“The BMW M3 grabbed the airtime on the BBC’S touring car coverage”

Touring car racing, certainly when I was introduced to it in the 1970s and 1980s, was a curious thing. The bewildering class structure meant that the machines at the front of the grid were battling it out for individual race wins but they were regularly put in the shade in terms of overall titles by minnows from the smaller classes.

I have got nothing against a Toyota Corolla, a Mazda RX-7, a Mini or a Chrysler Avenger

(which you can’t help calling a Hillman), but they weren’t the heavy metal of the contest. They were fighting for the crumbs on the Tarmac but ended up with the three-course meal at the end of the season.

Indeed, from Frank Gardner’s Chevrolet Camaro victory in 1973 through to Andy Rouse’s win in a Rover Vitesse in 1984, the championship had not been won by the top class. And the topclass drivers were, of course, the ones who the paying public had seen fighting it out at the front of the field. It was all rather odd.

It is remarkable to think that the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth never won the overall crown and the RS500 evolution only lifted one overall title when Robb Gravett sealed the accolade in

1990 in the Trakstar-run version.

The TV spotlight fell on the BTCC at around the same time that Prodrive and Frank Sytner introduced the M3 to the UK, and it was an immediate hit. The purpose-built rear-wheeldrive car, which sounded stunning, was arguably the most refined weapon on the grid and slotted into Class B, where its rivals were the long-in-the-tooth Ford Escort RS Turbos and the odd Alfa Romeo. It ripped up the Tarmac.

Such was the battle between Sytner and team-mate Mike Smith, though, that the BBC cameras were often trained on the fight.

Indeed, I know of stories where some Class A Ford Sierra RS Cosworth racers, who were having a struggle in a particular race, would deliberately drop back to grab some of the airtime that was being focused on Class B.

The M3 was the perfect tin-top racer with its sublime handling, its user-friendliness and its excellent build quality. It is very unlikely that there has been a better saloon racer ever built, and it holds a place in the heart of all who got behind the controls.

The BMW M3 also marked a watershed for the German firm, and it would go on to be a major force in the BTCC over the following 30 years, provided it had equipment capable of running at the front.

The current Wsr-run BMW 330i M Sport is a prime example of that.