --> 00:48:37,950 don't think there's anything major in it. It 1063 00:48:37,950 --> 00:48:39,930 didn't cost anyone a position. You 1064 00:48:39,937 --> 00:48:42,470 know, Reedie was still leading. And 1065 00:48:42,470 --> 00:48:47,830 it actually sadly damaged Clelland's car. It 1066 00:48:47,830 --> 00:48:51,030 affected the cooling on it, and the engine was 1067 00:48:51,030 --> 00:48:53,830 obviously then affected from that. And 1068 00:48:53,830 --> 00:48:56,630 that's why John was eventually going to end up 1069 00:48:56,630 --> 00:48:57,930 dropping down the field. But 1070 00:48:57,937 --> 00:49:00,050 no, nothing in it for me. It's 1071 00:49:00,050 --> 00:49:04,030 just, you know, Reed will be fine because he was 1072 00:49:04,030 --> 00:49:05,870 leading the race, and he was still leading the race 1073 00:49:05,870 --> 00:49:07,850 after the after the incident. So 1074 00:49:07,850 --> 00:49:11,730 I'm not sure he nearly ran me off the circuit is a 1075 00:49:11,730 --> 00:49:15,630 fair description. However, slight exaggeration, but 1076 00:49:15,630 --> 00:49:18,030 then that's that's what they're good at. No. 1077 00:49:19,030 --> 00:49:20,770 No. I'm exaggerating. How? 1078 00:49:21,070 --> 00:49:23,750 There you are. Once the safety car was in, 1079 00:49:24,310 --> 00:49:27,550 Menu started skiving through the field from the back of 1080 00:49:27,550 --> 00:49:30,630 the grid, and he was soon up to sixth place, battling 1081 00:49:30,630 --> 00:49:33,950 with Derek Warwick and Will Hoy. Menu 1082 00:49:33,950 --> 00:49:36,050 shouldered Hoy out of the way at Coppice to take 1083 00:49:36,050 --> 00:49:39,990 fifth before Warwick tried getting past two, totally 1084 00:49:39,990 --> 00:49:43,090 missing his breaking point and collecting Menu and 1085 00:49:43,090 --> 00:49:46,250 James Thompson in the process. Adam, 1086 00:49:46,570 --> 00:49:49,410 this was one that Warwick accepted full responsibility 1087 00:49:49,410 --> 00:49:54,510 for after the race. Maybe you're about to say he had 1088 00:49:54,510 --> 00:49:58,090 no excuse to do that. What are your thoughts on the 1089 00:49:58,090 --> 00:50:00,030 incident? It shows how bad it must have 1090 00:50:00,030 --> 00:50:01,910 been for Derek just to say, yeah, it was 1091 00:50:01,910 --> 00:50:04,190 complaining my fault. I do apologize. You 1092 00:50:04,190 --> 00:50:06,110 know, you couldn't you couldn't do the, you know, 1093 00:50:06,130 --> 00:50:08,390 the racing drivers thing where you're just trying to 1094 00:50:08,390 --> 00:50:10,090 deny all knowledge and try and blame the other person. 1095 00:50:10,270 --> 00:50:10,770 I think he knew he was 1096 00:50:10,770 --> 00:50:13,270 absolutely banged to rights with this one. But 1097 00:50:13,270 --> 00:50:15,150 yeah, he was pretty straight cut, wasn't he? 1098 00:50:15,830 --> 00:50:18,629 Poor decision, really. I 1099 00:50:18,629 --> 00:50:22,430 think without Menu and Thompson in the way, he 1100 00:50:22,430 --> 00:50:24,470 probably would have ended up halfway down the GV 1101 00:50:24,470 --> 00:50:26,450 loop the wrong way, wouldn't he? Yeah, 1102 00:50:26,510 --> 00:50:28,990 yeah. He would have ended up with 1103 00:50:28,990 --> 00:50:30,730 the Melbourne loop. That's why he would have ended 1104 00:50:30,730 --> 00:50:31,810 up. I thought Will Hoy was 1105 00:50:31,810 --> 00:50:35,110 actually quite lucky to be pushed out of the way 1106 00:50:35,110 --> 00:50:37,470 almost. Coming on to the back straight 1107 00:50:37,470 --> 00:50:39,870 because it meant he was then out of the way of 1108 00:50:39,870 --> 00:50:42,930 this incident. And yeah, because otherwise he 1109 00:50:42,930 --> 00:50:44,770 probably would have been caught up in it. I 1110 00:50:44,770 --> 00:50:47,710 noticed as well, Warwick then took another chunk out 1111 00:50:47,710 --> 00:50:49,430 the back of Menu's Renault as well, because he runs 1112 00:50:49,430 --> 00:50:52,510 into the back of him. Menu hits Thompson, he goes off. 1113 00:50:52,550 --> 00:50:55,010 Yes. And then Menu struggling 1114 00:50:55,010 --> 00:50:56,590 across the grass and Warwick's trying to turn 1115 00:50:56,590 --> 00:50:59,670 right to rejoin and clicks the Renault again. So 1116 00:50:59,670 --> 00:51:02,030 yeah, that was he got that badly wrong, didn't he? 1117 00:51:02,330 --> 00:51:03,750 Yeah, he had a bit of a bad 1118 00:51:03,750 --> 00:51:07,390 race there, he did, didn't he? Clemens' 1119 00:51:07,570 --> 00:51:11,210 damage voxel slowly started to drop down the field, as 1120 00:51:11,210 --> 00:51:14,370 Rydel and Hoy passed to Scott to take second and 1121 00:51:14,370 --> 00:51:18,370 third, respectively. Greg, another strong performance 1122 00:51:18,370 --> 00:51:20,630 from Will Hoy in the wet in the Ford. He 1123 00:51:20,630 --> 00:51:23,150 won at Silverstone in the wet earlier in the season. 1124 00:51:24,310 --> 00:51:26,630 Clearly a match that was perfectly 1125 00:51:26,630 --> 00:51:29,310 made, as he said in his pre -race comments. Yeah, 1126 00:51:29,410 --> 00:51:31,650 and sadly now looking back, little did we know at the 1127 00:51:31,650 --> 00:51:33,910 time, in the same way Silverstone proved to be 1128 00:51:33,910 --> 00:51:36,810 Will's last ever BTCC win, this would prove to be his 1129 00:51:36,810 --> 00:51:39,550 33rd and last ever British Touring Car Championship 1130 00:51:39,550 --> 00:51:41,850 podium. Bless him. But 1131 00:51:41,850 --> 00:51:43,790 yeah, that car, as we said earlier on, they had so 1132 00:51:43,790 --> 00:51:45,710 much testing in the wet, didn't they, pre -season? 1133 00:51:45,950 --> 00:51:47,390 Yeah. Because of circumstances, I 1134 00:51:47,390 --> 00:51:49,010 think more than anything else. It 1135 00:51:49,010 --> 00:51:51,710 was particularly good, wasn't it? I 1136 00:51:51,710 --> 00:51:53,050 think you guys, I said before, I haven't knew that 1137 00:51:53,050 --> 00:51:54,890 the V6 was pretty heavy and put a lot of stress 1138 00:51:54,890 --> 00:51:56,370 through the front tires. Yes. 1139 00:51:56,890 --> 00:51:59,930 Yeah. Which caused a lot of trouble in 1140 00:51:59,930 --> 00:52:01,930 dry conditions in particular. But 1141 00:52:01,930 --> 00:52:04,090 we said this before, and when it comes down to ride 1142 00:52:04,090 --> 00:52:06,330 a feel, I told you I was going to do that, it comes 1143 00:52:06,330 --> 00:52:09,450 down to drive a feel in the wet. We 1144 00:52:09,450 --> 00:52:13,610 know what you mean. Yeah. Pretty much. But 1145 00:52:13,610 --> 00:52:15,750 yeah, it comes down to drive a feel in the wet, 1146 00:52:15,870 --> 00:52:17,570 doesn't it? And Will was particularly good, 1147 00:52:17,650 --> 00:52:19,030 wasn't he? And had the experience, he knew 1148 00:52:19,030 --> 00:52:21,010 the Donnington National Circuit particularly well as 1149 00:52:21,010 --> 00:52:23,730 well. And as we've heard already, he 1150 00:52:23,730 --> 00:52:26,150 was lucky in some ways to not get wiped out by 1151 00:52:26,150 --> 00:52:28,010 Warwick, but you've got to be in it to win it. And 1152 00:52:28,010 --> 00:52:31,190 he wasn't too far off, even being second, he was 1153 00:52:31,190 --> 00:52:33,150 just behind reading Ryderl, wasn't he at the finish? 1154 00:52:33,490 --> 00:52:34,910 So nice to see a different 1155 00:52:34,910 --> 00:52:37,490 driver up there again, because one thing 98 1156 00:52:37,490 --> 00:52:39,670 definitely had was variety. We 1157 00:52:39,670 --> 00:52:42,450 had a lot of different drivers, winning races. Even 1158 00:52:42,450 --> 00:52:44,970 the first five races was five manufacturers winning, 1159 00:52:45,150 --> 00:52:47,570 wasn't it? So it was great. Yeah, 1160 00:52:47,570 --> 00:52:49,090 it was great to see a Ford up there, but it's 1161 00:52:49,090 --> 00:52:50,930 just sad looking about that it proved to be Will's ass 1162 00:52:50,930 --> 00:52:53,330 never podium. Those conditions just absolutely 1163 00:52:53,330 --> 00:52:54,690 suited. It was what Ford needed, 1164 00:52:54,870 --> 00:52:56,490 wasn't it? They weren't quick enough in the 1165 00:52:56,490 --> 00:52:57,850 dry. So as soon as they saw that 1166 00:52:57,850 --> 00:52:59,370 weather, they were like, yeah, brilliant. We've 1167 00:52:59,370 --> 00:53:01,050 done a load of wet testing at Pembroke. Yeah. 1168 00:53:02,050 --> 00:53:04,070 Weather's going to be grim here at Donnington. It's 1169 00:53:04,070 --> 00:53:06,049 their best ever chance. Floats 1170 00:53:06,049 --> 00:53:08,150 on race day, I think Charlie Cox described. 1171 00:53:08,350 --> 00:53:10,390 Floats on race day, yeah. Yeah. 1172 00:53:11,870 --> 00:53:13,950 And also, of course, later on in the season, we'd see 1173 00:53:13,950 --> 00:53:16,330 Craig Baird having a great run at Lockhill in the 1174 00:53:16,330 --> 00:53:20,390 rain as well. So all three Ford drivers did 1175 00:53:20,390 --> 00:53:23,110 have the moments of brilliance in wet weather 1176 00:53:23,110 --> 00:53:27,030 conditions in 1998. Yeah. Despite all the carnage 1177 00:53:27,030 --> 00:53:30,250 around him, Antonin Reed cruised to victory, his 1178 00:53:30,250 --> 00:53:32,570 first ever British touring car triumph. 1179 00:53:44,110 --> 00:53:47,150 Andrew, he seemed to wait long 1180 00:53:47,150 --> 00:53:49,070 enough to take his first win, as we've mentioned 1181 00:53:49,070 --> 00:53:52,770 earlier this evening. But surely it was a matter of 1182 00:53:52,770 --> 00:53:56,770 time, really, for such a fast and experienced tin 1183 00:53:56,770 --> 00:53:59,110 top driver and Anthony Reed. Absolutely. 1184 00:53:59,670 --> 00:54:02,950 I mean, you've been saying tonight he was under 1185 00:54:02,950 --> 00:54:04,850 pressure. I don't think he actually 1186 00:54:04,850 --> 00:54:07,890 waited that long for his first BTC seat win, because 1187 00:54:07,890 --> 00:54:10,570 his reputation as an excellent tin top pilot had 1188 00:54:10,570 --> 00:54:13,890 been forged, not in the BTC seat, but mainly in 1189 00:54:13,890 --> 00:54:17,290 the Japanese series. The biggest four -part we made 1190 00:54:17,290 --> 00:54:19,550 in the very first issue of super touring, we had a 1191 00:54:19,550 --> 00:54:22,190 piece on Anthony and we titled it An Englishman in 1192 00:54:22,190 --> 00:54:27,810 Japan. Mr. Craig would love that one. So 1193 00:54:27,810 --> 00:54:32,170 this was only his second season in the BTC seat, if 1194 00:54:32,178 --> 00:54:34,050 you know, take out total shootouts. The 1195 00:54:34,050 --> 00:54:39,030 97 season was the first of Malachan Nissan, and it 1196 00:54:39,030 --> 00:54:41,550 was a development year, clearly, because David 1197 00:54:41,550 --> 00:54:43,950 Leslie didn't win that season either. So, 1198 00:54:43,950 --> 00:54:47,710 I mean, we all knew Anthony would win a race 1199 00:54:47,710 --> 00:54:49,930 sooner rather than later, and once he started 1200 00:54:49,930 --> 00:54:55,590 winning, obviously he didn't stop. The 1201 00:54:55,590 --> 00:54:58,130 feature race started in slightly drier conditions 1202 00:54:58,130 --> 00:55:01,110 than the sprint, but it's still a very slippery 1203 00:55:01,110 --> 00:55:04,670 surface, as proved by James Thompson and Tommy Rustad, 1204 00:55:05,070 --> 00:55:07,690 who were both broadside coming out of the cranners. 1205 00:55:08,670 --> 00:55:10,290 Most of the grid had opted to 1206 00:55:10,290 --> 00:55:14,370 go out on slicks for the start of the race. On 1207 00:55:14,370 --> 00:55:17,110 lap three, Alameneu went off at Hollywood after 1208 00:55:17,110 --> 00:55:20,450 contact with Thompson, which damaged his car. He 1209 00:55:20,450 --> 00:55:23,510 was out of the race again and scored zero points for 1210 00:55:23,510 --> 00:55:27,670 the weekend. Alex, with the qualifying issues 1211 00:55:27,670 --> 00:55:30,430 the day before, a pretty tough weekend for the 1212 00:55:30,430 --> 00:55:34,730 reigning champion. Yeah, as I said, not long ago, 1213 00:55:34,730 --> 00:55:38,250 it was a pretty tough season so far for Menuhu, 1214 00:55:38,250 --> 00:55:43,910 who had been so accustomed to winning in 97. Yeah, 1215 00:55:44,410 --> 00:55:48,470 it just everything seemed to be going wrong for him. 1216 00:55:48,710 --> 00:55:50,170 At Thruxton in the season 1217 00:55:50,170 --> 00:55:55,350 opener, he went off at the Club Chicanes and got 1218 00:55:55,350 --> 00:55:58,630 thrown to the back of the grids. Silverstone 1219 00:55:58,630 --> 00:56:01,130 then, he got involved in so much. It 1220 00:56:01,138 --> 00:56:04,750 seemed as if the Renault dropped in competitiveness 1221 00:56:04,750 --> 00:56:08,070 and he suddenly had to start fighting in the field 1222 00:56:08,070 --> 00:56:11,950 again. He almost got so used to 1223 00:56:11,950 --> 00:56:15,510 coasting out front that he was like, oh, I've got to 1224 00:56:15,510 --> 00:56:18,970 race people again this year. Stropi 1225 00:56:18,970 --> 00:56:20,970 Alameneu came out. I've talked about my mate Stropi 1226 00:56:20,970 --> 00:56:25,410 Alameneu before, he came back in full force in 1227 00:56:25,410 --> 00:56:31,730 1998. The Renault, the Laguna was 1228 00:56:31,730 --> 00:56:39,590 getting on a bit. It's an interesting thing 1229 00:56:39,590 --> 00:56:44,270 actually that even after 97 and the dominance that 1230 00:56:44,270 --> 00:56:47,610 Renault had that year, they were still I mean, an hour 1231 00:56:47,610 --> 00:56:49,990 in about committing to the championship for 98. So 1232 00:56:49,990 --> 00:56:53,030 I don't know how much of an effect that would have 1233 00:56:53,030 --> 00:56:55,830 had on the 98 car, but it certainly wasn't as 1234 00:56:55,830 --> 00:56:58,350 competitive. And it meant that Alan was 1235 00:56:58,350 --> 00:57:02,010 fighting it out and coming off second best a lot of 1236 00:57:02,010 --> 00:57:05,510 the time this season. The pit lane opened on lap six 1237 00:57:05,510 --> 00:57:07,870 for the drivers to make their mandatory pit stop 1238 00:57:07,870 --> 00:57:11,390 with the rain starting to drizzle again. The 1239 00:57:11,390 --> 00:57:14,510 Nissan's had stormed off into the distance, as 1240 00:57:14,510 --> 00:57:16,850 Charlie Cox said in the commentary. Back 1241 00:57:16,850 --> 00:57:19,690 with our leaders now and Reid and Leslie, Nissan 1242 00:57:19,698 --> 00:57:23,490 one, Nissan two and Daylight three. Daylighter 1243 00:57:23,490 --> 00:57:25,830 is the exactly the wrong word to use because there's 1244 00:57:25,830 --> 00:57:28,430 the biggest, filthiest cloud moving overhead about to 1245 00:57:28,430 --> 00:57:31,050 drop on this circuit. As Cox commented there, the 1246 00:57:31,050 --> 00:57:33,550 light was dropping and the rain was threatening again. 1247 00:57:33,950 --> 00:57:36,090 Adam, as a driver, did you 1248 00:57:36,090 --> 00:57:39,290 relish these uncertain conditions or are you sat 1249 00:57:39,290 --> 00:57:41,990 there thinking this is a bit of a nightmare here in 1250 00:57:41,990 --> 00:57:45,190 the cockpit? Absolutely loved it because I was 1251 00:57:45,190 --> 00:57:48,170 never in one of the fastest engine cars or the 1252 00:57:48,170 --> 00:57:50,110 fastest cars generally really. It 1253 00:57:50,110 --> 00:57:52,710 was always in a decent one. Once 1254 00:57:52,710 --> 00:57:56,350 I got into the Toledo and then two years in the next 1255 00:57:56,350 --> 00:58:00,250 year and a half in the Leon, but I loved it 1256 00:58:00,250 --> 00:58:03,310 because although it was in the Leon as a privateer, 1257 00:58:03,550 --> 00:58:05,390 we're always just probably one of, I think a lot of 1258 00:58:05,390 --> 00:58:07,270 the time we're the slowest on the speed traps. So 1259 00:58:07,270 --> 00:58:09,390 whenever rain came, like you look at my results at 1260 00:58:09,390 --> 00:58:12,210 Silverstone on the national circuit, I think we had 1261 00:58:12,210 --> 00:58:14,530 second overall. I think I did the same at 1262 00:58:14,530 --> 00:58:16,070 Donington. In fact, it was a lot wetter 1263 00:58:16,070 --> 00:58:18,730 than what this actual 98 race was. Lots 1264 00:58:18,730 --> 00:58:20,210 of running water coming across them because it's 1265 00:58:20,210 --> 00:58:22,410 quite undulating at Donington. Very 1266 00:58:22,410 --> 00:58:24,250 similar to Spa. You get lots of running water 1267 00:58:24,250 --> 00:58:26,710 coming across the cranners and it does catch you out, 1268 00:58:26,710 --> 00:58:28,870 but your concentration levels just go through the 1269 00:58:28,870 --> 00:58:32,390 roof compared to any dry race because you've got so 1270 00:58:32,390 --> 00:58:34,450 many things to think about where you've got your brake 1271 00:58:34,450 --> 00:58:36,470 balance like before you spoke with Nigel and 1272 00:58:36,470 --> 00:58:40,150 adjusting that because the slightest lockup will just 1273 00:58:40,150 --> 00:58:41,910 make you go wide. It doesn't have to be a big 1274 00:58:41,910 --> 00:58:43,750 lockup. Then you hit the wet grass and 1275 00:58:43,750 --> 00:58:45,150 then you make contact with the barrier. So 1276 00:58:45,150 --> 00:58:49,950 there's lots going on, but I always knew that I loved 1277 00:58:49,950 --> 00:58:51,190 it. I loved racing in the raining 1278 00:58:51,190 --> 00:58:53,350 car thing. Always did in single seaters, 1279 00:58:53,450 --> 00:58:55,570 touring cars, GTs. I always loved it because it 1280 00:58:55,570 --> 00:58:57,690 sort of sort of sorts the men from the boys I find 1281 00:58:57,690 --> 00:59:00,950 it because it just levels things out where the 1282 00:59:00,950 --> 00:59:03,270 fastest car is no longer the fastest car as such. 1283 00:59:03,590 --> 00:59:04,950 The amount of horsepower you've 1284 00:59:04,950 --> 00:59:07,150 got doesn't matter as now because you're all getting 1285 00:59:07,150 --> 00:59:08,370 on the power at different times. You've 1286 00:59:08,370 --> 00:59:10,310 got different lines. It's feeling for the grip 1287 00:59:10,310 --> 00:59:13,130 because yes, you go on the outside for a lot of the 1288 00:59:13,130 --> 00:59:14,850 corners for the grip, but it wasn't always the case 1289 00:59:14,850 --> 00:59:17,150 on every corner, depending on the angle of the corner 1290 00:59:17,150 --> 00:59:21,430 and what have you. If you were maybe Anthony Reid 1291 00:59:21,430 --> 00:59:23,970 though in that situation being the fastest car 1292 00:59:23,970 --> 00:59:26,570 running away with it, do you think then you'd have 1293 00:59:26,570 --> 00:59:30,110 had a bit more no it surely can't be happening 1294 00:59:30,110 --> 00:59:33,710 again or would you just react to it? One 1295 00:59:33,710 --> 00:59:36,650 thing I was going to mention is the hardest 1296 00:59:36,650 --> 00:59:38,390 point when the conditions are like that is you don't 1297 00:59:38,390 --> 00:59:41,350 want it to be wet because the hardest job is being 1298 00:59:41,350 --> 00:59:44,910 at the front because you're so your mindset completely 1299 00:59:44,910 --> 00:59:47,990 changes. When you're chasing, you're 1300 00:59:47,990 --> 00:59:50,970 always like more relaxed about it slightly. Probably 1301 00:59:50,970 --> 00:59:54,310 your heart rate levels aren't, but you're racing 1302 00:59:54,310 --> 00:59:55,670 differently. You're looking at it differently. 1303 00:59:56,190 --> 00:59:58,050 You're looking where you can have 1304 00:59:58,050 --> 01:00:00,070 an advantage over the car that's in front in terms 1305 01:00:00,070 --> 01:00:01,730 of grip levels. You can see what line they're 1306 01:00:01,730 --> 01:00:02,990 on. When you're the first man, 1307 01:00:03,230 --> 01:00:05,150 you're not compared to you can't compare to anything. 1308 01:00:05,690 --> 01:00:07,130 So you're trusting your 1309 01:00:07,130 --> 01:00:10,510 judgment, the lines that you're making and everything 1310 01:00:10,510 --> 01:00:13,070 that you're doing is the right thing. Because 1311 01:00:13,070 --> 01:00:14,950 you've got nothing to compare it to. So 1312 01:00:14,950 --> 01:00:17,070 it's a harder job in the rain being at the front. 1313 01:00:17,670 --> 01:00:19,350 Mansel meanwhile was slowly 1314 01:00:19,350 --> 01:00:22,210 fighting his way up the field and was starring in 1315 01:00:22,210 --> 01:00:24,930 a great battle with Janie Morbidelli and Matt Neal. 1316 01:00:25,670 --> 01:00:28,470 Greg Mansel is giving the crowd 1317 01:00:28,470 --> 01:00:31,130 the money's worth on the admission there isn't he in 1318 01:00:31,130 --> 01:00:34,150 that battle. It's a quite a fantastic, well 1319 01:00:34,150 --> 01:00:36,510 even if it was at the time outside the top 10. 1320 01:00:37,570 --> 01:00:39,450 Yeah, tremendous wasn't it. Let's 1321 01:00:39,450 --> 01:00:40,890 just remember as well another thing that made 1322 01:00:40,890 --> 01:00:42,850 this race so special is the fact that he was 1323 01:00:42,850 --> 01:00:45,930 coming from 19th on the grid. You 1324 01:00:45,930 --> 01:00:48,010 know, that's another thing that we probably should 1325 01:00:48,010 --> 01:00:50,110 have said before when he did take the lead, which 1326 01:00:50,110 --> 01:00:51,150 we'll come to in a bit. He 1327 01:00:51,150 --> 01:00:52,930 was coming from 19th on the grid. But 1328 01:00:52,930 --> 01:00:54,870 yeah, Peter Cox was in that battle as well, wasn't 1329 01:00:54,870 --> 01:00:57,310 he? Matt Neal working wonders again 1330 01:00:57,310 --> 01:01:00,150 as an independent up there with the factory guys. And 1331 01:01:00,150 --> 01:01:03,410 of course, Morbidelli, a fellow F1 driver to Nigel 1332 01:01:03,410 --> 01:01:06,390 who had been in F1 the previous season. Good 1333 01:01:06,390 --> 01:01:09,190 friend of the pod. Good friend of the pod, exactly. 1334 01:01:09,750 --> 01:01:11,030 Yeah. And another one like 1335 01:01:11,030 --> 01:01:12,790 Warwick who never really settled, did he? I 1336 01:01:12,798 --> 01:01:15,450 think he missed his pasta in his Italian home more 1337 01:01:15,450 --> 01:01:19,530 than enjoyed driving that Volvo S40. But 1338 01:01:19,530 --> 01:01:20,610 this was great, wasn't it? Live 1339 01:01:20,610 --> 01:01:23,530 as we've already said on BBC Grandstand, Mansel 1340 01:01:23,530 --> 01:01:25,470 running two fives because of course James Thompson 1341 01:01:25,470 --> 01:01:27,930 was the regular number five, if I'm not mistaken, 1342 01:01:28,070 --> 01:01:31,470 in 1998, which I always liked because they ran 1343 01:01:31,470 --> 01:01:33,650 their finishing position from the last season, 1344 01:01:33,750 --> 01:01:35,290 didn't they? But no, it was great. And 1345 01:01:35,290 --> 01:01:36,830 it was great. It was all live on the telly. 1346 01:01:37,030 --> 01:01:38,190 Everyone in the paddock knew it was 1347 01:01:38,190 --> 01:01:39,810 live on the telly. You could follow it as well, 1348 01:01:39,850 --> 01:01:42,310 which wasn't always the case in those days on the 1349 01:01:42,310 --> 01:01:44,570 screens as we saw in the coverage, didn't we? There 1350 01:01:44,570 --> 01:01:47,030 was a lot of Ford people gathered around a tiny 1351 01:01:47,030 --> 01:01:49,750 little monitor in the garage, which is quite 1352 01:01:49,750 --> 01:01:52,430 funny to look back on now. Especially 1353 01:01:52,430 --> 01:01:54,650 looking at the budget they had, how much money they 1354 01:01:54,650 --> 01:01:57,730 spent pre -race all on the Nigel, the test in Emily, 1355 01:01:58,030 --> 01:01:59,570 and then all of a sudden you've got multi -million 1356 01:01:59,570 --> 01:02:01,170 pounds of this operation, but all of a sudden it's 1357 01:02:01,170 --> 01:02:02,870 tiny little monitor. Must have gone on the tyre 1358 01:02:02,870 --> 01:02:05,370 wheel, Adam, for the Pembury test. Yeah, 1359 01:02:05,450 --> 01:02:07,290 at least what Pembury charged them for the second 1360 01:02:07,290 --> 01:02:11,170 time. Andrew, I'm keen to know what was 1361 01:02:11,170 --> 01:02:13,010 the mood in the media centre at the time. Did 1362 01:02:13,010 --> 01:02:16,070 people sort of want Nigel to do well, or were they 1363 01:02:16,070 --> 01:02:17,650 thinking this is going to just be a flash in the 1364 01:02:17,650 --> 01:02:21,530 pan? He's going to come into that 1365 01:02:21,530 --> 01:02:26,770 shortly, actually. Because the media pack then was 1366 01:02:26,770 --> 01:02:31,650 very different to the media pack of today. Today 1367 01:02:31,650 --> 01:02:39,630 you had lots of youngsters doing websites. Back 1368 01:02:39,630 --> 01:02:41,610 then there were a lot of photographers, but there 1369 01:02:41,610 --> 01:02:42,890 were far fewer journalists. I 1370 01:02:42,897 --> 01:02:45,250 think the core media pack was probably seven or eight 1371 01:02:45,250 --> 01:02:48,750 of us. Most of us had been around a 1372 01:02:48,750 --> 01:02:52,090 while. We were possibly a bit older. 1373 01:02:52,410 --> 01:02:53,830 I was in the mid -30s, which 1374 01:02:53,830 --> 01:03:01,370 these days is quite old. I think it was quite sanguine 1375 01:03:01,370 --> 01:03:07,190 about Mansell. He was like, how can we 1376 01:03:07,190 --> 01:03:10,050 explain this? It sounds derogatory, but it's 1377 01:03:10,050 --> 01:03:12,530 not. He was sort of like an extra 1378 01:03:12,530 --> 01:03:15,050 to the proper business that was actually going on, 1379 01:03:15,150 --> 01:03:17,590 which was the BTCC and the championship. He 1380 01:03:17,590 --> 01:03:20,410 wasn't part of that. It was just a little extra 1381 01:03:20,410 --> 01:03:26,210 thing for this meeting that we had to be aware of. It 1382 01:03:26,210 --> 01:03:28,510 changed a bit later, as we'll talk about shortly. 1383 01:03:30,070 --> 01:03:32,030 Meanwhile, further up the field, 1384 01:03:32,350 --> 01:03:35,390 Championship leader Richard Rydell was suddenly facing 1385 01:03:35,390 --> 01:03:38,270 the wrong way on the pit straight after being punted 1386 01:03:38,270 --> 01:03:42,470 by Derek Warwick. Andrew, a busy weekend, I think 1387 01:03:42,470 --> 01:03:45,890 probably on land off the track for Warwick, I can 1388 01:03:45,890 --> 01:03:48,250 imagine lots of visits to the stewards in the bus. 1389 01:03:49,250 --> 01:03:50,910 How we remember the lines of 1390 01:03:50,910 --> 01:03:54,590 drivers after each race waiting to see the stewards 1391 01:03:54,590 --> 01:03:59,870 in the toka bus going in, disappearing into the depths 1392 01:03:59,870 --> 01:04:03,910 of this basic downgrade coach and waiting to find 1393 01:04:03,910 --> 01:04:08,290 out what they were going to be handed down. Some 1394 01:04:08,290 --> 01:04:11,450 might find this a controversial view, but as 1395 01:04:11,450 --> 01:04:14,010 I said earlier, I don't think Derek ever felt truly 1396 01:04:14,010 --> 01:04:17,070 comfortable in the touring car. I 1397 01:04:17,070 --> 01:04:20,610 think this frustrated him a bit, leading to perhaps 1398 01:04:20,610 --> 01:04:25,090 overcompensation and the incidents resulting from 1399 01:04:25,090 --> 01:04:27,670 that. He was unlucky. His 1400 01:04:27,670 --> 01:04:30,450 first season, he would have come into the touring cars 1401 01:04:30,450 --> 01:04:33,090 thinking he was right on because he was in the car 1402 01:04:33,090 --> 01:04:35,090 that had been the car that beat the previous season. 1403 01:04:35,570 --> 01:04:36,870 When he got in it, it was an 1404 01:04:36,870 --> 01:04:43,050 absolute dog. He missed the following year. 1405 01:04:43,250 --> 01:04:45,270 He came back in 97 with a 1406 01:04:45,270 --> 01:04:49,630 Vectra, the first year of the new setup with 1407 01:04:49,630 --> 01:04:52,850 Vauxhall. The car was a dog that year 1408 01:04:52,850 --> 01:04:57,670 as well. For someone who, he had been a 1409 01:04:57,670 --> 01:04:58,990 top form of the one driver. He 1410 01:04:58,990 --> 01:05:01,010 never won a Grand Prix, but he came pretty close. 1411 01:05:02,110 --> 01:05:05,930 It was probably quite almost 1412 01:05:05,930 --> 01:05:12,370 depressing for him. You do tend to try as hard as 1413 01:05:12,370 --> 01:05:15,610 you can and over the limit in such situations, so 1414 01:05:15,610 --> 01:05:21,250 perhaps not that surprising. We've 1415 01:05:21,250 --> 01:05:24,150 recently been in touch with Derek about him coming on 1416 01:05:24,150 --> 01:05:28,670 the podcast for an episode and it would be great, but 1417 01:05:28,670 --> 01:05:32,150 sadly he's not that keen because he doesn't fondly 1418 01:05:32,150 --> 01:05:34,230 remember his time in touring cars. I 1419 01:05:34,230 --> 01:05:42,150 rest my case. In fact, Greg, you did a 1420 01:05:42,150 --> 01:05:45,390 little piece with him a few years ago now, didn't 1421 01:05:45,390 --> 01:05:48,110 you? What was it he said about 1422 01:05:48,110 --> 01:05:50,770 touring cars? I didn't actually really think 1423 01:05:50,770 --> 01:05:52,550 about this at the time until I've spoken with you 1424 01:05:52,550 --> 01:05:56,310 about this recently, Al. I spoke with him in 2012 for 1425 01:05:56,310 --> 01:05:58,730 an interview that was primarily about F1 and they 1426 01:05:58,730 --> 01:06:00,710 just started to introduce, as I'm sure you all know, 1427 01:06:00,830 --> 01:06:02,610 the driver stewards around that time. Derek 1428 01:06:02,610 --> 01:06:05,890 obviously was and still is one of them. I 1429 01:06:05,890 --> 01:06:08,170 took in a few Twitter questions when Twitter used 1430 01:06:08,170 --> 01:06:10,310 to be more interesting and fun than it seems to be 1431 01:06:10,310 --> 01:06:13,470 nowadays, but I threw into there a question about my 1432 01:06:13,470 --> 01:06:17,810 favourite ever race, round 12 of the BTCC 1998. To 1433 01:06:17,810 --> 01:06:19,970 be fair, he had very fond memories of it, his first 1434 01:06:19,970 --> 01:06:22,690 podium, passing mints on the last corner and all 1435 01:06:22,690 --> 01:06:24,870 the rest of it. But he did also say, and I 1436 01:06:24,870 --> 01:06:28,570 quote, coming from wings and six on an F1 car and 1437 01:06:28,570 --> 01:06:31,510 1000 horsepower qualifying engines and all the rest 1438 01:06:31,510 --> 01:06:35,110 of it in the 80s, turbos, he had 300 horsepower front 1439 01:06:35,110 --> 01:06:39,310 wheel drive, bloody boring, which I have to admit, I 1440 01:06:39,310 --> 01:06:42,350 completely disagree with. I think it's anything but, 1441 01:06:42,510 --> 01:06:44,770 but yeah, I think as you just said, Andrew, it 1442 01:06:44,770 --> 01:06:46,990 wasn't a great time in Derek's life either, was 1443 01:06:46,990 --> 01:06:49,290 it? He'd lost his brother in 91. 1444 01:06:49,610 --> 01:06:50,490 And I think he was just going 1445 01:06:50,490 --> 01:06:51,930 through a difficult time. But 1446 01:06:51,930 --> 01:06:54,450 he was a man, I think he saw himself in an F1 car 1447 01:06:54,450 --> 01:06:57,150 or having won the Le Mans 24 hours. And 1448 01:06:57,150 --> 01:06:59,850 to him, it was a bit below him, I think, which 1449 01:06:59,850 --> 01:07:01,410 is a shame because Derek Warwick is one of the 1450 01:07:01,410 --> 01:07:04,670 nicest people I have ever met, whether it's car or 1451 01:07:04,670 --> 01:07:06,910 bike racing, he's a gentleman. And 1452 01:07:06,910 --> 01:07:09,190 it's a shame that he was struggling in that way. I 1453 01:07:09,190 --> 01:07:11,070 suppose he had the pressure of running the triple eight 1454 01:07:11,070 --> 01:07:15,210 team as well as driving in it, which couldn't make it 1455 01:07:15,210 --> 01:07:16,850 easy. But yeah, it's a shame really, 1456 01:07:16,910 --> 01:07:18,830 because he doesn't speak fondly of it, despite the 1457 01:07:18,830 --> 01:07:21,110 fact he did end up winning a race later that year as 1458 01:07:21,110 --> 01:07:23,210 well. Yeah, I just think getting it in 1459 01:07:23,210 --> 01:07:26,010 easy goes down in history as a race winner in BTC. 1460 01:07:26,350 --> 01:07:28,450 So it's not an easy thing to 1461 01:07:28,450 --> 01:07:30,390 do. Yeah, I guess I don't know if 1462 01:07:30,390 --> 01:07:32,830 it's fair to say a lot of bits about the approach and 1463 01:07:32,830 --> 01:07:34,290 the attitude as well. I mean, like we've said 1464 01:07:34,290 --> 01:07:36,790 already earlier in the show, we've had single seat 1465 01:07:36,790 --> 01:07:38,950 drivers like Ry Dell, Andrew, you were saying it, 1466 01:07:38,990 --> 01:07:40,070 weren't you? And Menya, they've come from 1467 01:07:40,070 --> 01:07:42,490 that background, Kelvin, but didn't arrive yet. Morby 1468 01:07:42,490 --> 01:07:43,430 Denning. Morby Denning. And 1469 01:07:43,437 --> 01:07:46,230 then others like obviously Tar Queenie. And 1470 01:07:46,238 --> 01:07:48,690 then you've got the Jonathan Palmer's and Derek 1471 01:07:48,690 --> 01:07:50,590 Warwick's of this world. He had a little bit of a 1472 01:07:50,590 --> 01:07:53,030 struggle, didn't they? In a tin top. Yeah, 1473 01:07:53,170 --> 01:07:57,050 we ought to get net and lingering on. Yeah, 1474 01:07:58,650 --> 01:08:01,790 yeah, that was a classic. Ry 1475 01:08:01,790 --> 01:08:04,790 Dell was out and on lap 16, the rain started 1476 01:08:04,790 --> 01:08:07,650 falling heavily with cars flying off the track 1477 01:08:07,650 --> 01:08:10,870 everywhere, including John Clelland, who's trippin' to 1478 01:08:10,870 --> 01:08:13,410 the gravel, ripped the front off the voxel again. 1479 01:08:14,530 --> 01:08:16,029 Plato was the first of the front 1480 01:08:16,029 --> 01:08:19,189 runners into the pits. The Nishans pitted a few laps 1481 01:08:19,189 --> 01:08:22,029 later, but with such a strong lead, it didn't make 1482 01:08:22,029 --> 01:08:25,010 any difference to the race order. As 1483 01:08:25,010 --> 01:08:27,689 soon as Leslie left the pit lane, the safety car 1484 01:08:27,689 --> 01:08:30,649 was called, as another car was stranded at the bottom 1485 01:08:30,649 --> 01:08:33,729 of the cranners. As the order sorted itself 1486 01:08:33,729 --> 01:08:37,410 out, Mansel had found himself in fourth place. 1487 01:08:38,450 --> 01:08:40,350 Now, had Mansel's drive gone 1488 01:08:40,350 --> 01:08:42,870 under the radar up to this point in the race, and 1489 01:08:42,870 --> 01:08:45,950 then was it sort of a bit, how the hell is 1490 01:08:45,950 --> 01:08:48,170 Mansel in fourth, suddenly? Yeah, 1491 01:08:48,189 --> 01:08:52,050 I think so, because people were concentrating on the 1492 01:08:52,050 --> 01:08:55,029 battle at the front, which is generally what people do 1493 01:08:55,029 --> 01:08:57,990 in a race anyway. And as Greg said, Nigel started 1494 01:08:57,990 --> 01:09:01,149 19th. So you didn't expect him to 1495 01:09:01,149 --> 01:09:03,450 be fighting his way up through the field. And 1496 01:09:03,457 --> 01:09:05,069 yeah, don't get me wrong, there were a few 1497 01:09:05,069 --> 01:09:07,590 retirements, but there was a really quick pit stop by 1498 01:09:07,590 --> 01:09:11,189 the West Surrey guys too, which helped. But 1499 01:09:11,189 --> 01:09:14,210 yeah, suddenly Nigel's up there and he's in fourth 1500 01:09:14,210 --> 01:09:17,590 position. And with a chance, a real 1501 01:09:17,590 --> 01:09:19,490 chance of getting, you know, he's got a 1502 01:09:19,490 --> 01:09:22,170 competitive forward, because it's raining and it's in 1503 01:09:22,170 --> 01:09:25,750 the wet. So yeah, I did think it went 1504 01:09:25,750 --> 01:09:28,890 under the radar. And as Clellan said to us 1505 01:09:28,890 --> 01:09:32,710 before, you know, he was on the radio asking, he 1506 01:09:32,710 --> 01:09:35,890 said, I've got Nigel behind me or in front of me or 1507 01:09:35,890 --> 01:09:38,790 whatever it was. We're about to lap him. Yeah. 1508 01:09:38,910 --> 01:09:41,310 And he's like, no, no, that's for position. It's 1509 01:09:41,310 --> 01:09:44,830 like, what? So yeah, it did go under the 1510 01:09:44,830 --> 01:09:46,870 radar to even the people in the race. So 1511 01:09:46,877 --> 01:09:49,970 yeah, yeah. As the race restarted, Reed 1512 01:09:49,970 --> 01:09:53,870 led from Leslie, Clelland, Mansel and Devan Muller's 1513 01:09:53,870 --> 01:09:56,450 Aldi. What happened next could easily 1514 01:09:56,450 --> 01:09:59,670 be described as the best couple of laps in touring 1515 01:09:59,670 --> 01:10:03,230 car history. Let's let Charlie Cox and John 1516 01:10:03,230 --> 01:10:05,970 Watson describe it for us now. We've 1517 01:10:05,970 --> 01:10:08,750 got Reed leading Leslie second in the nish on 1518 01:10:08,750 --> 01:10:12,090 Clellan in third Nigel Mansel amazingly in fourth 1519 01:10:12,090 --> 01:10:15,190 position. Incredible performance for him. Safety 1520 01:10:15,190 --> 01:10:17,130 car gets out of the way. Reed, 1521 01:10:17,410 --> 01:10:21,750 Leslie, Clellan, Mansel, flat out the race has 1522 01:10:21,750 --> 01:10:24,230 resumed. And there he is. Leslie 1523 01:10:24,230 --> 01:10:25,870 on the left acting as a tailgarner. He's 1524 01:10:25,870 --> 01:10:28,030 protecting the line. Reed's well up in front in the 1525 01:10:28,030 --> 01:10:29,030 first of the white cars. The 1526 01:10:29,038 --> 01:10:31,250 second of the white cars is and look, Nigel Mansel 1527 01:10:31,250 --> 01:10:32,590 is running up the outside. Nigel 1528 01:10:32,590 --> 01:10:34,530 Mansel is trying to make a run in the blue for the 1529 01:10:34,530 --> 01:10:37,370 outside of John Clellan side by side through red 1530 01:10:37,370 --> 01:10:40,490 gate, side by side down the hill towards the green 1531 01:10:40,490 --> 01:10:42,070 occurs. We saw Manzal and Clellan do 1532 01:10:42,070 --> 01:10:43,950 this this morning in the warm up and then again, 1533 01:10:43,950 --> 01:10:46,590 Leslie's holding the back and Mansel wants a piece 1534 01:10:46,590 --> 01:10:47,810 of it. Yes, it does. Mansel 1535 01:10:47,810 --> 01:10:48,990 did a very sensible thing. He 1536 01:10:48,990 --> 01:10:51,410 went the long way around red gate because there's 1537 01:10:51,410 --> 01:10:53,510 more grip in these conditions on the outside 1538 01:10:53,510 --> 01:10:55,430 of a corner. They're trying to scramble and 1539 01:10:55,430 --> 01:10:57,350 fight your way around in the inside. Clellan 1540 01:10:57,350 --> 01:10:59,510 meantime is nerfing the back of Leslie's car. He's 1541 01:10:59,510 --> 01:11:01,050 literally trying to push him out the hill. Tommy 1542 01:11:01,050 --> 01:11:02,770 Rustett's been pundit off. He's 1543 01:11:02,770 --> 01:11:04,530 sliding down through the greatest. Look 1544 01:11:04,530 --> 01:11:05,530 at the spray everywhere. You 1545 01:11:05,530 --> 01:11:07,710 can't see anything. Mansel up the outside. Clellan 1546 01:11:07,710 --> 01:11:09,430 on the left. Mansel on the right. Trying 1547 01:11:09,430 --> 01:11:11,390 the white line again and it's working. He's 1548 01:11:11,390 --> 01:11:14,970 passed Clellan. Unbelievable. Mansel, Mansel, contact with 1549 01:11:14,970 --> 01:11:18,250 Leslie. Mansel, Clellan, Leslie, contact up 1550 01:11:18,250 --> 01:11:19,870 through the cup of cup of corner. Take 1551 01:11:19,870 --> 01:11:21,590 that. Mansel runs around the inside. Get 1552 01:11:21,590 --> 01:11:23,670 this boy drive out of my way. Clellan 1553 01:11:23,670 --> 01:11:25,070 above the inside of you. He's 1554 01:11:25,070 --> 01:11:26,730 passed Leslie. He's up in the third position. 1555 01:11:27,110 --> 01:11:28,510 This is amazing. What 1556 01:11:28,510 --> 01:11:31,750 a race. Guys, that's quite simply some 1557 01:11:31,750 --> 01:11:35,410 breathtaking racing over those few laps. Hopefully 1558 01:11:35,410 --> 01:11:37,530 you've all caught your breath after going through 1559 01:11:37,530 --> 01:11:40,350 that. I'd love to hear sort of all 1560 01:11:40,350 --> 01:11:43,450 your views on what may be the greatest two laps. 1561 01:11:43,550 --> 01:11:44,490 They're not just touring carpet, 1562 01:11:44,690 --> 01:11:47,590 but maybe motorsport history in general. If 1563 01:11:47,598 --> 01:11:50,350 you're having a bad day, stick that on because you 1564 01:11:50,350 --> 01:11:52,230 can't watch that and not smile. Can 1565 01:11:52,230 --> 01:11:54,870 you? It was just unbelievable the 1566 01:11:54,870 --> 01:11:56,970 way they, first of all, Mansel comes down the 1567 01:11:56,970 --> 01:11:59,830 outside of red gate, doesn't it? Because 1568 01:11:59,830 --> 01:12:01,210 I guess I don't know what people are thinking at the 1569 01:12:01,210 --> 01:12:03,230 time, but when the race restarted, did anyone really 1570 01:12:03,230 --> 01:12:05,230 think that was going to happen? I 1571 01:12:05,230 --> 01:12:06,750 guess a lot of people thinking Mansel was going 1572 01:12:06,750 --> 01:12:08,470 to probably get a bit bullied and drop back a 1573 01:12:08,470 --> 01:12:12,390 few places instead. He was ready to pounce. He 1574 01:12:12,390 --> 01:12:15,530 was ready to say punch us all back up now. It's 1575 01:12:15,530 --> 01:12:18,230 like he was thinking, I belong to be at the front 1576 01:12:18,230 --> 01:12:20,250 of a motor race. Let's go now. He 1577 01:12:20,250 --> 01:12:21,670 goes straight down the outside. Again, 1578 01:12:21,750 --> 01:12:24,170 that's his experiences, isn't it? They've 1579 01:12:24,170 --> 01:12:25,790 known there was more grip on the outside in 1580 01:12:25,790 --> 01:12:28,870 conditions like that. Then he's contacting with 1581 01:12:28,870 --> 01:12:30,510 Clendon, which he'd already done earlier in the warm 1582 01:12:30,510 --> 01:12:33,690 -up. Yeah. Then everyone's slipping and 1583 01:12:33,690 --> 01:12:35,830 siding on. Thompson nearly goes off at the old 1584 01:12:35,830 --> 01:12:37,550 hip and Rushdad does go off. I 1585 01:12:37,550 --> 01:12:39,850 still don't know to this day whether he lost it or 1586 01:12:39,850 --> 01:12:41,950 whether he was hit. I don't think the coverage 1587 01:12:41,950 --> 01:12:44,330 ever showed or revealed that. I 1588 01:12:44,330 --> 01:12:46,390 suppose as a high chance he was tagged by someone. 1589 01:12:47,170 --> 01:12:48,730 But yeah, great save by him, 1590 01:12:48,870 --> 01:12:50,350 Rady Cross style on the infield. Then 1591 01:12:50,350 --> 01:12:52,290 those next few corners coming up the hill, you've 1592 01:12:52,290 --> 01:12:53,850 got Clendon and Laserley. They're 1593 01:12:53,850 --> 01:12:55,410 nearly touching, aren't they? All 1594 01:12:55,410 --> 01:12:57,830 the way side by side through McLean, Mansel on 1595 01:12:57,830 --> 01:13:01,130 the outside again, and then contacting up to Coppice. 1596 01:13:01,550 --> 01:13:03,530 The TV direction was tremendous 1597 01:13:03,530 --> 01:13:05,090 as well. They didn't miss a single frame 1598 01:13:05,090 --> 01:13:06,750 of it, did they? Then Muller's in the mix as 1599 01:13:06,750 --> 01:13:08,990 well. Just amazing. It's 1600 01:13:08,990 --> 01:13:10,590 got to be some of the best action we have ever 1601 01:13:10,590 --> 01:13:13,290 seen. Certainly on live television in 1602 01:13:13,290 --> 01:13:15,330 motorsport, ever, I would say. As 1603 01:13:15,330 --> 01:13:17,390 we said earlier, the commentary from Coxsey and 1604 01:13:17,390 --> 01:13:20,170 Watty just makes it even better. Yeah. 1605 01:13:20,690 --> 01:13:23,110 It was brilliant. It was. You 1606 01:13:23,110 --> 01:13:24,450 didn't know where to look, did you? Because 1607 01:13:24,450 --> 01:13:26,510 it was just so much. Again, 1608 01:13:26,650 --> 01:13:28,810 it's just to me, the beauty of the touring cars, 1609 01:13:28,890 --> 01:13:31,010 particularly at that time. Anything 1610 01:13:31,010 --> 01:13:33,490 could happen at any time. You 1611 01:13:33,490 --> 01:13:35,850 could see it happening, but you didn't know what the 1612 01:13:35,850 --> 01:13:36,710 end result was going to be. It 1613 01:13:36,718 --> 01:13:42,590 was a nightmare trying to write it all down. Yes. 1614 01:13:43,430 --> 01:13:47,230 It's that two or three laps. You 1615 01:13:47,230 --> 01:13:50,650 just don't know where to look. One 1616 01:13:50,650 --> 01:13:54,110 minute, Muller's leading, the next, Reedy's leading, 1617 01:13:54,330 --> 01:13:56,350 the next, Mansel's in the lead, the next Reedy's in 1618 01:13:56,350 --> 01:14:00,710 the wall. It's just wonderful racing. If 1619 01:14:00,710 --> 01:14:03,070 you ever want to introduce touring car racing to 1620 01:14:03,070 --> 01:14:06,430 anyone, just show them that three laps. It's 1621 01:14:06,430 --> 01:14:09,070 just wonderful. Yeah. Obviously, there's two 1622 01:14:09,070 --> 01:14:10,810 Nissans in there, but apart from that, all different 1623 01:14:10,810 --> 01:14:13,370 cars, different colours, different, everyone a little 1624 01:14:13,370 --> 01:14:15,370 bit stronger than each other person at a different 1625 01:14:15,370 --> 01:14:17,830 part of the track. And it was just, you couldn't 1626 01:14:17,830 --> 01:14:19,770 make that up. You could write a script and 1627 01:14:19,770 --> 01:14:23,510 that would never happen. On lap 24, Mansel is now 1628 01:14:23,510 --> 01:14:27,010 challenging Anthony Reeds -Nissan for the lead. Adam, 1629 01:14:27,190 --> 01:14:30,730 at this point, has to be considered one of properly 1630 01:14:30,730 --> 01:14:33,490 Nigel's most incredible tribes. Yeah. 1631 01:14:33,830 --> 01:14:37,750 I think he would have enjoyed every minute of it, 1632 01:14:37,870 --> 01:14:41,990 to be honest. Yeah. I just think he wanted to 1633 01:14:41,990 --> 01:14:44,730 keep his nose clean. He needed to finish. A 1634 01:14:44,730 --> 01:14:46,930 lot of effort had gone into, I'm sure, behind the 1635 01:14:46,930 --> 01:14:49,730 scenes that none of us know anything about in 1636 01:14:49,730 --> 01:14:52,270 terms of getting in there in the first place. A 1637 01:14:52,270 --> 01:14:54,770 lot of deals needed to be done, so they needed him 1638 01:14:54,770 --> 01:14:58,230 to finish. But I just think, yeah, I 1639 01:14:58,230 --> 01:14:59,910 think he's one of his best drives and I think he's 1640 01:14:59,910 --> 01:15:01,310 probably one of the most enjoyable ones that he's 1641 01:15:01,310 --> 01:15:04,530 probably ever done. I think it's how wouldn't it 1642 01:15:04,530 --> 01:15:06,070 be? He gets to do a bit of panel 1643 01:15:06,070 --> 01:15:08,610 bashing, which is something he's not been able to do 1644 01:15:08,610 --> 01:15:13,550 before and wet conditions, lots of tyres overheating 1645 01:15:13,550 --> 01:15:16,170 and safety cars coming out, cooling down, pit stops, 1646 01:15:16,730 --> 01:15:21,990 rain, people going off, avoiding them. I 1647 01:15:21,990 --> 01:15:25,190 think he would have really enjoyed it because he's 1648 01:15:25,190 --> 01:15:28,910 never been used to that environment of a 1649 01:15:28,910 --> 01:15:32,770 championship that has that much variety in one race. 1650 01:15:33,710 --> 01:15:35,090 So I think he would have 1651 01:15:35,090 --> 01:15:38,030 loved it. Next thing, read the sideways, 1652 01:15:38,550 --> 01:15:41,590 swooping across the front of Mansel and into the 1653 01:15:41,590 --> 01:15:44,690 tyre barrier. He's in second position. He's 1654 01:15:44,690 --> 01:15:46,590 second position. He's pushing in. He's 1655 01:15:46,590 --> 01:15:49,830 in third. Nigel Mansel is hit. He's 1656 01:15:49,830 --> 01:15:51,870 going off, back into the wall and McLean's 1657 01:15:51,870 --> 01:15:55,530 unbelievable stuff and Nigel Mansel leads this race. 1658 01:15:55,850 --> 01:15:57,370 Nigel Mansel is leading this 1659 01:15:57,370 --> 01:15:59,470 during car race. The guys on the Ford Garage 1660 01:15:59,470 --> 01:16:02,250 can't believe it. It's an absolutely astonishing 1661 01:16:02,250 --> 01:16:06,610 turn of events. Position 19 up to position one in 1662 01:16:06,610 --> 01:16:07,870 the duration of this race. Talk 1663 01:16:07,870 --> 01:16:10,450 about Hero. Well, all the cynics that said 1664 01:16:10,450 --> 01:16:12,790 Nigel Mansel, what's he doing it for? Not 1665 01:16:12,790 --> 01:16:14,770 only is this man a great racing car, he's a great 1666 01:16:14,770 --> 01:16:17,130 showman. We thought the tyre choice was 1667 01:16:17,130 --> 01:16:19,850 right, but it was super wet around the back of the 1668 01:16:19,850 --> 01:16:23,170 circuit and they were all over me like flies, reads 1669 01:16:23,170 --> 01:16:27,190 it after the race. This left Mansel in the lead. 1670 01:16:28,070 --> 01:16:29,910 Andrew, we've mentioned your role 1671 01:16:29,910 --> 01:16:32,170 in the media center on this weekend a couple of 1672 01:16:32,170 --> 01:16:35,230 times now. We know all this was going 1673 01:16:35,230 --> 01:16:37,990 on. The Nigel Mansel was leading a 1674 01:16:37,990 --> 01:16:40,630 British Touring Car Championship race. What 1675 01:16:40,630 --> 01:16:45,030 was the atmosphere? As I said at the start, it 1676 01:16:45,030 --> 01:16:47,390 was pretty special. In fact, I'd say I won off. 1677 01:16:48,950 --> 01:16:50,910 As I said just a little while 1678 01:16:50,910 --> 01:16:53,570 ago, the core media pack, we were sensible, 1679 01:16:53,850 --> 01:16:56,530 professional journalists who didn't get phased by 1680 01:16:56,530 --> 01:17:01,150 anything. But those few laps, part of it 1681 01:17:01,150 --> 01:17:03,890 was the fact that we had something we didn't 1682 01:17:03,890 --> 01:17:05,950 regularly have in those days, which was we could 1683 01:17:05,950 --> 01:17:08,550 follow the whole thing on the TV. Because 1684 01:17:08,550 --> 01:17:10,790 you use in the media center now to having all 1685 01:17:10,790 --> 01:17:12,810 the TV coverage, whatever you go, but of course, we 1686 01:17:12,810 --> 01:17:14,950 didn't in those days because this was one of 1687 01:17:14,950 --> 01:17:19,770 the early live races. And the atmosphere in the media 1688 01:17:19,770 --> 01:17:21,990 center with all these serious journeys, it was a 1689 01:17:21,990 --> 01:17:25,930 bit like an ITV game show in that there was whooping 1690 01:17:25,930 --> 01:17:29,850 and hollering every time another move was made. It 1691 01:17:29,850 --> 01:17:33,230 was just absolutely crazy. Definitely 1692 01:17:33,230 --> 01:17:35,770 one of my top memories of all my time in the BTCC. 1693 01:17:36,470 --> 01:17:38,790 It was tremendous fun. We 1694 01:17:38,790 --> 01:17:42,270 had contact, but we all respected one another. I 1695 01:17:42,270 --> 01:17:45,190 was shitting myself going into every corner, wondering 1696 01:17:45,190 --> 01:17:47,990 where the next touch was going to come from. And 1697 01:17:47,990 --> 01:17:51,030 whenever it didn't, I went off myself, Mansel said 1698 01:17:51,030 --> 01:17:54,890 after the race. Greg, with just that brilliant 1699 01:17:54,890 --> 01:17:58,470 few laps of race and an action. What 1700 01:17:58,470 --> 01:18:03,290 did you make of that? It doesn't matter how many 1701 01:18:03,290 --> 01:18:06,030 times you watch it back. I don't enjoy it any less to 1702 01:18:06,030 --> 01:18:08,010 be honest with you, whether you watch it live at the 1703 01:18:08,010 --> 01:18:09,350 time or watching it now. In 1704 01:18:09,350 --> 01:18:11,270 a way, you almost enjoy it more now, knowing what's 1705 01:18:11,270 --> 01:18:13,430 about to happen, don't you? I 1706 01:18:13,430 --> 01:18:17,610 think also the absolute shock of everyone, as 1707 01:18:17,610 --> 01:18:20,550 Andrew was just saying, in the media tent or in the 1708 01:18:20,550 --> 01:18:24,010 other cars around it, we don't have tits. We've 1709 01:18:24,010 --> 01:18:26,990 got people roof over our heads. It 1710 01:18:26,990 --> 01:18:29,330 was all the idiots like, Alex, we're out in the 1711 01:18:29,330 --> 01:18:33,090 wet. I hope you had an umbrella 1712 01:18:33,090 --> 01:18:35,250 at least. Did you Al? Yeah. 1713 01:18:35,550 --> 01:18:37,770 Yeah. Okay, good. Okay. 1714 01:18:37,830 --> 01:18:40,770 In the media centre then, in the control room where 1715 01:18:40,770 --> 01:18:44,110 Andrew was. But I imagine the feeling of 1716 01:18:44,110 --> 01:18:46,710 the drivers around him on the circuit thinking, bloody 1717 01:18:46,710 --> 01:18:48,230 hell, Mansel's in the lead. They 1718 01:18:48,230 --> 01:18:50,130 must have been thinking, we cannot allow this guy to 1719 01:18:50,130 --> 01:18:52,510 come in and beat us. I'm sure Clelland would have 1720 01:18:52,510 --> 01:18:54,090 been thinking that. I think he's actually said it 1721 01:18:54,090 --> 01:18:55,990 on record somewhere. I bet they just couldn't 1722 01:18:55,990 --> 01:18:57,970 believe what they were saying, could they? Mansel 1723 01:18:57,970 --> 01:19:01,090 led for six laps with Clelland slowly catching the 1724 01:19:01,090 --> 01:19:04,250 Mondeo. On lap 30, Clelland made his 1725 01:19:04,250 --> 01:19:06,590 move. Mansel was forced to cover the 1726 01:19:06,590 --> 01:19:09,490 inside line into the final chicane, but ran straight 1727 01:19:09,490 --> 01:19:12,190 on and fell to second place. Leslie 1728 01:19:12,190 --> 01:19:14,610 passed Mansel for second with five laps to go 1729 01:19:14,610 --> 01:19:17,490 before Warwick got through on the final lap, taking 1730 01:19:17,490 --> 01:19:21,490 his first ever BTCC podium. Alex, 1731 01:19:21,770 --> 01:19:24,230 as we've touched on it, wasn't the greatest of 1732 01:19:24,230 --> 01:19:27,430 weekends for Derek. However, a strong final result first 1733 01:19:27,430 --> 01:19:30,490 podium must have been a lift for him. Yes, 1734 01:19:30,710 --> 01:19:35,130 Derek pitted for a second time and got the right 1735 01:19:35,130 --> 01:19:39,470 tyres on. And yeah, really, a bit like 1736 01:19:39,470 --> 01:19:41,810 his win at Knockill actually, that was similar. 1737 01:19:43,270 --> 01:19:44,870 He was able to charge through 1738 01:19:44,870 --> 01:19:47,590 the field and admittedly, there wasn't a huge amount 1739 01:19:47,590 --> 01:19:51,110 of a field left because they were everywhere all 1740 01:19:51,110 --> 01:19:54,010 over the circuit. But yeah, fair play. He 1741 01:19:54,010 --> 01:19:56,870 came through and got the podium. I'm 1742 01:19:56,870 --> 01:19:58,930 quite surprised he managed to hold on to it after 1743 01:19:58,930 --> 01:20:02,630 his incident with Rydel, but fair enough. Yeah, 1744 01:20:02,638 --> 01:20:05,930 he finished it and it was his first podium. So 1745 01:20:05,930 --> 01:20:08,590 yeah, good result for Derek after what was a tricky 1746 01:20:08,590 --> 01:20:11,750 race weekend to be fair. Mansel 1747 01:20:11,750 --> 01:20:14,890 ultimately ended fifth after being handed a post race 1748 01:20:14,890 --> 01:20:17,510 penalty for overtaking Miller under the safety 1749 01:20:17,510 --> 01:20:20,110 car. Let's hear what the drivers had 1750 01:20:20,110 --> 01:20:22,690 to say after the race to Steve Ryder. I 1751 01:20:22,690 --> 01:20:24,330 had a little bit of a problem with the brakes as 1752 01:20:24,330 --> 01:20:26,190 you probably saw, you could catch me under braking and 1753 01:20:26,190 --> 01:20:27,870 that and these were fantastic. You 1754 01:20:27,870 --> 01:20:29,650 deserve to win. I was holding everyone up, 1755 01:20:30,050 --> 01:20:31,430 but I mean, I made fun of it, didn't I? And 1756 01:20:31,438 --> 01:20:32,530 I didn't put anyone off. What 1757 01:20:32,530 --> 01:20:35,830 we've got to remember here is his first weekend really 1758 01:20:35,830 --> 01:20:38,470 and driving the touring car and he did a bloody good 1759 01:20:38,470 --> 01:20:39,890 job. I think we're all, I think 1760 01:20:39,890 --> 01:20:40,990 it was a great job, mate. Well 1761 01:20:40,990 --> 01:20:43,310 done. There was a fair bit of doubt, 1762 01:20:43,530 --> 01:20:45,390 a fair bit of pessimism down the pit lane over the 1763 01:20:45,390 --> 01:20:48,030 past week about actually what Nigel would achieve, 1764 01:20:48,250 --> 01:20:50,310 but he's put all that right. I 1765 01:20:50,310 --> 01:20:53,890 mean, when I saw the restart and he was in the 1766 01:20:53,890 --> 01:20:57,550 gaggle, and he was in the gaggle, I don't believe 1767 01:20:57,550 --> 01:20:59,310 this. How can one man be so lucky? 1768 01:21:00,550 --> 01:21:01,610 And then all of a sudden he 1769 01:21:01,610 --> 01:21:03,250 leaves the blanking race. I think what is going on 1770 01:21:03,250 --> 01:21:06,430 here? Adam, all in all, a successful 1771 01:21:06,430 --> 01:21:10,010 weekend for Nigel Mansell, do you think? Yeah, 1772 01:21:10,030 --> 01:21:11,370 I think so. I'm probably a massive belief 1773 01:21:11,370 --> 01:21:16,210 for Ford and all the press people they've got and all 1774 01:21:16,210 --> 01:21:18,650 the publicity surrounding it and the build up to it. 1775 01:21:18,830 --> 01:21:19,790 There's a lot of pressure for 1776 01:21:19,790 --> 01:21:22,630 everyone involved really. So I think they needed 1777 01:21:22,630 --> 01:21:24,950 something to write about as something positive. So 1778 01:21:24,958 --> 01:21:27,570 I think that's, I think Nigel, like I said before, 1779 01:21:27,890 --> 01:21:30,250 I think he would have been really happy with, of 1780 01:21:30,250 --> 01:21:31,930 course he wanted to win it. He 1781 01:21:31,930 --> 01:21:33,850 got it at the front of the race. He 1782 01:21:33,850 --> 01:21:36,390 would have wanted to have stayed there, but all in 1783 01:21:36,390 --> 01:21:39,030 all, I don't think he would have necessarily would 1784 01:21:39,030 --> 01:21:41,670 have expected to be fighting at the front. So 1785 01:21:41,678 --> 01:21:44,050 I think overall, I think it was really good 1786 01:21:44,050 --> 01:21:48,110 successful weekend and obviously keeping Mansell 1787 01:21:48,110 --> 01:21:52,630 Mania alive. Andrew, have the media sent a calm 1788 01:21:52,630 --> 01:21:55,710 down at this point by the end of the race, because I 1789 01:21:55,710 --> 01:21:58,170 can imagine the paddock probably had quite the buzz 1790 01:21:58,170 --> 01:22:01,390 following the end of activities on race track 1791 01:22:01,390 --> 01:22:03,810 that day. Well, the media sent it would 1792 01:22:03,810 --> 01:22:07,690 immediately have emptied of journalists, because today, 1793 01:22:07,790 --> 01:22:09,650 as soon as the race is over, most of the 1794 01:22:09,650 --> 01:22:11,690 journalists jumpy straight on their laptops trying to 1795 01:22:11,690 --> 01:22:14,730 get their race report online before the person 1796 01:22:14,730 --> 01:22:16,990 next to him gets their report up. In 1797 01:22:16,990 --> 01:22:20,090 those days, it was off to the toka bus for the post 1798 01:22:20,090 --> 01:22:23,950 race press conference and the Mark Fogarty show and 1799 01:22:23,950 --> 01:22:26,050 then into the paddock to get the quotes from the 1800 01:22:26,050 --> 01:22:29,430 drivers and the teams. Our actual reports will be 1801 01:22:29,430 --> 01:22:33,450 written much later. The paddock was certainly 1802 01:22:33,450 --> 01:22:38,690 buzzing, but I think it's a friend of the podcast, 1803 01:22:39,170 --> 01:22:43,910 Peugeot boss, Mick Linford, who gave me my quote of 1804 01:22:43,910 --> 01:22:47,310 the weekend and possibly the one that eloquently 1805 01:22:47,310 --> 01:22:53,770 shows what the proper BTCC circus fault about it all, 1806 01:22:54,090 --> 01:22:57,690 because he simply said to me, thank Christ, Mansell 1807 01:22:57,690 --> 01:23:01,770 didn't win. And he was absolutely right, 1808 01:23:01,830 --> 01:23:04,230 because if Nigel had won, the hype would have gone 1809 01:23:04,230 --> 01:23:07,150 overboard. And I must disagree with one 1810 01:23:07,150 --> 01:23:09,110 of our listeners earlier who said had Nigel done 1811 01:23:09,110 --> 01:23:11,450 the full season, he would have run away with it. 1812 01:23:12,169 --> 01:23:13,310 This was all the right 1813 01:23:13,310 --> 01:23:17,450 conditions for him. He had excellent race craft. 1814 01:23:17,750 --> 01:23:18,830 These were the conditions for him 1815 01:23:18,830 --> 01:23:21,190 to demonstrate it. He was in a car that only 1816 01:23:21,190 --> 01:23:23,850 came alive in the wet, but his performances in the 1817 01:23:23,850 --> 01:23:26,070 other two meetings that year showed him as the 1818 01:23:26,070 --> 01:23:29,650 latest star to discover BTCC was not as easy as 1819 01:23:29,650 --> 01:23:33,350 everyone might think. Greg, lots of people put this as 1820 01:23:33,350 --> 01:23:36,710 the best touring car race of all time, or at least 1821 01:23:36,710 --> 01:23:39,110 in the discussion for that award. I 1822 01:23:39,110 --> 01:23:41,430 think you've already probably hinted what you'll 1823 01:23:41,430 --> 01:23:43,610 view with it tonight. But is that a statement you 1824 01:23:43,610 --> 01:23:45,810 can agree with? Oh, definitely. I 1825 01:23:45,810 --> 01:23:47,110 mean, there's a few contenders out there. 1826 01:23:47,210 --> 01:23:48,930 Silverstone 92 has got to be won. And 1827 01:23:48,930 --> 01:23:50,350 obviously, this is just British touring car 1828 01:23:50,350 --> 01:23:51,930 championship races. I'm thinking of here, there's 1829 01:23:51,930 --> 01:23:54,090 plenty of others from around the world. It's 1830 01:23:54,090 --> 01:23:56,670 my favorite ever motor race of any kind, whether it's 1831 01:23:56,670 --> 01:23:59,490 cars or bikes, just for the nostalgia, the fact 1832 01:23:59,490 --> 01:24:02,170 that it was touring cars, 98, same as the game and 1833 01:24:02,170 --> 01:24:03,970 the way it all started for me. So 1834 01:24:03,970 --> 01:24:08,290 definitely yes is my answer to that, for sure. 100%. 1835 01:24:08,290 --> 01:24:09,930 That's good. I 1836 01:24:09,930 --> 01:24:13,030 mean, that's a big statement considering, we 1837 01:24:13,030 --> 01:24:14,870 know how exciting bike racing can be. And 1838 01:24:14,870 --> 01:24:17,710 obviously, you've commented on tons of them. I've 1839 01:24:17,710 --> 01:24:19,650 watched pretty much every one of them. And 1840 01:24:19,650 --> 01:24:22,210 there's some super, super exciting races. So 1841 01:24:22,218 --> 01:24:24,510 that is some statement coming out with that from 1842 01:24:24,510 --> 01:24:27,310 1998. Yeah, I'm probably going to get 1843 01:24:27,310 --> 01:24:30,130 a lot of stick from bike racing colleagues who say 1844 01:24:30,130 --> 01:24:33,110 that. But when you're on the bike 1845 01:24:33,110 --> 01:24:35,870 racing podcast, you just say that there's a race, 1846 01:24:36,050 --> 01:24:37,730 two -wheel race, it was the most exciting one you've 1847 01:24:37,730 --> 01:24:39,070 ever seen. You just hope to have listened 1848 01:24:39,070 --> 01:24:41,790 to this. Yeah. I just think the whole 1849 01:24:41,790 --> 01:24:44,890 thing, the way those circumstances came together, 1850 01:24:45,430 --> 01:24:47,090 you could run that race again at Donnington and 1851 01:24:47,090 --> 01:24:49,450 that wouldn't happen. It was just such a special, 1852 01:24:49,690 --> 01:24:52,850 unique set of circumstances, wasn't it? And 1853 01:24:52,850 --> 01:24:55,010 the fact it was live on the telly, and it wasn't 1854 01:24:55,010 --> 01:24:57,370 always live those days, makes it even more special, 1855 01:24:57,510 --> 01:25:06,470 doesn't it? Absolutely. It's now time for our 1856 01:25:06,470 --> 01:25:09,610 question game. But sadly, producer Dan cannot 1857 01:25:09,610 --> 01:25:12,650 be with us today. So this week, we have producer 1858 01:25:12,650 --> 01:25:19,610 Gary. His name is Gary Gary. He's 1859 01:25:19,610 --> 01:25:21,990 feeling a little shy, so I will read out the question 1860 01:25:21,990 --> 01:25:25,370 on his behalf. Now, of course, the extra 1861 01:25:25,370 --> 01:25:29,250 element today is normally the regulars are more in 1862 01:25:29,250 --> 01:25:32,090 number than our guests. It is two regulars versus two 1863 01:25:32,090 --> 01:25:34,830 guests today. So we'll see if that changes. 1864 01:25:34,830 --> 01:25:36,090 Yeah, but one of them is very 1865 01:25:36,090 --> 01:25:43,310 old, the fading memory. I'm not that old, Andrew. I 1866 01:25:43,310 --> 01:25:45,370 was going to say that, but very suspicious. What's 1867 01:25:45,370 --> 01:25:49,030 Greg there? Come on, we can do this. I'm 1868 01:25:49,030 --> 01:25:50,610 actually a bit nervous about this part of the 1869 01:25:50,610 --> 01:25:54,670 show because I have no idea what's going on. We 1870 01:25:54,670 --> 01:25:58,010 don't know what's coming either. So 1871 01:25:58,010 --> 01:26:03,250 the question today is, how many privateers outscored 1872 01:26:03,250 --> 01:26:09,150 factory outfits over the course of the weekend? You 1873 01:26:09,150 --> 01:26:11,550 are. Oh, wow. Oh, 1874 01:26:11,730 --> 01:26:14,030 wow. Not my question. It's 1875 01:26:14,030 --> 01:26:15,290 producer Gary's. I should. I 1876 01:26:15,290 --> 01:26:17,990 should point out. So we need to add together 1877 01:26:17,990 --> 01:26:20,570 the point. The privateers amassed over the 1878 01:26:20,570 --> 01:26:22,990 entire race weekend of both races, do we? So 1879 01:26:22,990 --> 01:26:25,170 no, you just need to know how many privateer entries 1880 01:26:25,170 --> 01:26:28,550 outscored another factory team. Well, 1881 01:26:28,570 --> 01:26:33,130 they're only about five or so of them in the BTCC by 1882 01:26:33,130 --> 01:26:35,290 this time because it was getting stupidly expensive. 1883 01:26:35,730 --> 01:26:39,430 So yeah. Well, 1884 01:26:39,450 --> 01:26:41,150 let's just think who they all are. That's 1885 01:26:41,150 --> 01:26:44,490 Russ Dadmore and Neil Gravitt. Neil. 1886 01:26:45,450 --> 01:26:51,710 Am I missing someone? So there's five. Is 1887 01:26:51,710 --> 01:26:53,710 that right? Well, they definitely are five, 1888 01:26:53,850 --> 01:26:55,030 but it might be more than five. Might 1889 01:26:55,030 --> 01:26:57,910 miss someone. I can't remember which years 1890 01:26:57,910 --> 01:27:00,310 the pool to cook was, but I don't think it was 1891 01:27:00,310 --> 01:27:03,670 there. No. No, no. So 1892 01:27:03,670 --> 01:27:07,950 yeah, so you've only got five, maybe six to play 1893 01:27:07,950 --> 01:27:11,810 with. So pick it up. Number. 1894 01:27:12,330 --> 01:27:14,770 Right. Repeat the question again, please, 1895 01:27:14,910 --> 01:27:17,710 Levi. How many privateer entries 1896 01:27:17,710 --> 01:27:22,430 outscored a factory outfit over the weekend? A 1897 01:27:22,430 --> 01:27:24,890 factory outfit. Okay. So how many privateer 1898 01:27:24,890 --> 01:27:27,330 entries outscored at least one factory team? Well, 1899 01:27:27,330 --> 01:27:31,790 Rob, I think Rob Gravitt was quite high in both. I 1900 01:27:31,790 --> 01:27:33,950 think Matt and Neil must have done as well because 1901 01:27:33,950 --> 01:27:36,070 so many factory teams had difficult weekends, didn't 1902 01:27:36,070 --> 01:27:37,910 they? They did. Yeah. 1903 01:27:37,910 --> 01:27:40,670 Lemma finished in the gravel in the second race, 1904 01:27:40,810 --> 01:27:45,530 didn't he? Moe and went straight down onto 1905 01:27:45,530 --> 01:27:49,330 the gravel. I'm saying two. I 1906 01:27:49,330 --> 01:27:54,810 would go four. This is difficult. I'm 1907 01:27:54,810 --> 01:27:58,910 going to say Matt and Neil would have done. Lemma, 1908 01:27:59,210 --> 01:28:01,690 maybe not. Russ Dad, I remember going off 1909 01:28:01,690 --> 01:28:03,050 at the crane. I can't even remember if he 1910 01:28:03,050 --> 01:28:04,970 got back on and carried. I think he did carry on. 1911 01:28:05,250 --> 01:28:07,670 One, two, moment. Oh, 1912 01:28:07,690 --> 01:28:10,810 this is so difficult. I'll go three. So 1913 01:28:10,810 --> 01:28:15,650 the answer is three. It is two. Matt 1914 01:28:15,650 --> 01:28:20,150 and Neil who got sixth in race two with the Nissan, 1915 01:28:20,370 --> 01:28:22,490 of course, a sign of things to come and more 1916 01:28:22,490 --> 01:28:26,030 success at Donnington in a privateer Nissan. What 1917 01:28:26,030 --> 01:28:28,130 about Russ Dad? Russ Dad got eighth in races. 1918 01:28:29,390 --> 01:28:31,010 Russ Dad got eighth in race two 1919 01:28:31,010 --> 01:28:34,250 and Rob Gravitt got eighth in race one. So 1920 01:28:34,250 --> 01:28:38,590 that outscored all of those entries, outscored the 1921 01:28:38,590 --> 01:28:41,170 Renault, but the outscored Perth as well. But 1922 01:28:41,170 --> 01:28:44,350 the Renault works team who, of course, had a horrible 1923 01:28:44,350 --> 01:28:47,570 weekend, just placed his ninth place in race one, 1924 01:28:48,210 --> 01:28:49,570 got them points that weekend. So 1925 01:28:49,570 --> 01:28:51,850 was it just Roger Moe and Lemma, was it? He 1926 01:28:51,850 --> 01:28:54,050 didn't outscore? Yes. Right. Yeah. 1927 01:28:54,150 --> 01:29:01,930 Well, I think so. Yeah. Don't. This 1928 01:29:01,930 --> 01:29:04,650 race has been dubbed the greatest touring car race 1929 01:29:04,650 --> 01:29:07,370 of all time. And it's a pretty hard 1930 01:29:07,370 --> 01:29:11,550 statement to argue against as Nigel Mansel's full BTCC 1931 01:29:11,550 --> 01:29:14,330 debut at Donnington Park became one of the most 1932 01:29:14,330 --> 01:29:17,870 memorable motor races in history. I'd 1933 01:29:17,870 --> 01:29:19,930 like to thank Andrew Charmin for joining us once 1934 01:29:19,930 --> 01:29:21,990 again to look back at this race. And 1935 01:29:21,990 --> 01:29:24,190 we hope we'll see you on stories from super touring 1936 01:29:24,190 --> 01:29:26,710 again soon, Andrew. Absolutely. 1937 01:29:27,050 --> 01:29:30,330 I mean, it totally hurts my brain and my incredibly 1938 01:29:30,330 --> 01:29:33,730 fading memory to try and look back so far, but I'm 1939 01:29:33,730 --> 01:29:36,070 totally enjoying it and you know where to find me. 1940 01:29:36,350 --> 01:29:37,970 Thank you, Andrew. And 1941 01:29:37,970 --> 01:29:40,810 also a very big thank you to Greg Haynes for joining 1942 01:29:40,810 --> 01:29:43,210 us for the first time on stories from super touring. 1943 01:29:43,550 --> 01:29:44,670 We know that you've already 1944 01:29:44,670 --> 01:29:47,170 agreed to come back and do a few more episodes. So 1945 01:29:47,170 --> 01:29:50,550 we look forward to hearing from you again soon. You 1946 01:29:50,550 --> 01:29:52,190 know, the listeners are going to be switching off 1947 01:29:52,190 --> 01:29:54,130 having just heard that. But yeah, thank you very much, 1948 01:29:54,150 --> 01:29:55,270 guys. I really appreciate it. I 1949 01:29:55,270 --> 01:29:57,170 have a lot just saying this because I'm here, but 1950 01:29:57,170 --> 01:30:00,610 I've really loved listening to all your episodes. I've 1951 01:30:00,610 --> 01:30:02,090 learned a lot of stuff I didn't know before. And 1952 01:30:02,090 --> 01:30:03,850 it's just the nostalgia of the whole thing. So 1953 01:30:03,850 --> 01:30:05,510 thank you. And I feel really privileged 1954 01:30:05,510 --> 01:30:08,210 that Donnington 98 is my first episode. So 1955 01:30:08,210 --> 01:30:11,430 thank you again. Yeah, Greg's agreed to do our 1956 01:30:11,430 --> 01:30:17,670 end of season Q &A. Yes. So that'd be great. A 1957 01:30:17,670 --> 01:30:20,430 bit nervous about that too, to be honest with you. I 1958 01:30:20,430 --> 01:30:23,370 will tell. Our thanks as ever also go to 1959 01:30:23,370 --> 01:30:25,530 you guys for listening to the show. And 1960 01:30:25,530 --> 01:30:27,870 if you enjoyed today's episode, please make sure 1961 01:30:27,870 --> 01:30:30,990 to give us a review, five star rating and subscribe 1962 01:30:30,990 --> 01:30:33,710 to the podcast feed on your podcast staff of 1963 01:30:33,710 --> 01:30:36,730 choice. You can, as Alex also just 1964 01:30:36,730 --> 01:30:39,530 mentioned, submit your questions to our panel for 1965 01:30:39,530 --> 01:30:42,290 our season finale, which Greg will be featuring in. 1966 01:30:42,590 --> 01:30:43,870 So if you do have a question 1967 01:30:43,870 --> 01:30:46,510 or thought about the Super Touring era of Touring Car 1968 01:30:46,510 --> 01:30:49,770 Racing, don't forget to email them to us using pod 1969 01:30:49,770 --> 01:30:59,810 at 1990sbtcc .com. Cool. That's Ted. Don't 1970 01:30:59,810 --> 01:31:02,310 forget that could be anything like what if 1971 01:31:02,310 --> 01:31:04,350 scenario is a bit like we mentioned this evening about 1972 01:31:04,350 --> 01:31:08,030 Plato and Honda. What would have happened in 1999 1973 01:31:08,030 --> 01:31:11,010 had he gone this sort of thing, you know, so how 1974 01:31:11,010 --> 01:31:12,470 would he have feared and that? So, 1975 01:31:12,550 --> 01:31:15,210 yeah, interesting questions like that would be great. 1976 01:31:15,710 --> 01:31:18,610 Absolutely. And you can also use that 1977 01:31:18,610 --> 01:31:20,790 address to send us a comment in general about 1978 01:31:20,790 --> 01:31:23,490 today's episode, the podcast, or if you have a 1979 01:31:23,490 --> 01:31:26,150 question, a suggestion for any future episodes or 1980 01:31:26,150 --> 01:31:29,710 races, let us know using that email. In 1981 01:31:29,710 --> 01:31:32,530 the meantime, we'll see you next week. Goodbye.