Supertouring

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, filling a void left 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.

Regulations

The Supertouring Car was required to be a minimum of 4.20 meters in length with four doors, effectively requiring a small family car as a minimum. No more than 2 litres engine capacity or 6 cylinders were permitted, and the engine was required to be normally aspirated. Only two wheels could be driven and steered. [Citation | year = 2001 | title = Article 262 - Technical Regulations for Supertouring Cars (Group ST). | series = Appendix J, FIA International Sporting Code. | publisher = Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile ] For homologation, initially at least 2500 units of the model used must have been produced. In 1995, in a bid to counter the increasing numbers of homologation specials this was increased to at least 25,000 units. [ [http://www.supertouring.co.uk/techreg1.html BTCC Technical Regulations] ]

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 (JTCC), 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 All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (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, the series began in 1993 when the Group A regulations for the Australian Touring Car Championship series was replaced by V8 Supercar and Supertouring. The advent of a new management structure and telelcast arrangement for V8Supercar put them in conflict with Bathurst 1000 organisers. Supertouring were offered the chance to compete at Bathurst after race organisers could not come to terms with V8 Supercar. Bathurst City Council and V8 Supercar came to a separate arrangement to host their own breakaway "Australian 1000 Classic" race. Supertouring did not become a viable option and the third and final race was transformed into a motorsport carnival with several categories attending and the Supertouring event halved to 500 kilometres, before collapsing in the aftermath of the 1999 race. In 2000 in the absence of a rival the V8 Supercar event took up the Bathurst 1000 name.

Unfortunately, during the Supertouring's long run, the category suffered 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 hit side-on. Soon after, rollcages in competition cars with built in side impact bars and seats with head restraints on the side would become mandatory.

One reason for Supertouring's demise was the cost of preparing a car for competition. In 1990, a Vauxhall Cavalier cost £60,000. By the later part of the 90's, a similar car with more sophisticated aerodynamics device and telemetry cost £250,000.Fact|date=July 2008

The current World Touring Car Championship regulations are very inspired by the old series, with production-based four door sedans powered by 2.0 L engines. 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 de Supertourisme for the current 3.0 L tube frame cars.

List of championships that used the Super Touring formula

*Portuguese Velocity Championship 1994-
*Belgique Procar, Belgium
*South American Super Touring Car Championship
*Central-European Super Touring Championship
*New Zealand Touring Car Championship, New Zealand
*Serbian Super Touring Championship, Serbia

References

External links

* [http://www.supertouring.co.uk/ SuperTouring.co.uk] - history of Super Touring
* [http://www.supertouringregister.com/ SuperTouringRegister.com] - archive of cars built to Super Touring regulations