The top 10 touring cars of the Group A era

10. Holden Commodore

Major wins
1986 Bathurst 1000 Allan Grice/Graeme Bailey
1987 Bathurst 1000 Peter Brock/David Parsons/Peter McLeod
1990 Bathurst 1000 Win Percy/Allan Grice

Back home in Australia, the Commodore was winning races regularly through the Group A period, including ‘the big one’ at Bathurst. It was a relatively simple car, easy for privateers to run, and Allan Grice showed how quick it could be on his visits to Europe. Maybe the Aussies were a bit naive in how the European Touring Car Championship ran and probably weren’t up for the grey areas that the others exploited, but the cars sounded great and the inclusion of Australian names into the 1986 ETCC took the series to a massive audience.

9. Mercedes 190E

The start of the Mercedes touring car era, which lasted all the way through the DTM. Dany Snobeck’s team ran these cars in mid-to-late 1980s ETCC seasons as well as the French championship, but didn’t have the budget to develop against its class rival: the BMW M3. To begin with, the Mercs were competitive against the BMW 323 and 325i, but the M3 shot a hole through future successes. Shame, because they looked the business and enjoyed a Cosworth engine.

Two mid-eighties BTCC titles helped earn the Corolla a spot in Addison's top 10

8. Toyota Corolla AE86

Major titles
1986 British Touring Car Championship Chris Hodgetts
1987 British Touring Car Championship Chris Hodgetts

A great car? Well, maybe. The baby classes often are overlooked, but the Toyota had an army of drivers in Europe, Australasia and in the national championships. Chris Hodgetts showed what could be done, not just with two BTCC titles during a sparse period for the series, but also on his ETCC and WTCC outings. That there were cars winning titles in Scandinavia (Stig Gruen) as well as races around the globe puts the rear-wheel-drive AE86 as a class act.

7. Volvo 240 Turbo

Major wins and titles
1985 European Touring Car Championship Gianfranco Brancatelli/Thomas Lindstrom
1985 Macau Guia Gianfranco Brancatelli
1986 Australian Touring Car Championship Robbie Francevic
1986 Macau Guia Johnny Cecotto

Proof that Group A regs allowed non-conventional marques to flourish in motorsport. The ‘Stockholm Taxis’ were quick in the early Group A days, with Swedish privateers Ulf Granberg and Thomas Lindstrom proving their pace. With the least aero-friendly shape known to man, it was the turbo that helped here, as well as durability. When Ruedi Eggenberger got hold of the cars for 1985, and then the RAS squad the year after, the results came. They were fast, reliable and turned heads.

Power took priority over sleek form for the 'Stockholm Taxis'

6. Alfa Romeo GTV6

Major titles
1983 British Touring Car Championship Andy Rouse
1983 Supertourisme Alain Cudini
1984 Supertourisme Dany Snobeck

Beautiful shape, symphonic wail, easy to run and perfect for the up-to-2.5-litre division. Titles came in Europe and the UK, they were relatively simple to run, and were able to humble the bigger-engined cars in the right hands. Their domination only really faltered when BMW got the M3 working, but the sight and sound of a pack of GTV6s was stirring.

5. Jaguar XJS

Major wins and titles
1984 European Touring Car Championship Tom Walkinshaw
1984 Spa 24 Hours Hans Heyer/Tom Walkinshaw/Win Percy
1984 Macau Guia Tom Walkinshaw
1985 Bathurst 1000 John Goss/Armin Hahne

On the one hand, this was the most remarkable touring car: big, heavy, glorious sounding and one that kick-started Jaguar’s return to international success. On the other, stories of the legality of the cars always swirled… Could a 5.3-litre engine really be so good on fuel consumption? If we pick the legal lane, it has much to commend, with Tom Walkinshaw and Chuck Nicholson as the underdog Brits in 1982 taking on the armada of BMWs and winning. Win Percy, Martin Brundle, John Fitzpatrick, Jeff Allam and Armin Hahne were among the long list of stars who raced the cars, and its victories at the Spa 24 Hours, Bathurst 1000 and Macau Guia prove it was pretty versatile. It would have been fascinating to see more privateers run the cars though…

The 635 CSi enjoyed plenty of success at challenging Spa

4. BMW 635 CSi

Major wins and titles
1983 European Touring Car Championship Dieter Quester
1983 Spa 24 Hours Thierry Tassin/Hans Heyer/Armin Hahne
1983 Macau Guia Hans Stuck
1985 Australian Touring Car Championship Jim Richards
1985 All Japan Touring Car Championship Naoki Nagasaka/Kazuo Mogi
1985 Spa 24 Hours Roberto Ravaglia/Marc Surer/Gerhard Berger
1986 European Touring Car Championship Roberto Ravaglia
1986 Spa 24 Hours Dieter Quester/Altfrid Heger/Thierry Tassin

A car that raced and won for much of the Group A era, and could win in works or private hands. It was ideal for the ETCC, with great durability, good fuel consumption and a truly glorious noise. Plenty of privateers ran the cars across the globe, with plenty of success. BMW had released a car that was ideal for the ruleset, and it was one that was still winning in 1986, long after its pre-Group A debut in 1981.

3. Rover Vitesse

Major titles
1984 British Touring Car Championship Andy Rouse
1985 Supertourisme Jean-Louis Schlesser
1986 DTM Kurt Thiim

The Rover gets the nod over that other British battleship, the XJS, because privateers proved they could win with them and without necessarily going down the Austin Rover Group/TWR path of rule interpretation. Like the Volvo 240, here was a machine that really didn’t look like a racing car but did wonders for sales of a bank manager’s daily drive, and could still win even into the late 1980s.

Vitesse in action at Donington Park in 1985

2. Ford Sierra RS500

Major wins and titles
1988 DTM Klaus Ludwig
1988 and 1989 Australian Touring Car Championship Dick Johnson
1988 All Japan Touring Car Championship Hisashi Yokoshima
1988 Bathurst 1000 Tony Longhurst/Tomas Mezera
1989 Bathurst 1000 Dick Johnson/John Bowe
1989 Spa 24 Hours Gianfranco Brancatelli/Win Percy/Bernd Schneider
1989 Macau Guia Tim Harvey
1990 British Touring Car Championship Robb Gravett

The best car of the Group A era or the one that killed off the category by nullifying any opposition? You decide. They looked great: huge rear wing, tails a-wagging, spitting flame, and teams across the globe ran them with varying levels of success. Some were frail, others such as Andy Rouse, Ruedi Eggenberger and Dick Johnson made them into rocketships capable of winning long-distance events across the globe. But they were so good, so perfect for the regulations, that nothing else had a chance, and manufacturer interest in Group A waned. For that reason, it loses a point.

1. BMW M3

Selected major wins and titles
1987 World Touring Car Championship Roberto Ravaglia
1987 European Touring Car Championship Winfried Vogt
1987 DTM Eric van de Poele
1987 Australian Touring Car Championship Jim Richards
1987 Spa 24 Hours Jean-Michel Martin/Didier Theys/Eric van de Poele
1987 Macau Guia Roberto Ravaglia
1988 European Touring Car Championship Roberto Ravaglia
1988 British Touring Car Championship Frank Sytner
1988 Spa 24 Hours Altfrid Heger/Dieter Quester/Roberto Ravaglia
1988 Macau Guia Altfrid Heger
1989 DTM Roberto Ravaglia
1989 Superturismo Johnny Cecotto
1989 and 1990 Supertourisme Jean-Pierre Malcher
1990 and 1991 Superturismo Roberto Ravaglia

Not only were the 2.3-litre M3s pretty, but they were almost bulletproof and quick enough to humble bigger-engined cars. In the WTCC of 1987 they could beat the Sierras, partly due to reliability, but they also had great pace. They won championships, races and fans’ hearts with their speed, giant-killing acts and their longevity: with 2.5-litre engines, the cars morphed into DTM pacesetters and were adaptable enough to take a smaller two-litre unit and win in the early days of Super Touring. Every. Box. Ticked.

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M3 in domination mode at Silverstone