Reid vs. Rydell, 20 years on: Time For Coffee?
It's now two decades since Rickard Rydell won the 1998 BTCC - time to relive it
Oft-repeated phrase though it is, the Super Touring era of BTCC really was magnificent. Big grids, big budgets and big name drivers all conspired to create some truly memorable racing and hours of entertainment. One or two rather cool cars, too...
Everyone will have their favourite season, but 1998 lingers fondly in the memory for a number of reasons. First is simply that Super Touring was in decline after that; for 1999 Peugeot and Audi dropped out, then in 2000 - the final year of those regulations - just three manufacturer teams entered. Throughout the 90s there had been huge manufacturer support, with eight factory teams a regular fixture every season - 1998 would be the final year in history that Britain's premier tin top championship enjoyed such widespread investment.
What a season it was, too. With the Audis no longer able to run four-wheel drive for 1998 all cars were front-wheel drive. While there were victories for '97 champ Alain Menu in his Laguna, the Vauxhall Vectra driven by John Cleland, Will Hoy (Ford Mondeo) and James Thompson (Honda Accord), it was Anthony Reid and Rickard Rydell who proved the class of the field.
Reid's Nissan Primera and Rydell's Volvo S40 could always be found somewhere near the front of the pack, most notably at Brands Hatch when the two came to blows both on and off the track. Rounds 25 and 26 would decide who took the title, because nobody else could at this point, and it was the Swede's to lose.
As can be seen in the video, it's proper BTCC end-of-term carnage. Anthony Reid attempts perhaps a move never seen outside of TOCA Touring Cars, Alain Menu fights both Hondas numerous times and even David Leslie gets involved in a skirmish. More than that it's genuinely tense racing, James Thompson always lurking with the potential to turn things on their head.
Of course that didn't happen, and Rydell won the championship in that glorious, five-cylinder S40. In fact he won the BTCC on 20th September 1998, so here it is to mark 20 years (and a day) since that triumph. What a win. What a car. What a series...
Fond memories of watching these live on the BBC and I think I remember Murray Walker commentating although that could be a different era. Every race was a slam fest of tit for tat bumping, blatant use of the "ram another car rather than use your brakes to slow down at a hairpin" method and yet I don't remember many driver reprimands - what happened on the track stayed on the track!
Looking back at it now I'm not sure the large manufacturers would back such antics on track but my word it was great to watch.
I still enjoy the BTCC today but by these standards it just feels a little more like a lower formula despite the progress in technology and no doubt faster lap times.
Might watch more tonight to see Volvo estates on track, Alfa Romeos flipping over umpteen times, Smokin Joe in the BMW, Mansell taking out Needell and an angry Scotsman giving an irate interview after coming off worse in a demolition derby!
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