World Touring Car Championship (WTCC): 1987, 2005-2017
While the European Touring Car Championship had effectively acted as the highest level of tin-top racing for many years, there hadn’t actually been a formal world championship for touring cars. This changed in 1987 when the WTCC was born; and in true touring car fashion, controversy and politics were soon to follow.
Hopes were high for the first season of the series, as the Group A era was still going strong with a good variety of manufacturers, as well as plenty of excellent drivers. However when Bernie Ecclestone was installed as the series promoter at the eleventh hour, things started to fall apart.
In his infinite wisdom, he imposed a $60,000 entry fee that teams were required to fork over in order to be eligible for points. Some high-profile teams, like TWR, laughed at the idea and chose to simply ignore the championship. Others who were already committed to running in the series had no choice but to pay up: Ford and BMW were the main contenders, Alfa Romeo had their moments, and Maserati were as hopeless as usual.
All the Ford and BMW entries (bar one privateer M3) were thrown out of the opening round at Monza, in a weekend that rather set the tone for the season ahead. Ultimately, the drivers’ title would be decided in controversial circumstances. While the European teams operated under something of a gentlemen’s agreement, where teams wouldn’t protest one another as long as their bending of the rules wasn’t too egregious, when the series visited Bathurst the locals weren’t willing to play the game.
This saw the Eggenberger Sierras disqualified at Bathurst, although it would take until a few months into 1988 for the outcome to be finalised. By that point though, the series was dead. Ecclestone’s efforts to sabotage the championship due to fears it could act as a rival to Formula One had succeeded, and his daft vision for a 3.5 litre V10 silhouette formula to replace the WTCC landed flat on its face.
Thankfully, when the WTCC was revived in 2005 we actually got to enjoy a proper world championship for touring cars at long last. BMW, SEAT, Chevrolet and Citroën all enjoyed periods of great success, and the grid featured a huge range of exceptionally talented drivers over the years. The action was frantic, chaotic and, crucially, featured cars that closely resembled their regular road-going counterparts.
Eventually, the championship was forced to re-brand and become WTCR, following the demise of the spectacular, but expensive TC1 cars. However, the 2000s and early 2010s era of the WTCC remains a real golden era of touring car racing, and one that will continue to be remembered fondly for many years to come.