Humble appearances at a distance quickly give way to the realisation, that Super Touring Cars are incredibly high-tech, developed machines that are some way removed from the showroom fillers the sales-hungry marques intended to sell on Monday. But what were these cars actually like? Well, who better than the man with both experience of racing these cars and indeed, the skills to articulate their attributes: Tiff Needell.
Fresh from the season-closing round at Silverstone in the box-fresh Nissan Primera, Tiff climbs aboard the three title protagonists, from BMW, Toyota and Vauxhall. The cars are the BMW 318iS of new champion Tim Harvey, the Vauxhall Cavalier of John Cleland and the Toyota Carina of dethroned champion, Will Hoy. Around Oulton Park, Tiff is presented with cars set up for their drivers and not him but he quickly gets to grips and gets them on song, to let us know what these incredible machines feel like on the limit.
Arguably one of the most iconic periods in touring car racing, the Super Tourer era had glamour and drama enough to at one point attract a Formula 1 World Champion, Nigel Mansell, to secure himself a seat. He might have regretted it after that punt with Tiff in 1993… Star names that are now in the annals of racing legend populated the grid, with Harvey, Hoy and Cleland joining Steve Soper, Win Percy, Alain Menu, Andy Rouse, Andy Wallace and many more. Is this the greatest-ever era of touring car racing?
Welcome to Goodwood Elevenses, a helping of motoring-related amusement to help break up your day. Watch the last video: Rotary Peugeot 205 T16 is madness on the Hill
Super Touring
Tiff Needell
Elevenses
Video