1992 BTCC comparison test - Top Gear.

Tiff Needell compares some of the 1992 front running cars on track.

[@seriouslyscratchcards4266]

Good old Tiff. He can seemingly jump into any race car, and immediately be on the pace. And a true gentleman too.

[@SuperStig1992]

It's just amazes me how Tiff can get into a car and get straight down to business. He was brave with the Toyota, going up to 6th and then those gear changes down at 8:10. Wow!

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

RIP will hoy keith o dor and David Leslie you will be sadly missed by millions of racing fans

[@UlquiorraBE]

Modern touring car racing should become like this again. 6-speed manual gearbox with clutch and no aero kits. Brings more of the drivers skill to play imo !

[@hybridAbsol]

Just throw away the TCS and your good to go

[@rick_fortune]

Tiff Needell is a legend. :)

[@jgbalves]

He talks and talks going over 120mph and breaking hard during a turn... His balls are bigger than the shift knob

[@alphatrion100]

And gay as hell 😄

[@jonathantatler]

Tiff was a great TV character but always worked backwards through the field when racing.

[@Mw2_OG]

alphatrion100 He’s got kids I didn’t think he was gay? Just posh🤣

[@WaRLoKWYATT]

7 years later, I was just about to comment this.

[@iamstd2]

I swear those BTCC cars handle like a time attack or rally car. Those things are incredible!!!

[@dln.sweeney]

There's nothing like 90s BTCC.

[@sparrowinarmor]

well, except 90s DTM :)

[@hybridAbsol]

Touring Car racing will always be awesome than GT and DTM racing

[@sparrowinarmor]

How? It's totally inferior.

[@hybridAbsol]

Cuz touring car racers likes to get into trouble :D

[@kmotin2412]

@@sparrowinarmor Well, you can't criticize BTCC just because of limitations against DTM of that era, speed is not everything in racing, just watch the entire 1992 season of the ESSO BTCC, you will not regret :)

[@jcynavarro]

Man that Tiff, he raced against them..interviews them afterward and then drives their cars hahaha sweet..... I became a fan of the BTCC after seeing their first ever night race at Silverstone on Speedvision back in 1999.... it was pretty awesome!

[@TassieLorenzo]

jcynavarro I'm surprised they let a rival drive their cars! All in the name of PR. :) The Toyota seemed a bit of a handful.

[@volante8657]

+TassieLorenzo Tiff isn't a regular player like Soper or Harvey so it doesn't really matter

[@vagabondsoldier4353]

I miss Speedvision :(

[@neilbaldry8295]

1999 night race was at Snetterton.... I was there! The best of times!

[@Retrobeemer]

Absolutely the best era of the BTCC. BMW was an awesome car too.

[@usurper762]

Body-kitted 316-shed absolutely agree. The racing was fierce, the sport was pure and there was flare and prestige that you don’t see a lot of today.

[@miawallace2785]

Vic !ee to thank for that ... 2 times btcc winning team in BMW’s

[@blackflagqwerty]

@@miawallace2785 And 12 years in prison for smuggling cocaine from the Netherlands!

[@stemartin6671]

Even though I'm a through and through Cavalier fan, those primeras were absolutely stonking and a truly great looking touring car too. Oh the 90s were great weren't they lol 😆

[@milanbandit6089]

Never again something like this,Amazing Cars with soul,Golden Years!

[@mursare]

RIP Will Hoy.

[@superbracey]

and Keith O'Dor and David Leslie. All contributed to very memorable racing.

[@mursare]

True say my friend...may they all RIP.

[@sonicstep]

02:40

[@Mw2_OG]

I appreciate this comment, he was a legendary racing driver. They all were.

[@FrapsYou]

Friends, that is what a racing should be. And not a twilight saga...

[@TehRuiAlv3z]

The sound the 318is makes is absolutely brilliant! Damn, that's a nice racecar!

[@inquisitor229]

2 litre - no turbos. Those were the regulations. Factory run teams can achieve great things with the right people and lots of money....

[@lillnemo1]

non factory run teams can achieve great things too with the right people. and lots of money well, it stinks

[@skylined5534]

Lots of screaming ITB noises... lovely!

[@willjones7132]

The old Tire Rack series in the late 90's early 2000's was like the more budget minded version of BTCC in the States, they had fwd and rwd against one another I think I remember a race with a b16 civic vs. m50 e36, both cars very popular at the time, so it felt like you had a little more connection to the action you saw in races. These type of series are great, and give more inspiration for people to race themselves, as there are privateers.

[@Mw2_OG]

Tiff Needell is a legend. Seen him do stuff in a car no one else can do.

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

I think Tiff Needell was magnificent because he shares commentary duties with Murray Walker during the 1992 season

[@ianhobbies]

90´s was a great era in Motorsport .. BTCC,F1,DTM and Rally :)

[@suhdud4646]

Watching this in 2019 and the engine notes of the Toyota and vauxhaul sounds amazing.

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

RIP Will Hoy David Leslie and Keith O dor u will be missed by millions of racing fans who are always supporting u

[@skylined5534]

I knew Keith O'dor had passed away and now you mention it I do recall Will Hoy passing too but I didn't realise David Leslie wasn't with us any more either :(

[@kylewaddington1983]

Well done Tim good job on caming 1992 British Trouing car Champion

[@gotzvonberlichingen8588]

Nissan Primera P10 and the mighty SR20DE. What a legend.

[@barryotoole6990]

Tiff a great driver can tell you what a car is going to do before it does it. And a true Gent👌

[@alphatrion100]

Is he gay?

[@barryotoole6990]

@@alphatrion100 i dont know to be honest, ask his wife and kids

[@horrgakx]

Fantastic to see it all again. Can you imagine letting someone drive and review different cars these days?!

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

I think Tiff Needell is a great racing legend

[@STITCHWA]

Absolutley the best era for racing in the U.K. i miss it soooo much ! Great memories growing up as a young lad

[@SportyMabamba]

BTCC and Murray Walker doing the F1 commentary. The 1990s were a golden age of motorsport

[@skylined5534]

@@SportyMabamba Murray also commentated for BTCC... I remember excited yet horrified yelps from Murray when Tarquini rolled his Alfa hard at Knockhill in 1994!

[@dronespace]

great video from a classic era. 1992 was vintage

[@saouke]

"What could be simpler?" haha, genius

[@theNeathBoy]

Those were the days. Used to watch the turquoise and black BMW’s, the yellow and white Cav’s blasting about on the telly on a Saturday afternoon. Good times. I think it’s a bit shit today.

[@Decrepit_biker]

Glorious times!

[@46holl]

The golden era of touring car, absolutely love it 👍👍👍👍

[@ashtonworth6288]

Looking at these cars now in 2022, they look so sick now! Don't think there was a shit looking car in the whole series.

[@shaneoex]

The itbs and the gearbox is a great sound to listen

[@saxon_moyes]

It still amazes me today how they got the little M44 to 300hp. I know for myself 180WHP is hard with an NA M44. 300 is just mind blowing.

[@blainy-o93]

From what I've read and remember, they were also apparently limited to using production cylinder heads too. Amazing what they came up with even back then.

[@saxon_moyes]

It truly is man.

[@hybridAbsol]

The highest power for touring cars today is 350hp but still slower than those from the 80s and 90s

[@RJCpt]

late reply yep, i would say it is the e30 m3 engine, in Portugal and Italy there were e30 320is that were 2.0 m3 engines

[@e36racer44]

Smilez101 were they m44’s??

[@theberengersniper]

Engines built to super touring regulations as these were after 1994 were modified in every way. There was no component that went unmodified. They had to use the basic block and head from a mass-production engine (not necessarily from the homologated model) but even these were extensively modified. From 1994 onwards the Cavalier's entire cylinder head was turned 180 degrees to put the intake and front rather than the back of engine bay. By 2000, some engines were making 325bhp @ 8500 (Nissan)

[@skylined5534]

That's interesting about the C20XE's cylinder head getting reversed! That must have taken some work!

[@jackmiller-johnston8689]

Would love to see something like this for today's F1 cars

[@Charliediggy]

I was only born in '97, so I missed out on all the good stuff, F1 now just seems about the money for some drivers

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

Me too Charlie I was also born in 97 so like u I miss out the best moments in btcc and f1

[@windycheeks1178]

It be interesting to compare Tiffs lap times to the lads racing them

[@FAT8893]

That is a great idea.

[@stiantiger]

Good old Tiff sure can drive!! =)

[@FPSyorkshire]

Met tiff at the festival of speed last year. I said to him have a good drive and he said to me I will do so then shook my hand gave me his autograph and drove off :)

[@geek147]

it wasn't that difficult at all, most manufactures where making cars fitted with 2ltr engines at the time anyway, they then tuned them improving the intake, fuel injectors, exhaust, manifold, cams. computer, ignition, valves. to get them all upto 300hp give or take a few. the cars had a rev limit of 8050rpm and v6's were allowed, had to be a minimum length of 4.2meters, and, 2500 cars had to be built. it was an amazing era and i'm sure alot of people would love to see it back like that one day.

[@CTP1111]

Tiff is a fucking legend... too bad they don't let him flog cars like back in the days on his lovecars channel

[@volante8657]

gonna love those chasing shots

[@robert3330]

Great video, the mere sight of that vauxhall makes me think of the 92 silverstone btcc race! I wonder what happened to all the old touring cars?

[@druidofthefang]

0:55 this is before Tiff changed to 5th gear

[@1972TRG]

Awesome video, thanks for bringing back some great memories! ;-)

[@arnotaljaard6808]

That BMW has one of the best induction sounds of any race car ever.

[@TheRiceguy78]

This gives me memories of my p10 g20 ... what a great chassis

[@hybridAbsol]

I love Touring Cars , i learnt a lot about racing from driving some of them

[@staircast]

Watching the stw and btcc still make me believe in the 318is... unfortunately its not cheap building an M42 engine to the level of 300hp NA.

[@ChrisRefalo]

Awesome video! Wish Top Gear did a lot more features and reviews on motorsport and racing cars. BTW this was in 1992 not 1993

[@theberengersniper]

It's been done by Evo magazine (possibly others). Tom Chilton compared his S2000 Focus against a final evolution Mondeo super tourer. On his 5th ever lap in the Mondeo he beat his fastest ever time in the Focus. His comments were that the Mondeo had the superior engine and aero, but the Focus had superior brakes and damping. I guess that's what 10 years of suspension evolution does. The super tourer was ultimately quicker.

[@Rayfaedundee]

This was the era when Touring Cars were proper racing cars, and the action and driving skills required by the driver were fantastic.. unlike todays BTCC cars.. bring back these cars.

[@miawallace2785]

Good old Tim Harvey knew exactly what the Vic Lee team did to the suspension , they got Prodrives top suspension guy to work out what’s going on and when he sorted it even Prodrive couldn’t keep up... good old Vic too

[@BigKrisMorris]

Would love a go in the cav or e36. I wonder how tiffs lap times compared in the different cars

[@dilawer321]

WRC was great in the 90's

[@drivewaystar6485]

Just saw the clip of this! He was giving him the finger just seconds before they wrecked!

[@jonathantatler]

Im sure Tiff was/is a very good driver and certainly better than me but, every time I saw him race he always worked his way backwards through the field

[@skylined5534]

To be fair to him he was usually thrust into an event he'd never raced at before usually in an unfamiliar car set up for someone else.

[@leedstown]

I don't remember ever seeing that clip before

[@e36racer44]

What engines were in the 318is super touring e36’s?

[@JRWILDY]

I wish they would try out modern cars against the older ones.

[@jettavanengeland3545]

an car program like Top Gear or any other has to have a racing driver as one of the presentator who is not retired from racing just like Tiff Needell back in the day at those years

[@brettwatson-will3388]

Why did they go away from this formula? It was fantastic!

[@TassieLorenzo]

+Brett Watson-Will Damn straight! :) I don't know what happened, eventually the cars cost 750,000 pounds each and then all the manufacturers quit. As to what happened to all the older-spec cars and privateers, I don't know, but either they didn't want to race in BTCC or somehow the rules made the older cars inelligible or uncompetitive.

[@superbracey]

Couldn't agree more. It was a wonderful era with cars you recognised from the roads, charismatic drivers and the closest racing imaginable. Happy childhood memories.

[@brettwatson-will3388]

It's a shame. Loved watching this.

[@volante8657]

at later stages some works team spent as much as a privateer does in a year, in one weekend. this is a really big bubble about to blow up

[@MrDavidfball]

evolved with aero kits thanks to the Alfa 155 big teams like williams got involved car makers threw massive budgets at there teams & costs went mad more racing parts got fitted suspension (though had to fit original fixing points) sequential-shift gearboxes with ignition cut for super fast upshifts times the budgets with races through europe and bang the series died the makers could not afford to keep making the cars better

[@motogte]

Carina had 285bhp both Cav and 318 had 270bhp. Don't no how they pushed extra 110 out of the 3SGE from stock amazing full power at 8500rpm sounded so good.

[@bejosantiago]

For me Tiff Needell is the best, is a motor lover like me

[@davemellor4697]

The BMW simply is the most complete of the three!

[@gchampi2]

Aaahh... BTCC before Alfa/Fiat and Audi threw money at the formula... SuperTouring was a great formula initially, until it became massively successful. Then, the cars changed from road cars with racing modifications, to racing cars with road bodies. In '92, Cleland could buy a replacement clutch from any Vauxhall garage (it was a standard Astra part). By '96, the Fords were running dry-sumped V6's, with the gearbox ABOVE the engine, and the driveshaft running between the heads...

[@skylined5534]

Hold up, how did that last part work?!

[@gchampi2]

@@skylined5534 The Mondeo was a fwd transverse v6, so engine on one side, g/b on t'other, driving the front wheels. Originally the engine output shaft ran to the g/b thru a 10" clutch, with the g/b dropping the output driveshafts under the engine sump. In the race cars, the engine had been dry sumped, had a 3" multiplate clutch, and had been dropped down in the engine bay until the crank journals were within 2" of the ground. The g/b had been rotated thru 180*, so that the output shafts were above the engine. It exploited a rules loophole that said that major components couldn't be moved forward/back or side-to-side in the car, but neglected to mention anything about vertical movements. Remember, Ford's budget was in the region of £5,000,000 a year per car. Infamously, they spent £150,000 on aerodynamic research, to optimize the positioning of the windscreen wiper blades, which were then glued in place. In Britain. Where it rains. A LOT. BTCC at the time was the maddest racing on the planet, with the highest budgets outside of F1. All the manufacturers were in an arms race, and it got very silly, very fast. In the end, it's what killed the formula.

[@TassieLorenzo]

@@gchampi2 Yikes! And some people say Formula One shouldn't have such restrictive rules (though obviously a lot more freedoms than modern BTCC NGTC cars which are fairly spec), do they forget how carried away engineers can get?!

[@antoniociampo7698]

Grande Tiff

[@inquisitor229]

Corrected!

[@NotACairnZWorld]

@robert3330 they sold most of them off I think, clelands vauxhall was at knockhill with the BTCC last weekend

[@s325ibmw3]

E36 !!! ❤️

[@JonoWestySavage]

yeahh they were smuggling drugs in their race truck. Suspicions were raised when they did something like 10 tests in holland in a month. When they were found they had around £6 million worth of drugs onboard :D

[@FAT8893]

9:03 You can actually see the tires on the BMW cambered towards inside the car. That is much more pleasing to look on a proper race car instead of ricers.

[@divecolosio4988]

It's not even excessive either, totally polarizing those "slammed" kids

[@Moonfaster]

92 feels so long ago now!

[@alphatrion100]

It is. 28 years now.

[@tomohawk5567]

This is entertaining the new stuff isn't. Great video thanks for sharing 👍

[@D5DRIFT]

My dream car garage

[@bugsbugs42]

Yes, but your original comment implied that they were all 1.8's not just the Alfa.

[@samghost13]

nice! 90`s

[@tamasvarga67]

Best era of BTCC...

[@gotzvonberlichingen8588]

Nice Primera.

[@MattyT_86]

Was there need to heel/toe on downshifts? I couldnt tell if the technique was being used by Tiff

[@capnskiddies]

I think he was just ripping through the gears, clutch be damned.

[@Guitarnoob99]

i love the BMW !

[@tonystack1622]

I used to always pick the Nissan in Toca game

[@tigerganeral5109]

Terbaik BoBoiBoy 💪💪💪

[@FAT8893]

Wrong channel, buddy.

[@kylewaddington1983]

He quite famous Tiff Needle

[@suzuka8235]

USER FRIENDLY!

[@andymitchell5344]

Is it "User friendly"?

[@clanjarheadstt05]

Proper cars

[@wika1117]

1:49 Had to listen that couple of times because first i was sure that Tiff Needell just said that he is loosing to James May :D

[@jordanoswald8648]

😂😂😂 overtaken by Captain Slowly

[@bugsbugs42]

Alfa being the ONLY car out of alot of manufacures and for only the one season, plus the BMW which the original comment was about, is 2.0. You are right that the Alfa had a 1.8, but it had to be allowed in outside the regulations.

[@myk6694]

That interesting

[@TassieLorenzo]

" If they're 2ltr engines surely it would be difficult to get 300bhp without turbocharging? " They are highly tuned n/a engine. You could get 300hp in your 2.0L road car, but it would cost a fortune and you would need to rebuild the engine every 1000 miles --- most owners would not be very impressed about that!

[@LittleBanditMicra]

It's all about head flow! The engines on these car were based on the road versions, but highly modified. The late 90's SR20 found in the Supertouring Primers made 320hp

[@LittleBanditMicra]

+LittleBanditMicra Primera *

[@willspencer8694]

user friendly...user friendly....i wonder who told them to say that lol

[@bugsbugs42]

Its not 1.8, they were 2.0 almost bespoke racing engines. the only thing they shared with the road car was the shell.

[@boosteddaily1294]

Anyone know the engine specs or specs in general?

[@TassieLorenzo]

300-320bhp, 2000cc up to six cylinders, max. 8000rpm (though some quote 8200 or 8500rpm, not sure), approx. 1000kg (RWD slightly heavier min. weight, AWD heavier min. weight again), 18x8" or later 19x8" wheels, max. car length 4.2m.

[@jd9799]

Tiff was nothing more then an bellow average race driver that done well on TV

[@stephennoble2647]

His driving was way better than your spelling and use of grammar though, which is seriously below average 🙂

[@GVGames1986]

He chose to work on Top Gear, but Tiff was definately not below average.

[@bugsbugs42]

I think i interpreted it in a different way to what was intended, lets just leave it there shall we? :)

[@andrewpredeth7368]

Tiff is ace

[@jonelson1983]

I loved the BTCC then, and the period with 'Smokin Jo', and the Alfas, the Laguna, the Audi's etc. Can't get into it these days....the drivers don't seem as impressive and the cars aren't either.