h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nerdy thing to note here, but I seem to recall you can blame Alfa Romeo for the rule change the year after the Volvo Estates pounded the racetracks. BTCC cars have to resemble their road-going counterparts, so no spoilers if the road cars don't have them. Alfa started kitting out their road cars with virtually race-spec spoilers, not the brightest of things to do, but that meant they could do the same with their race cars. BTCC changed the rules to allow spoilers without needing them on the road-going equivalents. I'm not sure why Volvo couldn't stick a spoiler on it's estate car roofs, but I think this was the reason why they stopped racing the estates. Shame - I rather liked them I hope Volvo isn't deterred from re-entering the BTCC because of it's ownership by a race competitor (Ford) - the Volvo V60 is a far sexier beast than Ford's new Mondeo. A pair of Mazda 6's (very nice, very new, very much in a different league to the 626) would be fun too Or perhaps an RX8 - assuming the rules allow rotary engines. Maybe these are all too big - I can't remember what Ford raced last year (did it race in the BTCC?)

I think they stipulated that the spoilers must not be above the height of the roofline - a problem for an estate, obviously....

Aah - I see