BTCC 2011 rumour mill

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Since Prodrive aren't doing F1 now and are just doing the Mini WRC thing for BMW, if a manufacturer wanted to come in, Prodrive could surely make the NGTC cars.

"just" the WRC? That's going to take a lot of time and effort and Prodrive are also running the Aston Martin GT and Le Mans effort as well. Not a lot of spare capacity there.

As far as drivers for next year go - from Brands at the weekend it seemed that Tordoff, Wrathall and Newsham all want to go into the BTCC from Clios and Ginettas respectively. How realistic is that aim for each of them do you think? Obviously money talks but do they have a realistic chance?

[gregc]

One of the Hetherington boys was talking about BTCC for next year in his post race interview too.

It's that time of year though - world + dog seem to talk about moving up to the series at the end of the season...

[The SpeCTator]

There is a rumour that Tom OC will drive for Team AON in 2011 and be leading the championship and the in the last round he will have to pull in with power steering failure and then Tom C will be champion.
Its to silly to be believable

[touringlegend]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

"just" the WRC? That's going to take a lot of time and effort and Prodrive are also running the Aston Martin GT and Le Mans effort as well. Not a lot of spare capacity there.

As far as drivers for next year go - from Brands at the weekend it seemed that Tordoff, Wrathall and Newsham all want to go into the BTCC from Clios and Ginettas respectively. How realistic is that aim for each of them do you think? Obviously money talks but do they have a realistic chance?

I'd put Wrathall in as most likely out of those three to appear on the grid - the team is family run so you'd think they'd manage to find a way to do it.

[nickyf1]

What doesn't add up is Alan Gow saying that there will be more ''full'' NGTC cars than he expected being entered next year.

He either means ''1'' NGTC car, or lots of new teams are magically going to appear.

[davyboy]

As regards the full blown NGTC cars, it would appear that the bigger budget teams - RML, Arena, Dynamics are commited to not running them in 2011. WSR and Motorbase have much smaller budgets and I would expect them to remain with BMW [unless they've a cash windfall over the winter]. That leaves 888. They've been somewhat at a loose end this year with a merry go round of pay drivers. There's a possibility they could build an NGTC model and sell it to smaller teams and new entrants - e.g. Dynojet.

Other than that, I'm not sure who among the midfield/back would have the capability or desire to develop and build an NGTC car from scratch.

[nickyf1]

Unless there is a sudden influx of manufacturers, which I have my doubts about for now, anyway.

[gregc]

Well, Dynamics/Honda aren't messing about. First the early confirmation of Honda and now they've confirmed Neal and Shedden too.

Admittedly it's no great surprise, but it's still early

[Icebaby]

[QUOTE=davyboy;2774727]As regards the full blown NGTC cars, it would appear that the bigger budget teams - RML, Arena, Dynamics are commited to not running them in 2011. QUOTE]

Can't include Arena into this as Chilton stated after the third race at Brands they didn't have any where near the resources of the manufacturer teams of Honda/Chevrolet even though they did they build a car and engine from nothing and buy the biggest corperate facilities an F1 team would be proud off.


Honda drivers for 2011 predictable but dissapointing.

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by Icebaby

Honda drivers for 2011 predictable but dissapointing.

I am in no way a fan of Dynamics or the way they have done things in the past, but continuity is a good thing, plus they won 10% of the races in 2010 and bar employing Plato, they've got the next best thing in the runner up and third placed guy.

[Icebaby]

Thats where the problem is, Thompson,Giovanardi and Turkington are better drivers and available to name three.

[Alfa Fan]

Yes but don't bring money/sponsor links/family links. Get over yourself IceBaby. The same rant about money v talent gets boring.

[Minicross424]

So how realistic is Thompsons chance of being on the grid next year?
Would love to see it but does he have means of raising budget?

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Icebaby

Can't include Arena into this as Chilton stated after the third race at Brands they didn't have any where near the resources of the manufacturer teams of Honda/Chevrolet even though they did they build a car and engine from nothing and buy the biggest corperate facilities an F1 team would be proud off.

You said it. It seemed to me that they had the second highest budget behind RML... and if you discount RML's WTCC effort, probably the highest budget in the BTCC.

[medius]

TCT say that Speedworks will run at least one NGTC Avensis next season.

http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=5447

[FIRE]

Is he a good gentleman driver?

[gregc]

The other question that I've got is, given they're talking about 2 cars (albeit budget permitting), who's building them? If it was just the one then I'd imagine they would be looking to buy the TOCA prototype, but in this case are they planning to build their own or are they going to get GPR to build another one?

Edit - never mind, found the answer on the official site:

Originally Posted by btcc.net

The Avensis will be built by GPR Motorsport which also constructed BTCC organiser TOCA’s prototype NGTC car

...

Dick, who has already signed the contract and paid a deposit to have the first 'Next Gen' machine built

[steve_r]

This is good news. We are still at a very early stage (when comparing how late entries have been confirmed in previous seasons).

Hopefully we will hear of more NGTC cars soon.

[Icebaby]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Is he a good gentleman driver?

Finished 17th in the championship this year.

[Sodemo]

Would like to see a NGTC BMW.

[dyewat808]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Would like to see a NGTC BMW.

Same. Either that and/or just a bigger variety of models - Toyota is nice to see.

[touringlegend]

The worry to me is that every new team joining will see getting GPR to build them an Avensis as the cheapest and most hassle free option.

Whilst that may see more cars of a competitive nature on the grid, we don't want the BTCC turning into a single make championship.

[FIRE]

If that will happen the Avensis replaces in some way the BMW 320. The BMW for was many teams (not only BTCC) the car to race.

[gregc]

I'm not too concerned about that - apart from anything else, how many cars could GPR physically build over the winter? We might end up with 4 or 5 I guess but as FIRE said, that's no worse than the beemers.

That said, more than one NGTC model next year would be nice...

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by FIRE

If that will happen the Avensis replaces in some way the BMW 320. The BMW for was many teams (not only BTCC) the car to race.

I think you're probably right. The problem with the bimmer is the running costs. BMW Motorsport parts from Munich are horrendously expensive. Otherwise, its the best S2000 customer car.

As we've seen though, much of the back of the grid is made up of people who aren't in the ballpark to be able to afford to buy and run a BMW e.g. Techspeed, Martin Johnson, James Kaye, Lea Wood. The challenge for next year's championship will be to figure out how to get these guys back in the wake of the cessation of BTC cars. I think the cost of the Avensis will be too much for them. I'd imagine there's a greater chance of Vectras and Lacettis cascading down, possibly with a more reliable NGCT motor.