THE MOTOR SPORT INTERVIEW

Now 70, the BTCC technical director is passing his sheriff’s badge to a successor – his son. Here he reflects on a long career of rule-bending and rulemaking, and how he dealt with difficult characters

INTERVIEW: DAMIEN SMITH

JAKOB EBREY

Fellow mechanic Ian Wilson, left, and Peter Riches with booty from the Europa’s success

Motor sport loves a poacherturned-gamekeeper. Who better than a former mechanic or engineer who knows all the tricks (and has on occasion used them) to keep slippery racing teams on the straight and narrow? In Formula 1, ex-Brabham boys Charlie Whiting and Herbie Blash were ideal when they became paddock sheriff and deputy, and the equivalent on the UK scene is Peter Riches, who has just completed his 30th season as technical director of the British Touring Car Championship. He’s the teams’ best friend – and worst enemy.

Now 70, Riches has given series boss Alan Gow the headache he’s been trying to avoid for years. After 323 events and 821 races he’s retiring and might have proven as difficult to replace as the late and much-missed Whiting – except in the BTCC there is a clear and logical succession plan. Riches’ son, Sam, has 20 years in the paddock under his belt as understudy to the old man and will now take over the family business. To ease the transition, Dad has promised Gow to stick around as a consultant for at least a year, possibly longer. As with most racing folk, stepping off the gas completely seems a tall and unrealistic order.

Riches’ ‘poacher’ days couldn’t have been more ideal for what he’d need in his years as a paddock policeman. He worked weekends in the mid-1970s in the wild world of Special Saloons and production sports cars for the flamboyant Chris Meek, then spent 17 years at Lotus, working for and soaking up as much as he could from those motor sport A-listers Colin Chapman and Tony Rudd.

Chief scrutineer at the British Grand Prix since 1991 and FIA technical delegate for Super Touring at the height of the tin-top manufacturer boom, Peter has just been recognised by the BRDC, which has awarded him – fittingly – the Colin Chapman Trophy for his dedicated service to the sport he loves.

From left: Peter, his son Sam who’ll be stepping into Dad’s shoes, and BTCC boss Alan Gow

This son of a butcher has rubbed shoulders and at times jousted with the sharpest tools in the motor sport box. A good time, then, to lift the lid on his vast experience.

Motor Sport: Does it feel the right time to stop?

PR: “Well, I’m 70. It was something we planned to do earlier, but I agreed to stay and then Covid came along. We thought we’d get to the 30-season mark. Alan has always said he didn’t want me to go, so he kept making me put off the decision. He was stuck with what to do because getting somebody from outside might have been like reinventing the wheel. There’s so much history with these jobs. You see what’s happened in F1. Not many cross over to the dark side, as the joke goes, and when they do most soon head back to the white.