The Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft-An Intense Racing Series Filled With Engineering Masterpieces

The DTM was a racing series from 1984 to 1996.Back in 1984 when it started the FIA introduced Group A rules which were used by the DTM.These rules were much more restrictive then the previous Group 5 rules.To compete in the DTM a manufacturer had to produce 25 000 units of it’s “race car” platform, with 10% of them being sold as special Evolution models.This meant that you could see pretty much everyday roadcars fitted with crazy race engines battling on some of the world’s best racing tracks!All of that led to amazing long lasting rivalries and made the DTM as popular as the insane Group B.That is why this is my favourite racing series which ever existed.In 1993 a few noticeable changes were introduced, traction control, ABS, electronic diffs were all allowed, the maximum allowed engine displacement was 2.5l and almost all cars switched to 4WD.Bmw and Audi left the DTM after these changes but is was every bit as intense as it used to be.In 1996 the DTM series came to an end and after 3 years a new but similar racing series was introduced called The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters which is still active to this day.

The Amazing Trio

The 3 german machines you see above were DOMINATING the DTM for a loooong period and those two on the right were the biggest DTM rivals.These were the cars to beat, if you could beat any of these 3 cars you were the champion.

Let’s start with the longest one, the 1990 Audi V8 quattro.Audi was amazing in Group B with their brilliant quattro 4WD system so of course they carried it over to the astonishing DTM machine.The other brilliant thing about this car was it’s engine, the 3,6l V8 made out of two 1.8 they took out of VW Golf GTIs was good for 420hp, which made it one of the most powerful DTM cars.Audi’s first attempt was quite successful since it won the first season it raced in 1990, and it won again in 1991.

The Mercedes Benz 190e Cosworth was never meant to be a touring car.Mercedes was actually working on a rally Group B project in the early 1980s.They had a new platform and Cosworth built them a kickass engine, but when the project was finished almost every car at Group B had 4WD and Mercedes didn’t want to invest more money to develop a 4WD system.So they were stuck with a great platform and an even better screaming 2.3l inline 4 engine capable of 320hp.So in 1985 they entered their new race car to the new race series.It was very successful.It was dominating in every race but it took the ‘’Baby Benz’’ 7 years to win their first championship in 1992!

And now we come to my favourite DTM car, the legend from Munich a.k.a the Bmw e30 M3.This car was really only made to put an end to the 190e dominance.And it did exactly that.With it’s 2.5l inline 4(just like the merc) which made 300hp it won the 1987 and 1989 DTM championships and continued to dominate until it retired in 1992.The M3 was a benchmark for all DTM monsters and it was only made because Bmw was annoyed by Mercedes’s success.From it’s first race to now this car was is and always will be a motorsport legend!

Ford’s Approach

Ford also joined the DTM party in 1987 with their whale tail turbocharged beast.The little Ford had a crazy 1993cc inline 4 capable of 480hp!It was VERY fast and it almost stopped the infamous M3 form winning the championship.Then a year later in 1988 it won the championship, and after that, turbo rockets like this little ford, were banned from the DTM.That is a very sad ending to what briefly was the big M3 rival…

Some Oddballs Which Managed To Win a Championship

Yes the weird Ferrari Daytona looking (it does kinda look like it) Rover Vitesse was actually a touring car and as you can see a pretty successful one as well.The British Leyland machine was equipped with a 3.5l V8 and even though it wasn’t the lightest it was the most powerful with 340hp.This sideways Rover won the 1986 championship.

The Volvo 242 Turbo was the winner of the 1985 DTM championship.The Swedish tank had a 300hp 2.1l inline 4 turbo engine, known for it’s reliability, made the car surprisingly fast and capable of doing 260 km/h.

Opel had a go at the DTM before this car with their Omega saloon, but it was to big and unreliable.Then in 1993 they decided to enter their much smaller and lighter Calibra coupe.The Calibra was FWD but Opel developed a new 4WD system and along with that they also put a new 2.5l V6 engine tuned by Cosworth.The engine could rev up to 11 600 RPM and made an amazing 420hp and it wasn’t even turbocharged.With Keke Rosberg at the wheel the Calibra won the last ever DTM championship in 1996.

The Passionate Italian

Alfa Romeo just like Opel didn’t have much luck in touring car racing with their unreliable 75 turbo, but in 1993 they created one of the fastest Alfas ever.They took their mid size sedan and put an insane 11 800 RPM 2.5l V6 producing 420hp.Combine that with 4WD and a very light body and you got yourself a 1993 Championship winner.

Some you tubes

#blogpost