[BTCC] Vauxhall confirms BTCC withdrawal at end of season

[touringlegend]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74519

Disastrous news ?

[Russfeld]

While you don't want to lose three front running cars I imagine Jordan and Neal will find seats next year and Triple 8 could probably find sponsorship to run at least Giovanardi privately.

On the brightside, no factory cars is good for the entire grid. It may even convince some new privateer entries now that the playing field has leveled slightly.

And I expect that team/those cars to continue in private hands. It's not Triple 8 pulling out.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by touringlegend

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74519

Disastrous news ?

But inevitable I suppose...
Maybe this'll allow the BTCC to return to it's heyday where there were full grids, lots of different teams, and no (direct) manufacturers?

[crmalcolm]

Hopefully not disastrous.
The last manufacturer leaving will change the dynamics of the series, but it should still survive.

[Hazard]

Means I'm unlikely to see a racing version of the Insignia

Damn them. I thought Vauxhall would never leave the BTCC. GM are trying to save money anywhere now.

[GT6]

Not unexpected but the continued drip of bad news with teams and sponsers withdrawing from motor racing will change it, but forcing it to rely more of gate receipts could make it more responsive to the demands of those people who actually turn up and pay to watch it, not a bad thing in my books.

[Sodemo]

You have to hand it to Vauxhall though for sticking with the BTCC through thick and thin, they were one of the last hold outs of the Super Touring era, and were among the first to commit to the BTC 2001 regs, after a few dismal years of low grids things picked up in 2003 - 2004 and they were still there, I think some people took their participation for granted.

Its a shame that they have decided to pull out, I just wonder if there was still SEAT and perhaps Volvo involved would that have swayed their decision?

[Burnsie]

Originally Posted by Hazard

I thought Vauxhall would never leave the BTCC.

Likewise, but then I also thought that Subaru would never leave the WRC. Sad times indeed

[FIRE]

Vauxhall was a loyal supporter of touring car racing so no negative word from me.

I am sure the racing will be great with only privateers but for the publicity and status of the championship it's not good to have no factory teams.


And indeed no racing version of the Insignia. (I am still hoping on a privateer who develops a Insigina AWD with a big GM V8 for the 24h of Nurburgring)

[Spanner monkey]

Maybe it's the right time for other teams to become constuctors! Team Dynamics have done it on a small budget over the past 10 years & now with Chilton bankrolling the Focus at arena it could be a new dawn for BTCC. The volvo deal was never a full factory effort so maybe they will still come in in 2010. 888 may still run the cars with sponsorship. What other cars could come in?? Maybe Renault Nissan SAIC/Mg Toyota

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Its a shame that they have decided to pull out, I just wonder if there was still SEAT and perhaps Volvo involved would that have swayed their decision?

A factory backed SEAT, probably, but not likely for a privateer Volvo effort.

[helterskelter]

It's a disaster IMO, as we have a glorious brand leaving the best national championship in touring cars. Of course, bad things like crisis always empower the talent and the minds and hopefully we willsee the Btcc rise again. I'm not sure that privateers will be more incline to step in than before, as we have already seen in Brands Hatch that BMW privateers can do very well compared to the Vauxhalls. I don't think it's about competition, I think it's about a lack of budget that will not last forever, though.

[touring fan01]

With GM just about bankrupt and looking for billions of bailout money in the US and EU then its no real surprise they had to pull out.

And as Gow has said the series has actually grown all the time over the last 6 years with less and less manufacturers, which is true. So I guess it shows that people dont really care if a team has works support as long as the cars are there and the racing is good.

http://www.btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=1381

[steve_r]

It's a shame in a way, but being the only full factory team, it's no huge surprise.

BTCC will be back with the private teams and the racing will not suffer. I assume the door will be open for Matt Neal back at his old team. Whether Gio will stay is, I guess, a lot less certain.

[MikeH]

I'm amazed this is a surprise to anyone - with the big car manufacturers and the general motor industry in the state they are (particularly Vauxhall's parent company) the only surprise to me is that they ran in 2009 despite the lack of manufacturer competition.

[touringlegend]

Think that was because everything was signed and sealed last summer time really, or else they maybe would have.

[crmalcolm]

I know that GM are withdrawing the Vauxhall name from BTCC, but will it be the end of GM involvement.
I'm not expecting an official entry, but given the amount of Chevrolets racing recently, along with the Vauxhalls and Saabs (they are GM aren't they?), I wonder if they might move a little bit into the supplier category and offer cars for purchase.

[chunterer]

This was surely inevitable? I saw a bit of the opening rounds on telly and thought that with the Vectra continuing, there was obviously no rush to bring an Insignia into play?

The BTCC will be ok in the longer term, and I don't necessarily think it is bad for a series to run with privateers for the short term as long as they are of a good standard and there are plenty of them!

Also, as i'm on the side of the fence that doesn't see S2000 level regs as appropriate for a major chamipnship, maybe the MSA will start to think about a new formula again for the future?

Ideally there ought to be a set of regs that will promote a wider variety of cars and makes including whatever GM/Vauxhall end up as in the future?

Perhaps we should be thinking about a more standard basis for cars once again?

[Urgentemente]

I'll be sad to see them go , as they've kind of been my team to support with owning a Calibra for the last 6+ years , and I was looking forward to seeing how well Andrew Jordan would do with a year or two's experience with them (tho judging by his initial performances he doesn't need much time to get up to speed with them).

Does that mean the VXR8 course cars for the BTCC meets will be spare, and if so can I have one for being a loyal Vaux supporter (6+ years of smiles and swearing/brusies/scraped knuckles with my own!)

[Minicross424]

Ideally there ought to be a set of regs that will promote a wider variety of cars and makes including whatever GM/Vauxhall end up as in the future?

Perhaps we should be thinking about a more standard basis for cars once again?[/QUOTE]

Change of rules sounds good, how about we adapt v8 supercars rules

[snowen250]

I dont think that reg changes are needed, S2000 cars seem to be not too hard to produce from the road going cousins and numbers are good.
While V8 supercars style would be great, it seems very unlikely.
I think if rules were changed, we would see a set a bit like sportmaxx rules, very production orientated and visually standard looking, much like the pre '95 supertourers.
Simon

[gregc]

Originally Posted by snowen250

I dont think that reg changes are needed, S2000 cars seem to be not too hard to produce from the road going cousins and numbers are good.

Agreed. The whole point of using S2000 is that it is a spec that is used in many series around the world, meaning that car availability is very good. A custom set of regs would mean the cars would have to be developed from scratch, and would only be eligible for the one series.

Personally I'd hate for the BTCC to go down the V8SC route - to me those are emphatically not touring cars, they are big silhouette racers, and the same goes for DTM style cars too. I wouldn't have any problem having a series for that type of car, but not the BTCC!

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by gregc

Agreed. The whole point of using S2000 is that it is a spec that is used in many series around the world, meaning that car availability is very good. A custom set of regs would mean the cars would have to be developed from scratch, and would only be eligible for the one series.

Absolutely, would Arena be able to produce something to a different set of regs?

The Focus has been developed, and I'm sure part of the appeal is that the car could be sold outside of the BTCC.

Carbon Zero are another case, they've purchased at least one car from Europe (Ex-Coronel), and as a result are in the championship. Same for all the BMW runners and all the SEAT entries.

BTCC-specific regs could possibly mean Maxtreme, Airwaves, RML, AON, Tempus, AFM etc. all missing or at least disadvantaged.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by gregc

Agreed. The whole point of using S2000 is that it is a spec that is used in many series around the world, meaning that car availability is very good. A custom set of regs would mean the cars would have to be developed from scratch, and would only be eligible for the one series.

Personally I'd hate for the BTCC to go down the V8SC route - to me those are emphatically not touring cars, they are big silhouette racers, and the same goes for DTM style cars too. I wouldn't have any problem having a series for that type of car, but not the BTCC!

I think if you take a closer look, you will see that the present BTCC cars have very little in common with their road-going counterparts other than a visual similarity!
They're basically a spaceframe contruction with body panels fitted over the top. This makes them very complicated and expensive to build.
I too think that a return to more 'Production Saloon' type regulations would reduce the costs of producing the cars in the first place (costs that realistically only manufacturers can afford), and could lead to a wide variety of cars entered into the championship.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I think if you take a closer look, you will see that the present BTCC cars have very little in common with their road-going counterparts other than a visual similarity!
They're basically a spaceframe contruction with body panels fitted over the top. This makes them very complicated and expensive to build.

I think the S2000 cars share more with the road-going version than just panels.
Is it not part of the TD Civics suspension weakness a result of the suspension used on the road car, hence them being unable to use the Integra suspension.
Also, isn't the engine derived from the production cars, which led to the debate over which 'plant would be in the Focus.