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Saluting a driver who helped boost Britain's modern F1 influence

After a disappointing 2019 season in British Touring Cars, Mark Blundell has announced his decision to retire from racing in motorsport. Here, we look back at his early career and salute a driver who engaged in some epic title battles

The mid-1980s was a terrific time to be a teenaged motorsport fan in the UK.

The British Formula 3 Championship was bursting at the seams after an early-1980s slump in grid numbers. Underneath that on the UK ladder, Formula Ford 2000 had turned into a white-hot arena of talent after its first few years of being populated mainly by FF1600 graduates who hadn't quite been good enough for F3.

For 1985, FF1600 had been rationalised - and enriched - at its top level by the pruning of its four major national championships down to two, with two junior series sitting beneath. Add to that many circuits hosting their own single-venue FF1600 championships of varying quality, with the Champion of Brands arguably the pick of them all.

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