BTCC 2024 News & Rumours

[Steel Wheels]

Originally Posted by mphplastering

Excelr8 were rumoured to have bought 1 for all the standard btcc components of it

Hmmm, just for spares or to build another car? We know they have said they’d support customer teams.

[redshoes]

On the Execlr8/Cupra thing, I understand they did buy the car solely to strip it of any useful components. The striped shell was then returned to the finance company, so they now have 3 to sell.

Restart have the two 2023-built Cupras. Smiley will be in the ex Dan Lloyd car, Sumpton in teh ex Thompson/Cress car

[SSmith]

Originally Posted by thetool

I'd say there's maybe only five teams I'd be willing to bet the house on actually making it to the grid this year. (WSR, AmD/Motorbase, Excelr8, PMR & Restart). There's a whole lot of question marks elsewhere.

You'd lose your house given that AmD have had nothing to do with the championship for years and it's Alliance Racing not Motorbase!

Joke out of the way, it doesn't seem a great situation for the championship based off the rumours posted on this forum. Thinking positively, there's 3 months until the season starts so lots can change in that time.

[BtccLee]

Originally Posted by SSmith

You'd lose your house given that AmD have had nothing to do with the championship for years and it's Alliance Racing not Motorbase!

Joke out of the way, it doesn't seem a great situation for the championship based off the rumours posted on this forum. Thinking positively, there's 3 months until the season starts so lots can change in that time.

4X WSR
4X NAPA
4X Excelr8
4X Toyota
3XPMR
2X Restart

Rumours indicate Toyota will be back with a split 2/2 branding across cars. That gives us 21 entries that seem relatively secure.

Interesting to see if the other potential 6 slots are filled.

[InYourMirrors45]

Josh Cook not sounding at all confident about being back for this season in an interview on BTCC.Net

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by InYourMirrors45

Josh Cook not sounding at all confident about being back for this season in an interview on BTCC.Net

That'll be a shame if he can't get a top seat. I've always rated him, right from his Powermax days.

[Steel Wheels]

Originally Posted by BtccLee

4X WSR
4X NAPA
4X Excelr8
4X Toyota
3XPMR
2X Restart

Rumours indicate Toyota will be back with a split 2/2 branding across cars. That gives us 21 entries that seem relatively secure.

Interesting to see if the other potential 6 slots are filled.

If Gamble stays at Speedworks I expect two Car Gods cars & two Gazoo.

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

Hmm. Cook to Toyota? Apparently they have an all new driver lineup.

I guess Collard is linked to WSR, but where would Butcher go? If the grid size has been cut even further, there must be a lot of people fighting over a small amount of available drives (presumably there’s not much to give from Napa and Excelr8?)

[crmalcolm]

2024 TBL	2024 Team	Car	Driver	Status
Excelr8 Motorsport-1	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	Pearson	Confirmed for 2 years in press release (24&25)
Excelr8 Motorsport-2	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	Ingram?	Team engaging with personal sponsors
Excelr8 Motorsport-3	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	???	Title sponsor confirmed
Excelr8 Motorsport-4	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	???	Title sponsor confirmed
Alliance Racing-1	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	Sutton	Confirmed in Press Release
Alliance Racing -2	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	Cammish	Confirmed in Press Release
Alliance Racing -3	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	Rowbottom?	Scheduled for official BTCC filming
Alliance Racing -4	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	Osborne?
West Surrey Racing-1	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	Turkington?
West Surrey Racing-2	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	Morgan?
West Surrey Racing-3	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	???
West Surrey Racing-4	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	Hill	Confirmed in Press Release
Speedworks Motorsport-1	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	Butcher?	Team stated they are working on a deal
Speedworks Motorsport-2	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	Collard?	Team stated they are working on a deal
Speedworks Motorsport-3	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	Gamble?	Team stated they are working on a deal
Speedworks Motorsport-4	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	Huff?	Team stated they are evaluating
Power Maxed Racing-1	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	Taylor-Smith	Confirmed in Press Release (24&25)
Power Maxed Racing-2	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	Doble	Confirmed in Press Release
Power Maxed Racing-3	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	Watson?	Scheduled for official BTCC filming
Restart Racing-1	Restart Racing	Cupra León	Smiley	Confirmed in Press Release
Restart Racing-2	Restart Racing	Cupra León	Sumpton	Confirmed in Press Release
One Motorsport-1	One Motorsport?	Honda Civic Type R?	???
One Motorsport -2	One Motorsport?	Honda Civic Type R	????
One Motorsport -3	One Motorsport?	Honda Civic Type R?	???
Aiden Moffat Racing-1	???	???	???
Aiden Moffat Racing-2	???	???	???
CMB Racing-1	???	???	???
Other Rumours
???	???	???	Hamilton	Spoke to ITV stating he is working on a deal
???	???	???	Thompson	Stated he is confident of being on the grid, and supported by Team Dynamics

Key:
Green/Bold – Confirmed in a press release since the start of 2023 season
Green – Confirmed in a press release prior to 2023 season
Amber – Indicated as happening by comments from official sources
Blue – Rumoured in multiple sources

[S griffin]

Excelr8 Hyundai are going to announce something at the AI. Probably confirm Tingram for another year

[Jiiiiiiim]

Originally Posted by Steel Wheels

If Gamble stays at Speedworks I expect two Car Gods cars & two Gazoo.

If the rumours if an all new line-up at Speedworks are true, maybe 2 Starline cars, one for Moffat & a-another under that banner!?!

[SV8Predator]

Originally Posted by Jiiiiiiim

one for Moffat & a-another under that banner!?!

That would be Josh then.

[S griffin]

I do wonder if Josh could leave the series and find a new challenge

[BtccLee]

Originally Posted by Jiiiiiiim

If the rumours if an all new line-up at Speedworks are true, maybe 2 Starline cars, one for Moffat & a-another under that banner!?!

That could make a lot of sense.

And then maybe the aforementioned greater Car Gods involvement may end up scooping up some of the TBLs that seem to be in the ether at the moment.

[touringlegend]

If Moffat ends up at Toyota under the Starline banner, perhaps the 2 x AMR TBLs could be Car Gods run by Excelr8 ? Just a thought in my head..

[InYourMirrors45]

Believe we could potentially lose upto 3 teams, HARD Included. All struggling for either Finances or drivers with enough budget to fill the seats.

[Evantra]

Begs the question… how much longer can NGTC survive?

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Begs the question… how much longer can NGTC survive?

I’d say at least three more years after this one. Although I can’t see it lasting forever

[redshoes]

We could always bring in TCR as Class B to make up the numbers.

Maybe TCR are too close in performance. We need something much slower so we can have a compilated handicap format with each class running a different number of laps.

[Adamcas87]

Originally Posted by InYourMirrors45

Believe we could potentially lose upto 3 teams, HARD Included. All struggling for either Finances or drivers with enough budget to fill the seats.

Unless someone shows proof it’s all hear say at the moment
Team hard have gone which other 2 teams would go?

[Steel Wheels]

Originally Posted by InYourMirrors45

Believe we could potentially lose upto 3 teams, HARD Included. All struggling for either Finances or drivers with enough budget to fill the seats.

Well we know we’ve lost Team HARD, rumours that One have closed up shop, so who’s the 3rd team?

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by redshoes

We need something much slower so we can have a compilated handicap format with each class running a different number of laps.

And the championship winner comes from one of the bottom classes too?

Surely the only other option would be TCR - I’m not sure whether there would be any clashes with TCR UK holding the rights or ‘blocking’ another standalone TCR championship?


…but as far as is confirmed, we’ve got 27 entries this season, so perhaps too early to worry!

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by redshoes

From what I've heard, One Motorsport have shut up shop. If that true, plus questions over what happens with the Moffat/CBM TBLs, things aren't looking good.

Just posted about ASI on social media, so hopefully a good sign.

[techspeed]

Gow understandably downplayed the significance of series mainstay 'Dynamics packing up shop last year and citing an unfortunate series of events conspiring to make it impossible for them to continue but there have been other warning signs that the sustainability and health of the series is going in the wrong direction; see the reduced grid size, the trend towards fewer teams overall but teams running more cars, the fact that at least one new build/model was a regular occurrence each pre-season which is no longer the case at all, and more I'm sure.

The quality of the entrants in the mid to late 2000s was a mixed bag and arguably the health of the series was weaker than in 2010s when NGTC really got into it's stride but you would have seen 'Dynamics do what they could to stay in the series, even if it meant running Dave Pinkney, and I'm sure Matt Neal explored as many options as he could but it appears costs were/are unrealistic.

Now we've seen Hard and possibly One Motorsport go as well. Hard were one who you felt would be on the grid by hook or by crook...

I guess if you'd back anybody to reverse the decline it would be Gow, I wonder what ideas having been crossing his mind? Ditching the Hybrid would be the obvious one but it would compromise his belief in the the series being modern and relevant and I doubt getting out of the contract would be cheap or simple either.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Begs the question… how much longer can NGTC survive?

I would suggest that the financial problems are far, far broader than what type of car is raced.

If things go on internationally as they are, we'll be pleading with Jeff Bezos to allow an Amazon Van class in as the premier championship category, but there will have to be mandatory delivery stops every couple of laps.

I joke, but... The ongoing concentration of wealth in the hands of an extremely small number of people will come to something before long. Either capitulation on "our" behalf, or the collapse of many aspects of what we term normality now. Racing is a frivolity, enjoy it while it lasts!