Series director Gow gets a first-hand taste of what life is like at the wheel of a modern-day racer
BTCC series director Alan Gow got the chance to sample an Ngtc-spec car at Snetterton recently, when he got behind the wheel of Rob Austin’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta.
The Australian, who has a racing background, took part in a session during the annual tyre test, and admitted the experience has given him an interesting new perspective.
His first job was to open the book of racing driver excuses. “I made a mistake by going out on cold, brand new, unscrubbed tyres,” he says. “I had no idea that it had so little grip in the rear. I did two laps and I think I spun at about 10mph because there was no grip. I was laughing inside the car. I did the cross over [front to rear] and then did a few laps to get the Dunlops up to speed, so I wasted time. I only got five laps, so I was learning. I didn’t get near 100 per cent.”
Despite that, there were elements of the hatchback that he was impressed with immediately.
Gow says: “The things that really surprised me about the cars were the initial turn-in – it was great, plenty of grip – and the brakes were really good. The grip just got me. Coming out of the corners, I couldn’t spin the wheels up once. And that is amazing for a front-wheel-drive car: there was no torque steer.”
Once the excuse book was closed, Gow, who had lapped around 10s off the times of the fastest drivers in his session, noted something else interesting.
“The rearward vision was excellent – there is no excuse for a driver to say they didn’t see someone behind them!” he laughs. “I have a much greater understanding of what the guys go through. I know what the cars go like now, but not on the limit, but I get the dynamics of driving them so I can probably relate to things a bit better.”
Austin went through the onboard data with Gow afterwards. He has some observations too. “I think he was about as majestic as a scared cat. Seriously, I think he did well because there was a lot of pressure: the whole paddock was watching and waiting for him to do something silly. The only silly things he did were round the back.
“What was interesting was that when he got out, he said it was a very hostile environment. He had a bit of a moment but he couldn’t remember which corner or which lap: he was guessing. It wasn’t until we watched the onboard we saw which lap it was. That gives him an insight into what adrenaline does. It’s hard, when you speak to the officials to explain an incident, to remember exactly what happened. He will recognise that now.”