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When a new car interrupted a perfect season of dominance

The Vauxhall Astra Coupe crushed the opposition in the 2001 British Touring Car Championship, winning 96% of the races. All that came between it and a total whitewash was 0.2s and Anthony Reid in a brand-new MG ZS on the wrong tyres

The Super Touring era marked the zenith for the British Touring Car Championship. But budgets had crept above eight figures meaning those 'Formula 1 cars with mudguards' were not long for the motorsport world. As the new millennium approached, manufacturers headed for the door and took many of the star-name drivers with them.

The BTC-Touring regulations, introduced for the 2001 season, were drafted to rein in the crazed excess. Out went the swathes of carbon fibre and aerodynamic appendages, in came standardised brakes, gearboxes and differentials.

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Author Matt Kew

Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 following stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better-suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing are undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.