Supporters Equipe

Anthony’s commitment and pace in a wide variety racecars has seen him build up a loyal and enthusiastic following. Perhaps the most devoted of these fans are the members of the Anthony Reid Supports Equipe (you can work out the acronym yourselves), and one founder member describes how it all started:

“Steve and Matt were coppers in London and used to hide for hours in the police stables talking about motorsport. Then one day in 1989 Matt decided he'd had enough of the Old Bill and got himself a job as Marketing Manager with the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School (the original and the best) at Donington Park.

“It wasn't long before Steve was up at Donington with a couple of future members doing the half day "drive a racing car" deal. This was when we first clapped eyes on a fresh faced and hirsute Anthony Reid. Steve's enthusiasm for the school emboldened a much loved and now departed friend Richard Gardner to take part in the full weeks course. He and Anthony hit it off big time and the rest of us were reintroduced.

“Soon we were all standing in a pub in Oxford and Anthony told us that he had just landed a drive at Le Mans in four weeks time. We were becoming Le Mans veterans by then so helped him with circuit maps, in-car video footage and a promise to come and see him during the race.

“It was during the intervening four weeks that we created the Anthony Reid Supporters Equipe and Steve painstakingly drew the first four T-shirts - there was no computer printing back then. We turned up in the paddock and met Anthony and the rest of the Alpha team. They were all delighted to have a fan base, even if it was only four overgrown kids!

“There then followed the only race where we watched it ALL. The Alpha team had brought long tails for their Porsche - everyone else had short tails and on the day the long tail had it.

“Their progress from 20th spot on the grid was steady, and as a means of endearing him self to his team, Anthony went on the record the cars fastest lap during the race! With 45 minutes to go Anthony handed the car to Tiff [Needell] in a fairly comfortable 4th place, one lap down.

“Incredibly, with just 15 minutes to go, the Brun Porsche driven by Jesus Pareja coasted to a stop at the end of the Mulsanne Straight and the Alpha team were on the podium! Everyone was ecstatic, feeling like the real winners because everyone expected the Jaguars to come in first and second. What a weekend!

“Our friendship with Anthony was sealed we went en-masse to Jim Russell for the full weeks driving course. We didn't do very well, but that could have been the daily hangovers…

“Since those heady days of 1990 we've kept in touch and followed his career around the world which has culminated in success in the BTCC in recent years. By this time we were in a position to get some proper shirts made up (we got Anthony to pay for them - no mean feat, as the Queen blinks when he opens his wallet!) and the Anthony Reid Supporters Equipe grew. “