[S griffin]

First the works teams

Alfa Corse. Alfa Romeo 155 Silverstone #55 Gabriele Tarquini #56 Gianpiero Simoni
The team that changed the BTCC forever. They entered the series with the 155 Silverstone Homolgation Special and immediately started dominating, much to the annoyance of the other teams who felt they were going against the spirit of the regulations. Tarquini won the first 5 races, but there was controversy when they ran the car with the front spoiler in the extended position and lost points, but eventually got them back on appeal by compromise, providing the splitter was put back. Only a few incidents and mechanical failures held Tarquini back, but only once when he finished he didn't finish on the podium. A deserving champion. Gianpiero Simoni came in from single seaters and proved fast, but very wild and got himself in trouble a few times, before maturing into a fast and solid driver, with a victory. Indeed he could have won both races at Brands Hatch but he obeyed team orders after being promised he'd get his shot at the title one day. That never came sadly.

GB Motorsport Renault Laguna #10 Alain Menu #11 Tim Harvey
The Lagunas were in to replace the much maligned 19s and were quick almost from the off, but a bit of bad luck delayed them getting results. However Menu then became the first man to beat the Alfas in qualifying and went on to have a very consistent season with 17 consecutive points finishes and 18 in all, more even than Tarquini. Two wins saw him take 2nd in the championship. Tim Harvey seemed to go backwards in races and seemed to get the lion's share of bad luck. However by the end of the year he was back on his teammate's pace and scored a win at Silverstone. What can't have helped him was that 94 was one of those rare seasons where there was no wet race.

Rousesport Ford Mondeo Ghia #3 Paul Radisich #33 Andy Rouse #32 Kelvin Burt #31 Robb Gravett
Ford ended 93 so well and were tipped for the title in 94, even with the Alfas. Paul Radisich became Tarquini's closest challenger and scored consistently and took advantage whenever Tarquini faltered, although the car had problems with it chewing its tyres. Sadly the title challenge ended due to bad qualifying and a series of unreliability, but Paul didn't give up til the end and was rewarded with three wins at Donington at the end. The final round, the TOCA Shootout and the World Cup. Andy Rouse's season didn't start too badly and even beat Radisich at both races at Brands early on, but then he too suffered with the Ford, but retired with his legacy intact. Kelvin Burt drove the third Ford at Silverstone without much success, same with Gravett at Donington, who also did the TOCA Shootout.

RML Vauxhall Cavalier 16v #4 John Cleland #9 Jeff Allam #20 Anthony Reid
Same drivers, different team from 93. With RML, they were able to have a much more stable year than 93. John Cleland was Tarquini's main challenger to begin with, but then started to struggle in qualifying. The team then realized they weren't going to be the fastest in qualifying anyway, so concentrated on race setups and with long lasting Dunlop tyres, were able to perform much better in the races. Vindication of that came at Brands Hatch GP, where Cleland started 12th and finished 5th, passing car after car. Two wins saw him on to fourth in the title. Allam lived up to his reputation as a solid driver who looked after his car and that came good in the heat of Donington where he came third. Anthony Reid drove the third car in the TOCA Shootout.

Schnitzer BMW 318i #1 Joachim Winkelhock #2 Steve Soper #21 Roberto Ravaglia
The reigning champions. It didn't start well, with the weight penalty for rear wheel drive usually confining them to the midfield. However at the British GP a reduction in weight and new aerodynamics saw them back to their best with a 1-2 on the grid. Winkelhock went on to win 4 wins, bettered only by Tarquini. Soper only did a part schedule due to the JTCC, but still shone, the highlight being an opportunistic win at Knockhill. Ravaglia did the races Soper missed, but unfortunately only had one proper race when the car was at it's best. That said, there are people who say he wasn't quite the driver who won six titles in touring cars.

Peugeot Sport Peugeot 405 Mi16 #18 Patrick Watts #13 Eugene O'Brien
Peugeot's best year? Patrick Watts proved that underneath all that crowd pleasing, was a very skilled and serious driver, getting onto the podium four times and featuring in the top six for the first half of the year. He even came close to a win a few times. His teammate O'Brien was allegedly nicknamed General Accident by his mechanics, indeed he had two big accidents and both made him miss a meeting each. But he could match Watts for pace on occasion, although Patrick could transform the car as well.

TOM's Toyota Carina E #5 Julian Bailey #7 Will Hoy #57 Tim Sugden
The team may not have had any wins, but it would be easy to just dismiss their year as dismal. But it wasn't that bad. At the start of the season they would be mixing it in the midfield, but once they got new suspension the car was transformed. Indeed by the final two meetings of the season they were mixing it with Renault, Vauxhall and BMW. Bailey and Hoy did what they could with the cars, with Sugden also not doing too bad in his part time schedule in a third car.

TWR Volvo 850 Estate #14 Jan Lammers #15 Rickard Rydell
'They all laughed when Volvo said they would be entering an estate, but they don't think it's funny anymore.' Murray Walker's immortal lines at Brands Hatch, where Lammers got as high as fourth summed it up. The plan was for there to be a sedan and an Estate, but in the end both cars were Estates. Like the Renault 19s in 93 the car struggled with the privateers to begin with. However by the 3rd round Rydell had qualified the car third. After that the car got better and would mix it with the best on more than one occasion. It certainly could have won in 95, if rule changes hadn't rendered the estate pretty much obsolete.

Janspeed Nissan Primera eGT #23 Keith O'Dor #24 Eric van de Poele #34 Tiff Needell
A disappointment considering the car was a race winner in 93. That said Keith O'Dor proved what a great driver he was, especially at Snetterton where he finished fourth and even challenged Simoni's Alfa for third. Sadly he also had a tendancy to get caught up in someone else's accident. The lowest point for the team was the British GP, where all three cars were in the gravel in the first corner pile up right in front of the Nissan hospitality! VDP didn't exactly set the world on fire like O'Dor did and eventually stepped down to do development work. Needell could get close to O'Dor's pace on occasion and certainly seemed to have a better year than in 93.

RD Motorsport Mazda Xedos 6 #8 David Leslie #12 Matt Neal
The team would be run by Win Percy, but lack of funds hampered it from the start. David Leslie got a few points for the team early doors, while Matt Neal struggled, but it wasn't exactly the ideal situation. His crash at Silverstone ended his year, while Leslie got as far as the British GP, before the team pulled out. However Neal and Mazda were seen again at the TOCA Shootout, possibly run by Team Dynamics.

There's the Works teams, Privateers to come.