Natcc

Edmonton · 16 May 2003, 03:57 (Ref:600519)

Why was this series unable to get support and be successful?

jaguar18018 · 4 Jun 2003, 06:44 (Ref:620064)

i think it was due to the fact that there was only 1 factory team in the series and that team was dodge

kmchow · 4 Jun 2003, 17:31 (Ref:620831)

There was HART--the closet Works team-Honda. OTOH, if Dodge had stayed in '98, they would have been joined by another factory team--Toyota!!

Plus, history has proven--or seems to suggest--that Audi was interested as well. I think Audi would have entered in '99. Audi officials were spotted at some NATCC races in '96 and '97. Rumors even circulated they intended to do one of the later '97 races.

With the collapse of the NATCC, Audi has instead choose to race the S4 and now the S6, in the World Challenge!

ensign14 · 4 Jun 2003, 19:19 (Ref:620968)

Was a solution looking for a problem, if you wanted saloon car racing you could watch NASCAR, if you wanted road racing you could watch Trans Am/GTs.

kmchow · 5 Jun 2003, 16:21 (Ref:621993)

If it's any consolation, there is the World Challenge-touring class. It's become the touring car series I religiously watch now. And since last year, a pretty consistent 40% (15-25 cars) of the grid is now sedans!! And becaues the sedans are pretty competitive, you hear and see a lot about them! And there is quite a variety!

You can watch Nissan Sentra (Works!!=too new to rate), Lexus IS300 (semi-Works=struggling competitively), Mazda Protege (semi-works=very competitive), BMW 320i (independent=very competitive), Audi A4 (independent-very competitive), MB C Class (independent-struggling),VW Jetta/Bora (independent=struggling), Mazda 626/Eunos (independent-struggling), Subaru Impreza (independent=too new to rate)

kmchow · 5 Jun 2003, 16:32 (Ref:622009)

I'm not sure how bb members would classify a team if the factory does the engine R&D, provides customer engines and contingency money for those who finish well. The Mazda and Lexus teams operate this way. Would you consider them semi-Works efforts then? Is that enough support to qualify in your opinion?