5 '888' VAUXHALLS FOR 2001???

[vauxhall]

@ jasonplato.com someone said in the autosport mag. theres a article saying theres gonna be 5 cars...humm i wonder!

heres some of whats been said @ jason plato's site:

mark:
There is a story in Autosport that Vauxhall may well be running five cars in the BTCC this year. We've already got Yvan Muller, Jason Plato and Tom Ferrier. It's thought that the other two drivers may be James Thompson and David Leslie.

Probably means that Peugeot is certainly going to have to run a fourth car, just to avoid getting swamped by Vauxhalls!


splash:
Heard a whisper - Triple Eight are trying to off load Tom Ferrier to a private team. They want his money, but don't want to run him....

funky:
That's just being greedy.

When all this started off we wanted lots of manufacturers to take part in the championship - not a few teams entering half a dozen cars each to swell the grid size.

Still, if, - and only if - the teams give the same set ups to at lest 3 of their drivers (and there are no team favourites like in the 888 team last year with Muller at the start of the season), maybe we will see drivers battling against their team-mates as well as against their rivals.

I shall wait and see......
__________________

amj:
Leslie claims he is close to an independent drive for 2001 in the BTCC could that be TD. I think Thompson will get the drive at Vauxhall anyway


what do you rekon?

[hunttheshunt]

We might see 5 888 BUILT Astra Coupes in 2001, but i really cant see there being 5 888 RUN Astra Coupes. I only think Vauxhall will run three Astras through 888, and any others will be through private teams. I thought David Leslie had signed for PRO Msport for the ETCC?

[touringlegend]

David Leslie's doing some American championship in a Mazda 626 - don't think its a works car though.

[Les]

And let me guess - all 5 Astras will be red and white and identical!!

[redshoes]

Compare and constrast (2 quotes from David Leslie)

Autosport - "I'm still working on things in the BTCC. I'm hoping to be in the series with a team which would hopefully lead to a manufacturer effort next season"

Motoring News - "There's not a great deal happening in the BTCC..".

Me thinks something doesn't add up.


I agree with hunt, can't see 888 running that many cars. There's a full page ad in Autosport from 888 offering Astras for sale (£110,000 + vat if you're interested)

[kmchow]

OTOH, having 5 identical built and/or prepped cars on the grid is not really shocking considering the DTM has been doing that for ages and 4-6 cars were also ran early on in the STW series??

I guess Vauxhall wants to be take the first BTC championship REALLLY BAD!!!

touringlegend wrote:

>David Leslie's doing some American championship in a Mazda >626 - don't think its a works car though.
>
At the rate that particular team is progressing, they could very well become a works team if Mazda ever decides to join the series. Right now, Mazda supplies the chassis for a real good price and offers contingency to any team.

[hunttheshunt]

Hey, Vauxhall won in '95 w/JC! OK, they didnt win the Makes crown, but i do think they will do that this year.

[vauxhall]

Vauxhall win every 6 years:

1989 (yes)
1990 (no) 1
1991 (no) 2
1992 (no) 3
1993 (no) 4
1994 (no) 5
1995 (yes) *6*
1996 (no) 1
1997 (no) 2
1998 (no) 3
1999 (no) 4
2000 (no) 5
2001 (vauxhalls year?) *6*

[kmchow]

Since we're on the topic of Astras. Stupid question probably?? I wonder if the customer versions of the new BTC Astras will use the same equipment as the Works cars? Will they be the "same"? 'Cause I recall back in the ST days, Honda used to remove a few trick engine parts from the previous years cars before they were sold to Privateers.

[touringlegend]

They are advertised as 'factory specification' cars. Surely they can't remove a few 'trick parts' kmchow, as there are standard parts everywhere now.

[hunttheshunt]

I think a lot might depend on whether private Astras can still score manufacturers points for vauxhall in the Championship-in '99 i know Matt Neal could score for Nissan, Will Hoy for Renault etc.

[Super Tourer]

I guess Vauxhall have worked out that the only way to win
anything is to have half the grid....

Personally I think the whole situation is stupid and TOCA must be wondering where its leading. I thought the whole point of the new rules was to dramatically slash costs.

As I've said before, the very last thing the manufacturers want is to save money. They are given cheap rules that enable them to operate vastly reduced budgets so what do they do - run more and more cars.

These so called private entry's running 'works' spec cars, who are they? The season starts in a few weeks, who has been even mentioned as running customer 406's or Astra's.
888 had a full page ad in Autosport this week, that leaves plenty of time to put your deal together before the season starts doesn't it......

At this rate it will end up costing the teams as much as ST did. What will it do to the other car makers looking at the BTCC, if they know believe they may have to run 5 cars to be taken seriously.....

I agree, we want more diverse entires not the same teams entering more and more cars, this will not help the series to grow in the long run.

Lets say that PUG and Vauxh each put in 5 works cars and Rover have to up their entry to 3, all of a sudden any privateers that do came along in the BTC class (Kurt Luby - maybe) are looking at being 13th on the grid at best - is it worth it?

[hunttheshunt]

Perhaps this year Vauxhall should be allowed to do this, but next (when hopefully more manufacturers will be involved), there will be a limit to three cars per team-thats per team, not manufacturer. (i.e. same rules for independent teams). This year, though, i will be thankfull for four Astras and four Pugs as the grid needs them.

[redshoes]

One of the early suggestions when the new rules were anounced was the idea of manufacturers running a second 'junior' team, which I always thought was a good thing. I'm surprised they haven't taken the approach of the STW-Cup or DTM where there are several teams each running a pair of works supported cars. Do Triple Eight (or any other team for that matter) realy have the resources to run 4 or 5 cars effectively.

[touringlegend]

It'd be a bit like the Australian V8's or NASCAR, wouldn't it with half a dozen cars from the same make.

[hunttheshunt]

Having lots of cars from the same manufacturer is all right. Having lots of cars from the same team isn't. I like the DTM-despite there being only two manufacturers directly involved, there are four or five teams representing each make with a couple of their cars. (Opel and Merc). Then there are two Abt-run private Audis. The series is very competitive and in a way is similar to the STW of the mid-90s.

This could be the same for the BTCC. At the mo we have two major manufacturers directly involved, and along with their works effort of say a maximum of three cars, they could easily sell more cars onto privateers, adding say an extra 4 Pugs and 4 Astras to the grid. Add in the Lexus' and Alfa's (i.e. the Abt-Audi TT) and you've got a full, competitive grid.

[Super Tourer]

Redshoes

If you look at last year you have to say that 888 didn't make a spectacular success of running 3 cars.....

Another problem Vauxhall find themselves in is that they are now paying the two highest salaries in the BTCC.

Muller & Plato between them must cost maybe 4 times what the 3 Pug drivers cost.....This means that they are under even more pressure to deliver results.

I only hope that Roland doesn't start meddling in team orders again, after all it didn't get them anywhere last year.

I'm still not clear on this car and driver issue. Can the team swap a driver to another car if he wrote his off over the race weekend. I know that there are no spare cars now, so if changes can be made it could make for some interesting politics.....Can you enlighten me?

[hunttheshunt]

I still want to know whether independent cars can score points for the manufacturer-if they can then i think we may well see somw private Astras. Anybody heard any news?

[redshoes]

ST, not sure what the current situation is re swaping cars/drivers. You could last year (see Radermecker/Muller @ Snetterton) but haven't seen it mentioned one way or another this year.

Hunt, same answer on the privateer cars scoring manufacturer points. Not seen anything specific but I suspect the answer is yes they can.

[hunttheshunt]

It will be interesting to see-if they can i think we will see five or six Astras.