Talk:Touring car racing

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For the BTCC section I've excised these paragraphs as they contain factual errors, POV theories to try and explain why the BTCC may not be as popular worldwide as it once was, and a curious Honda/Thompson emphasis. It's now much more concise, and any more info needed ought to be on the BTCC page itself.

At one point the BTCC was considered one of the most important touring car championship in the world. Millions of people worldwide watched Renault clinch the 1996 championship with their Laguna. Support and enthusiasm for the series has dropped dramatically since the 2000 championship which was contested only by Honda, Ford and Vauxhall. The previous season had seen nine manufacturers vying for trophies. Honda was expected to walk the 2000 season yet somehow managed to barely scrape second place ahead of Vauxhall.

It is interesting to note that the decline of this series' popularity coincided with the replacement - by virtually all teams still in the Championship - of saloon cars, for which the BTCC has always been famous, such as the Peugeot 406 and Honda Accord - with smaller "hot hatches" such as the Peugeot 306 and Honda Civic-R.

In its 1990s heyday, the cars were larger and much more powerful, presumably why the series was so much more popular back then.

Teams normally run two cars. In 1999, Honda ran three Accords at certain events, and in 2001 a lone privateer Honda Civic-R competed with the few prestigious teams remaining. In previous years Honda has enjoyed success with its Accords. Yorkshireman James Thompson nearly clinched the title several years in succession, being let down by the most outrageous bad fortune (and several needlessly aggressive manouevres which saw him disqualified from more than one podium finish).

Heycos 15:29, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] United States Touring Cars

We have a touring car league. It's called the Sports Car Club of America Speed World Challenge Touring Car Championship (Speed Touring Cars for short). 67.188.172.165 18:22, 7 December 2006 (UTC)