BTCC star back in a Cosworth

Tim Harvey scored his greatest success in the British Touring Car Championship in 1992, when he drove a BMW to the title. OK, he took several wins in later years in front-wheel-drive machines. But where do his affections lie?

Definitely with the older cars...

Take the Group A Ford Sierra RS500. It's one of the iconic tin-tops and, before his BMW-mounted title, Harvey drove a Labatt's-liveried, Andy Rouse-prepared example in the BTCC in 1989 and '90.

"There are only two or three cars out of all those I've driven that I'd like to own and that's top of my list," he says. "There hasn't been anything like it since in terms of power to grip."

So it was no surprise that the 51-year-old was more than happy to take up current owner Paul Smith's offer of a test in his RS500 at the Silverstone Classic media day earlier this month. To make the day even more nostalgic, Ian Goff brought along Harvey's ex-Vic Lee Motorsport BMW M3 from 1991.

It's the turbocharged Sierra up first, and it doesn't take long for ex-Porsche Carrera Cup champion Harvey to feel at home. "When you're racing a car - and I had that one for two years - it becomes very much part of you," he says.

"From the moment you hit the start button the sounds and feel are very evocative. Even though I've driven probably hundreds of cars since, within the space of a few corners you're completely back into Cossie driving. It becomes an instinctive process and driving the RS500 was always a visceral experience."

This RS500 is one of the most original around, and the Dunlop tyres are similar to those raced in period. With around 560bhp on tap, it still makes for a challenging combination.

"I've always enjoyed cars with more power than grip," enthuses Harvey. "On the old Silverstone GP circuit, Abbey flat was a big corner and Woodcote flat was an even bigger corner.

"It was the iconic homologation touring car before the two-litre shopping-cart era started and it feels absolutely as it did then."

Harvey won two BTCC races in 1989 and was usually the man most likely to challenge established ace Rouse and the ever-increasing threat of Robb Gravett and Trakstar.

The following season promised much, but Harvey's Dunlop tyres and the Pirellis of Rouse weren't a match for Gravett's Yokahamas.

"They were by far the superior tyres in terms of durability and grip," recalls Harvey. "Me and Andy would run out of grip after half the race.

"We had an adjustable front rollbar and used to start with the bar fairly soft and stiffen it up very quickly during the race to try and promote some understeer, because the rear tyres were going off so fast. It was a crude attempt to balance the car, but the tyres were going off faster than you could cope with.

"Rouse had the odd win against Robb and I'd say Andy was a better driver, but in 1990 there was just no touching it [the Trakstar car]."

It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that Harvey's fondest RS500 memory comes from outside its BTCC career.

At the Macau Guia race in 1989, Harvey qualified the car third, behind Rouse and the M3 of Emanuele Pirro. He jumped the BMW at the start and held Pirro off, inheriting victory when runaway leader Rouse hit shock absorber trouble.

"It was my first visit there and 560bhp around that circuit was quite incredible," remembers Harvey. "I've always enjoyed street circuits.

"You'd almost use the barriers like a snowbank: if you did it right you could just oversteer up to the barrier and use it to arrest the slide, but no more.

"But it's also the small things that stand out, like doing 175mph down Hangar Straight in a Silverstone test and passing an F3000 car. You've never seen shock and awe on people's faces as much as when they saw those cars for the first time."

Harvey also began his sportscar/GT career at around the same time. Despite the GT-like power of the Ford, he maintains the two were very different: "The Sierra is heavy and doesn't have any downforce. It was completely different. I don't really know how I managed to combine the two!"

After several goes in the Sierra, Harvey's run in the BMW is prevented by technical trouble. His 1991 machine can't be persuaded to run properly and has a gearbox problem, but Harvey can still remember it well.

Moving from the RS500 monsters to the new two-litre rules for that season wasn't something Harvey particularly liked.

"It was a bit disappointing to be honest," he says. "In the DTM and Europe the BMWs were 2.3-litre cars, then 2.5, but we were adopting the two-litre formula. We had to build our own engines and the cars were pretty gutless. The power was all at the top end.

"They made up for a lot of that with the handling. Compared to the Cosworth it was like a formula car. You got your enjoyment from maximising your corner speed and braking, but it was a completely different animal."

Harvey and Labatt's team-mate Laurence Bristow had moved to Vic Lee Motorsport for 1991. The same squad ultimately ran Will Hoy to the title, but for Harvey it was a disappointing season.

"We were probably the customer team as opposed to Will - we'd come from Rouse's and he was established there - but we had good service.

"It took a bit of adapting to get the best out of it from a driving point of view, but I enjoyed the rear-wheel-drive two-litres. I can't say I ever really enjoyed the front-wheel-drive cars.

"I was definitely a better RWD driver; I wouldn't have said it at the time as it would have been professional suicide."

AUTOSPORT's Nick Phillips described Harvey as "probably the unluckiest driver of the season" in his 1991 review. Having been third in Class A and fourth overall in '90, Harvey slumped to eighth.

He wasn't helped by a disqualification and ensuing loss of two maximum scores for being over the 110-decibel noise limit at Donington Park, a race in which team-mate Ray Bellm deliberately backed off on the line to avoid the noise test.

"They were noise-testing the top six and we had a problem with being over the limit, so he was trying to drop out of the automatic scrutineering," recalls Harvey, who stormed up from the back after losing his qualifying times due to the issue.

He swept by the slowing Bellm, got noise tested and disqualified, while Bellm inherited sixth...

Despite his troubled season with the car, Harvey's final BTCC race in the M3 proved crucial. A win at Silverstone helped cement his VLM deal for 1992, and he would go on to take the crown.

"Vic always said that me winning the last race of 1991 was what convinced him and BMW to give me the works drive for the following year," says Harvey. "It proved we had got on top of the car and that I could beat the opposition. That was very satisfying."

There's to be no success running the BMW today, so instead Harvey jumps back into the RS500.

This is supposed to be just a test, but he soon starts tweaking the set-up and, despite red flags punctuating the running, gets down to times that would have been competitive in the previous year's Touring Car Trophy races at the Classic.

So could he be persuaded to race the RS500 if the chance arose?

"Yep, absolutely. I'd love to race the Cosworth. I'd love to own it!"

Pictures - Jakob Ebrey

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