[BTCC] 2014 BTCC speculation, rumours and news

[TimRTC]

With only three meetings left for 2013 and nothing yet announced thought it would be time to start some unfounded rumours about the 2014 season.

What do people think about the calendar - given the consistency of the past few years I would expect it to remain pretty much unchanged. There do not seem to be any plans to return to Mondello Park and while most of the drivers do not seem to enjoy the long drives up to Croft or Knockhill, I'm sure the sponsors like the large Tyneside and Scottish fan bases there.

I did get a chance (at the Donington KX aftershow event) to ask Alan Gow if there were any plans to race overseas, which he categorically turned down, saying that it would do nothing to help the series and would be just an expensive vanity exercise for the drivers - so no Zandvoort or Spa rounds any time soon. However he did mention that since the NGTC vehicles have a larger fuel tank, there was potential for longer races possibly including a driver change.

Personally I cannot see a driver change being attractive for the teams - fine for factory efforts, but complex to arrange for the independents, but I wonder if a double-length, double-points race at one or two of the rounds might shake things up a bit. I would not be surprised to see one of these mooted, maybe for a circuit like Snetterton, next year, particularly if the grid goes all NGTC.

[thetool]

Complex to arrange for the Independents? What? I think they'd be the most in favour. A 2 driver event means double the personal sponsors (which are what run most efforts) for far less than double the cost.

It would have to be more than double length to justify multiple drivers though. The NGTC cars have an 80 litre or 18 gallon fuel tank - so it all depends on the MPG the cars get.

A typical petrol road car gets around 40mpg. But I can't seem to find any estimation of the MPG a touring car would achieve. NASCAR achieves 5mpg, and I'd imagine these cars are a lot more efficient, so you may be looking at the region of 10-15, but that's little more than a guess.

Based on about 10mpg, that would limit the range of races to 180 miles, which would be long enough for a reasonable length endurance race. It could be the MPG achieved is way worse though, I don't know.

[TimRTC]

Originally Posted by thetool

Complex to arrange for the Independents? What? I think they'd be the most in favour. A 2 driver event means double the personal sponsors (which are what run most efforts) for far less than double the cost.

Perhaps I should have said complex to find drivers of sufficient talent. I'm sure that there is a plentiful supply to drivers happy to pay their way into the second seat but finding someone with the talent to compete directly against veteran competitors with minimal practice time would probably require getting out the chequebook. Particularly if the race counted double-points, teams like WSR and Pirtek Honda could not afford to lose ground against the factory drivers.

Originally Posted by thetool

Based on about 10mpg, that would limit the range of races to 180 miles, which would be long enough for a reasonable length endurance race. It could be the MPG achieved is way worse though, I don't know.

That would give a range of some 60 laps of the Snetterton 300 circuit - or five times the distance they travel on each race at the circuit at the moment.

The expression 'Last Man Standing' comes to mind.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Longer races might add F1-esque tactics back into it, but it may improve the driver standards, as they aren't in a rush.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Meanwhile, it'll be interesting to see how Dan Cammish does in his BTCC test with Motorbase. They do have a 3rd car...

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by TimRTC

I did get a chance (at the Donington KX aftershow event) to ask Alan Gow if there were any plans to race overseas, which he categorically turned down, saying that it would do nothing to help the series and would be just an expensive vanity exercise for the drivers - so no Zandvoort or Spa rounds any time soon.

Doh! Completely understandable but a bummer nonetheless

[Sodemo]

I'd like to see perhaps a longer race, even if its only say 10 laps longer than a regular race, however would that then take the place of the third race, so you would only get two races? I remember back in supertouring days, the Brands Indy races used to be a 25 lap sprint, followed by a 50 lap feature race.

[Andrew Abbott]

It's a shame that Gow is categorically against any overseas rounds. The lack of ability in convincingly exporting our car industry to our (predominantly) European cousing is what brought it crashing down in the first place. Why can't we try to export our touring car series? Obviously not into Germany, but certainly France, Belgium and the Netherlands would be viable markets.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Originally Posted by AndySpeed

It's a shame that Gow is categorically against any overseas rounds. The lack of ability in convincingly exporting our car industry to our (predominantly) European cousing is what brought it crashing down in the first place. Why can't we try to export our touring car series? Obviously not into Germany, but certainly France, Belgium and the Netherlands would be viable markets.

Our car industry isn't going down...

...if Gow won't let that happen, why don't the drivers go out and prove themselves. Turks is doing the Superstars round at Donington this weekend, and he'll surely be up there, and AJ wants to do Bathurst, but I can't see a deal happening this season, despite the Pirtek links. The guys at the top of BTCC are some of the best touring car drivers in the world.

[Craner Curves]

I think it's more the teams who wouldn't want to do it. They do enough whining about Croft and Knockhill, never mind going abroad. And remember the shambles that was the short-lived non-championship British GP support race that never happened? The budgets are pretty tight it seems.

[BertMk2]

An overseas round would be expensive in terms of travel costs and bring no real benefit to most of the teams - unless the teams are running large multinational companies as sponsors there's no benefit to them going overseas. You'd probably find a large proportion of the grid not travelling - and that would just weaken the BTCC 'brand'.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

And, of course, it is the BRITISHTouring Car Championship. If the teams want to race abroad I'm sure they'll find a way, but it won't be through touring cars. Luckily the crowds at Croft and Knockhill are huge.

[porsche962fan]

speaking about 2014 any news regarding KIA entry ?

[thetool]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

speaking about 2014 any news regarding KIA entry ?

This is getting really old.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

And what about Matt Hamilton? He was going to enter 2012 in an NGTC Skoda, but that has never happened.

Dave Pinkney was supposed to drive for Ron Austin full-time in 2011, but never even raced after car problems put him out of Brands, and he hasn't returned since. Mark Hazell was meant to run in Will Bratt's car in 2012, but similar problems put him out of Brands, and yet again Austin had another driver giving up on him.

Shaun Hollamby was planning on getting an NGTC-spec Vauxhall Astra for the end of this season.

So much has never happened in recent years. Take Thorney Motorsports as an example of people trying, but not succeeding. I reckon that at least half of the things that are proposed on here will not succeed, which is quite sad really.

[Moneyseeker]

Motorsport News reporting that NGTC Renault Megane's will appear next year having being funded by a commercial backer to design and develop the car.

Apparently it is in build and will test later this year and a mock up on the car will be on show at Rockingham.

No world on drivers or who will run the cars, but speculation it might be a current Clio Cup team.

[medius]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

And what about Matt Hamilton? He was going to enter 2012 in an NGTC Skoda, but that has never happened.

Didn't get a headline sponsor to fund it, so got shelved. TH Motorsport were to build and run the car.

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

Dave Pinkney was supposed to drive for Ron Austin full-time in 2011, but never even raced after car problems put him out of Brands, and he hasn't returned since. Mark Hazell was meant to run in Will Bratt's car in 2012, but similar problems put him out of Brands, and yet again Austin had another driver giving up on him.

Rob Austin you mean. Pinkney was disillusioned with driving standards the season before, and funding most of the RAR A4 build and getting an absolute dog of a car provided to him was the final straw in his BTCC career (for now). The car has improved a lot the last three seasons but I don't think he wanted to invest so much money without seeing a more immediate return, considering he'd bought race-ready TD Integra and 888 Vectra from the previous seasons.

I believe Mark Hazell got divorced and understandably that isn't a cheap process.

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

Shaun Hollamby was planning on getting an NGTC-spec Vauxhall Astra for the end of this season.

They need a headline sponsor. Its not uncommon for plans to be announced in the hope it flushes out some interested backers.

[thetool]

Originally Posted by medius

Rob Austin you mean. Pinkney was disillusioned with driving standards the season before, and funding most of the RAR A4 build and getting an absolute dog of a car provided to him was the final straw in his BTCC career (for now).

I don't believe Rob Austin saw a penny of Dave's money - not even for the first weekend.

[VIVA GT]

Talk is cheap, building & running a Touring Car isn't...

[Spanner monkey]

Maybe not next year but 2015 could see BTCC back in Wales

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Spanner monkey

Maybe not next year but 2015 could see BTCC back in Wales

The CoW is definitely one of those "I'll believe it when I'm standing there" propositions. The fact that the BRDC have had to do a deal with a developer to take on Silverstone *and* the F1 commitment, at a well-known existing circuit with reasonable planning agreements, is testament to the fact the running a circuit is bloody hard. Building one is even harder.

Anyway, 2014... it would be nice to see bigger grids in the support series. I aim low

[porsche962fan]

or the news about that Steel named driver with a new team (forgot his full name) who wants a full 2014 campaign


also TOCA should really change the rules for admission for the 32 grid slots, instead of the first came first served basis perhaps make a comission who evaluates all entries and then decides who gets them


important criteria if the supposed entreant actually has cars build/bought and sponsors to enter

Neate had no cars ready and still got 2 grid slots while Chris James and his ES Racing actually had cars or AMD who had the extra S2000 Ford Focus but couldn't enter



and even then allow more flexibility if someone doesn't show up the slot is free for some other guest entries

[TimRTC]

Originally Posted by AndySpeed

The lack of ability in convincingly exporting our car industry to our (predominantly) European cousing is what brought it crashing down in the first place.

Well since there are only two factory teams and Honda have representation in almost every touring car series anyway, I can't see them doing a Euro round just for MG.

Originally Posted by Greem

Anyway, 2014... it would be nice to see bigger grids in the support series. I aim low

Sadly can't see this happening - the new format Clio Championship is likely to only have a few entries given the expense of running an all new car (particularly when the BARC are expanding their Clio Cup to allow all of the current models - this will certainly attract any of the privateer entries). FFord will really be lucky to see in 2014 at its current race, MSV's F4 has won that battle and the potential return of FRenault could dilute the grids further. The running of the newer Porsches in the Carrera Cup should allow more entrants from the European series' next year but might lose some of the domestic teams as again the cost of running the new car might prove too high.

At least the Ginettas should stay strong.

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

also TOCA should really change the rules for admission for the 32 grid slots, instead of the first came first served basis perhaps make a comission who evaluates all entries and then decides who gets them

important criteria if the supposed entreant actually has cars build/bought and sponsors to enter

Neate had no cars ready and still got 2 grid slots while Chris James and his ES Racing actually had cars or AMD who had the extra S2000 Ford Focus but couldn't enter

If Chris James had the cars and the budget to run them then he should have got his entry in earlier before the list was full. I suspect that whilst he may have had the former he didn't have the latter. Given that the cars had been for sale since late last year I don't think there was ever any intention to enter this year.

At the point the entry was made Neate had a car in build and the sponsor to enter so easily meets your criteria, even if he subsequently lost that sponsor. If you mean that they actually need a completed car rather than just one in build then under that criteria the MGs would have been rejected last year as the first car was only completely literally days before the first meeting and the second car still being screwed together over the course of the weekend.

[Moneyseeker]

AG says he is going to look at the number of driver changes per car during the rest of the season.

Substitute drivers do not have to carry new driver ballast whereas 'new' drivers do, so clearly this needs looking at.

Currently there is no hard and fast rule on how many substitute drivers can be used per car, but AG says he believes no more than 3 per car would be his feeling.

No doubt we can expect that to feature in the rules next year, with the usual force majeure caveat....

Personally I don't like to see too many driver changes as it devalues the series and I can't see it does the drivers any real good to dip in and out or make one off's.