Prime-time documentary series charting the history of the British Touring Car Championship

Touring Car Legends, a three-part documentary series by Gaucho Productions, continues tonight on ITV4 HD at 8pm and will then be available on the ITV Player.

The series tells the inside story of the British Touring Car Championship from the first race on Boxing Day 1957 to the present day. Narrated by Tiff Needell, episode 2 recalls one of the most famous decades in the BTCC’s history, from the launch of the Ford Sierra in the mid-1980s to the heyday of ‘Super Touring’.

It was a period that saw the arrival of mainstream television and Touring Car Legends offers fresh insight into the some of the iconic moments that made the BTCC such a fan’s favourite. Two decades on, Steve Soper, John Cleland and Tim Harvey continue to argue about the infamous 1992 title decider; Murray Walker OBE reflects on the moment when one Toyota put another on its roof; and we relive the 1993 race at Donington Park when Nigel Mansell’s guest appearance ended in spectacular style. Interviews with the stars of the day are accompanied by profiles of the legendary cars, including the Ford Sierra RS500, BMW M3 and Vauxhall Cavalier.

Series director Alistair Weaver says: “The decade from the mid-‘80s onwards was a golden period for the BTCC. I can remember dragging my father to Donington Park to watch the RS500’s do battle and I was there in 1993 when Nigel Mansell made a guest appearance and destroyed his Ford Mondeo. Mansell was helped off the circuit that day by Tiff Needell, who just happens to be the narrator of Touring Car Legends – we’ve had some fun with that. No history of the BTCC could be complete without also reappraising the clash that deprived John Cleland of the 1992 championship. Let’s just say that time is not necessarily a great healer.”