BTCC...Where to now?

[barrygibb]

Ok i'm a massive BTCC nut, hence my purchase of the ultimate btcc car....the 155...........anyway.....

I've ben saddend to hear that VRX will pull out at the end of this season...this means no factory support at all, in britains premeir touring car series....

Ok it'll still be there, it'll still be great to watch..but sad all the same....

It'll be like a glorified club championship now...possibly we will never see its like again in thi country...where will the money come from t keep it alive?

[Tempest]

Completely agree - the support is gone. I love the BTCC (although its not the same without an Alfa in there) but without the factory support the number and quality of cars must surely decline

However that said I've got my ticket for Thruxton on Sunday

[Marko Le Rosso]

Talking of Thruxton, I remember Charlie Cox having that major crash in 1995. Last time I saw BTCC at a course.

I haven't really loved the BTCC since the supertourers era (I followed the series to most of the meets all round Britain in 1998 and 1999)

Sad to see it nowdays, a shadow of what it was and should be.

[the slipperman]

As far as i'm concerned it seemed to go downhill when the BBC stopped covering it. (no pun intended!)

[Ralf S.]

Aye! Well I think they did themselves out the series by letting the regulations get waaaay too complex and stoopid.

When it was most popular was when it was cheap. Cheap means box-standard cars.. no trick on-board air jacks, smooth underfloor, modified engines and revised suspension mounting points, different ballast and weight/intake restrictions for rwd cars or whatever.

It should be just a case of mandating a standard production car, with a 2.0ltr engine running on regular 95-octane.. and then replacement/upgraded suspension/wheels/brakes but the same/standard more or less everything else.

And no stoopid rules like mandatory pit-stops between laps 3 and 6.. etc. Cars should stop when they like.

If Audi want to run a 4x4 or BMW want to run RWD then fine... but anything in the drivetrain behind the output shaft should be added to the minimum (FWD) weight of the car plus driver. Job done!


Ralf S.

[Dave Brand]

Originally Posted by Ralf S.

Aye! Well I think they did themselves out the series by letting the regulations get waaaay too complex and stoopid.

Couldn't agree more! They should go back to basics, running cars in more or less showroom condition, with any mods allowed being primarily for safety. As well as reflecting more closely the performance of the car you & I can buy, it would also substantially reduce costs, which can't be a bad thing.

They also need to clamp down rigorously on driving standards - motor racing is a non-contact sport. Of course, if the racing's close, accidental contact will occasionally occur, but contact in the BTCC is deliberate & cynical; that's not close racing, that's dangerous driving. The problem is that young kids coming into racing see bad driving going unpunished, apparently even encouraged in the name of 'entertainment', in BTCC & see it as acceptable at club level. . .

[Alfamack]

I used to follow the BTCC in the early to Mid 90's. Through the times when they were playing with the rules and trying to get an even playing field.
I remember when Alfa came along and stuck 2 fingers up to the rules, quite rightly, with the 155 and its wings and splitters.
I can also say I was there when Mansell had the accident at Donnington. That was almost the best race I had seen, but definately one of the best accidents. Thankfully he came out ok.
Was also at Knockhill when Tarquini decided it was better to try and use 2 wheels, used to have it on film but that got lost in the house moves/clearout.
Even won a competition in Car Magazine to go to RML to see the new Vectras being built and had a chat with James Thompson
I think it started going wrong when they moved away from the saloon car ethos. Ok the Volvo estate was just acceptable but once the coupes' started appearing it kinda lost the appeal for me.
Still watch it occasionally but don't make an effort to hunt it out in the schedules anymore.
Anyone remember the magazine that someone started producing in the late 90's, Supertourer I think, only lasted a year or so but was quite informative about the whole scene.
The BTCC WILL make a comeback again once the global recession is over and marketting budgets improve in the meantime the independants will run older cars and the racing will probably get closer.

I've often wondered what sequential gearboxes add to the racing. Nothing..but they add to the cost massively.

The best racing always comes from cars with imperfect suspension and brakes. I also agree that the contact element in BTCC damaged it as a competition with any credibility. There should be penalties for contact.

Once the manufacturers go then the privateers with imagination come back, as all the manufacturers ever do is up the ante with money. I think it is a better thing that they go for now. They'l be back..at least the ones which are not in administration will be back.

AlfaLincs

Without manufacturers, what is the BTCC?

Little more than club level saloon racing.

Sad, but true.

[the slipperman]

I do remember way back my old man taking me to Brands and seeing the Jag XJ's, Capri's Etc.

[NordicI55]

Big opportunity for Alfa to re-enter BTCC when the new Alfa 149/Milano is launched next year, the Alfa 155 era was hugely beneficial to Alfas image in the UK. BTCC still an excellant Championship and great entertainment.

[barrygibb]

Originally Posted by Ralf S.

Aye! Well I think they did themselves out the series by letting the regulations get waaaay too complex and stoopid.


Ralf S.

Unfortunatly, as much as it pains me to say it....Alfa played a big part in that..... 6million budget in 1994! and those splitters and wing....

[Alfa-Red]

they did, its was alfas doing that the new wings and splitters were enforced in 1995.

once alfa started using them, got banned for using moveable ones, when the road cars were fixed, then came back after missing a round at oulton park, with fixed splitters and wings, every manufacturer started making them for the road cars so they could use them on the race car.

1st renault followed suit with that massive boomarang on the laguna, then bmw came with m3 kiited bm's as the kit was made standard accross the range on the road car. peugeot already had them on the 405, the mondeo started using them on the v6si so the team did.

so they made them a homolgation standard in 1995 and could be no higher than the roof of the car, so volvo had the biggest challenge and had to change there car completely

mid to late 90's was best, and contact is going to happen, rubbings racing so the saying goes

and remember the cars weigh nothing over the back wheels so the slightest little contact and around they go, makes it look more malicious than it is.

as quoted by charlie cox, "you could reach out and push them round with your little finger"

great commentator, made very good and funny viewing

BMW didnt have intake restrictions for rwd. bmw and audi had weight penalty's for the advantage they had

Under the skin the cars were nothing like their road equivalents in the late 90's and the series was nothing short of superb.

Similarly, the DTM cars bear no mechanical semblance towards their showroom brethren, but that's still a fantastic championship.

Bog standard road cars with roll cages and slick tyres does not make for a good championship per se.

[Alfa-Red]

Originally Posted by HSTDriver

Under the skin the cars were nothing like their road equivalents in the late 90's and the series was nothing short of superb.

Similarly, the DTM cars bear no mechanical semblance towards their showroom brethren, but that's still a fantastic championship.

Bog standard road cars with roll cages and slick tyres does not make for a good championship per se.

indeed, totally agree

[alfaowner]

Alfaowner won its first and only BTCC race with Chris Ryan at the wheel on a very wet day at Mondello, Ireland. We did two full seasons with the BTCC.

What we saw from the outside as a spectator was not unfortunatley how it was on the inside, of course the bigger teams had more money so had more people to fix that but the whole series is run on a shoe string. With the top teams out, I should imagine the series is hurting financially, lets hope it survives...