Cleland vs Mansell at Donington: the legendary BTCC battle of 1998

It didn’t start well. Lemmer’s Vectra punted him off in the pre-weekend test on the Thursday, leaving WSR with early work to do to repair the Mondeo. And as Cleland remembers, he didn’t qualify well: only 19th for the feature race. But typically, Mansell dug deep: third on the grid for the sprint. Remarkable enough on its own.

Sunday dawned wet and full of jeopardy. Good news for WSR and its Mondeos, Hoy having already scored a first victory for the team that was new to touring cars back then, at a rainy Silverstone. But Cleland was rubbing his hands too. In the dry, his Vectra was struggling to live with the Volvos, Nissans and Renaults, but here in these conditions he had a chance.

First, a prelude and an opening salvo with Mansell. “The morning warm-up came” – again, a reminder how professional and high-tech the BTCC had become back then – “and Nigel was first out of the pitlane and I was second,” John remembers. “What a normal touring car driver does after he gets in the car is tap the brake pedal with your left foot to make sure the pedal has some pressure. I go out of the pitlane and there’s no lights on this Mondeo. I go down into Redgate and still no lights. I’m thinking he’s either stupid or brave, or the bulbs have all blown. We go down the Craner Curves and I go down the inside of him, close enough that it lost me my wing mirror and I took his off as well. My car in the wet was really good and we were quickest that morning. I get out and as I’m chatting to the engineers Nigel comes stomping into the garage: ‘what was all that about, what were you trying to do?’ I told him, ‘I was just welcoming you to touring car racing because this is how it’s going to be for the rest of the day.’”

And so it was, with Mansell at the heart of the drama. But he almost blew the gig in the sprint, bogging down at the start from his second-row grid slot and then crashing out at Coppice. It was touch and go whether WSR’s hard-pressed mechanics would be able to repair the car in time for the feature. Thankfully for the crowd, BTCC boss Alan Gow, the TV audience and anyone with the slightest interest in racing, Mansell made it. Nineteenth on the grid, against a field of hardened specialists. What on earth could he do from there?

“The race was long and we had pitstops,” said Cleland. “It was a fantastic race.”

It sure was. I was there, covering the support races, including Jenson Button racing Dan Wheldon in Formula Ford. On such duties I didn’t usually have time to catch the BTCC races, but as word filtered through what was happening out on track I rushed from the paddock to the media centre to watch what was playing out. Good decision. This was unmissable.

“I’m assuming I’m about to lap Mansell. They said, no, he’s leading the race”

The conditions were treacherous, going from a drying track to drizzle to heavy rain, and it caught out most of the aces at one point or another – including Cleland. Running third behind the dominant Nissans of Reid and Leslie, he took a trip through the gravel out of McLeans, but survived to race on. The same was not the case for the likes of Harvey, Menu, Hoy, Thompson, Kox, John Bintcliffe in his Audi and more… It was chaos out there.

Meanwhile, Mansell plugged away, and all these years later it’s still a mark of the man what he achieved that day. He was last on the opening lap, but played himself in as more experienced touring car heads found themselves caught out. When he engaged in a dice with Neal and Morbidelli, with Kox joining in the fun, he began to deliver exactly what Gow and the TV producers were hoping for. Breathless stuff – and for the most part clean, too.

Then came the pitstops and increasingly heavy rain, making it a clear choice of changing from slicks to wets (for everyone other than Warwick who gambled on dry tyres and was forced to pit again). The safety car was called upon in the midst of the pitstop window, costing the Nissan duo their big gap to Cleland and the rest. And through it all, WSR had somehow vaulted Mansell up to fourth! Now what?

The restart was terrific. Mansell went door to door with Leslie and Cleland, with Muller’s Audi getting in on the act, and now Red 55 was second – closing fast on Reid. Minutes earlier, Anthony had this race sewn up. But now, under pressure from Mansell, the Primera got away from him at McLeans and skated off into the kitty litter. ‘Our Nige’ was in the lead!

“I radioed my team and said I’m following Mansell, I’m assuming I’m about to lap him,” recalls a confused Cleland, who now found himself chasing the F1 champion. “They said, no, he’s leading the race because of the pitstops. Really? Where did he come from?

“So I’m fighting a guy who knows nothing about touring car racing for the win of the race and I’m thinking he’s definitely not going to finish this race, one way or another…”

Mansell did make the flag, but victory was too much, even for him on this day of high drama – and to the relief of the BTCC regulars. “Anthony Reid had fallen off, Tim Harvey had fallen off – ha, ha! – and Will Hoy had fallen off,” says Cleland with a twinkle in his eye. “All three of them were standing up at McLeans and every time I turned in I could see them standing there. I’m now catching Nigel and they were all urging me on: don’t let him win! It was my job to uphold touring car honours that day.

“Lap after lap I was watching Nigel and the track was drying,” says Cleland. “You would normally adjust the brake balance so there would be more on the front in the dry, a bit more on the back in the wet – and Nigel wasn’t adjusting it forward. And he just out-braked himself at the chicane, I nipped through and won the race.”

Mansell finished fourth on the road after Leslie got the better of him and old F1 mucker Warwick caught him on the finish line. Later, he was penalised for passing Muller at Redgate during the safety car, so fourth became fifth, but the result didn’t really matter. It had been an astonishing and frankly hilarious performance, with an electric atmosphere that was unforgettable for all of us who were lucky enough to witness it.

“He came into touring cars and he was leading that race,” says Cleland, giving due credit. “To be fair to him he must have huge bravery things down between his legs. He was very quick in a touring car, but the weather played a part. He was great after it, very complimentary to touring cars and to those who had just kept his tail.”

From Donington, the BTCC cameo turned a little sour. The chaos increased around Mansell at Brands Hatch, where he had a tantrum on the radio over a pitlane speeding penalty that was captured on his onboard camera – after which he lost his rag with BHP, the TV production company. And his appearance at Silverstone at season’s end was largely forgettable – to the point that I’d forgotten he even raced there. But he – and we – will always have Donington.

“I don’t think you are ever going to entice Lewis Hamilton or Lando Norris into a touring car to do a one-off race, that just doesn’t happen any longer,” points out Cleland. “Fair play to Nigel. I have no idea how much they paid him, I’m sure it was a lot of money. But he didn’t make a fool of himself.

“At the time it was supposed to be the best touring car race that had ever been shown, it was fantastic. We had so many big names. And it was great for me. The Vectra was never the best car at that time, the Nissan, Renault and Volvo always had a bit of an edge on us. So to beat them all that day, and beat Mansell, was pretty special.”