British Touring Car Championship

The British Touring Car Championship or BTCC is a touring car championship sanctioned by TOCA. The championship is mainly based in the United Kingdom but the series does also hold rounds elsewhere in Europe. The BTCC was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship (BSCC) and was renamed as the British Touring Car Championship for the 1987 season.

History
The British Saloon Car Championship began in 1958 after the British Racing & Sports Car Club were convinced to create a series to capitalise on the rising popularity of saloon car racing in the postwar period. The series for much of its early years used a multi-class system corresponding to engine size - mainly so the ranges of all the major manufacturers were catered to.

Circuits
As a national series, the BTCC has visited various circuits in the UK and beyond throughout its long history. The inaugural season saw a ten race calendar visiting seven circuits in England - including four rounds at Brands Hatch in Kent. Aintree, Crystal Palace, Goodwood, Mallory Park, Silverstone and Snetterton were the other circuits in the original season.

A year later in 1959, the series left England and the United Kingdom for the time when the series visited the Republic of Ireland and Dublin's Phoenix Park circuit.

Cheshire's Oulton Park joined the championship in 1960, followed by Thruxton in Hampshire in 1966. Scotland's first circuit on the calendar was Ingliston which joined the BSCC in 1969. North Yorkshire's Croft Circuit joined a year later in 1970 while Donington Park in Leicestershire saw BSCC action for the first time in 1977.

Between 1986 and 1990 the series raced on the streets of Birmingham as part of the Birmingham Superprix bill alongside the International Formula 3000 series.

1992 saw the series revisit Scotland with the Knockhill Circuit and also Wales for the first time with a round at Pembrey.

Ireland's Mondello Park joined the calendar on a long term basis in 2001 - a year which also saw the series visit mainland Europe for the first time with a race at Belgium's Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The BTCC would expand more into Europe throughout the 2000s - the 2003 season starting in Denmark at the newly-redeveloped FDM Jyllandsringen as part of the circuit's launch event "Touringcar Festivalen". 2003 also saw the roval Rockingham Motor Speedway join the series.

Records
See BTCC Records.