Here is a small insight to the regulation of cars eligible to run in the British touring car championship

Types of Car
The BTCC is contested primarily by cars complying with the FIA’s Super 2000 technical regulations. S2000 is the same formula as used in the World Touring Car Championship. Teams entering S2000 cars are required to use a model of car that is readily available for purchase in a manufacturer’s showroom across Europe. The old BTC-spec cars, that populated the grid from 2001-06, are still permitted to compete, but are not eligible to win the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ championship outright. Uniquely, the BTCC remains the only touring car championship in the world that allows cars powered by petrol, diesel, gas or bio-ethanol to compete.

Race weekend format
The BTCC season consists of ten meetings, each featuring three races (or rounds) of equal distance. That’s 30 rounds for the entire season, with points in all 30 counting towards each driver’s end-of-season score.

The three rounds take place on Sundays (race days). Saturdays are used to stage the practice and qualifying sessions. On Saturday morning there are two 40-minute practice sessions that enable the teams and drivers to hone their cars to suit each circuit’s characteristics. In the afternoon, a 30-minute qualifying session is held. The times from this decide the starting grid order for the first of Sunday’s three rounds. If drivers have set equal times, the one who set it first will start ahead of the other.

The starting grid for the second of Sunday’s three rounds is decided by the finishing order of the day’s first race. Sunday’s third round grid is decided by the finishing order of the second race but, uniquely, with the leading positions reversed. The number of positions to be reversed becomes known only after race two when the winner draws a random number between six and ten.

Success ballast
After both the first and second races on Sunday, the following weight handicaps are added to the top five finishers’ cars before the start of races two and three respectively: 1st – 45kgs; 2nd – 36kgs; 3rd – 27kgs; 4th – 18kgs; 5th – 9kgs. Sixth place or lower does not carry any ballast. After race three, the same amounts of ballast are added to the cars of the top five drivers in the championship in time for the next race meeting when their cars must take part in practice, qualifying and race one carrying that extra weight. Ballast allocation is decided by the order in which the drivers cross the finish line – eg. if a driver finishes race one in second place but is then relegated places in the official results or even excluded (possibly due to a rules infringement) their car must still carry second-placed ballast in race two.

Driver Discipline
A range of penalties can be imposed against offending drivers. These include fines, loss of qualifying times, drive-through penalties, points deductions, relegation on the starting grid, exclusion from the results, suspension from the next race(s) and so on. Helping officials enforce driver discipline is a ‘spy in the cab’ – Fuji’s digital F30 camera that is fitted inside all cars and used by officials when examining incidents. Video evidence made available within ten days of an incident may be used for grounds of an enquiry, even if the incident has already been investigated.

Tyres
All teams and drivers compete using the same type of tyre provided by the BTCC’s exclusive supplier Dunlop. Each car is allowed 16 slick dry weather racing tyres per race meeting. There is no limit on the number of treaded tyres for use in wet weather conditions.

Spare engines
Entrants are permitted to use a maximum of four engines per car during the season. Going above that limit incurs a deduction of ten points from that entrant’s score in the Manufacturers’ and Teams’ championships.

Safety Car & Race Stoppages
The Porsche BTCC Safety Car is sent on to the track when deemed necessary by the Clerk of the Course. It will ‘pick up’ the race leader and then control the speed of the cars, providing marshals and officials with a safe environment in which to handle incidents. Only the first three laps completed under a Safety Car period will be added onto the original race distance.

If an incident is too severe to allow racing to continue, the Clerk of the Course may stop the race. If after two laps but before 75 per cent of the original distance, then the race can be restarted. Drivers would re-start in their running order immediately prior to the stoppage. The final result would be decided by the result of the restarted race. Drivers not running at the time of the stoppage may re-join at the re-start but from the back of the grid. If a race is stopped after 75 per cent of the original distance, the Clerk of the Course is not obliged to re-start it and can award full points.

Wet Races
Competitors will be permitted two reconnaissance laps prior to lining up on the starting grid, if the Clerk of the Course decides that track conditions warrant this. The onus is on competitors to ensure their cars are fitted with tyres suitable for the conditions at the time. At the order of the BTCC Clerk, if conditions then deteriorate while teams and drivers are on the starting grid, they will be permitted to fit treaded (wet weather) tyres to their cars.

False Starts
Competitors judged to have made a false start will be ordered to serve a ‘drive-through’ penalty at limited speed in the pit lane during the race. Other infringements on the grid may carry a 30-seconds stop-go pit lane penalty during the race.

Pit Lane Speed Limit
Competitors must not exceed 40mph while driving in the pit lane. Drivers exceeding this may be fined, lose their qualifying times or, if during a race, be ordered to serve a drive-through penalty.

Drive-through Penalties
These are carried out in the pit lane and drivers must serve them within three laps of being ordered to do so. Additional offences may result in a fine or exclusion. Drivers deemed to have committed an offence carrying a drive-through penalty in the last six laps of a race will be punished by means of a time penalty of between 30 and 60 seconds being added to their final race result.

Testing
To help keep costs down for entrants and ensure a level playing field, testing of cars during the season is restricted by the BTCC. Any team found to break the regulations could be fined a minimum of £50,000.

Generally, entrants are permitted to test freely during the off-season, ie. the winter months, up until a certain deadline imposed by championship officials prior to the new season beginning. After that, testing is restricted to two designated official pre-season test days (Rockingham BTCC Media Day, 19 March and Brands Hatch, 24 March) plus two further dates during the season (Snetterton, 7 July and Rockingham, 13 July).

However, to ensure fairness, the BTCC may permit an additional five days of testing for new manufacturers/constructors who did not contest the 2007/2008 BTCC seasons or for new models of cars which have been wholly designed and constructed by existing or new teams. This is at the sole discretion of the BTCC Administrator.

All teams are also permitted to conduct ‘shakedown’ tests of no more than 15 miles prior to each race event at a venue they have nominated prior to the season starting.