John Batchelor interview.


He's been Mr Top-Gear and Mr B&Q, but now John Batchelor is know as the only man running a four car squad in the British Touring Car Championship, as a second 307 joined the fray at Snetterton. After the Friday practice sections we sought out some shade in the Team Varta motorhome.

Congratulations of getting the fourth car out this weekend - how difficult was it?

Well it's been a bit of a struggle because we didn't make the decision until quite late on, in fact after the start of the season. Obviously Vic [Lee] has had built time problems because he's been developing a new car as well. Anyway, it's here, but it's a new car - we had power steering problems with it this morning, which we've sorted.

And then we've had recurrent problems on the 307 with the alternator, and despite the fact that we're sponsored by a terrific battery company, without the alternator even those terrific batteries can't drive it round! So we're just addressing location some replacements for tomorrow. But everything looks good. VLR have been a great deal of help. They're a good team and they've been very supportive so far.

How does running 3 different cars - the 306, 307s and the Honda - impact on the team?

We've had to increase the size of the team; we've had some logistics problems to address with actually moving the cars around. But it was a challenge that we wanted to take on, keep pushing the boundaries.

What does the future hold if, as we suspect, the production class isn't continued next year?

If the production class goes, as we think it will, then the 307s can convert to ETCC standard and can continue to run within this championship, and we will look for additional cars too.

Tell us about your drivers this year - how've they been?

Brilliant. Jim we've had with us for two years now. He is THE nicest bloke I've met as a driver in that he doesn't give me too much grief, and will usually go out and make the best of the equipment he's got, as you've seen this year in the Honda.

Tom is a natural talent, he's got terrific car control and is becoming increasingly smooth, as evidenced by his four wins this year [Boardman would go on to win the second of the next day's races to make it 5]. Richard I raced against in Fiestas; I like him enormously, he's very commercially aware and goes out giving 110%. He's in an older car this year but he's loving it. And Jay joined us, well today effectively, it's his first day out and he looks like he's on the pace already.

What about yourself - how much are you missing being behind the wheel?

Hugely! It's driving me nuts. But my racing days are finished unless I want to risk my neck any further. Although I was watching some European truck racing the other day and I thought, "well they're only doing a hundred miles an hour, and when they come off they get stuck in the sand!" so maybe my neck might not struggle with that! We'll see.

How did the sponsorship deal with Varta come about?

Well, Varta are owned by Rayovac, and if you look at pictures of our cars from 2 years ago you'll see that they were very small sponsors at the time. Then this year they purchased Varta and decided that they wanted to use the touring car team as the lynchpin for their re-launch of the brand.

In previous seasons you've been renowned for being very flamboyant with your PR - there's been the name changes; you've had a lion as a grid girl and so on. This year it all seems a little more conservative. Has that been deliberate?

Not really, I've just been a little bit busy. I'll have to do something ridiculous! I think it's like anything else, you try not to lose sight of the fact that you're here because you enjoy it, but inevitably when there's so much money involved you have to balance the lunacy with the awareness that you're wearing someone else's brand and you want that to always look it's best. But I will try to do something ridiculous!

Last year the team came in for some criticism because of the link with York City, and fans bringing air horns and crates of lager to the track. Is that an image you've consciously tried to avoid this year?

Well as you know my association with the club is over. It was an interesting year, a difficult one for football. I don't regret it, and I know I get a lot of stick from some of the fans. But I still think that if everyone had the full picture of what happened and why it happened then maybe they would understand a bit more.

The thing with football is that people watch it with their hearts as well as their heads, and it's a very emotive thing. With motorsport people tend to have a passion for the sport - they may even have a passion for the team - but it isn't the kind of thing that is as intrinsic in their lives as football is.

How did you originally get into motorsport?

Well, I've been a fan since ever since I can remember. You watch it and you idolise the great drivers, and for me the ultimate idol was James Hunt because he probably wasn't the most talented driver on the grid but he was "balls out" - he went for it every time and was the kind of the guy who could leap straight out of the car and into the bar. I think we miss that in motorsport, because it's become so corporate.

I watched it for years, and when I got to my mid-thirties decided that I really should have a go. So with my friend Stuart Isherwood I built a road saloon Vauxhall Nova, and at the end of 1998 I did two rounds of the British Road Saloon Championship, finishing an ignominious last in the first race, and breaking the throttle cable in the second!

We decided we needed a lot more power, so we bought a 240bhp Ford Fiesta for the next year with the assistance of Blackburn Rovers football club's sponsors, because we set it up as the Blackburn Rovers racing team - they were my local Premier league club at the time. We finished consistently and won the championship, so I was deluded into thinking I could drive!

I went off with real racing drivers in the Fiesta TOCA support series, only to find out that I was hopelessly talentless, and trotted round in a fairly gently year. Then the touring car rules changed to allow the production class. I changed my name to John B&Q; B&Q gave me a swamp load of money - well I thought it was a swamp load until I realised how much a touring car team cost to run! We went out with the old Integras and at least completed the year.

Then last year we improved in so much as we got more podiums with the Accord. Unfortunately of course I took a bit of a slap at Oulton Park, which finished my driving career. Then this year we've taken another step forward with Varta.

Whatever we do this year will be a substantial improvement on last year, and good groundwork for next year. The boys are all up for it. We're trying to win the team championship - there's a big gap but we'll try and close it.

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