Touring Car Tyros

Back when touring car racing was for cars seen in showrooms, one of the fiercest rivalries in Australian sport was Holden versus Ford.

Bathurst was the bullring and millions glued themselves to the all-day telecast, cheering their brand. Whoever won on Sunday sold on Monday.

Well, that was the theory. In the late 1980s on the other side of the planet, another rivalry every bit as intense, and passionate was in full swing.

It was the battle between Mercedes-Benz and BMW with the prize being the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) or German Touring Car Championship.

Challenging F1 for popularity, the DTM ran under Group A touring car rules in the late 1980s (as did Australia), and to compete manufacturers had to build