Andy Rouse

Andrew Ernest Rouse (born 2 December 1947) is a British racing driver, most notably in the British Saloon Car Championship. He won the BSCC in 1975, 1983, 1984 and 1985.

Rouse is one of the most successful drivers ever to appear in the BSCC. His 60 overall wins in the category was the highest total by any driver for many years, until being overhauled by Jason Plato at Brands Hatch in the opening round of the 2011 season.

Early career

Rouse was born in Dymock, Gloucestershire. Coming from an engineering background, he was originally an apprentice with an agricultural engineering company. He had been interested in motor sport from an early age and had run self-built autograss specials in his teens and then Formula Ford. In 1971, he funded his racing activities by working for Broadspeed, the race car engineering company set-up by Brummie Ralph Broad. Rouse's combined engineering and driving talent soon became apparent to Broad, who then encouraged his motorsport career by providing him with assistance to race in other championships.

Rouse's first step into saloon car racing came in 1972, when he entered the Ford Escort Mexico series. He won this one-make championship in his first year, and soon stepped up into the British Saloon Car Championship. Over the following years, Rouse was successful in a number of Broadspeed entered cars (including Ford Escorts, Triumph Dolomite Sprints and Ford Capris) winning his class in 1973, 1974 and taking the title in 1975.

In 1976, Broadspeed ran the works Jaguar XJ12C cars, for which Rouse was both driver and race development engineer. Great results were expected from these powerful cars but unfortunately British Leyland stopped the program the following season following a string of poor results. With no works deal for 1978, Ralph Broad sold his stake in the company and Broadspeed soon went into liquidation. Rouse drove alongside Gordon Spice in 1979 and 80, getting good results in the works Ford Capri team.

Andy Rouse Engineering

In 1981, Rouse set up his own engineering company, Andy Rouse Engineering, taking many of the ex-Broadspeed employees with him. His success on the track continued with Championship wins in 1983 and 1984. His 1983 win came about after Steve Soper, driving a works Austin Rover prepared by the TWR team had his championship win disqualified. Rouse took over the Alfa Romeo GTV6 entered by Pete Hall's Industrial Control Services (ICS) plc company, won his class and latterly the championship, and also founded the long running sponsorship deal between himself and ICS. He also won the Willhire 24 Hour in 1981 and 1983. After competing in a Rover Vitesse in 1984 and winning the title against the factory Rover team, Ford gave him the 'works' contract to build and drive their next generation touring car, the Sierra Cosworth, which was to dominate the BTCC until the end of the decade. Rouse won the championship again in 1985 driving a Sierra XR4Ti, but this was to be his last overall title. For 1987, Ford homologated the Sierra RS500, and ARE set about transforming it into a BTCC machine. The result was one of the most famous touring cars of all time. Rouse never won the title outright in an RS500, although he won Class A again in 1988 and 1989. He was third overall in 1988, 1989 and 1990. Rouse driving for Ford at Brands Hatch during the 1994 British Touring Car Championship season. As a prelude to the new 2.0 litre formula for 1991, Rouse built a 2.0 Sierra Sapphire run under the Hawaiian Tropic banner, driven first by Ray Bellm and then Chris Hodgetts. The car was not very successful, but it did give useful experience for the super touring era to come. For 1991, ARE picked up the works contract to run the Toyota team. The car was a success, challenging for the 1991 title. In 1992 Rouse was joined by Will Hoy, again running the Toyota Carina, before setting up the works Ford Mondeo team for 1993, hiring Paul Radisich to drive alongside himself. The Mondeo was the class of the field in the second half of the 1993 season, but had to give best in 1994 to Alfa Romeo. He retired from driving at the end of 1994, hiring Kelvin Burt as Paul's teammate for 1995. That year was frustrating, and Ford gave the works contract to West Surrey Racing for the following season. Rouse instead ran a semi-works Nissan team in 1996, running Gary Ayles and Owen McAuley with limited success. Rouse later built a Super Touring specification Toyota Corolla which failed to find a racing team.

Since the demise of his touring car teams, Rouse spent several years trying to promote a rival series to the BTCC; his proposed "Supercar V8" was based on a spaceframe chassis, normally aspirated V8 engine, and bodywork modelled on medium to large saloon cars. This series has not yet materialised.

Rouse has since wound down Andy Rouse Engineering and retired from motor racing. He now runs a commercial real estate business and restores Cadillac vehicles.

Rouse's son Julian is a director of the Arden International racing team.

In 2003, Andy and Julian won the 2003 Britcar season in a Mercedes 190 DTM. Julian continued to race in Britcar and even competed in the 24 Hours of Silverstone a few times.

In 2005, a poll by readers of Motorsport Magazine voted Rouse the third greatest touring car driver ever.

Racing record

Complete British Saloon / Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1973–1990 in class) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded ?–1989 in class)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Pts Class 1973 Team Esso Uniflo Ford Escort RS 1600 BRHovr:3cls:2 SILovr:2cls:1 THRRet THRovr:7cls:2 SILovr:5cls:2 INGovr:?cls:? BRHovr:2†cls:1† BRHovr:2cls:1 4th 45 1st Broadspeed & Ford of Britain / Belgium Ford Capri RS 2600 SILRet NC 1974 Team Broadspeed Castrol Triumph Dolomite Sprint MALovr:1†cls:1† BRHovr:13cls:3 SILovr:8cls:1 OULovr:6cls:1 THRovr:4cls:1 DSQ THRovr:3cls:1 BRHovr:4cls:1 INGovr:3†cls:3† BRHovr:3†cls:3† OULRet SNEovr:1†cls:1† BRHovr:?cls:? 2nd 67 1st 1975 Triumph Team Piranha Triumph Dolomite Sprint MALovr:1†cls:1† BRHovr:3cls:1 OULovr:1†cls:1† THRovr:2cls:1 SILovr:6cls:1 BRHovr:2†cls:2† THRovr:4cls:1 SILovr:1†cls:1† MALovr:1†cls:1† SNERet SILovr:3cls:1 INGovr:2†cls:1† BRHovr:1†cls:1† OULovr:3cls:2 BRHovr:4cls:1 1st 78 1st 1976 Broadspeed/British Leyland Triumph Dolomite Sprint BRHovr:9cls:5 SILRet OULovr:5†cls:1† THRRet THRovr:2cls:1 SILovr:4cls:2 BRHRet MALovr:7†cls:2† SNEovr:2†cls:1† BRHovr:3cls:2 7th 47 2nd 1978 BMW (GB) BMW 520i SILRet OULovr:8†cls:7† THRovr:?cls:? BRHRet† SIL DON MAL NC 0 NC Carrier Properties Ltd. Ford Capri III 3.0s BRHRet DONovr:5†cls:5† BRHovr:?cls:? THRovr:4cls:4 OULovr:2†cls:3† 1979 Browne & Day Ford Capri III 3.0s SIL OUL THR SIL DON SILRet MAL DON BRH THR SNE OUL NC 0 NC 1980 Gordon Spice Racing Ford Capri III 3.0s MALovr:1†cls:1† OULovr:2†cls:2† THRovr:6cls:5 SILovr:1cls:1 SILovr:1cls:1 BRHovr:4cls:4 MALovr:2†cls:2† BRHovr:2cls:2 THRovr:2cls:2 SILovr:2cls:2 4th 64 2nd 1981 CSH Racing with Esso Ford Capri III 3.0s MALovr:1†cls:1† SILovr:1cls:1 OULovr:3†cls:2† THRovr:3cls:3 BRHRet† SILovr:3cls:3 SILovr:3cls:3 DONovr:3†cls:2† BRHovr:5cls:4 THRovr:5cls:4 SILRet 8th 49 3rd 1982 Gordon Spice Racing Ford Capri III 3.0s SILovr:2cls:2 MALovr:4†cls:4† OULovr:3†cls:3† THRovr:3cls:3 THRovr:2cls:2 SILovr:3cls:3 DONovr:3cls:3 BRHRet DONovr:2cls:2 BRHRet SILovr:3cls:3 9th 41 3rd 1983 Industrial Control Services Ltd. Alfa Romeo GTV6 SIL OUL THR BRHovr:3cls:1 THRovr:4cls:1 SILovr:5cls:1 DONovr:4cls:1 SILRet DONovr:7cls:2 BRHovr:8cls:1 SILovr:7cls:1 1st 61 1st 1984 Industrial Control Services Ltd. Rover Vitesse DONovr:1cls:1 SILRet OULovr:2cls:2 THRovr:1cls:1 THRovr:2cls:2 SILovr:1cls:1 SNEovr:1cls:1 BRHovr:1cls:1 BRHovr:2cls:2 DONovr:1cls:1 SILovr:1cls:1 1st 81 1st 1985 Industrial Control Services Ltd. Ford Sierra XR4Ti SIL OULovr:1cls:1 THRRet DONovr:1cls:1 THRovr:1cls:1 SILovr:1cls:1 DONovr:1cls:1 SILovr:1cls:1 SNEovr:1cls:1 BRHovr:2cls:2 BRHovr:1cls:1 SILovr:1cls:1 1st 86 1st 1986 Industrial Control Services Ltd. Ford Sierra XR4Ti SILovr:1cls:1 THRovr:2cls:2 SILovr:1cls:1 DONovr:1cls:1 BRHRet SNERet BRHovr:1cls:1 DONovr:1cls:1 SILRet 3rd 57 1st 1987 ICS plc Ford Sierra RS Cosworth SILovr:1cls:1 OUL THR THRovr:1cls:1 SILRet SIL BRHovr:3cls:3 SNE DON 8th 35 3rd Ford Sierra RS500 OULRet‡ DONovr:1cls:1 SIL 1988 Kaliber Racing Ford Sierra RS500 SILovr:16cls:6 OULovr:1cls:1 THRovr:2cls:2 DONovr:1cls:1 THRovr:1cls:1 SILovr:1cls:1 SILovr:1cls:1 BRHovr:1cls:1 SNEovr:1cls:1 BRHovr:1cls:1 BIRC DONovr:1cls:1 SILovr:10cls:7 3rd 95 1st 1989 Kaliber Racing Ford Sierra RS500 OULRet SILovr:1cls:1 THRRet DONRet THRovr:1cls:1 SILovr:3cls:3 SILovr:1cls:1 BRHovr:2cls:2 SNEovr:2cls:2 BRHovr:1cls:1 BIRovr:1cls:1 DONovr:3cls:3 SILovr:1cls:1 3rd 78 1st 1990 ICS plc Ford Sierra RS500 OULovr:1cls:1 DONovr:1cls:1 THRovr:10cls:7 SILovr:3cls:3 OULovr:2cls:2 SILovr:2cls:2 BRHRet SNEovr:16cls:6 BRHovr:2cls:2 BIRovr:1cls:1 DONovr:2cls:2 THRovr:1cls:1 SILovr:2cls:2 3rd 173 2nd 1991 Kaliber ICS Team Toyota Toyota Carina SIL5 SNE3 DON9 THR8 SIL4 BRH3 SIL7 DON11 DON21 OUL4 BRH11 BRH2Ret DONRet THR4 SIL2 3rd 115 1992 Team Securicor ICS Toyota Toyota Carina SIL2 THR2 OUL1 SNE4 BRHRet DON13 DON2Ret SILRet KNO13 KNO24 PEM13 BRH13 BRH24 DON6 SIL1 5th 128 1993 Team Mondeo Ford Mondeo Si SIL DON SNE DON OUL BRH1 BRH2 PEMRet SILRet KNO116 KNO210 OULRet BRH6 THR3 DSQ DON24 SIL2 11th 41 1994 Team Mondeo Ford Mondeo Ghia THR21 BRH14 BRH23 SNEDNS SIL14 SIL219 OULRet DON14 DON26 BRH16 BRH25 SILRet KNO111 KNO215 OULRet BRH111 BRH2DNS SIL113 SIL28 DON120 DON210 11th 66 – Race was stopped due to heavy rain. No points were awarded.

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

‡ Endurance driver.

Complete 24 Hours of Spa results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1974 Team Butch Broadspeed Tony Dron Triumph Dolomite Sprint Div.3 280 5th 3rd 1980 Belga Castrol Team Thierry Tassin Ford Capri III 3.0 serT+2.5 415 7th 6th 1987 Andy Rouse Engineering Win Percy Thierry Tassin Ford Sierra RS Cosworth Div.3 252/rim failure DNF DNF

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1980 Porsche System Tony Dron Eberhard Draun (DNS) Porsche 924 Carrera GT GTP 311 5th 3rd 1981 Porsche System Manfred Schurti Siegfried Brunn (DNS) Porsche 924 Carrera GT IMSA GTO 316 11th 1st 1982 Porsche System Richard Lloyd Porsche 924 Carrera GT IMSA GTO 77/gearbox DNF DNF

Complete World Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Pts 1987 Andy Rouse Engineering Ford Sierra RS Cosworth MNZRet JARovr:14cls:3 DIJovr:5cls:3 NURovr:8cls:2 SPARet 25th 58 Ford Sierra RS500 BNORet SILRet FJIovr:2cls:2 Allan Moffat Enterprises BATRet CLDRet WEL

Complete Bathurst 1000 results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1987 Allan Moffat Enterprises Thierry Tassin Allan Moffat Ford Sierra RS500 1 31 DNF DNF 1989 Mobil 1 Racing Peter Brock Ford Sierra RS500 A 81 DNF DNF 1990 Mobil 1 Racing Peter Brock Ford Sierra RS500 1 160 4th 4th