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The indie rocker's renaissance in historic touring cars

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Camaros, Capris and Rover SD1s have hogged the stage as Group 1 touring cars returned to popularity. But there are alternative ways to race, and some eclectic machinery can be found if you look closely

After many years of neglect as a racing category, the Group 1 touring car era is now a booming element of historic competition. These are the cars of the 1970s and early 1980s, an era when the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Capri and Rover SD1 set the pace in the British Saloon Car Championship.

It was in 1974 that the BSCC dropped the increasingly expensive Group 2 formula for a switch to more production-based Group 1 regulations, adopting a set of rules that would be evolved over the following eight seasons. By 1976, the American V8s were outlawed by capping the top-class engine size at 3000cc.

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