2 ALAIN MENU

CHAMPION:1997, 2000

There was a single-mindedness about Alain Menu which marked him out among his contemporaries in the British Touring Car Championship.

The Swiss was among the first to ride the crest of the wave which crashed down on the BTCC in the early 1990s to reshape the series. Gradually, the gentlemen drivers were forced to pull over for the unstoppable force of career-focused racers.

Menu was one of the pioneers, spurred on perhaps by a singleseater career that failed to deliver the glories it should have, even though he had made it to F3000 level. He drove for BMW initially as part of its junior team, but it was when he was picked by Renault to lead its maiden factory BTCC bid in 1993 that his tin-top career kicked into life.

A title in a Laguna followed, and Menu would become a lynchpin of the French firm’s success until it withdrew from the BTCC after 1999.

Even that didn’t stop him, as a second title followed in 2000 in a Prodrive-run Ford Mondeo, probably the most expensive and high-tech BTCC car ever, to sign off the Super Touring era for a man who had been a consistent winner throughout. And it is that longevity, plus his unstinting pace throughout that period, that meant he was a thorn in the side of anyone who wanted to take a crown in that eight-year period. That means he has gone toe-to-toe with several of those who have taken part in our poll – and they clearly haven’t forgotten him.