Touring car racing
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Touring car racing is a general term for a number of distinct automobile racing competitions in heavily-modified street cars. It is notably popular in Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, and Australia.
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What constitutes a touring car?
While rules vary from country to country, most series require that the competitors start with a standard bodyshell, but virtually every other component is allowed to be heavily modified for racing, including engines, suspension, brakes, wheels and tyres. Wings are usually added to the front and rear of the cars. Regulations are usually designed to limit costs by banning some of the more exotic technologies available (for instance, many series insist on a "control tyre" that all competitors must use) and keep the racing close (sometimes by a "lead trophy" where winning a race requires the winner's car to be heavier for subsequent races). In this, it shares some similarity with the American NASCAR series, but raced exclusively on road courses and street circuits rather than the American series' primarily oval tracks.
Whilst not nearly as fast as Formula One, the similarity of the cars both to each other and to fans' own vehicles makes for entertaining, well-supported racing. The lesser impact of aerodynamics also means that following cars have a much easier time of passing than F1, and the more substantial bodies of the cars makes the occasional nudging for overtaking much more acceptable as part of racing.
As well as short "sprint" races, many touring car series include one or more "endurance" races, which last anything from 3 to 24 hours and are a test of reliability and pit crews as much as car and driver speed.
Differences between touring cars and sports cars
For the casual observer, there can be a great deal of confusion when it comes to classifying closed-wheel racing cars as 'touring cars' or 'sports cars' (also known as GT cars). In truth, there is often very little technical difference between the two classifications, and nomenclature is often a matter of tradition.
In general, however, touring cars are based upon 4-door 'family' sedans or, more rarely, 2-door coupe cars, while GT racing cars are based upon more exotic vehicles, such as Ferrari's or Lamborghini's. Underneath the bodywork, a Touring Car is often more closely related to its road-going origins, using many original components and mountings, while a top-flight GT car is often a purpose-built tube-frame racing chassis underneath a cosmetic bodyshell. Many Touring Car series, such as the BTCC and the now-defunct JTCC distinguish themselves from sports-car racing by featuring front-wheel drive cars with smaller engines.
However, while in general Touring Cars have a lower technical level than sports cars, there are notable exceptions to the rule. The DTM is considered to be one of the most technologically advanced racing series in the world, with cars that, underneath their four-door shells, are more purebread racing machines than most FIA-GT vehicles.
Series of Competition
Deutsche Touringcar Meisterschaft
Germany/Europe
Also known as the DTM. This series features advanced purpose built V8-powered space frame machines, covered with carbon fibre bodyshapes resemblant of the manufacturers' road machine. DTM cars corner incredibly quickly and wear spectacular bodykits incorporating huge wheel arches and diffusors.
Easily Europe's premier series - DTM features many ex-F1 drivers (eg. Jean Alesi and Heinz-Harald Frentzen) the European locale makes this series appealing for aspiring drivers, who didn't quite make F1, as they compete alongside legends of the sport.
More than 20 works-backed entries of Opel Vectra GTS, Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class are expected to contest the 2004 DTM series.
V8 Supercar
Formerly the Australian Touring Car Championship. This series features huge grids of fire-breathing 640+ hp (480 kW) Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores.
Unlike the manufacturer-orientated championships of Europe, Australia's series is much closer to NASCAR with well-sponsored teams preparing their own distinct interpretations of the Falcon and Commodore, however production derived bodyshells and panels are used rather than space-frame chassis.
In 2004, well over 50 entries will compete across the division one and two series respectively:
- V8 Supercar Championship Series, incorporating the Bathurst 1000, this series will be contested by 14 professional two-car outfits as well as 5+ one-car outfits.
- Konica Minolta Series, home of up-and-coming drivers hoping to break into the main game as well as loyal privateers.
British Touring Car Championship
United Kingdom/Republic of Ireland
Dominated by Triple Eight Racing's VX Racing Vauxhall Astras this series competes to British 2 Litre regulations as set out by Alan Gow.
Opposition comes from Honda, MG and Proton.
SEAT competes using a speed-adjusted Super 2000 car from the ETCC.
World Touring Car Championship
Europe
Running across vast continental racing facilities, this series which is heavily supported by BMW, Alfa Romeo and SEAT, features 2L cars built to Super 2000 regulations.
Other Series
- SPEED World Challenge (USA)
- Swedish Touring Car Championship
- Norwegian Touring Car Championship
- French Touring Car Championship
- Brazil's Stock Car Series
- New Zealand Touring Cars
- Danish Touring Car Championship
- All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship / Super GT
- US Touring Car Championship [1] (http://www.ustcc.com/)
Previous Series
- The old World Touring Car Championship, plagued by lack of support from the FIA, raced under the Group A regulations of the late 1980s.
- Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC) ran from 1994 through 1997.
- North American Touring Car Championship (NATCC) ran from 1996 to 2000.
Other Notable Competitions
There is an annual 24 hour touring car race at the famous Nürburgring.