Andy Rouse | |
---|---|
Nationality | British |
Born | Dymock, Gloucestershire England | 2 December 1947
Retired | 1994 |
British Saloon / Touring Car Championship | |
Years active | 1973–1976, 1978–1994 |
Teams | Andy Rouse Engineering BMW (GB) British Leyland Team Broadspeed Castrol Carrier Properties Ltd. CSH Racing with Esso Team Esso Uniflo Gordon Spice Racing Industrial Control Services Ltd. Kaliber Racing Team Mondeo Triumph Team Piranha |
Wins | 60 |
Best finish | 1st in 1975, 1983, 1984 and 1985 |
Previous series | |
1987 1972 | WTCC Ford Escort Mexico Challenge |
Championship titles | |
1972 1975, 1983, 1984, 1985 1973 1974, 1975, 1983 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989 2003 | Ford Escort Mexico Challenge British Saloon Car Championship BSCC - Class C BSCC - Class B BSCC / BTCC - Class A Britcar |
Andrew Ernest Rouse [1] (born 2 December 1947) is a British racing driver, most notably in the British Saloon Car Championship. [2] He won the BSCC in 1975, 1983, 1984 and 1985.
Andy Rouse is one of the most successful drivers ever to appear in the BSCC. His 60 overall wins in the category was the highest total by any driver for many years, until being overhauled by Jason Plato at Brands Hatch in the opening round of the 2011 season.
Rouse was born in Dymock, Gloucestershire. Coming from an engineering background, he was originally an apprentice with an agricultural engineering company. He had been interested in motor sport from an early age and had run self-built autograss specials in his teens and then Formula Ford. In 1971 he funded his racing activities by working for Broadspeed, the race car engineering company set-up by Brummie Ralph Broad. Rouse's combined engineering and driving talent soon became apparent to Broad, who then encouraged his motorsport career by providing him with assistance to race in other championships.[ citation needed ]
His first step into saloon car racing came in 1972, when he entered the Ford Escort Mexico series. He won this one-make championship in his first year, and soon stepped up into the British Saloon Car Championship. Over the following years, Rouse was successful in a number of Broadspeed entered cars (including Ford Escorts, Triumph Dolomite Sprints and Ford Capris) winning his class in 1973, 1974 and taking the title in 1975. [3]
In 1976, Broadspeed ran the works Jaguar XJ12C cars, for which Rouse was both driver and race development engineer. Great results were expected from these powerful cars but unfortunately British Leyland stopped the program the following season following a string of poor results. With no works deal for 1978, Ralph Broad sold his stake in the company and Broadspeed soon went into liquidation. Rouse drove alongside Gordon Spice in 1979 and 80, getting good results in the works Ford Capri team. [4]
In 1981, Rouse set up his own engineering company, Andy Rouse Engineering, taking many of the ex-Broadspeed employees with him. His success on the track continued with Championship wins in 1983 and 1984. His 1983 win came about after Steve Soper, driving for the works TWR Austin Rover team, had his championship win disqualified. Rouse took over the Alfa Romeo GTV6 entered by Pete Hall's Industrial Control Services (ICS) plc company, won his class and latterly the championship, and also founded the long running sponsorship deal between himself and ICS. He also won the Willhire 24 Hour in 1981 and 1983. [5] After competing in a Rover Vitesse in 1984 and winning the title against the factory Rover team, Ford gave him the 'works' contract to build and drive their next generation touring car, the Sierra Cosworth, which was to dominate the BTCC until the end of the decade. Rouse won the championship again in 1985 driving a Sierra XR4Ti, [6] but this was to be his last overall title. For 1987, Ford homologated the Sierra RS500, and ARE set about transforming it into a BTCC machine. The result was one of the most famous touring cars of all time. [7] Rouse never won the title outright in an RS500, although he won Class A again in 1988 and 1989. He was third overall in 1988, 1989 and 1990. [8]
As a prelude to the new 2.0 litre formula for 1991, Rouse built a 2.0 Sierra Sapphire run under the Hawaiian Tropic banner, driven first by Ray Bellm and then Chris Hodgetts. [9] The car was not very successful, but it did give useful experience for the super touring era to come. For 1991, ARE picked up the works contract to run the Toyota team. The car was a success, challenging for the 1991 title. In 1992 Rouse was joined by Will Hoy, again running the Toyota Carina, before setting up the works Ford Mondeo team for 1993, hiring Paul Radisich to drive alongside himself. The Mondeo was the class of the field in the second half of the 1993 season, but had to give best in 1994 to Alfa Romeo. He retired from driving at the end of 1994, hiring Kelvin Burt as Paul's teammate for 1995. That year was frustrating, and Ford gave the works contract to West Surrey Racing for the following season. Rouse instead ran a semi-works Nissan team in 1996, running Gary Ayles and Owen McAuley with limited success. Rouse later built a Super Touring specification Toyota Corolla which failed to find a racing team. [10]
Since the demise of his touring car teams, Rouse spent several years trying to promote a rival series to the BTCC; his proposed "Supercar V8" was based on a spaceframe chassis, normally aspirated V8 engine, and bodywork modelled on medium to large saloon cars. This series has not yet materialised.[ citation needed ]
Rouse has since wound down Andy Rouse Engineering and retired from motor racing. He now runs a commercial real estate business and restores Cadillac vehicles.[ citation needed ]
His son Julian is a director of the Arden International racing team. [11] [12]
In 2003, Andy and Julian won the 2003 Britcar season in a Mercedes 190 DTM. Julian continued to race in Britcar and even competed in the 24 Hours of Silverstone a few times.[ citation needed ]
In 2005, a poll by readers of Motorsport Magazine voted Rouse the third greatest touring car driver ever. [13]
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1973–1990 in class) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded ?–1989 in class)
† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.
‡ Endurance driver.
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1974 | Team Butch Broadspeed | Tony Dron | Triumph Dolomite Sprint | Div.3 | 280 | 5th | 3rd |
1980 | Belga Castrol Team | Thierry Tassin | Ford Capri III 3.0 | serT+2.5 | 415 | 7th | 6th |
1987 | Andy Rouse Engineering | Win Percy Thierry Tassin | Ford Sierra RS Cosworth | Div.3 | 252/rim failure | DNF | DNF |
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | Porsche System | Tony Dron Eberhard Draun (DNS) | Porsche 924 Carrera GT | GTP | 311 | 5th | 3rd |
1981 | Porsche System | Manfred Schurti Siegfried Brunn (DNS) | Porsche 924 Carrera GT | IMSA GTO | 316 | 11th | 1st |
1982 | Porsche System | Richard Lloyd | Porsche 924 Carrera GT | IMSA GTO | 77/gearbox | DNF | DNF |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | DC | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1987 | Andy Rouse Engineering | Ford Sierra RS Cosworth | MNZ Ret | JAR ovr:14 cls:3 | DIJ ovr:5 cls:3 | NUR ovr:8 cls:2 | SPA Ret | 25th | 58 | ||||||
Ford Sierra RS500 | BNO Ret | SIL Ret | FJI ovr:2 cls:2 | ||||||||||||
Allan Moffat Enterprises | BAT Ret | CLD Ret | WEL |
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1987 | Allan Moffat Enterprises | Thierry Tassin Allan Moffat | Ford Sierra RS500 | 1 | 31 | DNF | DNF |
1989 | Mobil 1 Racing | Peter Brock | Ford Sierra RS500 | A | 81 | DNF | DNF |
1990 | Mobil 1 Racing | Peter Brock | Ford Sierra RS500 | 1 | 160 | 4th | 4th |
The Ford Mondeo is a car manufactured by Ford since 1993. The first Ford model declared as a "world car", the Mondeo was intended to consolidate several Ford model lines worldwide. The Mondeo nameplate is derived from the Latin word mundus, meaning "world". For its first two generations, the Mondeo was produced using the CDW27 platform, with the third-generation model shifting to the EUCD platform. The fourth-generation models use the CD4 platform, and the fifth-generation use the C2 platform.
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as the British Touring Car Championship for the 1987 season. The championship, currently running Next Generation Touring Car regulations, has been run to various national and international regulations over the years including FIA Group 2, FIA Group 5, FIA Group 1, FIA Group A, FIA Super Touring and FIA Super 2000. A lower-key Group N class for production cars ran from 2000 until 2003.
Paul Francis Wade Radisich is a retired New Zealand racing driver and businessman of Croat origin. He has competed in saloon cars for many years — both European-style tourers and the V8 Supercars of Australia and New Zealand.
Steven Soper is a British racing driver.
Robb Gravett (born 10 May 1956 is a British retired racing driver and team owner from London. He started his motorsport career on two wheels, racing Moto Cross at the age of 12. By 15, he was already British champion, but decided to switch to four-wheeled racing in his early 20s. Robb began racing cars in 1978, eventually entering the British Touring Car Championship in 1987.
Christopher Leonard Hodgetts is a British former racing driver. He began his racing career in 1979, driving in the Clubman Class A championship.
Winston Walter Frederick Percy is a British former motor racing driver from England. Percy was British Touring Car Champion three times, and at the time of his retirement was the most successful non-Antipodean driver ever to compete in Australia's premier national motorsport event, the Bathurst 1000km. Joe Saward of Autosport magazine said he was "often regarded as the World's Number One Touring Car Driver".
The 1996 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship season marked the arrival of Audi to the sport with their four wheel drive A4s. The title was won by Frank Biela, with Swiss driver Alain Menu again finishing in second place and Swede Rickard Rydell in third.
The 1995 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship was won by John Cleland in a Vauxhall Cavalier. The Independents' title was won by Matt Neal in his Team Dynamics Ford Mondeo with fourteen class wins.
The 1991 Esso RAC British Touring Car Championship season was the 34th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season and marked the first year of the Super Touring era.
The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth is a high-performance version of the Ford Sierra that was built by Ford Europe from 1986 to 1992. It was the result of a Ford Motorsport project with the purpose of producing an outright winner for Group A racing in Europe.
Jeffrey Frank Allam, is a former British racing driver who made his name in Saloon Car racing. He now works as Head of Business for Allam Motor Services in Epsom which are a Skoda sales and service and Vauxhall servicing dealership. Hates holden.
Laurence Alan Bristow is a British racing driver and businessman, best known for his time in the British Touring Car Championship. He is son of helicopter magnate Alan Bristow.
John Fitzpatrick is a British former racing driver, winning many titles throughout his career. He works within motorsport as a consultant doing corporate events and driver management. He published a book "Fitz-My Life at the Wheel" in 2016.
Andrew Michael Middlehurst is a British racing driver. Middlehurst runs a successful Nissan dealership in the North West of England that is famed for its involvement with the Nissan Skyline GT-R, resulting it being officially imported into the country and more recently the Nissan GT-R R35.
The 1990 Esso RAC British Touring Car Championship season was the 33rd British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season and marked the last year of the Group A era. It was also the final year of the multi-class format.
The 1983 RAC Trimoco British Saloon Car Championship was the 26th season of the championship. Steve Soper driving a works Rover SD1 built by TWR was initially champion, but after he and the team was disqualified on a technicality, Andy Rouse won his second drivers title in an Alfa Romeo GTV6.
Pierre Dieudonné is a Belgian auto racing driver and motoring journalist.
Roger Dowson Engineering, also known as RD Motorsport, is an automotive engineering company, and an auto racing team run by Roger Dowson. The company was founded in 1982, and was most notable for running the works MG Metros in the British Saloon Car Championship in 1983 and the works Mazda teams in the British Touring Car Championship from 1992 until 1994.
Graham Derek Goode is a British former racing driver and car tuning specialist.