Ever wondered what it would be like to just strip out that family car and put round a track imagining your a winning race driver?
That’s the British Touring Car Championship. This series gives that opportunity for people to drive those stripped out road cars and pit them against each other in a no holds barred championship.
So what makes the BTCC so good?
Since the 1958 when it was first named the British Saloon Car Championship (BSCC) the idea of the series was to pit your average road going car, strip it out and pit it against your fellow competitor.
Some of the first cars used in the championship were the Austin A105 in which Jack Sears took the inaugural title. As well as the Austin Mini Cooper and Ford Cortina.
In the 1960s and 1970s even some American cars broke into the scene with the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camero amd Chrysler Avenger. As the series gained more notirity around the world even Mazdas, Toyotas and Alfa Romeos came in the series. Volvo even brought the first estate car to the field in the 1990s, showing ever more that the championship was always still keeping the average roadcar at the core of the series.
The series has gone through many changes over the years as do many racing series, but one goal has always been clear and that is parity between teams to keep everything on a fair playing field.
In the 1990s the popularity of the British touring car series had exploded, rivalries such as Cleland and Soper, Menu and Thompson, Rydell and Biela and most notable in recent years, Plato and Neal.
Every year, every meeting and every race you can be sure you’ll get close entertaining racing that’ll make you wish you could just strip that family saloon of your own and race it.
Even when cost cutting measures were introduced after the Super2000 era in which team budgets went skyrocketing, close racing was always prevalent and part of the series foundations.
Today’s BTCC aims to keep costs low, technogical development measured but not restricted and close to the fan’s hearts. We still get close and no holds barred racing between some of world’s best tin top racers.
A lesson that Formula One needs to learn from perhaps?
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