Favorite Coach Race Drivers: Rickard Rydell Car News

The brief was simple. An email to all journalists on Autocar: choose your favorite racing driver of all time.

What we weren’t expecting was a whole repertoire of answers that came back. Covering most eras and a wide spectrum of sport – from Formula 1 to club racing – it shows how diverse motorsport and its followers are. For once, there are no wrong answers: it has led to a lot of discussion and quite a bit of disbelief, but in the end, it’s all about personal choice.

Do you agree with us? Would you like to choose someone different? Let us know in the comments below.

Rickard rydell

Everyone loved the Super Touring era of BTCC in the 1990s, including your correspondent heading to watch the races live for the first time.

When it’s your first racing experience, you don’t really appreciate how good you have it, and the BTCC in the 90s really had it. The brilliance of this era has been told over and over again.

Although this is the most remembered race of the time, the drivers were mostly superstars in their own right. There were several F1 drivers on the grid – even a former champion when Nigel Mansell made his frequent guest appearances – and they were backed by some of the best drivers in sports and touring cars.

I don’t know why I was so drawn to supporting Rickard Rydell and the Volvos at the time. This is probably the novelty of the station wagon, followed then by the fact that I loved the livery as the 850 station wagon gave way to the sedan. Also, maybe when I first watched in the mid-90s, Rydell was in the mix rather than the dominant force, and I was never a fame-lover.

So when Rydell and Volvo came out well and made it to the title in 1998, I had makeup on. Like many Scandinavians, Rydell’s calm and unpretentious manner belied prodigious skill behind the wheel.

It always seemed to win sharply (or maybe was it just my biased point of view?) In a series where everyone was using their rivals’ rear bumpers as an extension of the brake pedal. Rydell even had the infamous ‘Swedish Shuffle’ he was known for at Thruxton’s first chicane, Campbell, lining up his rival on the outside on the path to take the inside seat on the exit.

During that 1998 season, there was a momentous moment for Rydell, where Nissan’s main title rival Antony Reid made his way to Druids at Brands Hatch and claimed victory. Rydell was not happy and, in the closed park, opened his rival’s door and put his hand on Reid’s neck.