World Touring Car Championship

Smash It Up - 1987 index


After a thrilling 1986 season, marred by protests, on expected great things of the World Championship. BMW, Alfa Romeo and Ford were out in force, and Holden, Volvo and Mercedes would throw in the occasional fight.

But things started to go wrong, when an entry fee of $60.000 was required to be eligible for points. A mere 15 cars were entered for the championship, 3 Fords (Eggenberger 2, Rouse 1), 4 BMW M3's (2 Schnitzer, 1 CiBiEmme, 1 Bigazzi), 6 Alfa Romeo's, a Maserati and an Alfa Romeo 33.

All the other entrants did not get any points or prize money.

And even the works teams had their trouble. The season's start at Monza was a disaster. The works Ford Sierra's were disqualified, since they changed the Weber electronics for a Bosch motronic. They were alowed however to use the "modified" Bosch electronics for the second race. The main change was the Ford sticker,which left the Bosch sign invisible.

All works BMW M3's were disqualified at Monza, first because of illegal bootlids, later because of the roofs being made from surprisingly thin metal. After that, in Bathurst the Ford Sierra's were disqualified for illegal modifications on the rear wheel arches. In the end, BMW's Ravaglia had another green table championship; Ford's #7 car won the team prize.

Alfa Romeo withdrew before the overseas races; the Maserati never got competitive; the Holdens were competitive overseas, but never won.

All in all, some races were entertaining, but the championship was a farce. Worse still: the first World Championship was to be the last; in 1988, only a European championship would be held; in 1989, a silhouette championship should replace the ETCC. But it would be the next century before we had another championship.

The races:

Nürburgring

The cars

The pictures

Final classification

1982-1988 index

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