BTCC 2011 rumour mill

[Jamesy-18]

About a year to the day that I created last year's rumour mill, I'm back again.

So, any news/rumours out about what could happen next season in terms of the driver market?

Despite the first year of the NGTC cars coming in to play, I doubt we'll see many nor see many changes to the grid.

[Mike Sheraton]

So who will be the first of the top teams to build an NGTC car, i would love to think an Arena Ford Mondeo!

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Mike Sheraton

So who will be the first of the top teams to build an NGTC car,

GPR Motorsport

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by Jamesy-18

Despite the first year of the NGTC cars coming in to play, I doubt we'll see many nor see many changes to the grid.

I would have thought the reverse was true. Unless there's a last minute reprise the introduction of NGTC means the death of BTC-T, which in turn means 20% of the current entry list will need a new car if they are to return.

I'm curious to see what the take-up will be on the TOCA-badged NGTC engine, for me the jury is still out on that. It's clearly a big heavy lump and whilst it seems to work in the Vectra it will be interesting to see if it works in smaller cars. Hopefully we'll get a better idea after seeing Glew's SEAT at Silverstone.

[touringlegend]

Originally Posted by redshoes

It's clearly a big heavy lump and whilst it seems to work in the Vectra it will be interesting to see if it works in smaller cars. Hopefully we'll get a better idea after seeing Glew's SEAT at Silverstone.

My feeling is that may be half the reason behind the YRC Leon entry.

As for a rumour to mill over, I did hear a month or so back that a certain team has signed a long term deal with a sponsor and they will be going for the best drivers based on who's the quickest, not on what budget they bring.

[Alfa Fan]

Only two current teams fit that bill... WSR or 888

[touringlegend]

Originally Posted by Alfa Fan

Only two current teams fit that bill... WSR or 888

Possibly...

..possibly not.

It'd be interesting to know if anyone else heard the same story as me, or whether it was just paddock gossip.

[medius]

Dos anyone know how Thorney have got on building their Insignia? I rememer them saying it was to be built this year, run in Britcar possibly, ahead of next season. Is that still the plan?

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by medius

Dos anyone know how Thorney have got on building their Insignia? I rememer them saying it was to be built this year, run in Britcar possibly, ahead of next season. Is that still the plan?

Seem to recall they abandoned the idea a few months back.

[Jamesy-18]

If it is WSR, they should get rid of Neate. I mean, it's good to see him racing after his big accident in Britcar, it was a real "feel-good" story at the start of this year. But, results pay. There's no other way around it but to say that he's been pretty average this year at best, and if WSR are serious about becoming champion again, Neate needs to go.

[Sodemo]

Have Swindon Racing Engines solved the issues they were having with the NGTC unit blowing up every time it hit the track?

[Jamesy-18]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Have Swindon Racing Engines solved the issues they were having with the NGTC unit blowing up every time it hit the track?

It seems not by some of the recent problems Jordan and Pinkney have had!

[Sodemo]

It always surprised me that Team Dynamics went with the Civic rather than the Accord. After the success that NTech had with the Accord in 2008 I would have thought that would have been the better path to go down.

[Icebaby]

N-Tech's success was down to a certain driver at the time -James Thompson who out drove that car in many races but long term I agree the Accord was the better bet.I guess at the time the Civic was new out in 07 and seemed the perfect ploy to get Honda on board based on the Civic Type R's UK sales sadly this failed to materialise.

[Jamesy-18]

Originally Posted by Icebaby

the Civic Type R's UK sales sadly this failed to materialise.

Maybe based on the fact it's pig-ugly?

[Craner Curves]

We need to move on though. It'd be as if we were in the latter years of Super Touring and there were several non-turbo Sierra RS500s pootling around towards the back.

[KA]

Equally, we don't want to start 2011 with about a dozen cars on the grid...

As ever, it's about finding the right balance between moving teams on to running the new regs cars as soon as possible, and maintaining a respectable grid size

I hope they get it right- there isn't a National Saloon Car Cup to provide a ready-made Class B this time round...

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by KA

I hope they get it right- there isn't a National Saloon Car Cup to provide a ready-made Class B this time round...

Sport Maxx? That needs numbers too. I guess they might just be too slow though?

[duke_toaster]

What about doing what they do (or did) in Portugal and allow SEAT Leon Supercopa cars with the restrictors tweaked?

[Tim Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

We need to move on though. It'd be as if we were in the latter years of Super Touring and there were several non-turbo Sierra RS500s pootling around towards the back.

But then that would be the same if there'd been a handful of '91 or '92 spec Cavaliers or Carinas out there - the teams had got their act together and developed so much that even a car from the previous year was pretty much competitively obsolete (with a handful of exceptions, but not many).

Allowing restricted RS500s got a couple more on the grid in the early days of Class 2; ditto did running it for a year alongside Group A, and the abundance of M3s (and occasional Sierra) that could be adapted before the new builds and manufacturer support came along. It's important to have some time to cross-over in privately financed motorsport, which is pretty much what BTCC is these days.

Having said that, aren't the BTC-T spec cars already a whole regulation set out of date? How many of them have been regulars this season?

NGTC seems a whole lot like Eurocars with a bit of extra flexibility......

[aland]

alan gow has already said no BTC spec cars on his own forum so that is that, dont see him making a u-turn

for the guys running the BTC spec cars unless Techspeed land a wealthy sponsor to go for NGTC spec they are stuffed, would love to see martin Johnson getting a vectra (perhaps dave pinkney will hang up his helmet) but as already said Swindon need to get their finger out and build a engine that lasts like at least half a season like planned, FFS it cant be that hard if other engine builders like Neil Brown and Mountune can do it

there is still plenty of S2000 cars out there but last time I looked they were advertised at stupid money. what I really hope is that the NGTC spec parts are sold at sensible prices so that the smaller teams can have a chance at competing and hopefully the rules regarding contact are adhered to as that is what is shafting the smaller teams

[gregc]

Some thoughts having just caught up with this thread...

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Have Swindon Racing Engines solved the issues they were having with the NGTC unit blowing up every time it hit the track?

Let's not get too dramatic with this - I know they've had more than their share of problems, but how many have actually gone bang, and how many of the issues have been teething troubles? (Genuine question btw, if anyone has any numbers). Surely that's the whole point of having them available for a development year, to iron out the problems?

Originally Posted by medius

Dos anyone know how Thorney have got on building their Insignia? I rememer them saying it was to be built this year, run in Britcar possibly, ahead of next season. Is that still the plan?

Originally Posted by redshoes

Seem to recall they abandoned the idea a few months back.

Indeed, they confirmed as much either here or on the official forum. Hinted that they might have another possibility in the pipeline though.

Originally Posted by redshoes

- Silverline Chevrolet obviously have no reason to go NGTC.
- A Team Dynamics developed Honda (Accord?) would make sense from a marketing point of view as the Type-R Civic is being killed off but Honda are barely putting any money in now. I doubt they would be willing to stump up the development costs.
- I doubt Arena would want to build another car whilst there is much mileage in the Focus, especially once they fit a legal NGTC-spec engine.
- Triple Eight need a manufacturer or a big sponsor
- WSR have the capability but like everyone else need a backer.
- I don't think Motorbase are the sort of team who would want to get into building/developing their own car from scratch, and again there's still plenty of mileage in the BMWs

Unless there's an influx from other series I'm running out of front running teams.

- the only thing I would add is that Matt Neal has already said that Dynamics plan to run the Civic for at least one more year.

Originally Posted by aland

alan gow has already said no BTC spec cars on his own forum so that is that, dont see him making a u-turn

I'm not so certain that's set in stone just yet - the way he phrased his answer recently when he was asked on his forums was along the lines of "the intention remains...." - I wouldn't call that ruling out the possibility.

[Thorney]

I can't see us being in next season unless something dramatic happens, there are simply too many questions about regs and performance for js to commit at this stage, we said we wanted to but it needed at least some support from Vauxhall but the harsh financial environment we are in meant that we couldn't get it. We have a strong backer and we have concentrated on our M3 GT3 project this season which is nearing completion in time for the Britcar24hr in October. I'd still like to do BTCC, sponsors are happy but it needs to be done without an open chequebook which at this stage I think is hard to see.

[davyboy]

A few comments on all the above.

o In the current economic climate, I think there may be a U-turn on the BTC cars obsolesence. I know many here feel that with one or two exceptions, the guys driving these cars should be on the grid... but its important to TOCA to have a decent number of cars out and only a dozen would be a problem I would have thought.

o The Swindon motor was mainly aimed at privateers, but something needs to be done on reliability. I'm sure the Dunns will sort it out before next year. In terms of its suitability for non VXR chassis, Phil Glew will be the guinea pig, so we'll know that before the year's out too. I don't see any front running team going with an NGT motor UNLESS Alan Gow decides to crank up the boost pressure and give it an unfair advantage. Of course he may then risk alienating some of the bigger teams who could leave the series altogether. Its a delicate balance for sure.

o Andy Neate brings significant funding to WSR with his Ceravision business. His results have been poor, but as I've said many times before, I feel the series needs gentleman drivers in order to survive and never more so than now. He'll more than likely be back next year.

[Sodemo]

If the BTC cars agreed to get rid of those stupid looking rear wings, they should be allowed to compete in 2011.