'If you don't have great racing, you don't have anything'

The British Touring Car Championship has evolved into the world's greatest domestic motor racing series. Steve Cropley meets the man who keeps it on track

Alan Gow, boss of the hugely successful Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for all but three of the past 34 seasons, is the personification of a decisive leader. He spends most of his time making clear, quick decisions aimed at improving what is widely acknowledged to be the world's best car competition of its kind. For decades, his authority has been every bit as great as Bernie Ecclestone's was in his Formula 1 heyday.

Not that there are many other similarities between Gow and Ecclestone. Bernie was small, enigmatic and scary; Gow is tall and laconic, an Australian immigrant who arrived from a successful Melbourne-based motorsport career in 1990. He thrives on wisecracks and colourful language, and for all his word-is-law authority, he is a remarkably modest man.

"People think all the big decisions come from me," he says. "But they actually come from me listening. I don't have a sole franchise on good ideas, so I surround myself with people with interesting opinions, some a lot smarter than I am. So you listen, you sort wheat from chaff, and usually you find the truth somewhere in the middle. I'm a magpie. I'll pinch anyone's good idea if I think it will improve the BTCC."

Typically, Gow has a suite of new ideas every year, and it's the same for 2024. They are designed to sharpen the competition and the spectacle. "If you don't have great racing," he says, "you don't have anything." This year will be the third for the hybrid powertrains, a world-first he cooked up during lockdown with the help of Cosworth. After one season to find the bugs and a second to iron them out, he's convinced 2024 will be a great year for hybrids, making the prospect of one driver scoring runaway championship wins (already tough) almost impossible.