"I'M GOING FOR FIRST" SAYS CLELAND! The Story of the 1992 BTCC Season Finale

[@that.guy11]

For my money, Cleland has every right to feel the way he did. His rough overtake on Soper was over the limit but at least he was trying to make an overtake...what Soper did at the next corner wasn't an overtake attempt, he was trying to crash Cleland out of the race.

[@yracpontiferous4846]

Cleland’s overtake being rough wasn’t even the fault of Cleland. I remember watching the clip at 1/4 speed, Soper turns down on and touches Cleland twice before the kerb. That makes the two wheeling bit nothing more than the sort of racing incident BTCC was known for.

[@kevinprior3549]

Soper was the Schumacher of BTCC... absolutely blindedly quick but pushed people off the track.

[@bield7]

Whinging - Cleland’s default setting.

[@slaphead90]

You've got to hand it to Murray. He turned what would have been just a standard driver hand signal into a legendary TV moment. God I miss him.

[@dylanzrim3635]

A better cover up than let’s go Brandon that’s for sure.

[@carlisleradiomodelcarclub2217]

I strongly advise everyone to watch the 1991-1994 seasons, these were seasons before they added the wings and IMO the best super touring years.

[@kevinprior3549]

I think the Mansell in F1 feel helped too. Cos he was in that amazing blue and yellow Williams with the red 5 and was really dominant at Silverstone.

[@philipbain]

the reason that Murray Walker's BTCC commentaries were so very very good was that he did them in post-production, he'd watch the race highlights that they had edited for screening on BBC One's Grandstand, take notes and then write himself a script for his commentary, it resulted in a sheen and polish not possible on his live F1 commentaries and classic lines such as "The car on it's roof is a Toyota" as a parody of Toyota's contemporary marketing slogan "The car in front is a Toyota"!

[@TheDjsmurph]

Marketing was murry walkers day job. He came up with the mars slogan

[@philipbain]

@@TheDjsmurph that's not true though. He signed off on the Mars marketing but by then he was an executive and not involved in day to day creative in marketing. He did however come up with "Trill makes buggies bounce with health" amongst many others for pet food products!

[@ben6993]

The Toyota comment wasn’t planned. He just came up with it. He said so himself in a BTCC documentary

[@philipbain]

@@ben6993 I saw the same doc, I think he was being economical with the truth for the benefit of the doc, he very rarely did his BTCC commentaries live and the vast majority were scripted, I remember Alan Gow talking through the process, wondering why they were paying a kings random for Murray to do the commentary! When they viewed the finished product they saw and heard exactly why!

[@Mistertbones]

Murray Walker is a legend!

[@DiogeneDeSin0pe]

Big wheels cambered into the fenders and cars on two wheels after hitting a curb, is to me the best representation of what a touring car race looks like. Keep up the great work.

[@edalder2000]

Murray's all time ad lib. Makes me wish that James Hunt had been in the booth with Murray as well. Hunt's reaction would have been gold as well.

[@chrisbee9643]

Best period of car racing, period!!! 90s were the pinnacle of humanity in so many aspects, not only in Sports!

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

The adverts are why I record the BTCC. I get to watch it on my terms, and I love it! I know some people think Murray was being innocent when saying that wonderful line, but IMHO, that was his quick thinking and by "covering it up", he helped the racing stay live (TV has always been run by fuddy-duddies, but it was even worse back then). It was one hell of a season, and I'll never forget that last race in particular. The rest of the day is a bit of a blur, but those incredible moves were the sort of thing that sticks. Really glad you redid this one, Aidan, the BTCC deserves a bigger platform than being tucked away on ITV 4. Yes, as you said, it's on ITV itself in part, but a lot is still on their semi-designated sports channel, especially motorsports. The Ginetta Juniors is one of my favourite classes. I've been watching a few F1 drivers come up from it, as well as a number of TC & sports cars. It's a terrific start for kids just coming out of karting. It should be an international class, like F3 with its varieties. Btw, in one of the first days of racing this year, when the commentators were chatting to Tom Ingram on the warm up lap, did I really hear him sign off with "love you!" to them? I couldn't rewind, I was laughing too hard 😂😂 I wouldn't put it past him to come up with something like that, especially this season. I don't think I've ever seen him so confident, and he's never really lacked any.

[@timmuston2687]

When you said about the free Perker pen, you (maybe unintentionally) dis a perfect impersonation of Kryten from Red Dwarf. You da man!

[@3twelveworkshop312]

Had to go find the video for that… spot on commentary Aidan!!! I’ve been following you from the “before times” (both world health issues and the copyright crap). Thank you for bringing world motorsports history and analysis to this platform… Keep up the great work. Signed Jimm from the USA

[@mozz69r]

I have some brilliant memories of this era, but it was when my parents took me to Knockhill to watch BTCC in 1996 or 7 (I think, the Audis were still allowed 4wd and easily won both races) that my love of motorsport in general really took off. Thanks for the memories, Aiden.

[@2Step2Hell]

Was at Oulton Park just this past Sunday watching BTCC, was bloody excellent

[@daveswort]

Toca touring car championship was my first ever pc game, really made my childhood

[@joeogle7729]

Hopefully going to croft in a few weeks to watch it. Cannot wait! Also this is the same John Cleland that upon seeing absolute chaos at the start of a race at Oschersleben said "The guy who designed that first corner deserves to be taken to a dark room and beat about the head!"

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

Not David Croft? Wait.. they named a town after him.

[@joeogle7729]

@@GregBrownsWorldORacing I hate to disappoint but I don't think it is 😂😂 It would be funny if I got there to find a majestic stone statue of Crofty in the paddock though...

[@RazorSharp75426]

I thought it was John Watson

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

@@joeogle7729 With a Crown on his head and a microphone in his hand ;) . If you listened to his blather during FP1 for Montreal, he was discussing having a sandwich named after him. You gotta start somewhere ;)

[@jamwil200]

I'll be there too

[@Mrmayhembsc]

Whoop BTCC content :) So glad i rediscovered it after watching them live last year at snett. Silverstone this year taking my dad for his 1st btcc race

[@martinh4630]

I was there! Back/top row of the grandstand and saw the Soper/Cleland 'coming together' in front of me and also on the big screen. Truly memorable! Somewhere, I suppose, must be the complete film of ALL of the Soper come-back drive from last place and overtook every car without contact. We've seen snippets but where is the entire film??

[@mini696]

BTCC was such a great series.

[@jamwil200]

It still is.

[@T_Mo271]

Great stuff, every time I hear that story. Appreciated.

[@joshdobson2737]

I remember being in high school watching this on Speed Channel not really believing what I was watching...... quite incredible

[@rallycrosscraig]

The irony of this move was that Soper was always the ultimate overtaker he’d always get past - but in this move he made no attempt to pass clearly shoved JC off.

[@deanothemanc5281]

Think it was down to team orders tbh. Your right Steve could pass anyone anywhere.

[@kevinprior3549]

Soper was the Michael Schumacher of BTCC in many ways. German, fast, but controversial.

[@ZeroHedgehog1996]

What a coïncidence that when I watched that video, I saw that one of recommendation that KZbin showed me, is the video of the fight between Soper and Cleland at Silverstone

[@Hesitatedeye]

My Hero John "I'm going for First" Cleland, creator of the Cleland room and all around legend

[@TrueCrazyLion]

For me, this race has the same iconic status as many of the classic F1 races. I first watched it as part of the official BTCC 1992 Review VHS in the late 90s(I’d only really become a BTCC fan in ‘96) and have lost count of how many times I watched that video of it back then. I consider the whole ‘92 season as being one of the BTCC’s golden years. Great video, Aidan! I’ve watched loads of your videos over the last few months, this is my first time commenting on one, and I’ve seen how much(Understandably IMO) you like that classic phrase from Murray! As a regular BTCC viewer now I agree totally on the ITV adverts, and your description of them and reaction to them here is genius. LOL 😂

[@Chappers-hd3di]

i miss murray walker. . these days the art of commentary is describing the action in front of them without anything special added in. murray however could tell a story, put you on the edge of your seat and cry with laughter all in a few short words

[@reptongeek]

When he passed there were people on Twitter - including me - tweeting their favourite lines

[@GraemeHunter-GB]

Just seen this in my feed. I am not going to watch it now. I'm going to wait until Sunday mid morning, make the perfect cup of tea, sit down and savour this one :)

[@donnypopovski7251]

The first BTCC race I saw was the 93 opener on Australian WWOS. I was completely oblivious to the shenanigans of the previous season.

[@UPnDOWN]

Yes!! I've been waiting for this one!

[@TheGolfingCrowe]

the sequential gearboxes were implemented in 93 as far as I know, I remember having the 93 review video and the toyotas has sequential, the Mondeos when they joined and Lesley's vauxhall had the leaver on the side of the steering wheel. Think the renaults also implemented sequential later in the year

[@Zipa7]

In 93, it was just the Ecurie Ecosse team running two Cavaliers who had sequentials, there was a segment where David Leslie explained it, kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4WwgYOOjpx4jpY RML who built the cars did so well that they were awarded the works Vauxhall team contract in 1994, and their work proved itself when Cleland took the title in the 1995 Cavalier, an "obsolete" car no less, since they stopped making them in 1995.

[@TheGolfingCrowe]

@@Zipa7 leslie and harry nuttall? Right?

[@fontheking5]

Ford, Nissan and Vauxhall had sequential gearboxes in 1993. kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3SxgoSPnr51p68

[@km6832]

I watch that video ever so often anx laugh the same way each time

[@jordannufcfan]

Finally Aidan you talk about the greatest BTCC race of all time. Fun fact (for me at least) I was only 19 days old when this amazing race happened. Kind of makes me feel old 😂

[@declanthomas7159]

Steve Soper from Club to Luffield has to be the best example of motorsport shithousery of all time.

[@kebabaluba]

Murrays response is so golden :)

[@chrisbrinkley4688]

You have a lovely day too, Adrian

[@stickdeath1980]

Oh hell yeah love these mate

[@Firkin1973]

I was at Brands Hatch when the two Toyotas took each other out. A great season of BTCC.

[@legoferrari14]

BTCC. In the 90's. Clean. Yeah, what were you on about, Cleland?

[@danielcgomez]

makes me want to go dig up some 90s BTCC racing content ...I think i will, thanks Aidan!

[@kevinprior3549]

90s was undoubtedly the beat period for BTCC especially from 1992 to 1996 I think. Just seen the race from 1992 on KZbin... it was just amazing stuff.

[@AidanMillward]

97 was the sweet spot. But then in 98 and 99 that was when they were firing each other off because the aero had got too extreme and they were doing it because there was no other way by, and the blank cheque nature of the series meant it was fixed no problem

[@minibus9]

awesome video

[@Zipa7]

John is a legend, he was wonderful both on and off the track. It's a shame that RML moved on from Vauxhall, 888 never ran a car so good as the RML boys. As for super touring, it was an amazing era for fans, the cars and drivers were fantastic, and you got to see the best action on track. It always blew me away how accessible the drivers were compared to say F1, you could walk down the pit lane and all the drivers were there hanging out for the most part, meeting fans and signing merch. My brother's most prized possession is a signed picture of JCs 95 Cavalier that he hand signed for him at Snetterton.

[@areasquirrel]

I'd never heard of this until the Internet. So looking back, I know now that when people would joke after France 2000 that David Coulthard was telling Michael Schumacher 'he was going for first', I was missing a reference.

[@olepp]

Hey, man! What happened to your podcasts? Loved listening to 'em while working.

[@AidanMillward]

This is them now.

[@daperturedan3454]

E36 on the cover? I’m interested already

[@kevinprior3549]

Could u do a video about when Nigel Mansell competed in IndyCars and Touring Cars in 1993 please?

[@reptongeek]

Christian Horner saying you Never Overtake Into Copse deserves to be an F1 meme. If it isn't already

[@myk6694]

Love that early mid nineties Btcc, golden age of touring car

[@jerryweirdspeed]

Has anyone ever asked you to tell the story of the 1992 Bathurst 1000? I'd be interested in it.

[@RRaquello]

The thumbnail got me. Not even NASCAR ever had a Listerine sponsored car.

[@michaellavery4899]

Great storytelling as always. I just didn't like the end of tale being a Scotsman. Would just like to add, if F1 and BTCC clash on the same day (and I always have to work on a Sunday), the BTCC always gets priority most seasons. Rarely a dull race.

[@dyslexiksteve2488]

Hours and hours of fun

[@lucianomorano3394]

Just watch the race its gold

[@TC10193]

My Dad took me to the British Rallycross GP in 1991 at Brands, then we went to the first round of the 1992 Touring Car Season at Silverstone. It seemed really slow in comparison so when he offered me the chance to go to this race I said no. Kids are stupid.

[@TheKincognito]

is anybody else getting recommended this exact clip after watching this video? algorithm did good

[@gymno7478]

Yep

[@FlyingBootable]

Murray was epic.

[@fourutubez7294]

The lack of adverts show's how low the viewing figures are nowadays. Tough times.

[@kevinprior3549]

How was Grandstand's coverage of BTCC infamous? It was brilliant... Murray Walker the obvious draw. But I agree with you about ITV4's coverage of BTCC. Everytime you see Steve Ryder you know an ad break is coming. It is so so annoying. For the darts for same channel they seem to pick the same boring ads too.

[@AidanMillward]

Better the ad breaks in between the races than in the races. Suck it Indycar.

[@gavinmoore8802]

Did I hear you say Horner said you should never try to pass someone at Copse? Christian Horner? **insert ‘oh really’ gif**

[@TheFarCobra]

So … how are those anti chaff boxers? Your viewers really want to know!

[@deanothemanc5281]

Super Stevie Soper, guys a bloody legend. That said if I can see why JC was a bit pi##Ed off!!!

[@jacktollitt3771]

that race summed up the best of the bttc, still love it today but itv do a terrible job at promoting the season the social media its terrible a week for highlights. the recent races on itv 1 has helped but id like to see it somewhere else.

[@formulacon9829]

Tim Harvey - the original mick Schumacher F3 2018

[@5-40_]

Even as a kid i could see the rise of money being spent during those years...i might be wrong but didn't ford move the engine/drive shaft output in the Mondeo or something similar, i remember thinking "that's not an out the show room car or cheap, not very in keeping with the spirit of things etc etc"

[@SilasHumphreys]

Volvo, surprisingly, were the ones who were really taking the piss with budgets. They'd teamed up with Tom Walkinshaw, a man notorious for hunting out those little grey areas in a rulebook. Initially, their engine was going to be significantly down on power compared to the rest of the grid, but then Tom looked at what the rules didn't say. You couldn't modify the valve angle, but there was nothing saying the cylinder head had to be bolted on the block straight, so he figured out the best angle to tilt it at. You couldn't weld new metal onto the cylinder head, but there was nothing about bolting it on, and Volvo's cylinder head was already designed in such a way that it would seal up just fine if you did that. And so on. By the time they'd finished, they'd taken a rule that was supposed to ensure that the racing engines had basically the same cylinder head as the production engines, and twisted it so far that instead of a couple of hundred quid production part, they had just enough of that part left to be within the rules, with about 20 grand in machining bolted onto it to leave it with 50 horsepower more than anyone else, in a roughly 300hp racing class. It was ridiculous, it was protested at every race, and it was 100% within the letter of the rules. And they messed about with the chassis as well; being a Volvo, it had an engine compartment the size of an aircraft hangar, and there weren't any rules saying you couldn't shift the mounting points about to move the engine for better balance. So the racing engine was absolutely jammed up against the bulkhead, and dropped significantly compared to the road engine, for better weight distribution. They hadn't had to change the bulkhead, so by the rules it was all just fine. I joke about not having forgiven Alfa Romeo for 1994 (when they did a special edition of their road car with adjustable aero, and kicked off an aero arms race that sadly doomed the racing estate), but honestly Volvo were doing just as much damage to the intent of "cheap and cheerful", just more sneakily.

[@GregBrownsWorldORacing]

Copyright or 'son of Copyright'?

[@jacekatalakis8316]

I mean, a free pen for inquiring. So what do we get as a free gift for subbing then? :P Nah, it's the same 4-5 ads on ITV for live sport in general though. Murray's autobiography has a bit on that and his quick thinking too which is always worth a read. I do wish the BTCC was back on the Beeb however, it used to be the BTCC then the 3:30 at somewhere and then the football, then back to the BTCC, off to the swimming or athletics, and so on. Damn I miss Grandstand and British F3 on at 6 in the morning. No, that was a thing. 6am, British F3 from somewhere. I don't know who put that on at 6am however, by the early 2000s it got a better spot. The defining images of the early 90s BTCC are Cleland signalling his intentions (which is, no, not mirror signal maneuver) and Alfa going over at Knockhill. See, I feel like the BTCC was better without wings though. Alfa showed up and went ha, we got wings. And it went of a cliff from there EDIT: Also another iconic image? THe 850 estate with the comedy plastic dog in the boot looking out the window, yes. I'd love a story on that, it showed up in one of the Race 07 addons and was a hoot to drive, it lacked the plastic poodle however sadly. Murray's iconic 'the car upside down is a Toyota' was an ad lib, too Also rewatching that racew, Rob Gravett also got tangled up with Matt Neal, too, he had a hand in punting BMWs that race. I remember a kids educational TV show that had a brief clip from a BTCC race in it talking about cars, I know I saw it but I don't remember what it was. Yes, it was Rob punting out Soper and/or Neal, too, talking about driving cars. Also listen to the crowd throughout the whole race and note how packed Silverstone was in 92 for that race. You can hear the roar of the crowd over the engines when Soper/Cleland crash out too.

[@kos9818]

If the standard car had a thing on the body work, you could have it on the car… 🤔 Sounds like something Mopar did twenty odd years earlier.

[@PaulinhoThompson]

Oh the days of "Vic Lee Motorsport", if only Lee and "others" had been caught a few months earlier for importing 6 million pounds worth of drugs, the team wouldn't of even raced and would of been kicked out of the BTCC.

[@minipaintingforyou]

@1:10 should have shown off your free pen right there…. Missed opportunity!

[@jesseemullen]

Based on those ads, I take it the BTCC caters to an older demographic and a survivors psychograpgic? (can't escape my advertising major background, I'm afraid 🤣💀)

[@andrewdillon7837]

A sailor went to Btcc to see what he could btcc..but all that he could seeseesee was 1992 btcc see ,,

[@kevinprior3549]

Adverts thing is funny

[@JohnSmithShields]

If you want fresh BTCC pics, I'm at Croft next Sunday, yours free of charge.

[@gavinivers8941]

The photo of the front of the BMW shows Vic Lee Motorsport, who in himself is a great story, for another time.

[@AidanMillward]

Already did it.

[@paulnutter1713]

a golden era...... by the way Aidan, ive heard that erectile dysfunction treatment has a side effect of getting a single red spot on the forehead..........

[@mrdraw2087]

Steve Sloper.

[@curbyi76]

Love the Karen Horner dig

[@VonBlade]

That always tainted Harvey's title for me. Cleland was rightfully apoplectic. It was always going to happen, and it did.

[@sixonesix9429]

I was a huge Andy Rouse fan vack in thelate 80's. Steve Soper was a great driver too. John Cleland however... what a clown. Mr gravel pit.

[@kevinprior3549]

Soper was the Schumacher of BTCC

[@gymno7478]

These cars were definitely NOT "basically stock road cars... that your dad would have driven." I was at Donington and Brands Hatch in '92 on the press days and watched the Alfa 155 shoot up in the garage on its hose-fed (via fuel flap) jacks and saw how bespoke that chassis was.

[@fontheking5]

Alfa Romeo joined BTCC in 1994

[@derin111]

Now these “anti-chafe pants and cures for erectile dysfunction” that you mentioned….where would you find such items? Asking for a friend. 🤓

[@AidanMillward]

I’m told the erectile dysfunction stuff comes from Numan. The anti chafe pants come from step one. There’s some rugbyist advertising em.

[@keystonedriving8180]

Cleland clean? That is a very bad joke, he was the one who was incapable of overtaking anybody without giving them a nerf first to destabilise their car. It was only when Matt Neal came along that we had a driver who made Cleland look clean (but that is another story). As it happens, I was at Silverstone that day but at Copse, so I didn't see the incident between Cleland and Soper so I can't make a first hand comment about it. My take would be that Cleland was very happy to hand it out, but wasn't happy when it came back. Those who live by the sword die by the sword. It didn't take long after that for the BTCC to deteriorate into very expensive banger racing, at which point I bailed out. Since then I have tended to confine my interest to sports cars, if it's less than 4 hours it's not worth watching. As a suggestion for a future program how about a look at the driver who won the last ever race at Crystal Palace circuit, a certain Mr Gerald Marshall. I think the phrase 'larger than life' sums him up quite well, and not just because he was a big lad. He could drive the wheels of anything he got into and had a long and successfull association with Bill Blydenstein prepared Vauxhalls.

[@sugarnads]

Agreed. I used to watch it down here in Aus. Cleland was a bully like russell ingall. Then it just turned into bargefest.