THREE decades on from his maiden British Touring Car Championship race win at Brands Hatch, Paul Radisich will return to the venue next month.
Radisich was a regular across six seasons in the BTCC, with his first victory coming at Brands Hatch in 1993.
It’s the Ford Mondeo which he raced the following year that the Kiwi will steer at the historic Super Touring Power event on July 1-2.
The car is owned by Scott O’Donnell and was driven to victory by Radisich at the 1994 FIA Touring Car World Cup at Donington Park.
“It’s a couple of decades since I have raced at Brands Hatch, and probably three decades since I’ve raced that car there,” Radisich told V8 Sleuth.
“I have run that car, the Mondeo, in New Zealand a couple of times so I know it well and I know it currently.
“Scott has done a few mods on it like power steering, which it didn’t have in the day, so for old arms like me it’s nice.
“I’m looking forward to being reacquainted with the car on the track that we won Ford’s 200th touring car race.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun, there’s going to be a lot of the old club there.”
Among others lining up will be Greg Murphy and Steve Richards, in a Nissan Primera and Volvo S40 respectively.
“We’re going to get the opportunity to run the Grand Prix (layout) and the bullring on the other one, so it will be a combination between both tracks over the weekend so that’s kind of cool as well,” added Radisich.
“It’s just going to be a great weekend for us to bring back a lot of memories.
“The ’94 car was outdated in ’95 so in 2023 it’s not going to be much more competitive but it’s going to be good to run around there.”
Radisich most recently drove the Mondeo in February at Invercargill and admits his competitive streak is still ever present.
“Unfortunately that never drops away so any time you drive something you want to get the best out of it,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s me or Greg or Steve or whomever, we all want to do the best we can because that’s the way we’re built.
“But it is much more than that, it’s a lot of people with the same interests from the same era and enjoy what is now the classic car.”
