When Volvo released the T5 variant of their 850, the Swedish automaker wanted to boost its profile in order to gain market share. Instead of a traditional marketing campaign, Volvo took the 850 racing in the British Touring Car Championship. How the decision to use the 850 estate came about wasn’t intentional though. Volvo commissioned Steffansson Automotive to […]
When An F1 Team Takes On Tin-Tops: The Williams BTCC Laguna
Frank Williams once said: “Next to Formula One, the BTCC is the most important series in the world outside America.” He was right. With over a million people tuning in on a Sunday to watch their favourite drivers battle it out in the British Touring Car Championship, few other live sporting programs came close. To have Williams run […]
How To Super Tourer, The Nissan Way
If Mark’s recent story on three race replicas hitting the streets of Japan doesn’t prove that the BTCC Super Tourer era truly transcends language and distance barriers, nothing else will. The late-1990s Super Tourer race series was designed to push sales of everyman four-door saloons. But while the cars loosely resembled their road-going counterparts, under the skin they […]
Super Touring On The Streets Of Saitama
It’s very easy to fly the ‘everything seems better in Japan’ flag when you’re out here. And that could be down to the inflated perception by websites like Speedhunters, or it could simply be down to the attitude (and aesthetics) the Japanese share towards car culture compared to those in other parts of the world. […]