BTCC ON ITV MOTORSPORT
3 1 JULY 2019 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 55
Fi r s t , y ou h av e t o b e hone s t l y
interested in your interview subject,
however old, young, unhelpful or
downright weird. Stay friendly,
maintain eye contact and you’ll
get good answers. Secret two: ask
questions that show you’re well
informed, and supplementaries
t h at do it a ga i n. T h at ’s R ide r ’s
absolute speciality.
Third, frame your questionsquickly, and encourage succinct
answers with the word ‘briefly’.
Fourth, stay calm and good
humoured. Anxiety can be catching.
Fifth and vitally: remember, Mr
Interviewer, that this isn’t about you.
It’s 5.30pm. I’m exhausted from
watching this performance, but Rider
looks exactly as he did on arrival:
relaxed and without a bristle of his
muc h-a d m i r e d si l v e r ba r ne t out of
place. Not sure how he does it, given
his next birthday will be his 70th, but
a s lon g a s he k e e p s doi n g it , t h at w i l l
suit us BTCC punters just fine. L
motorsport, then Rider and O’Neill
chat to Renault racer Jade Edwards
about how it feels to beat the blokes.
O n a nd on it f low s , s e a m le s sl y,
as far as I can tell.When we get close to the first
r a c e at 1 2 .10 pm , it ’s a l mo s t a r e l ie f.
Goodman does one of her well-
practised grid-walks, chatting
comfortably with the drivers, who
seem far more friendly than the F1
crew. Then it’s the flag lap, then
the race begins. Andrew Jordan
compensates for a Donington crash
by winning for BMW by 1.34sec.
T h r u x t on i s v ie w e d a s a Hond a
circuit, so this is big.
Coverage seems to get easier. The
crew grabs lunch, never losing sight
of proceedings as the Minis, F4s and
Ginettas do their stuff. Rider and
Goodman interview the podium
finishers sympathetically. Then
Jordan takes an easy start-to-finish
win in the second race. There have
b e e n no de l ay s t h i s a f t e r no on; it ’s d r y
a nd t h i n gs h av e b e e n goi n g w e l l.
When we reach the third and
last BTCC event, the effects of a
punitive starting position and
two safety car hold-ups movet w o -t i me w i n ne r Jord a n ba c k t o
a distant 16th, leaving the win to
Honda-mounted up-and-comer
Jo sh C o ok. I nt e r v ie w s fol low but ,
instead of bothering with the
minutiae of who has won and
how, I watch Rider’s summary
of “a great weekend” to tease
out his secrets. The rules are
simple, and I count five.
“I’ve known Steve Rider since
the 1980s,” says BTCC boss
Alan Gow. “He was always a
motorsport enthusiast, a bit of
a petrolhead. His involvement
w i th u s j u st s o r t of h a p p e n e d.
He pushed our cause back then,
and he’s been doing it ever since.
“When we took over TOCA in
1992, he was with BBC Grandstand.
T h ey s h owe d 2 0 m i n u te s of
highlights – between the snooker
and the horse trials, sort of thing.
Steve wa nte d to d o l i ve s l o t s , b u t
I wasn’t keen. The good thing about
highlights was you could cut out
the boring bits. But Steve kept on.
The thing evolved into 20, then 40,
then 60-minute items.”
Gow now greatly values BTCC’s
day-long, free-to-air coverage on
ITV4, and he has figures to provethe public loves it. He’s had offers
from subscription services but
prefers ITV4. “It’s about eyeballs – I
want what’s most important for my
sponsors and teams,” says Gow.
ALAN GOW ON
STEVE RIDER
`
I watch Rider’s summary of ‘a great
weekend’ to tease out his secrets
a
Rider does his best to
l o ck eyes w i th Th r u x to n
double winner JordanITV’s BTCC coverage
draws about a million
viewers per race
Goodman^ is^ an
other^ ITV^ Formu
la 1 veteran