[BTCC] BTCC 2018 Rumours & Silly Season

[AdrianM]

I think a paid drive in BTCC means one that you don't have to pay for yourself so you can use your personal sponsors to pay yourself a wage.

[BillWiskins]

Originally Posted by sceptic

James Nash said he would come back to the BTCC for a paid works drive.
He's not good enough for that, so unlikely we'll see him.

I thought it was Mr Huff who said he'd return for a paid drive? Seems a little optimistic for Nash (no disrespect to him).

[Matt K]

According to what I've read, Nash didn't say anything like that but I may've missed something.

[luckn002]

There seems to be a lot of talk that R3 could be the last win for Toyota... seems like it would be a safe bet to say Speedworks and Ingram back in the Avensis next year, so maybe a deal has already been done using another car?

[Matt K]

Would be a shame considering big Toyota GB involvement (well, on social media ) but it is unlikely to see them becoming 'factory team'. Maybe merger with Handy to create Austin- Ingram Alfa team?

[Jiiiiiiim]

I was surprised by a Tim Harvey's comments about Plato, does it mean this years issues he had at BMR are leading to a divorce? Question would be where to next for JP, I think he needs to get back in a FWD if he hangs around.

Also very strong hints that Speedworks are changing car for 2018, tho the Toyota is the best it's ever been, has it reached its development limit?

Plenty of questions heading in to the the off season & no doubt plenty of heated debates and rumours to come

[redshoes]

I'm not sure you can talk about the Toyota, or an car for that matter, being at it's development limit when it's built entirely of common parts.

[BobJones]

Neil Hudson - "So, the question now is was this win for @ToyotaPR in the #BTCC also the last for Toyota in the championship?"

Scott Brownlee (Head of Toyota and Lexus PR and Social, UK) - "Not the last ever, but perhaps for now."

https://twitter.com/ToyotaPR/status/914618032420515841

[BobJones]

Jason Plato.

Discuss.

FWD or bust? 24th and 22nd in the final two races there hardly up to his standard.

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by BobJones

Jason Plato.

Discuss.

FWD or bust? 24th and 22nd in the final two races there hardly up to his standard.

Age is catching up with him. I suspect he'll announce his retirement soon.

...and that Neal will follow suit, because he doesn't want to quit before Plato does.

[Londoner]

Originally Posted by sceptic

Age is catching up with him. I suspect he'll announce his retirement soon.

...and that Neal will follow suit, because he doesn't want to quit before Plato does.

I get the feeling Plato wants to reach the 100 win mark before he retires, he tends to make a big thing about it on Twitter. Whether he'll actually achieve it (he's on 97) is another matter.

While they may have a contract until the end of next season, I will be extremely surprised if the MG6 is still on the grid next Easter, given their age and the sheer amount of repair bills racked up over the last two years. I'd really like to know why Josh Cook thought driving such a geriatric car was a better choice than sticking with the decent Ford Focus at Maximum.

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by BobJones

Jason Plato.

Discuss.

FWD or bust? 24th and 22nd in the final two races there hardly up to his standard.

Not just this year, he was also beaten and outdriven by Turkington in 2016, so he has two years running watching a team mate beat him in the same car. Mabe his way to address that is come out fighting and I am sure his character will want to prove the nay sayers, but where he might go if it isn't at BMR I have no idea, only suggestion I can think of is that a move back to FWD so maybe take his sponsors to Eurotech?

[luckn002]

I think it must be certain that Speedworks aren't staying with the Avensis next year. Going by Toyota's social media involvement, the facelift and the car's sucess I would've thought it would be definitie that the team, car and driver would stay the same in 2018.

I don't think others would think any differently unless they know it's likely a change will happen... hard to believe this is only the first day of silly season!


Some other questions to think about:
- Which teams/drivers will leave the grid (I'll probably go over this in more detail later)
- Which teams will expand?
- Will Welch Motorsport come back as planned (or go to the more cost effective TCR?)
- ...and so will Motorbase go back to 2 cars? Will the Focii finally get a facelift?
- Will anything special happen for the BTCC's anniversary year?
- How many Subarus?
- How many of those old MG's?
- Will there be some new models other than what we know (many chasis on the grid are now quite a few years old)
- Will there be a change to the penalty system?

[Alfisti]

The Plato question... I have been of the belief for a long time that he and Mr Scott will be parting ways.

After his very poor (by his standards) last few meetings, despite the car being "sorted" now I really do wonder if he has lost his mojo. Possibly, even probably, just lack of motivation rather than age overtaking skills... or is the car not "sorted" at all?

How much money does it cost to build a car from scratch? Obviously not cheap, but how financially crippling can it be? The design and development, which have to be the lions share of a program, have all been done so it's only materials and labour after all.

It will be interesting to see what TBL's go where in the coming weeks/ months. I do not believe we will see 6 cars under the BMR/ 888 banners: it's quantity over quality - far better to be the other way around ala Dynamics and WSR.

[Alfisti]

Gut feelings: Parker / Maximum to depart. Mr Lines was talking very positively about TCR and Jelley has not gelled: he has struggled as badly as Alex Martin - so maybe Parkers lack of BTCC know how is a part of the problem. Clearly a proper outfit, their other series entries prove that beyond doubt.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Londoner

I get the feeling Plato wants to reach the 100 win mark before he retires, he tends to make a big thing about it on Twitter. Whether he'll actually achieve it (he's on 97) is another matter.

While they may have a contract until the end of next season, I will be extremely surprised if the MG6 is still on the grid next Easter, given their age and the sheer amount of repair bills racked up over the last two years. I'd really like to know why Josh Cook thought driving such a geriatric car was a better choice than sticking with the decent Ford Focus at Maximum.

I wonder if it was the hope of or even an offer to be driving a Subaru in 2018?

[Dudley]

Originally Posted by Londoner

I get the feeling Plato wants to reach the 100 win mark before he retires, he tends to make a big thing about it on Twitter. Whether he'll actually achieve it (he's on 97) is another matter.

While they may have a contract until the end of next season, I will be extremely surprised if the MG6 is still on the grid next Easter, given their age and the sheer amount of repair bills racked up over the last two years. I'd really like to know why Josh Cook thought driving such a geriatric car was a better choice than sticking with the decent Ford Focus at Maximum.

Given he scored in 7 of his 12 races with Maximum and then 3 in 18 for 888 I'd have to agree.

Of course having scored 7 in 12 with Cook, Maximum scored 0 in 18 without.

[BobJones]

Originally Posted by Dudley

Given he scored in 7 of his 12 races with Maximum and then 3 in 18 for 888 I'd have to agree.

Of course having scored 7 in 12 with Cook, Maximum scored 0 in 18 without.

Harsh realities there, it just didn't work out and to me, lead to some Aron Taylor-Smith stylee over-driving. Rockingham could have been a podium, but instead, it was a crash.

[BobJones]

Originally Posted by luckn002

- Will there be some new models other than what we know (many chasis on the grid are now quite a few years old)

New Hondas hopefully and the Alfa. Can't see much else.

[850Estate]

Originally Posted by BobJones

Harsh realities there, it just didn't work out and to me, lead to some Aron Taylor-Smith stylee over-driving. Rockingham could have been a podium, but instead, it was a crash.

There's a chap who had a majorly disappointing season. After driving the wheels off the BKR CC I really hoped he might kick on a bit this season, but alas he was another driver to fall foul of the MG curse.

[850Estate]

How many drivers are officially committed for next season already then?

Smiley and Newsham look to be pretty much confirmed at Norlin (via Bert Taylor's Twitter), Turkington will remain at BMW I'm assuming, Brett Smith will keep his seat at Eurotech after looking decent and saying as much at the Mini Challenge finale.

Jordan will be staying in the BTCC as per his Pirtek deal, and I'd imagine Shedden and Neal will be together at Honda too.

Rob Austin is fully confirmed in the Alfa, and Tingram seems to be pretty much confirmed at Speedworks - albeit in a TBC car.

Can we almost start up an entry list, or am I way too far ahead of myself?

[luckn002]

So, who's going to be leaving the grid?

Obviously, this season has had such a high standard of drivers that it would take too long to list them all - and for drivers rumoured to drive next year there needs to be the space on the grid. So here are my (probably very long) thoughts of who won't be returning next year (without taking budgets into consideration too much) for those who want to read them

--


Matt Simpson - showed some great flashes of speed, especially early in the season, and, in my opinion, drove much cleaner this year. However he had a very inconsistent season and failed to achieve a really good result the car is capable of. Looks like he has a big budget though so will probably stay

James Cole - again, a very inconsistent season. Whether it was down to boost or not, he never got anywhere near the front after taking that win, and had a pretty anonymous season before Croft. Plus, Subaru are rumoured to downsize next season...

Josh Price - similar to Cole, up there in the mid season but off the pace for the rest of time. I remember watching him on the replays at Knockhill overtaking Neal; to me he looked very uncomfortable in the car and it was all over place but managing to pull down the straight. Maybe needs some more time in Clios.

Taylor-Smith - very, very poor season for ATS, thanks to the old MG. Unless he goes up to Subaru if the space is there, I reckon its MG (if they stay) or nothing next year. Always seemed to have a very battered car as well...

Josh Cook - I really liked Josh before this season but it all went downhill after the MG move. Terrible results bar one, and lots of penalties and damage that seemed very different to his driving style a few years ago. Again I would think it is MG or nothing next season; abandoning Maximum won't attract other teams either.

Andrew Jordan - I think Jordan will stay, but the question is where? With Bennett's desire for three uniform BMWs and him coming last in the WSR camp, could we see him move to yet another team?

Ollie Jackson - been around for a while now with little success. Brief flashes of speed, but I think AmD would do better with another driver in the Audi.

Tom Chilton - really came to like Tom this season and I really hope he stays, but this season was far off his (over)ambitious target of 5-10 wins. I read a while back it was likely WTCC or BTCC for 2018, not both. Would've thought WTCC, but now with that crisis going on...

Martin Depper - been in some competitive cars in his career but with little success, and seemed to be one of few constant backmarkers this season. If Motorbase stay as a 3 car team, I'd love to see a lineup of Mat Jackson, Butcher, and Davenport. Hopefully the Fords will be more competitive too.

Stewart Lines - as others have said, and as much as they've been hanging onto the TBL, I think Maximum will be off to TCR UK. Other than with Cook they've had little success and it was clear Lines really did not want to be driving from the interviews I saw.

Stephen Jelley - great looking car but very bad results, and lots of incidents. Similar to the above, I gathered that Jelley was not happy with being at the back the whole time and so don't think will come back. Not sure whether TPR will stay...

Will Burns - again, I hope he stays. No points, but slowly improving, and far away from the banger driver backmarkers of seasons past. Hardly in the most competitive car, either.

Jason Plato - been talked about a lot already. Personally I don't think he'll be back, at least as a driver.

Matt Neal - comes up every year being one of the oldest drivers. Don't think he'll ever win another title or beat Flash in the championship but still seems very competitive so I reckon he'll be around for a few more years.

Rob Collard - little footnote, still clearly competitive and I hope he stays - had a good chance of the title this year until Rockingham and seems to get better every year, but I wonder if one day he'll be replaced by Ricky?

--

As for drivers changing teams, I can't see many changes happening - most people looked at home to me in their current teams. But then again I said the same thing last season - roll on silly season!

And sorry for the extremely loooooong post...

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I wonder if it was the hope of or even an offer to be driving a Subaru in 2018?

If there are any Subarus in 2018......

[psq43]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

If there are any Subarus in 2018......

Now, I heard that too....

I'm glad someone else said it first though in case I said it, and it wasn't true!

[Alfisti]

That Mr Bleach is a rumour I heard at the weekend but thought it way wide of the mark... even if BMR fold I would think one of the other teams would come in for the cars at the right price.