[BTCC] 2015 BTCC news & rumours

[Burp]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

Maybe the BTCC needs a(nother) feeder series...

I was thinking that myself. In a year or so there will be so many NGTC shells about they could do a feeder/development series maybe with lower costs (somehow) and lower boost or something. There seems to be no shortage of people wanting in.

[Jiiiiiiim]

Originally Posted by Aunt Sally

I think the TBL's are BMR's and they may even let Gilham have one this year.

Let's face it, it was Team Hard's exploits in 2013 that help introduce them, so I would be really surprised if they belong to Gilham..

The impression I got was BMR had two TBL's that they were entitled to, one for their 2013 entry & the option for a second that all one car teams got. The other two (TeamHARD ones) were purchased off Tony along with the cars etc, I don't know for sure but that's the picture that was painted to me.

[Steel Wheels]

Originally Posted by Burp

I was thinking that myself. In a year or so there will be so many NGTC shells about they could do a feeder/development series maybe with lower costs (somehow) and lower boost or something. There seems to be no shortage of people wanting in.

Could even have a 'promotion/relegation' so those who want a chance in the main series can get the promoted and it would shape up some of those at the back in the main series, especially if its maybe only a boost difference between the series. Could maybe do less races to keep cost down a bit, if it were all part of the TOCA package you'd still get the TV covergae and exposure and add another great set of races in the support.

Don't worry I am coaxing myself back out of fantasy land into reality, but I do think there is potential there

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Burp

I was thinking that myself. In a year or so there will be so many NGTC shells about they could do a feeder/development series maybe with lower costs (somehow) and lower boost or something. There seems to be no shortage of people wanting in.

AG has repeatedly been asked about this on the BTCC forums... and he never seemed very enthusiastic about it.

That said, if I was in charge I'd do away with the TBL limit and instead allow all interested parties to the main game, but with the added twist of a heat race system... Just spitballing here, but how about this: 20 best qualifiers do race 1, the others do a qualy race for race two, last 5 teams of main race 1 get relegated, 5 best from the qual race move up. Same mode for race 2, race 3 for double points.

[jsmee]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

AG has repeatedly been asked about this on the BTCC forums... and he never seemed very enthusiastic about it.

That said, if I was in charge I'd do away with the TBL limit and instead allow all interested parties to the main game, but with the added twist of a heat race system... Just spitballing here, but how about this: 20 best qualifiers do race 1, the others do a qualy race for race two, last 5 teams of main race 1 get relegated, 5 best from the qual race move up. Same mode for race 2, race 3 for double points.

What's the point? Current BTCC racing works as it is and is the best racing series out there... If it ain't broke don't fix it! What's with all the revolution?!

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

AG has repeatedly been asked about this on the BTCC forums... and he never seemed very enthusiastic about it.

That said, if I was in charge I'd do away with the TBL limit and instead allow all interested parties to the main game, but with the added twist of a heat race system... Just spitballing here, but how about this: 20 best qualifiers do race 1, the others do a qualy race for race two, last 5 teams of main race 1 get relegated, 5 best from the qual race move up. Same mode for race 2, race 3 for double points.

maybe back in the old F1 days of the 70s and early 80s

the PRE-QUALIFY existed , the front runners and midfielders had all guranteed places and they didn't have to pre-qualify , however the back markers all had to fight it for the last remaining grid slots via the pre-qualy session

[Craner Curves]

As usual, people are starting to wet themselves about the number of potential entries.

[Sodemo]

They should do something to max out the grid at events that can accommodate them. I know 32 is the limit at Brands Indy and Knockhill, but other tracks can handle more.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

They should do something to max out the grid at events that can accommodate them. I know 32 is the limit at Brands Indy and Knockhill, but other tracks can handle more.

Surely this is motivation to use the Silverstone GP loop? It probably won't be...

[Jiiiiiiim]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

As usual, people are starting to wet themselves about the number of potential entries.

I'll stick my neck on the block and say that there will be 32 entries

[psq43]

A well respected journalist tweeted this which i think is highly appropriate...

"It's totally time to register the domain tblsdirect .com"

Certainly made me laugh.

[RED55]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

As usual, people are starting to wet themselves about the number of potential entries.

some teams may be wetting themselves too if they dont get a TBL and end up with a 250k touringcar sat unable to race anywhere.

We had 31 Cars this year , add another Merc and 2 Infinities means too many cars for places avail .

oops

[porsche962fan]

confirmed now that Laser Tools will run the 2nd Mercedes officially

so this means no more guessing with TBL since Laser Tools will simply use their existing one

[850Estate]

"@RobertoAustini
So it appears the old broom Sherman will look a bit different next season.... #BTCC @DunlopBTCC @FAST_Exocet"

Hmm...

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

New A4??? New sponsor??? New car???

[steve_r]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

New A4??? New sponsor??? New car???

New sideburns??? New moustache???

At a guess I would say new sponser....

[Mies7337]

I think that not everyone in the BTCC, but four drivers, should be in the independent trophee. The show the BTCC puts on is absolutely fantastic, but it's very weird that the overall champion is also in the independent trophee. WSR, Pirtek, and maybe even Motorbase and BMR should be manufacturers.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Mies7337

I think that not everyone in the BTCC, but four drivers, should be in the independent trophee. The show the BTCC puts on is absolutely fantastic, but it's very weird that the overall champion is also in the independent trophee. WSR, Pirtek, and maybe even Motorbase and BMR should be manufacturers.

Agreed. The format of the 'Independents' competition needs a review.

[CarsCarsCars]

Why cant the Jack Sears Trophy be given to the best "small" team or driver at the end of the year?

Which teams qualify would be determined by their prior success. So 888, TD, Motorbase, WSR, Eurotech wouldnt be eligible (plus some others maybe?).

[pimmy]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Agreed. The format of the 'Independents' competition needs a review.

No it doesn't. If you start picking and choosing who's eligible and who isn't, you'll end up with a charity class. There are already far too many of those in motorsport.

[TimRTC]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

maybe back in the old F1 days of the 70s and early 80s

the PRE-QUALIFY existed , the front runners and midfielders had all guranteed places and they didn't have to pre-qualify , however the back markers all had to fight it for the last remaining grid slots via the pre-qualy session

If that happened the smaller teams might struggle to find sponsorship given that they could not guarantee television time for their sponsors.

Of course the 32 car limit is only really applicable to Brands Indy, I have seen some 50 GT cars racing at Silverstone and Donnington could easily handle the same, so they could open up the limit to allow guest drives at the larger venues if there are people out there with unused chassis.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

The fact that AJ won with Pirtek and Turkington won with WSR surely suggests that not only are those teams very good but the two drivers are just in a different league? If it wasn't for AJs horrible luck from Snetterton and Oulton Park (caught out by the red flag in qually and couldn't overtake in the races due to the circuit) then he would've yet again been the fastest Honda - faster than the 2 works cars driven by two standout touring car drivers. And Turks goes without saying. It's the same with Mat Jackson finishing 4th this season - he made the most of all of his chances (other than Brands R2 lol) and was consistently outperforming his car. Good drivers in the BTCC, with it's BOP-style regs, will always find a way to be at the sharp end.

So maybe Gio and Menu are overrated/rusty (eliminate whichever one suits your opinion, or don't eliminate one at all )

And talking about AJ, his performance, even with decent luck, still wasn't as good as last season. Maybe they'd done all they could with that car, and that's why Pirtek are looking at something different next season that will bring them back to the front.

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by TimRTC

Of course the 32 car limit is only really applicable to Brands Indy, I have seen some 50 GT cars racing at Silverstone and Donnington could easily handle the same, so they could open up the limit to allow guest drives at the larger venues if there are people out there with unused chassis.

Donington isn't licensed for 50 cars. Silverstone can accommodate (more than) 50 but only on the full GP circuit.

Where are all these occasional entries coming from? There aren't that many unused chassis. Why would any team want to invest in one of those cars knowing that would only be able to run it at a couple of meetings? Different story with GTs, you could buy a GT3 car and race it somewhere pretty much every weekend.

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

So maybe Gio and Menu are overrated/rusty (eliminate whichever one suits your opinion, or don't eliminate one at all )

Gio wasn't that great in his 1st year 2006, and the next years h won the titles think lack of pre season testing, and the Focus not being a great car to start with contributed to this

remember Menu was also very unlucky like Croft when moronic Plato rammed him out of 3rd place

[TimRTC]

Originally Posted by redshoes

Donington isn't licensed for 50 cars. Silverstone can accommodate (more than) 50 but only on the full GP circuit.

Where are all these occasional entries coming from? There aren't that many unused chassis. Why would any team want to invest in one of those cars knowing that would only be able to run it at a couple of meetings? Different story with GTs, you could buy a GT3 car and race it somewhere pretty much every weekend.

Fair enough - 40 at Silverstone on the short circuit apparently.

I was talking about occasionals in regards a suggestion to use pre-qualifying to allow more than 32 cars to arrive at a race weekend. I think teams would struggle to get sponsorship if there was no assurance they could even get onto the grid on raceday. If there were spare chassis, running guest entries would allow teams to at least make some revenue off a car if they have built one but are unable to get a space.