The British Touring Car Championship or BTCC is a very competitive and electrifying tip top racing series in the world. Big car producers and privateer teams compete for out and out race victories to be crowned British Touring Car Championship. Unlike other racing series, the competition is so close that it is not dominated by the big car producers, and the Independent teams frequently win races and are normally in the running for both the drivers Championships and the constructor’s championships.

A lot of this close competition is because of the rules, the rules are restrictive and even some of the parts like the gearbox and drive trains are standardised components. This is done to keep down the costs and to decreasecut development time of new cars. Ford managed to develop its Fiesta in Australia and in as little as 14 weeks due to the standardised components. Teams can choose their engine, which is has to be a 2 L four-cylinder engine with a turbocharger. This will generate around 300 hp and these engines have to be from a road cars engine and last the entire championship year without needing to be rebuilt. These engines can be fuelled by petrol, bio ethanol, LPG and diesel and to ensure that each fuel generate a similar amount of power the boost pressure turbo is altered. The teams can also design their own suspension, although a lot ofparts like this spring’s and dampers are available off the shelf. Also, to minimise costs, one maker of tyres is picked to make one tyre to use on all the circuits; this has become known as the control tyre. The automobiles have to be based on a production motor and everything but the chassis is stripped out and racing seats installed. The roll cage must be tough enough to survive the most severe of accidents and they also have five point racing seatbelt and a racing fuel tanks to reduce the risk of fire. This is all done to make the automobiles as safe as possible, as accidents in this formula are regular. Most of these accidentsare small but every now and again there is a really big one.

We have heard that the racing is close in the British Touring Car Championship, and as a result even a tiny advantage can make a difference between first and second place. This is why if you want to be a champion, it is essential not to overlook the smallest detail on the motor, such as the wiper blades. But how can wiper blades make a difference to the performance of a race car? The obvious way is in a wet race where wiper blades are required to clear raindrops and dirt from the front window. It is essential that replacement wiper blades are fitted to the cars frequently, as allowing the replacement wiper blades to degrade when they are not in use is hazardous. Their ability to clean the front window of raindrops and dirt can also be affected by the design. The best replacement wiper blade design is one with no metal frame and this is called a flat wiper blade. These flat wiper blades are sprung to give an even pressure along the blade making sure of a streak and jump free wipe. The advantages of flat wiper blades are they have no frames, so they can sit closer to the front window, which helps improve the airflow over the car. This enhance airflow can increase the top speed of the car, whilst raising the down force generated by the rear wing by allowing the airflow to be less turbulent when it reaches it.