[BTCC] BTCC 2023 season discussion, News and Rumours!

[Northern Monkey]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Chilton says "all" the chassis. So could be a few spare Hyundais on offer next year!

All the chassis will undergo upgrade work

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Also, believe Addison alluded to Ricky Collard's return being uncertain.

Just confirmed Collard will not be returning.

[Matt K]

A bit of a fairytale gone bad, isn't it. Somehow not surprised at all, haven't heard him saying about it but wonder what his reasons are. Just unhappy about his results or unhappy about the championship in general?

Anyway, I'd expected him to do a lot better.

[touring fan01]

Originally Posted by Matt K

A bit of a fairytale gone bad, isn't it. Somehow not surprised at all, haven't heard him saying about it but wonder what his reasons are. Just unhappy about his results or unhappy about the championship in general?

Anyway, I'd expected him to do a lot better.

he said on the pitlane walkabout tannoy that hes not racing any more and having a change of life and moving overseas.

[Craner Curves]

HARD doing 2 for 1 on retirements again.

[5five]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

HARD doing 2 for 1 on retirements again.

Same as every year. Driver gives up (probably due to the car being craply maintained), replacement comes in for the last round, tootles around, car "breaks" and not seen again. TBL commitments however are fulfilled.

Bobby Thompson needs to get the hell out of there - he is way better than the team. nearly every race the rest of the team fill the last page of the standings - sometimes due to their own lack of skill, but quite often due to mechanical issues.

[Craner Curves]

Apologies for the wrong thread post ?

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by 5five

Bobby Thompson needs to get the hell out of there - he is way better than the team. nearly every race the rest of the team fill the last page of the standings - sometimes due to their own lack of skill, but quite often due to mechanical issues.

Disappointingly he seemed very keen to stay on and develop the Cupra next year. Hopefully a better offer comes along for him.

Wiped the floor with Taylor-Smith.

[Robin Marriott]

Originally Posted by 5five

Same as every year. Driver gives up (probably due to the car being craply maintained), replacement comes in for the last round, tootles around, car "breaks" and not seen again. TBL commitments however are fulfilled.

Bobby Thompson needs to get the hell out of there - he is way better than the team. nearly every race the rest of the team fill the last page of the standings - sometimes due to their own lack of skill, but quite often due to mechanical issues.

Bobby is obviously happy with the package he gets from HARD as he’s been with them for years, even before BTCC he drove for them in VW Cup. Other than one year at PMR, he’s been with HARD since 2015.

Another team may be able to offer a ‘better’ car, but if he’s happy with HARD as a team and happy with the money they charge, he might not be interested in changing.

He’s proved that he can make a ‘bad’ car work incredibly well in comparison to his team mates.

[CarfanLUFC]

Originally Posted by Robin Marriott

Bobby is obviously happy with the package he gets from HARD as he’s been with them for years, even before BTCC he drove for them in VW Cup. Other than one year at PMR, he’s been with HARD since 2015.

Another team may be able to offer a ‘better’ car, but if he’s happy with HARD as a team and happy with the money they charge, he might not be interested in changing.

He’s proved that he can make a ‘bad’ car work incredibly well in comparison to his team mates.

didn't he do a year with AMD?

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by Robin Marriott

Bobby is obviously happy with the package he gets from HARD as he’s been with them for years, even before BTCC he drove for them in VW Cup. Other than one year at PMR, he’s been with HARD since 2015.

Another team may be able to offer a ‘better’ car, but if he’s happy with HARD as a team and happy with the money they charge, he might not be interested in changing.

He’s proved that he can make a ‘bad’ car work incredibly well in comparison to his team mates.

What apart from AmD Audi?

[Evantra]

Also I doubt he has the largest budget, which is probably a considerable factor in ending up at HARD. However, currently he has the benefit of being the #1 driver.

Wonder how Jack Goff would've got on had he not parted ways, and whether there's any potential for him making a return next season. Don't think he's raced at all this year.

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by Robin Marriott

Bobby is obviously happy with the package he gets from HARD as he’s been with them for years, even before BTCC he drove for them in VW Cup. Other than one year at PMR, he’s been with HARD since 2015.

Another team may be able to offer a ‘better’ car, but if he’s happy with HARD as a team and happy with the money they charge, he might not be interested in changing.

He’s proved that he can make a ‘bad’ car work incredibly well in comparison to his team mates.

I'd say he would prefer to be in a better team/car, judging by his double door slam this afternoon.

[thetool]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Wonder how Jack Goff would've got on had he not parted ways, and whether there's any potential for him making a return next season. Don't think he's raced at all this year.

Has he stopped sounding off about poison vaccines on Facebook yet?

[Jay87]

Ok where are the lists for next season ?

[Evantra]

Perhaps rather early in the silly season to be clutching at straws, but lets start as we mean to go on! Max Coates saying he's finished his Mini racing, coinciding with his team's potential move (but recently quiet and far from certain) into the BTCC next year.

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by thetool

Has he stopped sounding off about poison vaccines on Facebook yet?

Seemed to be watching football over BTCC today from his tweet.

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

judging by his double door slam this afternoon.

Even the door didn't work properly!

[crmalcolm]

A bit of HARD. bashing going on again. Is it really justified?

They put a car together for Thompson that saw him bag more points than any Infiniti or Vauxhall driver.

Before the season, everyone was telling us how good Ash Hand is, and the Infiniti was a championship winning car with a race winning driver in the team.

But Autobrite finished ahead of Laser Tools, PMR and Apec Racing in the Teams'.

3rd and 7th in the Independents' title suggests the car has merit?

[antnee]

I think we might see quite a few changes this winter as I am sure a few teams will be unhappy with how their seasons panned out;

Dynamics - 7 podiums between their drivers is very below-par for them. Time for a new car? Have they got the budget to go and build some new shape Civics which look quite slippery....
BTC - can they sort their engine issues out? Maybe go back to the Honda/Neil Brown unit?
Laser Tools - a few good results but generally midfield which isn't where Aiden wants to be
Motorbase - rumours of new cars (not Fords) for the NAPA pairing, but Jackson and Osborne were back markers this year. Jackson scoring less points than 2 Cupras and the 2 Astras
PMR - The Astras are never going to be at the pointy end now, where do they go car wise to stay in the series?

Likely to be some movement TBL wise too - will Boardley sell his on pushing Hard down to a 3 car operation?

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

A bit of HARD. bashing going on again. Is it really justified?

From fifteen results this weekend (5 drivers, 3 races), only five of those were not retirements or crashes. Excluding miracle worker Thompson, the best result of those was a 20th.

Poor Boardley - gets two weekends, in one the car supposedly doesn't make it past the Saturday and the other he gets 3 non-finishes. In fact I don't think we got replays of either time he ended up in the gravel yesterday.

I'm sure there are commercial reasons (of course it must make them more money, save for all the replacement parts needed) but I don't really understand why HARD doesn't consolidate there resources into two cars rather than stretch it over five. Or keep being allowed the TBLs! Would be very surprised if Taylor-Smith or Hamilton re-sign, but seems they keep coming back...

[SSmith]

Originally Posted by antnee

I think we might see quite a few changes this winter as I am sure a few teams will be unhappy with how their seasons panned out;

Dynamics - 7 podiums between their drivers is very below-par for them. Time for a new car? Have they got the budget to go and build some new shape Civics which look quite slippery....
BTC - can they sort their engine issues out? Maybe go back to the Honda/Neil Brown unit?
Laser Tools - a few good results but generally midfield which isn't where Aiden wants to be
Motorbase - rumours of new cars (not Fords) for the NAPA pairing, but Jackson and Osborne were back markers this year. Jackson scoring less points than 2 Cupras and the 2 Astras
PMR - The Astras are never going to be at the pointy end now, where do they go car wise to stay in the series?

Likely to be some movement TBL wise too - will Boardley sell his on pushing Hard down to a 3 car operation?

I think you're spot on there, 2023 could be a year of significant change.

Probably a lot of driver changes over the winter, hopefully some new cars on the grid, possibly some team changes too. While Plato and Collard have confirmed they are leaving, it was probably also the last appearances for several drivers on the grid I would imagine unless they can stump up the budget for 2023. There's a few talented names in MINI JCWs and other series who could be good enough to make the step-up if they have the sponsorship/funding.

With regard to Boardley's 2 TBLs, I wonder if Alan Gow might try and get them back to reduce the grid to 27 cars (something he's wanted to do for years). Otherwise, where they end up could be quite interesting for the overall composition of the grid next year. Fingers crossed the TBL ownership should get announced in early December.

[SSmith]

Originally Posted by Evantra

From fifteen results this weekend (5 drivers, 3 races), only five of those were not retirements or crashes. Excluding miracle worker Thompson, the best result of those was a 20th.

Poor Boardley - gets two weekends, in one the car supposedly doesn't make it past the Saturday and the other he gets 3 non-finishes. In fact I don't think we got replays of either time he ended up in the gravel yesterday.

I'm sure there are commercial reasons (of course it must make them more money, save for all the replacement parts needed) but I don't really understand why HARD doesn't consolidate there resources into two cars rather than stretch it over five. Or keep being allowed the TBLs! Would be very surprised if Taylor-Smith or Hamilton re-sign, but seems they keep coming back...

Team HARD have always puzzled me, but we should be grateful that they have kept 5 cars on the grid (sort of). Further to your first point, Hamilton seemed to have atrocious reliability at the end of the season, retiring from 6 of the last 9 races (interestingly always race 2 and race 3).

I believe ITV said at Croft that Boardley was unwell rather than there being any car shenanigans. The car did the Friday shakedown, and then Boardley withdrew. I must say though that this weekend did seem a bit NASCAR "start-and-park" at points.

If previous years are anything to go by, we won't know their line-up until a couple of days before Donington Park in April 2023. Assuming they still have 5 licences to use, I would guess Thompson and ATS are more certain, the other three seats a little less certain but maybe including Boardley and/or Hamilton.

[Evantra]

Collard via Autosport:

"But the sport’s changing a lot – there’s a reason why people like Jason [Plato] are retiring.
“I’ve raced against some of the best people in the world in karts, British F3 and GT – I’ve won in pretty much every championship I’ve done but I haven’t been able to do it in touring cars.
“Coming back here, I’ve had an absolute blast, but this is where I’m at.”

Basically sounds like he can't handle losing. Off to join Oliphant in Australia, slowly becoming a BTCC retirement home!

[CarfanLUFC]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Collard via Autosport:

"But the sport’s changing a lot – there’s a reason why people like Jason [Plato] are retiring.
“I’ve raced against some of the best people in the world in karts, British F3 and GT – I’ve won in pretty much every championship I’ve done but I haven’t been able to do it in touring cars.
“Coming back here, I’ve had an absolute blast, but this is where I’m at.”

Basically sounds like he can't handle losing. Off to join Oliphant in Australia, slowly becoming a BTCC retirement home!

Yeah interesting to know what he's getting at. I think we all know what the BTCC is nowadays but there is still some top drivers out there who will take some beating. Sutton and Ingram would have been salaried drivers back in the ST days, no doubt about it. You don't just turn up and win against drivers like that as Collard seems to think he should be able to do.

It may no longer be a manufacturer driven series with good looking drivers on massive wages but it's far from purely a Gentleman's pursuit for people who want to dot around and have a nice Sunday and as long as the car isn't scratched they don't care where they finish