Musical Cars

I often see this car on the M53 Motorway on my journey to work:

Well, maybe not that actual car - because the one I see has number plates and (I hope) is road-legal and it isn't being driven by Andrew Jordan.  But it does look the same - including the full livery, the Jordan stickers and the roll-cage.

I guess it has something to do with Pirtek, the main sponsor, having a site at Ellesmere Port - a place that, if you pronounce it with the right accent, may sound like a beach resort somewhere exotic (like Jordan for example) but, in fact, isn't.

Anyway, Andrew is in the news today - BTCC News that is.

He has switched team.

Again.

I first noticed him in 2011, when he was in his very early twenties and having his first taste of success.

Since then, he won the whole British Touring Car Championship in 2013 - which is why the car above is carrying the Number 1.

He wasn't as successful in 2014 so, for 2015, he switched to the cars run by Triple Eight Racing who had previously had great success with Vauxhalls but were then running MGs without much success.

So, in 2016 he switched team - just as the MGs improved.  He was now with Motorbase as Mat Jackson's team-mate in Ford Focus STs.  I add the "ST" to avoid having to use the plural of "Focus".  He finished eighth overall (in a tightly contested contest) and won the Independent Drivers Title so was in a strong car that he had got more and more used to during the year.

So now he's moving to West Surrey Racing and their BMWs.

I refer you back to my first ever post on this Blog.

High Flyer

The BTCC are clamping down on driving standards.

It says so here. 

If you're wondering why, then you probably didn't watch the races from Snetterton weekend before last.

Here's Hunter Abbot in Race 3:

His car got launched into the air from the starting grid, did a couple of sideways somersaults, got hit then flew into a TV camera gantry knocking it over.  I watched that live, including the cameraman jumping clear as his perch was toppled.

Fortunately, or miraculously, nobody was injured.

Obviously the race was stopped.  So was Race 2 after another mega-crash on the opening lap.

Here's the ITV News Report - make sure you watch the video.

The video goes on to say that it was a good day for the Silverline Subaru BMR Team - and it was - although their boss, Warren Scott received a verbal lashing from Motorbase driver Andrew Jordan via the TV cameras for his driving standards in Race 2 where the two clashed.  They were both given verbal warnings from the Stewards for the incident so it'll be interesting to hear what they have to say this coming weekend for the next rounds at Knockhill.

There will be a bit of a shadow over Knockhill (and I'm not talking about the Scottish weather) after the sad death last weekend of the first ever British Touring Car Champion, Jack Sears who won in the inaugural year of 1958 and again five years later.  He was 86 and actively involved in the sport right up until the end.
 

It's a while since I've mentioned the BTCC - which is unusual because it's a damn site more exciting than F1.

And when I say "exciting" - I usually mean for the right reasons - not the crashes.