The Wet Maestro

"Do I Not Like Ash Sutton?" I asked that question August last year.

He went on to win the BTCC Driver's Championship.

He did it again this year - he was crowned at Brands Hatch last Sunday.

I've decided that I do like him now.  He's got a genuine sense of humour.  And a hell of a lot of talent.

This was his third championship and he wants to go on and win more - more than anyone else.

That means he will need at least five titles.  Currently sharing the top of the board are his arch-rival Colin Turkington and Andy Rouse both on four.

Now, talking of Andy Rouse, this story from Autocar is quite interesting to a person of my vintage.

He has got hold of three original Ford Sierra bodyshells into which he will be installing a freshly built versions of the 575bhp Cosworth YB engine and five-speed Getrag gearboxes.  This will produce, for the princely sum of £185,000 (for a base model!) a continuation run car eligible to compete in historic races.

So what is it with the wet Maestro?

Commentator and pundit Tim Harvey referred to Ash as "The Wet Maestro" complimenting him on the fact that he is extremely accomplished at racing in the rain.

Mind you, since he is also so accomplished at driving when it is not raining, he should also be the Dry Maestro.

Do I Not Like Ash Sutton?

Didn't used to.

I thought he was arrogant and how dare a 23 year old become BTCC Champion?

Though maybe he had something to be arrogant about.

I suppose I've always been a Colin Turkington fan - even from when before I bought a BMW.

And Ash Sutton has always been a big rival - and he's made a few caustic remarks too.  Often about Colin Turkington.

But, I have to admit he is brilliant racing driver.  He was brilliant at Knockhill today winning two races.  And the BTCC needs arrogant drivers with attitude - especially this season while Jason Plato is on a sabbatical.  And the grumpy Matt Neal isn't getting much airtime to be grumpy in.

I suppose what worries me most about Ash Sutton is that he became champion in 2017 - the year after the Russians meddled in the Brexit vote and in the US Presidential elections.

Here is Ash Sutton wearing a face mask:

Remind you of anyone?

Turkish Delight

I take no delight in another new SUV:

which, let's be honest looks like all of the others out there: 

 

And that's only a selection.

 

Yuk.

 

This one though is an EV and it has an interesting interior:

The other thing interesting about it is that it is Turkish.  Car+Driver have the story here.  They say that this car is from the first ever Turkish car company.  Although Wikipedia tends to differ with that statement and given that they provide photos of various old Turkish cars, I'll go with Wiki on this one.

 

This new brand is TOGG - which Car+Driver helpfully tell us stands for "Türkiye’nin Otomobili Girişim Grubu" which it doesn't helpfully tell us translates as "Turkey's Automobile Enterprise Group" - Google did that.

 

As opposed to FIAT which stands for "Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino" meaning "Italian automobile factory of Turin”

 

Or SEAT which stands for "Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo" with the altogether cooler translation of "Spanish Society of Touring Cars"

 

Turkey has been advertising a lot on telly lately as a holiday destination but given their current president (in this story getting involved with TOGG) and what he has done to the Kurds, I think I'll give it all a miss.

 

Here's the only Turk I find delightful: 

and he's Northern Irish.

Murray's Looking Mint

At least he is for someone who turns 94 in nine days time:

I speak, of course, of Murray Walker.  Although he does now remind me of Waldorf from Statler & Waldorf: 

It was good to see him so spritely and knowledgeable when interviewed today on ITV4 while attending the season finale of the BTCC at Brands Hatch.

 

And what a season finale it was.

 

My favourite, Colin Turkington (actually my favourite is Colin's team-mate Rob Collard but he was recovering from a nasty crash at the previous meeting in Silverstone) went into the first of today's three races slightly behind on points but miles behind on the starting grid.  The race went badly for him and it looked like he, realistically, was out of the running at the end of the race.  He then brilliantly stormed through to win the second race and was suddenly back in contention.  Unfortunately, he got knobbled by a bit of bad luck early in the third so the 2017 BTCC Champion is: 

Congratulations and full marks to Ash who has been consistent and raced like a champion - especially since he had an uncompetitive car for the first couple of meetings - and it's only his second season racing in the BTCC.

 

Meanwhile, his more famous team-mate has had a very poor season - as I discussed back in May.

 

While Colin and Rob's other team-mate has also done relatively poorly - as I sort of predicted back in November.

 

Meanwhile, this guy has had a pretty good season:

I know he looks like a stand-up comedian there, but he is Tom Ingram.  He won the Independent Drivers Championship and came third overall in the main championship.  Which is very impressive because he drives for Speedworks - which is a teeny tiny team.

 

Congratulations, Tom - definitely not a muppet.