Before entering touring cars, WSR built its reputation in British Formula 3, where Dick Bennetts developed a talent-nurturing approach that produced results well beyond his team's modest independent scale. The team's association with Senna during his 1983 Formula 3 season formed a particularly celebrated chapter, though the team competed at the front of the category with multiple drivers throughout the decade.
In 1986 WSR briefly entered International Formula 3000 with Maurício Gugelmin, but results were unspectacular and the team returned to Formula 3 the following year.
WSR moved into the BTCC in 1996 to run the works Ford operation, taking over from Andy Rouse. Working in cooperation with Reynard Motorsport, who built the chassis, WSR managed the race team with Paul Radisich and Steve Robertson driving Ford Mondeos. The Mondeo had underperformed since its championship introduction in 1993, and 1996 brought limited success, with Radisich finishing thirteenth and Robertson twentieth.
The 1997 season saw Will Hoy, the 1991 BTCC champion, partner Radisich. Both drivers improved, with Radisich reaching thirteenth and Hoy fifteenth. The 1998 campaign was the team's best Ford year: Hoy won at round 4, WSR's first touring car victory, while guest driver Nigel Mansell provided one of the season's most memorable moments with a charging drive at a rain-soaked Donington Park, ultimately finishing fifth after initially leading.
For 1999 and 2000 WSR took over the works Honda programme from Prodrive, which departed to run the Ford team. James Thompson and Peter Kox drove Honda Accords in 1999, with Thompson winning four races — including the season opener from pole — and finishing fourth in the drivers' championship. Kox added one win at Snetterton.
The 2000 season, the last under Supertouring regulations, saw WSR partner with JAS Motorsport to field three Honda Accords. Tom Kristensen and Gabriele Tarquini joined Thompson as drivers. Tarquini won twice, Kristensen claimed three victories, and Thompson added a win at Silverstone despite missing several rounds through injury. WSR finished second in the Manufacturers' Championship in both 1999 and 2000.
After a brief hiatus WSR returned late in 2001 running the works MG team with Anthony Reid and Warren Hughes. Reid took a victory at the penultimate race — the only non-Vauxhall win of that season. In 2002 the team added Colin Turkington and Gareth Howell in an Atomic Kitten-backed satellite squad. MG finished second in the manufacturers' and teams' championships that year.
From 2003, Turkington was absorbed into the main WSR MG squad. In 2004, having lost official MG backing, the team ran Reid and Turkington as independents, with Reid taking the Independents' title. Rob Collard drove a single MG for WSR in 2005, taking his first win at Knockhill. In 2006 WSR ran two MG ZSes with RAC title sponsorship, switching to bio-ethanol fuel mid-season.
WSR switched to BMW E90 320si machinery for 2007, entering under the Team RAC banner with Colin Turkington and Tom Onslow-Cole. Stephen Jelley replaced Onslow-Cole for 2008. At the close of the 2009 season, Turkington clinched the Drivers' Championship in the final race — WSR's first BTCC drivers' title.
The team ran Rob Collard and Nick Foster through 2010–2011, then brought Onslow-Cole back alongside them for 2012, a year that saw the squad upgrade to NGTC-specification turbocharged engines. Collard won three races, lifting the team to runners-up in the Teams' Championship. The 2013 season saw Turkington return alongside Collard and Foster in a new BMW 125i M Sport.
Turkington won the championship again in 2014 with eight victories, and a third title followed in 2018. A fourth drivers' championship for Turkington arrived in 2019, with Andrew Jordan and Tom Oliphant filling the supporting seats. WSR also helped BMW secure multiple consecutive Manufacturers' titles: the 2022 crown was reported as a record-breaking eighth in a row for the marque, with the cars transitioning to hybrid power as the 330e M Sport during this period.
Notable milestones included the team's first ever 1–2–3 finish at Croft Circuit in 2015 and multiple Teams' and Constructors' Championship successes across the BMW era.
WSR was selected to run A1 Team New Zealand for the inaugural 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix season, guiding the "Black Beauty" car to fourth overall. The following season WSR managed A1 Team USA and the new A1 Team Singapore, remaining active in the series even after New Zealand contracted a different operator.
West Surrey Racing stands as one of British motorsport's most durable independent teams, with a record spanning Formula 3 academy work in the Senna era through to sustained BMW BTCC dominance across the 2010s and 2020s. Dick Bennetts' team has developed champions across multiple categories over more than four decades.