It didn’t start well. Lemmer’s Vectra punted him off in the pre-weekend test on the Thursday, leaving WSR with early work to do to repair the Mondeo. And as Cleland remembers, he didn’t qualify well: only 19th for the feature race. But typically, Mansell dug deep: third on the grid for the sprint. Remarkable enough on its own.
Sunday dawned wet and full of jeopardy. Good news for WSR and its Mondeos, Hoy having already scored a first victory for the team that was new to touring cars back then, at a rainy Silverstone. But Cleland was rubbing his hands too. In the dry, his Vectra was struggling to live with the Volvos, Nissans and Renaults, but here in these conditions he had a chance.
First, a prelude and an opening salvo with Mansell. “The morning warm-up came” – again, a reminder how professional and high-tech the BTCC had become back then – “and Nigel was first out of the pitlane and I was second,” John remembers. “What a normal touring car driver does after he gets in the car is tap the brake pedal with your left foot to make sure the pedal has some pressure. I go out of the pitlane and there’s no lights on this Mondeo. I go down into Redgate and still no lights. I’m thinking he’s either stupid or brave, or the bulbs have all blown. We go down the Craner Curves and I go down the inside of him, close enough that it lost me my wing mirror and I took his off as well. My car in the wet was really good and we were quickest that morning. I get out and as I’m chatting to the engineers Nigel comes stomping into the garage: ‘what was all that about, what were you trying to do?’ I told him, ‘I was just welcoming you to touring car racing because this is how it’s going to be for the rest of the day.’”
And so it was, with Mansell at the heart of the drama. But he almost blew the gig in the sprint, bogging down at the start from his second-row grid slot and then crashing out at Coppice. It was touch and go whether WSR’s hard-pressed mechanics would be able to repair the car in time for the feature. Thankfully for the crowd, BTCC boss Alan Gow, the TV audience and anyone with the slightest interest in racing, Mansell made it. Nineteenth on the grid, against a field of hardened specialists. What on earth could he do from there?
“The race was long and we had pitstops,” said Cleland. “It was a fantastic race.”
It sure was. I was there, covering the support races, including Jenson Button racing Dan Wheldon in Formula Ford. On such duties I didn’t usually have time to catch the BTCC races, but as word filtered through what was happening out on track I rushed from the paddock to the media centre to watch what was playing out. Good decision. This was unmissable.
“I’m assuming I’m about to lap Mansell. They said, no, he’s leading the race”
The conditions were treacherous, going from a drying track to drizzle to heavy rain, and it caught out most of the aces at one point or another – including Cleland. Running third behind the dominant Nissans of Reid and Leslie, he took a trip through the gravel out of McLeans, but survived to race on. The same was not the case for the likes of Harvey, Menu, Hoy, Thompson, Kox, John Bintcliffe in his Audi and more… It was chaos out there.
Meanwhile, Mansell plugged away, and all these years later it’s still a mark of the man what he achieved that day. He was last on the opening lap, but played himself in as more experienced touring car heads found themselves caught out. When he engaged in a dice with Neal and Morbidelli, with Kox joining in the fun, he began to deliver exactly what Gow and the TV producers were hoping for. Breathless stuff – and for the most part clean, too.
Then came the pitstops and increasingly heavy rain, making it a clear choice of changing from slicks to wets (for everyone other than Warwick who gambled on dry tyres and was forced to pit again). The safety car was called upon in the midst of the pitstop window, costing the Nissan duo their big gap to Cleland and the rest. And through it all, WSR had somehow vaulted Mansell up to fourth! Now what?
The restart was terrific. Mansell went door to door with Leslie and Cleland, with Muller’s Audi getting in on the act, and now Red 55 was second – closing fast on Reid. Minutes earlier, Anthony had this race sewn up. But now, under pressure from Mansell, the Primera got away from him at McLeans and skated off into the kitty litter. ‘Our Nige’ was in the lead!