Quote:
Originally Posted by Woolley
TCRs are generally awful, BTCC is similar, both appeal to certain types of supporters, but on the whole people who like BTCC (and F1) are not the same people who like all of the rest of motorsport,
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Woolley
Looking in from the outside, big beastie V8 RWD saloon type racing cars are a good thing.
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With UK petrol prices ($2-2.50 AUD per litre + road tax), it's little wonder a 2.0L / 201g/CO2km Subaru Levorg (pictured below in BTCC trim) or 2.0L/ 141g/CO2km BMW 330i (BTCC version) or 2.0L / 200g/CO2km Civic Type R (below also in BTCC trim) is
already considered a luxury and aspirational,
let alone a 6.2L / 348g CO2/km Vauxhall VXR8.
The HSV attracts £2070 for it's first year road tax in the UK, due to it's high CO2 emissions! The Subaru and Honda still get stung, but only for £1240. The lower powered (185kW BMW vs 220 kW for the Honda) four-banger BMW 330i only attracts £205 first year road tax, you can see why that would be attractive!
Even with Australian petrol prices ($1.20-1.50 AUD per litre) and
no CO2 road tax at all, most Australian motorists
still don't drive large V8 RWDs like HSVs, Mustang GTs or Falcon XR8s (or their German Mercedes E63 / BMW M5 equivalent). Even those who do, mostly use them as automatic transmission powerful luxury cruising machines
rather than as agile sport sedans for enthusiastic driving.
How appropriate can a 1.8-2.0 tonne V8 RWD/AWD car like a HSV or E63 ever be for having a squirt in the mountains anyway? That's where the 1.3-1.4 tonne hot hatch seems more appropriate IMO, despite the (unfortunate) "fail wheel drive" layout that I agree is inherently wrong and would be better if it was rear wheel drive.
IMO the latter type of vehicle (hot hatch) more closely relates to what a punter might actually drive. A person can cheer on a BMW 330i or Civic Type R in BTCC or TCR that is
similar to the car they actually drive.
Whereas the production HSV (at 1.8 tonnes) seems barely comparable to the 1.3 tonne spaceframe Car of the Future VF Commodore race car. The agility of the lightweight latter model seems a misrepresentation of the ability of the road going version IMO.
