Date Of Birth: Lives: Nationality: Seasons in BTCC: Championship Wins: Synopsis:

2nd December, 1947 (Dymock, Gloucestershire) Coventry, England English 1977 - 1995 as driver, continued as team manager till 1996 1977, 1983, 1984, 1985 A talented driver and engineer and one of the brains behind the SuperTouring regulations. His record for the most overall race wins is expected to stand for a long time.

Driver History

Andy Rouse is THE most successful driver in the BTCC and he holds the record for most overall race wins by any driver its history, 60 in total. He is a proficient racecar engineer and team manager, often building the cars and managing the teams he has driven for. He is also a multiple champion as a driver, with 4 BTCC titles to his name, three of which were won in consecutive seasons.

Coming from an engineering background, Rouse 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 auto cross 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 Brummie Ralph Broad. Rouses 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.

His 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.

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. Ford then 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, but this was to be his last overall title.