Perhaps I fell victim to my love of touring cars at this year’s Essen Motor Show, while paying little attention to anything else. I’m sorry, I’m not sorry.
Okay, that’s not entirely true. This is the show’s second spotlight on historic racers. However, unlike the legendary machines from my previous post, these are not the iconic names from the Group A era.
What we have here are the little fighters of the touring car world from a simpler time – when Group 2 regulations ruled and from 1971 there was a European Touring Car Championship class dedicated to cars under 1,300 cc.
For those of you who measure in units of freedom, that’s only a mighty 79 cubic inches.
One car missing from this line-up is the stunning Alfa Romeo GT Junior, the championship’s first winner in the 1,300 divisions. What you see here instead is a fascinating mix of different decades, countries and powertrain configurations.
The NSU TT is one of my favorite shapes from the 60s. Thanks to the air-cooled rear-wheel drive and the rear engine, it is a unique car. NSU was an interesting brand, incorporated into Auto Union, which later became the modern Audi. And yes, it served as inspiration for the now iconic Audi TT, both in name and design philosophy.
Italy and France have long been masters of small car engineering, and the beautiful Fiat 128 Coupe was a competitive contender when it debuted in 1972. Then there is this Renault 5, which surprised me. Apart from the wild R5 Turbo II in rallying, I had no idea the Renault 5 had raced in a major track-based series.
And that’s the beauty of it the 1300 European Touring Car Challenge (1300 ETC) championship. Today. It is a fairly open series, in which any car under 1,300 cc that complies with regulations up to and including the 1981 FIA Appendix J rules can participate.
That’s why this Mk1 VW Polo is in the mix. In Europe these little hatchbacks are well regarded as Berg Cup hill climbing machines, but after watching a few 1300 ETC races I can assure you that the competition is as fierce as ever, regardless of the age of the cars or their original purpose.
Preserving historic racing series is important, but can be cost-prohibitive. These small but mighty racers offer a relatively affordable entry into the world of historic touring cars – and they deserve to be celebrated.
I wonder how much a Mk1 Ford Escort 1300 costs these days…
Mario Christou
Instagram: mcwpn, mariochristou.world
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