Where are they now?

[VXRDartford]

Autosport have started a series in their magazine looking at what some ex-drivers are doing now. Last week they featured Kirt Luby who used to race in the BTCC. Thought it would be good to start it up on the forum to see if people know what other ex-BTCC drivers are up to.

This is quite an obvious one to start with but Charlie Cox is now a comentator for the BBC motorbikes coverage.

[Mp3 Astra]

Autosport have started a series in their magazine looking at what some ex-drivers are doing now. Last week they featured Kirt Luby who used to race in the BTCC. Thought it would be good to start it up on the forum to see if people know what other ex-BTCC drivers are up to.

This is quite an obvious one to start with but Charlie Cox is now a comentator for the BBC motorbikes coverage.

And David Leslie is also a commentator in the Eurosport WTCC coverage. I'm sure I also heard Julian Bailey commentating on something on Youtube the other day. I'm not sure what it was.

[Allyc85]

Wheres 1998 indy champ Tommy Rustad now? He had so many spins and near misses it was unreal, yet he still won it :D

[cos]

Wheres 1998 indy champ Tommy Rustad now? He had so many spins and near misses it was unreal, yet he still won it :D

Signed for Volvo to drive their new bio-ethanol C30 in the STCC this year!

[VkmSpouge]

I would like to know where Ian Khan and Hamish Irvine are now.

[Allyc85]

Signed for Volvo to drive their new bio-ethanol C30 in the STCC this year!

Cool! Il have to keep an eye on his progress :)

[Les]

Ian Khan is racing a porsche in the FIA GTs. A search on google tells you that.

[Iain]

Hamish still runs his scrapyard at Newbridge near Edinburgh. If you happen to watch episodes of Deals On Wheels on Discovery Turbo or Home and Leisure, you will see him on one of them when a lady takes her Citroen BX to his yard when she can't sell it. :D

Legend :D

[Marshall]

What happened to John Bintcliffe?

[cos]

Bintcliffe had given up racing/team managing for a while and working in the furniture business. Having said that there was talk he was going to be in British GTs this season but hasn't appeared on the entry list for that.

[m0rk]

What happened to John Bintcliffe?

"John is director of Donotbend Ltd.( a designer furniture seller) based in Minskip (near York)"

http://www.donotbenduk.com/aboutus.html - now he's a furniture designer

[Marshall]

Wow that's an interesting but cool change of speed - thanks for that m0rk and cos - always wondered where he got to.

[Sheffieldstag]

I know that the legend John Cleland runs his own Volvo dealership now. I thought he'd always stick with Vauxhall ! :p

http://www.clelandvolvo.co.uk/heritage.htm

[nicemms]

"John is director of Donotbend Ltd.( a designer furniture seller) based in Minskip (near York)"

http://www.donotbenduk.com/aboutus.html - now he's a furniture designer

They now olso own a store in a mill in Batley near Leeds. At one stage my dad did some Business with John Bintcliffe and he offered to get us into a Btcc round for free and a chance to meet the Seat Team, however my Dad forgot!

[Iain]

I know that the legend John Cleland runs his own Volvo dealership now. I thought he'd always stick with Vauxhall ! :p

http://www.clelandvolvo.co.uk/heritage.htm

Volvo and Jaguar. He has run the Volvo franchise since the early 1990s when they moved from Peebles to Galashiels and switched from Vauxhall.

[VkmSpouge]

Here is a nice one; where is Ian Heward? He drove a yellow, privateer Vauxhall Cavalier in 1996 and 1997.

[Eurotech]

92 Champ Tim Harvey
Porsche Carrera Cup GB & ITV Commentator

[Eurotech]

OK Iain, where is Colin Blair nowadays????

[Iain]

Ian Heward as far as I know, still runs The Porsche Shop.

Colin Blair as far as I know still runs Search Recruitment, a recruitment agency whose name appeared on his Primera.

[Eurotech]

What about the cars????

Where did all the old Mondeos, Vectras, Accords and Lagunas all go??????

[Iain]

http://www.supertouringregister.com

[WSRfan82]

well i do know that the 94,95,96 volvo 850's and the 97,98 volvo s40's driven by rickard rydell are in the volvo museum in sweden and the 99 lagunas were up for sale on a racing car site i was on not that long ago racecarsdirect.com plus some others on on there as well some mondeos and vectras,accords alot ar used in the formula saloon championships ive been to watch it at oulton park,croft,silverstone and cadwell park most of the cars still have there btcc liverys but with different sponsers on

[Grasshopper]

thinking back to the days of the ford sierra RS 500 does any one know what happened to Karl jones who drove the duckhams car.

[Eurotech]

Cheers. I do know a guy who owns the 98 Peter Kox Honda Accord, I'll try and get a picture on the forum as soon as I get one.....

[Marc W]

Going back to David Leslie, as well as commentary he still races too. He won the first Britcar race of the season yesterday in a BMW along with Harry Handkammer. There'll be some photos of the event on my Flickr account shortly.

[VkmSpouge]

I would like to know what Colin Gallie is doing. He drove that BMW 320i for Team DCRS in 1997 (did quite well too in the Independents' Cup, being in contention for the title up to the last round). I read reports in Autosport at the time that he wanted to race in the BTCC in 1998 and 1999 but obviously never did.
Also what about Jamie Wall and Jan Brunstedt? Wall raced in 1997 with a Mint Motorsport Vauxhall Cavalier and Brunstedt did a round at Donington Park in his Opel Vectra in the same year.

There is a reason why I seem to be keen on finding out about the 1997 independents is because for a school project I did a BTCC board game with a counter for each of the teams entered that year. I hadn't realised at the time that Ian Heward and Jan Brunstedt had been around until a couple of days before completion, so I had to quickly create a couple of counters for them too. I should still have that board game somewhere.

[Matty]

I always wondered about Jamie Wall, and how about Richard Kaye?

[Eurotech]

Last I heard, Richard Kaye was driving in FIA GT and last year he did a race in a BMW 320si for Engstler Motorsport

[Coops]

Top topic!

Patrick Watts was running a storage company or something? His own business. Can anyone shed any light on that?

Simoni was a racing instructor in Italy somewhere if my memory's right. Can't remember which circuit.

I thiiiiiink Chris Goodwin is a McLaren road car tester type guy.

Anyone know anything about Nigel Smith? Robb Gravett? Harry Nuttall? Bobby Verdon-Roe? (GT's still?) Alex Portman? Andy Middlehurst? Laurence Bristow?

I probably should google but i'd spend hours researching when I bet some knowledgeable people know the answers!

I was watching the 1992 race from Knockhill the other week and it was so sad thinking that 3 of the grid are no longer with us now :( It's a shame also that some of these names are 'where are they now?' because Luby, Watts, Sugden, Goodwin, Burt and others had the talent, I think, to go much further given the right machinery. That's a whole other topic though.

[Marc W]

Rob Gravett has a race and advanced driving instruction company.

Here's the website, although it's currently under going maintenence;

http://www.ultimatecarcontrol.com/

[Iain]

Top topic!

Patrick Watts was running a storage company or something? His own business. Can anyone shed any light on that?

Simoni was a racing instructor in Italy somewhere if my memory's right. Can't remember which circuit.

I thiiiiiink Chris Goodwin is a McLaren road car tester type guy.

Anyone know anything about Nigel Smith? Robb Gravett? Harry Nuttall? Bobby Verdon-Roe? (GT's still?) Alex Portman? Andy Middlehurst? Laurence Bristow?

I probably should google but i'd spend hours researching when I bet some knowledgeable people know the answers!

I was watching the 1992 race from Knockhill the other week and it was so sad thinking that 3 of the grid are no longer with us now :( It's a shame also that some of these names are 'where are they now?' because Luby, Watts, Sugden, Goodwin, Burt and others had the talent, I think, to go much further given the right machinery. That's a whole other topic though.

Patrick Watts runs a racking company of some sort I think. Funks on here will know more as they're from the same village. :) He was the British Historic Rally Champion in 2006 in a Sunbeam Tiger. :D

Nigel Smith did some GT racing a few years back and was overseeing his sons racing in Formula Renault. Robb Gravett runs a driver training company and his son has also started car racing in Sax Max. Harry Nuttall I think worked for TWR before they went bust, BV-R is a historic racer mainly these days and lives in Portugal, last I heard of Alex Portman he was racing the Lotus Esprit in FIA GTs, Andy Middlehurst is a car dealer and raced various Nissans in production saloon car series until the NSCC was swallowed up by the BTCC. Laurence Bristow I haven't heard about since the mid-1990s when he was using his ex-BTCC RS500 in Thundersaloons.

Sad that about Knockhill in 1992. Kieth O'dor's autograph was the first touring car driver's signature I ever got at Knockhill in 1994. That was the last place I saw him and Will Hoy as well sadly. I was waiting until 7pm to leave the circuit in 2002 and Will was getting into his hire car which was parked opposite mine. I was going to congratulate him on Honda's first win that day, but I didn't want to bother him. Wish I had. :(

[Allyc85]

Going back to David Leslie, as well as commentary he still races too. He won the first Britcar race of the season yesterday in a BMW along with Harry Handkammer. There'll be some photos of the event on my Flickr account shortly.

Of topic: Bit of an eventful day with the snow during the race, never seen anything like it!

Ive got a post about the britcar in the National Motorsport section, so if you could post a link of your pics that would be great :D

[racer69]

What is Jeff Allam up to these days?


I always wondered about Jamie Wall

Wall did the opening round of the 1999 Australian Super Touring Championship in a Honda, was always meant to be coming back to do the rest of the season, but a budget was never found.

[Iain]

Jeff's a car dealer just like his old teammate. :)

http://www.allams-vauxhall.co.uk/

[ready2rock]

David Leslie also raced a Radical SR8 with Quest Racing last year - a name familiar to us all i believe :)

[poole123]

Does anyone no what happened to colin blair and russell spence?

[LiamM]

Russell Spence is apparently still involved in the Karting industry

[Coops]

Patrick Watts runs a racking company of some sort I think. Funks on here will know more as they're from the same village. :) He was the British Historic Rally Champion in 2006 in a Sunbeam Tiger. :D

Nigel Smith did some GT racing a few years back and was overseeing his sons racing in Formula Renault. Robb Gravett runs a driver training company and his son has also started car racing in Sax Max. Harry Nuttall I think worked for TWR before they went bust, BV-R is a historic racer mainly these days and lives in Portugal, last I heard of Alex Portman he was racing the Lotus Esprit in FIA GTs, Andy Middlehurst is a car dealer and raced various Nissans in production saloon car series until the NSCC was swallowed up by the BTCC. Laurence Bristow I haven't heard about since the mid-1990s when he was using his ex-BTCC RS500 in Thundersaloons.

Sad that about Knockhill in 1992. Kieth O'dor's autograph was the first touring car driver's signature I ever got at Knockhill in 1994. That was the last place I saw him and Will Hoy as well sadly. I was waiting until 7pm to leave the circuit in 2002 and Will was getting into his hire car which was parked opposite mine. I was going to congratulate him on Honda's first win that day, but I didn't want to bother him. Wish I had. :(

Jeff Allam was (attempting to be, not an easy job) the driving standards guy for the BTCC not so long ago wasn't he? Clerk of the course type of thing, deciding which moves were 'on' or not.

Ah yes, I remember Nigel Smiths sons racing now. I was walking around the support Paddock last year at Brands and spotted John Cleland and son as well as John Surtees and son. Pushy fathers? :p

I thought Patrick Watts was doing some sort of business now, good to know he still has his hand in motorsport though, I really rated that guy. Pulled a lot of results out of the bag by dragging unwilling cars kicking and screaming around every corner. I remember his pole at Snetterton in '93 he said something along the lines of 'he could have gone off on every corner'. Shame the first lap of the race, he did!

Thanks for the info on the others, I always wondered if Laurence Bristow was a gentleman driver who brought a bit of money to the teams he drove for. Maybe just assumed as he always carried Labbatts backing and I never heard of him again.

Will was a total gent, I had a soft spot for the 'old guard' in the super touring days and I got his autograph a number of times just cause he was one of my favourites. I was at Silverstone when he won in '98 and everyone in the crowd was willing him on. I never met Keith, but when I watch the reviews now you can really see him mature as a driver. Holding off Soper for the win at Silverstone in the biggest race of the year for instance. He didn't deserve that dog of a car in 1994 but proved himself against ex F1 and sportscar driver Eric Van de Poele.

I know Frank Sytner can be seen terrorising historic racing these days since he's sold he's BMW dealership for a vast amount. He was on neighbours from hell, too. After a bit of research i'm surprised to find Laurent Aiello gave it all up to race jet skis!

Anyone know what happened to Jerry Mahony? ;) Paula Cook, any ideas?

[Iain]

Jerry Mahony is otherwise indisposed these days as I'm sure you're aware judging by the ;) in your post. :p :

Paula Cook did the first SEAT Cupra Championship in 2003 before disappearing off the radar, rather like her brother David who made it all the way up to F3000 with the family team.

[Rover V8]

Paula Cook did the first SEAT Cupra Championship in 2003 before disappearing off the radar, rather like her brother David who made it all the way up to F3000 with the family team.

She briefly moved over into sportscars- appeared at the 2003 Spa 24 hours in the GT2 Morgan, then did British GT in 2004 in the Embassy Racing Corvette, shared with Neil Cunningham- she didn't finish the season and Ben Collins took over the seat for the last few rounds. Don't think I've heard anything about her since


http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/2004/Snetterton-2004-06-06-055.jpg

[poole123]

I notice that former btcc independant racer John Batchelor (John B&Q) is planning to buy Mansfield Town Football club.

[Allyc85]

Something slightly different but I saw the ex Richard Marsh 307 racing in the snow last saturday in Britcar.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f123/allyc85/Britcar%202008/DSCF0859Medium.jpg

[Marc W]

Amazingly it actually led for a while in the confusion following the blizzards! Sadly it retired before the end of the race, although it had long since lost the lead by then.

[VkmSpouge]

Shame they retired. I'd like to see a Peugeot in the BTCC again, maybe even that one :D

[VkmSpouge]

Hate to double post but I was wondering if anyone else remembers a team trying to enter a private Ford Mondeo either in the 1999 or 2000 season. I think the Mondeo might have even been self-built by the team involved but I'm not certain. I remember Autosport had pictures of it testing at the time but it never got any further than that. I was wondering if anyone had any information about which team was it and who was the driver?

[Iain]

That was in 1999. It was a driver called Gareth Howell (not the one we know from the present day or any relation) who was a production saloon racer and had been building this car over a long period of time. I vaguely remember photos of the car in a workshop, but that was about it. Not sure if it ever ran. His name was down on a provisional entry list if I remember rightly, as it was in I think 1993 when he was developing a non-turbo Ford Sierra Sapphire Cosworth, which again never raced.

[Iain]

Shame they retired. I'd like to see a Peugeot in the BTCC again, maybe even that one :D

Here's it's sister car at Knockhill last weekend: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adriangail/2374072651/

[BDunnell]

That was in 1999. It was a driver called Gareth Howell (not the one we know from the present day or any relation) who was a production saloon racer and had been building this car over a long period of time. I vaguely remember photos of the car in a workshop, but that was about it. Not sure if it ever ran. His name was down on a provisional entry list if I remember rightly, as it was in I think 1993 when he was developing a non-turbo Ford Sierra Sapphire Cosworth, which again never raced.

Didn't one of the cars, either the Sapphire or the Mondeo, run in a TOCA test session somewhere? I have vague recollections of Howell doing so somewhere, but I may be wrong.

[VkmSpouge]

I remember the Mondeo testing, I think it was quite a long way from the pace.

Gareth Howell's name was definitely down on the entry list in 1993, it appears in the 1993 Silverstone finale program. The team is simply down as "driver".

[Iain]

He had some radical engine idea from what I can remember. It's all very vague though.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Does anyone know the history of each of the 307's? I'm trying to track down all the BTCC cars built and their ownership history, organized by chassi numbers. If anyone has any information on them I would be most grateful for it, and if not, a direction to someone who would know.

[LiamM]

This might help a bit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTC-T_Peugeot_307

[Iain]

Good luck with that. I tried to do that ages ago, but it really is a big task. :)