BTCC 2012

British Touring Cars Championship could possibly be the best racing series around, just let me explain. First let's take a quick look at the cars and their technical regulations. BTCC's cars are based on two types of regulations -

WTCC/S2000 spec:
 - based on a production model, normally aspirated 2-liter engine, 6-speed sequential gearbox, no electronic driver aids and a maximum price of €168,000

NGTC (New Generation Touring Car) spec:
- 300+ bhp turbocharged 2-liter engine, slightly wider tyres, maximum price of £125,000 (including engine) ... the rest is basically the same as S2000
- these regulations were specifically made for BTCC

This year there are lots of NGTC cars, in 2011 there was only Frank Wrathall's Toyota Avensis, team Dynojet. You should be getting one of BTCC's big advantages - the variety of cars on the grid is very wide. You can have rear wheel drive, front wheel drive, turbocharged, N/A, hatchback, saloon,... It's basically up to you as long as it meets the regulations. There are literally 11 different cars at the moment, if you've ever heard of DTM (German touring car championship), there are only Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Honda Yuasa Racing Team - Honda Civic

Then there's the atmosphere, all the drivers are very friendly, they take it more as a pastime than a job. There are only 2 manufacturer teams (Honda and MG) and lots of private racing teams racing just for joy. If you take Formula 1, there's really no pleasure for the drivers at all, they are under constant pressure, have to make their sponsors happy at every corner and so on... 

Dynojet - Toyota Avensis

And last but not least - the crashes! Oh yeah, BTCC resembles destruction derby more then often. These guys aren't afraid to hit you in order to get in front of you. But if they do, they don't get punished by the marshalls, it's just a custom here.

Ok, so what's it all about? 23 cars, 7000bhp, lots of crashes, breathtaking maneuvers and a brilliant atmosphere. So tune in next weekend - Donigton Park is gonna smell like rubber! (in case you don't have itv, all the races can be found on youtube, you just have to search)

Official info - http://www.btcc.net

Nürburgring record

Earlier this year Peugeot set a new electric car record around the Nürburgring. 9m 1.338s was almost a minute faster than previous record holder, Peugeot used their high-performance EX1 Concept electric car, a 340bhp all wheel drive beast. But the 'Ring demands some serious competition and to hold a lap record there is very prestigious.

 

Peugeot EX1 Concept

It didn't take long to beat that record again - by Toyota. About a week ago they let their own high-performance electric car TMG EV P001 (this really sounds like a kitchen appliance) lap the 'Ring and it did it in 7m 47.794s! This Radical-based 375bhp racer wiped the previous record so hard Peugeot's executives shed a tear...

Toyota TMG EV P001

To put this time in perspective, let me show you some other cars that lapped the 'Ring in 7m 47s - Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Lamborghini Murcielago LP-640 and Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano. And here are some other amazing lap times:

• production vehicles - Radical SR8 LM - 6m 48s
• non-series vehicles - Pagani Zonda R - 6m 47.5s (fastest road-legal car)

And the absolute record holder Porsche 956 at 6m 11.13s driven by Stefan Bellof in 1983. I will definitely come back to this legendary car later, it deserves it!