Britain’s best in the spotlight
The BTCC has reason to cheer
Six decades is a long time for any championship to exist, and the British Touring Car Championship is the longest running tin-top series in the United Kingdom.
There are a number of reasons for this, and its success shows no signs of slowing down, either. The championship was repackaged in the 1990s to become an all-action, made-for-tv contest and the manufacturers and fans responded in their droves.
But it isn’t only the modern iteration of the championship that has created stars and star cars.
Through the 1960s and 1970s, the multi-class battles that raged throughout the country gave manufacturers a chance to win on Sunday, and sell on Monday. That led firms to take tin-top attacks seriously, and that is why several F1 drivers co-opted into taking part in the then-named British Saloon Car Championship. Jim Clark is perhaps the BSCC’S highest profile champion in the Ford Lotus Cortina, and he contested the season as the reigning F1 title holder.
The championship moved into an era when the big banger American cars dominated, only to be sidelined by rules. Then it was a benefit for Ford’s Capri, the mighty Rover and, after that, the spectacular Ford Sierra Cosworths and RS500S in the late 1980s. However, the smaller class-based cars were able to compete on an equal footing due to the points structure, which could be frustrating for the men battling hard at the front.
That was the point where the revolution started, and the track-side attendance and the TV figures justify the changes to the category. While many motorsport series are based on the needs and wants of the competitors and teams, the BTCC has put the fans at the heart of the action.
Critics say that the reversed grid events and the levy of success ballast applied to the most successful cars mean that the competition isn’t ‘pure’. But you just have to look at how seriously the modern day battlers take success in the BTCC. It is a serious championship and it means a hell of a lot, and it will continue to do so for years to come.