Alan James Gow (born 23 June 1955) is the chief executive of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC)[1] and president of the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) Touring Car Commission.[2] He was born in Melbourne, Australia, and lives in Surrey, England.
A lifelong entrant and competitor in Australian motorsport, Gow had business interests in Melbourne based car dealerships and commercial property developments.[3] From there, he became involved in the Holden Dealer Team owned by Peter Brock and would become a partner/managing director/team principal, whilst also helping to found TEGA – the Australian Touring Car Entrants Group – who are the administrators of, and own the rights to, the V8 Supercar Championship.
He emigrated to England at the end of 1990 and formed TOCA that purchased the rights to the BTCC in 1991[4] and proceeded to turn the championship into the largest of its type in the world, and one of the most widely watched motorsport series around the globe.
Gow was also a partner in TOCA Australia – which ran the now defunct Australian Super Touring Championship during the 1990s – as well as in the North American Touring Car Championship, which ran for two years. Both series used regulations similar to those found in the BTCC during the same period.
In 2000, TOCA was sold to the American company Octagon Motorsport (part of the Nasdaq listed Interpublic group) and Gow took a "sabbatical" from managing the BTCC.[5] He retained and licensed the use of the TOCA name for interactive video gaming, and the TOCA Touring Car series became one of the biggest-selling, and most popular, games of its type in the world.
In 2003 Octagon relinquished their ownership of TOCA and the BTCC. A new company (BARC TOCA Ltd) was formed to take over management of the championship and Gow was appointed as chief executive;[6] returning to take charge and rebuild the championship after it had floundered under the previous management.
The series soon saw an upturn in fortunes, with the following season being one Gow felt was the 'best for many years'[7] and has gone from strength to strength ever since.
Under Gow's continued leadership, the BTCC has established itself as largest and highest-profile motor-racing championship in the UK, attracting large spectator numbers and huge television audiences; the latter thanks to a long-standing partnership with ITV[8] that means the series remains on free-to-air TV at a time when many other forms of motorsport are now on subscription channels. It has re-established its status as one of the most popular and highly regarded motorsport championships within the world as a result.
Gow has held a number of other positions alongside his role at the head of the BTCC, both within the UK and overseas. In 2006, he was appointed as the chairman of the board of the governing body of UK motorsport, the MSA (now known as Motorsport UK) – a position he would hold for three terms before retiring from the role at the end of 2017.[9] Gow was also chairman of International Motorsports Ltd – organisers of the British Grand Prix and Wales Rally GB during the same period, and was a board director of the Royal Automobile Club from 2010 through to 2016.
As well as his role with the FIA's Touring Car Commission, which overseas FIA-sanctioned competition at both regional and international level across the globe, Gow has been a board director and trustee of the FIA Foundation since 2012,[10] with the foundation working on many innovative and substantial injury prevention programmes and pilot projects throughout the world.
In 2016, at the House of Lords, Gow received the prestigious Motorsport Industry Association 'Outstanding Contribution to the Motorsport Industry' award[11] in recognition of the work carried out during his career.
Despite his move to the UK, Gow was the long-time manager of Australian racing driver James Courtney[12] – with the relationship between the pair going back to the late 1990s when Courtney was racing in the British Formula Ford Championship.[13]
Gow holds an FIA race licence and has contested various races through the years, racing everything from BMWs and Mini Coopers to Citroen 2CVs and C1s – the latter in an outing alongside multiple World Touring Car Championship-winning driver Andy Priaulx in a 24-hour race at Rockingham in 2018.[14] Gow also had the chance to get behind the wheel of a BTCC car himself in 2018 when he drove an Alfa Romeo at Snetterton as part of a magazine feature.[15]
Gow has held a pilot's licence since 1979 and also competed in competition water-skiing at International level during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Racing record
editBritcar 24 Hour results
edit| Year | Team | Co-drivers | Car | Car No. | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class pos. |
Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 |  Duke Video
|
Peter Duke Adrian Watt Chris Wilson
|
BMW M3 E36 GTR | 47 | 1 | 156 | DNF | DNF | [16] |
References
edit- ^ "BTCC.NET CATCHES UP WITH ALAN GOW". British Touring Car Championship. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "GETTING WTCR BACK ON TRACK – Q&A WITH ALAN GOW". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "LUNCH WITH ALAN GOW". Motor Sport. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
I did do some racing, but only when I could afford it – so not that often. Later on, when I could have afforded it, I didn't have time because I was busy with business. Racing was purely a bit of fun, but I never envisaged myself as a driver. I'd done really well as a salesman, then became a dealership manager and later a partner in a car retail business. It was during this time that I got involved with other aspects of racing.
- ^ "LUNCH WITH ALAN GOW". Motor Sport. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
We could see that the BTCC wasn't really getting anywhere, so Andy [Rouse] said, 'Alan knows all about this stuff' – I'd been one of the co-founders of TEGA, the entrants' association in Australia – so he suggested we tried to do something like that. That's how TOCA came into being. Everyone else involved was a competitor – Andy, David Richards, Dave Cook who ran the Vauxhalls – so the deal was that I would run it… and it began to take over my life.
- ^ "BTCC HISTORY: 2001-PRESENT". BTCC.net. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "GOW RETURNS TO HELP RUN THE BTCC". CRASH.net. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "GOW: 2004 BTCC SEASON 'BEST FOR MANY YEARS'". CRASH.net. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "ITV EXTENDS BTCC CONTRACT UNTIL 2026". ITV.com. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "ALAN GOW TO STAND DOWN FROM MSA ROLE". motorsport.com. Archived from the original on 7 October 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "GOVERNANCE". FIA FOUNDATION. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "ALAN GOW RECOGNISED FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE MOTORSPORT INDUSTRY". BTCC.net. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "HOW COURTNEY ALMOST DEBUTED WITH BROCK". Supercars. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ Alan Gow bites back Auto Action
- ^ "GOW TO MAKE COMEBACK IN CITROEN C1". Autosport. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "BTCC BOSS ALAN GOW DRIVES HMS RACING ALFA AFTER ROB AUSTIN OFFER". Autosport. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "Britcar 24 Hours – Provisional Result". DailySportsCar. 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2023.