VIC LEE: ACHIEVING THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS IN BRITISH TOURING CARS
Winning the British Touring Car Championship is tough enough and doing it as a team owner is a huge achievement. Vic Lee’s crowning moment came when Will Hoy claimed the crown in 1991 and Vic Lee Motorsport repeated the feat in the tin-top series’ most dramatic showdown in 1992 with Tim Harvey at the controls.
Although the Kent team boss was forced to take a sabbatical from the sport, his success was at the start of what would become the most competitive period in the category’s history. It was a future that had been mapped out by a committee that included Lee himself. Those were the building blocks that launched the Super Touring era.
Lee returned to the BTCC with Peugeot in 2001 at the start of the BTC-Touring class with the unwieldy 406 model, but it was beset with problems. The subsequent 307 was a well-built machine, but the French firm pulled the plug in 2003.
Lee has been a regular face in the paddocks since and has his arm around the shoulder of some up-and-coming drivers and has been involved with the RAM Racing team in the British GT championship this term too.
He took time out of his schedule to tackle the Motorsport News readers’ questions.
Question: How did you get into motor racing? Did you want to be a Formula 1 World champion when you started?
James Hilton Via email
Vic Lee: “Where I grew up, there was a guy along the road from us who did some rallying. He used to build these cars in his back garden in his double garage, he was a guy called Micky Greenland. We were family friends, and I used to go and work with him from about the age of 12. He was building Austin 1800s and he ended up doing the London-to-Sydney Rally.
“When I was 15, I got a part-time job in a garage that was also near to us. It was run by a guy called Howard Drake. He used to race and as soon as I had seen his racing car and shown an interest, I was away doing things with that all the time.
“Howard progressed into Formula Ford, and I would help him out building engines and chassis and all sorts. Right from the age of 17 years old, I was really hands on.
“It was the engineering side that appealed to me most. I love looking at a set of regulations – especially in a one-make series. You are always trying to get an edge over someone else.
