Category: Tin Top Racing

Josh Cook ended the season with a win in round 30, with his stop-start season being rewarded with a victory. Title runner up Ash Sutton finished second while Jake Hill bids farewell to the BTCC with a third place finish.

In a race where the overall title was already won, it was the other championships which took precedence. There was the independents and the Jack Sears trophy to fight for.

Aiden Moffat lead off the start from pole, with Sutton surging through from eighth on the grid. There was suspicion that Moffat had jumped the start but there was no further investigation.

Lap four saw two NAPA Ford’s colliding, as Dan Rowbottom tapped Dan Cammish wide onto the grass going into Druids. The Yorkshireman spun and suffered race-ending damage. He still managed to secure third in the standings despite not finishing. This brought out the final safety car of the season.

The restart came on lap eight, with Cook now ahead of Moffat, and Sutton and Hill forcing their way past the BMW driver. This led to a battle of the Scots as Moffat was defending from Gordon Shedden.

Dan Lloyd was leading the Independents title going into the final race, but his lead was under threat from teammate Chris Smiley and Mikey Doble of Power Maxed Racing.

The trio were together on track, fighting for 14th on the grid. Smiley was ahead but didn’t have enough of a gap to overhaul Lloyd. Lloyd lost places to Max Buxton and Nick Hamilton but managed to come home with a four point cushion over Doble and Smiley.

Daryl DeLeon and Charles Rainford were battling it out for the Jack Sears trophy, awarded for the best driver to have never scored a podium before the season began. Both have managed to not only achieve podiums but win races this season, but were still eligible for the title.

DeLeon secured the title with a 14th place finish, Rainford finished ahead in 12th but it wasn’t enough, as DeLeon, only 19, secures WSR’s first ever Jack Sears trophy.

Up front Cook won in the Toyota, ending his season on a high, missing part of the season after One Motorsport dropped out. He joined Toyota and secured a big win.

Sutton finished second with Hill, who’s leaving the BTCC, finished third. Shedden passed Moffat on the final lap for fourth while champion Tom Ingram finished sixth. Adam Morgan was seventh with Dan Rowbottom eighth. Senna Proctor and Sam Osborne rounded off the top ten.

Dexter Patterson was the top independent with 11th, while Rainford, Smiley, DeLeon and Doble rounded off the points.

Tom Ingram ended the season 42 points ahead of Ash Sutton as the champion, his second title.

Tom Ingram secured his second BTCC championship with a win in round 29 at Brands Hatch. The Hyundai man powered into the lead and never looked back. Title rival Ash Sutton followed him home in second, but couldn’t stop Ingram adding to his 2022 title win.

in a race affected by two safety car periods, Ingram kept his cool and secured his 40th career win.

Cammish was bogged down at the start, with Chilton taking the lead and Rainford squeezing past too. His rear wheel drive BMW starting well. Adam Morgan spun at Druids sending him down the order while Ingram made his way to third.

At the start of lap two Ingram slid down the inside of Rainford at Paddock Hill while Sutton, seeing his title chances slipping away, passed team mate Cammish for fourth. By lap three Ingram was in the lead, passing team mate Chilton at Surtees who didn’t make it difficult for the championship leader.

Sutton knew that he had to finish ahead of Ingram to keep his championship hopes alive, and passed Rainford on lap four at Westfield for third place before the race was neutralised by a Safety Car. Heading into Paddock Hill at the start of lap five, Rainford was tapped into the gravel and wall by Aron Taylor-Smith’s Toyota – BMW’s miserable day continued.

After a three lap delay the race was restarted, but only momentarily as heading into Druids, Josh Cook tapped his Toyota team mate Taylor-Smith off and into the wall. While under safety car conditions Chilton’s Hyundai ground to a halt at Druids. He fell down the order and more importantly, Ingram lost his rear gunner, giving Sutton the chance to attack Ingram.

Lap 14 saw the restart with just five laps left for Ingram to hold on. On the faster soft tyres, he pulled away from Sutton, who both literally and metaphorically saw his title hopes sail off into the distance.

Senna Proctor pushed from 13th on the grid to the podium with a fantastic switch back pass down the inside of Cammish at Surtees for third and best of the rest behind the title chasing duo.

Tom Ingram took the chequered flag to seal his second title, his seventh win of the season and the 40th of his career. A magnificent campaign from Ingram, who has been first or second in at least half of the races this season with seven wins and eight second placed finishes.

Sutton finished second, doing all he could but just not enough. Proctor finished third to aid Team VERTU’s manufacturer title bid. Gordon Shedden was fourth with Cammish and Dan Rowbottom fifth and sixth. Jake Hill surged from the back of the grid to seventh in his penultimate race before leaving the sport.

Josh Cook, Aiden Moffat and Adam Morgan rounded off the top ten. Chris Smiley finished ahead of Sam Osborne with Daryl DeLeon putting his race one woe behind him for 13th. Mikey Doble and Dan Lloyd were 14th and 15th, Lloyd in prime position to take the Independent title.

Dan Cammish cruised to victory in round 28 at Brands Hatch in a lights to flag win, while Tom Ingram has one hand on the title by finishing ahead of title rival Ash Sutton.

Pole sitter Daryl DeLeon pulled into the pits on the formation lap with an issue, meaning Cammish was what was effectively pole position. Ingram lined up seventh with Sutton 11th.

Cammish led off the line, never surrendering his lead. Tom Chilton had a good start from fourth, jumping Dan Rowbottom for second on the run into Paddock Hill bend. Rowbottom got back in front of the veteran further into the lap. Ingram was up to fifty with Sutton ninth.

Jake Hill suffered a puncture to compound WSR’s woes with DeLeon stranded in the pits. The only saving grace for the beleaguered BMW squad was Charles Rainford, who passed Ingram for fifth on lap two.

Chilton managed to pass Rowbottom for second at the Druids hairpin. Adam Morgan wanted to pile further misery on Rowbottom and follow his team mate through. He tapped Rowbottom’s Ford going into Surtees and nudged his way through, with Rowbottom dropping to sixth. Ingram back through for fifth.

The title protagonists had a very quiet race, with Ingram happy to consolidate his fifth place finish and bank the all-important points he needed. Sutton was ninth but under pressure from Chris Smiley, himself fighting for the Independents title with team mate Dan Lloyd – who was further up the order.

Smiley managed to pass Sutton for ninth on lap 12 but went wide on Graham Hill bend and Sutton surged past.

Cammish took the chequered flag and strengthened his grip on third in the standings. Chilton and Morgan did Team VERTU’s Teams championship bid a world of good by finishing second and third.

Rainford finished fourth to secure points for BMW with the other three cars finishing out of the points; Aiden Moffat had to pit, speeding in the process, and earning a drive thru penalty. He finished 20th.

Ingram took fifth, extending his gap to 37 points with just 44 left to fight for. Rowbottom was sixth with Gordon Shedden seventh. Dan Lloyd finished eighth to lead the Independents title.

Sutton was ninth with Smiley tenth. Josh Cook battled from the back of the grid to finish 11th. Aron Taylor-Smith and Senna Proctor were next while Mikey Doble and Sam Osborne rounded off the points.

Featured image courtesy of Warren Nel

This is part two in our series looking back at the Super Touring era of the BTCC, be sure to check out part one.

The Super Touring era of the British Touring Car Championship had an inauspicious start to life. It was finding its feet and emerging from the shadow of the era of roaring Ford Sierra RS500’s. The new cars may have been more conventional looking, but that didn’t diminish the quality of the racing on show.

1991 saw a exciting title fight between Will Hoy and John Cleland, but 1992 was the year the series really kicked into life.

It would be the season of many a memorable moment, as well as a season finale which is still talked about nearly 35 years on.

The early proceedings were dominated by Vauxhall and Toyota. John Cleland and Jeff Allam in the Cavalier battled with Andy Rouse and Will Hoy, with the reigning champion now in a Toyota Carina. Cleland won the first two rounds at Silverstone and Thruxton before Rouse and Hoy won a race apiece at Oulton Park and Snetterton respectively.

Round five at Brands Hatch would see the first real flashpoint of the season. Cleland had made it past the Toyotas, and was sailing into the distance to strengthen his title bid. Rouse and Hoy were chasing hard, perhaps a little too hard as going into Westfield the pair collided and were in the barrier – breaking the first cardinal sin of motorsport, don’t hit your teammate!

At the halfway point of the season, Cleland was leading the championship, but an unlikely contender was about to enter the fray. While BMW won the title in 1991 with an M3, they were struggling with their new model, the Listerine liveried 318IS. Tim Harvey and Steve Soper led the team, with Soper splitting his time between the BTCC and the German touring car championship.

Leaving Donington Park, Harvey was fifth, 60 points behind Cleland. But he would go on an incredible five win streak, meaning he was a point behind Cleland going into the season finale at Silverstone. The minty marauder was in with a shout.

A race for the ages, the three title protagonists, Cleland, Harvey and Hoy all qualified in the middle of the pack, and had to fight their way through. Soper, who’d surged up from last following a collision earlier in the race, managed to pass Cleland and act as a rear gunner for Harvey. The onboard camera famously caught Cleland giving the finger to Soper, prompting the unforgettable quip from commentator Murray Walker – “I’m going for first says Cleland.”

Heading into Brooklands, Cleland got past Soper, going onto two wheels to do so, Soper, undeterred decided to lunge down the inside and took the pair into the gravel and out. This handed Harvey the title. Cleland was apoplectic, uttering his own famous line, “the man’s an animal” while claiming they “race clean” in the BTCC. The irony being as he says it you can hear tyre smoke and a probable collision in the background.

The pair have since buried the hatchet and are good friends, but the moment really put the BTCC on the map. It was front page of the newspapers and a much watch on Grandstand.

1993 saw the first of the big budget international drivers arrive on the scene, in the name of Jo Winkelhock at BMW. Renault also entered the series, tempting reigning champion Harvey to join Alain Menu (remember that name too). The Renault 19 struggled unless it rained, with Harvey managing just one win at Donington Park in the wet, Menu finishing second, a false dawn as the pair failed to make the top five in the standings.

Winkelhock and teammate Soper dominated, with Ford’s Paul Radisich putting on a late show to finish third despite missing the first seven rounds of the season. While not as controversial as the season before, there was definitely one moment which everyone remembers.

Reigning Formula One and IndyCar champion Nigel Mansell joined the Ford team for the ToCA shootout at Donington Park. The biggest of big names at the time, imagine Lewis Hamilton rocking up in a Ford Focus, that’s the magnitude we’re talking about.

Mansell wouldn’t finish the race however as going into the Old Hairpin, he lost the back end and and slid across the circuit. He was collected by Tiff Needell, who was a guest driver doing a feature for Top Gear – yes, that Top Gear.

Mansell was sent into the barrier and his first flirtation with the BTCC ended painfully. He’d be back later in the era…

The BTCC was really starting to hit the headlines, it was prime time viewing on BBC Grandstand, and the controversy and racing were only getting better and better. The big names were coming, and the budgets were ballooning. It wouldn’t be long before the big boys got involved.

Sam Osborne took his maiden win with a sensational lights to flag victory in round 27 at Silverstone. The Yorkshireman took his first win despite intense pressure from Josh Cook throughout the race.

Championship protagonist Ash Sutton took third to keep the title hopes alive with rival Tom Ingram fifth.

Sometimes the forgotten man in the NAPA Racing stable, Osborne can name race winners Dan Cammish and Dan Rowbottom as team mates, as well as four time champion Sutton no less. But Osborne was picked for pole by virtue of the reverse grid draw.

He led from the start, and held his nerve as there were battles throughout the field. The title rivals Ingram and Sutton were moving up the grid from the middle of the pack.

Sutton made it to third by lap six with Ingram in sixth, with Rowbottom and Jake Hill between them.

Cook was bearing down on Osborne, with the gap standing at seven tenths on lap 12. It was a tactical arm wrestle of when and how to use the boost. By lap 16 the gap was just two tenths with Cook, a multiple race winner, breathing down Osborne’s neck.

With just three laps to go Cook went wide into Luffield, losing the back end. This gave Osborne the slight gap he needed to cruise home for his first win, under intense pressure.

Sutton came third to cut into Ingram’s lead slightly, with Hill between the pair. Aiden Moffat was sixth with Vertu Hyundai pair Adam Morgan and Tom Chilton next. Dan Cammish and Mikey Doble rounded off the top ten.

The final points places were taken by Aron Taylor-Smith, Charles Rainford, Senna Proctor, Rowbottom and Dexter Patterson.

Osborne can finally call himself a race winner, and joins his NAPA teammates in that regard.

Going into the final three rounds at Brands Hatch in two weeks time, Ingram has a 33 point lead over Sutton. The title battle is sure to go down to the wire.

Tom Ingram took another step towards the title with victory in round 26 of the BTCC at Silverstone.

The championship leader and his title rival Ash Sutton showed why they’re the class of the field, finishing first and second by some distance.

At the start, Jake Hill passed race one winner Dan Lloyd into Becketts, while further down the order Ingram made an excellent start and was third by the end of the lap.

Brooklands was seeing plenty of action as Ingram made it second place by the end of lap two, taking Lloyd and chasing down Hill in the lead. The Hyundai man pulled away from the chasing pack and was on the tail of Hill’s BMW by lap four.

Ingram was through and away as he passed Hill down the Wellington straight and was off into the sunset with a lead he never surrendered.

Title rival Sutton, not to be forgotten, followed Ingram through the field and was up to third by lap eight with Hill between them.

The Safety Car was introduced for the second time today on lap nine when Tom Chilton was in the gravel trap. He tried a move on Charles Rainford but caught the front left, causing an instant puncture and he understeered off into the gravel and out of the race.

On the restart on lap 13, there was more drama when Hyundai’s Adam Morgan’s bonnet flew up after slight contact into Becketts.

Back at the front, Sutton could see Ingram pulling away, and in the slower medium tyre, his aim was to minimise the damage. He managed to pass Hill for second into Brooklands on lap 16.

While the top two pulled away, Hill was falling into the clutches of Dan Rowbottom, who was hunting the BMW man for third. The reigning champion was safe and secured third when on the penultimate lap Rowbottom’s engine gave up, and the Ford driver pulled into the pits to retire.

Ingram took the lead, and another small stride towards his second title, but with Sutton following behind, the fight is still very much on.

Hill, who is almost resigned to handing over his crown, was third. Aron Taylor-Smith secured his best finish of the season in fourth, with Rainford and Dan Lloyd close behind. Gordon Shedden and Aiden Moffat followed with Josh Cook and Daryl DeLeon rounding off the top ten.

Mikey Doble and Sam Osborne were next with Max Buxton, Nick Halstead and Chris Smiley taking 15th despite a penalty for track limits.

Dan Lloyd secured Restart Racing’s first ever BTCC win from fourth on the grid in a race which ended under Safety Car conditions. A fire for Nicholas Hamilton brought an early end to his race, and meant Lloyd’s excellent manoeuvres were rewarded with victory.

Title rivals Tom Ingram and Ash Sutton secured vital points finishes with not many races left to fight for the championship.

Pole sitter Daryl DeLeon led off the line with Shedden close behind. Sutton made a good start, squeezing up the inside and gaining a couple of places with a Ingram following his rival through.

Shedden dove down the inside of DeLeon at Luffield to take the lead. DeLeon began to slip down the grid as Dan Lloyd, Jake Hill and Senna Proctor passed the BMW man. Lloyd’s Restart Racing Hyundai took the lead at Brooklands with Shedden slipping into the clutches of Hill.

Further down the grid, the title protagonists were making their way through the field. Ingram made an important pass on Sutton for ninth on lap four, reducing any risk of losing any of his championship lead.

Hill passed Shedden for second and was bearing down on Lloyd in the lead, but the Hyundai driver stayed strong and held off Hill’s BMW.

Lap 11 saw Ingram pass Sutton’s teammate Dan Rowbottom. The Ford driver doing all he could to hold up Ingram but to no avail as the championship leader moved into seventh.

The race was neutralised on lap 18 when Nicholas Hamilon’s Cupra burst into flames. A small fire was spotted under the car which prompted Hamilton to park up on the Wellington straight. The car soon alight and being tackled by the marshals armed with fire extinguishers.

The Safety Car came out but the race never resumed as it finished behind yellow flag conditions.

Lloyd took the win, Restart Racing’s first ever BTCC victory, with Hill and Shedden rounding off the podium. Senna Proctor took fourth from sixth on the grid with Josh Cook and Aiden Moffat following close behind after a race-long battle.

Importantly, Ingram led Sutton home in seventh and eighth respectively with Rowbottom and Adam Morgan ninth and tenth. Aron Taylor-Smith was 11th with Dan Cammish moving from 21st on the grid to 12th. DeLeon fell from pole to 13th with Charles Rainford and Chris Smiley’s Restart Hyundai book-ending the points with 15th.

Ingram’s lead is now 33 points ahead of Sutton with just five races to go, and the chance to build on impressive race one finishes in race two.

It was the series that had it all, the finest drivers, prime time TV coverage, wheel to wheel action, and budgets big enough to make even the deepest pockets feel the pinch.

The British Touring Car Championship in the 1990’s had everything going for it, it was flying high and went from national competition to worldwide fame. But it soon became a victim of its own success and imploded on itself. By the end of the decade the writing was on the wall. All the momentum the series built evaporated and it took the BTCC years to fully recover. Never hitting the same heights.

As we welcome the 25th anniversary of the end of the Super Touring era, it’s still talked about today as one of the most exciting periods in motorsport history – even if it almost consumed the BTCC in the process.

To understand why this era was so significant, and why the ending was so abrupt, we need to go back to the start.

Touring cars in the late 80’s was dominated by Ford and their Sierra Cosworth RS500’s. Footage of Andy Rouse and Steve Soper hurling their fire-breathing monsters around Brands Hatch at breakneck speeds became stuff of legend. Accompanied by motorsport’s finest commentator, Murray Walker, and shown on BBC Grandstand in a highlight package format, the BTCC was indeed popular viewing.

But alas, there was a flaw in the system.

The BTCC field was split into classes, and on rare occasions, slower cars in lower classes would win the outright championship, not the driver finishing first on the road in the fastest car.

A prime example of this was John Cleland (remember that name, it’ll be important later), he won the 1989 title, not in a Group A Sierra, but rather, a Vauxhall Astra competing in Group C. For context that would be akin to a Formula Three car winning the Formula One world championship over the likes of McLaren and Red Bull.

For 1990, changes were made, and the 2.0 litre formula was introduced, which would become known as Super Touring. The cars eligible had to have naturally aspirated six cylinder 2.0 litre engines. Another stipulation was that 2,500 of these cars had to be built and manufactured for homologation purposes.

The beauty of the Super Touring era was that the cars you saw race on TV looked very much like the family car sat on your drive way. Instead of futuristic looking race cars, it was Ford Mondeo’s and Honda Accords you saw battling it out for victory. The phrase “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” became a popular mantra for car dealers around this time.

The move was made to combat escalating costs, and create a more open and even field. The unpopular class system remained in place, reducing to two – A and B. Essentially Class A was for the Sierra RS500’s, while Class B was the genesis of Super Touring. Vauxhall and BMW entered as manufacturers with the Cavalier and the M3 respectively.

Robb Gravett won the championship in a Sierra, but the signs were clear, Super Touring was born.

1991 saw a raft of manufacturers join the series. Vauxhall and BMW remained, and Toyota, Ford, Nissan and Mitsubishi followed. The multi-class system was dropped, instead opting for manufacturer and independent entries which would remain in place for the whole era.

The new rules brought with them the desired effect. Closer action, thrilling races, and the emergence of a host of what would become household names. John Cleland and Will Hoy fought it out for the title, with Hoy coming out on top in his BMW M3 after a thrilling season finale at Silverstone. ‘91 also saw the debut of future three time champion Matt Neal as an independent. BMW took the manufacturers crown.

Little did they know at the time, but the BTCC had stumbled upon a golden formula. One which would grow and be as popular as Formula One over the course of the 90’s.

This is the first of a five part article series chronicling the Super Touring era, what made it great, the controversies that ensued, and hopefully an explanation as to why this series and era of the sport is still very much talked about today.