Vauxhall unveils 2001 Astra.

With the British Touring Car Championship taking on a fresh look for next year, those teams committed to competing are now putting their interpretations of the new rules into practice.

The current Super Touring cars, which have been the focus of the BTCC throughout the last decade, are set to be cast aside in favour of new models designed to produce closer racing on smaller budgets. While manufacturers will be restricted in terms of how much they can spend, however, no expense in terms of time and effort will be spared in trying to find the winning package for one of the world's leading saloon car series.

Next year's competitors will find themselves in two-litre cars capable of producing around 270bhp, but will have to cope with far less grip than they have been used to in recent years. Less aerodynamic efficiency and longer braking distances are both designed to spice up the action, after complaints that the first bewinged BTCC machines took away the excitement that first attracted manufacturers, drivers and fans to the series.

The new regulations have been widely accepted by manufacturers both in the series, and hoping to come in in 2001, and Vauxhall's Mike Nicholson firmly believes that the reduction is costs will be a good thing for a championship where the price of development and success was beginning to spiral out of control.

''We believe costs will be reduced by up to 50 per cent with these new rules,'' he told the official BTCC web-site, ''I think, next year, we will see full grids and good racing. I'm looking forward to seeing other manufacturers joining us to get the championship back to those dizzy heights of a few years ago.''

Vauxhall is among the first to release pictures of its proposed 2001 racer.