BTCC entries/rumours that never came to be

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Used to be a topic on the BTCC Forum. Thought it was worth reviving. Of those rumours everyone remembers the most, which ones would everyone really liked to see?

Right now, what springs to my mind is the ex-JS Motorsport Alfa 147 that was supposed to be driven by Gordon Shedden under GR Motorsport in 2002.

I did say BTCC but feel free to branch out into other Touring Car Series as well.

[crmalcolm]

Kia and Volvo.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Kia and Volvo.

Obviously...

[S griffin]

Polestar Volvo were going to do selected rounds in 2009, with Dahlgren and possibly Rustad. Shame that never happened

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Polestar Volvo were going to do selected rounds in 2009, with Dahlgren and possibly Rustad. Shame that never happened

I remember Plato was linked to them before he turned up in the Chevy Lacetti.

Colin Gallie was supposed to come back in 1999 but didn't. Any others?

[S griffin]

1992
I think Dave Brodie was supposed to do another season with his 4x4 Sapphire. Also Pinkney was entered in his Sapphire for the British GP meeting

1993
Prodrive were going to run works Mercedes in the last few rounds, with Tim Sugden and possibly Bernd Schneider. The other Gareth Howell was entered in his Sapphire. Also Guy Povey was supposed to do the TOCA Shootout, don’t know what car and who with

1994
Ian Flux was going to compete in an ex works Peugeot. Philippe Gache and Johnny Cecotto were on the entry list for the World Cup supporting TOCA Shootout.

1995
Slim Borgudd was on the entry list in an RD run, privately entered Mazda 323 under the Team Magic banner

I’ll do 98-2000 next

[S griffin]

1998
Alfa were going to make a one off appearance at Thruxton with Nicola Larini and Fabrizio Giovanardi. However a change to the Italian Touring Car schedule put paid to that. Jan Brunstadt was going to return with his Opel Vectra. Andy Rouse was going to run a private Toyota Corolla for Patrick Watts, making it’s debut mid season, but it never happened. Jamie Spence was going to drive the car in the Tourist Trophy, but that event was canned

1999
Colin Gallie in the BMW has been mentioned. The ‘other’ Gareth Howell entered his self built Mondeo, but the car was miles off the pace in testing. Was this the year the VW Bora was going to enter

2000
Lee Brookes was going to return with a Honda. Mark Blair too with his Vauxhall alongside Dave Pinkney. In the production class, ‘Kermit’ was entered in his Proton

[KA]

Originally Posted by S griffin

1992

1994
Philippe Gache and Johnny Cecotto were on the entry list for the World Cup supporting TOCA Shootout.

According to the race result on Wikipedia, Gache was a DNF in the World Cup race with accident damage, so I wonder if his Mondeo wasn't repairable in time? I was there, but don't remember the circumstances of Gache's accident, was he part of the various first-lap shunts that took out Alain Menu, Keith O'Dor, Jan Lammers, and David Leslie amongst others, and led to the race being red-flagged?

My programme is buried in the loft somewhere, but IIRC there was a bit of chopping and changing of the Shoot-Out entry list after the WC race - vague and unreliable memory suggests a few additional entries were announced, not all of which actually took the start, and a bit of car-swapping went on- Steve Soper seems to have used Winkelhock's car for the Shoot-Out for some reason?

[Nononsensecapeesh]

I remember Rover (not MG) were actually looking to return in 2000.

More recently, we've had the failed attempts to enter Alfa's by Team 48 in 2008 and Ian Court in 2009.

[S griffin]

2002
The GR Motorsport Alfa 147 of Shedden has been mentioned. Also Total Motorsport were going to return with a couple of Lexi, with Stephen Sutcliffe and Richard Dean

2003
I think Alex Kapadia was planning to compete in his Focus in the Production class?

2004
Carly Motorsport were going to run a couple of Beemers for Tom Ferrier and James Hanson. Also there was an ex-Tommy Rustad Nissan that was going to be run by someone, can’t remember who

2005
John Batchelor, aka John B&Q, was planning a return with his own Honda Civic. GA Motorsport were going to run an Alfa. Also I think Richard Marsh was going to run a Peugeot, which he eventually did in 06

2007
CVR were going to run a couple of biofuel Chevrolet Lacettis for Dan Eaves and team manager Colin Neil. Encke sport were going to run an Astra or two

2008
The infamous Team 48 Alfas for Darrelle Wilson and Matthew Gore got as far as media day. Xero competition were going to run a couple of Lexi for Mark Jones and Nick Adcock. AFM were going to run a couple of diesel BMWs for Nick Leason and Rick Kerry

2009
The Polestar Volvos have been mentioned. Jason Hughes was going to comeback with his MG, but a knee injury put paid to that. Michael Doyle did plan to return at the final round with his Honda Civic. And then there was Ian Court with his Alfa

[S griffin]

2010
Bamboo were going to return with the Lacettis, before opting to go WTCC. IF Motorsport were going to run an Abarth, but the car did not meet the regulations

2011
Bamboo were going to return, but didn’t. Forster also were going to continue with the Beemers

2012
RML got as far as building an NGTC Cruze, before pulling out. Tech-Speed were going to do the final few meetings with their S2000 Cruze, with Joe Girling driving. STR did consider doing the series alongside their WTCC campaign. Geoff Steel Racing also planned to return. TH Motorsport were going to run a Skoda for Matt Hamilton. Also Rob Hedley and Ash Shuttlewood were going to race Vectras, for I think TCR, before the cars were sold to ES Racing

2013
Chris Stockton was going to race his hatchback Cruze, but never appeared until the following season. Also AMD were planning to run an NGTC Vectra alongside their S2000 VW

2014
There was the Renault Megane that was built, but never raced

2019
Rob Austin appeared during the midseason test with his HMS Alfa and the car was never seen again

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Originally Posted by S griffin

2002
The GR Motorsport Alfa 147 of Shedden has been mentioned. Also Total Motorsport were going to return with a couple of Lexi, with Stephen Sutcliffe and Richard Dean

2003
I think Alex Kapadia was planning to compete in his Focus in the Production class?

2004
Carly Motorsport were going to run a couple of Beemers for Tom Ferrier and James Hanson. Also there was an ex-Tommy Rustad Nissan that was going to be run by someone, can’t remember who

2005
John Batchelor, aka John B&Q, was planning a return with his own Honda Civic. GA Motorsport were going to run an Alfa. Also I think Richard Marsh was going to run a Peugeot, which he eventually did in 06

2007
CVR were going to run a couple of biofuel Chevrolet Lacettis for Dan Eaves and team manager Colin Neil. Encke sport were going to run an Astra or two

2008
The infamous Team 48 Alfas for Darrelle Wilson and Matthew Gore got as far as media day. Xero competition were going to run a couple of Lexi for Mark Jones and Nick Adcock. AFM were going to run a couple of diesel BMWs for Nick Leason and Rick Kerry

2009
The Polestar Volvos have been mentioned. Jason Hughes was going to comeback with his MG, but a knee injury put paid to that. Michael Doyle did plan to return at the final round with his Honda Civic. And then there was Ian Court with his Alfa

Also CMS Performance were aiming to run Nick Leason in a Production Class Focus in 2003. Weren't Beacon Motorsport looking to move up to the Touring Class with the ex-Atomic Kitten MG's?

Gary Ayles planned to run Jamie Spence in 2005 (I remember a 2nd Alfa for Stefan Hodgetts was also mentioned) and John Batchelor or Richard Marsh would have driven the Team Firstserve Group Civic.

Daniels Motorsport were intending to run Leason in their Astra in 2007 until he joined BTC Racing.

[S griffin]

I forget to mention VLR were on the entry list for 04 before they pulled out. Eaves was going to drive for them again. When they withdrew, he took his Halfords money to Dynamics and replaced Gareth Howell

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I forget to mention VLR were on the entry list for 04 before they pulled out. Eaves was going to drive for them again. When they withdrew, he took his Halfords money to Dynamics and replaced Gareth Howell

VLR were also looking to join forces with John George to run LPG-powered Peugeot's for '05 but that was canned when Vic Lee was done for doping again.

Arena Motorsport tried bring back Alan Morrison for '04 and '05 and were originally mentioned as intending to enter BMW's in '07 and the Focus' in '08.

There was once a rumour that a Honda Concerto would be making an appearance in 1991, can't remember the team but I think the driver would have been James Kaye, moving up from the CRX Series.

[S griffin]

Was going to mention John George/VLR in 05

And speaking of Arena, Menu was linked to a seat there in 04

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Was going to mention John George/VLR in 05

And speaking of Arena, Menu was linked to a seat there in 04

I remember the Menu link in '04. Rydell was linked to Arena in '03, Radisich (I think) to Xero in '06, Burt to Geoff Steel Racing in '07.

[S griffin]

Radisich was close to a comeback with 888 in 05, but they went with Gavin Smith instead

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Radisich was close to a comeback with 888 in 05, but they went with Gavin Smith instead

They also considered Peter Dumbreck, Menu, Watson-Smith to name a few.

Antonio Russo was due to drive for Gary Ayles' team in the Production Class in 2001. Phil Andrews was registered as one of GR Motorsport's entries that same year.

Autosport once mentioned the Proton team could run a 3rd car in 2002 but it was unlikely to appear for the season opener.

[S griffin]

There were quite a few other could have beens in 01. Darren Macklin was entered to drive for JS Motorsport. There was also the driver who was supposed to drive a third Mitsubishi Carisma alongside Ruokenen and Neate. Vincent Radermecker was due to drive a second Lexus for ABG/Total Motorsport. And of course Ferrier was originally going to drive for Vauxhall. Also Lemmer was going to replace Graves in the second Barwell car from mid season onwards, but the team had used up the maximum two drivers for that entry, so he instead shared the Synchro Honda with the late Dave Allan

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Originally Posted by S griffin

There were quite a few other could have beens in 01. Darren Macklin was entered to drive for JS Motorsport. There was also the driver who was supposed to drive a third Mitsubishi Carisma alongside Ruokenen and Neate. Vincent Radermecker was due to drive a second Lexus for ABG/Total Motorsport. And of course Ferrier was originally going to drive for Vauxhall. Also Lemmer was going to replace Graves in the second Barwell car from mid season onwards, but the team had used up the maximum two drivers for that entry, so he instead shared the Synchro Honda with the late Dave Allan

I thought his name was Darren Malkin?

Was the 3rd Mitsubishi driver supposed to be someone other than James Levy?

Jamie Davies was going to replace Kelvin Burt at Snetterton in 1996 but had a big crash of his own in testing and destroyed Volvo's spare car.

Tim Harvey could have returned to Volvo in 1999 until Radermecker got the drive.

Jody Scheckter was linked to Honda and Nissan (I think) in 1998.

Thomas Erdos was to return alongside Mark Jones at Xero in 2007.

[chunterer]

Brian Muir was going to be driving a 2nd Sytner entered BMW 635 in the '84 series. Muir had a long association with Grace Gartlan motorsport, the preparation firm in Pershore that built Franks cars.

Vince Woodman wanted to run the CC Belga Mustang in a few rounds in 1983 but MSA would not open up the big class engine capacity limit. (Same thing applied to Allan Grice in 1986). Ford did not endorse the Mustang for a UK programme in any case.

A Volvo 240T was rumoured to have been close to appearing in 1986 driven by Patrick Watts.

Kent Baigent also nearly entered the series in '86 with his Skyline R30 Turbo.

[pimmy]

There are some very interesting ones here.

[S griffin]

The third Mitsubishi driver in 2001 was going to be Sandro Proietti

Also reading the 1989 thread on here a driver called Tony Hilton who was on the entry list at a few rounds in a Sierra, but never appeared

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Originally Posted by pimmy

There are some very interesting ones here.

I wondered how long it would be before this came up.

Stacey Vickers looked into entering a Mazda 3 under the Oddball Racing banner in 2008.

Mazda were also rumoured to making a comeback in 2006. I think this was around the time the Kia rumours kicked off.

VX Racing of course built a BTC Touring-spec Vectra for the 2004 season but stuck with the Astra. The car was cleverly disguised as the S2000 version ahead of the 2007 Season.

[pimmy]

Paul Morris would have replaced Matt Neal at Dynamics in 1999 if Neal went to Volvo.