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Where did it all go wrong for Super Touring?

There were quality drivers, incredible cars and the fans loved it. But Super Touring was doomed as it entered the 2000s. GARY WATKINS explains why

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The seeds of Super Touring's own destruction were sown in its own success. The problems came, and came thick and fast, after it evolved into an international category.

When the FIA adopted the British two-litre formula ahead of the 1993 season, the rule-making process - or rather the way the regulations were interpreted - was thrown into the governing body's talking shops. A firm grip on the rulebook was lost in the smoke-filled rooms of Paris, and costs escalated.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.