I don't get it. The guy dedicated his life to motorsport commentary with great success and I respect that. But his voice was sooo goddamn annoying at high pitch.
BTCC in the 90s was ridiculous, manufacturer backed teams spending big money and drivers earning 6-figure salaries - it attracted most of the top drivers across Europe, had a prime spot on TV, and attracted crowds of 50k+ to every single race. The drop-off afterwards was dramatic and to this day it's seen as the peak time for touring car racing.
This volvo also had a trick heads that were skimmed at an angle, to give it better valve positioning, since they weren't allowed to change valve geometry, they changed the geometry of the head :D
Theyvwere also very luxurious with a 7 speaker surround sound system ( in the road going cars) the 5 cylinder engine used in the Volvo 850 was also used in some Ford models as Ford owned Volvo for a short while
@@wojciechbieniek4029 They also couldn't weld anything onto the head so they cut of the entire top part that holds the camshafts and bolted on a new piece. In the end there was almost nothing left of the original heads but they kept within the rules. Basically just the combustion chambers and intake/exhaust ports were left from the factory part.
The Renault Lagunas were built by Williams F1, they were genuinely cutting edge! The SuperTouring era was up there with F1 and DTM for virtually unlimited budgets.
Great that the first clip you hear features commentary from the late great Murray Walker. He and the BTCC went hand in hand during the 90s. The Jag at 3:36 is most likely a supercharged XJR, the Renaults at 5:12 are Lagunas, built in partnership with the Williams F1 team, as Renault were their engine suppliers during the 1990s
Murray was synonymous with all racing. He did the TT, touring cars, rallycross and of course the F1. Pick your performance poison, Murray probably commentated on it.
As others say, Murry Walker an absolute legend. It would be worth you looking into him and his commentary from 1948 onwards. He made mistakes, but we loved him more for them because most of the time, his facts were spot on. Miss him dearly.
BTCC was awesome in the nineties, Plato, Menu, those were the days. All the different manufactures that were involved.. loved it! 'Love' your channel too! Greetings from a Dutchie!
My lecturer worked for the BMW team in the early 90s. They used to get the body shells in a kit form, not built. They would acid dip the panels till they were about 50% of the original thickness, then it was pulled and tweeked on the roll cage to get them more aerodynamic within the rules of within 10% of the stock shell. The engines were trick as well, the volvo had their wild head angles but the Vauxhalls had their cylinder head on the C20XE 2.0 4 cylinder engines turned around as the stock setup had the intake at the back of the engine bay being tranverse. This was to put the intake at the front of the engine bay so they could take advantage of the ram air effect. Usual output was around 290 to 320bhp, max rev as mentioned of 8500rpm. Sequential transmissions with flat upshifts were the norm. The Fords had a 2.0 v6 engine in them, the Volvos had 5 pots, Audi's had 5 and 4 pots if i recall. BMW had a destroked version or something similar engine from their older E30 M3.
Btcc was an absolute blast in the 90s. The German DTM was also a top competitive racing series at the same time and even more advanced cars. Anyway 90s racing was great, from rally to group C to touring cars and F1
@@nathanspeed9683 Only the first season when they were not allowed to have any downforce added, the station wagon was as good as the sedan so why not use the 855👍 The year after the sedan was a better race car with more downforce.
Jake Hill, the guy who drove the Peugeot 406 is currently sat second in the BTCC in 2024. Hes a proper fast driver! So good to see our friends over the pond appreciate the BTCC
@jamesabbott6425 like any racing driver then. He was unlucky at Croft with the qualy track limit error and getting fired off by Chilton in race 2. But then again I agree with Tim Harvey that he picked the wrong tire strategy which put him in the middle of the pack and in the danger zone.
This took me back to my childhood. As an American, I found BTCC via Speedvision (before it became SPEED Channel). I loved the battling and banging, screaming sequential dog boxes, low ride height and tucked wheels.. The super touring era was by far peak BTCC!! Thanks for this video
Was racing in SCCA Improved Touring then. Also was still a Corner Worker at pro races. Me and the gang would set the VHS to record the races off Speedvision before we went to the local track (Road Atlanta). Come back home on Sunday evening, drink entirely too much beer, and watch the tape. When Tamiya started making the RC cars with BTCC bodies, half of us went out and bought one. 😄
This era of touring ar regulations was known as Super Touring, officially FIA Class 2. Invented by the BTCC organisers, but run in touring car series around the world - including the USA. The cars had to be a minimum of 4.2 metres long and have a 2.0 nat asp engine. I think the minimum weight was 925kg, the engines made 300-325 hp-ish. The manufacturers involved settled on using their mid-size (D segment) cars, because the road cars sold in big numbers. In the early days of Super Touring (91-93) the cars were essentially modified road cars. By 1996 they were becoming far removed, by the time the regulations died in 2000, they were full-on prototypes that just looked like a road car. The BTCC was by far the best, most competitive Super Touring series. At its peak, there were 11 manufacturers on the grid with big name, highly paid drivers, some of them ex-F1. But it got too expensive. Ford is rumoured to have spent £10 million on its championship-winning 2000 season. For 2001, the BTCC switched to a new set of much more cost effective - though less exciting - regulations. Under the latest regs, the series is in very good health.
Correction; while initially the minimum weight was 925 in the early years, once the series got bigger the minimum weights went up. FWD cars (I.e. the majority of the Super Touring field), weighed in at 975kg, RWD cars like the BMW 320i were 1 tonne even, and the A4 quattro, the sole AWD entry was the heaviest in the field at 1070kg.
In 1993, the 1992 reigning F1 champion, and also the CART Indy car champion in 1993, Nigel Mansell was driving in the BTCC when he hit the Donington Park bridge at 120mph after losing control of his Ford Mondeo and being hit by Tiff Needell. Mansell was knocked unconscious, but made a full recovery. He never did anything by halves - including crashing
Mansell always gave 150%. I was at that race, the accident was right in front of me. They had to cut him out of the car in his seat since his back had previously been damaged in an Indy Car accident.
I was going to mention that. I was there when it happened, although not directly next to it. With Donington being my local track (as well as Mallory) I was often there during the 90s. I still have lots of the posters that the teams would give away when you could walk down the pit lane.
9:17 The 1994 Volvo 850 stationwagon (!) had a minimum weight of around 2120 lbs (front wheel drive), unchanged body panels (as per FIA Group 2 regulations), a 2-liter 5-cylinder (n/a) with roughly 300hp@8.500rpm. The engine was tuned by TWR.
In the United Kingdom, Opel models are marketed under the Vauxhall brand name. The current program includes the Adam, Corsa, Astra, Insignia, Zafira and the SUVs Crossland Stihl company that makes lawnmower engines also has a part in making car engines, they are world experts in magnesium castings
The Insignia, Adam and Zafira are no more I'm pretty sure. Now they've got things like the Mokka, Frontera and Grandland. Sadly normal cars (especially saloons / sedans or their hatchback versions) like the Insignia aren't in fashion any more. People want stupid SUVs apparently.
This era of touring cars was absolutely the best. Big budgets, 8500rpm 2.0 litre, 300+ horsepower, 4,5 and 6 cylinder, highly tuned road car engines, front wheel drive, rear wheel drive and minimal non-standard aero. These incredible racing machines were also normal street furniture, on half the driveways in the country. As a kid, these were the cars that your dad would have. My dad had Vauxhalls and Renaults, my Grandad had a Mondeo (except his was a four cylinder auto, in burgundy, not a yellow and blue V6 with a sequential!) I now have an E36 with the twin cam 4 cylinder, low with big wheels. Best intake noises of any racing series. Properly serious race cars under the skin, most manufacturers came out with road-going homologation models with better engines and body kits so they could race them. Alfa famously bent the rules banning add-on aero by inventing a new model (the Silverstone edition) that came with an adjustable front splitter and spoiler extensions supplied in the luggage compartment, which they argued counted! TWR (who were winning Le Mans only a couple of years prior, big names) reportedly spent more modifying the cylinder heads for their Volvos than a brand new Volvo would have cost! These cars, slammed on their arse, big wheels, rolled arches, splitter, wing and the single wiper inspired the look of a lot of the cars in the early days of the whole Max Power tuning scene of the mid to late 90s and early 2000s. It's great to see them being appreciated and getting back out on track in their own series now, and great to see that they still resonate with newcomers, even people who didn't experience these things on the road in period. They're still racing, and racing HARD, bouncing over kerbs, door to door.
2L maximum capacity, maximum 6 cylinders, maximum 8,500rpm. fwd, rwd, awd all allowed, differnet weight limits for each. BTCC may have had success ballast as well, The 1997-1999 Bathrust 1000 was run to Super Touring rules (FIA Class 2 touring cars). There was also a Bathrust 1000 for V8Supercars in those years.
One of the things I enjoyed about this series was that mix of FWD, RWD and AWD and the shattering of any idea that FWD cars don't handle. Each had their own strengths and weaknesses.
We pre machined in th UK (didn't grind the cam lobes, Volvo did that) all the Volvo 4 , 5 and 6 cylinder camshafts of this engine design, and agreed the 5 cylinder engine was lovely to drive.
@@Kent.All cars get old but even with age certain cars still have something that most newer cars dont, and that is soul and a raw connection not hampered down by fancy electronics.
@@k1er4n544 That's true and i gave the car a nice polish a couple of days ago and the Black Sapphire Pearl shining like it should again so just now the age is forgiven 🙂
The Volvo BTCC engine was a TWR-developed naturally aspirated 2.0L five-cylinder engine, which made around 290 horsepower at 8500rpm. That might not sound like much, but with the 850 BTCC weighing under 2100 pounds, it was more than plenty.
The golden era of touring cars, they were running F1 budgets and it just got crazy. Jason Plato and Matt Neil only retired in the last couple of years and were still winning races. One thing BTCC cars are not, is forgiving lol, they are top level kinda deal. I've watched F1 drivers wreck them.
@@panamafloyd1469 yeah the Mondeo at Donny Park, big smash that one. BTCC has been considered Britain's top level series for a really long time, it's extremely competitive.
@@panamafloyd1469 That, but Derek Warwick also heavily wrecked his Alfa at Oulton in 1995, Eric van De Poele had some big incidents at Nissan in 1994, same with Morbidelli at Volvo in '98 and Mansell (again) at Brands and Silverstone, both in 1998.
XJ140 chassis after the cosmetic redesign? Had a girlfriend with one of the early ones here in the US. That's when I learned what "Grace, space, and pace" really meant. Fantastic car.
This is British Motor Sport dude. We know what we're doing over here. Makes me so proud to see kids knowing the under hood and under arches details. We have a fabulous culture of MS.
At last! It's still just about the most exciting motorsport IMO. I'm completely addicted to it to this day. If you can stream it, ITV4 is live broadcasting BTCC from Croft circuit this Sunday - 3 races from 11.15am to 6.30pm BST (amongst other classes of club car racing). You'd love it - it's a whole lot of fun!
Race on a Sunday, sell cars on a Monday. I watched these as a kid in the early 90s and begging my dad to get a Cavalier, just like John Clelland drove.
A Family in Germany owns three, or four of the BTCC Lagunas. (Blue-Yellow Kaliber, Green Nescafé, and two Others). They used the Cars for Hillclimbing in Germany. Ultra hard Performance 💪👌
@@KB.Media1 schön zu wissen. Als ich selber noch meinen 99er Laguna hatte, wollte ich die Williams Laguna gerne mal live sehen. Leider bisher nie geschafft. 2013 oder 2014 hatte ich einen Wandkalender von Wiebe Motorsport mit allen ihren Fahrzeugen
@@stephansangerlaub1421 Ach das ist ja cool. Eventuell war der Kalender von Rennfotos?😉 Den Harald kenne ich sehr gut! Wiebes wohnen nur 40km von mir weg, und bin da super aufgehoben mit meinem Auto. Kenne den Hans-Peter schon seit 2001🤣
Hello from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Codemasters made a great pc game called TOCA. Purchased the game in 1999 and still have the game. Have to work out a way to play on later model computer! Appreciate your podcast.
Vauxhall were owned by GM since 1932, alongside Opel. They kept their own designs as you say until the late 1970s, with the Viva effectively being amongst the last Luton designed car they made until replaced by the Chevette, which was a combination of the two in some respects and had some rally success. Gradually all Vauxhalls and Opels are now based on a Peugot designed platform, though with Stellantis they could well base models on a Fiat platform going forward too.
@@martinashamrock8207 the Holden Monaro had a (very) limited run in the UK rebadged as a Vauxhall. It had a segment on Top Gear once I think, and my barber, weirdly, used to have a Vauxhall Monaro. Bit of Wikipedia shows me the same car was also rebadged as the relaunch of the Pontiac GTO in the USA 2004.
Vauxhall, part of General Motors. Labelled as Opel in Europe. The previous model in the UK was the Cavalier. It was known as a Vectra across Europe. When the old Cavs were discontinued and replaced, the new model was the Vectra, keeping it inline with the rest of "Yerp".
Absolute GOLDEN era of touringcars! Same with the STCC (Swedish Touringcar Championship) during the 90's! Superlight, absolutely SLAMMED, and the carbrands were as invovled and hungry as the teams, Volvo, Bmw, Opel, Audi, Renault, Ford, Peugeot, Nissan, Honda, Toyota. MASSIVE startingfields and fierce racing.. Man it was just a delight seeing this as a kid!
The BTCC definitely peaked in the 90's, then several manufacturers went away, but in the 90's (I was a teenager at the time) they were fun events to go to, you should also check out old World Rally Championship videos from the 90's/early 00's
When it comes to touring cars, there’s so many different types are i usually class DTM as two types, regular DTM cars, and then the ITC cars then you got BTCC (British touring car championship) ETCC (European touring car championship) STW (The Super Tourenwagen Cup) JTCC(The Japanese Touring Car Championship) JGTC (All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship) NATCC (north American touring car championship)and plenty of others one unique one is the SCCA race truck challenge in the 90s you will potentially even see some of these cars make their way into your best sounding car series
As well as the touring cars, there were various stock car series as well, which could have all kinds of interesting cars racing each other, including big american V8 powered cars.
Fun fact: in the french movies Taxi they used Peugeot 406 WTCC/BTCC car for most of the driving parts. American then made remake with Queen Latifah driving a Crown Vic
During this period, i think the cars were restricted to, among other things, 2 litres, 300bhp, standard silhouette with minimal aero. The Audis arrived with AWD and absolutely wrecked everybody in the hands of some great drivers, like Frank Beila. Eventually Audi had to not inly comply with the standard regs, they were also hit with some brutal ballast penalties according to how succesful they were at that time. I definitely remember that the weight penalties made the racing better, but felt a little unfair.
Yeah I got into the series with the first TOCA game, so BTCC '97 and the Audi's were carrying massive weight penalties, but they still managed to ace it whenever it got a bit wet. I think the videogame always had the second race of the season, Silverstone, hardcoded to be torrential rain, so if you could get past the first race at Donnington Park in an Audi, you could dominate the second race for an easy win.
I wonder why.. Why nobody mentioned atonishing Nissan Primera, when it actually had their own glorious shining moments in BTCC and won a lot too (1998-1999 and independent Cups of 99-00 and Nissan builded special road GTLE and GTSE versions of this model to celebrate this). That.. racing THING has been astonishing with screaming and growling 300hp NA legendary SR20. Pure diabolical FWD monster.
Vauxhall is the British branding of General Motors (General Motors Vauxhall (GMV)). Similar to GMH (General Motors Holden). The GMH Monaro was sold in the UK as a Vauxhall Monaro.
The Opel/Vauxhall Vectra "B" generation (launched in 1995) was the basis of the 1999 Saturn L-series, and was replaced in 2002 by the Opel/Vauxhall Vectra "C" generation (2006 Saturn Aura), and then the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia in 2008 (2011 Buick Regal).
@IWrocker In terms of "how far did they race" there were a couple of 'endurance' races, known as the RAC Tourist Trophy post-season in 1996 & 97 after the Touring Car World Cup was cancelled. The big one though, was the Bathurst 1000 in 1997 and 1998. Though the Aussie series now likes to pretent they didn't exist, when they split the TV coverage from the race and the V8 Supercars were no longer running in the Bathurst 1000, they replaced them with Super Tourers. So 1000km (7h) around Bathurst! 2 co-driver teams, same as now. The finish in 1998 was spectacular! If you want to know how quick these cars are, the '98 pole lap from Rydell in the Volvo S40 was 2:14.93. Comparatively, the V8's are 2:09.89 in '98, both before the resurfacing. The cars were fitted with quick-connect fuel nozzles, dry-break couplings and endurance fuel tanks. Gear ratios were adjusted for Conrod straight and Michelin developed harder-compound tyres. Rydell's pole lap is here: ua-cam.com/video/vVzsFJtE26w/v-deo.html The V8s had an 'alternate' race each year which the series owners have now almost retconned into being "Bathurst" those seasons, but they weren't...
Safety car jaguar was the supercharged xjr you can allways tell with the mesh grill and wheels and its v8. The btcc alfa romeo 155 absolutely dominated!! I had one at the time they were racing, absolutely loved the car.Tarquini the driver was amazing! Volvo used the estate too. They were 300bhp limited but weighed nothing.
I drive the genration later XJR X350. The 308 looks better but the 350 is bit more modern. Supercharged 4.2l V8 with just 400hp in stock config. (396) Ppl do put a smaller pulley on to get more out of it. With 550 N/m torque at 3500 u/min (depending on source) Top speed I dont know the speedometer ends at 260 km/h Weight is 1750kg I know I ramble.
Modern BTCC weekends are contested over 3 races, roughly 30 minutes each, with the initial race grid set out by the qualifying position, the second race starts in the positions the first finished and for the final race, the race 2 winner picks a random ball out of a bowl, whatever number is on the ball, that amount of cars are reversed. This can be between 6 and 12 cars. In the super tourer era, they only had two races per weekend, a sprint and a feature race. I'm unsure of the lengths of both but I do know that the sprint race was simply lights to flag but in the feature race you had to make a mandatory pitstop, adding an element of teamwork and strategy to your race
12:40 - Nailed it! Corner Marshal buddy of mine from the UK says the cool thing about it is that the front straight is down in a little valley, and most of the circuit is up on the side of the hill across from the grandstand. One of the few road courses where you can almost see the whole track from one place. He's been around it in his street 2013 Jag F-Type, says it's as much fun as it looks.
New viewer. Your knowledge of engines and cars impressed me. Subscribed. BTCC is still good now but the 90s was the peak. They spent fortunes on the cars with Formula 1 companies involved. And it was Brands Hatch!!
The engines were all 2.0L and had throttle bodies, running around 300bhp hence the cool induction noise! They also had weight penalties imposed based on qualifying and after each race to keep them all similar.
Great vid👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼, im a big btcc fan been watching since the super touring days. Don't know if you were aware but the guy that got to drive the Peugeot in this vid is Jake Hill one of the top drivers currently in the btcc at the moment as of this video he is leading the championship. Their current season is back under way this Sunday after their summer break at Croft circuit. If you can pick up ITV 4 you will be able to watch the current crop or they do have a UA-cam channel with decent highlights✌🏼
Vauxhal is , GM since 1925 and since the '60 just a re-badged OPEL 😂, 100% the same car, often even same model names ( corsa, kadett = viva, manta = firenza, astra, vectra, omega,...etc) but just righthand drive. It would make more sense just checking out OPEL instead. Both were sold in 2017 to PSA now part of Stelantis.
Opel was bought in 1929 by GM. The cars since the late 70s onwards were based on Opel platforms, with the Viva effectively being the last when it stopped production in 1979 (though the Bedford HA van carried on well into the 80s until replaced by the Astravan), the Chevette which followed the Viva was a hybrid of Luton and Opel design, with the engine and running gear being luton designed effectively and the rest Opel designed. The cars that followed were all based upon Opel platforms until PSA bought Opel/Vauxhall from GM and the more recent models are based on PSA platforms and future ones could be either Fiat or PSA based as they look to economise on designs (which is leading to the death of the Saloon and Estate and eventually the hatchback probably).
@@bionicgeekgrrl well that was detailled 😂. Thanks. But it really do think it is 1925 that GM bought them. I have the news paper clipping of 21th november 1925 in front of me 😂.
@@CobraChicken101 it is, for some reason i thought it was 32. Firenza was a sportier version of the Viva, which wasn't related to the Opel Kadett, despite the similarities of the 60s version.
There is a video on UA-cam about how volvo did magic tricks to keep the engine within regulations so the could race it in the series, it's something worth watching.
Man those liveries are so iconic. One of my favourite games in the 90s was Toca Touring Cars Championship. And later Toca 2. But the first one was all these iconic cars.
Agreed, the first TOCA had the best liveries, the green and yellow Laguna from 98 didn't quite do it for me like the yellow and blue one from 97. In my mind all the other liveries were the same between the two games, but I'm sure they weren't I just remember the first game liveries so well. Honda (white, black, red), Audi (grey, red), Ford (blue, grey), Nissan (white, red/yellow/blue), etc
yep, that's Brands Hatch. the 90's was definitely the peak of BTC for me - the manufacturers were at the top of their game - BMW, Renault, Peugeot, Volvo, Vauxhall, Audi, Honda and Ford all had top cars, though Ford had just moved to the Mondeo from the Cossie Sierra so they were lagging a bit.
Reacting to some documentaries would be good to see. There are so many great old ones that should be in the public domain too. Grand prix the killer years, fangio, moss, clark, stewart, ascari, mclarne, and the commentary to so many of the older races.. murray walker, so so many great names on the f1 side. Then there are road racing docs (bikes) "Road" is great but there are again lots to choose from. Joey Dunlop would be the senna of road racing but survived to his late 40s or early 50s. Brilliant natural racer, humanitarian and extremely humble to boot. Last suggestion, check out some modern historic racing.. great to see mini's battling US v8s and everything inbetween. Goodwood has a channel thats a good starting point. Volvo "cheated" with their engine, they modified the head in a way that didn't break the rules but did break what the rule was trying to stop. Though not sure if that was in the sedan or the wagon.. yup they raced the big wagon 😂
9:34 Same type of Peugeot 406 was in legendary action comedy movie: Taxi 1 (the original French version). Really Cool car. Propably the best looking BTCC car and one of the best looking Touring Car ever. And the sound....really sharp and "racing". Vauxhall was Opel Vectra.
BTCC has always been a favorite of mine. My absolute favorites were the Volvo 850 estates that were dicing it up with the sedans and were quite competitive.
4:01 yes they did. in the XJ 12 coupe and sedan models. they stopped after production ended for the XJ12 in 1992 so likely thats a 1992 jaguar XJ12 or a 2000 XJ8. the body of it isnt that familiar because i only seen the XJ12 models. they started in 1973 and ended in 1992 with 3 different series over its 19 to 20 year span. all of them with 5.3L (325 ci) V12's
Super touring; Standard production engine block, max 2 liters, max 8500rpm 4, 5, 6 cylinders, approx 290-320 hp, acid dipped standard chassie, approx. 40 meters of tubing in rollcage, seq gearbox.with reverse etc. Basically formula performance. Awsome racing cars but crazy building cost finally killed the class. Often pushed around to save clutch etc
If you have Assetto Corsa check out VRC they have several Super Tourers ( 90's BTCC ) and are awesome fun to drive. Great video, glad you like our national racing series hope you do more of these in the future.
The 60s to 90s were Golden age of Touring car racing👌🏼🇬🇧 The Volvo 850 road car was a 2.5 5 cylinder turbo, very fast in its day. The Touring cars you are watching, made 330hp normally aspirated, and weighing between 975kg to 1040kg, which meant dominant cars could be hit with a ballast penalty, to even up the power to weight ratio.
Loved the video. Straight to the point with no BS. It might be worth checking out the Ford Sierra Cosworth Touring cars i think its Merkur in the states. Them cars sound fantastic. Plus the Volvo 850T, look like a station wagon, drives like a beast. Pure 90s Touring Car fun ❤
You need to follow this up with looking up Jerry Marshall, one of the greats of british stock car racing and known for his unique driving style. Also, the channel The Late Brake Show had Tiff Needell on recently with one of the old Ford Sierra Cosworths he drove in the 80s in the BTCC. Tiff is 72 years old and still got the same passion for racing as he always had. Both of those are definitely worth your time checking out.
The Volvo wagon😊 I specifically remember a race at Snetterton where they suffered brake problems and Jan Lammers took out half the field at the chicane, twice!!!!!!
Jake Hill - the guy showing you around the cars, is well worth checking out. He is currently leading the 2024 BTCC championship, plus he does a lot of classic car racing at Goodwood. Real nice guy and an outstanding driver.
The guy that raced the gold and green Peugeot owns one of them now and has it in his collection at home 👌🏻 Imagine having a 90s super tourer in your garage 😍
Wheel spin, clutch is fine. Looks cool outside. Stihl are a German magnesium alloy casting and machining manufacturing specialist. All sorts of specialty engine, clutch, race components.
This era of BTCC and Supertouring was ridiculously amazing. Team budgets backed by manufacturers were upwards of £10m per season at its height. Those cars may have looked recognisable over here but they were far from forecourt examples. BTCC was the embodiment of 'Win on a Sunday and sell on a Monday' and if they did then they did, in a big way! Incredible racing, heroic and super talented drivers and a fan base more tribal than any other it was the epitome of British Motorsport and hasn't been matched since.
That decade introduced the Super Touring Class which were 2.0l engines and heavily modified. It attracted major car manufacturers and so was amazing to see. Also, rubbing and contact was more than what we see now. Safety and rule changes over the years. Jake Hill, the chap showing you round the Peugeot is a current BTCC driver. ITVX have the current BTCC series but it'll be region locked, I suspect. EDIT ...I forgot ITV do the quali and races on UA-cam. ua-cam.com/video/Fw9ScEurh2M/v-deo.html
doing a BTCC series......... Cannot wait for you to cry with laughter at the Plato vs Neil rivalry, at the time you took a side, looking back it was freaking hilarious. BTCC was nuts in the 90s, Williams running the Renault Factory team, Nigel Mansell driving a Mondeo, big crashes, big rivalries, huge personalities: Plato, Neil, Menu, Winkelhock, Thompson, Harvey,. Hoy, Cleland to name a few. PS: Vauxhall is basically Opel but in the UK. and up until a few years ago was basically General Motors Europe, so a lot of crossover with Holden.
RIP Murray Walker most iconic voice on TV
He actually sounded like a high revving engine.
Always funny, when, in his excitement, he created his memorable 'Murray-isms'. 😅
I don't get it. The guy dedicated his life to motorsport commentary with great success and I respect that. But his voice was sooo goddamn annoying at high pitch.
1 of the legends ❤
I'd say Attenborough is the most iconic. But Murray is definitely top 5
BTCC in the 90s was ridiculous, manufacturer backed teams spending big money and drivers earning 6-figure salaries - it attracted most of the top drivers across Europe, had a prime spot on TV, and attracted crowds of 50k+ to every single race. The drop-off afterwards was dramatic and to this day it's seen as the peak time for touring car racing.
Even had PlayStation games
@@gazc8586those games on the ps1 were absolutely amazing too
I remember as a kid seeing vectras smash up the place
Yellow and blue Renaults so iconic 😂
It was. And I'm not even british. It was well known and followed in Hungary too! And of course every kid played Toca 2. :-D
Yes, Volvo is 5 cyl. Rules 2.0 l N/A max rev 8500, 310-320 HP
Always loved the 5cy Volvos, both petrol and diesel. Shame they are no more.
This volvo also had a trick heads that were skimmed at an angle, to give it better valve positioning, since they weren't allowed to change valve geometry, they changed the geometry of the head :D
Volvo 850 Estate / Limousine in BTCC
Theyvwere also very luxurious with a 7 speaker surround sound system ( in the road going cars) the 5 cylinder engine used in the Volvo 850 was also used in some Ford models as Ford owned Volvo for a short while
@@wojciechbieniek4029 They also couldn't weld anything onto the head so they cut of the entire top part that holds the camshafts and bolted on a new piece. In the end there was almost nothing left of the original heads but they kept within the rules. Basically just the combustion chambers and intake/exhaust ports were left from the factory part.
The Renault Lagunas were built by Williams F1, they were genuinely cutting edge! The SuperTouring era was up there with F1 and DTM for virtually unlimited budgets.
Besr era for Touring car
A subsidiary - Williams Touring Car Engineering. The 1995 BMWs were likewise built by McLaren, and the Volvos by TWR (Arrows F1).
Great that the first clip you hear features commentary from the late great Murray Walker. He and the BTCC went hand in hand during the 90s. The Jag at 3:36 is most likely a supercharged XJR, the Renaults at 5:12 are Lagunas, built in partnership with the Williams F1 team, as Renault were their engine suppliers during the 1990s
yep it is but those where made in 2000. before it was replaced by the xkr series i believe
Murray was synonymous with all racing. He did the TT, touring cars, rallycross and of course the F1.
Pick your performance poison, Murray probably commentated on it.
As others say, Murry Walker an absolute legend.
It would be worth you looking into him and his commentary from 1948 onwards.
He made mistakes, but we loved him more for them because most of the time, his facts were spot on.
Miss him dearly.
BADOER 😂
@beefsuprem0241 one of many. Mansells bruised head was the best.
His Dad was a lot better, Murry was a muppet really, only a legend due to his gaff's.
I remember his commentary during a Belgium GP once where he said: "yes Martin, I remember driving a tank through there in the second world war" 😂
Yep he had one heck of a life, drove tanks in ww2 as well. Great bloke. Rip Murry.
BTCC was awesome in the nineties, Plato, Menu, those were the days. All the different manufactures that were involved.. loved it!
'Love' your channel too! Greetings from a Dutchie!
My lecturer worked for the BMW team in the early 90s. They used to get the body shells in a kit form, not built.
They would acid dip the panels till they were about 50% of the original thickness, then it was pulled and tweeked on the roll cage to get them more aerodynamic within the rules of within 10% of the stock shell.
The engines were trick as well, the volvo had their wild head angles but the Vauxhalls had their cylinder head on the C20XE 2.0 4 cylinder engines turned around as the stock setup had the intake at the back of the engine bay being tranverse. This was to put the intake at the front of the engine bay so they could take advantage of the ram air effect.
Usual output was around 290 to 320bhp, max rev as mentioned of 8500rpm. Sequential transmissions with flat upshifts were the norm.
The Fords had a 2.0 v6 engine in them, the Volvos had 5 pots, Audi's had 5 and 4 pots if i recall. BMW had a destroked version or something similar engine from their older E30 M3.
In the second clip, where Kelvin Burt's Volvo hits the bank, I was in the marshall's hut across from it. We felt the impact through the ground.
That was one hell of a nasty crash
Woah we have an eyewitness!
I was down at Hislops and we could feel it too...
Menu was not a good guy.
Mate, I'm impressed that you recognised Brands Hatch from that onboard footage 👏
@@ufopilotFPV I’m glad I recognized it too. It’s a track I seem to favor a lot in racing sims lately 🎉
@@IWrockerDid a track day there in a BMW M4, great fun! In fact I am at Brands Hatch every weekend!
Brands in the 80's had everything you could ever want to see on a track,
Btcc was an absolute blast in the 90s. The German DTM was also a top competitive racing series at the same time and even more advanced cars. Anyway 90s racing was great, from rally to group C to touring cars and F1
You should check out the Volvo station wagons they use to run in this series!
Oh yeah! You know a car that only raced a season is iconic when it's still talked about 30 years later!!
@@nathanspeed9683 Only the first season when they were not allowed to have any downforce added, the station wagon was as good as the sedan so why not use the 855👍 The year after the sedan was a better race car with more downforce.
@@PrivateCustard It was also used by Liverpool (UK) traffic cops!
Jake Hill, the guy who drove the Peugeot 406 is currently sat second in the BTCC in 2024. Hes a proper fast driver! So good to see our friends over the pond appreciate the BTCC
he's also a biiiiig whiney baby.
@jamesabbott6425 like any racing driver then. He was unlucky at Croft with the qualy track limit error and getting fired off by Chilton in race 2. But then again I agree with Tim Harvey that he picked the wrong tire strategy which put him in the middle of the pack and in the danger zone.
This took me back to my childhood. As an American, I found BTCC via Speedvision (before it became SPEED Channel). I loved the battling and banging, screaming sequential dog boxes, low ride height and tucked wheels.. The super touring era was by far peak BTCC!! Thanks for this video
Was racing in SCCA Improved Touring then. Also was still a Corner Worker at pro races. Me and the gang would set the VHS to record the races off Speedvision before we went to the local track (Road Atlanta). Come back home on Sunday evening, drink entirely too much beer, and watch the tape. When Tamiya started making the RC cars with BTCC bodies, half of us went out and bought one. 😄
This era of touring ar regulations was known as Super Touring, officially FIA Class 2.
Invented by the BTCC organisers, but run in touring car series around the world - including the USA.
The cars had to be a minimum of 4.2 metres long and have a 2.0 nat asp engine. I think the minimum weight was 925kg, the engines made 300-325 hp-ish.
The manufacturers involved settled on using their mid-size (D segment) cars, because the road cars sold in big numbers.
In the early days of Super Touring (91-93) the cars were essentially modified road cars. By 1996 they were becoming far removed, by the time the regulations died in 2000, they were full-on prototypes that just looked like a road car.
The BTCC was by far the best, most competitive Super Touring series.
At its peak, there were 11 manufacturers on the grid with big name, highly paid drivers, some of them ex-F1.
But it got too expensive. Ford is rumoured to have spent £10 million on its championship-winning 2000 season.
For 2001, the BTCC switched to a new set of much more cost effective - though less exciting - regulations. Under the latest regs, the series is in very good health.
Correction; while initially the minimum weight was 925 in the early years, once the series got bigger the minimum weights went up.
FWD cars (I.e. the majority of the Super Touring field), weighed in at 975kg, RWD cars like the BMW 320i were 1 tonne even, and the A4 quattro, the sole AWD entry was the heaviest in the field at 1070kg.
Current era BTCC is ruined by the three race short format, the cars are sterile and the drivers lack the personality.
@@Bezza49 Disagree
In 1993, the 1992 reigning F1 champion, and also the CART Indy car champion in 1993, Nigel Mansell was driving in the BTCC when he hit the Donington Park bridge at 120mph after losing control of his Ford Mondeo and being hit by Tiff Needell.
Mansell was knocked unconscious, but made a full recovery.
He never did anything by halves - including crashing
Mansell always gave 150%. I was at that race, the accident was right in front of me. They had to cut him out of the car in his seat since his back had previously been damaged in an Indy Car accident.
@@NickFosterThat must have been a shocking accident up close, but he always gave everything - and more.
I was going to mention that. I was there when it happened, although not directly next to it.
With Donington being my local track (as well as Mallory) I was often there during the 90s. I still have lots of the posters that the teams would give away when you could walk down the pit lane.
great video, even better to hear a voice of my childhood. R.I.P Murray Walker, he truly was the voice of UK TV motor sport.
9:17
The 1994 Volvo 850 stationwagon (!) had a minimum weight of around 2120 lbs (front wheel drive), unchanged body panels (as per FIA Group 2 regulations), a 2-liter 5-cylinder (n/a) with roughly 300hp@8.500rpm.
The engine was tuned by TWR.
In the United Kingdom, Opel models are marketed under the Vauxhall brand name. The current program includes the Adam, Corsa, Astra, Insignia, Zafira and the SUVs Crossland
Stihl company that makes lawnmower engines also has a part in making car engines, they are world experts in magnesium castings
The Insignia, Adam and Zafira are no more I'm pretty sure. Now they've got things like the Mokka, Frontera and Grandland.
Sadly normal cars (especially saloons / sedans or their hatchback versions) like the Insignia aren't in fashion any more. People want stupid SUVs apparently.
This era of touring cars was absolutely the best. Big budgets, 8500rpm 2.0 litre, 300+ horsepower, 4,5 and 6 cylinder, highly tuned road car engines, front wheel drive, rear wheel drive and minimal non-standard aero. These incredible racing machines were also normal street furniture, on half the driveways in the country. As a kid, these were the cars that your dad would have. My dad had Vauxhalls and Renaults, my Grandad had a Mondeo (except his was a four cylinder auto, in burgundy, not a yellow and blue V6 with a sequential!) I now have an E36 with the twin cam 4 cylinder, low with big wheels.
Best intake noises of any racing series.
Properly serious race cars under the skin, most manufacturers came out with road-going homologation models with better engines and body kits so they could race them. Alfa famously bent the rules banning add-on aero by inventing a new model (the Silverstone edition) that came with an adjustable front splitter and spoiler extensions supplied in the luggage compartment, which they argued counted!
TWR (who were winning Le Mans only a couple of years prior, big names) reportedly spent more modifying the cylinder heads for their Volvos than a brand new Volvo would have cost!
These cars, slammed on their arse, big wheels, rolled arches, splitter, wing and the single wiper inspired the look of a lot of the cars in the early days of the whole Max Power tuning scene of the mid to late 90s and early 2000s.
It's great to see them being appreciated and getting back out on track in their own series now, and great to see that they still resonate with newcomers, even people who didn't experience these things on the road in period. They're still racing, and racing HARD, bouncing over kerbs, door to door.
It's a magnesium valve cover on the Peugeot 406 from STIHL Magnesium Diecasting.
I loved this era of btcc.
"TARQUINI!!!" iykyk.
"I'm going for first" says Cleland iykyk
The TOCA games were pretty fun too btw.
2L maximum capacity, maximum 6 cylinders, maximum 8,500rpm.
fwd, rwd, awd all allowed, differnet weight limits for each.
BTCC may have had success ballast as well,
The 1997-1999 Bathrust 1000 was run to Super Touring rules (FIA Class 2 touring cars). There was also a Bathrust 1000 for V8Supercars in those years.
They didnt have success ballast per se in the "golden years" this video mostly covers. And thank god they didnt.
One of the things I enjoyed about this series was that mix of FWD, RWD and AWD and the shattering of any idea that FWD cars don't handle. Each had their own strengths and weaknesses.
That Volvo 5 cylinder is just magic.
I love the sound... My 2010 S80 2.5T has the same sound when i step on it. I can't sell it for the newer 2L Volvos, but it starting to get old 😣
We pre machined in th UK (didn't grind the cam lobes, Volvo did that) all the Volvo 4 , 5 and 6 cylinder camshafts of this engine design, and agreed the 5 cylinder engine was lovely to drive.
@@Kent.All cars get old but even with age certain cars still have something that most newer cars dont, and that is soul and a raw connection not hampered down by fancy electronics.
@@k1er4n544 That's true and i gave the car a nice polish a couple of days ago and the Black Sapphire Pearl shining like it should again so just now the age is forgiven 🙂
@@Kent. I'm so jealous right now wish I went for a Volvo when I did price on them now are pretty high xD
The Volvo BTCC engine was a TWR-developed naturally aspirated 2.0L five-cylinder engine, which made around 290 horsepower at 8500rpm. That might not sound like much, but with the 850 BTCC weighing under 2100 pounds, it was more than plenty.
@@dinger40 Only the first cars, they developed more power after the first season with the station wagon. The sedan and the S40 had 320 - 325hp.
The golden era of touring cars, they were running F1 budgets and it just got crazy.
Jason Plato and Matt Neil only retired in the last couple of years and were still winning races.
One thing BTCC cars are not, is forgiving lol, they are top level kinda deal. I've watched F1 drivers wreck them.
Mansell at Donington Park? That one was so big it was even in US motorsport coverage (he'd been running Indycar over here).
@@panamafloyd1469 yeah the Mondeo at Donny Park, big smash that one.
BTCC has been considered Britain's top level series for a really long time, it's extremely competitive.
@@panamafloyd1469 That, but Derek Warwick also heavily wrecked his Alfa at Oulton in 1995, Eric van De Poele had some big incidents at Nissan in 1994, same with Morbidelli at Volvo in '98 and Mansell (again) at Brands and Silverstone, both in 1998.
You'll love the sound of the Alfa Romeo 155 😍👌
Alfa Romeo V6 Busso what a sound ❤
Nothing beats the BTCC from the 90's, the only other touring car category I really love is the Aussie V8's
As a marketing stunt Volvo entered an 850R estate (station wagon) it was awesome!
Clarkson joked that Volvo misheard and thought it was the 'towing car championship' 😂
Cleland in the Vauxhall was a brilliant, brilliant driver. He was so exciting to watch back in the day.
Safety car was a jaguar xj6, the car Edward Woodward drove in the Equalizer TV show.
XJ140 chassis after the cosmetic redesign? Had a girlfriend with one of the early ones here in the US. That's when I learned what "Grace, space, and pace" really meant. Fantastic car.
XJR at that time would have had the supercharged 4.0 straight 6, around 326bhp standard
This is British Motor Sport dude. We know what we're doing over here. Makes me so proud to see kids knowing the under hood and under arches details. We have a fabulous culture of MS.
I was going to say, 'this is why we giggle at nascar' ... but your comment is far more respectable.
At last! It's still just about the most exciting motorsport IMO. I'm completely addicted to it to this day.
If you can stream it, ITV4 is live broadcasting BTCC from Croft circuit this Sunday - 3 races from 11.15am to 6.30pm BST (amongst other classes of club car racing). You'd love it - it's a whole lot of fun!
Great to hear the legendary commentary from the late Murray Walker.
Race on a Sunday, sell cars on a Monday. I watched these as a kid in the early 90s and begging my dad to get a Cavalier, just like John Clelland drove.
90s BTCC Super Touring era was awesome, the series is still good today but nothing like back then, proper racing.... 🏁
A Family in Germany owns three, or four of the BTCC Lagunas. (Blue-Yellow Kaliber, Green Nescafé, and two Others). They used the Cars for Hillclimbing in Germany. Ultra hard Performance 💪👌
Wiebe Motorsport
@@stephansangerlaub1421 Richtig 😁 (right) Einer ist verkauft, aber fährt aktuell nicht mehr. Die anderen alle noch da👌
@@KB.Media1 schön zu wissen. Als ich selber noch meinen 99er Laguna hatte, wollte ich die Williams Laguna gerne mal live sehen. Leider bisher nie geschafft. 2013 oder 2014 hatte ich einen Wandkalender von Wiebe Motorsport mit allen ihren Fahrzeugen
@@stephansangerlaub1421 Ach das ist ja cool. Eventuell war der Kalender von Rennfotos?😉 Den Harald kenne ich sehr gut! Wiebes wohnen nur 40km von mir weg, und bin da super aufgehoben mit meinem Auto. Kenne den Hans-Peter schon seit 2001🤣
I would recommend watching BTCC Silverstone 1992 Round 15 as it is one of teh most memoriable race from the whole BTCC
Remember watching these. Bloody fantastic.
Hello from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Codemasters made a great pc game called TOCA. Purchased the game in 1999 and still have the game. Have to work out a way to play on later model computer! Appreciate your podcast.
Vauxhall was a british car company, but since the 70s its just rebranded Opel cars, belonging to GM, and now PSA, Stellantis.
Vauxhall were owned by GM since 1932, alongside Opel. They kept their own designs as you say until the late 1970s, with the Viva effectively being amongst the last Luton designed car they made until replaced by the Chevette, which was a combination of the two in some respects and had some rally success.
Gradually all Vauxhalls and Opels are now based on a Peugot designed platform, though with Stellantis they could well base models on a Fiat platform going forward too.
And Lot of holden Look near the vauxhel and opel
@@martinashamrock8207 the Holden Monaro had a (very) limited run in the UK rebadged as a Vauxhall. It had a segment on Top Gear once I think, and my barber, weirdly, used to have a Vauxhall Monaro. Bit of Wikipedia shows me the same car was also rebadged as the relaunch of the Pontiac GTO in the USA 2004.
@@martinashamrock8207 a lot of Holden were on Opel-developed GM platforms, that´s why.
Vauxhall, part of General Motors. Labelled as Opel in Europe. The previous model in the UK was the Cavalier. It was known as a Vectra across Europe. When the old Cavs were discontinued and replaced, the new model was the Vectra, keeping it inline with the rest of "Yerp".
It's the same as DTM in Germany, same time..
Love your channel... Great from Holland
I remember when I first saw Rydell drive the 850 Estate. Fun times.
Absolute GOLDEN era of touringcars! Same with the STCC (Swedish Touringcar Championship) during the 90's! Superlight, absolutely SLAMMED, and the carbrands were as invovled and hungry as the teams, Volvo, Bmw, Opel, Audi, Renault, Ford, Peugeot, Nissan, Honda, Toyota. MASSIVE startingfields and fierce racing.. Man it was just a delight seeing this as a kid!
The BTCC definitely peaked in the 90's, then several manufacturers went away, but in the 90's (I was a teenager at the time) they were fun events to go to, you should also check out old World Rally Championship videos from the 90's/early 00's
When it comes to touring cars, there’s so many different types are i usually class DTM as two types, regular DTM cars, and then the ITC cars then you got BTCC (British touring car championship) ETCC (European touring car championship) STW (The Super Tourenwagen Cup) JTCC(The Japanese Touring Car Championship) JGTC (All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship) NATCC (north American touring car championship)and plenty of others one unique one is the SCCA race truck challenge in the 90s you will potentially even see some of these cars make their way into your best sounding car series
As well as the touring cars, there were various stock car series as well, which could have all kinds of interesting cars racing each other, including big american V8 powered cars.
Fun fact: in the french movies Taxi they used Peugeot 406 WTCC/BTCC car for most of the driving parts. American then made remake with Queen Latifah driving a Crown Vic
During this period, i think the cars were restricted to, among other things, 2 litres, 300bhp, standard silhouette with minimal aero. The Audis arrived with AWD and absolutely wrecked everybody in the hands of some great drivers, like Frank Beila. Eventually Audi had to not inly comply with the standard regs, they were also hit with some brutal ballast penalties according to how succesful they were at that time. I definitely remember that the weight penalties made the racing better, but felt a little unfair.
Yeah I got into the series with the first TOCA game, so BTCC '97 and the Audi's were carrying massive weight penalties, but they still managed to ace it whenever it got a bit wet. I think the videogame always had the second race of the season, Silverstone, hardcoded to be torrential rain, so if you could get past the first race at Donnington Park in an Audi, you could dominate the second race for an easy win.
I wonder why.. Why nobody mentioned atonishing Nissan Primera, when it actually had their own glorious shining moments in BTCC and won a lot too (1998-1999 and independent Cups of 99-00 and Nissan builded special road GTLE and GTSE versions of this model to celebrate this). That.. racing THING has been astonishing with screaming and growling 300hp NA legendary SR20. Pure diabolical FWD monster.
Volvo were even running estate cars (staitionwagons) at one point. Great series at the time👍
Hello, from Lithuania.For peugeot 406 - watch a french ,,Taxi" movie 😅✌️
ist a classic. light popcorn comedy whith a nice car. love the movies. greetings from Germany
1 and 2 are absolutely brilliant movies!
Need to rewatch them, it's been a while
Vauxhall is the British branding of General Motors (General Motors Vauxhall (GMV)). Similar to GMH (General Motors Holden). The GMH Monaro was sold in the UK as a Vauxhall Monaro.
The first race you showed, The presenter, Murray Walker, The Guys a British Legend.
The Opel/Vauxhall Vectra "B" generation (launched in 1995) was the basis of the 1999 Saturn L-series, and was replaced in 2002 by the Opel/Vauxhall Vectra "C" generation (2006 Saturn Aura), and then the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia in 2008 (2011 Buick Regal).
Great to hear Murray Walker again. Remind me of rallycross with Schanke. Group B rallycross and the times before group B. Loved his commenting.
@IWrocker In terms of "how far did they race" there were a couple of 'endurance' races, known as the RAC Tourist Trophy post-season in 1996 & 97 after the Touring Car World Cup was cancelled.
The big one though, was the Bathurst 1000 in 1997 and 1998. Though the Aussie series now likes to pretent they didn't exist, when they split the TV coverage from the race and the V8 Supercars were no longer running in the Bathurst 1000, they replaced them with Super Tourers. So 1000km (7h) around Bathurst! 2 co-driver teams, same as now. The finish in 1998 was spectacular!
If you want to know how quick these cars are, the '98 pole lap from Rydell in the Volvo S40 was 2:14.93. Comparatively, the V8's are 2:09.89 in '98, both before the resurfacing.
The cars were fitted with quick-connect fuel nozzles, dry-break couplings and endurance fuel tanks. Gear ratios were adjusted for Conrod straight and Michelin developed harder-compound tyres.
Rydell's pole lap is here: ua-cam.com/video/vVzsFJtE26w/v-deo.html
The V8s had an 'alternate' race each year which the series owners have now almost retconned into being "Bathurst" those seasons, but they weren't...
Safety car jaguar was the supercharged xjr you can allways tell with the mesh grill and wheels and its v8. The btcc alfa romeo 155 absolutely dominated!! I had one at the time they were racing, absolutely loved the car.Tarquini the driver was amazing! Volvo used the estate too. They were 300bhp limited but weighed nothing.
I drive the genration later XJR X350. The 308 looks better but the 350 is bit more modern.
Supercharged 4.2l V8 with just 400hp in stock config. (396)
Ppl do put a smaller pulley on to get more out of it.
With 550 N/m torque at 3500 u/min (depending on source)
Top speed I dont know the speedometer ends at 260 km/h
Weight is 1750kg
I know I ramble.
@ niice 👌🏻
The closest I come to touring cars is TOCA touring car championship on playstation 😂
TOCA 3 one of the best driving games ever
super touring mod for assetto corsa
I had it on pc .. classic game
@@blairchristie910 I played all three games in the series on pc (known as DTM Race Driver in The Netherlands). :)
Best game ever
Vauxhall were one of the leading manufacturers during the 90s. Check out some of the BTCC Vauxhall Cavalier battles, rubbin certainly is racing!
The Yellow & Blue Renaults are a model called a mk 1 Laguna (1994-2001 model year)
A pretty standard 4 dr hatchback/ estate( station wagon) in Europe.
Modern BTCC weekends are contested over 3 races, roughly 30 minutes each, with the initial race grid set out by the qualifying position, the second race starts in the positions the first finished and for the final race, the race 2 winner picks a random ball out of a bowl, whatever number is on the ball, that amount of cars are reversed. This can be between 6 and 12 cars.
In the super tourer era, they only had two races per weekend, a sprint and a feature race. I'm unsure of the lengths of both but I do know that the sprint race was simply lights to flag but in the feature race you had to make a mandatory pitstop, adding an element of teamwork and strategy to your race
Glad you found the Volvo estates. I was hoping you'd find the diesels. (Yes, at one point a team ran them).
12:40 - Nailed it! Corner Marshal buddy of mine from the UK says the cool thing about it is that the front straight is down in a little valley, and most of the circuit is up on the side of the hill across from the grandstand. One of the few road courses where you can almost see the whole track from one place. He's been around it in his street 2013 Jag F-Type, says it's as much fun as it looks.
Literally waited for so long for you to do this video as always top marks
New viewer. Your knowledge of engines and cars impressed me. Subscribed. BTCC is still good now but the 90s was the peak. They spent fortunes on the cars with Formula 1 companies involved. And it was Brands Hatch!!
“Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” 90s wild days! - Nice video! Cheers
The engines were all 2.0L and had throttle bodies, running around 300bhp hence the cool induction noise! They also had weight penalties imposed based on qualifying and after each race to keep them all similar.
Great vid👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼, im a big btcc fan been watching since the super touring days. Don't know if you were aware but the guy that got to drive the Peugeot in this vid is Jake Hill one of the top drivers currently in the btcc at the moment as of this video he is leading the championship. Their current season is back under way this Sunday after their summer break at Croft circuit. If you can pick up ITV 4 you will be able to watch the current crop or they do have a UA-cam channel with decent highlights✌🏼
Vauxhal is , GM since 1925 and since the '60 just a re-badged OPEL 😂, 100% the same car, often even same model names ( corsa, kadett = viva, manta = firenza, astra, vectra, omega,...etc) but just righthand drive. It would make more sense just checking out OPEL instead. Both were sold in 2017 to PSA now part of Stelantis.
Opel was bought in 1929 by GM. The cars since the late 70s onwards were based on Opel platforms, with the Viva effectively being the last when it stopped production in 1979 (though the Bedford HA van carried on well into the 80s until replaced by the Astravan), the Chevette which followed the Viva was a hybrid of Luton and Opel design, with the engine and running gear being luton designed effectively and the rest Opel designed. The cars that followed were all based upon Opel platforms until PSA bought Opel/Vauxhall from GM and the more recent models are based on PSA platforms and future ones could be either Fiat or PSA based as they look to economise on designs (which is leading to the death of the Saloon and Estate and eventually the hatchback probably).
@@bionicgeekgrrl well that was detailled 😂. Thanks. But it really do think it is 1925 that GM bought them. I have the news paper clipping of 21th november 1925 in front of me 😂.
@@CobraChicken101 it is, for some reason i thought it was 32.
Firenza was a sportier version of the Viva, which wasn't related to the Opel Kadett, despite the similarities of the 60s version.
The Opel Calibra was a beast in the DTM series.
There is a video on UA-cam about how volvo did magic tricks to keep the engine within regulations so the could race it in the series, it's something worth watching.
Man those liveries are so iconic. One of my favourite games in the 90s was Toca Touring Cars Championship. And later Toca 2. But the first one was all these iconic cars.
Agreed, the first TOCA had the best liveries, the green and yellow Laguna from 98 didn't quite do it for me like the yellow and blue one from 97. In my mind all the other liveries were the same between the two games, but I'm sure they weren't I just remember the first game liveries so well. Honda (white, black, red), Audi (grey, red), Ford (blue, grey), Nissan (white, red/yellow/blue), etc
yep, that's Brands Hatch. the 90's was definitely the peak of BTC for me - the manufacturers were at the top of their game - BMW, Renault, Peugeot, Volvo, Vauxhall, Audi, Honda and Ford all had top cars, though Ford had just moved to the Mondeo from the Cossie Sierra so they were lagging a bit.
You forgot Nissan and Mazda did race as did Toyota in the early 90s.
@@terryosborne272 lol, yeah i knew i'd miss a few.
Reacting to some documentaries would be good to see. There are so many great old ones that should be in the public domain too. Grand prix the killer years, fangio, moss, clark, stewart, ascari, mclarne, and the commentary to so many of the older races.. murray walker, so so many great names on the f1 side.
Then there are road racing docs (bikes) "Road" is great but there are again lots to choose from. Joey Dunlop would be the senna of road racing but survived to his late 40s or early 50s. Brilliant natural racer, humanitarian and extremely humble to boot.
Last suggestion, check out some modern historic racing.. great to see mini's battling US v8s and everything inbetween. Goodwood has a channel thats a good starting point.
Volvo "cheated" with their engine, they modified the head in a way that didn't break the rules but did break what the rule was trying to stop. Though not sure if that was in the sedan or the wagon.. yup they raced the big wagon 😂
9:34 Same type of Peugeot 406 was in legendary action comedy movie: Taxi 1 (the original French version). Really Cool car. Propably the best looking BTCC car and one of the best looking Touring Car ever. And the sound....really sharp and "racing".
Vauxhall was Opel Vectra.
BTCC has always been a favorite of mine. My absolute favorites were the Volvo 850 estates that were dicing it up with the sedans and were quite competitive.
At last! I was wondering how long it would be before you got to the Britgish Super Tourers. Glad to see you cover it and glad you enjoyed it.
4:01 yes they did. in the XJ 12 coupe and sedan models. they stopped after production ended for the XJ12 in 1992 so likely thats a 1992 jaguar XJ12 or a 2000 XJ8. the body of it isnt that familiar because i only seen the XJ12 models. they started in 1973 and ended in 1992 with 3 different series over its 19 to 20 year span. all of them with 5.3L (325 ci) V12's
Super touring; Standard production engine block, max 2 liters, max 8500rpm 4, 5, 6 cylinders, approx 290-320 hp, acid dipped standard chassie, approx. 40 meters of tubing in rollcage, seq gearbox.with reverse etc. Basically formula performance. Awsome racing cars but crazy building cost finally killed the class.
Often pushed around to save clutch etc
If you have Assetto Corsa check out VRC they have several Super Tourers ( 90's BTCC ) and are awesome fun to drive. Great video, glad you like our national racing series hope you do more of these in the future.
Subscribed, greetings from the Netherlands
The 60s to 90s were Golden age of Touring car racing👌🏼🇬🇧
The Volvo 850 road car was a 2.5 5 cylinder turbo, very fast in its day.
The Touring cars you are watching, made 330hp normally aspirated, and weighing between 975kg to 1040kg, which meant dominant cars could be hit with a ballast penalty, to even up the power to weight ratio.
My favorite type of racing and era. So much action and sorta relatable cars.
Loved the video. Straight to the point with no BS. It might be worth checking out the Ford Sierra Cosworth Touring cars i think its Merkur in the states. Them cars sound fantastic. Plus the Volvo 850T, look like a station wagon, drives like a beast. Pure 90s Touring Car fun ❤
Great video, wait till you discover the rivalries in BTCC, Cleland vs Soper/ Gravett, & Plato vs Neal
You need to follow this up with looking up Jerry Marshall, one of the greats of british stock car racing and known for his unique driving style.
Also, the channel The Late Brake Show had Tiff Needell on recently with one of the old Ford Sierra Cosworths he drove in the 80s in the BTCC. Tiff is 72 years old and still got the same passion for racing as he always had.
Both of those are definitely worth your time checking out.
I saw Jonny's show with Tiff! You're right, it's fantastic stuff.
The Volvo wagon😊
I specifically remember a race at Snetterton where they suffered brake problems and Jan Lammers took out half the field at the chicane, twice!!!!!!
Golden Age of touring cars. Was absolutely peak.
So many manufacturers involved, aggressive racing, wonderful circuits. Amazing times.
Jake Hill - the guy showing you around the cars, is well worth checking out. He is currently leading the 2024 BTCC championship, plus he does a lot of classic car racing at Goodwood. Real nice guy and an outstanding driver.
The guy that raced the gold and green Peugeot owns one of them now and has it in his collection at home 👌🏻
Imagine having a 90s super tourer in your garage 😍
There is also turbo whine which adds to the sounds. I used to visit Donnington park regularly for the superbike races, it sure is a lovely track.
Wheel spin, clutch is fine. Looks cool outside. Stihl are a German magnesium alloy casting and machining manufacturing specialist. All sorts of specialty engine, clutch, race components.
At last 😂 . The greatest period in any motorsport worldwide.
Super touring era of the 90s were mega. Loved Steve Soper in his BMW. Went to Oulton Park quite a few times, it was fantastic. Contact was allowed.
This era of BTCC and Supertouring was ridiculously amazing. Team budgets backed by manufacturers were upwards of £10m per season at its height. Those cars may have looked recognisable over here but they were far from forecourt examples. BTCC was the embodiment of 'Win on a Sunday and sell on a Monday' and if they did then they did, in a big way! Incredible racing, heroic and super talented drivers and a fan base more tribal than any other it was the epitome of British Motorsport and hasn't been matched since.
That decade introduced the Super Touring Class which were 2.0l engines and heavily modified. It attracted major car manufacturers and so was amazing to see. Also, rubbing and contact was more than what we see now. Safety and rule changes over the years. Jake Hill, the chap showing you round the Peugeot is a current BTCC driver.
ITVX have the current BTCC series but it'll be region locked, I suspect. EDIT ...I forgot ITV do the quali and races on UA-cam.
ua-cam.com/video/Fw9ScEurh2M/v-deo.html
I am staying in castle Donnington at the moment and can hear the track all day ❤
doing a BTCC series......... Cannot wait for you to cry with laughter at the Plato vs Neil rivalry, at the time you took a side, looking back it was freaking hilarious. BTCC was nuts in the 90s, Williams running the Renault Factory team, Nigel Mansell driving a Mondeo, big crashes, big rivalries, huge personalities: Plato, Neil, Menu, Winkelhock, Thompson, Harvey,. Hoy, Cleland to name a few.
PS: Vauxhall is basically Opel but in the UK. and up until a few years ago was basically General Motors Europe, so a lot of crossover with Holden.
I started watching BTCC in 88 when I was 13, Andy Rouse and Steve Soper in the RS500's and Frank Sytner in the E30 M3 are the ones I remember most.