Touring Cars Vs Road Car

BTCC cars

BTCC carsWith the 2019 British Touring Car Championship well underway, we have already seen plenty of twist and turns along the way as the best of the best compete for the championship.

Many of us dream of being able to get behind the wheel of one of these beasts and put the pedal to the metal.

The power, acceleration, speed and control would be the perfect combination to get you into work after waking up late from your morning alarm. To get all these aspects into the one vehicle, unfortunately makes them not so safe for the road. Although a normal road car may look very similar to their racing version, they are far from being the same animal. They both have four wheels, wing mirrors and engines; but that is where their similarities stop.

So what are the differences between a racing car and a road car? With being the main sponsor of this year’s British Touring Car Championship, Kwik Fit have created an infographic along with a video post starring driving sensation Tom Ingram. The video compares what goes into transforming a normal Toyota Corolla road car into a racing version. Here are a few things I found most interesting when comparing the two!

Body
Although the bodies of each car look very similar to each other they are completely chalk and cheese. The race car is completely stripped out. All stylish and comfortable modifications that you would expect to find in your road car are gone – yes that includes the air-con too!! This is to ensure that the car is light as possible (455kg lighter to be precise!)

This light body enables the racing car to reach a top speed of 150mph in comparison to the 112mph the Corolla road car can stretch to. However, there are some regulations that the racing car needs to abide to, as a result there isn’t much modification on the front of the car which leads to similarities between the two.

Engine and power management
Although racing circuits are becoming a main contributor of technology in new sports cars today, the raw form of this technology would be uncontrollable and overpowering in a road car.

Although both the racing car and road car are fitted out with a 2 litre engine, the horsepower generated by the racing car is double that of the road car (360 bhp compared to 180bhp). This is due to the turbo charge engine fitted into the racer to gain that max speed in a much shorter period of time. The engine fitted in the road car is much more environmentally friendly. It’s a hybrid engine which enhances fuel efficiency, and a creates a quiet and comfy ride with noise pollution being at a minimum.

Are you a fan of the Tayota Corolla race car? Or have you got a favourite of your own? I would love to hear about your favourites and why!

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