Steve Rider

For a second season BHP Sport provided BBC television with comprehensive coverage of Britain's Top Saloon Car Championship, treating Grandstand viewers to some of the most enthralling motorsport action around. This three hour compilation of the best of the season conveys the excitement of the bumper to bumper racing and the fierce rivalies of some highly motivated drivers. Highlights includ Frank Sytner against James Weaver, open warfare in the BMW ranks in the first part of the season. And then it was Rouse in the Kaliber Sierra Cosworth battling against Gravett at the head of the field, both trying to hold off the challenge from Tim Harvey and Laurence Bristow. On board cameras with all the leading runners, bumper cameras and fender cameras convey the speed and spectacle. Enthusiastic and informed commentary is by Murray Walker and Tiff Needell.

Thrilling action and fierce on-track rivalry between BMW, Ford, Alfa Romeo, Vauxhall, Renault and more made the 1994 British Touring Car Championship Britain’s biggest motorsport spectacle. This comprehensive summary of the season includes the very best action from all 21 rounds. Gabriele Tarquini’s domination of the early season races in the flying Alfa gave way to round-after-round of ultra-close battles between the Alfa team, reigning champion Jo Winkelhock (BMW), Paul Radisich (Ford), Alain Menu (Renault) and John Cleland (Vauxhall) - and that’s not forgetting Jan Lammers in the Volvo estate and Patrick Watts in the Peugeot!

Steve Rider presents this guide to motor car rallying during the 80s; a decade which saw the sport become more hi-tech, high profile, faster and more dangerous.

Even before the green light went up on a packed 1996 schedule, the pundits were predicting this season could be the best ever for the world’s most prestigious Super Touring series - the British Touring Car Championship. And how right they were! Throughout the year, fans were able to witness every driver to have ever won the FIA Touring Car World Cup or the World Championship lined up on the grid in cars representing no less than 10 manufacturers. Cutting edge cars from Audi, Volvo, Renault, Honda, BMW and Vauxhall were piloted by drivers noted for spectacular displays of tin-top driving - Biela, Rydell, Menu, Leslie, Ravaglia and more - competing for one of the world’s most sought after motorsport titles. Add to this the most diverse range of machinery seen to date, featuring engines with four, five and six cylinders and transmissions providing front, rear and four-wheel drive and you have the ingredients for a cocktail of pure, explosive, motorsport!

The 1970s were a golden age in the world of international rally, it was just before the monsters of Group B would arrive and the cars being raced were far closer to their road-going counterparts. The heroes of the age include icons like the Ford Escort, the Porsche 911, the Datsun 240Z, the Alpine A110, the Lancia Stratos, and many, many more. This documentary covers the highlights of the decade from 1970 to 1979, the footage alone makes it worth watching, with remarkable aerial shots we’ve never seen before. The simplicity of top flight rally during this period is almost enviable – with fans often lining the stages standing on the wrong side of blind corners, seemingly trusting the drivers more than they probably should have.

1st April 1995 saw the launch of another dramatic, all-action BTCC season at the start of a long, hot summer in which the world’s best saloon racers raised the temperature to boiling point. All 13 race weekends (apart from the British Grand Prix) featured two thrilling tin-top rounds and this terrific three hour review includes the very best of BBC TV’s extensive coverage, presented by Steve Rider, with commentary by the one and only Murray Walker.

When BHP Sport were commissioned by BBC Grandstand to cover the Dunlop RAC British Touring Car Championship it guaranteed that British viewers were in for some of the most action-packed motorsport ever seen on television. The recording was to be supplemented by sometimes as many as four on board cameras among the front runners in the field, ensuring that every major incident in all the twelve rounds of the championship would receive first class coverage. But it still needed the drivers to respond, and in Britain's premier saloon car championship, they did so superbly. Andy Rouse set the pace in the Kaliber Ford Sierra Cosworth, but was hounded by his great rival Steve Soper. Frank Sytner mounted his championship challenge from the fiercely contested ranks of the BMW M3's. And all through the season we saw door handle racing with many hopes ending in the catch fencing and sometimes beyond.

For the third season, independent producers BHP have provided BBC Grandstand with comphensive coverage of Britain's premier saloon car competition. This three hour production tells the full story of another highly competitive season in the Esso British Touring Car Championship. It's the last year of the mighty Class A Sierras, where Robb Gravett displays his talents to the full as he meets the challenge of Andy Rouse. Behind them the new 2 litre class and a fierce battle between Vauxhall and BMW.