S5 E6: Silverstone 2000

Speaker 1:
0:00
Stories from Supertouring.

Speaker 2:
0:17
It was a night full of dramatic highs and lows for Ford teammates Alain Menut, anthony Reid and Ricard Rydel, all three of whom had a shot at winning the 2000 BTCC title in the final year of Supertouring in the series. Welcome to the latest episode of Stories from Supertouring. I'm Levi Riley, and to help us step back at the 2000 BTCC season finale is Eurosport commentator Greg Haynes. Greg, welcome to your first appearance on Series 5 of the pod. How are you?

Speaker 1:
0:50
Thank you very much, Levi, and I'm going to give a wave back, for anyone who's watching on video, to Alex Clark with a slightly strange look on his face. No, I'm fine, thank you. This is a special one for me because I was actually at two meetings in the year 2000 as a 10-year-old boy. So yeah, Donington 98 was a special one, the first one I did with you the previous season, but this one I wasn't at this actual race meeting, but I was at the earlier Silverstone meeting that year and the first Donington meeting. So yeah, where the hell has 24 years gone?

Speaker 2:
1:20
Yes, and we'll stick with you, Greg, for our usual opening question. What first comes to mind, thinking specifically about this? The gnarly meeting at Silverstone, the night race meeting.

Speaker 1:
1:34
The first sight that comes into my head, levi is Tom Christensen in the Honda, coming out of Loughfield, miles ahead of the rest of the field. Obviously, he's a nine-time Le Mans 24-hour winner, but at the time he was a two-time winner. He'd won it that year as well, so his night racing experience came to the fore, didn't it, and changed your conditions. So that's what I think of. Obviously, it was the end of Super Touring, the end of this 10-year period that we all love so much. And also, having watched the races back again just this week, how on earth did Anthony Reid manage to throw away the title? And that's another thing that I think.

Speaker 1:
2:08
It's a shame that he didn't, because he's definitely one of the best drivers never to have won the championship, but on both occasions in which he was in a finale at Silverstone, I think it's fair to say he cracked under the pressure, didn't he? He did in 1998 with Nissan, made some silly mistakes in the sprint race, and then 2000 with the Ford. He didn't need to be back in the pack. He was third early on in the feature race and probably should have won the championship. But it was an amazing era and an amazing end to the era.

Speaker 3:
2:35
Ironically it was Thompson that was sort of his pain in the ass at both 98 and 2000. It was Tom over the sort of scuppered his 98 title fight at Silverstone and Tomo got in the way a lot.

Speaker 1:
2:52
That sounds a bit unfair to Tomo, but yeah, it was Tomo that was his pest again another thing that's quite sad, I think, looking back, is that we don't have the Silverstone International Circuit anymore, and it was a great circuit for cars and bikes. And the National Circuit's a bit too short, really, isn't it? There's hardly a corner on it, certainly hardly a left-hand corner on it. Good for the spectators I suppose you see them come around more, but the International Circuit was a great layout, I think.

Speaker 3:
3:17
The last time I was at Silverstone and I see the travesty that is bridge corner now oh yes, I know such a mega corner, yeah oh, wonderful bridge. Yeah, one of my favorite corners in in motorsport bridge was, and uh, some magical moments in touring cars happened there in formula one. Yeah and uh, and yeah, to see the state it's in now.

Speaker 1:
3:42
Yeah, it's, uh, it's very sad yeah, and a corner that wasn't really used in motorsport history for that long, was it really? No it wasn't, it was modified. That complex was put in in 91, and then it was changed again in 2009, 10. So it only got what? Not even two decades.

Speaker 3:
3:56
Yeah.

Speaker 1:
3:57
What a shame.

Speaker 3:
3:58
It became such an iconic corner. I remember we're going totally off topic now, but Barrichello passing around the outside of Riken, there in 03 to win the British Grand Prix. Just epic.

Speaker 2:
4:12
Adam coming to you next. What jumps into your mind when you think about the 2000 season finale at Silverstone?

Speaker 4:
4:20
I think it was the I say sad. It's sad when you look back at it now but the fact that it was the end of the Super Tourers and I think if we'd have known what that meant or what that looked like, I think we all would have been really sad about it because obviously, the cars, the regs, everything changed massively. And you know, this is why this podcast exists, because we love that era so much, and the cars and the drivers and the engines, the designer, and the drivers and the engines, the designer, everything about it, the engineering side of it. It was such a good era. So it was the end of that and it was a night race.

Speaker 2:
4:52
So they were the two things that really stood out for me. Finally, coming to you, Al, what are your memories of this meeting?

Speaker 3:
4:58
So I've got two. I remember thinking at the time, as Adam just said, the end of Super Touring. We knew that that was coming to an end. Nobody really quite knew what was going to happen. The new regs had sort of been shown, but yeah, it was. Manufacturers were pulling out. Nobody apart from, at the time, Vauxhall were actually confirmed. There was rumours that Peia were coming back, which they did. There was rumours of Rover, and obviously they did. But yeah, it was just a bit of an unsure sort of this championship, this international championship, is suddenly possibly coming to a demise, which it didn't, thankfully. But yeah, at the time, thinking what's going to happen in the future. But another thing on track is just I don't know what Vincent Rademacher had eaten in the day, whether it was Smarties, M&Ms or a combination of all these E numbers, but he was just he was on one.

Speaker 3:
6:03
He didn't. He didn't. Perhaps he already knew. This is my last race. I might as well go out with a bang and just piss everyone off.

Speaker 1:
6:12
He seemed to have contact with everyone yeah, including Gabriele Tarquini, who pulled off not one, but two amazing saves in the FIAT race. Plato flashing his lights at him through Magnus and Beckett spins off. And in the Fiennes race, plato flashing his lights at him through Magnussen, beckett Spins off and gets going and then he gets a tap or a whack from Rademacher at Prairie as well.

Speaker 7:
6:30
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:
6:31
Yeah, I think I counted up. It was four drivers from the factory teams who were in their last meeting, their last BTCC meeting. I think it was Rademacher, Rydell, Tarquini, and there is one more. I'm trying to think who it would be Christensen, who we wouldn't see in the BTCC ever again, sadly, after this last meeting.

Speaker 2:
6:49
Producer Matt, I'm going to hop over to you now as well. What are your memories when you think about this 2000 season finale?

Speaker 7:
6:57
Well, I actually have slightly different memories because that year my dad and I had started marshalling. That year my dad and I had started marshalling and on that event we were on the inside of Abbey Hairpin, which you know. I'd just like to take a moment to say how bloody hard marshals work. They, they have very, very long days, but one of the perks is that you can watch from rather unique positions. So, standing on the inside of Abbey Hairpin, it was a great view of Rademacher and Neil coming together in the sprint race and a couple of other incidents, but that was the first memory that comes back to me. Also, one of the support races I think it was a GT, some kind of GT race one of the cars smacked the barrier right next to next to where we were and, of course, in the darkness and, uh, not sure which direction headlights were coming from, and it did take us all by surprise your wake I imagine it did.

Speaker 4:
7:57
It's better than a red bull, yeah must be a great view with watching the brake disc glowing in the night race as well.

Speaker 7:
8:03
There, you know, it's the hardest braking point on the circuit there, so it was a good, good view for you absolutely, absolutely phenomenal, um, a real, a real privilege that you know marshalls get in in terms of things like viewing points and things that the general public can't see. A better example really would be the sort of back end of the circuit at croft or thruxton, yeah, and you know plenty of people could watch from the abbey hairpin. But to be stood in the middle of it and literally follow the cars around 360, it was, yeah, it was wonderful.

Speaker 2:
8:34
And, you know, great payback for all the work that marshalls do is that you do get some of those perks as always, we've asked our faithful listeners what they thought of this race meeting for our social media channels and they've come up with the following thoughts, and maybe you guys listen will also have some similar memories. Andy hopley got in touch to say that he remembers matt neal switching from his 99 spec nissan primera to the old 98 car after he crashed his 99 primera in free practice, whilst chris lammas remembers Jenson Button being a keen spectator in the paddock that day. Richard Clubley remembers he couldn't go due to the fuel crisis going on at the time, which I think also probably really put the meeting in doubt a little bit as well at this time.

Speaker 3:
9:20
Yeah, it did. There were lots of questions whether the race would go ahead because of the shortness of fuel, so but yeah, they went ahead, yeah dennis knight said he remembers reed ultimately bustling it and rademacher taking reed out to finish the championship in menu's favor.

Speaker 2:
9:39
Glenn freeman, the host of bring back v10s, one of our favourite podcasts, simply said the end, which was also mentioned by Harry Priest, ben Lee, roland Hill, ben Keating, russell Pryor, matt Bortlick and Mo Corley naturally, given the historical significance, quite a popular comment. Ashley Sharp remembers Plato flashing his headlights at Gabriele Tarquini I think we've already mentioned this him then falling off the circuit in response, which might be the one time that flashing your headlights has ever worked. Aaron Collins says it seemed that Reid went into himself and just invited pressure in both the races, which inevitably cost him the title. Stuart Herriot's memory is him marshalling his first ever btcc meeting, whilst finally adam stokes and dan mason both remember the feature before the race on bbc grandstand with charlie cox going all university challenge on reedy rodella menu about the championship permutations, which was a great watch back that you don't really get features like that in any sport coverage now, do you.

Speaker 3:
10:50
They were always really good. I used to love watching the build ups because they would always do something a little bit funny or a little bit bizarre or out there and yeah, that was one of the funny ones. And good sports on really rodell and menu for uh taking part as well.

Speaker 1:
11:09
Yeah, yeah, and another reminder, I think, as to why the btcc was so great as well the accessibility it had, not just at the track. You could go meet the drivers, have pictures, not selfies, because you know you didn't really have camera phones then, did you? Digital cameras were just starting, amazingly, yeah yeah but you know that sort of feature you see all the time now, silly stuff like that on instagram and social media tiktok whatever, yeah but that was so different then, wasn't it?

Speaker 1:
11:32
and again it made the btcc. It was never going to be formula one, but it made it so different and so likable. I mean, that's one of the reasons we're all sat here now, isn't it? I think?

Speaker 4:
11:42
it's that whole thing where it's just relatable. These are tin-top cars that you know, race and win on a Sunday, buy on a Monday. You could relate to it also doing what they could do. They could do that they had the freedom to have the crack with the drivers or tell the drivers they need to do this interview, that interview With Formula 1, it was so strict really, and so, like you know, like you know, regimented and and the kind of issue kind of that. We don't do this, we don't don't add any fun factor to it at all and again, it's a serious sport. But so he's trying to win a touring car championship. But it's that relationship with letting the fans into the round of garages, the cars, the drivers, the autograph sessions they still do to this day before each race on a sunday and you know it, that whole relatable and that's why the championship's always been so popular.

Speaker 1:
12:27
And the fact, of course, the previous weekend was Alton Park, the penultimate round of the year, or penultimate race meeting, because they referred to each race as a round, didn't they? But that was live, of course, alton Park on BBC Grandstand, so I'm sure a few more people would have been on the gate at Silverstone six days later for the Saturday night race, having seen it at Alton on the telly a few days before.

Speaker 3:
12:48
Yeah, I remember the grid walk for Alton and I'm going totally off topic here, but Charlie Cox live doing a live grid walk down the grid at Alton and he bumps into the Michelin man and he just goes out of the way.

Speaker 4:
13:01
Fatso it was unique, wasn't?

Speaker 3:
13:07
it Very good and I think Cox's role in these build-up, these race preview pieces, was a big part of it as well. I think yeah.

Speaker 4:
13:17
Yeah, thank you. It's enough credit really for what job he did do actually, because you can talk about Murray and Barry and all the great commentators, but you didn't really associate him as a commentator back then. But you look back now and I think he did a pretty good job.

Speaker 1:
13:32
Yeah, yeah, because he would have had to turn up early film all that stuff. And obviously then Murray did the same. But Watty and Cox did a piece to camera, didn't they? Between the two races in Silverstone yes, yeah. But obviously that commentary was dubbed as we've talked about before.

Speaker 3:
13:45
That was put on after in London, so they were there doing pieces.

Speaker 1:
13:50
Yeah, but they would have known by the time they did the commentary exactly what the outcome was. But you would never know that would you when you heard the commentary back.

Speaker 2:
14:00
Heading into the weekend, ford dealt the series a huge blow with the announcement that they would quit the series at the end of the season. Ford announced that decision on the Wednesday before the finale, with team boss David Richards admitting the news was no surprise. We've known this was going to happen for the past year. The new BTCC formula just doesn't suit Ford, he said after the announcement was made. Alex, naturally, especially given Ford's success in 2000. A huge blow for the series, albeit probably one that was very much expected at this point, wasn't it?

Speaker 3:
14:37
very much expected. I mean the, the. The teams were spending so much at this point that when they won it they pretty much buggered off because it's like, well, we've done what we've needed to do now. Volvo okay, they stayed around for 99, but they soon disappeared. Nissan won and dominated 99 and then cleared off, and Ford in 2000. And also these new BTC-T ugly looking things that had been sort of put forward as the new formula for touring cars. The Mondeo was too big for that. You know, we saw the 406 coupe that looked like an absolute tank compared to the Astra coupe, and the Honda Civics and the protons that came along after. So the monday wasn't going to cut it. They could have raised the focus, but they've just spent multi-million pounds on a program advertising the focus in rallying with colin mccray. Um, you know, some carbon ugly looking btc touring focus is not gonna have the same attraction as.

Speaker 4:
15:46
So you can tell I didn't like the btc but I think they're four of clearly blown their budget. We'd rally in at that point as well.

Speaker 3:
15:52
Yeah and that's a lot and only and also spent 12 million pounds on on touring cars. So, yeah, um, it was totally expected. But, yeah, huge blow because the blue oval is touring cars, isn't it? You know you look back at all that. You know the previous success they've had with. You know sierra cosworth going back even further than that, but you know the capris, um, obviously, the sierras, the mondayo, yeah, it's, yeah, ford was touring cars. So a huge blow, but not unexpected and not surprising at all.

Speaker 4:
16:27
Completely done it all. You're not going to commit to doing that sort of money year in, year out in the same championship, are you?

Speaker 3:
16:34
And also, they just bought Stuart Grand Prix as well, yeah, and turned it into Jaguar.

Speaker 4:
16:41
So they were going three prongs touring, touring cars, rallying and f1 and that's not sustainable and yeah, you thought the touring car budget was a lot, absolutely nothing exactly compared to what they're going to probably spending rallying but also f1. Just absolute different stratosphere with with money yeah, quite interesting actually, isn't it?

Speaker 1:
17:01
ford obviously put all that money into jaguar and f1 as, as Alex said, it was here at Grand Prix, pro Drive went off and worked with BAR. They had been working with Benetton and I think, did they not say as well at the time, I remember reading reports that these new BTC cars in theory were supposed to be attracting a new, younger audience. Smaller cars, the sort of car you might buy as a first car Hot hatches yeah, civics astras.

Speaker 1:
17:25
Yeah, yeah, there was talk. I think volvo were trying making a lot of noise at the time as well, weren't they about coming back in because they'd withdrawn at the end of 99, the previous season? Obviously they didn't come back in in the end, um yeah, reno as well.

Speaker 3:
17:38
There were reno talks as well that were coming back, but nothing really came to fruition. Obviously, rover did, rover did with MG. In the end that was probably the best looking of these hideous things.

Speaker 1:
17:48
It must have been a desperate time, though, behind the scenes, wasn't it, you know? And it ended up with Vauxhall doubling up and having two teams the next year, with Egg Sport as well as the Red. Vauxhalls.

Speaker 3:
18:01
Well, Gow had gone Gow had gone, richard West was running the series. Yeah, yeah, it was looking pretty grim. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't looking great.

Speaker 2:
18:10
Honda, meanwhile, were also expected to announce their departure from the series after the season finale, with Dick Bennett's remaining hopeful that his West Surrey racing outfit could remain working with the Japanese mark. We have not been informed of any decision yet, he said before the meeting. We understand it will not be a full works programme, but we are working on a semi-works deal, Greg. As we now know, Honda did leave the BTCC entirely and continued racing their Supertourers in the European Supertouring Series in 2001. Would it have been a worry for BTCC bosses looking forward to 2001, given Ford had gone and Honda essentially then would as well?

Speaker 1:
18:53
for that year? Yeah, I think, without doubt. And I remember, at the start of the 2001 season, watching it myself at home on grandstands and thinking, wow, this is. It felt like watching an entirely different championship. And least the fact that that first meeting obviously I'm going off on a bit of a tangent now, but that first meeting of the next season at brands hatchery 2001 they also had two sprint races, if you remember this the btc tourers and then the btc production class. I remember watching that production race and I didn't know the names of pretty much any of the drivers, completely, completely new teams, and the touring field was tiny, wasn't it At the start of 2001.

Speaker 1:
19:31
It did improve as the season went on and they had to make a lot of changes, didn't they, to the regs. But it just shows how quickly things can change, isn't it For better or for worse? Because we talk about the zenith of super touring, as Anthony Reid would say, in 98. We lost Peugeot, and we talk about the zenith of super touring, as anthony reed would say, in 98. We lost persia and audi at the end of that season. Then we lost reno, nissan and volvo at the end of 99, and they had to think quickly, didn't they? But maybe you could say they should have thought ahead before. It's easy with the benefit of hindsight, but absolutely, the costs were spiraling out of control, weren't they? I mean, what was the budget for those mondayos? We said before it was the most expensive touring car ever to be run.

Speaker 3:
20:05
12 mil, and that's just Reedy's salary.

Speaker 4:
20:09
So that was just a bar bill yeah, it probably was different if you listen to different sources.

Speaker 3:
20:18
So I've heard between 12 and 20, and we're talking 24 years ago as well, not £12 million now.

Speaker 4:
20:27
I think that's exactly right. Three cars as well, wasn't?

Speaker 3:
20:28
it.

Speaker 2:
20:28
That's a lot of money now I can imagine there were probably some. I mean, we talked about Ford's involvement in F1 in 2000 with Janko. I can imagine there were probably some F1 teams working on similar or potentially lower budgets. Minardis, minardis similar, or yeah, yeah minardi's minardi uh ross weren't didn't have a lot of money by the 2000 arrows yeah.

Speaker 1:
20:52
what is also good, though, I guess, is that those manufacturers that were involved ford, honda and voxel, as they ended up in that order had the budget and the capability to field a third car that year, because otherwise that thin grid we had in 2001, we would have already had, wouldn't we? I mean, it already looked small in 2000, didn't it? I remember Steve Ryder saying it was down on entries and down on numbers, but not in quality. The quality was there, though we still had world-class drivers, didn't we? From all sorts of different countries?

Speaker 3:
21:18
Well, every driver in the works field had won a top level motor race yes of some sort, maybe not touring cars, but they'd won something significant.

Speaker 3:
21:31
Um, honda were the ones that were sort of worrying about running a third car the most um, and in the end they ended up having tarquini come over with jazz to to run the third h Honda. But I mean, this is how expensive it was. Getting the independent field was only two cars and it was two Nissans. They started falling off at the end of 99. The likes of Paula Cook, lee Brooks, russell Spence, yeah it's, you could tell that these cars were just becoming far too expensive to run. Yeah, it's a shame, but that's what happens when you have manufacturers wanting to win, I guess.

Speaker 2:
22:17
Sport teammates Alain Manu, anthony Reid and Ricard Rydell were going into this weekend attempting to be crowned the final Super Touring Champion of the BTCC. The title was almost certain to be decided in the final race, with just three points separating Menuh and Reid. Once dropped scores were taken into account, menuh held a narrow lead and would be ballast free, whilst Reed would be carrying 40kg going into the weekend as a result of winning at Alton Park. Before the race, menuh said I will drive to win, but I think I have won enough races. I don't need to win, I just need to score. Fairly well, rydell's championship chances were a lot less realistic after the collision with Menuh at Alton Park. I've got nothing to lose and I'll be doing my best to win. He said prior to the event Adam, in such a tense title fight, which of the three positions would you have liked to have been going in? To be in going into that title decider?

Speaker 4:
23:20
you'd always want to go in as the championship leader completely. I think really he was in the driving seat. You know you look at that footage, the way they're doing the. You know what they each have to do to win. You know two of them needed, you know, another one to have a bad result, like they needed really to have a bad, really bad weekend.

Speaker 4:
23:40
And you know, I think Rydell had to win two and it was all, you know really was in the driving seat for me. I know he made it bloody hard work when you look at the results and how it went for him over those two races and he was carrying 40 kilos. But if you'd have asked Rydell and Menu what position would you rather be in going into the last round, both of those would have said to you the championship leader. So you can only want to go in there as a championship leader. Yes, you've got the ballast, but it's no different to any other race going into the ballast and you accept that your performance isn't going to be quite as good, but you're still in the fastest team, the fastest car, um, so you still, you know you're still likely to have a really good result to finish near the front, which is all you needed to do. But yeah, we'll go into it in more depth throughout the rest of this.

Speaker 2:
24:28
But yeah, 100%, I'd want to be ready going into that Alex the deadly drop scores, dreaded drop scores, really affecting the chances of each driver as well. Here, though, and as we've mentioned, making the permutations is not the easiest to follow either no, no, you're right.

Speaker 3:
24:46
It's a very hard to work out who needs what. Because of the drop scores, and and reedy in particular was very, very badly affected by the drop scores he um had an issue with an ecu at croft um, which meant he was disqualified from the feature race at Croft. So he didn't score any points, but because he was disqualified, he wasn't also not allowed to use that as a drop score. So going in, yeah, reid had almost unfairly been penalized for being so consistent and finishing so many races. So, yeah, and that's why I don't like drop scores, I just think and look how complicated it's making this championship fight yeah, you know you're getting penalized for your consistency, aren't you?

Speaker 3:
25:35
yeah, when, when I was trying to work out the permutations like last week when I was watching this, I still don't think I got it right I was trying to work out if Reed had finished, whether he would have so had Rademacher spoiler alert shoves him off at the end. If Reed had finished where he did, would he have done enough to win the title and I don't think he was quite there. But it wouldn't have taken much because Plato was chasing Menu. But would Menu have been going quicker if Reedy was? Do you know what I mean? Yeah, it's a tricky one.

Speaker 4:
26:12
Menu was smarter, didn't he let Plato past?

Speaker 3:
26:14
He did when he knew Reedy was out. So it's like, yeah, it's a tricky one. 24 years on, I still couldn't quite work it all out, to be honest.

Speaker 1:
26:25
And talking about many being smart, I'm pretty sure earlier in the season you can maybe help me remember where it was. I'm pretty sure at one point many dropped back in a race as well to try and avoid ballast for the next meeting.

Speaker 4:
26:36
I'm trying to think where it was, whereas it might've been Donington or Brands towards the end of the year, because I don't know which circuits are going to penalise them more, really, in terms of carrying that way.

Speaker 1:
26:45
It might have been Donington, because that's momentum all the way around here, like Healey as well, yeah, yeah, I don't know, I don't remember that it may have been earlier in the season, but I remember people at the time talking about the fact he may have dropped back a tad and thinking ahead to the next round make sense it was actually a very open season. When I was going through the stats earlier, there were nine different race winners in 2000 well, yeah, radamaka was the only one.

Speaker 3:
27:07
Yeah, the works drivers that didn't win a race it was all the works drivers, apart from radamaka.

Speaker 1:
27:12
Matt neil had a win, didn't he at um brands. But nine winners 1993, 98, 99 and 2009 winners. That is the most in any season interesting. Yeah, in terms of race, it was one of the most competitive of the lot.

Speaker 3:
27:27
That's really interesting actually, but I suppose consistency wins titles, isn't it? People sort of forget about 2000. Yeah yeah, that's an interesting one. I thought it was a great year, personally.

Speaker 1:
27:39
And it is Looking back now. We still enjoy it thoroughly now don't we but at the time we'd come off the back of 98.

Speaker 3:
27:45
That's true. We'd lost all those manufacturers. Yeah, that's true, that's true.

Speaker 1:
27:50
ILO had gone, I suppose. So we think, oh, the reigning champion's not even on the grid.

Speaker 3:
27:55
No, that's true.

Speaker 1:
27:56
And some of those iconic Renaults and Volvos and others were gone, but it's still great looking back now, compared to some other motorsport we've seen since. I think it's fair to say.

Speaker 2:
28:08
Give me 2000 over 2001 any day. Independent ace Matt Neal only just made it to the grid for the season finale and it wasn't because of fuel. Neal was the first driver to hit a large quantity of oil during the test session on Friday. He'd left the circuit at Beckett's at 120 miles an hour and hit the crash barrier head-on. With no marshals nearby, several other cars spun and had near misses. Even the truck that collected Matt's damage, nissan, spun Immediately afterwards. Neil was furious. There were no oil flanks or marshals around at all, he said. Silverstone bosses hit back with Dennis Rohan saying the MSA sets the marshalling levels. We use the same level for Formula One. Having said that, we've all got to learn from these things. The Team Dynamic squad quickly got Neil's 1998 Primera from a barn in Wiltshire where it was being stalled and down to Silverstone for the remainder of the weekend and Matt raced on despite a sore back Greg. Not a good start to the weekend for Matt and the Dynamic Squad at all. There was it.

Speaker 1:
29:19
Not really. No, when you described that he left the circuit at Beckett's at 120 miles an hour and hit the crash barrier head-on, I think it is fair to say that was not an ideal start to the race weekend, and we probably just should explain to everyone as well what this fuel crisis was all about, because it's nearly a quarter of a century ago already, isn't it? Basically, what was happening is the government at the time in the UK was hiking up surcharges and taxes on fuel, so protesters were blocking the refineries, blocking motor motorways, stopping the tankers from delivering the fuel to the petrol stations. Similar thing happened two years ago, so that's what that was all about.

Speaker 3:
29:54
I don't know why they didn't just get Vincent Rademacher to ram them out of the way.

Speaker 1:
29:59
Yeah, exactly. I tell you what though I don't know if it was either producer Matt or yourself, levi, just before we started recording this, but did you not say it was twice? Matt still qualified that 98 car fifth on the grid, two separate sessions for the two races. So I mean incredible. It makes you think how good those primeras were. And what on earth was everybody else doing? Because he was still fighting with Hondas and Vauxhalls, wasn't he? And with Anthony Reid's Ford. But no, not a good start and great stuff from Team Dynamics again. You know what was that car doing? In a barn in Wiltshire, anyway, I guess Bizarre, that isn't it.

Speaker 3:
30:34
Bizarre, that isn't it.

Speaker 2:
30:37
Give it back to them for trying to find it in all the hay bales and out the way and there it is. It's like something from a Hollywood movie or something that they find this precious car in a barn.

Speaker 3:
30:46
I was impressed that they sticked it up to the 2000 livery as well.

Speaker 1:
30:51
That was impressive. Yeah, because it didn't look. Obviously, the headlamps were a very different shape, weren't?

Speaker 1:
30:55
they, but it didn't look too dissimilar, but Matt was quite a lucky pre-race. I remember the sprint race in 98, he stopped on the warmup lap and never got started. So Silverstone, matt, neal, were a bit unlucky at that time. But no great, you've got to say great stuff from Team Dynamics, yet again putting everyone in the shade. They'd won a couple of meetings earlier in the sprint race at Brands Hatch as well. So again, although as John Watson said a lot in the coverage in 2000, matt probably should have been a lot higher up the field, shouldn't he? He was getting himself into a lot of scrapes, certainly earlier on in the season.

Speaker 1:
31:27
Yeah, and lost a lot of points there.

Speaker 3:
31:29
Yeah, he had a weird season with Christensen, didn't he? Yes, they always seemed to be banging into each other and whatnot.

Speaker 1:
31:38
Yeah, but no great, you've got to say that to recover and obviously, considering, as you just said, levi matt was in pain as well after an impact like that it's just a shame. Now we know matt's okay. It's a shame there's no footage as far as I'm aware I don't know if there's any stills images- oh no, there's nothing, nothing that I'm aware of anyway maybe check with our friend greg denton to see if there's any images of yes yeah, because it sounded like a hell of an impact.

Speaker 7:
32:00
Let's not forget the irony, of course, of fuel shortage everywhere, but it was all over the truck yeah yes it's true.

Speaker 1:
32:08
Exactly do we know where the oil came from? By the way, is that? Was that specified? Was it one of the other touring cars or a support race, or and did I also read the um, the truck that went? To recover matt's car did I read that in our script.

Speaker 3:
32:21
It spun yes, incredible. Yeah, it did. Yeah, yeah, that's a footage I'd like to see.

Speaker 2:
32:27
To be fair, yeah, yeah, yes, as expected, the focus on qualifying would be on the three Fords, but Matt Neal stunned the paddock by sticking his two-year-old Primera in fifth place for both races. The team worked on the car throughout the night and I hope this rewards all their hard work. A delighted Neil said after the session Adam, after the troubles and drama he'd had so far that weekend, that's a fairly incredible performance, isn't it?

Speaker 4:
32:54
Completely. I mean exactly what Greg's just spoke about there. I mean absolutely applaud every person involved in making that happen. To go from a shunt boat is not just a normal. You know a shunt but it was a bloody quick one so it's a lot of damage caused. So to come back from that, really, I mean you know there's plenty of teams out there in different championships that probably just put a sheet over it and walked away, but and just you that weekend. So to do what they did, um, mega, mega job, mega job. Um, you know I'd be surprised if you could see in a many teams repeat that. Now you know to go and get a car from to not you know most teams that have spare parts now, but to go and actually go and physically get another car that exists to use parts from it was just outstanding work really ricard ridell won the battle of the Fords, with the Swede taking pole for the sprint race and second for the feature race, whilst Tom Christensen's Honda took second in the sprint and pole for the feature.

Speaker 2:
33:55
Meanwhile, al Amenu was faster than Anthony Reid in both sessions, which Reid expected, having to carry the extra 40kg in weight. He was pleased to be so close to menu with fourth and sixth in the two sessions. Alex, the grid made for what was hopefully going to be an incredible night of racing, wasn't it?

Speaker 3:
34:14
yeah, it was a good grid. I mean that that 40 kilograms really made the difference. And, um, you know, no wonder that uh menu was trying to uh to avoid it earlier on in the season because, yeah, he would have been a lot closer to the front of the grid had he not been carrying the extra 40 kilograms. Um, impressive that he was so close to menu with fourth, actually, um, sixth, not too bad, but it's just tough, isn't it? It just really is tough. He, he would, he would have to fight his way through the field to to get to the front and get the results he needed. Um, and that wasn't going to be easy. When you've got the likes of thompson, tarquini, christensen, menu, rydell around you, you know there's no slouches. There is there. So, yeah, it was going to be an epic night, and I'd like to say that it did turn out to be an epic night of racing, but probably not for Reedy.

Speaker 2:
35:17
Rydell did everything he could to keep his championship hopes alive, as he took the lead at the start into Copse.

Speaker 9:
35:35
Rebs are up ready for the off Rydell on the right he's away, lead at the start into Copse right bill and drew cleanly. Then it's nose to tail reed and menu. Matt neal trying to move around the outside on board with matt neal, now james thompson ahead of us. That's ellen menu right beside us in drew maggot's corner. We've got a turn right in the second neil and menu very close. Jason menu is off. Menu is spinning. Can he hold it? Menu is off and plato jason plato has collected him.

Speaker 2:
36:08
In contrast, menu had a poor start as Reid Thompson and Neil all passed him. As he came around Beckett's, menu lost the rear of the car, slewed sideways and collided with Jason Plato's Vauxhall. Matt got down the inside of Alan and I followed him through. Alan saw me and thought I'd best cover that and lost the rear of his car. I was waiting to see which way he'd go and picked the inside line, plato explained. After the race Both Plato and, critically, menu were out. Greg an extremely dramatic first lap there for the championship leader.

Speaker 1:
36:45
Yeah, I mean this was just about the biggest drama we could have possibly seen, really, wasn't it? Yeah, and looking back now, I guess it put even more pressure on Anthony Reid Because he had the pit signals from the board and we heard the rally communication played into the BBC Grandstand broadcast. The menu is out. Menu is out.

Speaker 9:
37:04
Meantime back on board with Anthony Reeves and he will know that Alain Menu, the man he's challenging most, is now out. Menu is out, menu out. There's the confirmation.

Speaker 1:
37:14
And it just seemed like from that moment onwards Reeve tightened up even more. He was making more mistakes, got tangled up as we'll hear later with Tarquini. But yeah, I mean, menuhin must have been thinking at this point. Well, I don't think he would have given up. He knew it wasn't over, didn't he? But had Reid then gone on to finish where he was at the time, it would have looked very different. Going into the feature race Plato was unlucky. You have to feel for Jason. He was so often not on the receiving end, he was so often causing the incidents, I think it's fair to say through his BTCC career. But on this occasion he was the innocent victim. But I think Menuhin just lost it on cold tyres, didn't he? The pressure was on. A rare error for Alain Menuhin. I remember him spinning off at Knock Hill earlier on in the season and I remember him getting turned around at Thruxton. But it's not often you saw a Menuhin mistake.

Speaker 1:
38:00
Maybe in 98 there were a few boisterous moments, but Menuh didn't often make a mistake through the whole of his career, did we say no? Him spinning like that on the first lap at a crucial time with the title on the line was very rare indeed, and it just makes you think again. How on earth did Anthony Reid not end up winning that championship? And of course, ironically, it was in exactly the same part of the track where Reid ended up in the gravel later on in the evening in the next race.

Speaker 2:
38:24
Adam, do you agree with Greg an error from Alain there, or was it just a racing incident for you?

Speaker 4:
38:31
Yes, it's a racing incident. It was an error from Alain, just purely. You know you look at the camera footage facing them as they're coming towards you. It looks like he's been hit, but it was just literally a change of direction. I know we spoke about this before we started to record, but it was just the literally it's a change of direction. I know we spoke about this before we started to record, but this was the first year where tire warmers were banned. Now I know they've gone all season knowing what this feels like, but you know it's.

Speaker 4:
38:52
It's a difficult corner because you've always got that, that danger, and it was the same when I raced on that same circuit. You flat out through the left, you're breaking into the right, but you're also putting all that pressure in. You're trying to concentrate by not braking too hard because you don't want to lock the inside front, but you're also don't want to brake too hard. So it pitches the rear end on colder tyres because the rears aren't really doing a great deal around there. And that's exactly what he did. He just got caught out. He went in there a little bit too quick and just got caught out on cold rear tyres.

Speaker 4:
39:23
And then, yeah, for once. Jason was the innocent party in that and ended up colliding to the side of him and that was him done with a broken suspension. So it's a difficult corner, ben. You should have done better, but it is what it is and it could have been avoided. Like most things, like most incidents within touring car racing. But yeah, jason was just the innocent person that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Speaker 1:
39:48
And actually as well, you've got to say sorry, Alex, it was a great save by Menu actually, wasn't it? Yes, it was Obviously.

Speaker 2:
39:54
then he just got tagged, menu joined the ranks of spectators and spent the rest of the race doing sums in his head. If Reid finished third, the task would be much more difficult than before. I thought about everything. I was pretty cheesed off. I can tell you I could only watch the race, he said later, alex, a tough moment for Menuh there for once, watching helpless as his rivals raced on in a championship battle.

Speaker 3:
40:23
If I didn't know that that was an à la menu quote, I would have assumed it was an Anthony Reid quote, being pretty cheesed off. But no, yeah, that must be just the most horrible feeling just watching your championship rivals both of them, obviously, because Rydell was leading going round. You were already behind in the points and, yeah, reedy was third and Rydell was leading. His heart must have just sunk.

Speaker 4:
40:56
At that point he would have thought it was over, but it's done.

Speaker 3:
40:59
Yeah, I definitely agree with that. He would have thought that's it. No, there would have been a little part of him that would hope. But yeah, if it was me I'd have been like yeah.

Speaker 4:
41:11
Everything was against him at that point, wasn't it? You're thinking the fact that, like Reedy's in third, you know Rydell's up there, like it's just, it's over. Like you know, he needs an absolute miracle to happen and little did he know what was going to happen.

Speaker 3:
41:31
But yeah, at that point, yeah, he'd have been ready to pack his bags. Can anyone remember the the points gap?

Speaker 1:
41:33
going into this last meeting, three points, I think it was three or four points with reed ahead.

Speaker 2:
41:36
Yes, reedy was leading yeah, back in the race, another ford was leading championship. Outsider ric Ricard Rydell was doing his best to even the odds, chased by Honda's Tom Christensen. The Ford-Honda pattern continued in third and fourth with Reid and Thompson, followed by Gabriele Tarquini, who muscled past Neil at Brooklands on the first lap. On lap six, Thompson took a chance at bridge, knowing that Reid would not want to risk a decent points haul. It worked and Thompson's timing could not have been better, as they then came across Jeff Kimber-Smith and the other Class B runners who held up Reid, allowing Tarquini and co to catch up on the Scotsman.

Speaker 8:
42:18
They've seen Nick James at play again. Seems to like the gravel here at Silverstone.

Speaker 9:
42:23
It's comfy stuff, but this isn't comfy for Anthony Reid because he's weaving all over the place trying to hold Tarquini off. This is the drag down into Abbey. Reid's got the defensive line. Tarquini is side by side. There's a U-turn coming up. This is maximum pressure. Muller's trying to get past as well.

Speaker 2:
42:42
Matt Neal is bunching up all over the back of Anthony Reid. They're swarming on him, greg, class B didn't get the best coverage in 2000, and I know some people on this podcast looking at Alex Clark here weren't the biggest fans of Class B, soon to be later renamed the Production Class? What did you think of the category at the time?

Speaker 1:
42:59
I will answer, but can I just throw this to Alex Clark first, please? Yes, it's our game show.

Speaker 4:
43:07
Question or nominate. I've started, so I'll finish.

Speaker 3:
43:10
Get your little roller skates out of my way.

Speaker 1:
43:13
That's how I felt about Class B, but Alex it was the future of the British Touring Car Championship. It was a transitional season, a bit like 1990 had been, oh yeah. You know, with the two-litre formula alongside the Cosworth Did you not see it like that?

Speaker 3:
43:28
I wonder if people felt that way. They get that little lawnmower out of my way, out of the way of my Sierra Cosworth. Yeah, I wonder. But no, they just looked so basic compared to when they used to cut to the in-car and it was like the h pattern box it was like jesus christ and the pit stops at thruxton.

Speaker 1:
43:50
They didn't have to make stops, but they did anyway, didn't they, because of the abrasive nature of that, to do every, every wheel nut was done separately.

Speaker 3:
43:57
I half expected them to bring out the old jack that they had, yeah, at the spare wheel oh, they just looked awful. And the the speed difference between a super tourer and one of those was big. Compared to later years where they were against those btc tourer things, that was not so much of a gap, um some of the onboard footage down places like the crater curbs yes, I was just thinking about that.

Speaker 1:
44:25
Or leading to the S's at Croft. I mean, luckily there was no incident, was there no bad incident anyway? There was an incident with James Kay at Brands wasn't there. Yes, yeah, there was when, neil used James Kay on purpose to pass Christensen. James was in the wrong place at the wrong time there, but luckily there was no Supertourist slimed into the back of a Class B car at any point.

Speaker 3:
44:45
No, no, that would have been bad. Yeah, that would have been nasty, but they did get sort of caught up with Reedy and Tarquini and co in this race. Yeah true. So I think Jeff Kimbersmith and Nick James were trying to wrestle each other off the track at some point and the at some point and the big boys came around and just get out of my way, sort of.

Speaker 4:
45:07
I think it made it worse with the, with the looks of the cars, the design, everything. Like you said, this was the way it was going, the fact that they were on the circuit at the same time. I do?

Speaker 3:
45:12
I do remember the season opener brands on the gp loop in the feature race. Morrison ends up on his roof in the version 306 and I remember thinking, oh for god's sake, get these things off the track. What are they doing? You know, hindrance. It was a bit like that, you know, and obviously, looking back now and with with an older head on, I could see the reason for it. But, um, I was very, very, very distasteful. I didn't have much time for them at all.

Speaker 1:
45:41
It was like even when they cut to them on the footage, like, oh, nobody cares about this, you know it did, um, it did actually bring an interesting element into the races to put a positive spin on this, in the pit stop races in particular, didn't it? Because if you stayed out longer, you know to lead a lap and get the point, you would then catch class b runners, so it was quite crucial to make sure you caught them in the right place.

Speaker 3:
46:04
Yes, that's right.

Speaker 1:
46:05
Class B runners needed to not lose too much time being lap because they were racing against one another, as Alex was following in great detail with massive zest and enthusiasm.

Speaker 3:
46:13
Yes, these stupid sewing machines.

Speaker 4:
46:16
How old were you, Alex, back then in the year 2000?

Speaker 3:
46:19
16.

Speaker 4:
46:21
Very angry disappointed 16-year-old.

Speaker 1:
46:26
I liked the neon lights that Barwell put on the bottom of the Hondas but it did look a bit chubby, I guess and those neon lights in the night races this was going through the Max.

Speaker 4:
46:34
Power era, so you've probably got it free with the Max Power magazine. Very year 2000 did the Honda have it's aerial a little flashing ball, a little flashing ball on there, wasn't it?

Speaker 3:
46:44
Yeah, didn't the Honda have it on its aerial? Yes, yes, I think it did A little flashing ball.

Speaker 4:
46:46
Yeah, on the aerial A little flashing ball on there, wasn't it?

Speaker 1:
46:49
What is a fascinating fact, gentlemen, is that something I didn't know until today is that, after Reid and Tarquini, it was a Class B runner who completed the most racing miles, laps and kilometers. James Kay, it was Mark Lemmer actually.

Speaker 1:
47:07
Oh, kilometers, james k, it was mark lemmer actually okay in the integra, okay um fascinating detail there, but um, yeah, I mean he had a reliable sewing machine I remember knock it up the hill do you remember the difference in speed coming out the hairpin over the line at knock hill up the hill yeah, it was scary actually if you, if they were on top of the super tour or vice versa.

Speaker 1:
47:25
It was scary seeing the speed differential especially in blind places, like no killer up over the top of the chicane If there's a part a, class B car parked on the top of it. I didn't think it was too bad. It was important for the future. It was a transitional year, um, and I guess we are lucky we didn't get a nasty accident, which could have happened and luckily didn't. There was a bit of contact but nothing. I think Reid pushed one wide as well, actually at Paddock Hill Bend in the first FITS race of the year.

Speaker 3:
47:52
I remember one of the class B cars was pushed off. Yes, that's right.

Speaker 1:
47:54
Yeah yeah, might have been Lemma then. That's right. So, yeah, what did I think of the category? Category, I thought it was fine. Oh, sat on the fence. I liked the Peugeot. I remember that Peugeot catch in my eye when I was 10 years old with its luminous livery. I remember looking down on that Abbey hairpin where Matt was describing he was on the inside marshalling in the mid-season round back in when was that in June? And I remember seeing that Peugeot go around and you could see it coming from miles off. I like that about it, that was good. But and also the Peugeot go round and you could see it coming from miles off. I liked that about it, that was good. And also the Peugeot was way ahead of the rest of the field wasn't it?

Speaker 3:
48:28
Yes, it was Certainly earlier in the season at least it was win or bust, wasn't it with Alan Morrison?

Speaker 4:
48:32
So when he was sat next to a quick-fit sponsored Ford Pro-Drive Mondeo what did you think of?

Speaker 1:
48:45
I thought it was very green, not as interesting as the Mondeo.

Speaker 2:
48:47
Alex was just very happy that he saw the luminous green Peugeot, so he knew the selling machines were on their way. It was a singer.

Speaker 3:
48:54
It was a reliable one.

Speaker 1:
48:56
Here's the thing. I wonder where those Class B cars are now, because Nobody cares.

Speaker 4:
49:03
Well, that's what Alex thought.

Speaker 2:
49:05
He doesn't care now. I didn't care then.

Speaker 4:
49:07
I joke, I joke. 24 years later he still doesn't give a shit.

Speaker 1:
49:11
And he's saying I joke, I joke, you don't joke. It's not joking at all. You absolutely mean every word of it.

Speaker 3:
49:18
There might be a really big Class B enthusiast listening, so I don't want to upset them.

Speaker 1:
49:24
Look how much I upset the Citroen BX community you know, I was going to start coming in now for you again, alex, let's not go there, you know the only thing we could say, I guess, is that at least if you have a proper I'm not saying Barwell and the others weren't proper teams, because they're good teams, but yeah, lee running that Peugeot, and even when they had Will Hoy in the car, I remember seeing Will.

Speaker 3:
49:45
Hoy, yes, Will yeah.

Speaker 1:
49:47
The ripe old age of 47, raced at Silverstone mid-season. Danny did, and whoever was in that Peugeot alongside Morrison went well, didn't they? That year.

Speaker 3:
49:56
Well, they normally beat Morrison, didn't they? Will Hoy got two poles, but then the car broke both times. Did Lee Linford not race the car? Yeah, mick Sun Lee raced at Donington. I think it was. Yeah, lee Linford raced at Donington. I just liked you know. I didn't have anything against the cars, but they were National Saloon Cup cars and they had their own championship.

Speaker 1:
50:21
And yeah, In a way it's a bit like what Class D used to be, If I'm not wrong. Yeah, when we had the original four class.

Speaker 3:
50:27
Yeah, with the golfs and the yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you're right, but yeah, I just didn't. Didn't have much time for them personally, but I'm sure, I'm sure someone out there loved them.

Speaker 1:
50:40
And sorry, I think producer Matt was going to say something before and I interrupted you.

Speaker 7:
50:44
Oh, all I was going to say was that the much anticipated spin-off series of stories from the production class may not be happening after all.

Speaker 3:
50:55
Canceled.

Speaker 1:
50:56
It could happen, but it just won't feature Alex Clark.

Speaker 3:
51:01
I don't think I'll get an invite on that one.

Speaker 4:
51:05
Yeah, you're no guest on that one, Al.

Speaker 2:
51:08
Ahead of the mayhem, tom Christensen was all over the back of Rydell's car and on lap 8, made a clean move at Priory to slip past into Belize.

Speaker 9:
51:19
Christensen Rydell under bridge corner coming up into the complex. Christensen lines him up down the inside and he lunges. Big pass, tom Christensen has lunged it. Can Rydell fight back? No, he can't. He's made it stick, great stuff and the Honda boys know it.

Speaker 2:
51:33
Just behind, on the same lap, tarquini tried the same on Reid, but the pair made contact and the Ford slewed sideways between Priory and Brooklands.

Speaker 8:
51:44
Great pass up began coming out of Abbey Tack. Position was critical. He got the drive up the hill. Oh, look at this.

Speaker 9:
51:47
That's Tarquini tries to do exactly the same thing and it doesn't work. And more impact Ah, that's Anthony Reid. That's Anthony Reid. That's his championship hopes out, there's a Honda up that was Tarquini. There was a foxhole. The guys in the Ford camp trying to sort that out.

Speaker 8:
52:04
Well, talk about deja vu. We saw the same thing happen to Anthony Reid some months ago in the first round here at Silverstone.

Speaker 2:
52:10
Reid's fun back was through Brooklands and was collected by Tarquini. The blame differed according to who you asked. So, guys, where does the blame lay for you on that incident?

Speaker 1:
52:20
The first thing I'd say is it's strange, because we had such a similar incident at the first Silverstone meeting earlier on in the season when Thompson spun Rademacher, who went backwards straight into the side of Reid's driver's door, and he was very lucky to get away with that. I don't think I've very rarely have I seen a touring car damaged as badly as Rademacher's Vectra was on June, the 11th 2000. But fast forwarding to September, it's a really tricky one, isn't it? Because Reid was slow at that point of the race. Tarquini was desperate to get through. I think it's a racing incident. Adam can give us the driver's insight. But Tarquini's, attacking Reid's, moved across. They've touched Front wheel drive, said you could spin them around, couldn't you with your little finger?

Speaker 4:
53:07
You've come through bridge, you then position yourself over to the right-hand side, you then go through the left and naturally you're going over to the right then to break for Brooklyns. But as he's done it, he's trying to just keep it tight. But Tarquin is at the inside. He's got his momentum as well, so he knows he's ever so slightly by his back bumper. So there was only going to be one winner in a position like that. And let's bear in mind that really he's trying to win the championship here. He just needs to finish as high up as he can collect some points. Let him buy, let him go. Don't put up the fight. Don't put yourself in a situation where it's going to end up in tears, like most 50 50s sort of do when you're in touring cars. Like tarquin, he had nothing to to win. He wasn't in a championship. He didn't give a shit about really, he was just trying to get past like any other race and the fact that he's tried to hold it tight. He sort of created the problem himself.

Speaker 1:
54:00
Anthony did, and I just feel like a disappointed parent when I watch it and, clark, you mentioned this before, it was Honda again, wasn't it? I would say I don't think Tarquini didn't do it on purpose, I don't think. Whereas with the Thompson-Rademacher one earlier in the season, I think James could have lifted off and he spun the Vauxhall around. This one was more, I think. Like you said, adam read your donor.

Speaker 4:
54:23
It's a quick corner so you break down a gear, maybe what two gears, and you're back on the throttle again into Brooklands. So the fact that really sort of kept it turning left which the cars are going right. So what did he want Tarquini to do? I don't think you'd have thought Tarquini's bumper was towards his rear wheel, but I personally wouldn't have took that risk.

Speaker 3:
54:45
I thought Reedy tried to take both lines. It's funny Silverstone 8.98, he went so aggressive didn't he On a Honda again? On Thompson. He went so aggressive and absolutely wiped Tomo out, dropped them down the field and this time he sort of went into his shell totally. It was just yeah, it's so frustrating looking at it now you just want to sort of give him a shake and say come on, anthony, what?

Speaker 1:
55:12
Yeah, what are you doing? You know, and then real shadow a shadow of his former self as well. Sorry to butt in yeah, yeah, if you look at the previous rounds, all those points really had been scoring the win at Donington, win again at Alton, mr Sensible, mr Pointsman. And yeah, he just lost his head, didn't he, sadly.

Speaker 3:
55:29
Yeah, gutted, gutted.

Speaker 2:
55:32
The Italian was out on the spot and Reid dropped to eighth Cue. A Swiss sigh of relief from Beckers.

Speaker 6:
55:43
Let's hear what Tarquini had to say to BBC Grandstand after this incident. I was in battle with Anthony. Anthony was very slow compared to me and he was changing line every time and he changed line in between two corners.

Speaker 2:
55:59
I was in, so he spun in front of me and he went into the grass so he spun in front of me and he went into the grass and he came back onto the track and he took me off. Meanwhile Thompson had pulled himself up onto the tail of Rydell and, on lap 12, squeezed past on the exit of Woodcote to drag past the Ford, the Honda 12. Didn't last long, though, because Rydell lunged back at Maggots, giving Thompson a clip on the way through and sending the Englishman through the gravel. Adam, was it a bit of tit for tat from both of them there?

Speaker 4:
56:37
you look at the move that jt had put on um on ride out, he just just forced him wide, really, coming onto the straight obviously got him and ride out needed the points. But also I know I've spoken about this in previous podcasts this is how touring cars works, really, um, you tip for tap. If you just take it, never give it, you're always going to get bullied. So you sort of give it back. So and I think even if you ask thompson now today, you know, have you got a problem with what he did coming back? I don't think you would. He'd just thought, well, I did it to him and he got me back and I deserved it.

Speaker 4:
57:13
Really I pushed my luck and if you can get through with someone that way and then pulling a big enough gap soon enough, then obviously you can get away with it. But even then, going into the next race or the next round, generally throughout a championship, you've always got it in your head thinking I'm owed one from him. So when it comes at the next race or two races, three races, four races down the line, when you want to kick off to them about it, you know, if that was halfway through the season, he got four races down the line and he wanted to moan him for doing something. Ridell, I'll go well.

Speaker 4:
57:44
Do you remember that time when you biffed me off coming around onto the straight silverstone? Oh yeah, you know, and it's sort of. That's sort of how it works. So I wasn't surprised and, and honestly, thompson wouldn't have had an issue with it. I don't think. I think, knowing how he is and his personality and everything he you know he's, he's all for dishing it out, but he wouldn't have been surprised at all to get that back from someone as experienced as rider the accord pilot was uncharacteristically forgiving after the race, saying I had the legs on record and got past him, but he repassed you and I had a trip through the gravel.

Speaker 2:
58:18
There was a bit of an assist, but he would pass through and I had a trip through the gravel. There was a bit of an assist, but I appreciated his position and probably would have done the same. Yet more chaos was unfolding behind, as a battle between Neil Vincent Rademacher and Ivan Muller reached boiling point. Muller pulled off at Copse with a puncture, whilst the front of Rademacher's voxel was damaged from Matt Neal forces.

Speaker 9:
58:42
Rademacher over towards the pit wall and amazingly he's through. Nicely done, and that's Muller Muller's a problem. Okay, Muller's just dropped out of that race. His issue is we're running out of laps fast here, but these two still going at it, Hammer and Tom Neal in front Rademacher coming back at him now, Never say die, Vincent Rademacher, Like a pair of little terriers squabbling in the kennel, neither prepared to concede one inch. Still side by side down towards Abbey Corner Banging panels. Matt Neil seems to have the corner, but Rademacher is going to muscle his way through?

Speaker 9:
59:35
is he he pushes him out of the way, his way through? Is he he pushes him out of the way?

Speaker 5:
59:43
More like oh, and almost picks up David Leslie in the Nissan as well. It's more like an episode of the.

Speaker 9:
59:45
Three Stooges than a motor race.

Speaker 2:
59:47
Take that, take that, push him off, so the pair finally ran into each other at Abbey, with Rademacher on the inside. Neil ran wide, the Vauxhall was delayed and David Leslie passed them both.

Speaker 1:
1:00:05
Greg, a good battle between Rademacher and Neil there, or a little bit too much for you? Nah, it wasn't too much. I thought it was great. It was great TV. I suppose it was too much from Matt Neil's point of view.

Speaker 1:
1:00:11
Rademacher was actually on the grass on the inside, as Matt mentioned before, because he was marshalling there. But Rademacher was completely locked up. There was smoke pouring off his tires trying to get it stopped. He's on the grass. It was just a mess of a corner, really, a little bit similar to menu headbutting Klenendorf two years earlier. Yeah, yeah, with a Vauxhall involved in that one as well, obviously. But great stuff from Leslie, wasn't it? Real opportunities? We obviously saw that coming and he positioned himself brilliantly and straight through. And, um, the pro motorsport Nissan, which had been driven by Colin Blair, hadn't it for most of the season, was through and it was nice to see that other Nissan independent team having some success. And he would have actually finished ahead of Neil, I guess, in that race, wouldn't he as the top independent? Yeah, as Alex said earlier, vincent Rademacher seemed to be all over the place, just causing carnage all across that race weekend.

Speaker 2:
1:01:01
Alex, was it good for you to see Leslie up there and performing well in the pro motorsport Nissan too.

Speaker 3:
1:01:07
Yeah, it was nice to see that car up at the sharp end because Colin Blair, bless him, didn't get much out of it. In fact he would quite often be a few seconds a lap off the pace. So, um, yeah, to have that car up there and competitive. It reminds me a bit of when um will hoy jumped in the arena laguna in 99, when um russell spence was having similar levels of luck with um, with that reno and um, how he got in the car and won two or three independent races. Um, I don't think leslie won this one. I think nat got him on the last lap, sadly, um, which is a shame because it would have been nice to have seen david of a bit of silverware, but he finished sixth in this race.

Speaker 3:
1:01:54
So you know, fair play as as um, uh, the as the pro motorsport team went, that was. That was a pretty good result and, and dare I say it, that shows just how good matt was performing, because david was in a 99 nissan that he had driven all last year and still matt. Admittedly it wasn't prepared to the same level of rmlML with pro motorsport. I don't think I'm doing them a disservice by saying that, but yeah, matt was beating Leslie in a 98 Primera. So you know we've already mentioned it. But fair play to Matt. He was really getting the most out of that car this weekend.

Speaker 1:
1:02:37
I was also thinking it was quite ironic, just going back briefly to the pass between Rydell and Thompson at Maggots, because Thompson put a great pass on Rydell there, remember in 98 in the Honda and the Volvo it was almost rolls

Speaker 7:
1:02:49
reverse, wasn't it?

Speaker 1:
1:02:50
not quite the same move, but very similar.

Speaker 2:
1:02:52
Christensen won. But what did the results mean for the Championship? I'll let the protagonists explain.

Speaker 10:
1:03:00
Yeah, I mean obviously now I don't drop these two points anymore, so I'm on 184. So I need to finish in the first three. Third, minimum third. If Rydell wins, doesn't matter, I'm champion as long as Anthony is no better than two places behind me. So it's all to play for. It won't be easy.

Speaker 5:
1:03:24
It's very, very tight. I think I mean I haven't. I'm not a mathematician, I never will be, but I just get the feeling it's very tight. It could go any one of three ways between Ricard Alan and myself, so I'm sure it's going to be very exciting for all concerned tonight 30 laps were to decide.

Speaker 2:
1:03:44
The final ever Super Touring Champion of the BTCC, ricard Rydell, fell out of the reckoning in the cruelest way possible when his Mondeo, which had a new engine for the feature race, sprung a water leak on the grid. I've had the pace but not the luck this year. Rude, the Swede, adam. That must be a really tough way to miss out on a chance of a title, even though it was a bit more remote for Ricard by that point.

Speaker 4:
1:04:17
Yeah, absolutely devastating, because I'm sure he was still mathematically with a chance if he'd won the race and the other two had a DNF which everything was possible. Look what the outcome of Menuhin was after his DNF. So, yeah, absolutely devastating, I think, especially when it wasn't a fault of his own in a racing incident or anything like that. This was something that was completely out of his hands. And like you're virtually about to start the race and then you discover it like you couldn't have left it any later to find this out. So I think, yeah, just absolutely devastating.

Speaker 4:
1:04:52
I mean, what you know for the team to tell you like we've got a problem, we've got a water leak and we can't fix it. We need to push you off the grid, like, like we've got a problem, we've got a water leak and we can't fix it. We need to push you off the grid, like no words really. Um, but you can only imagine, can't you, what that would have felt like, especially when you're with a chance, if another driver that you're not in with a chance of winning the race or even the championship, yeah, you're gutted and it's not the way you want to finish the season or that era really, but when you've actually got a chance of winning.

Speaker 3:
1:05:19
It doesn't get much tougher than that right now really had the bad luck of the of the monday was when it came to reliability. That year there were a few occasions where his monday or broke down or something broke on the car in the middle of a race or whatnot do we know why they had to change the engine for that last race?

Speaker 4:
1:05:37
I?

Speaker 1:
1:05:38
remember, I think, I think, I think Charlie Cox said on the grid wall they were getting water in the cylinder heads for some reason.

Speaker 4:
1:05:43
Oh, that's right, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:
1:05:45
But yeah, yeah, how unfortunate though Christensen led from pole with Thompson jumping Menuh to make it a Honda 1-2 into Copse.

Speaker 9:
1:06:08
Menuh hung on to Thompson's bumper, though, and pounced after. Thompson caught a big slide as he came out of bridge trying to fight back. He's in fourth position. Not for long. That's a bottom. It's Matt Neal, the independent in the Nyssa. He must have passed as well.

Speaker 2:
1:06:26
I just went for it. I decided I was going for whatever. And it works, said Menuh Greg, with the championship on the line. That's a ballsy move from Menuh, there, isn't it?

Speaker 1:
1:06:40
That was a great move actually, wasn't it? Thompson had a big wobble on between bridge and priory and many people would argue anthony reed lost this championship. But you can also very much argue that ala menu won it, can't you? Because he had some great drives that year. It was quick in all the toka test pre-season. I think he was first or second in pretty much every test pre-season. When the first race at brands had a really good brands win in mixed, mixed conditions at the later season Brands meeting. And that was a great move from Mennie because had he not passed Thompson there, he might not have got him all race long once he'd settled in. So he took advantage, didn't he, of that wobble from Thompson and he won the championship in some ways with that move. I thought it was a. Really it was classic a la Mennie, actually, wasn't it?

Speaker 2:
1:07:15
in many ways, yeah, it was a great move meanwhile reed was struggling and on lap five he was passed by evan muller for fifth. The scott later admitted it took a while for the car to settle, alex, it wasn't looking good for anthony at this point, was it?

Speaker 3:
1:07:34
no, and again, I mean, we've we've already mentioned it several times it's just another example of Anthony not being able to settle Something which he was great at all year, but when it came to the final reckoning, he I don't want to say bottled it. I don't think that's fair. He didn't bottle it, but he became very insular and, yeah, there was just no need for it. Just do your. He should have gone out fighting. It's a tough one, isn't it? But yeah, anthony really, really didn't do himself any favours this weekend and this was just another example just couldn't settle the car.

Speaker 2:
1:08:16
With every point counting, reid and Menuh each ensured that they scored a point for leading the race. Reid was last to pit and rejoined fifth behind Plato, thompson, menuh and Christensen, who led by some six seconds. A typical gutsy drive from Plato was dragging his vector up the order, while teammate Vincent Rademacher seemed more intent on biffing his rivals into the darkness to progress. First it was Tarquini who was hit at Priory. Both went sideways, but the Vauxhall came out on top. Adam. We've mentioned it a couple of times already on this episode, but it was a pretty physical night for Rademacher in what would be his final BTCC race yeah, I think you could just the music you could play over the top of all his um maneuvers.

Speaker 4:
1:09:06
Let's get physical, I mean. I mean like that's, that's literally what he did for two races, yeah, amongst others throughout the season. But he uh and you look at the footage he was quite a hard hit actually. I mean it's so hard to overtake into there generally because you carry quite a lot of speed in there. So for you to actually get a manoeuvre done properly clean, you know it's a tough thing to do. That's why you'll always see any manoeuvre sort of done really as you're coming out of bridge. You've got that momentum coming out of bridge and you're just getting your nose up along towards the back of the bumper and then you make the move.

Speaker 4:
1:09:38
But he seemed to come back from quite a long way and tarquini's broke late as well and and. But you actually look at the, the footies, and you can hear the sound of the bang. Actually, from inside tarquini's um on board footies. You can hear the crash coming into the side. So he was coming through, whether tarquini likes it or not, to be honest. But um, I yeah, it was a tough move. That that was, that was, that was. You know that would have been toke, what I probably I don't know. It depends where you are. You want to take things, but it wasn't taco and he didn't do anything wrong.

Speaker 1:
1:10:08
I don't think he did anything to deserve it and, and when you force your way through that hard, that means the maneuver was never on and I'm joking here, obviously, but the fact it was the last toker race and it would have been one or two o'clock in the morning by the time the stewards looked at it probably just went home yeah, it didn't give a crap, it didn't?

Speaker 4:
1:10:24
we just thought sod this, I'm just going for it, and I think the way we watched, you know, we could see all these maneuvers that he was pulling off. It seemed like that, like he just didn't care. Well, I just want to think that is great.

Speaker 1:
1:10:35
There's a, isn't it about front-wheel drive touring cars? The fact you can't just floor the throttle with a load of smoke pouring off the front tyres and keep it going. I mean, what an? Amazing moment. I think Charlie Cox said ladies and gentlemen, take your partners please, because they were both sideways.

Speaker 3:
1:10:48
Yes, yeah yeah, yeah, the headlights.

Speaker 1:
1:10:51
It was a great TV moment. It must have been great to witness that if you were watching track side. Yeah, I have to say I felt sorry for Rademacher that year because there were team orders, weren't there within Vauxhall and it was clearly certainly earlier in the season. Muller number one, plato two, rademacher three. He wasn't even a number two driver, he was a number three driver. I remember him having to give his car up. Basically, yes, Muller commandeered his car.

Speaker 3:
1:11:16
It was in Snetterton after he trashed his car.

Speaker 1:
1:11:18
Yeah, so by the back. I think by that point he didn't really care. He literally didn't care, he just smashed his way through.

Speaker 2:
1:11:25
Probably knew he didn't have a drive next season, so yeah, yeah, plato battled past Thompson, who then pitted for a punctured tyre. With four laps to go, this elevated Reed to fourth and if Plato took menu second place and he was catching fast the Scot would be champion With three laps to go. The tension was unbearable and Rademacher's car.

Speaker 9:
1:12:01
That's Reid, right ahead of us. Anthony's trying to defend Vincent is trying to ease his way around. There's a left and a right coming up here. There's the left, here's the right and Reid is around. I don't know if there was contact, but Reid's sliding across the track and off and in the gravel.

Speaker 8:
1:12:16
Well, that's awful, anthony Reid, his championship was gone. I couldn't tell if there was contact or not. If it was, it was very slight, but if there was, it doesn't really matter, it's over.

Speaker 9:
1:12:25
Those faces really tell the story.

Speaker 2:
1:12:28
That has really shot the fox Rademacher drove into the back of Reid at Beckett's and pushed him on the air off into the gravel. Reid's championship was over and after the the race, he could barely find words to describe his anger. There is no point talking to him. It is way beyond talking, reid said after the race. Once I got into fourth it felt like I had one hand on the trophy. Greg thoughts on it all Pretty gutting way for Reid's season to end, wasn't it?

Speaker 1:
1:12:59
Yeah, one thought I will just throw in is that I think Jason Plater had a magnificent race because he was eighth or ninth coming out of the first corner on the opening lap and fought his way back through. Obviously there was a bit of carnage ahead, people having punctures, and Muller had a puncture as well as Thompson, didn't he? But even so, yeah, what a shame People forget how close that season was, don't they? A bit like F1 was very close that year with Hakkinen and Schumacher, and it's almost like the forgotten season with the 2000 year. There it was two points. It was two points. It was the closest ever margin in the whole of the Super Touring era. We had had three between Harvey and Hoy in 92, but we ended with the closest ever championship. But again, it felt like Reid put himself. It's easy for me to say this, but it's as though Reid was just being overly defensive.

Speaker 4:
1:13:49
Yeah, it didn't need to be.

Speaker 1:
1:13:50
Like I said before, Rademacher's coming.

Speaker 4:
1:13:53
Let the bloody guy pass Of all the people. Let him pass, just like Mennie did when Playto came up behind him. It's Playto, it's only going to go one way if he's trying to get it.

Speaker 1:
1:14:03
Yeah, because Menuhin also. Menuhin must have had the presence of mind to be calculating that, because I guess he wouldn't have let Playto pass no absolutely not.

Speaker 4:
1:14:11
Generally absolutely not at times and just let it be. But it's almost like like, like reedy's head had just completely gone and and he didn't think about it like with near championship, you know, like a champion's win.

Speaker 1:
1:14:27
Really, when it was, it was similar as well, wasn't it, adam? It was the way we spent around from the rear quarter. It almost identical to what happened in the first race. Why?

Speaker 4:
1:14:35
are you putting the fight in? Why are you putting the fight in? Like you're at knock hill or old part? What? Why are you putting the fight in? Why are you putting the fight in You're at Knock Hill or Alton Park? You've just won the previous race at Alton Park. Just do your normal professional the right thing, and that's why I just find it really disappointing. I generally think his head went with it all.

Speaker 3:
1:14:55
The quote. Once I got into fourth I felt like I had one hand on the trophy. That's him defending fourth at all costs against Rademacher. I suppose he would need to hold on to fourth to win the championship.

Speaker 2:
1:15:11
Because even if he had stayed in fourth and that hadn't happened, he still needed help elsewhere.

Speaker 3:
1:15:20
He still needed Plato to get past Menu and that was so he was closing in quick because that would have made it it was so close but it all started it all went wrong in race. One didn't it yeah, if he'd have let Tarquini through, yeah, yeah, if he'd have let Tarquini through, he might have ended up 5th, whereas instead he ended up eighth. I think, yeah, so there's your four or five points.

Speaker 4:
1:15:44
Yeah, yeah, that's the difference. That's all it takes. You've only got to win by one, haven't you?

Speaker 1:
1:15:47
Yeah, because also there was no obvious mistake Reid had made earlier on in the year. You couldn't really look back, I'm just looking in the year. Did he throw something away here or lost big points there? He didn't really. He was Mr Consistency in the year 2000, wasn't he?

Speaker 3:
1:16:02
Which is why he had to drop points.

Speaker 1:
1:16:04
But yes, exactly, I mean Reid did race and finish the most laps of any other driver in the whole of that campaign but ended up dropping points.

Speaker 3:
1:16:12
God, I hate drop scores.

Speaker 1:
1:16:14
And Alex, you did say before I think I can't remember whether we were recording, but a bit, like Levi mentioned earlier as well, tonight before we started Senna and Prost scored more points than Senna in 88, but because of drop scores lost the championship. Reid scored the most points, didn't he, yes, he did.

Speaker 3:
1:16:31
Yeah, yeah, he did. So I've got the table here. Alain Meunier scored 195. Anthony Reid with drop scores, as you said, greg, the two point gap at 193. But if there were no drop scores, reid, he would have had 201 points and would have won the title by 6 points.

Speaker 1:
1:16:49
So galling, very, very galling then again, could you argue that's just about devil's advocate here, knowing you've got to drop four scores when the season begins. Is it better off taking a risk sometimes and going for win or burst, knowing if you do go off you're going to drop the score anyway? I?

Speaker 7:
1:17:04
don't know yeah I don't know.

Speaker 1:
1:17:06
There's different ways because it is the same for everyone.

Speaker 3:
1:17:08
You could argue I mean looking at his you know racing career in touring cars pre and post 2000. Anthony reed wasn't very mr conservative Conservative, was he? He normally ended up annoying somebody.

Speaker 1:
1:17:22
Yeah, and he'd often get into scrapes in high pressure.

Speaker 4:
1:17:26
Yeah, he was always aggressive.

Speaker 3:
1:17:28
The amount of post-race arguments he ended up with. Rydell Thompson, muller, mcneil they've all had arguments with him, mostly at Brandt's hatch.

Speaker 1:
1:17:40
Yeah, alan Menu in 97.

Speaker 3:
1:17:43
Menu in 97. He's wound up a lot of drivers with his driving standards before, so very unusual to see Reid behaving so sensibly.

Speaker 4:
1:17:56
I don't think he was carrying around 40 kilos of ballast.

Speaker 3:
1:17:59
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah like.

Speaker 4:
1:18:01
So he wasn't going to be the fastest one, he was going to struggle in certain parts of the circuit, so you're carrying that that burden almost of of what's happening. So sometimes you just got to concede and just like let him by, doesn't matter, like and just. It's hard and honestly, it's one of the hardest things you could possibly do as a racing driver is think that way is to let somebody pass, but that's where you've just got to be clever about it and think this, this is it. Now, everything that I've done this season has come down to this, and sometimes you've just got a box clever, haven't you?

Speaker 1:
1:18:35
that is true. Actually, though, because maybe we're being a bit too hard on Reedy because he had the ballast, the Hondas were very quick on the international circuit at Silverstone. They had the best straight line speed of anyone that year. So that's already. You're going to be what sixth or seventh by default, almost, aren't you?

Speaker 4:
1:18:49
Yeah, yeah yeah, so he's carrying that going in there. Yes, championship leader. However, he's carrying the most ballast. Just felt he could have tackled those that weekend, that race that day differently and I'm sure he looks back on that now and thinks the same play-to-do did pass menu.

Speaker 2:
1:19:07
When the swiss made room on the penultimate lap, alan's no fool. I was flashing my lights and he had a championship at stake. Had reed still been in the race, menu was confident he could have held plato back. He was very fast, but if I had to defend he would have stayed behind. Alex, do you agree with alan there? Do you think he'd have held off plato? It really came to it I'm not sure, really.

Speaker 3:
1:19:34
I don't. Don't know if you can say definitely either. Either way, but what I do know is that Jason suffered a little bit at the hands of Alain at Renault for a couple of years. They had a couple of set-tos, didn't they? Yeah, I can imagine Jason wanting to put the shits up Alain a bit.

Speaker 4:
1:19:55
Yes, that's why, alain, just let him through, didn't he?

Speaker 3:
1:19:59
Yeah, I'm not even gonna go there, you know I can imagine that, that that that would have been very much, and he was catching him fast. So yeah, um, you can't say for sure. I would like to think that plato would have been able to pass and I'm I'm rewriting it so that reedy wins the championship here. But yeah, I would like to think it would have happened, but I don't know. Alan was pretty gutsy that day, wasn't he? As Greg said, about that pass on the opening lap. He wasn't afraid to sort of get stuck in. So I'm not sure. I would like to think it would have happened and Reedy would have won the title and he would have deserved a title. But Alan was not going to let go of that title easily either, was he?

Speaker 2:
1:20:48
So what of Christensen? The last man to win a BTCC Super Touring race in the UK, but almost forgotten? The title mellow. It's been a frustrating season, so it's good to end on a high note. I had all the luck today. It was a masterful performance from the day. But he was right about the luck. Just ask Anthony Reid and Ricard Rydell about their luck. Adam, a double win not a bad way to sign off from your time in the BTCC, is it?

Speaker 4:
1:21:21
Absolute, perfect. It was just absolutely perfect for him. I think he had a first-class performance from him really, and he was a first-class driver and I think you saw more of that as the years went on with what he'd achieved with Le Mans and you know you put your money on him winning and he's just an absolute top-class driver in every way. An ambassador for Audi, I believe he still is, and he's brilliant. So to sign your season off like that absolutely brilliant you couldn't really want from any more.

Speaker 4:
1:21:47
Really, the car was quick and, like I've said before about some of the easiest races, the ones that you win because you're at the front, you start at the front, you're out of the melee of all the shenanigans that can be going on elsewhere and wrong place, wrong time moments. You've got cars to your left, to your right, in front of you, behind you and, as we know, in btcc racing anything can happen at any time. But to just be in that position at the front, just to have the car quick enough to win, they're your perfect races. They are and they're the easiest ones that you'll ever win. Um, and he just did what he needed to do, but he had the car to do it, which was really good meanwhile, alain menu became the only person to win two btcc titles in the super touring era.

Speaker 10:
1:22:52
Let's hear his thoughts after the race on that last lap. Just amazing, you know, after that first race where I went off and then I knew I had to finish in the first three and for Anthony Reid not to finish better than fifth, and so I pushed and I got Thompson at the priority on lap two, I think it was. I was like there, you know, a daring move, but I thought I got nothing to lose. And then I mean, the car was fantastic and the guys did a very good pit stop and I drove it well and I'm very, very happy.

Speaker 2:
1:23:23
Greg over the course of that season, a deserved accolade for menu.

Speaker 1:
1:23:28
No doubt about it whatsoever. You heard there how emotional he was, saying it meant a lot more than 97. And just think 97 was the culmination of finishing second in the championship for the previous three years to Tarquini, cleland and Biela. But the challenge man U had in 2000, up against Anthony Reid, who'd already been teammate with the year before they'd developed that car together and Ricard Rydell, I mean what a challenge. All in the same car, same team. What a challenge. All in the same car, same team, same people around them. You could say in some ways.

Speaker 1:
1:24:04
You know that 2000 title was won by whether it had been read or menu, by their decision to switch to Ford in 1998. Bearing in mind, one of them was a well-paid Renault factory driver and the reigning champion at the time. The other was a well-paid Nissan driver, even better paid at Ford, as we now know. But they had that presence of mind't they to think ahead to the future, which isn't easily done in life in general? Is it so? Both reed and menuer had that foresight back in 98 to think where we, where are we going to go? How's this going to pan out? You know they obviously had a lot of connections in racing and in the paddock. So that was clever, very clever, um.

Speaker 1:
1:24:37
But let's have no mistakes. As unfortunate as it is for um, brantney reed a la menu, as we all collectively decided in our previous series, was the best driver in the super touring era, one of the best touring car drivers worldwide we have ever seen, and the best of that era. It is fitting that if anyone was to win two titles in the super touring era it was alan menu, because it was brilliantly done and he was so clever in 2000 in the way he looked at the format. Where can I drop some scores? Where might I not want the success ballast drop a place here or there? But right from day one, wasn't it from the first toker test pre-season before brand's hatch? He was the man in the year 2000 do you know what?

Speaker 3:
1:25:21
I know? No one was surprised, were they go? I'm reminded of um that preseason uh piece. They did um on the live episode and they asked all the drivers who they thought was going to win it. And everyone else said someone else. True, and matt um alan menu turned to the camera. If I've got to tip someone it has to be me.

Speaker 1:
1:25:41
Yeah.

Speaker 3:
1:25:43
And then just winked.

Speaker 1:
1:25:44
Yes, menya was the Schumacher of the Super Touring era, wasn't he? There's no doubt about it. He was no doubt about it, absolutely.

Speaker 2:
1:25:55
It's now that time of the show to head over to producer Matt, who hopefully has got some stats for us, I hope.

Speaker 7:
1:26:02
Yes, certainly do so. As we know, the wonderful drop points system hurt Anthony Reid, costing the championship. There were two other drivers that year who also lost points in the end, and they were Ivan Mullerer and matt neal, but neither of whom actually lost a position in the championship as a result. The silverstone feature race was the eighth time in the 24 races of 2000 where the podium featured one ford, one honda and one voxel. On a further three occasions there were three different makes of car on the podium, as matt neal's nissan joined one honda and one ford. So in virtually half the races, three different types of car on the podium, and I think that shows the competitiveness of the series despite fewer cars yeah you, you wouldn't have said that, no, if you just looked on 2000 as a whole.

Speaker 3:
1:26:54
That really surprises me actually, because everyone would just go oh, ford walked it, but they actually didn't, and that shows yeah, so during 2000, despite finishing on the podium five times, matt neal never shared the podium with a voxel driver.

Speaker 7:
1:27:11
And this, this next one. This next one is my favorite. It's one that it's one that I uncovered, and then I checked it three more times just to make sure it was true. There was at least one Ford on the podium in every single race. Really Wow. I didn't know that until a couple of days ago, and I looked it up again and again and again and even a few minutes ago, because that really surprises me. But yeah, in every single race there at least one ford on the podium yeah, I can.

Speaker 3:
1:27:43
I'm looking at the the grid of results on wikipedia. Now. There was times when it was only one, but they were certainly there. Yeah, so that explains again why they were.

Speaker 1:
1:27:53
Let's just put this into perspective board was 104 points ahead in the manufacturersurers' Championship, with only two rivals.

Speaker 3:
1:28:03
Yes, that's mad.

Speaker 7:
1:28:07
It's a statistic that helps go on to the next fact, which is that the 72 overall podium finishes for the season. Ford took 34 of them, which any car of Alderman's out there. That's very nearly half of them, half of all the podiums. Honda took 17 and voxel took 16, with the final five being taken by matt neal. So my, my final little set of stats. It starts with a question for you. Let's pop you on the spot here. So in in the whole of the super touring era, what won more races ford monday or the honda accord? Oh, I'm gonna go with.

Speaker 1:
1:28:43
The monday is the first one, I would think. I'm just trying to think about this because they had so many wins in 2000, didn't they? They went, how many did they win it? Menu one, six, ride out one, three and read one, two, so that's six, seven, that's 11 in 2000 alone. And then what?

Speaker 2:
1:28:58
what before 95, when it all went downhill?

Speaker 3:
1:29:03
one each, so two in 95 one in 99 with menu. Yeah one in 98 with will boy yeah.

Speaker 1:
1:29:12
So what did I say? 2000 was six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen. How many? What about Radicich?

Speaker 3:
1:29:17
Radicich won 6 Burt won oh yeah, burt won 1, yeah, but that was in 95, so Radicich won 6, so 6, 7, 8, wilhoite 9 Menu and then however many 19 in 2000. Ok, and then?

Speaker 1:
1:29:39
Honda. So Leslie won. Was it 2 in 96? However many, it's 19. In 2000. Okay, and then Honda. So Leslie won. Was it two in 96? With the Honda?

Speaker 3:
1:29:46
Accord. Are we talking about the Honda Accord and the whole?

Speaker 1:
1:29:47
of this Four did he win four?

Speaker 3:
1:29:50
Leslie won four, I think, or three.

Speaker 2:
1:29:52
I think it might be a call, because they did get quite a few wins in 2000. They were just there.

Speaker 3:
1:29:57
Yeah, yeah, yeah In 99,. Jimmy T won four in 99. Peter Cox won one 98,. Tomo won four or five, two in 97. Yeah, I reckon it might be the accordion.

Speaker 1:
1:30:11
Did Tarquini win in 97? Yes, he won one.

Speaker 3:
1:30:14
Yeah, One each. Yeah one each, Two in 97. I want to say each.

Speaker 4:
1:30:17
Yeah, one each.

Speaker 3:
1:30:17
Two in 97.

Speaker 4:
1:30:19
I want to say Honda.

Speaker 1:
1:30:20
Yeah.

Speaker 3:
1:30:21
And how many did.

Speaker 1:
1:30:21
Tomo. Tomo went four in 99, did he? I reckon we could actually work this out if we've got the patience. I bet it's close.

Speaker 3:
1:30:29
We don't want to bore the listeners though.

Speaker 1:
1:30:30
It's not going to be.

Speaker 3:
1:30:33
I'm going to plant my flag in the Honda.

Speaker 4:
1:30:36
I am as well.

Speaker 1:
1:30:37
Am I the only one? So I'm getting the Mondeo, then I'm going to be the outlier.

Speaker 3:
1:30:42
Here we go.

Speaker 7:
1:30:45
Well, I can tell you, there was one in it. Oh so, in its eight years in the championship, the Mondeo took 20 wins, and in its six years in the championship, the Accord took 21.

Speaker 1:
1:31:01
Ah, oh well, had to have a go.

Speaker 7:
1:31:02
So it was actually this weekend that changed that.

Speaker 3:
1:31:06
Yes, it was the two, it was the two. Yeah, it was actually the weekend that changed.

Speaker 7:
1:31:10
So 11 of the Mondeo's 20 wins came in 2000, and seven of Honda's 21 wins came in 2000. Wow, the Vauxhall Vectra took 10 wins during its five years in the championship, meaning the Mondeo won more races in 2000 than the Vectra did during Super Touring. Oh true, and five of those Vectra wins came in the year 2000 itself.

Speaker 2:
1:31:36
The final ever BTCC meeting held to super touring regulations went with a bang as Alain Menud triumphed under the lights at Silverstone, with there being plenty of uncertainty to the future of the championship. At the time, nobody knew quite what the series would look like once they headed to Brands Hatch again for the start of the 2001 season in April. For the start of the 2001 season in April. I'd like to thank Greg Haynes for joining us once again to look back at this race and we hope we'll see your stories from Supertouring again soon, greg.

Speaker 1:
1:32:07
Thank you very much, levi. Thanks guys, it's been a pleasure and I will just add it's good the BBC and Charlie Cox and John Watson carried on into the next season, because I think that would have been a too big a change for the viewers, wouldn't it? If all the rules had changed and the TV coverage, the whole look, that would have really been a shock, I think. I agree with that. Actually, I've never really thought of that but that really would have just felt like an entirely different show altogether, wouldn't it?

Speaker 2:
1:32:34
I do like the way they closed it, though it was somebody switching the lights off yeah, thanks as ever to you guys for listening to the show the way they closed it, though it was somebody switching the lights off. Yeah, our thanks, as ever, go to you guys for listening to the show, and if you enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to give us a review five star rating and subscribe to the podcast feed on your podcast app of choice. In the meantime, we'll see you next week. Goodbye.