INTERVIEW: DAMIEN SMITH
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.
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
