For me personally this was not just big because Matt won as an independent. It was THE race that got me into motorsport, the first I can distinctly remember from my childhood
Me too I’m 29 and I was actually there in person watching the race with my parents I was so excited he won and I met him too a few months afterwards In 1999 I was only 6 though lol but I remember everything almost
There's an article on the Autosport website where they interview Matt and he said one of the reasons was that the Volvo drive was one of the lowest paid factory drives plus his difficulties in testing against Rickard Rydell in pre season
Not true. There was an instance in the 90s (Tim Harvey wrote about it in Evo) where Dynamics were lent one of the works Primeras near the end of the season so that Matt could get in the way of the other championship contenders. To save money on paint, Dynamics decided to fit the doors off the independent Primera onto the works one, however they wouldn’t fit- the factory car’s roofline was an inch lower. Combined with independents not being allowed to have the same tyres or running gear, there was a massive difference between works cars and independent cars
