AUSTRALIAN TOURING CAR folk hero Dick Johnson is a legend of the sport – but his status extends beyond Aussie shores, the Queenslander serving as something of an inspiration to one of the top British Touring Car Championship teams as well.  

WORDS: Richard Craill IMAGES: Motorbase Performance

WHEN TOP British Touring Car Championship squad Motorbase Performance rolled out their new for 2020 Ford Focus ST racers this year, their choice of a bright red livery was down to more than just standing out from the pack.

It turns out their red roots are a nod to Aussie legend Dick Johnson, who enjoys fame as a Ford hero that goes well beyond Aussie shores.

Motorbase boss David Bartrum, who founded the team in 2004 but also raced extensively beforehand, is an avid fan of Johnson and admits that the famous Shell Sierras were an inspiration to his own racing liveries.

Bartrum, speaking in a new video (produced by former Speedcafe editor and now freelance media guru, Tom Howard), is an acknowledged Johnson fan and recently took delivery of his copy of the new book documenting the cars produced by DJR and DJR Team Penske released by our mates at the V8 Sleuth.

“There was a man in Australia who had the most beautiful and attractive Sierras I’d ever seen,” Bartrum said.

| Read our yarn ‘Dick Johnson: Copping a pineapple to the back of your head’ by clicking here!

“Red is my colour that has lived with me all this time. It was Dick Johnson flying around in his RS500 Sierra and John Bowe and so on, and those cars for me were the holy grail of Sierra and always will be.

VIDEO: Motorbase’s Aussie Influence

“The gold wheels, the red paint, the Shell stickers, and I had a garage in those days and I was a Shell agent so I was able to carry the Shell stickers.”

DJR was renowned for producing the ‘Worlds fastest Sierras’, proving the fact when they took a car to compete in the Silverstone Tourist Trophy in 1988, qualified on pole and were crushing the field before a failed water pump sidelined their effort.

The first nod towards Bartum’s fondness for Johnson’s racing was seen in a pair of Group N-specification Ford Sierras, often raced on the undercard of BTCC events just prior to the famous Super Touring era.

“Back in the day, 30 years ago, I had two Sierras we raced in Group N as a team,” he explained.  

| Read our story of Dick Johnson talking about ‘putting your foot in a bowl of custard’ by clicking here..

“They were red with Gold Wheels and carried Shell logos, legitimately I might add, and that was my little version of Mr Johnson.

“Going right back to my day of my old Sierras, the Red has played an influence right through really.”

Motorbase Performance joined the BTCC in 2006, first using a selection of S2000 specification customer cars before building their own Ford-based machinery when the Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) regulations in 2011.

The team’s red theme has continued for the 2020 season with three brand-new Ford Focus racers set to debut when the BTCC, delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic like so much other motorsport, resumes racing later this year.

“When we built our own built British Touring car Ford Focus at Motorbase, I chose to do them Red,” Bartum explained.

“We were in Red with the S2000 car, but the first NGTC car was in Red. We then went to Blue when Sponsors came along, with Airwaves, but we’ve built this year our new Focus, the ST, for 2020 and I had the opportunity to pick the colour again, so I’ve gone straight back to Red again.

“It’s all very much in my brain, it can’t go away, and Mr Johnson and DJR have done that to me, I think! Dicky was the man.

“The Red Sierras in Australia were the car.

“It’s a bit of hero worship.”

Check out the video going behind the scenes of Motorbase’s cool new-for-2020 BTCC racer below!

Ride onboard with Motorbase’s Rory Butcher during a recent BTCC test at Donington Park.