[BTCC] BTCC 2020 season discussion, News and Rumours!

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

oh really ? anyone remember the RS 500 cup

Wow - a single picture with 7 cars from a field of >30 shown is used as an argument for lack of variety?

Let's be honest here:
Gp A was dominated in 1989 by RS500s, but did also see a Maserati BiTurbo entry.
Gp B was dominated by BMW M3s.
Gp C saw entries running VW Golfs, Peugeot 309s and Vauxhall Astras
Gp D saw entries running Toyota Corollas, and a Honda Civic.

Not the most diverse of fields I will admit, but 8 marques represented across 9 models is not a single-make championship.

Incidentally, in the image you give, what cars did the championship winning top three drivers use that season?

[porsche962fan]

1990 all the class A entries were RS 500 while about 75 % of class B were BMW M3


1989 all class A entries were RS 500 except those 2 maserati who were in essence non exisiting becasue they were slower than inferior class cars

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

1990 all the class A entries were RS 500 while about 75 % of class B were BMW M3


1989 all class A entries were RS 500 except those 2 maserati who were in essence non exisiting becasue they were slower than inferior class cars

Still unsure what point you are trying to make here in regards to the breadth of field in 2020?

There are many times in the history of the BTCC that a small field of manufacturers in a group or class could be highlighted, but the fact still remains that (as S Griffin said) variety of field is one of the BTCC's characteristics over the years. When the field has narrowed, measures have been taken to widen it.

1989 and 1990 saw a handful of makes that were competitive, before Super Touring came in.
In 2000, the only make in the independents class was Nissan, before BTC-T and BTC-P came in.
In 2004, the only works S2000 entry was SEAT. In 2005, works S2000, works BTC-T and Ind S2000 all saw single-make fields.
2006 again saw single-make works fields.
This trend continued where certain classes of categories had one or two manufacturers represented. All the way through until 2015 before we again had no single class with less than three manufacturers represented.

What is true through all of these seasons though is that the range of manufacturers represented in the BTCC has always been multiple - but 1990 was about as bad as it got.

[porsche962fan]

he said "always" and I pointed out that there are exceptions , that's all

[S700UBO]

i was hearing around the work office cooler a Mr Neate wanted to get back behind the wheel....

[porsche962fan]

isn't he balcklisted by Lord Gow ? and likely most teams want cash up front from him

[touring fan01]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

That's a fair point, virtually all works cars do have 3rd party sponsors, however in the past any true works entry will have the name of the manufacturer on the car *somewhere* as part of the livery. Usually the more financial backing = a more prominent place on the car.

that doesnt hold true anymore in all forms of the sport

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by S700UBO

i was hearing around the work office cooler a Mr Neate wanted to get back behind the wheel....

Your work office cooler has a wheel? That's Neate.

Crap puns sponsored by Andrex.

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by S700UBO

i was hearing around the work office cooler a Mr Neate wanted to get back behind the wheel....

I see he's buried the hatchet with the Neals....

[GT6]

I is good to see another car enter btcc as i suspect a few of this years cars will not reappear next year

[Pickles]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

One thing I notice on the car is that the sills are wider than the arches.


Have Excelr8 identified a way to run with narrower arches, and still meet the NGTC minimum width criteria of 1875mm?

I know they have been keen in the past to highlight their expertise in front end cooling methods, so have they come up with something there?

Isn't the width requirement to accommodate the standard width NGTC subframes so all cars have the same track measurement? I'm no expert but surely that would mean the wheels stick out too far? I think you'll probably find on the actual car the skirts blend into the arches rather than being wider.

[Johno.UK]

I don't know what the sill pieces being wider than the arches means other than that's the aero direction they've taken. The standard car doesn't have sills that look like that.

[Sodemo]

The NGTC "sill" design is something i've never been a fan of from the start, 99% of them look pretty ugly in my opinion. I wish they would just get rid of them and run whatever the road car has on the side of the car.

[medius]

Could we see a fully funded e xperienced FWD driver potentially looking for a new home come in the form of Tom Chilton? He's got (some) history of developing brand new cars, the Arena Focus, PMR Astra.

[S griffin]

Sonic would must rather be in an established team though

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Pickles

Isn't the width requirement to accommodate the standard width NGTC subframes so all cars have the same track measurement? I'm no expert but surely that would mean the wheels stick out too far? I think you'll probably find on the actual car the skirts blend into the arches rather than being wider.

Yes - that is my understanding. On the renders though, the arches look narrower than those on the existing S3 (which has a narrower body than an i30).
I have not noticed the sills being wider than the arches on any previous NGTC cars, so to my mind the i30 render appears to either have:

a) - arches that are too narrow to accommodate the NGTC subframe, so will be wider when the car is built.
b) - a package that allows the arches to be narrower than existing NGTC cars, so the sills are wider to meet the NGTC width requirement.

If the latter - then some clever front end packaging may have resulted in a significant aero advantage over other cars.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Johno.UK

I don't know what the sill pieces being wider than the arches means other than that's the aero direction they've taken. The standard car doesn't have sills that look like that.

It depends on whether the sill extensions are in place to meet NGTC regulations or not.

No NGTC car to date has sills that are the same as the road car.

[Johno.UK]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

It depends on whether the sill extensions are in place to meet NGTC regulations or not.

No NGTC car to date has sills that are the same as the road car.

Exactly my point.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Sonic would must rather be in an established team though

I think Tom would consider an opportunity on merit. The PMR Astra was an unknown when he signed up, and PMR were relatively new and inexperienced. That went pretty well.

Motorbase haven't set the world on fire at all this year, and Tom is frustrated by the team (this may run both ways!)

Excelr8 have bags of development experience with the Minis, so there is reason to believe they can engineer a competitive car in BTCC.

As always, I don't know where Tom will be but would be very surprised if it's Motorbase next year.

[porsche962fan]

couldn't he afford a seat at WSR ?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

couldn't he afford a seat at WSR ?

There's a difference between being able to afford, and willing to part with that much....

[TR4racer]

Originally Posted by medius

Could we see a fully funded e xperienced FWD driver potentially looking for a new home come in the form of Tom Chilton? He's got (some) history of developing brand new cars, the Arena Focus, PMR Astra.

I hear that the current TCR Europe champion driver is in talks.....

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by TR4racer

I hear that the current TCR Europe champion driver is in talks.....

So too are the drivers who came 10th, 24th and 48th....

[Matt K]

The official Supercars website states Ash Sutton is still in frame for Walkinshaw Andretti United seat. If it's true, I can imagine this is his top priority. I have a feeling he won't be in BTCC. If not Supercars maybe TCR Europe? Although would be a shame if he doesn't return to BTCC next year.

[S griffin]

While it would be a shame to lose Sutton, this has been on the cards for a while. We should be grateful that we’ve had this big star in the series while it’s lasted