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The World Rally Championship is an international rallying series owned and governed by the FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the second oldest of the FIA's world championships after Formula One. Each season lasts one calendar year, and separate championship titles are awarded to drivers, co-drivers and manufacturers. There are also two support championships, WRC2 and WRC3, which are contested on the same events and stages as the WRC, but with progressively lower maximum performance and running costs of the cars permitted. Junior WRC is also contested on five events of the World Rally Championship calendar.
The European Car of the Year (ECOTY) award is an international Car of the Year award established in 1964 by a collective of automobile magazines from different countries in Europe. The current organising companies of the award are Auto (Italy), Autocar, Autopista (Spain), Autovisie (Netherlands), L'Automobile Magazine (France), Stern (Germany) and Vi Bilägare (Sweden).
Fifth Gear is a British motoring television magazine series which has been broadcast since 2002. Originally shown on Channel 5 from 2002 to 2011, it began as a continuation of the original version of the BBC show Top Gear, which ran from 1977 until being cancelled in 2001. It moved to the Discovery Channel in 2012, then in 2015 to History; since 2018 it has been broadcast on Quest. Following a 2021 relaunch, with an emphasis on electric cars, it has been branded as Fifth Gear Recharged. The show is currently presented by Vicki Butler-Henderson, Sid North, Karun Chandhok and Jason Plato with Grace Webb and engineer Jimmy de Ville also involved in reports. Its former presenters include Quentin Willson, Adrian Simpson, Rory Reid, Jonny Smith, former racing driver Tiff Needell and Car SOS host Tim Shaw.
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as the British Touring Car Championship for the 1987 season. The championship, currently running Next Generation Touring Car regulations, has been run to various national and international regulations over the years including FIA Group 2, FIA Group 5, FIA Group 1, FIA Group A, FIA Super Touring and FIA Super 2000. A lower-key Group N class for production cars ran from 2000 until 2003.
Stig Lennart Blomqvist is a retired Swedish rally driver. He made his international breakthrough in 1971. Driving an Audi Quattro for the Audi factory team, Blomqvist won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1984 and finished runner-up in 1985. He won his home event, the Swedish Rally, seven times.
Yvan Muller is a French auto racing driver most noted for success in touring car racing. He is a four-time World Touring Car Champion, winning the title in 2008 with SEAT, in 2010 and 2011 with Chevrolet and in 2013 with RML. He was British Touring Car Champion in 2003 with Vauxhall.
Timothy Jason Plato is a British racing driver who last competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for BTC Racing. He has twice been BTCC Champion, in 2001 for Vauxhall and 2010 for Silverline Chevrolet. He has finished in the top 3 in the Championship 12 times and holds the record for the most overall race wins in the BTCC. He has also served as a presenter on the motoring television series Fifth Gear since 2004.
Triple Eight Racing was a motorsports team formed in 1996 as Triple Eight Race Engineering, which competed in the British Touring Car Championship and the British GT Championship.
Davrian cars were built by Davrian Developments at 65 North Street, Clapham in London, England, from 1965 to 1976, in Tregaron, Dyfed, Wales from 1976 to 1980 and Lampeter, Dyfed, from 1980 to 1983.
What Car? is a British monthly automobile magazine and website, currently edited by Steve Huntingford and published by Haymarket Media Group. Other team members include deputy editor Darren Moss and test editors Will Nightingale, Neil Winn, Lawrence Cheung, and Dan Jones. The used car editors are Mark Pearson and Oliver Young. The consumer editor is Claire Evans.
The 1993 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship season was 36th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.
The 1987 World Rally Championship was the 15th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 13 rallies in the same venues of the previous season. The only alteration to the schedule was the move of the Olympus Rally from December to June on the calendar.
The 1999 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship featured 26 races across 13 rounds. It began on 5 April at Donington Park and concluded on 19 September at Silverstone. The driver's title was won by Laurent Aïello in his debut season driving for the Nissan works team, with his teammate David Leslie in second place. Reigning champion Rickard Rydell finished in third place.
Nicholas Mark Grist is a Welsh former rally co-driver, born in Ebbw Vale. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1993 to 2002. He won 21 rallies with more than one driver.
The FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup was a sub-section of the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 1999. It involved mostly 1,600 cc (97.6 cu in) or 2,000 cc (122.0 cu in), naturally aspirated, front wheel drive cars. The series was discontinued due to high costs, and the new Super 2000 class was amalgamated into the Production World Rally Championship, whilst the 1600cc cars were generally modified for usage in the Super 1600 class, which formed the basis of the Junior World Rally Championship in 2001. The most successful manufacturer was SEAT, who won the title three times in a row with their SEAT Ibiza Kit Car.
The 1997 Mobil 1 British Rally Championship was won by Manxman Mark Higgins in the Nissan Sunny GTI ahead of fellow Manxman Martin Rowe in the Renault Megane Maxi Kit Car, Alister Mcrae in the Volkswagen Golf and Welshman Gwyndaf Evans in the Ford Escort. The manufacturers championship was won by Volkswagen ahead of Nissan and Renault.
The 1998 Mobil 1 British Rally Championship was won by Manxman Martin Rowe in the Renault Megane Maxi Kit Car ahead of veteran Welsh driver Gwyndaf Evans in the SEAT Ibiza Kit Car and Alister McRae in The Volkswagen Golf Kit Car. Reigning champion Mark Higgins had a very disappointing season in the new Nissan Almera Kit Car. The ladies' cup was won by SEAT driver Barbara Armstrong ahead of Ford's Stephanie Simmonite. The manufacturers' championship was won by Renault.
The 1999 British Rally Championship was a rallying championship season for rally cars conforming to F2 and Group N Regulations, with only the F2 teams and drivers eligible to win the overall title. The championship was won by Finland's Tapio Laukkanen ahead of former champion Gwyndaf Evans and 1998 Champion Martin Rowe. The Manufacturers title was won by Renault.
Team BMR was a British motor racing team based in Buntingford, Hertfordshire and founded by Warren Scott. The team raced in the British Touring Car Championship between 2013 and 2019 after previously entering the 2004 British Superbike Championship season as BMR Racing. During the winter of 2013, Scott purchased Tony Gilham Racing's assets, including their four NGTC race cars.
The 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship was a motor racing championship for production-based touring cars held across England and Scotland. The championship featured a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded amateur drivers competing in highly modified versions of family cars which are sold to the general public and conform to the technical regulations for the championship. The 2017 season was the 60th British Touring Car Championship season and the seventh season for cars conforming to the Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) technical specification.