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The touring car great who never won the BTCC

Steve Soper is one of the greatest names in touring-car racing, yet he never (for keeps) won the BTCC crown. Autosport looks back at his career on home soil

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Celebrating 60 years of the BTCC As it marks its diamond jubilee in 2018, read the best of Britain’s most popular motor racing championship

The history books do not record Steve Soper as a British Touring Car champion. His 14 victories don't put him into the top 20 on the winners' list either, and yet the 66-year-old is a tin-top legend. Rather like Stirling Moss in Formula 1, Soper isn't just one of the best drivers not to have won the title, he's one of the greatest to have appeared in the category.

Soper played pretty much every role in the BTCC: the young champion stripped of the crown through a technicality; a supersub wreaking havoc on the regulars; a serious title challenger who narrowly missed out; the veteran persuaded out of retirement in an attempt to bring success to an uncompetitive car.

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Author Kevin Turner

Kevin Turner is Autosport’s Chief Editor. While studying History at the University of York, Kevin began covering UK club events as a freelance reporter for Autosport and Motorsport News. He joined the Autosport staff as Editorial Assistant on the magazine in 2006, winning what is now known as the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award. He became National Editor in 2008 and over the next few seasons covered a range of international events, including the Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as the British Touring Car Championship and British GT. Kevin became Features Editor before switching to edit Motorsport News in 2014.

He returned to Autosport in 2016 to become editor of the magazine, a dream job that is still part of his role.

He became Chief Editor in 2020, helping to plan content for autosport.com and Autosport’s podcast as well as seeing the magazine through the coronavirus pandemic. Kevin also led work on the special publication celebrating 70 years of Autosport and has been a judge on the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award, formerly known as the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, since 2008. He lives in Warboys with his wife and two children.