Anthony Reid was undoubtedly one of the stars of the British Touring Car Championship’s golden Super Touring era. He was fortunate enough to drive the Nissan Primera and Ford Mondeo – two of the period’s most successful cars – and twice finished runner-up in the standings, in 1998 and 2000.
Reid also had the chance to race alongside a roll call of tin-top greats. Alain Menu and Rickard Rydell were his team-mates at Ford, while he later drove for MG just as future four-time title winner Colin Turkington was getting to grips with the series. But it’s his Nissan team-mate from 1997-1998, the late David Leslie, who Reid picks as his favourite.
“I think the relationship I had with David was a very good one – we worked together well,” recalls Reid. “The Nissan Primera was a very successful car and we liked the car set up really quite similarly. Alain Menu and I wanted different things from our cars, and the same with Rickard, so it wasn’t such a gelling relationship.”
The Reid-and-Leslie partnership proved a fruitful one, too, as it propelled the RML-run Nissan squad to the 1998 manufacturers’ title.
“With the Nissan Primera, being with that programme for two years, the car had my DNA in it,” Reid continues. “Working with Nissan Motorsports Europe and Ray Mallock, we created a car that suited my driving style. And that relationship with David was successful in 1998.”
To achieve such strong results was no mean feat when the championship was full of high-profile stars and Reid – who has been reunited with his 1998 Primera for the past two seasons, driving it in the Classic Touring Car Racing Club’s Super Tourers series – has fond memories of the whole era.
Source: Autosport