Andy Rouse

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DESPITE THE FACT that his career spanned more than 20 years, an entire generation of enthusiasts associates Andy Rouse with the heady days of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Whether it was going toe-to-toe with Steve Soper in Sierra RS500 Cosworths or trading paint with John Cleland as Ford battled Vauxhall, his name was shouted into countless living rooms by excitable BBC commentator Murray Walker as Rouse helped the British Touring Car Championship reach uncharted levels of popularity.

With four titles to his name, plus 60 class and overall wins, the man himself has got plenty to shout about – but that’s not his style. Quietly spoken and with a hint of a Gloucestershire accent still evident, he describes his adventures in an understated way and with a dry sense of humour. And although those adventures came almost exclusively at the wheel of saloon cars, his big break actually came while he was driving single-seaters.

‘I was racing in Formula Ford in 1970,’ he explains. ‘I had a factory-backed Dulon car. I was building my own engines up until that point and wanted to get a professionally built engine. I’d read somewhere that Broadspeed was starting to do Formula Ford engines so I