Name Alan Gow | ||
Alan James Gow (born 23 June 1955) is the Series Director and Administrator of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), Chairman of Motor Sports Association (MSA) and President of the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) Touring Car Commission. He was born in Melbourne, Australia and lives in Surrey, England.
A lifelong entrant and competitor in Australian motorsport, who had business interests in Melbourne-based car dealerships and commercial property developments. Also a Partner/Managing Director/Team Principal of Peter Brock's famous Australian racing team, Gow was one of the founders of TEGA – the Australian Touring Car Entrants Group who are the administrators of, and own the rights to, the V8 Supercar Championship. He emigrated to the UK in 1990 and formed TOCA Limited. TOCA then purchased the rights to the BTCC in 1991 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.
In 2000 Gow sold TOCA to American company Octagon Motorsport (part of the US NASDAQ listed Interpublic group) and took a "sabbatical" from managing both TOCA and the BTCC. He retained and licensed the use of the TOCA name for interactive video gaming, thus the TOCA Touring Car series has firmly established itself as one of the biggest selling and most popular games of its type in the world.
In 2003 Octagon relinquished their ownership of TOCA and their control of the BTCC. A new company (BARC TOCA Ltd) was formed to take over and manage the championship. Gow was appointed Managing Director of the new company and returned to once again take charge and rebuild the championship, after it had floundered under the control of the previous management.
In January 2006 he was appointed Chairman of the MSA, the governing body of UK motorsport. In December 2010 he was appointed President of the FIA Touring Car Commission, which oversees touring car racing on a global basis for the worldwide governing body of motorsport. He is also the Chairman of International Motorsports Ltd (IMS), the organisers of the British Grand Prix and Wales Rally GB (a round of the World Rally Championship), a Trustee of both the FIA Foundation and the FIA Institute, a committee member of the Motorsport Industry Association, the manager of champion Australian racing driver James Courtney and has other varied business investments.