Turismo Carretera

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Turismo Carretera (English: Road racing, lit., Road Touring) is probably the most popular car racing series in Argentina, featuring stock cars in the manner of American NASCAR series.

The first TC competition took place in 1937 with 12 races, each in a different province. Formula 1 star Juan Manuel Fangio (Chevrolet) won the 1940 and 1941 editions of the TC. By that time the Chevrolet-Ford rivalry started, when Ford acquired most of its historical victories.

Until the 1960s, the races were held in temporarily closed local roads, often a combination of dirt and asphalt (hence its name) rather than in dedicated race tracks.

During the 1960s, the category became high-tech with local manufacturers investing heavily for prestige. Ford and Chevrolet were the main American firms, and to a lesser degree Dodge. European Renault, who was merged with Kaiser in Argentina and thus inherited the Rambler series, was also a contender.

In the 1970s, the Sport Prototipo (modified cars in the Gran Turismo vein) category was spun-off TC to allow TC to return to its stock-car roots which made it immensely popular with small-town audiences. That spin-off withered away slowly. A second spin-off was TC 2000 in the 1980s, that allowed showcasing the smaller cars most Argentines were driving (and thus including Peugeot, Renault Fiat and Volkswagen into the mix, and later on Japanese brands as well). TC 2000 soon became as popular as TC itself.

In later years, and to preserve its main draw, TC has been clinging to the larger models that have mostly gone out of use in Argentine roads, and incorporates imported engines.

Brands in TC used to have fan bases, with Chevrolet being the largest, until General Motors decided to end manufacturing in Argentina in 1977. Ford reputedly draws the largest fan base in later years.

Contents

[edit] Circuits

The race-tracks used are:

[edit] Cars

Please note that both Dodge and Torino were equipped with Cherokee engines only recently. Back when they won the titles they were equipped with their original engines. (a Chrysler engine for Dodge and an AMC-designed Tornado for the Torino, which is basically a modified AMC Rambler American or Rogue)

[edit] Drivers

See also cat. TC drivers

[edit] Active

[edit] Former

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../t/u/r/Turismo_Carretera_e001.html"
In other languages