Speaking of RV racing, the ones that everyone is most familiar with are WTCC and WTCR, these two world-famous RV racing events. But when time went back more than 40 years ago, Germany, far away in Europe, was born, the fastest and most crazy RV race in the world - the DTM German RV Masters, which was enthusiastically sought after by car fans. Let’s learn about the development history of the DTM German RV Masters!
DTM The predecessor of
DTM The German Tourenwagen Masters (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) is one of the most famous Tournament races in the world today. It is the highest level in the RV competition type and was once known as "F1 installed with RV shells". But if we want to explore the history of DTM, we must start with the DRM German RV Tour Championship, the predecessor of DTM.
(DTM 1984)
In the 1950s, with the recovery of the post-war economy, folk racing activities emerged in the Federal Republic of Germany. In order to regulate the increasingly prosperous motorsports, the German Sports Commission's Motor Sports Department, referred to as ONS, incorporated a series of events spontaneously organized by private teams to form the German RV Tour Championship, and opened the first Grand Prix in 1960. After that, the event was renamed the German Automobile Tour Championship (DARM).
(Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA in the German Touring Car Racing in the 1960s)
(BMW 1800 TI Racing)
1972, ONS divided DARM into the German Racing Championships, which were racing in the same field by professional teams, and two new events for entry-level teams and amateur drivers. The latter withdrew from the historical stage in 1981, and the former, commonly known as DRM, was gradually replaced by ONS with DTM. And as time goes by, few people still remember that there was a DRM in the history of German racing. The birth of
DTM
DRM is very similar to the early DTM: the manufacturer provides technical support for private teams, deeply modifying the mass-produced cars, while the competition is held on professional tracks. The biggest difference between them is the specifications of the cars. DRM has used FIA Group 2 and FIA Group 5 specifications, while DTM racing is FIA Group A specification. This is because FIA International revised the rules in 1982 and classified DRM as FIA Group C-level events, which greatly increased the R&D costs of racing, and the events have entered a dead end of expensive and boring.
(Ford Capri Turbo DRM Group 5 Racing)
(1981 LANCIA Beta Montecarlo Turbo Group 5 Racing)
So, ONS referred to the ETCC European Touring Car Championship at that time, and based on DRM's experience, launched a new event that applied the FIA Group A rules in 1984 - the German Production Car Championship (DPM), and renamed it to the German Touring Car Championship two years later. This was the early DTM.
(DPM 1984)
The biggest feature of this group is that there is only one level, that is, no matter whether the vehicle is big or small, it needs to compete in the same field. The fairness of the foothold lies in the epoch-making process, which means that cars with large horsepower or large body size must be weighted, while models with smaller engine power can use wider tires, etc., and use the vehicle's horsepower-to-weight ratio to determine whether to increase or not, so as to achieve the desired starting point and equal footing. In order to avoid the same car and drivers leading the entire season, the top few drivers in each game must be aggravated in the next game. If the subsequent results fail to continue to maintain the top three, the counterweight will be removed in the next game, which roughly establishes the central spirit of the new generation of RV racing.
(DPM 1985)
The first DPM (German Production Championship) German mass production car race was held on March 11, 1984 at the Zolder Racing Stadium in Belgium. It was supported by German racing fans in a crazy way. Since then, the German mass production car race has gradually moved towards the well-known DTM event. The vehicles participating in the 1984 season include BMW 635 CSi, Rover Vitesse, BMW 323i, Ford Mustang, Alfa Romeo GTV 6, Opel Kadett GTE, Volvo 240 Turbo, and Chevrolet Camaro. There are 7 car manufacturers and 8 models, so it is not difficult to see the charm of this event.
(BMW 635 CSi)
(Rover Vitesse)
(Alfa Romeo GTV 6)
(Volvo 240 Turbo)
(Chevrolet Camaro)
(Ford Mustang)
DTM's most glorious period
DTM's creative spirit completely put Motorsports first, so it was strongly supported by the fleet and attracted millions of local German audiences. The hot situation of DTM has continued, and even attracted the participation of F1 drivers. Moreover, since the second year of DPM, the participating car manufacturers have grown from 7 in the first year to 12, including Mitsubishi Starion, Fiat RitmoTC130, MG Metro Turbo, Nissan Silvia, Ford Sierra XR4 Ti and other cars. They all joined DPM in 1985. The rapid growth of the event further proves the importance of DPM by the car manufacturer's racing department.
(Mitsubishi Starion)
(Ford Sierra XR4 Ti)
1984-1989 DTM field belonged to BMW. In the 1984 DTM competition, 635 CSi helped Gubin team driver Volker Strycek win the annual championship with a record of 12 games and excellent stability, and the manufacturer's championship was also won by BMW. Later from 1985 to 1986, 635 CSi helped BMW win one driver's annual championship and three team championships, and 635 CSi was also the originator of BMW M6 in the future.
(635 CSi)
In 1987, BMW took out the M3 E30 specially built for DTM. The M3 E30 won five sub-station championships in the competition that year. Not only did it win the DTM manufacturer championship for the fourth consecutive time, BMW driver Eric van de Poele also won the driver championship of that year. During the three years of playing for the M3 E30 DTM, BMW has completed a total of 6 consecutive team championships in DTM.
(1989 M3 E30)
At the same period, the biggest opponents of BMW M3 E30 were Mercedes-Benz 190E and Ford Sierra Cosworth, and the three fought fiercely in the DTM arena.
(Mercedes-Benz 190E)
(Ford Sierra Cosworth)
Audi Quattro attack DTM
Audd decided to withdraw from the DTM field in the 1990 season after experiencing the 1989 season. Audi immediately filled the gap and broke into the DTM battlefield with Audi V8 Quattro. At that time, the BMW M3 and Mercedes-Benz 190E had evolved into the Evolution and Evolution 2 versions. They did not take Audi V8 engines and Quattro four-wheel drive seriously, because the Audi V8 Quattro weighed 1300kg, while the M3 and 190E weighed less than 1000kg. But unexpectedly, Audi's V8 engine and Quattro have the advantage in the competition, and Audi won the championship when it joined DTM for the first time.
(Audi V8 Quattro)
DTM Rally Classic DTM Season of 1991 in 1991 was the most exciting year recognized by all DTM fans. At that time, the number of participating manufacturers and vehicles was the highest peak of DTM, with 4 car manufacturers Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Opel and 41 cars. In the late 1991 season, Opel had already started developing the Calibra V6 racing car with Class-1 rules. It also stated that if DTM did not accept the Class-1 proposal in 1992, it would stop participating in the DTM event after the end of the 1991 season. As a result, Opel's wishful thinking did not come true. DTM still adopted the same competition in 1992 as in 1991, so Opel withdrew from DTM. Audi continued its advantage in 1990 and successfully defended the championship again.
(1991 Opel Omega Evo 500)
In the years afterwards, DTM was full of scandals and disappointments. First, the two-time champion Audi privately changed the angle of the crankshaft from the original 180 degrees to 90 degrees. In this way, the V8 engine will be able to have higher speeds and faster reactions. BMW is quite familiar with this. Under the continuous pressure from BMW, Audi's crankshaft design was determined to violate DTM rules. Audi then faded out of the DTM event, and only BMW and Mercedes-Benz were left in the 1992 season, but just after the season settlement, BMW also chose to withdraw from DTM.
2000 The rebirth of DTM
On May 28, 2000, after the unremitting efforts of German automakers such as Mercedes-Benz and Opel, the Deutsche Tourenwagen-Masters German RV Masters, that is, the brand new DTM finally ushered in its first game. The initial participation was Mercedes-Benz CLK and Opel Coupe, while the Abt team joined the DTM 2000 event with Audi TT.
(Audi ABT TT-R DTM 2000)
(Mercedes-Benz CLK)
In the years after that, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi continued to take turns to sit in the formation, and Opel also showed its outstanding strength. The continuous update of racing cars has given birth to classic racing cars such as Audi A4 DTM, Opel Vectra GTS V8, Mercedes-Benz C AMG DTM, BMW M3 DTM, etc., presenting wonderful top RV battles.
(Audi A4 DTM)
(Olipay Vectra GTS V8)
(2012 BMW M3 DTM)
(2011 Mercedes-Benz C AMG DTM)
Today's DTM still represents the world's top RV race. The strongest racing technology and the top racers have created every exciting and exciting race. The gap between the champion, runner and third place is only a few percent of the second, and the results of the race are unpredictable. Until the last moment, no one dares to easily say who the final winner will be. The intense competition and frequent collision scenes are the most unique charm of DTM RV race.
(DTM 2020)
