His 60 overall wins in the category was the highest total by any driver for many years, until being overhauled by Jason Plato at Brands Hatch in the opening round of the 2011 season.

He had been interested in motor sport from an early age and had run self-built autograss specials in his teens and then Formula Ford.

Rouse's combined engineering and driving talent soon became apparent to Broad, who then encouraged his motorsport career by providing him with assistance to race in other championships.

[citation needed] His first step into saloon car racing came in 1972, when he entered the Ford Escort Mexico series.

[8] As a prelude to the new 2.0 litre formula for 1991, Rouse built a 2.0 Sierra Sapphire run under the Hawaiian Tropic banner, driven first by Ray Bellm and then Chris Hodgetts.

In 1992 Rouse was joined by Will Hoy, again running the Toyota Carina, before setting up the works Ford Mondeo team for 1993, hiring Paul Radisich to drive alongside himself.

Rouse instead ran a semi-works Nissan team in 1996, running Gary Ayles and Owen McAuley with limited success.

Rouse later built a Super Touring specification Toyota Corolla which failed to find a racing team.

[citation needed] In 2005, a poll by readers of Motorsport Magazine voted Rouse the third greatest touring car driver ever.