Supertouring

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Supertouring, Class 2 or Class II Touring Cars were the rules laid out by the FIA for national touring car racing in 1994, based on the 2.0 L formula created for the British Touring Car Championship in 1990.

Supertouring replaced Group A as the norm in nearly every touring car championship across the world, but escalating costs and the withdrawal of works teams caused the category to collapse in the late 1990s. The cars looked like regular road cars, while expensive changes had to be made to provide space for racing tyres inside the standard wheel arches.

An example for this was the German Super Tourenwagen Cup (STW) series, which ran from 1994 to 1999, after the end the 2.5 L V6-powered Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft in 1996. In 2000, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters resumed with 4.0 L V8-powered cars.

There was no restriction on body size and doors until 1993, when it was changed to only allow cars with a minimum of four doors and no smaller than the EuroNCAP 'Small Family Car' class, although 'Large Family Car' tends to dominate the category. Until 1995, teams were only permitted to fit aerodynamic device that were available through dealers, but that changed when, in 1994 BTCC season, Alfa Romeo entered a 155 with Gabriele Tarquini and Giampiero Simoni as drivers. The car had a front spoiler with a bottom piece that could be unscrewed and moved forward, acting as a splitter, and a rear spoiler with a pair of extensions, giving the car more downforce. When Alfa Romeo won the first five rounds, Ford, supported by Vauxhall, made a complaint to the race stewards and then responded by building their own production spoilers, which were banned by the organisers, TOCA. TOCA also decided the aero device was illegal and Alfa Romeo were stripped of the points they earned at Snetterton and Silverstone, though this decision was later reversed by appeal. Soon after that the FIA changed the regulation in all series to allow cars to only use non-production aerodynamic devices with a restricted size. Restrictions varied depending on body type, with Volvo having to revert from the 850 Estate to their 4-door model the following season when they found themselves to be disadvantaged by the new rules. In the Italian Supertourismo category, teams entered extended spoilers without complaints.

Alfa Romeo also homologated 2500 road cars, which was the minimum, for that season to allow their 1.8 L car with an advantage of a higher rev limit to enter, that was also changed to only non-homlogated consumer models to enter.

Some series however, would change the rules to suit crowd demands and competition from rival series, one example, was the Japanese Touring Car Championship, which made increases to body width and exhaust noise, also keeping the front aerodynamic devices basic in 1997 and in 1998 with the withdrawal of Nissan due to financial problems and Honda, to commit to its F1 program and realising it would be less expensive for them to race their NSX in the JGTC, leaving Toyota as the sole factory manufacturer to compete using their Corona EXIVs and Chasers. In 1999, a new formula using spaceframe cars came to nothing and the series was abandoned altogether as by then Japan's big three all had works entries in the JGTC.

In Australia, who had the series since 1993 when the old Group A Australian Touring Car Championship series was divided between the V8 cars and Supertouring to meet world wide popularity. In 1996, after spending the previous two years as a minor category, the Supertouring category would be given the chance the compete at the Bathurst 1000 as a sole category. The CAMS was unhappy about this and hosted their breakaway "Australian 1000 Classic" race for two years and it soon ended up outpopularising the Supertouring race. In 1999, due to waning demand from spectators and entries, the Bathurst 1000 name would be given back to the renamed V8 Supercar series and former category was given its own 500 mile race before being abandoned altogether.

Unfortunately, during the Supertouring's long run, the category would suffer two fatal accidents. In 1995 Gregg Hansford at Phillip Island and Kieth O'Dor, at Avus were involved in fatal accidents as a result of a broken neck caused by their cars' being t-boned. Soon after, rollcages in competition cars with built in side impact bars and seats with head restraints on the side would become mandatory.

The last series to hold on to this set of rules was the FIA European Super Touring Championship in 2001, this was won by Fabrizio Giovanardi. One reason for Supertouring's demise was the cost of preparing a car for competition. In 1990, a Vauxhall Cavalier would cost £60,000. By the later part of the 90's, a similar car with more sophisticated aerodynamics device and telemetry would cost £250,000.

The current World Touring Car Championship regulations are very inspired in the old series, with production-based four door sedans powered by 2.0 L engines. Now, wider wheel arches are allowed, with makes the cars look more spectacular. Cars under S2000 regulations are cheaper than their predecessors. Various national championships use similar rules.

Although it bears no resemblance to its predecessor, the "Supertouring" name was retained by the Championnat de France Supertourisme for the current 3.0 L tube frame cars.