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Exactly like Colin Turkington. He doesn't have or deserve international recognition either, because he hasn't won anything outside of Britain.

Now, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Gabriele Tarquini, Steve Soper, Frank Biela and Yvan Muller are all internationally recognised because they have won racing titles in other countries aside from Britain. There are other BTCC champions who very few outside of Britain give a crap about because they never won anything in other countries. Tim Harvey. Will Hoy. Jason Plato. And now Turkington...for now.

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

Steve Soper's international recognition was forged long before he won his only touring car title, the 1995 Japanese Touring Car Championship...indeed i don't think winning that would have helped it at all.

Oh, he spent so long in this country that I thought that he had won it at some point. Oh well.

But the point still stands. He achieved international recognition by going out and doing well in other series outside of Britain; the FIA GT championship, the old WTCC, the Spa and Nurby 24 Hours races.

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

I think Soper actually won the championship in 1984, but then all the works Rovers/MGs were disqualified.

http://www.btcc.net/html/history_standi ... ason_id=27

Well said that man!

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"Many people ask me why I always sign off Till We Meet Again, because goodbye is always so final. Goodbye Dan Wheldon." -Marty Reid

from all these touring car series, BTCC simply is better than anything else at the moment. In WTCC it is mainly Seat vs BMW (and a little bit chevrolet), and that's it. And if some Seat driver happened to be in front of another Seat driver who happened to be a championship contender, then they simply let him through. The same goes for DTM, it's only Merc vs Audi anymore. WTCC did have some good races though this year.

BTCC seems more like it is Driver x versus Driver y versus driver z etc...

and races are just more fun to watch, it is the drivers? Is it the cars? Or is it the circuits? Or is it the weather that is often more dramatic in Britain?

Either way, if I would have to choose on a sunday afternoon between those 3 series, my choice would be easy.

He did, Soper won the 1983 BTCC in the works TWR Rover, but squabbles were on-going about the legalities of the Rover's, and in mid-1984 he was finally disqualified from the 1983 series, which led to Austin Rover throwing a tantrum and withdrawing all the works cars (including the MG Metro Turbo's) in mid-season 1984....

Soper's crowning moment of the 1983 season though was his drive in the ETCC round at Silverstone (partnered by Rene Metge). On a wet track he just drove into the distance (including beating the 'main' TWR team of Jaguar's), winning with ease.

I was just going to correct myself on that after reading what happened on ten-tenths .

In response to the thread title:

That picture of Alan Gow brings up an interesting topic. Given the latest rule changes in the BTCC looking to oust rear-wheel drive cars, or at the very least severly handicap them...it is ironic to remember that Alan Gow was brought up on a diet of high-powered RWD touring cars in Australia in the 70s and 80s, and was an leading figure in Peter Brock's Mobil team in Australia from 1987 until 1989, running V8 Commodore's and Ford Sierra RS500s (and quietly, BMW M3s )

Gow's defense has been: "Well, it's only ever BMW that have bothered running Rear Wheel drive (and not as an official factory effort for many years...) so what's the point pandering to them?"

Answer: Perhaps because of the excess of private run cars in the championship means they're an affordable and compettitive car which you are shutting the door on?

I dunno, I've never question Gow's decision making before but I'm coming close on this one.

I recall more than 1 RWD Lexus making the BTCC grid.

Wellll.....pitlane beside the grid most of the time!

Some of the race meets here in NZ manage about 40,000, and for a population of just over 4 million that's not too shabby... and remember that's only for the national series, your looking at around 70-80,000 for something like the Hamilton 400 V8 Supercars event.

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"An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government"


3x TBKL rFactor Hillclimb champion

BTCC manages 30-35,000 at some events despite Britain being in the financial shit so to speak.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Maybe Argentina has the most enthusiastic crowd at least. It's a joy just to see crowds during those races.

Its a shame we dont get much BTCC here in Oz or id watch it all the time. Each series has its own little things that make it interesting. I wouldnt bother trying to compare which is the best one. If it has an engine and wheels and races around a decent track and the racings got action then il watch it.

Yeah, their tradition dates back to the '40s. It's similar to Australia with the GM v/s Ford rivalry, only that it's Chevrolet instead of Holden.