On the 1st of July I attended the Super Touring Power event at Brands Hatch.
The Super Touring era for the BTCC was from 1990-1999
The theme of this event was all things Super Touring Cars from Static displays, demonstration laps, interviews with drivers of the time to races featuring some of the cars that raced during the Super Touring era.
Guests of the event were Tim Harvey, Alain Menu, Andy Rouse, Steve Soper, Anthony Reid, Paul Radisich, Patrick Watts, Jeff Allam, Charlie Cox, Greg Murphy, Steven Richards, Ian Flux and Chris Hodgetts. Some of these would be interviewed on the Autosport Stage near Paddock Hill Grandstand. These interviews were recorded live for an Autosport Podcast. Other guests would take the wheel of some of the cars in attendance.
Current Touring Car drivers Jake Hill, Ash Sutton, Dan Cammish and Colin Turkington would also be present during the weekend with Jake Hill driving a Nissan Primera in the four feature races, two on Saturday on the GP Circuit and two on the Sunday on the Indy Circuit.
For the eagle eyed among us, David Brodie also put in an appearance on the Saturday and had a good look around at what was going on.
There was also a tent set up with two Super Touring Cars on one side and Original Playstation's that you could play the TOCA Touring Car Championship and TOCA 2 games on.
All this along side a mighty set of support races from the Classic Touring Car Racing Club (CTCRC), it was to be a real treat.
Below are my photo's from the event
Display cars.
Vauxhall Astra Van.
Ford Sierra Ghia I Auto.
Ford Sierra RS Cosworth Sapphire.
Alfa Romeo 156 GTA.
Nissan 200 SX Touring.
Ford Escort Ghia Auto.
TWR Rover Vitesse.
TVR Tuscan.
Alfa Romeo 155 2.5 V6.
Honda Integra V-Tech.
Alfa Romeo 155 1.8 Twin Spark.
Ford Escort RS Cosworth's.
Super Tourer Display, for these cars the drivers stated were the ones who drove in period not the current owner/driver.
Honda Accord driven by David Leslie.
Honda Accord driven by Rob Gravett.
Renault Laguna driven by Alain Menu.
Renault 19 driven by Tim Harvey.
Peugeot 405 driven by Patrick Watts.
Peugeot 406 driven by Tim Harvey.
Peugeot 406 Coupe driven by Tim Harvey.
Peugeot 306 driven by Simon Harrison.
MG ZS driven by Colin Turkington.
Volvo 850R driven by Jan Lammers.
Volvo S40 driven by Rickard Rydell.
BMW M3 E30 driven by Alan Minshaw.
Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 driven by Steve Soper.
Start up.
Rev it.
Subaru Levorg driven by Jason Plato.
Toyota Supra driven by Barry Sheene.
Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 driven by Laurence Bristow.
BMW CSL Batmobile.
Seat Toledo S2000 driven by Jason Plato and Rob Huff.
Nissan Primera driven by David Leslie.
Support Race Cars.
BMW E24 Alpina driven by Howard Spooner.
Jaguar Series 1 Sovereign driven by Tim Morrant.
Vauxhall Firenza driven by Tony Davies.
Aston Martin V8 Vantage driven by Samuel Wilson.
Jaguar X300 driven by Michael Atkinson.
Ford RS500 driven by Joey Binks.
Ford Falcon driven by Andy Robinson.
Boss 302 Ford Mustang driven by Ray Donner.
Just in case you wanted to see the engine.
And the noise.....
Ford Capri driven by Charles Rainford.
Alfa Romeo GT V6 driven by David Margalies.
Peter Hallford in the Ford Mustang is being chased by Ian Curley in the Austin Mini Cooper S.
Jaguar MKI driven by Grant Williams.
Jason Christie in the Ford Escort RS200 being chased by Jonathan Corker in the Datsun 510 and Mark Cholerton in the Ford Escort RS2000.
Grant Williams in the MKI Jaguar being chased by Timothy Abbott in the Ford Lotus Cortina.
Holden VH Commodore Driven by Paul Eaton.
Honda Civic driven by Josh Lawton.
Super Tourers on track. What a noise.
Jake Hill driving the Nissan Primera of Laurent Aiello.
Anthony Reid driving the Nissan Primera he raced in 1998.
Steven Richards driving the Rickard Rydell Volvo S40.
Paul Radisich driving the Ford Mondeo he drove in 1994.
Mark Jones driving the Jason Plato Renault Laguna.
Jim Pocklington driving the John Clelend Vauxhall Cavalier.
David Power driving the Thierry Boutsen Ford Mondeo.
Jason Hughes driving the Jason Plato Vauxhall Vectra.
Colin Sowter driving the Paul Radisich Peugeot 406.
Allister McMillan driving the Ivan Capelli Nissan Primera PX4
Stuart Caie driving the Jeff Allam Vauxhall Cavalier ST.
Greg Murphy driving the Matt Neal Nissan Primera.
AJ Owen driving the Paul Radisich Ford Mondeo.
Richard Wheeler driving the David Leslie Nissan Primera.
Nigel Arkell driving the David Leslie Honda Accord.
Richard Wheeler (Nissan Primera) and Steven Richards (Volvo S40) racing for position.
Time for a rest until the next race.
Parade Cars.
I have listed the drivers that raced them originally.
Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 raced by Tim Harvey.
Renault Laguna raced by Alain Menu.
Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500. Steve Soper raced this in period and was behind the wheel for the parade.
BMW M3 E30 raced by Alan Minshaw.
Peugeot 406 raced by Tim Harvey.
Toyota Supra raced by Barry Sheene.
Renault 19 raced by Tim Harvey.
Holden Commodore raced by Greg Murphy. Greg Murphy drove this in the parade.
Alain Menu being interviewed on the Autosport stage.
Steve Soper (facing camera) chatting with David Brodie (facing Steve Soper).
This was a very well put together event from MSV and the CTCRC. It was lovely to meet and chat to many of the guests.
The first person I saw once the gates had opened was Jake Hill. Jake was looking forward to driving the Nissan Primera although he said he's not spent a lot of time in the car due to it's age and wanting to give his all during the races.
In the pit lane I briefly spoke Simon Hill, we've spoken on Twitter a few times and it was good to meet in person. I also spoke to Alan Hyde when he had a break in doing some commentary. He said he was enjoying the event.
As for the racing, it was fast, close with plenty of overtaking from the Super Tourers and the support races.
The displays of the Super Touring Cars and various car clubs were outstanding
This was the inaugural Super Touring Power event, my hope is that it becomes an annual event with different cars and guests. If they do hopefully they can get the Jan Lammers Volvo 850R out on track. I would recommend going for the whole weekend as there was lots going on.
If you were to attend, what Super Touring cars would you like to see?
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