“Super Touring” is a specific time period for touring car racing, mainly in the 1990s. It was a ruleset that helped create very close, exciting races and lots of manufacturer interest.
Term
WSRC
WSRC is a racing series name. It’s the kind of championship drivers use to build experience and get noticed before stepping into bigger, faster categories.
Touring cars are race cars that are based on normal road cars. They’re built to race hard while still feeling like real cars, and championships run across many events.
“Club racing” means amateur or semi-pro racing organized by local car clubs. It’s still real racing, just on a smaller scale than the big televised championships.
F1 stands for Formula 1, the highest level of open-wheel racing. The host is saying they don’t enjoy it as much as touring cars because they find F1 less exciting to watch.
Close racing is when cars are bunched up and competing side-by-side. That usually makes the race more exciting because there’s action happening constantly.
Sutton is another driver being compared to Ingram. The hosts think Sutton is especially strong at overtaking and staying aggressive when it matters most.
Overtaking is when one car passes another during the race. The hosts are saying Sutton is really good at making passes even when there’s only a tiny opening.
A setup is how the team tunes the car for that track, like how it handles and grips. They’re saying Sutton can still do well even if the car isn’t set up ideally.
Limited boost is a rule that restricts how hard a turbo can push the engine. That means the car can’t make unlimited power, so drivers and teams have to manage acceleration and grip carefully.
This means the rule forces teams to use the toughest (hardest) tire compound they’re allowed to choose. Harder tires usually grip less, so it can affect how fast you can go and how you manage the race.
Boost allocation is how the race organizers decide how much turbo “extra push” each car gets. If a car is already doing really well, they may reduce its boost later to keep the racing closer.
Concept
punish people for doing well
The idea is that if a team does really well, the rules may make the next race harder for them. That’s done to keep more cars in contention and make the racing more exciting.
Term
engine turned down
“Engine turned down” means the car’s engine is restricted so it makes less power. In racing, that can be done by the rules to stop the fastest cars from running away with it.
Ballast means adding weight to the car. If a car is winning too much, the rules may add ballast to make it harder to go as fast and keep the racing close.
“Regulation changes” means the sport updates the rules that race cars must follow. When the rules change, teams may need to redesign their cars to stay competitive.
It means teams build their cars in a clever way that still follows the rules, but uses the rules’ wording to their advantage. It’s like finding a legal loophole that makes the car faster.
Car
Braun GP car
This is a Formula 1 car from the 2009 season. The team made a car that followed the rules but still found a clever way to be faster than others, and later the rules were changed to stop that advantage.
Concept
problem-solving sport
This is the idea that racing is like a technical puzzle. Teams try to figure out the best solution—within the rules—to go faster and finish first.
Concept
gimmick
Here, “gimmick” means a trick or tactic that feels like it’s gaming the situation instead of being a real improvement. The host is saying they don’t understand why drivers would accept that kind of trade-off.
A “podium” in touring-car racing means you finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. The host is saying it’s strange to give up that top-three result just to try for a win.
“Tin top racing” means racing cars that are based on normal road cars, not specialized race-only machines. It’s a common nickname for touring-car racing.
Tires come in different “grip levels.” A “hardest tire” usually lasts longer but doesn’t grip as well. If the grip is too low, it can make it hard to race for position fairly. The host thinks this kind of tire choice can ruin the point of the races.
Term
limited booties
It sounds like a rule that limits how many tires you’re allowed to use. That forces teams to manage grip and wear carefully, but if the tires are also very hard, it can make racing less fair. The host thinks the combination is too extreme.
Rain is a major variable in touring car racing because it changes tire grip and how quickly tires reach their effective operating window. The host frames the situation as “extenuating circumstances of rain,” implying that the tire performance and race order were heavily influenced by wet-weather behavior. That matters when judging whether the rules produced a fair result.
Concept
anomaly for tyres
An “anomaly” here means the tires didn’t act like you’d expect. The host thinks last year’s tire behavior was unusual and changed how drivers finished. They’re using it to argue the tire situation wasn’t ideal for fair competition.
Term
rule makers
“Rule makers” are the people who write the rules for the racing series. Here, the host thinks they chose the tire/race setup in a way that made racing less fair. They’re expecting the rules to change again next year.
Synthetic fuel is a fuel that’s made using electricity and captured carbon, not pumped out of the ground. People talk about it because it could help cut emissions while still letting cars use fuels that behave similarly to gasoline or diesel.
They’re talking about a stretch of time when Lewis Hamilton was winning a lot. The point is that if you already know who will win most races, it can feel less exciting to watch.
A “grid” is the starting lineup for a race, and “32 car grid” means 32 cars are entered to start the event. In touring car discussions, grid size affects how many different drivers/teams can realistically win and how varied the racing can be across the season.
Donington is a famous race track in the UK. When they say a driver scored points “at Donington,” they mean that happened during a race held at that track.
Nick Hamilton is a racing driver. In this discussion, they mention him scoring points at Donington to illustrate how interesting moments can happen even when you’re not focused only on who wins.
They’re arguing about whether it’s better to have fewer cars/drivers, but more proven top-level drivers. The idea is that constant driver changes can make the series feel less consistent, while a smaller, stronger lineup can be more compelling.
Here, “merry-go-round” means drivers keep swapping in and out. They’re saying it can hurt the racing because it’s not the same people competing consistently.
A “tier list” is just a way of ranking drivers from best to less-best based on how they’ve performed. Here, it’s being used to say many drivers are close in skill, not separated by huge gaps.
“Gentlemen drivers” are people who race more as a hobby or lifestyle than as a full-time career. The host is saying he’d rather see drivers progressing toward a professional future than just showing up for fun.
A “rookie” is a driver who’s new to that racing series. In this discussion, they’re using a rule-of-thumb definition based on how little time the driver has raced in the series.
Term
pathway
A “pathway” is basically a planned route for young drivers to move up the racing ladder. Instead of random opportunities, it’s meant to be a clear system that helps them progress.
British GT is a UK racing series for sports cars. The hosts are suggesting it should share a weekend with touring cars and F1 to make the event more exciting for spectators.
The British Grand Prix is the UK’s Formula 1 race. They’re using it as an example of a weekend where lots of people show up, and other racing categories could join in.
Silverstone is a well-known race track in the UK that hosts major events, including Formula 1. The hosts are talking about how big the crowd was there and how other racing series could benefit.
A pit stop is when a race car pulls into the pits during the race for service, usually tire changes. They’re talking about a format that would include only one pit stop.
Mondello Park is a race track in Ireland. The hosts are talking about whether touring cars could race there again, but it’s harder to reach than some UK venues.
A Civic Cup is a racing series where most competitors drive very similar Honda Civics. Because the cars are so alike, it’s usually more about driver ability and team tuning than having a totally different car.
“Tintop” is racing slang for touring cars—cars that look like normal road cars with a roof. Saying it’s the “premier” series means it’s the top touring-car championship.
A fastest lap is the quickest one-lap time a driver manages in a race. Even if you don’t win, setting the fastest lap can still earn extra points or help your overall result.
They’re talking about Michael Schumacher, a very famous race driver. He won seven championships, and the host is saying that kind of long-term success is extremely rare.
They’re talking about electric race cars—cars powered by electricity instead of gasoline. The host is saying that’s the main reason they lost interest in touring cars for a while.
LIVE
As Britain is besieged by its third heatwave of the year, we have decided to trade the
hot skies for the hot seat. We are answering your questions, part two.
Hello, and welcome back to the British Touring Club podcast. You join us once again, thankfully
this time in an air conditioned room. Yes, yes, it's getting unbearable and I'm glad
we're not at a circuit saying that we aren't missing it, but I'm glad we're not racing in it.
Agreed, we're in a cafe out of hours, we have permission, we're not broken in,
and it is air-conned glorious. So yes, we are here once again to finish off what we
delivered a couple of weeks ago, which is part two of us answering your questions.
Did you say someone submitted one? They had on YouTube.
We'll come back to that at the very end then, so I've got the docket from last time,
we'll go through that, and if there's time, we'll do the last one.
If you haven't already, do go and watch the previous video. There are all sorts of styles
of questions, and the same for this one as well. All questions you want to know, and any further
questions, do drop them in the comments down below. Yep, if you missed the first one,
first of all, what are you doing? If you have the bell on, if you're subscribed,
you wouldn't have missed it, would you? But there will be a mixture of fun and serious,
and if you haven't checked out the first part, when you finish watching this one,
go back and watch that part one as well. And if we don't get enough time today to go for all of
them, we will do a part three and pick up any other questions, as you just mentioned there.
Shall we go straight into it then? We shall, yeah.
Shall we start with a fun one to begin with as well? Yeah, go on then.
The first fun one is from Hoppers Motorsport. What events stuck by you, sorry, as the one that
I can't read? What events stuck by you as one that was memorable, and why? There we go.
I'm assuming he means the touring car world, otherwise I'd mention one of my friends.
Yeah, I think it probably, in my mind, it has to be one that either I've been to because of the
feeling of being there, and the events that have gone on, and the first one that comes to mind
in that realm. Exactly what you're going to say.
It's kind of a short break failure. No, okay.
It's not kill. Okay. One because it was a really good trip and a really good journey for us.
Brilliant weekend away, we didn't argue, and the racing was brilliant. The thing that comes to
my mind straight away is how we were watching at the bottom of Duffer's Dip just to see
like cars with windscreen wipers on, and we're going, hang on, it's dry, and this rain just
come across the circuit, and it was just like, what the hell has gone on? Although we got soaked,
it was a brilliant race, and the whole weekend was brilliant. Okay, that's an interesting one.
Camish was the other one that I was thinking of. Camish was the one that came straight to my mind,
because as the resident optimist of the podcast, I immediately went for a negative
experience. I think it's just because of the shock, having been trackside, it was almost
pretty much a done deal at that point that Camish was going to be the champion. He was
more than well enough ahead, and Turchin wasn't making his way through the field enough to really
challenge Camish for the title, because it was a case of him having to finish higher than Camish.
Literally lighting up the road ahead of him, however.
And I do remember as well, you and I sort of sang to each other, those brakes were glowing,
and then it was just the silence when he went off, just sort of the,
you could hear, what's happened? Yeah, you could hear, you know, the creature,
you could hear a pin drop, it was like, oh my God. Just watching at the bottom of Paddock Hill,
on that screen, going, what's just happened? And the fact that it was two laps to go,
if you'd got past those two laps, he'd have been champion, and where could he possibly be now,
having gone on from that? Agreed. My other one that comes to mind just very quickly is,
must have been 2000, and what was the year he won the, 2006 was the first interpreter in, wasn't
it? Yeah. It was Silverstone, it was another big crash. It was Thompson, Plato, and Jordan coming
together early on. It was quite a serious injury for like Jordan, the airlift hospital of a punctured
lung. That comes back to my mind because I was very young at the time, unlike I am now, and it
sort of brought home to me from an early age, just how dangerous this sport can be. And I think that,
I think I can sometimes get lost that because most of the time, drivers get out,
looking a bit cross, but maybe a bit shaken, but generally okay. And it was sort of early.
With some of the accidents that we see, we'd go, okay, these cars are really incredibly safe to
have an injury or something serious happen as a result of one of those. We go, we're reminded that
no one's impermeable to what's going on. Exactly. And anything can happen. Exactly.
It was an early lesson to young Russell about how this sport, I would grow to love and talk
about on YouTube, how dangerous it could be. We've got another one for Hoppers Motorsports.
We'll do both at the same time. This was a bit more of a serious one. Would the Supertura era
survive if it carried on after 2000? My immediate response to this is, no, it didn't survive for
a reason. The money was out of control. That's why it didn't survive. So the reason that we lost
that year of touring cars is because the money that was being chucked around was incredibly high.
You only have to read, I'm not going to advocate particularly for Jason Flater, but his book goes
in some of the figures here. Some of the drivers were on six figure salaries that is understood.
It seems bizarre nowadays to look back at those drivers and see how much they were being paid
to race within the touring cars, whereas we're now seeing drivers now who are struggling to get
budgets together to be able to get onto the grid for a full season. When you take into account the
sponsorship and the stuff that we have back in those days, it's unbelievable how much money was
rolling throughout the sport. And unfortunately, when you get that happen, you will, and we've
talked about this before, you'll get a plateau and then you'll get it fall off. Because the
interest in it will gradually die away if things aren't kept fresh. Without using my politics A
level here and making this too political, the 90s were a very different time. Britain was in a much
different place in the 90s in terms of money that has and have nots and where money is being
spent in particular. If you look at football, we had the sky explosion of money coming into
football in the 90s. There's still a lot of money in touring car and racing in general.
Now it's a lot more expensive. Manufacturers are facing lots of external pressures in the world.
I think we spoke about this on part one about the world is an ever changing place and we've all
seen a cost of living go up. And I think that for manufacturers now, what is more important?
Is it sustaining the actual stuff that makes the money, which is selling cars?
Or is it going to have a bit of fun and going racing? And for most manufacturers,
understandably, it's going to be car production, car sales first.
Arguably, it was twofold. There was obviously a change regulations that came in and we
spoke about before we change regulations to keep things fresh and exciting and new.
Sometimes those change regulations don't work and that was probably very much the
the attitude that came after those change regulations where we saw loads of manufacturers
drop out, loads of teams drop out and we were down to maybe 6, 8, 10 cars that were all vying,
not even all of those manufacturer entries in those early 2000s.
Yeah, and I think I also think that when money gets to the levels it can get to, inevitably,
there will be the bubble burst. And I think we're about to see some football, some of the
transfer fees that are going around for, in my mind, bang average players are now going for
over £100 million. I think that we are going to see in the next 10 years football's bubbles
going to burst because the cost is getting out of control. I think F1 saw the writing on the wall
which is why they bought the cost cap in because I think they were worried about some of the
sparring numbers we're seeing in that sport. And I know they've also helped with F1 specifically.
It helps protect those smaller teams as well to be able to keep them interested rather than
just having these big conglomerates come in, take over and go, right, we're going to win everything.
It keeps competition there.
I think it's also important to stress as well is that touring cars hasn't been terrible since the
2000s. A lot of people online, I'm not saying this is just the question from offers, but a lot
of people are saying, you know, Mo and R is something like the 90s and the Super Touring in
era. No, it's not, but let's not pretend we're now gone from an elite perfect championship to,
you know, matchbox racing. This is still a very good sport. We've still seen some incredibly years.
It's still big to try and achieve. We've heard rumours within the paddock that if you were looking
to get a WSRC a couple of seasons ago, you needed near on a million pounds to be able to
even go racing before you then add in all the tyres, damages, everything that goes along with
racing. Absolutely. Right. We have one here from Stuart. How did you both get into watching
touring cars and what attracted you to the sport? I've always been a bit of a petrol head.
You came out smelling of oil. Yeah. When I grew up, everywhere I used to go, it had to be by car.
You always bought the weather? No, by car because of where I live, as you know.
And so I was always interested in cars. I always had little toy cars when I was younger.
And the fact of seeing cars go faster and faster on TV, whether it be F1, GTs, rallying,
touring cars, I was always very much interested in that and being a competitive guy. As you
very much know. Yeah, I found out again last night to my detriment. Yeah.
Bringing cars and competition together for me creates excitement. And anywhere I could find
that in the top level, not even necessarily top level, so much club racing I've seen as well.
It's always fun to watch in my eyes and therefore that brought me into the world of touring cars.
Lucky enough, I was able to go and start watching touring car events from a relatively young age
when children could still get in for free. And from there, it just grew and grew and being able
to follow the championship for so long and look at the drivers who are coming through maybe from
the smaller formula going on, doing well in the touring cars, and then even moving on to
possibly bigger and better things. I find it exciting. It keeps my passion alive for it.
And it's good thing to do for 10 weekends a year.
Mine is cliche. Dad liked it. I watched it with Dad on the telly. I had Tokyo 2 touring cars on
PlayStation 1. I remember seeing an Audi which I believe was Mulla's being put sideways at
Haddock Hill Bend on the telly and was hooked from there really unlike you. As I started to get
a bit older, Dad started taking us to race events. For some reason, he's a big Plato fan, Lord knows
one. But yeah, we're quite fortunate when we leave that we have got quite a few tracks on our doorstep.
We are close to Snettern. We are close to Donnington. We were rocking and was very much on our doorstep
as well when that was still a circuit. So yeah, I mean, what attracted me to the sport is that I
think it's just the excitement. We talk about F1 a lot on this podcast. We're not the P1
with Matt and Tommy show, but F1 has been a hard watch for me. I've fallen out of love with F1
a lot because a lot of it is boring. Whereas I don't, you feel for it differently. But to me,
it's boring. Whereas touring cars, there is action at every single turn at all parts of the field.
And I've always been attracted to the close racing. And also, it sounds tripe when you're young
going up, the crashes are cool. They're not as cool when you're an adult and you understand the
money and the impact and the health, etc. But when you're a kid watching stuff on the telly,
you like crashes, you like racing that ends in a bang. It's childish, but it's what we like.
I think what my interest has grown as I've got an older, where I've been able to understand it
more and more with my job nowadays will work because they in, they out. So I can kind of
understand the aspects that the engineers go through to go, right, how are we going to make
this car? How are we going to make it better? How are we going to find these few tents and even
hundreds of a second to try and make this car the best that we can for a season, for a weekend,
for a specific race to go out and try and win a championship? And that's through all forms of motorsport,
not just touring cars. Next one up then is from Joshua. And this is quite an apt one,
given where we are and where we have been for the last couple of years. If Sutton and Ingram had the
same car, who would win? Now, I'm going to give a one word answer this, Sutton.
He's the quicker driver. For me, you only have to look at what he's won in. He's won it in a
Subaru Canal boat. He's won it in an infinity that no one had ever heard of. And he's, okay,
the full focus fair enough. We have seen the full focus before. He came in an MG that was mid and
was quick in it. He's been quick in everything he drives from the off. There's never a betting
in period of him. Ingram is a phenomenal racer. He's a phenomenal talent. There's no doubt about
that. And I think Ingram is the better qualifier out there too, if I was to play top jumps.
I think the overall package, Sutton, sorry, is the quicker driver. There's no doubt in my mind.
For me, it's more down to his ability to fight as well. He has that tenacity about him. It's
almost a never say die attitude. Whereas Ingram sometimes can be a little bit accepting of the
fact of, okay, I'm only going to finish fifth. Whereas Ash is always right to the final lap,
final bend. I'm going for it. Maybe not to the extent that Plato used to be. Maybe he's got a
little more conservative nature about him, but he knows what he wants from a car. He knows how to
get what he wants from a car. And that overall means that if you stick him in anything alongside
Ingram, I think he's going to have that edge. Yeah, I think two points that come to mind quickly
on that is that first of all, I've never seen a driver who can overtake to such the fine margins
that Sutton can. And he does it time in and time out. That's the thing. It's not just one or two.
I've never seen a better overtaker in the touring cars. My second point is that I think
you're right about the mentality is that if they go wrong with the setup, which is rare,
I would back Sutton to get a better result than Ingram. He's able to drive around problems, in
my opinion, better and quicker than Ingram can, in my opinion. And harking towards F1 once again,
he's kind of what Alonso would do. He would normally pull the best out of any car,
same with Vettel to some extent as well. When he was in a poor Ferrari, he was still getting
decent results. And there I say at the moment in an Aston Martin that he's very poor.
That's probably been his main downfall and age might be against him.
Okay, we've got an anonymous one. Exciting. What is your opinion on the rule of limited
boost and using the hardest tyre available for the podium finishes of the previous race?
Well, I'll let you go first because I'll be ranting on this for about two hours.
So this is obviously to do with the latest regulation update for this season
and how the boost allocation is working. And the combination of that for race two,
then almost pulling back those that have had the success in race one.
Touring cars has always had gimmicks, if you want to call them this.
I do, by the way, yes. Okay. I thought you might.
I do, yes. I call them much more vigorous four letter words, but yes, we'll go with gimmick.
So yeah, Touring cars has always really had gimmicks because they feel that is the best way
to keep the competition alive throughout a weekend specifically. So having three races
across a weekend, I think they understood fairly early on that they needed to try and have
23 different winners across a weekend as many different podium scorers as possible
to try and keep fans interested with trying to keep the championship as interesting for as
long as possible. Nowadays, we have two drivers, an Ingram and Sutton, who are very much able to
kind of drive around that fact and some gimmicks work better than others in pulling them back and
holding them back. Finding the fine line as to what is quote, right, which is not probably the
right term in the first place, but finding the right balance between having competition throughout
the whole grid, making the sport interesting throughout the whole season and throughout
a whole weekend, I think is really difficult. I agree. I don't particularly like how it's been
done for this season. Try and leash hell. Yes. Okay. How is your soapbox? Is it reinforced?
Look, I struggle with the notion, I agree with what you're saying that you have to keep it
interesting and to do that, you have to accept the certain level of gimmick. I always struggle
with the notion that you punish people for doing well. I don't like the fact that Napa had their
engine turned down because they're because they're better than everybody else, etc. But I do accept
that if you want to keep the racing close and interesting and the championship close and
interesting, you have to accept that there'll be a level of punishment for doing well, whether it
be ballast or boost, etc. Can I put something in there? Go on. We've seen, and I'm going to go over
to F1 once more, we've seen regulation changes in F1 where engineers and designers have managed
to design around the rules to get that advantage for a substantial amount of time. For example,
the Braun GP car in 2009, first what, 678 races, they won all of them between the
two drivers and they built a car which fell within the regulations but was brilliant. It worked around
them in the right ways to get the most out of the car and eventually that was banned for the
season following. I very much disagree against changing regulations within the seasons.
Agreed, and this is a safety issue. Agreed, yes. But there are always going to be cars,
teams, designers, engineers to try and find ways around these problems because that's why the
sport is here. It is a problem-solving sport to try and find the best way or the shortest amount
of time to get to the finish line. Yeah, but it annoys me that if you then solve the problem,
you get another problem in touch even because you've solved the problem. My main point, however,
though, is that I accept, as I said, I accept there's going to be a gimmick or if you want to
call it to some level. What I cannot get my head around of this one and what is a complete nonsense
to me is that you've got a situation where drivers would happily turn down a British touring car
podium so that I would kill for to give themselves a better shot of winning another race. That's
madness and you say it out loud, that is absolutely nonsensical. I know that for some drivers like
you start enduring grooms, you've turned to a degree, they've got a lot of podiums. What's
another one to them? But I think it's just nonsense that you would trade off having a trophy in the
cabinet at home, a podium stats your name to give yourself a chance, not a guarantee, by the way,
because you can you can be punted off or you can have a problem, a chance of winning race too.
That is ridiculous. That cannot be right. Here's a question for you. If there was prize money for
podium finishes, do you think that would change? Yes, but you shouldn't have to necessarily
you shouldn't have to incentivize a podium. This is this the pinnacle of tin top racing
apparently in the UK. In the UK. And you are going to turn down the chance of silverware because
you might improve your chances for a race to win. That's nonsensical to me. And I think that if you're
going to have the hardest tire or limited booties, one or the other, you can't do both. We've seen
a couple of years ago with Kamesh at Snettern, him start on pole, I think he won the race one,
he finished like 14, 15, 16, can't remember where it was. Yeah, it was pointed to racing,
it was pointed to competing race to. And that's my point is that yes, okay, if we're going to have
to do some punishment fine, but it can't meet the level we've got it where it's so if you win
race one, you basically guaranteeing that you're not going to finish in the top 10 for race two.
And this is extenuating circumstances of rain. We did see a little bit all in part, which I think
to fair last year has been an anomaly for tyres as well as that the pack didn't get to the top
three quick enough for all of them to fall down the order. But that was an anomaly last year
as well. Exactly, exactly. But I just think to myself that if you are given touring car drivers
a chance to give them podium for a shot of a race win, that's that's beyond ridiculous.
That is not how sport should work in my opinion. I think it's ridiculous for all. I think that
yeah, it's one or the other. And personally, I go over the tyres, I keep the boost is my opinion.
Yeah, it's always difficult to get that balance. And we accept that or we've got to accept sometimes
that the championship and the rule makers do get things wrong. I think they probably have
on this occasion. And you know, probably see another change from next year. I think as well,
towards the end of last year, I'm not seeing it so much this year, but towards the last year,
drives were literally saying, well, that's race two done on camera in their interview,
saying that we can't win race. That's it then with one race one, we're not going to finish in
the top or slagging off how bad the tyres are on interview, which I can understand as well,
by the way, but it's just not a good look for the sport. You know, to have to make drivers make
that choice. And then some of the words they were saying around the tyres afterwards,
doesn't reflect well what's supposed to be this premiere racing series. And the other question
as well is that does it even work? Sutton is a million points clear at the top. Sutton is getting
point and to fair Ingram does well on these tyres as well. The best will always rise to the top
whatever you do. So is it actually worth it? And actually, are you penalising drivers like a
Rainford, like a Doe ball who might not so exceed expectation race one, but take the podium and
then because the podium, I'm going to argue that a podium to Rainford or Doe ball means more than
it does to Sutton or Ingram because they're still fairly young in their touring car career.
I agree. So you're, but then they're basically wiping off race two completely.
You could very much then go well, get better, do better. But there's a limit to what you can do
when you're up against Ingram and Sutton and Napa and Accelerate. It very much depends on the
generation and the drivers that you're racing against. We had the question last time out of
how do you think the championship would be without Ingram and Sutton? And it would probably be very
close. They're just generational talents who understand how to drive around the problems
as well as their team knowing. But by doing this, you're actually making the championship less close
because you've got two drivers who can drive around anything and the drivers that you might say
could have a chance on thinking Camish, Rainford in particular, who are third and fourth at the moment
can't get near Ingram and Sutton because of the regulations, whereas Sutton and Ingram can drive
around and so actually all you're doing is making these rules that here for close racing is only,
it's just allowing Ingram and Sutton to get further and further away. And it was the same last year
as well because both of them were a million miles clear of third place last year. Nonsense.
Let us know your thoughts on that one because it is a really controversial one and how you think
maybe weekend formats could change, regulation could change for seasons going forward. You never
know, Mr. Gal might watch, take on your comment and make some changes.
And ban us from all future races. That's banned from all circles.
This next one comes from Matthew. We've seen some unpopular recent rule changes, yes we have,
TTB, race to pole, etc. He must listen to my rants and an ever-increasing budget keeping out
some great new talents, collard, proctor, Lloyd. But what would it take, this is a great question,
what would it take for you to turn off and stop watching the touring cars?
So I think we'll not ignore the first part of the question, I think we've covered the first part
of the question around regulation and costs in this video in the previous one. So I think we
should focus on what would it take? When I look through these questions, I look to that one and
I think this is probably the most difficult one for me to answer personally. Because it's an
addiction. I say it's about my football team all the time, I won't watch them again, they're
boring to watch, I hate it, Arna Swat is ruined the club and then you best believe next Sunday
afternoon kickoff I'm watching the game. What doesn't help with that is obviously
doing what we do now, we're not consigned or obliged necessarily, but we do it to be able to
bring you guys our take on it. Let's assume we didn't have the podcast
and answer it from that point of view. I think one thing that worries me in particular is that
ITV has just sold its sporting branch to Sky. I would say that if touring cars weren't behind a
payroll, I would potentially struggle to justify it because of cost of living, because of other
commitments, etc. And actually, I don't think touring cars is worth paying for behind a payroll.
My argument for that is yes, okay, they've been taken over by Sky, but you pay for your
football. And I understand you have a different passion towards your team than you may necessarily
do towards touring cars. If you're getting that as part of the deal anyway.
That's the question. If it's part of the deal I'm paying for, then fine,
but what I'm saying is I think it would turn a lot of people off who don't like football,
who don't like other sports, who won't want to pay for Sky sports just to watch the touring cars.
For me, it's different. I watch the touring car, sorry, I watch F1 football, cricket, the Darts,
the Sky Sports package for me. But if I didn't like any of the sport, I think of my dad who
doesn't like sport, apart from the old bit of motorsport, I don't think he'd pay for Sky
just to watch touring cars. I think a lot of people out there, I don't think your mum would pay
Sky to watch touring cars. No, that's right. So that would probably, would it turn me off?
Maybe not, but I think it will turn a lot of people off. I think even if we had the sort of
competition and the lowlights that we had at the championship, maybe in the early 2000s,
I still think I'd probably watch it. And that's more for the storylines that we had at that point,
possibly in the competition between the drivers and how angsty it got sometimes. It still provided
that entertainment for me. So, and you may make this point with F1. I enjoy watching F1. I like
the technical aspect of it. I have drivers that I specifically support and look for within the
results. But you may find it boring. I think it helped that the drivers who like one for many,
many years, I think if they weren't willing, you would be less interested because you were less
interested with the staff and dominated the year. Yeah. And you're like the staff and you were
less interested. Yeah, yeah. But you weren't anywhere near as into it as you were before.
For me to turn off the touring cars, I think would be very difficult. I agree. It would almost be
that the championship would have had to have closed down for a season or two for me to go.
Yeah, I think I'd have to go back to the early 2000s and we tapped up that for a
sustained period of very small grids. I'm not going to say bad talent given as much to talk about.
Yeah, I'm not going to say bad talent because it's also the good talent pool in the early 2000s.
But I think that coupled with a drying up of drives, I'm slightly worried by how many
touring car drives are leaving to go to other sports as well have been their rights to and I
can understand why they want to try other sport. But I would hate to be in a situation where we
don't have any champion on the grid, apart from last year's one, if that makes sense. And the
champions from years gone by on the grid. I think, yeah, smaller grid would turn me off.
And I think that particularly if that smaller grid led to a smaller talent, if the smaller grid
was made up of really top tier drivers, that might change things. But if the smaller grid was
gentlemen drivers, club racing, that would probably turn me off doing watching it. But
like you, I think I'd find it very difficult because at this stage, it is an addiction. I love
watching touring cars. I love going to events. I said to you after COVID, the best thing about
going to track after COVID was the smell. You could smell the oil. You could smell the petrol
or synthetic fuel. Well, you don't wear that. So I didn't smell any of that. But yeah, exactly. So
I think it's a great question. And I think that I think we're in a really interesting period for
the touring cars. Obviously, we've got an era of domination to a degree from certain as it is.
And with NAPRA, as well, to a degree, how sustainable that would be if that happens year
after year after year. Because unlike you, I did lose interest in F1, particularly during the
Hamilton dominance. Not because I've got anything against Hamilton, just because you knew who was
going to win. There's only two cars on the grid that could win a race most weeks. And
Bottas wasn't going to sustain it over a period of time. Even when he came back as 2.0, that faded
in about three races. So how lowly for people out there watching, how lowly would it have to get
for you to stop watching as well? And let us know if there are any other motorsports that you watch
or you did used to watch, but now you don't because it got disinteresting or whatever.
Right, we've got two more to go then. And then we should have hoped the time, I think, for the
last minute one as well. So this is from C4 Racing. We've got one fun one series. We'll go
If you look at the stats, 2014 had seven champions racing in it, 2016 had eight in contention at
the final round and 2018 had 16 different winners with a 32 car grid.
I'm going to say to that, first of all, you only get one winner at the end.
Yeah, no to remember seconds. Second is the first. Exactly. So to me, it doesn't necessarily matter
how many people are in the race throughout the season. And people dropping away and dropping
away. It's the entertainment along the way that you get. And that could be from Nick Hamilton's
scoring points like he did at Donington finishing sixth in the weather to Sutton going and winning
nine out of the first 10 races of the season. For me, that is still exciting.
Yeah, I'm going to be controversial. I actually do agree with Alan Gale that I prefer to see
a smaller grid of quality drivers than I do. There was a period with the merry-go-round that we
had where every week somebody else was driving. It wasn't just a team hard. I think basically for
a period of having depth of pop in for a race or two, I think Davenport did as well.
We had a bit of time where teams running four cars, but often the fourth driver just wasn't
very good. I would rather see a smaller grid and have multiple champions on it and have
multiple race winners or people capable of winning a race than I would have a 32 car grid.
But realistically knowing only four drivers were of a high quality. I actually think at the minute
on this grid, I don't think there's anybody that's so far off anybody else. So I think we're
in the distance by now. We know this. They are generational talents. We know this, but I actually
think if you then go through to do a tier list, I think a lot of them around the AB quality.
Yeah. What we've already seen this season is we've had 11 out of the 21 drivers taking podium.
We've had seven different winners this season already and we're only four rounds in.
And by the end of the season, we could quite easily see 10 different winners and possibly 18
maybe different podium sitters, depending how things fall, depending what the weather's like,
depending on retirement, failures, stuff like this. There are so many variables that if you want,
as was mentioned, we had 16 different winners or whatever, we could still get close to that
in percentage wise as to what there is on the grid. And I still think that breeds excitement.
So I think I would prefer quality over quality myself. I don't want people just sitting there
filling cars up that are out for a Sunday drive. They can often do their club meetings,
because in my mind, that's what club meetings are for, not for the top tin top racing series in the
UK. I also think on the quality quantity thing, I think if you're a manufacturer and you have more
than three cars on the grid, you should have to run a rookie in the fourth, but have to provide
pathways through that. I mean, it's not quite a question that, but I'm going to make it into
an additional one is that I think that I'd be happy of a bigger grid if it meant we had more
quote rookies, but who are making their way in the sport. That's a trade I'm happy with. I'm less
happy with as you said, the gentlemen drivers who are turning up for, not for a laugh, but
yeah, they're not on the way up in motorsport, as it were. See, I would like to see if manufacturers
are going to run more than, even maybe more than two cars, but certainly more than three, that
fourth seat has to be a rookie. You can define a rookie by having less than two years racing
experience in the series or whatever, and they can only be replaced for another rookie. I don't
mind if after that two years they stay on. That's fine, because that's the whole point of a pathway,
but if they want to replace that seat, it has to be another rookie.
The only difficulty I think you might see with that we're bringing in quote a rookie that hasn't
been in the series for a necessarily amount of time is what other racing experience they may have
that means they still qualify to be a rookie. I think the parameters would have to be tight.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I get your point. Yeah, I mean, I'm not actually putting this
towards Gauss ratifying to law. He might see. But yeah, I'd like to see that. I'd like to see a
better pathway for younger drivers into the series. Right. A fun question. Make your perfect weekend
with all the championships we have in the UK. For example, a weekend of British GT tracks and
British touring cars on the same weekend. This is quite easy for me. Go on then, because I need
a bit of time to think about it. Okay. And to find the YouTube comment. The weekend that we've just
had for the British Grand Prix, I think the racing that we get at the British Grand Prix for the F1
is some of the best racing that we get on the F1 calendar agreed throughout the season.
Bring and sprinkle in the touring cars that one, the publicity that the touring cars would get
for one racing with F1 having a crowd of I think it was a record crowd of I think 564,000 people
across the four days, admittedly, but we're at Silverstone weekend just gone for the F1
being able to get a crowd like that to see racing like the touring cars and then drag in
the British GTs as well. Bring in the major players for a British festival basically,
which is what the Grand Prix is now turning into. That I think would be my idea weekend and specifically
on the long circuit. Not allowed. Not allowed. By the law, we're not allowed to race two
some sort of maybe you make it to an endurance event to two drivers to a car.
One pit stop in there, almost a bit like Bathurst. Not sure I agree that far, but
okay, I do agree that I think touring cars should support the F1, even if it's not a race that
counts, they should have a showcase race at the touring at F1 meet where they run 30, I don't care
as a 30 that race you said to go for a long one doesn't have to count for championship points,
but setting out the stall of this is touring cars, stop just watching F1 and come and support
British racing that you think which is more way more accessible and doesn't charge you £4,000
to park your car yet. The amazing thing and the amazing entertainment I think it will provide
would just get people going, Oh, what's this? Who are these drivers?
Agreed. Most of them are there anyway. Yeah. No, I completely agree with you. I do think that
it's a real loss opportunity that touring cars aren't doing anything on the F1 weekend,
particularly as F1, it's always in the summer break. And we understand that there are politics
with that too. But it shouldn't be because we've got the FIA F4 championship in the touring car,
so I mean, just grow up and get it sorted out. Yeah. It's all to which host events
I think it's also ego from the side of touring cars that they don't see themselves as being
or shouldn't see themselves as a support series of something else. However, it's F1, F1 is as
popular as it has ever been. You are missing a golden chance to maximize audiences. I would go
racing somewhere we don't race because it's not safe too, but let's assume we can make it safe too.
I'd love to see the touring cars go at Anglesey. I think it's an incredible circuit. I'd like to see
this is the British touring car championship. I'd like to see Britain represented and we'd
have a race in Wales, which is where Anglesey is, isn't it? Yes, it is. I can confirm.
Similarly, I wouldn't be against going back to Mondello Park, although I appreciate a solid
harder to get to because there's a sea in the way. It's in Britain. It's in Northern Ireland,
isn't it? It's in Ireland. Is it in Ireland? Apologies. Fair enough. But yeah, I'd certainly
like to see Anglesey on the circuit. I think it's a really exciting race circuit. I'd like to see
a week. I would like to have a festival like you would do. I would have touring cars there. I'd
have the Geneta, but big and small. I'd really miss that championship. I think it was one of the best
support series we had on the calendar. I think the touring car package is a lot poorer for not
having it. I really do. I'd definitely have those racing around there. I would probably have the
Civic Cup. I fell in love with that when we went to the TCR. I really like the Civic Cup. I like
have the two Fiesta championships, Junior and Big. Race out of touring cars is the headline
act. Round Anglesey. Yeah, go with that. I say I do agree with you entirely that this should be
on the F1 just for that weekend. I'd also love to see them. It would never happen. I'd love to see
them do one race abroad a year. Even if that track changes, I'd love to see them go do Zandvoort,
it doesn't even have to be that far. Race tracks that are very much in the edge of Europe
close to us that we could go and do that with. I would say if Sky are acquiring, which would
be if they have done, we could potentially be closer to that because I think there's potentially
more chance of that happening under Sky than it would be under ITV. Although for political
reasons, do we think it would happen? But I'd like to see F4 go and do the occasional
It is quite cool, I think. I know. Right, we did have one more comment on
YouTube. We have got time to do it, I think. I missed them asking for questions. Make sure
you're following the socials. That's my first bit of advice. Make sure you're following us
on Facebook or Instagram because it was put out a couple of times. We'll put the next one
on YouTube comments as well. However, we will answer your question because we're nice people,
but only if you subscribe. But I would love to have known if they thought the championship would
be better without Sutton and Ingram in it. It would definitely be a lot closer and more unpredictable.
I agree it'd be a lot closer. Yes. I agree with that. But it's six or one half, it does the other.
If you want, and I keep using the phrase, if you want to prove this is the premier
Tintop series in the UK, you have to have the best drivers and they are the best drivers.
The simplest. I think for an interesting point of view, and yes, I agree about them,
it'd be a lot closer and a lot more unpredictable. Is that a good thing?
You always want to be attracted to the best talent, to the sport. However, I would be
fascinated to see, well, we're not fascinated. If you did this last year, I wasn't fascinated.
One day there will be a championship with the Sutton or Ingram. It depends on the other
drivers that have come through. We may have drivers that come through and you serve both Sutton
and Ingram in their achievements, in their race wings, their positions, their fastest laps,
you name it. There may still be a better driver to come through. We never thought that Schumacher's
record of seven titles would ever be gone close to let alone matched, possibly beaten.
Actually, it's not. There are drivers out there and possibly developments in technology,
changes in regulations that can mean some drivers go through periods and dominate.
That's what made me turn off Turing cars, it was for the electric. That would make me turn off
Turing cars. I don't think that's happening. No, because I've gone down the synthetic fuel
route thing of God. Going back to the early crashes, they're an electric, I'm done.
I think also that it's very easy to go, oh, Ingram and Sutton, but actually we're watching
two generation times. We may never see a driver this good again. I know you just said that we
don't know what's going through, but legally the reverse is true. We may never see greatness like
this again in the sport. Enjoy it. Enjoy the drivers while they're on the grid because they
won't be on the grid forever. What they are both achieving is just ridiculous. The consistency
they put in, week in, week out, year in, year out is absolutely a match for Turing car history.
Certainly for the history I've been watching. I understand that people will be saying,
oh, it's a bit boring to predict what those two will always do well. Actually, that bears fruit
when we do our predictions that if one of us doesn't put a certain and everyone does,
then you guarantee you're losing points. You also got to enjoy it because you're watching
two drivers who are top of their game and masters of the craft.
Thank you for the questions so far. If you do have any others, do let us know in the comments
down below or DM us, Instagram, Facebook, all the normal places. I'm sure we'll be
bringing up another Q&A session, possibly even at the end of the season if not into next one.
Do make sure you're subscribed down below. Get that bell on. Make sure you like all of our posts
because they all help with the interactions that we get. We appreciate them very much.
This was a new style of podcast. We've never done the Q&A before. When you put the posts up,
you do look at each other and go, what if we don't get any questions? But actually,
to have enough questions to fill two podcasts is genuinely amazing. Thank you ever so much for
engaging with us. If there's a content you'd like to see, there's no reason we can't do more of these
as the season's developed. A massive thank you for getting involved. We're always quite proud
that this is an interactive channel that we do try and speak with you all through social media.
We do try and answer as many comments and messages as we can. And at events as well.
But yeah, it's always great to see the interaction with us. Thank you very much indeed.
It won't be long now until we're making our way ourselves.
We can edit a version of that. Carefully. We'll be making our way to Thruxton.
So we will have a preview for you before we get to there. And yeah, enjoy it. I hope it's not hot.
So do I. I hope it's not wet though as well. I'll take rain at this point. Rain at Thruxton is fun.
But until next time, we'll see you soon. Take care for now.
Yeah, they're all hot shares.
About this episode
Answering listener questions from a cool, out-of-hours cafe, the BTCP crew dives into memorable touring car moments and the sport’s bigger picture. Highlights include watching sudden rain at Ouffers Dip, the shock of a late-race championship swing at Camish, and a reminder of how dangerous racing can be after a serious Silverstone crash. They also debate whether the Super Touring era could have continued past 2000, blaming runaway money and a later “bubble burst.” The hosts then share how they first got hooked—through family, games, and trackside action.
