SuperTouring rules were first introduced in an attempt to bring more variety to the BTCC. The championship, which had been dominated by the BMW M3 and Sierra Cosworth for the last couple of seasons, needed new blood...
The Super Touring formula was born from a new 2-Litre class, introduced into the British Touring Car Championship for 1990, created by two of the top BTCC engineers, Andy Rouse and a ProDrive's engineer.
Their idea was to create a ruleset that would give new manufacturers the opportunity to enter the series and be able to compete against the more experienced manufacturers without the associated high costs of the existing Group A rules, hence creating greater variety of competition.
The changes would also give the rule makers the opportunity to turn the complex multi-class series into a single class championship, allowing drivers to win from the front rather than from within individual classes.
A Super touring car was required to be mid-sized vehicle, and later, have a minimum of 4 doors. Engine capacity was limited to 2-litres normally aspirated 4 cylinder or V6, although this engine could come from another car in the manufactures range. This allowed BMW to replace the standard M3 2.3 litre unit with the smaller 2 Litre but left the previous championship winning Astra GTE to small to compete.
The race car had to be based on a production car, with a minimum of 2500 units (however, this was and is quite a small number for the likes of e.g. Alfa Romeo and BMW, so this was increased to 25000 in 1995, to eliminate "special" homologation specials).
To enable the cars to be easily recognised on the track, the rules dictated that the car's body shape had to remain the same as the production model (rear spoilers, and modified bumpers were later allowed), but most other areas of the car could be modified specifically for racing.
Only the original engine block and head must remain from the production engine but revs are limited to 8500 RPM. Racing transmissions and suspensions could be utilized, but the suspension had to remain true to the original design of the road going model. Closer racing was also engineered into the rules by having different weight limits for front and rear wheel drive, and by limiting overall wheel and tyre sizes and by restricting each car to only 6 tyres per event.
The rules were first tried in 1990, as a supporting class for the Class A Sierra RS500 Cosworths. Only Vauxhall and BMW works teams contested the class in the first year, and the new 2 litre class championship boiled down to a 1 on 1 fight with BMW M3 driver Frank Sytner and Vauxhall’s John Cleland. After the success of the previous year, Cleland, behind the wheel of the new 2 litre Cavalier GSi had something to prove.
Picture taken by Peter Still
The battled turned nasty with a couple of rounds to go when Sytner went for a gap that was never there and took himself and Cleland out. Although Cleland would take the final win of the season, the experienced ProDrive BMW team with veteran Frank Sytner took the inaugural class championship, however the fact that the humble Cavalier had managed to beat the all conquering M3 after only three races breaking a 27 race class winning streak by BMW, proving the rules worked...
Blue names denote cavaliers and drivers
1990 Championship Results: Class A= over 2.0ltr turbocharged. Class B= under 2.0ltr non-turbocharged
- 1. Robb Gravett (Class A) - 207
2. Frank Sytner (Class B) - 180
3. Andy Rouse (Class A) - 173
4. Tim Harvey (Class A) - 132
5. John Cleland (Class B) - 128
6. Jeff Allam (Class B) - 124
Group A was dropped for 1991, and the extra year of 2-litre racing gave BMW and Vauxhall an advantage. A wide variety of cars would be entered including a Sierra Sapphire (sedan) for champion Rob Gravett, a Mitsubishi Lancer, Nissan Primera, Rover 216 and Toyota Carina.
At the front it was BMW vs. Vauxhall again. In the BMW corner, the Mobil sponsored works team, prepared by Prodrive, while the semi works cars of Vic Lee Motorsport and Team Labatt’s cars were also title contenders. Vauxhall's involvement in the BTCC expanded with the addition of a second Cavalier GSi, piloted by Jeff Allam.
The championship came down to a battle with the late Will Hoy and John Cleland (Vauxhall Cavalier).
Picture taken by Peter Still
Hoy looked to have the championship sown up until retiring in the penultimate round. Hoy eventually took the title from John Cleland and Andy Rouse, in a Toyota Carina.
1991 Championship Results:
- 1. Will Hoy - 155
2. John Cleland - 132
3. Andy Rouse - 115
4. Steve Soper - 96
5. Ray Bellm - 90
6. Jeff Allam - 80
1992 is said by some to be the most intense BTCC season to date. BMW introduced their new shape E36 318is model. Prodrive ran cars for Tim Sugden, Alain Menu, and a one off drive for rally legend, Colin McRae. Meanwhile Vic Lee Racing ran a three car team.
Peugeot and Mazda cars were also entered, while RML entered additional Vauxhall Cavaliers for David Leslie and Bobby Verdon-Roe.
Vauxhall’s works driver John Cleland started the season by taking victory in the first two rounds at Silverstone and Thruxton from multiple champion, Andy Rouse. At Oulton Park Hoy took pole and his teammate Rouse's Carina sandwiched Cleland's Cavalier on the grid.
Cleland lead from the start, struggling for grip on cold tyres, whilst trying to stave off the Toyotas of Rouse and Hoy...it lasted half a lap before the Cavalier lose grip and fishtailed off the track into the armco in a cloud of dirt and chunks of earth (vid1) (vid2)....11th place was all he could retrieve.
As the season progressed, the Vic Lee Motorsport team found a set up for their new cars and Tim Harvey would take six race wins, and the championship.
It was a controversial title, the "Silverstone weather started the chaos by lashing down during qualifying, shaking up the grid. Cleland had the title edge starting in 7th, with Hoy in 9th spot and the on form Harvey back in 12th.
Early in the race itself, Steve Soper was on the receiving end of a "nowhere to go" shunt which saw the back of his 318is changing shape dramatically. This was to be the start of one of Soper's renowned drives from the back of the field, culminating in one of the most controversial BTCC incidents ever.
On the penultimate lap, Harvey tried to take Hoy which ended in tears, the pair of them dropping back behind Cleland and the resurgent Soper. Soper's BMW took Cleland with a clean out-braking manoeuvre and soon after, Harvey followed through at Club and was soon waved through by his team-mate to take fourth.. At this point, Cleland went for it as Soper braked for Brooklands, turning in and almost using Soper as a cushion, he pulled alongside, his nearside wheels at least two feet off the tarmac."
Picture taken by Peter Still
"From a non-biased point of view, what happened next was that Soper now had the inside line for the next right hander into Luffield, Cleland was probably a yard or two ahead when he turned in and Soper turned in as tightly as he could considering he was on the same payroll as Tim Harvey and "accidentally" harpooned Cleland putting the pair out of the race."
Rouse went on to win the race and Tim Harvey's fourth place was enough to give him the Championship.
Meanwhile Team owner Vic Lee was caught drug trafficking and sent to prison. The team was liquidated and its assets sold to new owners, VLM race driver Ray Bellm and Steve Neal. In years to come, this would morph into Team Dynamics BTCC team.
1992 Drivers Championship Results:
- 1. Tim Harvey - 152
2. Will Hoy - 149
3. John Cleland - 145
4. Jeff Allam - 137
5. Andy Rouse - 128
6. Steve Soper - 77
1993 saw some changes with teams and cars and series sponsorship. Car Classifieds Magazine, Auto Trader took over series sponsorship and the prize fund was increased. ToCA now ran the series, having taken over from the national body.
BMW GB withdrew their works supported team, but was replaced by Schnitzer Motorsport from Germany, running E36 3 series sedans. Meanwhile, new Team Dynamics team remained with the E36 318is.
Toyota brought their Touring Car team in-house at TOM’S GB while their 1992 team, Rouse Engineering, signed a deal to build a new team around the Ford Mondeo. Renault also entered with their new Renault 19 saloon, essentially rally cars run with the correct tyres.
Ray Mallock Racing (RML) had developed their own Vauxhall Cavaliers in 1992 (Ecurie Ecosse Cavalier) and in part, due to the talent's of the late David Leslie, would occasionally outpace the works Vauxhalls, including taking a win late in the season. Vauxhall noted this and RML ran the works cars two years later.
Picture taken by Peter Still
BMW dominated in the first half of the season with multiple wins for the Schnizter run ream.
Round 9 was the British Grand Prix support round and would see Nissan win with the late (great) Keith O’Dor. Keith’s father, Jan was well know for the Janspeed operation.
Bailey would save face a couple of races later, taking a win at Knockhill in Scotland, but the championship would end up in the hands of Schnitzer driver Joachim Winkelhock, with fellow BMW driver Steve Soper second and the Cavalier/Cleland combo in 4th.
1993 Drivers Championship Results:
- 1. Joachim Winkelhock - 163
2. Steve Soper - 150
3. Paul Radisich - 110
4. John Cleland - 102
5. Julian Bailey - 88
6. Kieth O'dor - 82
The new style championship was now in full swing, thanks to increased television coverage on the BBC. Double-header rounds now made up the majority of the championship for 1994.
Ford and Rouse Engineering had developed their Mondeo into a potential race winner, Renault ditched their 19, replacing them with the much improved Laguna (which would become the most successful Super Touring car in the BTCC, winning 36 races). Alfa Romeo and Volvo also joined the series. Volvo contracting Tom Walkinshaw’s TWR to run a 850 Estate for Jan Lammers and Rickard Rydell. While Vauxhall moved the running of their team over to RML including in the change a massive change in the livery.
Picture taken by Peter Still
Alfa was immediately dominant, thanks to the Italian squad pushing the rules to the maximum. Their homologated cars came with a full aero package, including splitter and rear wing spacers in the trunk, allowing the race team to include these on their race car when required. In the hands of ex Formula 1 driver, Gabriele Tarquini and Ginapiero Simoni, Alfa won when it wanted to and a serious challenge was all but impossible, even for the once mighty BMW's.
The other teams were not happy and filed a protest, which ToCA agreed with. Alfa withdrew in disgust but were persuaded to come back later, without their spoiler 'spacers'.
Rules were changed to limit this from happening, but teams would be allowed to run aerodynamic aids the following year, including a rear wing mounted mounted on the boot.
Despite being very successful, this would start a spiraling cost increase, which would later see Super touring formula break up as the new millennium approached.
The later half of the season saw Tarquini come under pressure from BMW, Renault and Ford, but Tarquini would take the title from Renault’s Alain Menu and Ford’s Paul Radisich. John Cleland in the RML Vauxhall would be fourth, largely due to his consistency.
1994 Drivers Championship Results:
- 1. Gabriele Tarquini - 298
2. Alain Menu - 222
3. Paul Radisich - 206
4. John Cleland - 177
5. Giampiero Simoni - 156
6. Joachim Winkelhock - 147
7. Steve Soper - 102
8. Patrick Watts - 98
9. Tim Harvey - 77
10. Jeff Allam - 76
RML were the dominant team in 1995 with the Vauxhall Cavalier. Lead driver John Cleland was joined by new-boy James Thompson who had shown great promise in a privateer Peugeot in 1994, and the livery returned to yellow decals on white...
Picture taken by Peter Still
New aerodynamic rules gave Volvo a disadvantage with their 850 Estate, so they reverted to a saloon so they could mount a rear wing.
Early in the season the title race would be anyone's guess but Cleland would take the lead in round 12 and Donnington saw Cleland and the Cavalier leading by 28 pts.
However after some great racing at the Silverstone F1 GP support race, Cleland lucked out at his homeground of Knockhill with 5th and 6th in the 2 races. Brands Hatch saw a 3rd and 1st (after contact for which both drivers had their licences endorsed but no further action was taken against either driver), stretching the lead to 40pts.
13th and 3rd at Snetterton left a job to be done at the Fosters circuit at Oulton. The venue to potentially provide the climax to the 1995 British Touring Car Championship.
Cleland and the Cavalier were ahead of Rydell on the grid for both races and Cleland had a 52 point lead over his nearest rival. Cleland started well and led most of race one's first lap with Menu passing the Vauxhall at the first available opportunity (Lodge corner), pulling away and cruising to victory and a 16 point gain on Rydell. Hoy finishes 2nd and Cleland finishes 3rd for 12 points... Cleland needs 6 points to clinch the Championship. He came second, earning enough points for a secure and comfortable Championship win... bittersweet, as this was the last year the Vauxhall ran the works cavaliers and in 1996 moved to the newer Vectra...
1995 Championship Results:
- 1. John Cleland - 348 points
2. Alain Menu - 305
3. Rickard Rydell - 255
4. Will Hoy - 195
5. Tim Harvey - 176
6. Paul Radisich - 130
7. James Thompson - 124
8. Kelvin Burt - 117
9. Julian Bailey - 94
10. Patrick Watts/David Leslie - 61
For 5 years the cavalier remained a competitive works vehicle at the hands of John Cleland his fellow team mates and the Vauxhall/RML team, with 19 wins between '90 and '95, many more podium finishes and in it's final year carried John to a Driver's Championship, losing out to Renault in the Manufacturers Championship by a mere 5 pts.
All told, the humble mk3 cavalier has enjoyed 7 years in the works and independant teams, been the longest standing works vauxhall in the last 20 years of BTCC, had a total of 23 wins, 20 pole positions, 15 fastest laps and come excruciatingly close to the Manufacturer's Championship into the boot. Not a bad pedigree... incidentally this DOESN'T include several independents such as Alex Portman or Ian Khan who I can't find history on
Summary of BTCC Cavalier success...
- Key;
Red = Jeff Allum
Blue = John Cleland
Green = James Thompson
Purple = Independant teams and drivers
1990: BTCC - Pos: 5. Vauxhall Cavalier. 13 races. 4 wins. 2nd in class points, 5th in overall points.
1991: BTCC - Vauxhall Cavalier. 14 races. 3 wins. 4 pole positions. 2 fastest laps.
1992: BTCC - Pos: 3. Vauxhall Cavalier. 15 races. 3 wins. 3 pole positions. 2 fastest laps. TOCA Shootout Winner.
1992: BTCC - Pos: 4. Vauxhall Cavalier. 2 wins.
1992: BTCC - Pos: 7. Ecurie Ecosse (Works entry). Vauxhall Cavalier GSi. 14 races. 66 points. 2 pole positions.
1993: BTCC - Pos: 4. Vauxhall Cavalier. 17 races. 1 wins. 1 pole positions. 1 fastest laps.
1993: BTCC - Pos: 9. Vauxhall Cavalier.
1993: BTCC - Pos: 8. Ecurie Ecosse Vauxhall (Works entry). Vauxhall Cavalier GSi. 17 races. 72 points. 1 wins. 4 pole positions. 3 fastest laps.
1993: BTCC - Pos: 24. Vauxhall.
1994: BTCC - Pos: 4. Vauxhall Motorsport (Works entry). Vauxhall Cavalier. 21 races. 177 points. 2 wins. 1 fastest laps.
1994: BTCC - Pos: 10. Vauxhall Motorsport (Works entry). Vauxhall Cavalier. 76 points.
1994: BTCC - Pos: 23. Team HMSO (Independent entry). Vauxhall Cavalier GSi. 1 points. 308 indy pts. Indy pos: 2.
1994: BTCC - Pos: 26. Vauxhall Cavalier. 274 indy pts. Indy pos: 3.
1995: BTCC - BTCC Champion. Vauxhall Sport (Works entry). Vauxhall Cavalier. 25 races. 348 points. 6 wins. 4 pole positions. 5 fastest laps.
1995: BTCC - Vauxhall Cavalier. 25 points.
1995: BTCC - Pos: 7. Vauxhall Sport (Works entry). Vauxhall Cavalier. 15 races. 124 points. 1 wins. 2 pole positions. 1 fastest laps. A violent crash during testing at Knickhill cut his season short.
1995: BTCC - Pos: 26. Team HMSO Cavalier (Independent entry). Vauxhall Cavalier. 298 indy pts. Indy pos: 3.
1996: BTCC - Pos: 16. Mint Motorsport (Independent entry). Vauxhall Cavalier. 6 points. 272 indy pts. Indy pos: 2.
1997: BTCC - Pos: 20. Mint Motorsport (Independent entry). Vauxhall Cavalier. 168 indy pts. Indy pos: 4.
Richard Kaye's '96 Mint Motorsport Cavalier
Sources; speedhunters.com, BTCC.net, johncleland.net, btccpages.com
), here is the entry for John Cleland, legendary Vauxhall touring car champion:
