A fond farewell to a few BTCC favourites

“Really upset because it was a great race with lots going on. You know, everyone had had a good race, a good bit of a battle, and then on the last lap when someone who’s barely passed his driving test whacks you up the back so hard it bends all the back of the boot and puts you in the kitty litter, you can’t give yourself back the place. Whatever punishment they give him they can’t give you back the third place, which is very disappointing. But maybe he needs a bit more experience before he races at this level.”

Just type ‘Brands Hatch BTCC 2002’ into a YouTube search, and enjoy a decidedly grumpy Tim Harvey venting after his Peugeot had been punted out of a podium position at the Druids hairpin on the final lap of the first race of the season. The object of his ire? A cheeky little chappy by the name of Tom Chilton, a graduate of the T Cars junior tin-top series, just two weeks past his 17th birthday, and making his British Touring Car Championship debut at the wheel of a Barwell Motorsport Vauxhall Astra Coupe.

A lot has changed in the intervening 24 and a half years. Back then, Tony Blair was still prime minister, mobile phones were for making calls and sending text messages, Champ Car still held the upper hand over the IRL, and Manchester City were playing in the second tier under English ownership. About the only constants are Fernando Alonso being in Formula 1 and the Gallagher brothers still not writing any decent songs. And… Chilton being part of the BTCC (barring his mid-2010s sojourn in the World Touring Car Championship, of course).

But not anymore. The Brands Hatch finale last weekend was the BTCC swansong for the 41-year-old Surrey man. And to put it bluntly, the series is going to miss his seemingly inexhaustible supply of effervescence.

No question, Chilton and younger brother Max – he of ex-Formula 1 and IndyCar adventures – were born on the right side of the tracks. The budget to establish themselves was there, hence a BTCC debut at 17. But he’s such a genuinely lovely bloke that anyone meeting him for the first time would soon cast aside any tendency to envy.

Since 2022, Chilton has been team-mate in the Excelr8 Motorsport squad to Tom Ingram – a driver who really struggled to raise the finances to gain a foothold in the sport. During that time, Ingram has twice won the championship, but Chilton has been fast enough to win five times – and sometimes be a helpful number two in the heat of a title battle.

Chilton was denied a final flourish on Sunday, but still bowed out in style

Photo by: JEP

“I’ll miss him massively – I really, really will,” pondered Ingram at Brands. “He’s gone from a team-mate to a thoroughly good mate. I’ll miss the atmosphere, I’ll miss the laughs, the general vibes that you get, because he’s a fantastic person to have around the team. Also, he’s been around for ages, so he’s a knowledgeable guy.”

Chilton himself, as he stood in the paddock after qualifying on Saturday, was reflecting on what this end of an era means to him. “I’m tired because I got four hours’ sleep last night, because I had so much adrenalin in my body about my last race weekend,” he mused. “I wanted to qualify on pole; that didn’t go so well, did it? Even though I’m tired I’m going to stay as long as possible, watch the sun set on my favourite home circuit. I love Brands Hatch. If I can get that podium for the last race of the day, I’ll be happy, because my first race I got on the podium. Then I’ll feel like that’s over and out.”

Of course, we know that this never happened. His final BTCC Sunday went wrong from race one, lap one, when Adam Morgan thumped the rear of Gordon Shedden’s Toyota, which in turn sent the veteran Scot into the back of Chilton, firing the Hyundai wide and dropping it almost to the back of the field. Incidentally, this occurred at the exact same spot where Chilton so infuriated Harvey back in 2002…

"With BTCC I’m doing hours of fitness training, working crazy hours, trying to do this as well, and I’m just exhausted" Tom Chilton

And it finished with Chilton and a mildly injured Ingram marooned in the Paddock Hill Bend gravel trap at the start of the final race, although the extrovert Chilton played the crowd in suitable showman fashion.

The reasons for leaving now are twofold. “Fundamentally I’m happy that I’m enjoying what I’m doing and I’m making the right decision,” expanded Chilton. “It’s age, and work. Birch is my business, a car-storage business, and I am busy every day of the week.

“We’re getting in so many cars now. We’ve got one facility at Gatwick and one at Brooklands Mercedes-Benz World, which is our big site – 124,000 square foot. We’ve only just opened it up and I’ve already got 350 cars in storage, and we are the only ones in the United Kingdom approved by the insurance companies, so we’re getting big car collectors. I really enjoy people’s stories about their cars, their passion for driving and where they’ve been with them, what’s special about them.

Chilton isn't retiring from racing, but he will be missed from the BTCC paddock

Photo by: JEP

“If I thought I could turn up in April next year, and go, ‘I’ve got a chance of winning the championship’, I would come back. I genuinely think now I can’t win the championship. I can have moments where I get a win, second, third, I got a pole this year at Snett. Whereas when I was young I was, ‘Hell yeah, I can win this’. I’m just a tiny bit off the pace, and I don’t want to hang around too long and then you can’t get any more podiums. I want to end on my terms.”

Chilton’s wasn’t the only BTCC farewell at Brands. After eight seasons in the series – six with the Alliance Racing Ford team since it was bought, under its old name of Motorbase Performance, by his father Pete – Sam Osborne also drove his final race in the series. And, ironically, it was contact with his Focus that fired Ingram and Chilton off at their very last start.

Apart from one race win, at Silverstone in 2025, Osborne never looked like pulling up many trees, but was always a decent midfield pedaller, and popular with his peers.

And Brands also featured the BTCC swansong for ITV pitlane and gridwalk reporter Louise Goodman. Here is someone who, over a period of many years, has set the bar high for anyone in such a role. She has always connected with the participants and earned their respect.

Goodman is ‘one of us’, someone who oozes motorsport enthusiasm – rather like Tom Chilton. He’s not going to stop racing completely. Instead, he’s going to get his kicks racing his old Zytek 04S sports-prototype and Lotus Cortina in Peter Auto historic events.

“Who knows, maybe I’ll do some GTs,” he speculated. “But Peter Auto is a really nice bunch of guys, great cars, cool circuits, a bit more relaxed. Still competitive on track, but I’m not having to do the whole build-up of the week before, really focusing on it [the BTCC].

The popular Osbourne also said farewell to the BTCC

Photo by: JEP

“I can crack on at Birch, rock up, have a gin and tonic and then go racing. With BTCC I’m doing hours of fitness training, working crazy hours, trying to do this as well, and I’m just exhausted. As Tom Ingram said to me, the difference between now and a few years ago is ‘you’re working five days a week whereas before you were just focused on racing’. It’s made me realise I can’t be a professional if I’m doing lots of other jobs.

“The Zytek is a great bit of kit, you’re pulling 5.7G on the brakes, a serious car. It’s fast, but really enjoyable to drive. Anyone who drove it in period said it’s the best sportscar. No power steering, no ABS, no traction control, it’s just man and machine with a bit of aerodynamics. It’s just awesome to drive.”

That grin will still be there then. And even Tim Harvey, in his current role as ITV pundit, is probably sorry to see Chilton go.

And a special goodbye to reporter Lou Goodman - who got to spray the champagne at the end of season celebrations!

Photo by: JEP