1994 BTCC - Nigel Albon Renault 19
Apr 10, 2018 15:06:23 GMT
René, charleselan, and 3 more like this
Post by Jamie on Apr 10, 2018 15:06:23 GMT
Further to the exchange in the F2 thread, here's a couple of pictures of the Renault 19 BTCC car I worked on during the 1994 season, just before I disappeared off to Australia for 18 months.
The car was run by a team called Harlow Motorsport who were a leading light in Renault Clio Uk and Eurocup racing at the time, winning the championship with Kenny Brack no less.....he ended up doing rather well.
It was the team owners ambition to step up to the BTCC and because of their close links with Renault UK they did a deal to run the previous years works Renault 19 in the BTCC independents cup for 1994 (the works team switching to Laguna's). Nigel Albon did a deal to drive the car moving up from Clio's.
I joined the team about 6 weeks before the season started as a junior mechanic (I wanted to work in racing before going travelling) and ended up painting the car as well when they found out I could spray!
It was a great season, but bloody hard and we even managed to win once at Oulton Park I think. Nigel was an excellent driver and went really quickly in the pre-season test at Brands hatch when we ran the car in the spec it finished the previous season. Unfortunately, the team owner / manager got rather ahead of himself and rather than just doing a good job of engineering what we had, he started to modify the suspension to match the current works Laguna's and it just didn't suit the car as well. Nigel wanted the car put back to how it was in the pre-season test and if that had been done, I'm sure he would of won many more races.
It was a brilliant experience anyway and I'm so glad I did it, I should of got back into it on my return from Australia but I fell back into Civil Engineering and then it was too late...ho hum.
We had some brilliant times though and it was probably the height of SuperTouring's popularity, the circuits were packed everywhere we went and it really felt as if we were part of something big. 1994 was the year the Alfa's turned up and changed the game and Volvo entered with the estate car.........it really was a vintage year.
I used to drive the Renault 19 RS road car that Renault UK made available to us around the track for the drivers parade with Nigel sitting out the sunroof waving to the crowd and we had fun away from the track, Nigel's then wife (F2 driver Alexander's mum) 'Binky' was a complete nutcase and provided lots of entertainment, it came as no surprise to me that she'd been convicted for fraud a few years ago....mad as a box of frogs!
Loads of stories from those days but they would be better told in a pub with a few beers. Highlights for me were racing back to our Harlow base from Snetterton when we blew two engines in practise; I had to winch the remaining spare engine into the boot of the Renault 19 on my own and make it back to Snet so we could fit it before qualifying. I made it but was clocked at 114 mph by a camera on the M11! I got away with it thankfully as the car was registered to Renault UK and they 'made it go away'
This was the same weekend that Senna was killed and I remember the weird atmosphere in the paddock when the news came through....lots of people in that paddock had worked with Ayrton in the junior formulas and I saw plenty of grown men crying that day...
Driving the touring car for a complete lap of Silverstone to get it on to the grid was also something I'll never forget. This was at the British GP meeting and us mechanics were told to take it easy.......of course we took not a blind bit of notice and gunned the cars, great fun and an almighty bollocking when we arrived at the grid
Another highlight was that as part of the pit crew I had to wear a race suit most of the time and used a spare racing set rather than a mechanics suit (we were on a budget)......this was great for me as when wandering around the paddock I would get mistaken for a driver and as a 21 year old I took full advantage of the female attention......
Also worked on John Bintcliffe's Clio at the same time....what a lovely chap and I was so happy for him when he got the Audi drive.
Anyway, a couple of photos of the car below:
The car was run by a team called Harlow Motorsport who were a leading light in Renault Clio Uk and Eurocup racing at the time, winning the championship with Kenny Brack no less.....he ended up doing rather well.
It was the team owners ambition to step up to the BTCC and because of their close links with Renault UK they did a deal to run the previous years works Renault 19 in the BTCC independents cup for 1994 (the works team switching to Laguna's). Nigel Albon did a deal to drive the car moving up from Clio's.
I joined the team about 6 weeks before the season started as a junior mechanic (I wanted to work in racing before going travelling) and ended up painting the car as well when they found out I could spray!
It was a great season, but bloody hard and we even managed to win once at Oulton Park I think. Nigel was an excellent driver and went really quickly in the pre-season test at Brands hatch when we ran the car in the spec it finished the previous season. Unfortunately, the team owner / manager got rather ahead of himself and rather than just doing a good job of engineering what we had, he started to modify the suspension to match the current works Laguna's and it just didn't suit the car as well. Nigel wanted the car put back to how it was in the pre-season test and if that had been done, I'm sure he would of won many more races.
It was a brilliant experience anyway and I'm so glad I did it, I should of got back into it on my return from Australia but I fell back into Civil Engineering and then it was too late...ho hum.
We had some brilliant times though and it was probably the height of SuperTouring's popularity, the circuits were packed everywhere we went and it really felt as if we were part of something big. 1994 was the year the Alfa's turned up and changed the game and Volvo entered with the estate car.........it really was a vintage year.
I used to drive the Renault 19 RS road car that Renault UK made available to us around the track for the drivers parade with Nigel sitting out the sunroof waving to the crowd and we had fun away from the track, Nigel's then wife (F2 driver Alexander's mum) 'Binky' was a complete nutcase and provided lots of entertainment, it came as no surprise to me that she'd been convicted for fraud a few years ago....mad as a box of frogs!
Loads of stories from those days but they would be better told in a pub with a few beers. Highlights for me were racing back to our Harlow base from Snetterton when we blew two engines in practise; I had to winch the remaining spare engine into the boot of the Renault 19 on my own and make it back to Snet so we could fit it before qualifying. I made it but was clocked at 114 mph by a camera on the M11! I got away with it thankfully as the car was registered to Renault UK and they 'made it go away'
This was the same weekend that Senna was killed and I remember the weird atmosphere in the paddock when the news came through....lots of people in that paddock had worked with Ayrton in the junior formulas and I saw plenty of grown men crying that day...Driving the touring car for a complete lap of Silverstone to get it on to the grid was also something I'll never forget. This was at the British GP meeting and us mechanics were told to take it easy.......of course we took not a blind bit of notice and gunned the cars, great fun and an almighty bollocking when we arrived at the grid
Another highlight was that as part of the pit crew I had to wear a race suit most of the time and used a spare racing set rather than a mechanics suit (we were on a budget)......this was great for me as when wandering around the paddock I would get mistaken for a driver and as a 21 year old I took full advantage of the female attention......
Also worked on John Bintcliffe's Clio at the same time....what a lovely chap and I was so happy for him when he got the Audi drive.
Anyway, a couple of photos of the car below:
