[STCC] 2009 News, Rumours, Entries...

[PorscheFanNo1]

Cool, will you buy it Meissner and convince Flash to run it as a 3rd car for you?

[JMeissner]

Hehe, too expensive

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by stedevil

But Im betting on that most things in Viasat STCC coverage will be on pay for channels.

Watching F1 on Tv6 today, all my suspicions seems to have been confirmed. Viasat is starting a new channel, Viasat Motors, which will air both F1 and STCC. This time they will however leave the F1 qualifying on Tv6, but move the race itself to the pay for channel... So anybody dreaming of publicly available Live STCC next year... stop dreaming... You will get the castrated SVT highlights airing on Monday evenings... BTW an extra thanks to all the people complaining about the STCC 1 race with pitstop format... Hope you are happy now that we have 2 races ensuring SVT wont be airing anything live.

[stedevil]

Well, Viasat Motor apparently will have: "Programledare för alla sändningar blir Janne Blomqvist och Eje Elgh";

I guess that is a clear step upwards. 1 ex driver should at least mean we get 1 that have a clue what he is talking about.

[JMeissner]

Michelin out - Yokohama in:

http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=2840

[stedevil]

Interesting. That certainly helps pave the way for STCC teams/drivers participating in the odd WTCC race or even future full involvement.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by JMeissner

Michelin out - Yokohama in:

http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=2840

Michelin are now more or less off the touring car racing scene. WTCC and STCC run Yokohama tyres while BTCC, DTC, DTM and ADAC Procar run on Dunlop tyres.

Not only in touring cars.
They lost WRC (Pirelli), F1 (Bridgestone), MotoGP (Bridgestone). They are only a dominant tyre supplier in endurance racing and IRC (Michelins BFGoodrich brand).

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by FIRE

They are only a dominant tyre supplier in endurance racing and IRC (Michelins BFGoodrich brand).

And rally raid.

It appears that Michelin is on the bad list of FIA, every since the F1 US GP in 2005.

[werner]

It's a shame. But the philosophy of Michelin in sports is that is has to be a sport for them to, i.e. they must have competitors for racing to be interesting for them. All the championships where they supplied tyres went for the option of having an exclusive tyremanufacturer, exept endurance-racing...
I'd be in favour for tyrecompetition in WTCC, with strong limits on the amount of tyres that can be used in 1 weekend, and a maximum price per tyre for privateers, to wich they háve to deliver.

[Valker]

Originally Posted by werner

But the philosophy of Michelin in sports is that is has to be a sport for them to, i.e. they must have competitors for racing to be interesting for them.

Right... So why Michelin is the sole tyre supplier of (most) Formula Renault series, A1GP, Italian F3 and others then?

[werner]

Uhh, ok they are not that strict... Butt at least they said that the lack of competition is the reason for not trying to get the contract as tyremanufacturer for F1, WRC, etc.
Maybe they can actually make money on the other series? That seems a good reason to me to continue delivering despite it's a bit against your principles...

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by werner

It's a shame. But the philosophy of Michelin in sports is that is has to be a sport for them to, i.e. they must have competitors for racing to be interesting for them.

That to me is a philosophy designed to cover up the fact that F1 kicked them out, diplomatically (suddenly moving to a 1 tire series...) but never the less the boot. Than again, after USGP, and most importantly how Michelin handled themselves there, there never could have been much doubt that the end of the road was near for them in F1. So trust a good marketing department to make an interesting spin to look less bad.

[awrb]

But didn't michelin complain very loudly when the FIA announced Pirelli had the WRC tyre tender, and i think they'd have quite liked to stay in F1. Does the STCC get any money from Yokohama?

[JMeissner]

A new Mercedes in STCC 2009?

http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=2885

[FIRE]

It's a shame Mercedes doesn't like S2000. If they would have the "BMW philosophy" they could have cars in BTCC, STCC, DTC, Procar, VLN and other touring car series. Limited budget but maximum promotion.

[Aslak Vind]

Hopefully a bit faster than the Danish project, very beautiful car but still with some development to do. I admire the effort, but the question is if it is possible to develop a fast car on a national level without a manufacturer supporting it?

I hope so!

[Pettersson]

Originally Posted by Aslak Vind

Hopefully a bit faster than the Danish project, very beautiful car but still with some development to do. I admire the effort, but the question is if it is possible to develop a fast car on a national level without a manufacturer supporting it?

I hope so!

I really like that project, but what is their weakest point? Even Mr. Bremer didn't get the car up to proper speed. Weak engine? Just to low budget to develop it enough in both engine and chassis?

I do hope that Gingtorp will build new cars for STCC. I met him at Falkenberg a couple of years ago and we had a nice conversation and he showed us the S2000 C-class. He is one bright guy, that's for sure.

My favourite car by him must be the CLK that Tony Johansson raced in the Swedish GTR-series. So damn impressed of that car, even more impressed by the engine (same unit that was in the CLK GTR FIA GT-car). But enough off-topic from me now.

[Pettersson]

Excuse me for double-posting, but this might be of interest for those who can read Swedish: http://dagbladet.se/sport/1.210490

The article says basically that "Per-Erik Axehult have had some help from Roland before this season, but they are struggling with some things on their Chevrolet Camaro. He will do some pre-season testing together with Roland and his new Mercedes team". And we all now that Tobias Johansson is working on another car so this rumour might be true

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by Aslak Vind

but the question is if it is possible to develop a fast car on a national level without a manufacturer supporting it?

Which national championship? The 3 (4?) year old STCC Merc this year finished 3rd overall in Adac Procar, but it has never been anywhere close to the top in STCC. I think that clearly shows that some national championships are too competitive for a pure private effort to reach the top, while in other ones, with less money involved, it's clearly possible.

[Aslak Vind]

I was thinking of the DTC or the STCC for starters.

But I think you are right, it is simply to expensive to develop local cars without manufacturersupport. But loads of respect for the ones who try anyway.

[PTM]

Originally Posted by Pettersson

I really like that project, but what is their weakest point? Even Mr. Bremer didn't get the car up to proper speed. Weak engine? Just to low budget to develop it enough in both engine and chassis?

I think the engine is ok - whether it can be tweaked a bit more, I don't know.

They visited our team during the season to get some knowledge on how the 320si is built, so I reckon it's a chassis/grip/balance issue.

[SGarage]

Does anybody know the provisional STCC 2009 calendar?

[Aslak Vind]

Not out as of yet, we will have it up on TcT as soon as possible.

Sorry mate

[Aslak Vind]

Originally Posted by PTM

I think the engine is ok - whether it can be tweaked a bit more, I don't know.

They visited our team during the season to get some knowledge on how the 320si is built, so I reckon it's a chassis/grip/balance issue.

I would believe, that Mr Agergaard would be able to tune the engine just as he used to. He is very skilled, however it all comes down to the block.

As Bo, I would believe that it is down to chassis/grip/balance. Watching it at Sturup, where Andreas Ziggler did alright in the wet, it was very unruly. Bounced up and down, looked rather nervous.

I hope that they will do well, it is a rather striking car.

[SGarage]

Originally Posted by Aslak Vind

Not out as of yet, we will have it up on TcT as soon as possible.

Sorry mate

Thank's