The British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing

Touring car racing

Touring car racing is a general term for a number of distinct auto racing competitions in heavily-modified street cars. It is notably popular in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Scandinavia and Britain.-Characteristics of a touring car:...

 series held each year in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. The Championship was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and has run to various rules over the years – "production cars", then FIA

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is a non-profit association established as the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users...

 Group 1 or 2 in the late 1960s and 1970s, and then Group A

Group A

In relation to motorsport governed by the FIA, Group A referred to a set of regulations providing production-derived vehicles for outright competition. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, the Group A referred to production-derived vehicles limited in terms of power, weight, allowed...

 in the 1980s, when in 1987, the series took on its current name. (A lower-key Group N

Group N

In relation to motorsport governed by the FIA, Group N refers to a set of regulations providing 'standard' production vehicles for competition, often referred to as the "Showroom Class"....

 series for production cars ran for most of the 1990s).

The championship was initially run with a mix of classes, divided according to engine capacity, racing simultaneously.