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1998 British Touring Car Championship
The 1998 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship featured 26 races across 13 rounds, it commenced at Thruxton on 13 April and ended at Silverstone on 20 September. The championship was won by Rickard Rydell in a Volvo S40, the runner-up was Anthony Reid in a Nissan Primera and James Thompson finished in third driving a Honda Accord. The Autosport Cup for Independents, a championship for privateer entries was won by Tommy Rustad in a Renault Laguna. The video game '' TOCA 2 Touring Cars'' is based on this championship season. Background There were three major rule changes to the championship prior to the start of the 1998 season. Race weekends were changed notably with two different types of races now elected: a shorter "sprint" race and a "feature" race, 25% longer than previous races featuring a mandatory two-tyre stop to be taken between 15 and 75% distance. Qualifying for the sprint race involved drivers holding a "shoot-out" style session where each driver was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Touring Car Championship
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as the British Touring Car Championship for the 1987 season.BTCC History 1958-1990 Retrieved from www.btcc.net on 13 August 2012 The championship, currently running regulations, has been run to various national and international regulations over the years including , [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jason Plato
Timothy Jason Plato (born 14 October 1967) is a British racing driver who last competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for BTC Racing. He has twice been BTCC Champion, in 2001 for Vauxhall and 2010 for Silverline Chevrolet. He has finished in the top 3 in the Championship 12 times and holds the record for the most overall race wins in the BTCC. He is also a presenter on the motoring television series '' Fifth Gear'' from 2004 to present. Career history After success in karting including a 1989 British Championship win in the Junior TKM Class, Oxford-born Plato raced in Formula Three and Formula Renault. In 1996, he entered the Renault Spider championship, taking a dominant title win. BTCC (1997–2001) Williams Renault (1997–1999) In 1997, he gained the second drive in the Williams-Renault BTCC team, after Frank Williams organised a test between him, Gianni Morbidelli and Jean-Christophe Boullion with the fastest getting the contract offer. After being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Kox
Peter Kox (born 23 February 1964 in Eindhoven) is a racing driver from the Netherlands. Kox began racing in karts in 1978, winning five titles until 1982. In 1983 he moved to automobiles, winning the Marlboro Formula Ford Challenge and was second and third in the Benelux and Dutch Formula Ford 2000 Championships, respectively, the following year. His single-seater racing career was interrupted several times and only took off in 1989 when he won the Benelux Formula Opel Championship in 1989. In 1990 Kox raced in the British Formula 3 Championship where he came third with two victories. He moved up to Formula 3000 in 1991, staying there for two seasons and winning one race. Unable to find a seat in Formula One, Kox moved to touring cars driving a BMW, winning five races in the Dutch series in 1993 on his way to the championship title. In 1995 he became a works BMW driver in the German Supertouring Championship, coming second in the series, and also winning the Spa 24 Hours. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a production of 400 million by the end of 2019, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year. Honda became the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer in 2001. In 2015, Honda was the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in the world. Honda was the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated luxury brand, Acura, in 1986. Aside from their core automobile and motorcycle businesses, Honda also manufactures garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft, power generators, and other products. Since 1986, Honda has been involved with artificial intelligence/robotics research and released their ASIMO rob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prodrive
Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races cars for companies and teams such as Aston Martin, Bahrain Raid Xtreme and Team X44. Its advanced technology division applies this motorsport engineering approach to deliver engineering solutions into automotive OEMs, aerospace, defence, marine and other sectors, which now represents more than half its turnover. Prodrive also has a specialist composite division based in Milton Keynes where it manufactures lightweight carbon composite CFRP and visual carbon components for many supercars and increasingly for the luxury automotive, aerospace and marine sectors. Prodrive first became well known for its involvement in the World Rally Championship with the Subaru World Rally Team, developing championship-winning cars for Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg, which now reside in the Prodrive heritage collection alongside many other of its c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiff Needell
Timothy "Tiff" Needell (born 29 October 1951 in Havant, Hampshire) is a British racing driver and television presenter. He is a presenter of '' Lovecars'', and formerly served as co-presenter of ''Top Gear'' and ''Fifth Gear''. Biography Needell attended Ottershaw School followed by City University, London where he achieved an Honours Degree in Civil Engineering. Hired by George Wimpey & Co, his day job was as a Structural Design Engineer. Racing career Needell first raced at a driving school at Brands Hatch in 1970. He progressed to Formula Ford, his progress assisted by the use of a Lotus 69 FF he won in an ''Autosport'' magazine competition.DRIVERS: TIFF NEEDELL – GrandPrix.com He later sold his Lotus and used the money to buy and race an [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top Gear (1977 TV Series)
''Top Gear'' was a British motoring magazine programme created by the BBC and aired on BBC Two between 22 April 1977 and 17 December 2001. The programme focused on a range of motoring topics, the most common being car reviews, road safety and consumer advice. Originally presented by Angela Rippon and Tom Coyne, the show saw a range of different presenters and reporters front the programme's half-hourly slots, including Noel Edmonds, Jeremy Clarkson, Tiff Needell, William Woollard and Quentin Willson. The programme proved popular during the late 80s and early 90s, and launched a number of spin-offs, including its own magazine entitled '' Top Gear Magazine''. By 1999, viewing figures in ''Top Gear'' had declined after the departure of notable presenters, leading to the BBC cancelling the programme in 2001. While a number of presenters and production staff moved over to Channel 5 to produce a new motoring programme, Clarkson and fellow presenter Andy Wilman convinced the BBC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RML Group
Ray Mallock Ltd., also known as RML Group, is a motorsports and high performance engineering company, based in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. Early history Ray Mallock began building racing cars, alongside his brother Richard, as an assistant to his father, Major Arthur Mallock, who created the Mallock U2 chassis for Clubmans racing. After racing in Formula 3, Formula Atlantic and sports car racing, Mallock founded his team, Ray Mallock Atlantic Racing, in 1979, which he renamed RML in 1984. Sports car racing Ray Mallock, a driver for Viscount Downe Racing, helped develop the privateer Aston Martin-powered Nimrod NRA/C2 for Group C regulations in the World Endurance Championship in 1982, 1983 and 1984. In 1984, RML was contracted to build the Ecurie Ecosse prototypes for the C2 class, winning the class title in 1986. In 1987, RML returned to the main class by developing the Aston Martin AMR-1. The project was closed in 1990, but RML found work with the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Leslie (racing Driver)
David Leslie (9 November 1953 – 30 March 2008) was a Scottish racing driver. He was most associated with the British Touring Car Championship, in which he was runner-up in 1999. He was particularly noted for his development skill, helping both Honda and Nissan become BTCC race winners. He was born in Dumfries, Scotland. Career Leslie was Scottish karting champion 5 times before switching to cars, winning the Formula Ford title in 1978. He later moved to the British Formula Three Championship from 1981 to 1984, becoming involved with the Ecurie Ecosse team. With Ecosse, he moved to the World Sportscar Championship, driving to multiple C2 class victories and helping the team earn the 1986 championship. Leslie himself would earn second place in the Drivers Championship in 1987 alongside teammate Ray Mallock. Leslie and the team also finished second in the C2 class and 8th overall in the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ecosse eventually took over the Aston Martin sports car progra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nissan
, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun brands, with in-house performance tuning products (including cars) labelled Nismo. The company traces back to the beginnings of the 20th century, with the Nissan '' zaibatsu'', now called Nissan Group. Since 1999, Nissan has been part of the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance (Mitsubishi joining in 2016), a partnership between Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors of Japan, with Renault of France. , Renault holds a 43.4% voting stake in Nissan, while Nissan holds a 15% non-voting stake in Renault. Since October 2016 Nissan has held a 34% controlling stake in Mitsubishi Motors. In 2013, Nissan was the sixth largest automaker in the world, after Toyota, General Motors, Volkswagen Group, Hyundai Motor Group, and Ford. In 2014, Nissan was the la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Biela
Frank Stanley Biela (born 2 August 1964 in Neuss) is a German auto racing driver, mainly competing in touring cars and sportscar racing. He has raced exclusively in cars manufactured by the Audi marque since 1990. Career Biela started his career in 1983 in karting before joining the Ford ''Youngster Team'' programme in 1987 alongside Manuel Reuter and Bernd Schneider. He drove for the team in Formula Ford and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (the German touring car championship), where he won the race at AVUS in 1987. Biela continued to compete in the DTM in 1988, and also raced a limited season in German Formula Three, scoring two wins. In 1990, he moved to Audi, winning the DTM race at the Nürburgring and the DTM championship in 1991 before Audi left the DTM in mid-season of 1992. Biela stayed with the company, and with the rise of the two-litre Class 2 (Super Touring) rules in other series across Europe, he was entered in various European touring car series over the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Bintcliffe
John Simon Bintcliffe (born 7 February 1966 in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England) is a motor racing figure. He has been involved in the British Touring Car Championship as both driver and team owner. He won the Renault Clio Cup in 1994, and the Ford Credit Fiesta series a year later. He competed in the British Touring Car Championship for Audi from 1996 to 1998, teamed with series champions Frank Biela and Yvan Muller. Due to its Quattro 4-wheel drive system, Audi initially had the best car, and despite his lack of experience John was able to twice finish 7th in the championship, taking 2 race wins against many higher profile drivers. However, the team struggled in 1998, and John was 15th overall, only just ahead of independent champion Tommy Rustad. This may be an unfair reflection on John, given teammate Muller's success; in the same year Frank Biela only mustered 14th place in the German equivalent series, using the same 2-wheel drive Audi. He is the team manag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
