Touring car racing is awesome.
We’ll just put it out there on the Repco Garage as it turns mundane, ordinary ‘rep mobiles’ or family offerings into exciting and wild racing beasts.
Yes, we’ve already written a story regarding oddball racing entries or the obscure touring cars of the 1980s, but it’s time to revisit and highlight some of these other stories.
Toyota Camry
This won’t be the last time the South African Super Touring Car Championship will be mentioned in this article, with the local Toyota Camry Super Tourer being first cab off the rank.
Built for the burgeoning South African series for 1994 by former Vauxhall factory squad Dave Cook Racing, the pair of Toyotas only competed for two and a half seasons before the regulations were changed to Super Production.
One of these Camrys went to Australia to be raced by a variety of drivers including rally star Neal Bates for Mike Quinn’s Phoenix Motorsport, while the second headed to the United States where New Zealander Rod Millen contested one round of the North American Touring Car Championship at Portland.
Both Camrys were eventually reunited in Australia as Jamie Miller acquired both, swapping between the two during the dying days of local Super Touring competition.
There were also plans to build up an Australian Camry for competition in 1994 and it featured Craig Lowndes as one of the drivers, but this failed to appear.
Hyundai Lantra
As already featured on the Repco Garage previously, the Hyundai Lantra was built into a Super Touring entry featuring factory support ahead of the 1994 Bathurst 1000.
Adding wings and splitters for the 1995 Australian Touring Car Championship, racing legend Jim Richards was supposed to drive a Lantra at Winton, but withdrew due to its poor handling.
The program was led by Colin Bond after he lost his Toyota deal at the end of 1993 and some of the components from the Corolla Secas entered form that season went into the Hyundais.
The Korean manufacturer pulled out in 1996 leaving privateers to battle with the package until the end of the decade.
Peugeot 806
In the spirit of the Volvo 850 Estate (which we left off this list because its an obvious choice), Peugeot dumped the drivetrain from its 405 Super Tourer into an 806 MPV body for the 1995 24 Hours of Spa.
The brainchild behind the entry was the Belgian Peugeot distributor combining an 805 body, 405 running gear and the engine from a 306 Group A rally, which enabled it to qualify 12th on the grid.
The scepticism disappeared.
However, a multitude of mechanical failures curtailed its run and it failed to finish its sole outing.
Subaru Levorg
Continuing the family theme, wagons or estates have a limited history in touring car racing, but it’s a memorable one.
A decade ago, Subaru went all-in on the British Touring Car Championship with BMR Racing and Jason Plato.
Using the estate version of its WRX named the Levorg, the Subaru debuted in 2016 and won the championship the next year in the hands of Ash Sutton.
The program continued until the end of 2019.
Nissan Sentra/Pulsar
An Australian-based one-make series now races the N14 specification Nissan Pulsar, but in South Africa it was used effectively to take on the might of BMW during the early years of Super Touring.
Initially produced by renowned British operation Ray Mallock Limited, the Sentra was run only in South Africa where other markets had the Primera as its halo touring car.
It enjoyed moderate success in the hands of drivers including future Dakar winner Giniel De Villiers before being replaced with the Primera for the 1996 season.
Mazda Xedos/6
Mazda first took the plunge into the British Touring Car Championship in 1992 through Roger Dowson Racing and driver Patrick Watts in the 323, but results lacked.
For 1993, Roger Dowson’s crew built up the larger Xedos 6 (or Eunos as it was known in Australia) for competition and it proved fast despite being the only single entry manufacturer.
Nicknamed Rhubarb and Custard due to its distinctive paint scheme, the Xedos improved Mazda’s competitiveness dramatically during the 1993 season including a memorable pole at Snetterton.
The expansion to two Mazdas for 1994 was a disaster resulting in the effort ending halfway through the season.
Both the Mazdas went to United States and briefly competed before finding new homes in New Zealand, now fully restored.
Mazda’s touring car history extends further than this BTCC effort, with the Speed World Challenge Touring Cars program spearheaded by Tri Point Motorsport during the mid-2000s.
Going up against the likes of Acura, Audi, BMW and more using the new 6 platform at the height of Zoom, Zoom mania, Tri Point took multiple titles before the series died in 2009.
Mitsubishi Starion
Throwing back to the 1980s, Mitsubishi half-baked a Group A touring car program using the two-door Starion model.
Apparently, the model got its name from a mispronunciation of Stallion, but it was a very competitive package during the early years of Group A until time moved past it due to the inactivity of Mitsubishi.
Programs in Australia, the United Kingdom and Japan delivered minimal results despite the potential surrounding the Starion.
Nissan Bluebird/Exa
The Bluebird was added to the Nissan line-up during the name change from Datsun and was used to mount an attack on the Australian Touring Car Championship.
It introduced turbo power and began a long stint in the touring car championship, which culminated in back-to-back Bathurst victories in the early-1990s.
George Fury spearheaded the early effort using the Bluebird and young gun Glenn Seton drive a Nissan Pulsar Exa towards the end of the uniquely Australian Group C regulations.
Fury saved the best for last when he set pole position for the 1984 Bathurst 1000 in the Bluebird.
Also, a Bluebird did race in the British Touring Car Championship in Group A with Graham Goode behind the wheel.
Chevrolet Lacetti
When the World Touring Car Championship was re-introduced for 2005, battle hardened manufacturers including BMW, Alfa Romeo, Seat, Ford and Honda were all represented alongside Chevrolet.
Using what was formerly a Daewoo Nubira, Chevrolet entered the WTCC with the Lacetti built by Ray Mallock Limited.
Daewoo’s line-up in Europe was re-badged as Chevrolet during the mid-2000s and the touring car program aimed to build a following in the European market.
This failed to occur, but the racing program was much more successful thanks to the efforts of drivers Alain Menu, Rob Huff and Nicola Larini.
Chevrolet did manage to win the title, but after the Lacetti had been replaced by the Cruze in 2010.
Lada 110
Another manufacturer to make the leap into the World Touring Car Championship was Russian marque Lada.
Building up the Lada 110 into a S2000 touring car for the 2008 season as a private effort, Russian Bears Motorsport scored no points. The team did receive some back door support from Lada including spare parts, technical knowledge and aid in homologating the 110.
However, this began a manufacturer program in 2009 as Lada scored its maiden top 10 finish during this season before stepping away and re-joining in 2012.
It took until 2014 for Lada to score its first victory in the WTCC, but by this stage the Granta had replaced the 110.