This week Rob Widdows and I discuss the rescheduling of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Nick Wirth’s departure from Virgin Racing and also the driving standards in the British Touring Car Championship.

As always, let us know your thoughts and if you have a question for next week, just post it below.

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Another ‘week in motor sport’ episode where I talk to the editor Damien Smith about Lewis Hamilton’s stunning victory in the Chinese Grand Prix, Mark Webber’s rise through the field and the new ‘gimmicks’ in F1 like the DRS and KERS.

We also discuss Mike Conway’s first IndyCar win, Sebastien Ogier’s second WRC win on the trot and Silverline Chevrolet’s effort to get Jason Plato’s car ready for race 3 in the BTCC at Donington. Oh, and we also touch on two future Grand Prix champions who have just started karting.

The week in motor sport

We hope you enjoy it and – as always – do let us know your views.

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Another installment of our ‘week in motor sport’ series. We talk about the MotoGP round at Jerez, that overtaking manoeuvre by Rossi, Le Castellet 6 Hours, Aston Martin’s Le Mans effort, the current state of the British Touring Car Championship and we also look ahead to the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend.

I apologise for the sound now – that was my fault (you should never let a journalist loose with a mixer…), but we have lapel microphones on their way.

Do let us know what you think.

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Steve Soper never used to be the friendliest of racing drivers. The first time I met him was at the Sebring 12 Hours in 1999, when he was racing a BMW V12 LM sports prototype for wealthy amateur Thomas Bscher. As first encounters go, it wasn’t the best.

As a child of the 1980s, Soper had always been a bit of a hero to me. Here was a Brit who’d been schooled in the rough-and-tumble world of British saloon car racing, taking on – and beating – the cream of Europe in the exotic DTM. We’re used to it these days, thanks to the likes of Gary Paffett and Paul di Resta, but Soper’s exploits abroad back then marked him out as special. Whenever he returned to the BTCC, as trouble-shooting team-mate to Tim Harvey in 1992 and full-time with the crack Schnitzer squad the following year, he carried an air of authority and intimidating quality. Everyone knew Soper was an A-list draw, the man they all wanted to beat.

He continued to carry some of that power into sports cars, but at Sebring in ’99 things had not gone well. The story goes that team manager Dave Price got on the radio to warn him of a full-course yellow, that someone had gone off. “I know,” said Steve. “It’s me.” He’d smacked the BMW into the concrete wall at the final corner.

Now, as Autosport’s race reporter I had to go and ask him what had happened, cursing that I hadn’t introduced myself before the race. I approached him with plenty of trepidation, only too aware of his prickly reputation – plus it’s never a good time to talk to a driver when they’ve just stuffed it.

“Steve,-I’m-Damien-Smith-from-Autosport,-glad-to-see-you’re-OK,-can-you-tell-me-what-happened-please?” I blurted. He didn’t even look at me. “I crashed,” he replied flatly, then turned on his heel and stalked away. Oh dear. So much for bringing the reader that exclusive one-on-one insight.

I told him about our unfortunate encounter recently when we met at a BMW dinner where the marque launched its new UK ‘Classic’ arm. “I’m sorry about that,” he said with a wry smile. “I wasn’t always the easiest of racing drivers to deal with.”

He’s different now. Today, he sells cars for BMW as a respected dealer, and he has definitely mellowed. You can still sense the old intensity below the surface, but he is engaging, friendly and clearly very relaxed with his legacy as one of the great touring car legends. He said he’d be happy to help if we had any feature ideas for the magazine – so we took him up on it!

At a cold and windy Brands Hatch in November, BMW helped us gather three classic racers from three very different eras: the modern 320Si which races in the World Touring Car Championship, a Bigazzi M3 from the heart of Soper-era DTM and a fabulously botoxed CSL ‘Batmobile’ from the 1970s. We then teamed Steve with Britain’s modern-day BMW tin-top hero, triple World Champion Andy Priaulx – who came straight off a plane from Macau – to join him for our test and compare notes.

As you can read in Gordon Cruickshank’s excellent story in the March issue, Soper and Priaulx have a bit of shared history and get on well. They thoroughly enjoyed swapping mounts for the day – and trying something completely different in the form of the Batmobile. So two genuine stars of the touring car world who together span over 30 years of frontline action, three of the finest Munich ‘road rockets’ and Britain’s best-loved race track: it’s a heady mix.

Elsewhere in the March issue, Adam Cooper pays tribute to another touring car ace, Tom Walkinshaw – who of course went on to greater acclaim as the man who made Jaguar a force once again at Le Mans, and helped Michael Schumacher to his first F1 world title at Benetton. Tom died of cancer in December and Adam’s profile of this complex man frames his career in perfect perspective.

Ed Foster meets Dany Bahar and Claudio Berro, the men behind the revolution currently taking place at Lotus; Simon Taylor has lunch with two-time Le Mans winner and, er, BMX World Champion Alex Wurz; Rob Widdows interviews veteran team boss Mike Earle; and I get to meet the charismatic – and eccentric – Italian hero of the 1970s, Arturo Merzario. Reuniting motor racing’s very own ‘Marlboro Man’ with the car he raced for Frank Williams in 1974 and ’75 was a real treat, if a little nerve-wracking…

Finally, if you usually skip over my Matters of Moment editorial (and I don’t blame you if you do!) you might miss the chance to enter a special competition. So allow me to tell you about it here. We’re offering five tickets (plus a guest each) to our exclusive Motor Sport Hall of Fame event, to be held at the Roundhouse in London on February 15. The evening is sure to be one to remember, so click here to answer a simple question and give yourself a chance of being there on the night. Hopefully, I’ll see you there!

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The British Touring Cars will be at Silverstone this weekend from where they’ll head to Knockhill, Donington and finally Brands Hatch for the last round of the season.

Jason Plato and Matt Neal are separated by only 20 points at the top of the standings so expect some fireworks between the two over the three races. I sadly can’t make it this weekend, as I’m off to compete in the Citroen 2CV 24 Hour race at Snetterton. To say I am very over-excited is the understatement of the century.

I’ve never driven a 2CV, let alone raced one, so I’m looking forward to getting some practice laps in. Whatever happens though, I very much doubt I’ll be as much out of my comfort zone as Plato and Neal were when they tried wing walking for the first time ahead of this weekend’s racing.

The whole thing has been posted on YouTube and is extremely amusing, especially as the pair try harder and harder not to show that they’re bricking it. Something I may well be doing when racing at night for the first time…

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Last week I made the trip to Thruxton to be shown around the track in a Vauxhall Astra VXR with British Touring Car driver Andy Jordan. It’s not every day you get some pointers from a BTCC ace, nor that you get to experience Thruxton when it’s pouring with rain, there are puddles on the track and you’re driving a front-wheel-drive car with 235bhp.

I shouldn’t have been surprised, considering his Rallycross history, when Andy immediately switched off the traction control and proceeded to slide the car around the track for five laps, but I was certainly a little wide-eyed when we went through Church for the first time. Actually scrap that, I thought I was going to die. The hidden apex means you turn in towards the marshaling post so early you end up thinking the driver has completely and utterly lost the plot. It’s only when you emerge the other side, neatly brushing the rumble strip, that you realise all is well. Until the next lap that is, when you go through the same experience all over again.

Having watched the video of our drive I seem to have spent the whole time saying, “I don’t think I’ll be going even half this speed when I get behind the wheel…” And how right I was. Andy, thank you for your patience – I almost got Church right in the end…

Thankfully the traction control was switched back on when I had a go in the Astra and Andy had the patience of a saint as he encouraged me to build up my speed, help me get my head around front-wheel drive in a matter of a few laps, and not shout at me when I refused to turn into Church before I could actually see the apex.

The BTCC will be at Thruxton for its season-opener on April 4, so if you’re in the area it’s definitely worth a visit. Especially since the Hampshire track is so wide they could, and probably will knowing the touring cars, go into the first corner eight abreast.

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Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine

Every year I do my best to get down to Brands Hatch for the spring British Touring Car Championship meeting. The idea is usually to avoid doing any work and simply enjoy a day of crash, bang, wallop motor racing, just as I used to before it became a job.

But this year I was spoilt. Vauxhall’s VX Racing invited me as a guest for the day, which meant a bit of pampering in the MotorSport Vision building, some top-notch nosh and fantastic views from the roof of the good old Indy circuit. How could I say no?

I decided to take my son Nathaniel with me on Sunday, which included an element of risk. He’s not quite five years old, so patience is not one of his strengths. But he enjoyed his circuit debut last year (the Masters Festival, again at Brands) and this time he was champing at the bit on Sunday morning. He even got dressed in less than 45 minutes, without any rows.

I was intrigued to see how the BTCC has shaped up having attended the media day at Rockingham a couple of weeks ago. I’d been encouraged by what I saw at Rockingham, and happily that transferred to the first race weekend at Brands.

Losing the factory SEATs over the winter was clearly a blow, with Vauxhall left as the lone works effort on the grid – a sharp contrast to the heady days of the 1990s. But comparisons to the Super Touring era are pointless. Those days are long gone, and we’ll probably never see their like again. Better to be realistic and just deal with what we’ve got now, during a crippling recession.

Considering everything, the signs in the BTCC are extremely positive, even if the series could do with a few more cars. Strong and well turned out privateer BMWs (Team RAC and Airwaves BMW), Dynamics Honda Civics, SEAT Leons, a pair of new Ford Focuses from Mike Earle’s Arena Motorsport and of course an RML Chevrolet for BTCC favourite Jason Plato offer depth and variety.

There’s also enough young driving talent to keep it interesting. At VXR champion Fabrizio Giovanardi and Matt Neal have the promising Andrew Jordan to keep them busy, while the likes of Colin Turkington, Stephen Jelley, Adam Jones, Dan Eaves and Jonathan Adam are all potential race winners.

In fact Adam appeared to have scored a victory on his maiden BTCC weekend. After Neal had headed Giovanardi for a Vauxhall 1-2 in Race 1, and veteran Rob Collard had scored for BMW in Race 2, Adam dominated the third top-eight lottery grid finale. But only after a moment of controversy.

Plato found himself starting from pole, only a few days after confirming his Brands appearance in the Lacetti. The car clearly wasn’t handling to his liking, but his experience was telling around the tight Indy circuit. The only way Adam was going to get past him was with force – and that’s what happened at Paddock, when the BMW unintentionally hit the Chevy hard in the left rear light cluster. Plato’s catch of the lurid slide was deeply impressive.

I didn’t realise until Monday morning that Adam’s subsequent victory had been stripped from the rookie thanks to a time penalty, and that Plato had been awarded a great surprise win. Absolutely the right decision, but Adam had made his point. He clearly has great potential.

If you are a BTCC regular or watch the races of ITV4’s excellent coverage, you’re bound to have a view on the amount of contact that goes on in the BTCC. It’s too much for me, but I can understand a lot of people find it entertaining – and without a little “rubbin’” overtaking is almost impossible at a place like Brands. Still, I’ll never condone a blatant punt, intentional or not.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention. We watched that final race on TV back home. Nathaniel got bored in the middle of the Porsche Carrera Cup race (once the entertainment of watching the recovery vehicle get stuck in the gravel while trying to extract Tom Bradshaw’s beached car had been resolved!), so I decided it was best to quit while we were ahead. He loved his day at Brands and for better or worse I think he’s hooked. Hopefully, in a couple of years’ time he’ll even manage to last to the end of a race meeting…

Motor Sport Magazine - The original motor racing magazine