Read: Interview – Anthony Reid: “It was a Privilege to have been Involved”

As part of our series of the Super Touring era of Touring Cars, Motorsport Radio reached out to Anthony Reid for his thoughts on late 1990’s and how the BTCC stacked up against its German rival the Super Tourenwagen Cup. Read full article here.

Reid most prominantly competed in his native British series, picking up 15 wins over his nine-year career. Twice finishing runner-up in 1998 and 2000, Reid had already competed in the STW Cup before making the move back to the UK.

Racing a Primera for eight of the nine STW Cup rounds in 1996, he claimed two podiums along the way, partnering former-F1 driver Ivan Capelli and Le Mans class winner Sascha Maassen for the Nissan Primera Racing team.

“I did the one season with Nissan in 1996 in the STW Cup. I found it really interesting. It was my first season with Nissan and we were using it as a development year in the knowledge that Nissan were coming to the BTCC in 1997 and ’98.”

He would not be the only familar British face in the field with Steve Soper claiming three victories on his way to runners-up spot behind quintuple-Le Mans winner and double Italian Touring Car champion Emanuele Pirro.

“There was an interesting mix of circuits. They had the airfield tracks, they were permanent airfields but were close for the weekend and turned into a motor racing circuit. These tracks were not so interesting, a little bit artificial, but you had some of the great tracks like Nurburgring, Hockenhiem, Zeltweg, Sachsenring. Those were great circuits, different, fast compared to some of the circuits in Britain. The crowds weren’t so big unless it was a mainstream circuit like Nurburgring or Hockenhiem.”

Despite being a predominantly German series, the calendar started in Zolder, Belgium and Assen, Netherlands, while also visiting Wunstorf, Zweibrucken and AVUS to complement the existing permanent circuits.

“The airfield circuits, there weren’t a tremendous amount of spectators, in contrast to the BTCC which was extremely high profile during the 90s because there were fewer television programmes. So in 1997 we were on BBC1 Grandstand, presented by Steve Rider and with Murray Walker commentating, and the crowds were huge. You had to be at the circuit before 7 O’Clock in the morning, otherwise you’d be stuck in a big traffic jam.

“You had the big names from touring cars, John Cleland, Menu, Rydell but also mixed in were ex F1 drivers including Nigel Mansell in 1998, Derek Warwick, Morbidelli, drivers like that. You were household names, people recognised you in the street because you were on BBC1 Grandstand, but it’s not the same now. BTCC is still extremely popular with spectators but you have to look for it on ITV4 and there’s hundreds of television channels these days.”

Of course, the German campaign was preparation for the BTCC. His best result would come at the high speed Salzbergring (Zeltweg) which translated over to 1997 when he took his maiden pole position at the high speed Brands Hatch.

The team would perfect the car for 1998, where, despite not winning for the first five rounds, collected seven wins in the second half of the year to storm up to second in the championship, helping Nissan to secure the manufacturer’s title.

“Looking back it was a privilege to have been involved. I had the good fortune to have been involved in both those championships at that time when there were major manufacturers, not just one or two, there were eight in BTCC and there were more professional drivers in the BTCC than there were in F1 at that time. It was a great period to have had the good fortune to have been involved in touring cars.”

When his Nissan contract came to an end in 1998, Reid would choose to stay in the BTCC, moving to Ford Team Mondeo, where he’d again finish runner up in the 2000 season.

“I had a three year contract with Nissan and I really wanted to come back and be a well know name in Britain. That’s what gave me the profile I have, I would say now. If I’d stayed in Germany or in Japan where I’d raced prior to that, I possibly would have had a lot of success, I did in Japan, but I wouldn’t have had the profile that I have in the motorsport community without having done the BTCC.”

Reid continued to race in the UK for years after, making a brief return to the BTCC in 2009 to help Colin Turkington’s championship campaign, while in 2011 he picked up the GTC title in British GT in a Ford-powered Chevron GR8.

This article had contributions from Connor Jackson and Tim Davies.