As Hamilton checks out touring cars, what’s our favourite motorsport outside F1? · RaceFans

Lewis Hamilton went incognito to Donington Park last weekend to watch his younger brother Nicolas score his best result to date in the British Touring Car Championship.

The seven-times Formula 1 world champion will have seen an eventful opening to arguably Britain’s most popular home-grown motorsport series. While F1 may be the top draw for most viewers, it’s far from the only series which captures the attention of our writers.

The unusually long gap between Formula 1 races has given us more time to catch up on some of those categories. Here’s four series our writers would encourage you to sample.

BTCC: Best of British

Last year’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix had an appealing, ‘old school’ feeling which immediately transported me back to my childhood. The small park in Imola reminded me of weekends spent with my family watching the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Sunseeker Rally, World Rally Championship – and the British Touring Car Championship.

My dad works as a circuit doctor and was usually waiting patiently in the medical centre hoping for a quiet day. The smell of burgers would fill the air as the locals set up vans and you would embrace the familiar British spectator feeling of either being too hot or too cold, and wet.

It never mattered as soon as the engines roared into life and the racing began. That moment in Italy reminded me why I got into motorsport and how special a sport it is.

Last weekend, I headed to Donington Park for the first round of the British Touring Car Championship, thrilled to be getting back to work in such a vibrant and friendly paddock. With a plethora of racing throughout the weekend shown live on ITV4, you can’t help but feel warmth when the engines start spluttering off the start line. What ensues over the three races on Sunday is mostly chaotic – elbows are out and game faces are on.

The large, heavy cars are far slower than F1’s, but due to the nature of the racing, we often see a lot of close battles. The BTCC also visits some of the best tracks in the UK, including my favourite Brands Hatch, plus Thruxton, Oulton Park, Silverstone and Knockhill.

Last season, the battle went down to the season finale at Brands Hatch after a double victory from Tom Ingram as the man from High Wycombe beat rivals Ash Sutton and Jake Hill to the title. This season is looking set to…