Hi all,

Now I guess because I'm (at a guess) of a younger generation than many on this board, my ultimate focus on racecars tends to be of those that were current during my childhood. Being a frequent attendee of historic motorsport courtesy of my Alfisti uncles was always going to set me in good stead in terms of appreciation of racecars of decades gone, but as a kid there's always that fascination with the latest and greatest, the technical tour de force of the contemporary motorsport scene.

The race series, cars and drivers that captured my attention in the most significant way as a motorsport-mad teenager in the mid 90's was undoubtedly the 2l supertourer class, and in particular the BTCC championship. The patriotic notion of having a New Zealander running at the pointy end of the class no doubt assisted my excitement, and as such the Ford Mondeo's of Radisich and Rouse really caught my attention during the 1993 season when I'd make mad dashes to my uncles place to catch the racing on Sky (since my folks didn't have Sky TV). Of course the dominance of the Alfa 155 in the hands of Tarquini in 94 struck a chord but anyway I digress. Upon stumbling across a Mondeo at Speedshow, you can imagine the nostalgic excitement that swept over me, as I stood in front of this car which up until that moment had been quite the elusive beast.


IMG_1038 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

Being something of a Supertouring trainspotter, I've noted it's had the usual racecar tweaks throughout it's ownership, and doesn't appear to be entirely true to it's 1994 specification that it ought to be... the late aero is the immediate giveaway, and it looks to be running the later guards with the larger cutouts to alleviate any tyre-on-metal contact which the rules forbade. However - bloody hell, I'm seeing a real life "factory" Supertourer! This particular car is the 1994 car that Radisich won the Touring Car World Cup in for the second time.

Moving forward in time a couple of weeks, a friend and I have entered in the 2KCup series, running a 95 Mazda Lantis Type R (incidentally the same basic engine fitted to these Mondeos) and attended a drive day yesterday at Hampton Downs as a means of actually seeing what the car is capable of, and what's going to disintegrate upon thrashing. Long story short, the Mondeo was there, with Radisich (who was doing driver training) accompanying it to make it's first tentative run on the track under his ownership (as I understand). So here's a few pics. Unfortunately the car ran 2 slow laps while Paul got the feel of things, and pulled back in due to something not feeling quite right. The car was also running fairly rich, so I believe there's some fettling to do before it makes it out again. However - seeing a Mondeo BTCC car on a track, with my own eyes is something I thought I'd never see... especially with the period correct driver installed . I'm already amping to see it again being given a beating, but in the meantime here's a few shots.


IMG_3397 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr


IMG_3371 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr


IMG_3366 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr


IMG_3308 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr