Riderless.

I was at Oulton Park yesterday watching the British Touring Cars.

I saw Lewis Hamilton...

...'s brother Nicolas.

But I didn't see ITV's (formerly BBC's) Steve Rider who retired from broadcasting after the coverage finished.

But then it is very rare to see a member of the ITV Sport team as they are usually in their on-site studio.

Maybe I should have arranged to be around the pit area when this photo was taken:

That is Nic Hamilton behind his right shoulder.

It's incredible to think that he is 75 years old.

Steve - not Nic!

That makes him the same age as Jay Leno who discussed his age with James May in this bit of YouTube from last week.

An entertaining edition with two car blokes having a pleasant and interesting conversation in a Triumph TR6.  Jay looks very good for his age - until you compare him with Steve.

I know which one I'd like to look like when I'm 75.

And it's not the one who's garage I'd like to own when I'm 75.

Platonic Love

 Plato hasn't been saying much this year.

This probably isn't too unusual.  However Jason Plato also hasn't said much.

This is unusual.

He is normally quite outspoken.  But then again, he's normally doing very well in the British Touring Car Championships.

And this year he isn't.

As I type this, we are currently two races into the Oulton Park Round and Plato has finished 12th and 11th.

He's been blaming the boost regulations.  But that doesn't explain how his team-mate Ash Sutton finished 3rd and 1st.

So Jason has also been blaming this:

He reckons his car has never been fully straightened out after looking like this after crashing at Brands Hatch earlier in the year.

 

There are four cars in that team and Plato is the senior driver - surely they could have put his number on one of the other cars.  Mind you, I don't envy Warren Scott, the team manager:

It can't be easy having to deal with Plato but I also feel a little sympathy for Jason too - as he pointed out today (now he's finally talking) - it is him who is the front-man for the team and it is him who is having the awkward conversations with the sponsors and money-men.  Although it is also him who flew in to Oulton Park today after attending Pippa Middleton's wedding.  So maybe his life isn't too bad at the moment after all.

 

However, the real star of the day at Oulton is this young man:

18-year-old Billy Monger.  Five weeks ago, he was involved in a horrific crash while taking part in a Formula 4 race at Donington Park.  He lost both his legs.  His maturity, is attitude, his cheerfulness are amazing.  He wants to race again.

 

I have no doubt he will.

Some Say... ...He Assaulted Goodwood’s Hill with a Mustang Shelby GT350R

I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for Ben Collins now.

He can't do anything without being referred to as "the former Stig from Top Gear."

This story from Car+Driver has him driving a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R up the Goodwood Hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed which is on this weekend.  I look forward to the highlights show on ITV4.

Maybe one year I'll make the effort to get down there.  This year I made the effort to check out their Website.  I then got distracted by this story on it.  I love old Volvos - especially the ones I saw at Oulton Park competing in the British Touring Car Championships in the '90s.  So much so that I have a signed print (signed by driver Tim Harvey and also by the artist) of a drawing of them in action at Brands Hatch in my hall.

The picture is in my hall, Brands Hatch isn't.

Anyway, this is why I was drawn to that story:

It's a Volvo 240T Touring Car!  That I'd never heard of. But that is because it competed in the European Touring Car Championships in the '80s.

At this point I got distracted by the thought that I wish they were still competing - after all, back in 2012, I found this story about a new Volvo Touring Car.

So, a quick bit of  Internet research led me to the Scandinavian Touring Car Championships where Volvos have been very successful of late and they seem to have more manufacturers taking part too - including the likes of Dacia.

Now, the first Formula e race of the weekend has just started so I'll go and watch that.

Some say I get easily distracted...  ... ooh look, a duck.