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Did/does the 1990s BTCC influence your views on road cars

  • 11-11-2020 7:38pm
    #1
    BrianD3
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,447 ✭✭✭


    Showing my age here I guess - 1992-1998 was a golden era for the British Touring Car Championship and I was an impressionable teenager at the time. Any car that appeared in the championship received a big boost to its appeal. Anything from Alfa 155 to Volvo estate to the Mazda Xedos.

    Clarkson summed up part of the appeal of the BTCC in a piece on Top Gear referring to F1 cars as "wheeled space ships" whereas for the BTCC cars, "we can actually go out and buy cars like these. Except for one small thing - we can't!" :D

    Now it's coming up on 30 years later :eek: with the likes of E30s and Carina IIs already classed as vintage with Mk1 Mondeos etc. to follow shortly

    I could post load of YT videos, here are just three.

    Epic action (well mostly crashes) video from 1996 season
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP68r1k0MUo


    Crash compilation 92-95
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ext9IhsRZM8


    The Man's An Animal
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpo_DnHPw48


Comments

  • #2
    w124man
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,333 ✭✭✭w124man


    No


  • #3
    FR85
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 490 ✭✭FR85


    Yes, I had a thing for the 406 that Harvey drove for a while along with the Honda Accord of Thompson!


  • #4
    dar_cool
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,290 ✭✭✭dar_cool


    Yes loved the fact they raced estate Volvo 850s. Have a mint 850 T5R now, loved the E30 m3s aswell. Have an E30 325i sport aswell, not quite an M3 but it will have to do!!


  • #5
    Tazio
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 698 ✭✭✭Tazio


    oh god yes - I'm an old man now but an Alfa Romeo 155 widebody still stirs something today in me that causes the heartbeat to race


  • #6
    kaizersoze
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,042 ✭✭✭kaizersoze


    The BTCC was great. Loved the TWR Volvo 850 estates.


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  • #7
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    That was saloon car racing at its popular peak, great cars great and not so great drivers who frankly didn't give a tinkers cuss about life and limb and the pit crews hours.


  • #8
    Cee-Jay-Cee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,235 ✭✭✭✭Cee-Jay-Cee


    The Alfa 155 was and still is a firm favourite of mine.


  • #9
    ednwireland
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,452 ✭✭✭✭ednwireland


    nissan primera

    4354.jpg

    My weather

    https://www.ecowitt.net/home/share?authorize=96CT1F



  • #10
    Harcrid
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,309 ✭✭✭Harcrid


    Well it brought us this which was fine by me!

    ToCATCCCoverPS.jpg


  • #11
    DaveHumphreys
    Registered Users Posts: 42 ✭DaveHumphreys


    The TOCA games on the PlayStation were fantastic!!


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  • #12
    FR85
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 490 ✭✭FR85


    Harry Palmr wrote: »
    That was saloon car racing at its popular peak, great cars great and not so great drivers who frankly didn't give a tinkers cuss about life and limb and the pit crews hours.

    Don't quite know where you are going with not so great drivers, Rydell, Menu, Beila, Tarquini, Harvey, Leslie, Hoy Warick, Mansell......all amazing drivers, if you were a not so great driver I don't think you'd get a drive. They only one I didn't like was Reid, he was a bit of a loose cannon but he did make for interesting racing.

    Pit crews and if they are loved I think more so comes from team management and budgets.....could be wrong of course.


  • #13
    macplaxton
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 2,957 Mod ✭✭✭✭macplaxton


    FR85 wrote: »
    Don't quite know where you are going with not so great drivers, Rydell, Menu, Beila, Tarquini, Harvey, Leslie, Hoy Warick, Mansell......all amazing drivers.

    Whinging "Brummie" that did only one good BTCC race and spent a lot of the rest of the time in the barriers.


  • #14
    StereoSound
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,155 ✭✭✭StereoSound


    I use to love driving the Peugeot 406 in Toca Touring car championship on the PC in 1997


  • #15
    FR85
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 490 ✭✭FR85


    macplaxton wrote: »
    Whinging "Brummie" that did only one good BTCC race and spent a lot of the rest of the time in the barriers.

    I thought he did better? 20 years ago now, cant remember!


  • #16
    Yarisbob
    Registered Users Posts: 128 ✭✭Yarisbob


    Shure The BTCC is just rich mans banger racing.. Well thats what an uneducated git tole me one time

    In 1997 a gang of us went to Silverstone and were at the Copse corner - It was just mayhem - A door mirror from Thomsons Vectra landed at my feet on the first lap ..!

    We had pit passes and got a walk around and honestly it was very relaxed - The pit crews were in great form and up for a bit of craic. Chatting away no panic on ...

    Yes big influence on us - Great racing and the cars were very evenly matched. A lot of cars sold on the strength of that series ...

    Them glory days will never be repeated - Just the same as Trance music !!


  • #17
    zetecescort
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,163 ✭✭✭zetecescort


    What years did it come to Mondello? Was a good day out in fairness


  • #18
    Gatling
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,291 ✭✭✭✭Gatling


    Still to this day I want an Alfa 155 just to have a car that's the road going btcc from the era ,
    That and an 850
    360_F_102352090_ie3kLjDIvgrT1sxVDknWCUh8PxgMYzM7.jpg




  • #19
    Arthur Daley
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,472 ✭✭✭Arthur Daley


    The Audi A4 on TOCA was a beauty at the time it came out. Now though a silver Audi is so passé

    I went with the A4, the Primera and the Accord all the time. But the Laguna was tough to beat at times. I think the order of the cars in TOCA was something like:

    Laguna
    Accord
    A4
    Primera
    Volvo

    then a long way back.....

    Mondeo
    Vectra


  • #20
    macplaxton
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 2,957 Mod ✭✭✭✭macplaxton


    macplaxton wrote: »
    Whinging "Brummie" that did only one good BTCC race and spent a lot of the rest of the time in the barriers.
    FR85 wrote: »
    I thought he did better? 20 years ago now, cant remember!

    He took part in one a non-championship race in 1993, the TOCA Shootout at Donnington Park. Too fast into the Old Hairpin and was fishtailing across the track and went off. Blamed Needell for shoving him off. (Yes Needell hit him, but he had no where to go)

    He did 3 proper rounds (sprint + feature races) of the 1998 season. Moaned about going off in the sprint, did a very good feature race at Donnington coming up from 19th to 1st in the wet, but as it dried, finished 5th. A couple more trips into the tyrewall and more moaning, at Brands Hatch and a pair of trailing finishes at Silverstone.

    He was big box-office, but he didn't do all that well at it, except winning Moaner of the Year 1998.


  • #21
    FintanMcluskey
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,465 ✭✭✭FintanMcluskey


    The great Murray Walker used to commentate, some man for the sayings!


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  • #22
    The Royal Scam
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 987 ✭✭✭The Royal Scam


    zetecescort wrote: »
    What years did it come to Mondello? Was a good day out in fairness
    I remember bringing my now wife to one in I would say 99 ish, we stood at the fence at the end of the straight and after 1 lap she said...... is that it....? She is lucky I could let that one go.


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