1996 British Touring Car Championship Season
The 1996 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship season marked the arrival of Audi to the sport with their four wheel drive A4s. The title was won by Frank Biela, with Swiss driver Alain Menu again finishing in second place and Swede Rickard Rydell in third. Season review After seeing the success that rivals BMW and Alfa Romeo had achieved in the series, and wanting to expand their successful touring car programme, Audi entered a works team for the season, headed up by Audi Sport UK's Frank Biela. Biela had won multiple touring car championships and the 1995 Touring Car World Cup for the Four Rings. The Audi A4 proved the class of the field from the get go, helped considerably by its four wheel drive system. This led to an argument between the manufacturers throughout the season, and a weight penalty was added to the Audis. It did not help much; Biela dominated the season and won the title with 4 races to run, one of 7 titles won by the Audi A4 Quattro in 1996. Joining ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in the United Kingdom. The company organises and administers the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and the support series to the BTCC, sometimes known as the T .... It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as the British Touring Car Championship for the 1987 British Touring Car Championship, 1987 season.BTCC History 1958-1990 Retrieved from www.btcc.net on 13 August 2012 The championship, currently running Next Generation Touring Car regulations, has been run to various national and international regulations over the years including FIA Grou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Andy Rouse
Andrew Rouse (born 2 December 1947) is a British racing driver, most notably in the British Saloon Car Championship. He won the BSCC in 1975, 1983, 1984 and 1985. Andy Rouse is one of the most successful drivers ever to appear in the BSCC. His 60 overall wins in the category was the highest total by any driver for many years, until being overhauled by Jason Plato at Brands Hatch in the opening round of the 2011 season. Early career Rouse was born in Dymock, Gloucestershire. Coming from an engineering background, he was originally an apprentice with an agricultural engineering company. He had been interested in motor sport from an early age and had run self-built autograss specials in his teens and then Formula Ford. In 1971 he funded his racing activities by working for Broadspeed, the race car engineering company set-up by Brummie Ralph Broad. Rouse's combined engineering and driving talent soon became apparent to Broad, who then encouraged his motorsport career by providi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tim Harvey
Tim Harvey (born 20 November 1961) is a British racing driver, best known for being the 1992 British Touring Car Champion, and the 2008 and 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain champion. A household name in the 1990s, Harvey won sixteen races in the British Touring Car Championship between 1987 and 1995, and competed in the series until 2002. He was also the winner of the invitational Guia Race of Macau touring car event, in 1989. After leaving touring car racing, Harvey moved into the one-make Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain series; after two guest drives in 2003, including one victory, Harvey competed full-time from the 2004 season onwards. In seven full seasons in the championship, Harvey finished in the top four of the final championship standings in each season, and left the series after a class victory in the Porsche Carrera World Cup meeting at the Nürburgring, with a series record of 35 overall victories. Along with media commitments for television broadcaster ITV4 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |
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Roberto Ravaglia
Roberto Ravaglia (born 26 May 1957 in Venice, Italy) is a former auto racing driver, who currently runs ROAL Motorsport, who operate a Chevrolet operation in the World Touring Car Championship. Before retiring in 1997, he was one of the most successful touring car racing drivers, primarily for BMW, and won seven titles in four different championships. Racing career He was twice Italian karting champion and raced in Formula 3 in the early 1980s. In 1984 he made his touring car debut, becoming European Touring Car Championship champion in 1986, and successfully defending the title in 1987 and 1988 (though in 1987 it was the World Touring Car Championship), with some races outside Europe including the Macau Grand Prix Guia Touring Car races and the James Hardie 1000 in Australia. Later in the 1988 season he was unable to defend his Macau win due to breaking a rib in a road accident driving his Fiat Uno. He switched with BMW to the DTM in 1989, and the Italian Superturismo Cham ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joachim Winkelhock
Joachim Winkelhock (born 24 October 1960) is a German motor racing driver. The younger brother of the late Manfred Winkelhock, Winkelhock was born in Waiblingen, near Stuttgart. The youngest brother, Thomas Winkelhock, and Manfred's son Markus Winkelhock are also racing drivers. Career After the death of his brother interrupted his career in 1985, he resumed later on, winning the 1988 German Formula Three Championship as well as that year's European Cup, at the unusually late age of 28. The next year was less successful, as he tried Formula One with the small AGS team. Failing to pre-qualify on 7 occasions, Winkelhock then linked up with BMW Motorsport in touring car racing and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft. He won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 1990 and 1991 with a BMW M3 entered by Schnitzer Motorsport. His first title was the 1993 British Touring Car Championship. There, he was also commonly known as ''Smokin' Jo'', for his cigarette smoking habit. Winkelhock's n ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Team Schnitzer
Schnitzer Motorsport was a motorsport team based in Freilassing near Munich, Germany. From the early days of its establishment, the team has operated an automobile racing squad for BMW, and has remarkable results in touring car and sports car racing scenes. The team often runs the cars for BMW under the name of "BMW Motorsport". In 2012, the team operated the DTM team for BMW under the name of "BMW Team Schnitzer". On 4 December 2020, BMW announced that it will terminate its relationship with Schnitzer Motorsport after more than 50 years. History The team was founded in 1967 by the brothers Josef (August 7, 1939–August 31, 1978) and Herbert Schnitzer (b. June 5, 1941). Their stepfather Karl Lamm had a car repair shop and dealer business. The brothers started racing in 1962, and Josef Schnitzer won the 1966 German Championship in a BMW 2000ti. In 1968, both retired from active race driving to focus on the business and the race team. In the 1970s, the Schnitzer's younger ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Kaye
James Kaye (born 18 February 1964 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire) is a British auto racing driver. He has been a stalwart competitor of Hondas in various championships since 1995, and has had 2 lengthy spells in the BTCC. He won the BTCC independents' championship in 1992 and 1994. Racing career After racing in the British National Production Saloon Championship with several championship in the late 80s and early 90s, he entered the BTCC as an independent in 1992, winning the independent title in his Toyota, and again in 1994. In 1993 he raced a semi-works Toyota for the Park Lane Racing team, ineligible for the Total Cup for Independents. In 1995 he was hired by Honda for their BTCC programme, racing there for 2 seasons. He had an assortment of sports car drives for Honda from 1997–1999, returning to touring cars in the National Saloon Championship in 2000. The same cars were eligible for the newly created Class B of the BTCC that year, and James was runner up in a Hond ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1996 British Grand Prix
The 1996 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 14 July 1996 at Silverstone. It was the tenth race of the 1996 FIA Formula One World Championship. Williams' Jacques Villeneuve took his second win of the season from Benetton's Gerhard Berger, with McLaren's Mika Häkkinen coming home third for his first podium since his near-fatal crash at 1995 Australian Grand Prix. Jordan's Rubens Barrichello took fourth, equalling his best finish of the season, and it came after he had been involved in late collisions while racing for fourth place at the circuit in the previous two years. The final points went to David Coulthard in the second McLaren and Martin Brundle in the second Jordan. Damon Hill took pole position for his home race, but made a slow start and retired shortly before half distance, after a wheel nut problem caused him to spin off at Copse Corner while he was trying to pass Häkkinen. For the third consecutive race, Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |
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Steve Robertson (racing Driver)
Stephen Robertson (born 4 July 1964) is a former racing driver from Hackney, England. After spending three years in British Formula Three (which included a 3rd place championship finish in 1990) and competing in a full season of International Formula 3000 in 1992 in which he failed to score points, he won the 1993 Indy Lights Rookie of the Year award. This was followed by the 1994 Indy Lights championship (both with Tasman Motorsports). He captured 7 wins during his 2 years in the series. He is one of only three Indy Lights champions to never race in Champ Car/IndyCar, the others being 1996 champion David Empringham and 2010 champion Jean-Karl Vernay. He later raced in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in 1996, in a works Ford Mondeo. However, the car was not competitive and he finished 20th in the championship with only two points. In the first race of the season at Donington Park, he spun in front of his teammate Paul Radisich, and Radisich was unable to avoid co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paul Radisich
Paul Radisich (born 9 October 1962, in Auckland) is a retired New Zealand racing driver and businessman of Croat origin. He has competed in saloon cars for many years — both European-style tourers and the V8 Supercars of Australia and New Zealand. Early Years In 1983 he was Formula Atlantic runner-up, earning the prestigious Driver To Europe award. In 1985 and 1986 he raced in British Formula 3, alongside Damon Hill. He later raced in Indy Lights and Formula Super Vee with some success, before finishing second in the 1990 Bathurst 1000. This led him towards racing saloon cars full-time. European Touring Cars He won the 1993 and 1994 Touring Car World Cup events at Monza and at Donington respectively. 1993 was his first British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season, in a Ford Mondeo prepared by Andy Rouse. He finished 3rd in the series despite only competing in half the year. He would again drive for Andy Rouse in 1994 where he finished 3rd again behind Gabriele Tarquin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |