tvrmonster.com
The specialist travelling very rapidly web site
Mike Caine – TVR Tuscan Champion.
2009 - 20th Anniversary of the TVR Racing. Mike reminisces
Foremost of my TVR heroes is Mike Caine. TVR Tuscan Champion in 2000, runner up 1999 (equal points on points it came down to race wins), Le Mans veteran in 2002/3, Speed 12 pilot in British GT and the only ever TVR works driver. Mike has TVR through him like a stick of Blackpool rock and his memories of TVR racing are still his fondest. “My abiding memory of TVR is fun,” Mike told me. “These were my first years in proper big budget motor sport and they were great times. Most of the drivers were in their 20’s and after a few beers at the end of a hard days racing there was often mischief afoot. “I remember Ian Mckellar and the guys putting a young Jamie Campbell-Walter in the back of a Griff and donut-ing him around the car park several times just minutes before being called to the holding area to race. He didn’t look very well when he got out I can tell you but he did OK. On another occasion at Promotasport, we had a faulty generator and we all got carbon-monoxide poisoning over the weekend. We still raced through it, though we were all dizzy and throwing up. We won…I think…I can’t really remember, yeah I’m pretty sure.” I asked Mike more about the spirit of the Paddock. Anything in particular spring to mind in the races? Tuscans were the biggest, fastest and loudest racing in the UK at that time, the biggest single make series with big rubber and even bigger V8s and they often outshined BTCC as the best of British Motorsport. “We acheived massive global audiences on TV & Sky with up to 20,000+ people at the races themselves (I can vouch for that as I was one of them,) yet it was all like a big boys outing for us. Yes the racing was ultra competitive, but it was more like club racing, more like the “Challenge” is now than the modern equivalent which I guess is Porsche Cup. Mike currently races in Porsche Carrera Cup GB – currently the UKs biggest single make series and is again vying for the Championship on the BTCC Tour and also in Britcar with privateer Keith Kent as well as the Racesport SagarisGT3 with Richard Stanton So, if it was possible to race in Tuscan again would you? The current series is growing all the time and the pace is rising steadily. If a pro-team got a package together would you like to be involved? “Ofcourse…” Mike said “In a second” |
Comment on this news item here