1. One of the most unusual cars to ever race in the BTCC was Volvo’s 850 estate. A pair of 850s were campaigned in 1994 as a PR exercise which helped to raise Volvo’s appeal. The best position was fifth.
2. Bizarrely for racing cars, the 2001 Super Touring regulations stated that any bodywork modifications and rear spoilers should exist for cosmetic effect only!
3. The first British Touring Car Championship was won by Jack Sears in 1958, driving an Austin Westminster.
4. With 60 wins and four championships, the most successful BTCC racer of all time is Ford driver Andy Rouse.
5. Ex Formula One World Champion Damon Hill made one appearance in the BTCC driving a Ford Sierra RS500 in 1989.
6. In the late ’80’s Birmingham used to host a BTCC race through the middle of the city! Known by some as the ‘Monaco of the Midlands’ it was the main support race to the live televised Formula 3000 event on the same circuit. It was rather awesome and we reckon they should bring it back.
7. Matt Neal won back-to-back BTCC titles for Team Halfords in 2005-2006. The Honda Integra Type-Rs were imported from Japan by tuning and import specialists GTC.
8. Jason Plato has finished in the top 3 in the British Touring Car Championship 9 times and holds the record for the most overall race wins.
9. At the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2006, Anthony Reid drove his former BTCC Primera up the hill faster than almost every Le Mans, GT and single seater there. Pretty impressive eh?
10. The best Touring Car race ever? Possibly Nigel Mansell’s first BTCC appearance. After just three laps of the Sprint race he retired, forcing him to start from 19th position on the grid for the feature race. It started raining early on and Mansell blatantly punted his way into the lead before eventually finishing fifth.
