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BTCC Series boss, Alan Gow on...
THE 2005 BTCC
"I would expect the grid number this year to be about the same as last year. You lose some cars, you get some new cars. We've always gravitated around a grid number of 22, 23, 24, 25 cars, even in the nineties. We've always been mid-twenties. Brands Hatch Indy circuit and Knockhill can't start more than 28 cars anyway. So I would expect that this year we will have about the same."
"I wanted to extend the season a little bit. Last year we raced for six months and we were off for six months. In reality that was a litte bit too long, so we've extended the season a little bit. Only by a few weeks, but it does make a difference."
DONINGTON 2004
"It was a very special event. You had the championship being decided at that round, and ultimately at the last race. The tension was there all through the day. The racing was good. The promotion for the meeting was great. And then we had the BTCC Masters' race, and there was a great sense of anticipation about that. It was a very buzzy atmosphere, probably one of the best race days that I've been too. A great mixture of tension and excitement."
THE 2004 RACE FORMAT "I don't know that left a race meeting or watched a race meeting on TV and said ‘that was boring'. We had great racing all year. Obviously the race format we had has got to play a part in that. Reverse grid is a great race. I thought that the three-race format was great."
CHANGES SINCE THE 90S "The atmosphere has changed in two ways. It's certainly more relaxed than it was. There was a lot more involved in those days. With manufacturers spending over £10 million, it got very serious indeed. It is still equally serious now, but the amount of money involved has changed, the breed of drivers is different. They are not such highly paid professionals any more, so you've got a mixture of amateurs coming through. I think it's a much nicer place to be on race day."
THE FUTURE OF THE BTCC "I'd like to see six manufacturers involved over the next couple of years. The independents do win races outright. In the old days that never happened. It's such a level playing field now. The difference between the ‘haves' and the ‘have-nots' that used to exist don't exist any more."
THE WTCC "It's an important element going forwards that the specification of cars that we run in the BTCC is the same as in the World Touring Cars. That feeds us, and it works both ways. Quite simply, Seat wouldn't be involved in our championship if we hadn't opened those doors. The stronger the WTCC is, and it is getting stronger all the time, the better it is for us. It's fantastic because it just feeds us."
Full audio interview available from Talking Point Broadcasting on autosport-international.com.
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