BTCC 2007 News, Rumours, Entries...

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by cos

Vauxhall have confirmed they'll be racing with Vectras next season. Interesting to read that they seriously evaluated the Corsa as well though!
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/56065

Big car! Glad to see it return though.

[touringlegend]

Just the hatchback now though, all previous Vectras were the 4 door versions.

[Alfa Fan]

EDIT - Comment removed, realised what you mean..

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Just had a very quick flick through the Vectra section of the Vauxhall website, and from what I could see the only 2.0 litre engine on the road models has a turbo.

Petrol:
1.8i VVT
2.0 Turbo
2.2i 16v

There is also a 1.9CDTi...would they consider diesel?

[touringlegend]

Doesn't need to be a Vectra engine thats used for the race car, any 2.0 l engine from the Vauxhall range can be used - still think this is the case under S2000 rules. Don't forget they use a 2.0 already.

I think they've considered a diesel in the past.

[gregc]

Originally Posted by touringlegend

Doesn't need to be a Vectra engine thats used for the race car, any 2.0 l engine from the Vauxhall range can be used - still think this is the case under S2000 rules.

Not so sure about this - from Article 1 of the copy of the S2000 regs I've got:

The engine used must be derived from the homologated model modified by the kit.

Other options are, as already mentioned, the diesel - or maybe they could extract the necessary 270-300bhp from the 1.8?

Edit - link to regs on the FIA site - pdf format.

[redshoes]

Vauxhall can use the 1.8l as a base unit and enlarge it to 2 litres. Chevrolet already do the same in WTCC - the Lacetti only comes as a 1.8l road car. I'm not that up on current road cars but it may well be the same block.

[gregc]

Originally Posted by redshoes

Vauxhall can use the 1.8l as a base unit and enlarge it to 2 litres. Chevrolet already do the same in WTCC - the Lacetti only comes as a 1.8l road car. I'm not that up on current road cars but it may well be the same block.

Good point - looking at the regs, as far as I can tell it's only the bore that's restricted so maybe they can use the stroke to get the capacity. My technical knowledge has now reached it's limit....

[redshoes]

Or just un-bolt the turbo from the 2 litre. The regs say the engine must be 'derived from', doesn't say it has to be exactly the same.

[touringlegend]

Was led to believe Chevy's engine was the same block that Vauxhall/Opel used back in the Cavalier days.

They will probably unbolt the turbo as you said redshoes, however the diesel route would be good to go for publicity..

[nickyf1]

Just had a go at making a Vectra mock-up, this is what it could look like:



I did it on paint, so not the best program for this kind of thing.

[Craig]

Wow. Stunning.

[James C.]

Very impressive pic

[nickyf1]

My family car is a vectra, so its good to see it racing!

[Craner Curves]

January 1st and we have the Turner Prize winner already!

[Chris Y]

I thought it must be April 1st.

[nickyf1]

eh?

[Robbe]

Seat Sport UK is confirmed. They'll run 2 Leons, one to be driven by Jason Plato.



Source: http://touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=918

[redshoes]

Beat me to it, just got the press release.

SEAT will enter a two-car team in the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, with the main aim of defending its Manufacturers’ title.
...
Jason is the only driver currently under contract with SEAT Sport UK for 2007, and his team-mate will be announced in due course.

[FIRE]

From an article at www.touringcartimes.com:

...
Previously Vauxhall have build run their cars under BTC specification. New for the coming BTCC season is that only cars build under S2000 (WTCC-spec) specifications are allowed in the main championship. Harrison feels that the only thing the switch to S2000 produces is higher costs.

"The bottom line is that we have gone from a really, really strong set of technical regulations to a really weak set of technical regulations," he said.
"The S2000 regulations, technically, are appalling compared to the BTCC regulations, but it is what we have got and we have to make the most of it. There is a lot of work, it is a lot more involved and a lot more expensive, and the guys have been burning the midnight oil since August in the drawing office here to try and make head or tail of the rules. The cars are more complicated, more expensive to build and more time consuming, which are basically all the things that you don't want in touring cars."

Vauxhall ran their BTC-spec' cars successfully in the BTCC. During the first couple of years, when the BTC-rules were new, no one could challenge them. In fact the organisers even put extra weight on all of the Vauxhall-cars to make the racing more even. During the later years the competition for Vauxhall was harder, but Harrison feels that the BTC-rules were the best possible.

"We spent five years trying to hone the BTCC regulations and we didn't really have to do a great deal of honing, we just wrote them and got on with it with one or two changes along the way. In general, they are probably the best series of rules that have ever been written for a touring car championship. Now we are learning the hard way about the S2000 rules. I understand why we have done it and I'm not knocking the thought process behind it, but the reality for someone in the UK trying to build a locally homologated car is that it is a tall order."
...

Is there some truth in it or is he just a whiner? The fact he says "the organisers even put extra weight on all of the Vauxhall-cars to make the racing more even" in the early days of BTC [so Vauxhall had build a much better car as the other competitors] gives me the impression he's a whiner.

Is there so much difference between S2000 and BTC regulations?

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Is there some truth in it or is he just a whiner? The fact he says "the organisers even put extra weight on all of the Vauxhall-cars to make the racing more even" in the early days of BTC [so Vauxhall had build a much better car as the other competitors] gives me the impression he's a whiner.

Is there so much difference between S2000 and BTC regulations?

Sounds like whining to me. There is a BTC-T car running in Sweden (IIRC) in an otherwise S2000 championship. I think.

[touringlegend]

The main difference I always knew of is that BTC rules permitted the cars to be built using off the shelf racing components, whereas S2000 rules dictate the cars components are modified production versions. Therefore there has to be a lot of work put into getting parts race worthy.

The extra ballast referred to was the 30kg that Vauxhall got given in 2001 as they were simply running away with every race.

[Bramzel]

To me it sounds like he's whining a bit. He's complaining about Seat having an advantage as they're adapted to the S2000 rules already. But anyone could have seen it coming that BTCC would go S2000 some day, shouldn't you just take that in to mind when you're developing a car?

[JMeissner]

S2000 is very expensive, in fact it is not far from (in some cases just as or more expensive) Super Touring. Not exactly the thing they wanted from the start...

But it's not impossible to build S2000 cars for independents, just look at STCC with the Mercedes, Opel and Audi. For sure the only car of them being able to match WTCC-cars is the Audi which has got backing from Audi Germany.

But it is getting more and more expensive, and more difficult for anyone not racing a car which is represented by the manufacturer in WTCC in a national championship. Just as in the ST-days.

[JMeissner]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

Sounds like whining to me. There is a BTC-T car running in Sweden (IIRC) in an otherwise S2000 championship. I think.

The car you are thinking of, an ex-BTC spec Opel Astra of the old version, was not raced in the STCC 2006 and was pretty much converted to a S2000-spec. car in its last year (2005).