This weekend would have seen the gates to Donington Park open for the first round of the 2020 British Touring Car Championship. Sadly the coronavirus has put a pause on all motorsport, which means Donington will be quiet this weekend.
Video: BTCC insanity at Donington Park in 1998
However, the internet being the wonderful place that it is, it doesn’t take long to find an almighty Donington ding-dong. The year? 1998.
The third race weekend of the 1998 season, the insanity you are about to witness was the second race of the day. Unlike the current BTCC, where there are three races on Sunday, there were two races on Sunday back in 1998. The first was a ‘sprint’ and the second a longer ‘feature’ race with a mandatory pit-stop.
Why is this race so entertaining? Well there are the cars, which are insanely fast and loud, there’s the fact that no one takes any prisoners (not that they do today, but the rules were even more relaxed back in the day), and there’s the commentary, which features such gems as “just a gentle tap there to make friends” and “a bit of detritus there from that Volvo being removed from the scene of the crime”.
It’s brilliant fun, and the perfect fix for any BTCC fan this weekend.

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