Fuji, one of the world’s biggest names in photography and the UK market leader in digital cameras, has become an official technical partner of the MSA British Touring Car Championship. In 2005, Fuji will supply a ‘spy camera’ to every car in the BTCC to help officials enforce driver discipline.

Each camera – a version of Fuji’s ultra-successful F710 digital model – will record footage from inside the cars during every race of the 2005 season. The footage will be used exclusively by the BTCC’s Clerk of the Course when investigating on-track incidents.

This follows the BTCC’s announcement that drivers receiving a penalty or licence endorsement by the Clerk for on-track indiscretions will automatically be relegated six places on the starting grid for the next race.

BTCC Series Director Alan Gow said: “The BTCC produces some of the closest racing in the world so there is always plenty of push and shove – that’s part of its huge appeal. But in 2004 there were several incidents that the championship was not happy with, but which could not be investigated more fully due to a lack of evidence. We take a dim view of poor or overly-aggressive driving and Fuji’s involvement will help to clamp down further on this by providing footage of everything from the driver’s perspective.

“The camera that Fuji is providing produces high quality footage and is very light. It has also proved very robust in tests so is the perfect tool for the job. We are delighted with our technical link-up with Fuji.”

The opening three races of this year’s MSA British Touring Car Championship will take place at Donington Park, Leicestershire on Sunday 10 April.