TCR Australia 2023

[NaBUru38]

Lynk sells the car in China since 2018.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Lynk sells the car in China since 2018.

Not the point.

TCR rules state manufacturers must be able sell the race car at the agreed price within 90 days of it competing.

Lynk and Co refused to sell cars for over 2 years and even when they did it was an arms-length Chinese team.

I repeat: Lotti is a toothless tiger who refused to police his own rules, to the detriment of TCR.

Lynk and Co gamed the BoP by never allowing a car in national series, and lifted tainted titles.

[NaBUru38]

Oh, you mean to sell the TCR car itself? Understood.

Except that there are Lynk cars in TCR South America.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Except that there are Lynk cars in TCR South America.

And one in Australia

3 years after the car entered the WTCR.

It should have been barred from WTCR for not competing in national series, and for being literally a factory team.

But Lotti has no balls to upset the Chinese. Just upset Hyundai instead, who did things exactly by the book.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Mixer

TCR rules state manufacturers must be able sell the race car at the agreed price within 90 days of it competing.

Lynk and Co refused to sell cars for over 2 years and even when they did it was an arms-length Chinese team.

That's not what the rules said at the time the car came to the grid.

The rules were that, after application for certification a minimum of 10 cars should be built within 12 months - then after certification the cars have to be offered on the market with a 3 month delivery time.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

That's not what the rules said at the time the car came to the grid.

The rules were that, after application for certification a minimum of 10 cars should be built within 12 months - then after certification the cars have to be offered on the market with a 3 month delivery time.

Sure.

They didn't comply with that either.

They should have not been allowed to clean up with a car they refused to sell and an outright factory team that is meant to be illegal.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Mixer

Sure.

They didn't comply with that either.

Which part?

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Which part?

They didn't sell a car until after 2 full seasons which is at least 9 months past this.

And then it wasn't any kind of independent team. It took another year for actual international teams to be able to buy one.

By which time the WTCR was already dead. I don't doubt these shenanigans were part of that.

Manufacturers like Hyundai, VAG & Honda comply absolutely with the spirit of the rules. Fixed cost car available to anybody, and no factory teams. Customer racing.

Lynk and Co never complied with the spirit and did their very best to not comply with the written rules either. And they are an outright factory team, but the paperwork says they are not.

It should have been a rule that no car could be eligible for WTCR championship points without being in National competition to establish BoP.

Let's see how long the World Tour lasts.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Mixer

They didn't sell a car until after 2 full seasons which is at least 9 months past this.

The car first raced in April 2019. The order book was opened in September 2019. The first customer running of the car was in August 2020 - which had been delayed due to C-19.

[Mixer]

Some very good news for this year with Clay Richards joining the grid at Winton in a Shannons-backed Audi:

https://www.speedcafe.com/2023/06/06...1W9ps9ZmfYoVSg

Given the excuses with only 13 cars at the last 2 rounds, the entry list for Winton is only 12 cars.

[S griffin]

Not a bad shout having him join the series, hopefully the Audi can help do a good job.

The series won't get better overnight. Give it time and there is a chance it will grow into a top class series. Might not happen this year or next year, but in a couple years we'll see what's what

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Mixer

They didn't sell a car until after 2 full seasons which is at least 9 months past this.

And then it wasn't any kind of independent team. It took another year for actual international teams to be able to buy one.

By which time the WTCR was already dead. I don't doubt these shenanigans were part of that.

Manufacturers like Hyundai, VAG & Honda comply absolutely with the spirit of the rules. Fixed cost car available to anybody, and no factory teams. Customer racing.

Lynk and Co never complied with the spirit and did their very best to not comply with the written rules either. And they are an outright factory team, but the paperwork says they are not.

It should have been a rule that no car could be eligible for WTCR championship points without being in National competition to establish BoP.

Let's see how long the World Tour lasts.

The manufacturer doesn’t seem to be particularly brilliant at supplying spare parts for its race cars… scratching the car from the weekend because bits apparently aren’t available, and there seems no way to pinch them off a Lynk&Co road car (cough)… it’s weird and disappointing for the series

At least the Cupra is showing some nice form.

[AnnoyedMoose]

Even building a club car is fraught with supply chain problems still.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by AnnoyedMoose

Even building a club car is fraught with supply chain problems still.

Yeah but when the series organiser drops cash to bring a new brand and a BTCC ring in driver to make it look good, you'd think they'd order enough spares to run more than 1 round?

[one five five]

Originally Posted by Mixer

Yeah but when the series organiser drops cash to bring a new brand and a BTCC ring in driver to make it look good, you'd think they'd order enough spares to run more than 1 round?

You’ve really got a thing for ARG don’t you…..

Did the Rogers family wrong you at some point?

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by one five five

You’ve really got a thing for ARG don’t you….

You want to tell me it isn't true?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Mixer

You want to tell me it isn't true?

Which part - the dropping cash to bring in the brand, or the 'BTCC ring in'?

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Which part - the dropping cash to bring in the brand, or the 'BTCC ring in'?

They are the same thing and transparently something that ASM couldn't do. Just what ARG were doing in 2019.

The win in the Alfa shows the class of the pilot.

What ARG should be doing is try to shore up manufacturer activations from relevant makers like Cupra and Hyundai, and if they were to spend money to bring a new brand, they should have got a Corolla.
The Lynk and Co must have been a good deal but it's a commercial dead end.

If ASM run it next year I will be mighty surprised.

Let's see how much airtime it gets in the World Tour events.

[S griffin]

This series is still growing. It was always going to be a struggle at first, but it's slowly picking up. And they shouldn't just limit themselves to a few certain manufacturers, they should ask as many as possible to see who's interested. Of course we can't rely on the big manufacturers forever, but we'll see how the series is doing at the end of the year

And yes, we'll see how well the World Tour goes, hopefully it can get a few more star names to join the odd event or two

[GTRMagic]

What is the resale value of a TCR race car that’s a garage Queen..

Arguably ARG might be better places to offer start money to entice more cars out of warm garages and onto the race track than buying new cars…

[Umai Naa]

Plenty of cars sitting around.

[Mixer]

To illustrate TCR's image problem with the public, I did a survey today talking about sports & sponsors, and amongst Supercars & 86 racing and F1, we have this gem:

Tour Car Racing (TCR)

[Mixer]

GRM testing push to pass for next year:

https://www.v8sleuth.com.au/grms-gro...wZoGosPBGBADkA

Bigger news is that ARG will take their categories to Calder - I think this is fantastic news. These cars should be excellent around a tight track.

This is what ARG should do, admit they are not taking it to Supercars and go to these smaller venues to put on good racing but with lower costs to competitors.

Not sure how enforcing hybrid and push to pass will help grid sizes though.

[S griffin]

Not a bad innovation the P2P

Nice they could get a track like Calder on the calendar. Should make for great racing. As you say they shouldn't compare themselves to Supercars, but just do their own thing and try and get more people interested.

[Mixer]

Audi ceasing production of their TCR car along with a massive cutback of GT3 programs.