The first three races of the 2009 British Touring Car Championship may have lacked the usual outcome of season debuts - ie. half the cars ending up as scrap - but it certainly didn't lack for action. Initially pole man Mat Neal lost the lead off the line to the Rob Collard and Colin Turkington's BMWs. There was the usual dogfight on the sprint

There were some last minute returnees to the first round of Britain's favourite 'roundy-roundy' racing, but none more high profile than crowd favourite Jason Plato. Left high and dry by the works SEAT team closure and having not scored a drive over the winter, British race engineering specialists RML rustled up a car for him: a 2008 works

Photographer: John Brooks Resolution: 1200 x 800 Description: Team Halfords BTCC Honda Civic at the opening round of the 2008 BTCC Championship: Brands Hatch.

One of my favourite 'tintop' racecars is the Honda Civic Type S which races in the British Touring Car Championship. Whats interesting about this car is that its developed by an Independent team and has no works input from Honda. Despite this, the Civic can race with the big boys, multiple wins already under its belt. The Honda Civic is a very