TCR UK 2024

[Evantra]

2024 calendar - Donington and Knockhill out in favour of Thruxton and Silverstone International. About a months gap between each meeting.

13/14 April – Brands Hatch Indy
18/19 May – Snetterton 300
8 June – Oulton Park Island
13/14 July – Croft
17/18 August – Silverstone National
21/22 September – Thruxton
12/13 October – Silverstone International

[SSmith]

Originally Posted by Evantra

2024 calendar - Donington and Knockhill out in favour of Thruxton and Silverstone International. About a months gap between each meeting.

13/14 April – Brands Hatch Indy
18/19 May – Snetterton 300
8 June – Oulton Park Island
13/14 July – Croft
17/18 August – Silverstone National
21/22 September – Thruxton
12/13 October – Silverstone International

Not a bad calendar really. Dropping Donington is an interesting decision. Interesting that they are going to Thruxton, that will really push the reliability of the cars to the limit. Nice to see the International circuit at Silverstone in use.

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by SSmith

Not a bad calendar really. Dropping Donington is an interesting decision. Interesting that they are going to Thruxton, that will really push the reliability of the cars to the limit. Nice to see the International circuit at Silverstone in use.

Yeah, Donington seems quite a major omission. Will be interesting to see how the racing compares across the two Silverstone layouts.

[SSmith]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Yeah, Donington seems quite a major omission. Will be interesting to see how the racing compares across the two Silverstone layouts.

The only reason I could think of for the lack of Donington was the BRSCCs reorganising of the 2024 British GT calendar. Doningtons 2nd British GT meeting got moved to an early September slot, which is what TCR UK has had for the past couple of years.

[antnee]

It is probably just down to availability, with BTCC visiting Donington twice again in 2024, plus 2 visits from British GT, GT Cup and Britcar/BEC - no announcements for Trucks, bikes or rallying.

[redshoes]

https://civic-cup.co.uk/2023/08/31/2...r-is-revealed/
Civic Cup will be the support for all 2024 meetings

[coffinpilot]

Originally Posted by redshoes

https://civic-cup.co.uk/2023/08/31/2...r-is-revealed/
Civic Cup will be the support for all 2024 meetings

That's great news! Love the Civic Cup - hopefully no FunCup. Not going to Donington next Sat because I'm not paying to watch four hours of that! Will be there on the Sunday.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Shame the TCR and supports aren't coming back to Knockhill in '24 season. It was good to see different series up here.

[redshoes]

https://www.tcr-uk.co.uk/2024-suppor...ips-confirmed/
4 permanent support series for 2024
- Milltek Sport Civic Cup
- BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship
- AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship
- Audi TT Cup Racing series

Press release doesn't say it but I assume there will be additional guest series as that's not enough to fill 2 days. Doesn't preclude running a Fun Cup race on Sat afternoon as they've done a few time this year.


Request to mods: There's a few 2024 related posts in the thread. Are you able to split them out into a new thread?

[samchevron]

I was at Donington over the weekend. Had a chat with a few of the FunCup teams and it turns out that FunCup being with TCR for the last two events was due to the late calendar from TCR last year.

FunCup were the headline act until the late calendar announcement forced the BRSCC to find some dates.

They aren't expecting to be with TCR next year again.

Good to see the series that have been chosen as supports though.

[FIRE]

Topic for TCR UK 2024 season.

[redshoes]

https://www.tcr-uk.co.uk/2024-tcr-uk-gen-1-cup/
New 'Gen 1 Cup' sub-class for 2024. Open to older spec Audi, Cupra, Golf and Astra. Possibly more cars to be added later.

Seems like a sensible idea. There are a few drivers already on the grid who are unable or unwilling to upgrade to the latest equipment, and there are plenty of older cars on the market.

[Petoli]

Originally Posted by redshoes

https://www.tcr-uk.co.uk/2024-tcr-uk-gen-1-cup/
New 'Gen 1 Cup' sub-class for 2024. Open to older spec Audi, Cupra, Golf and Astra. Possibly more cars to be added later.

Seems like a sensible idea. There are a few drivers already on the grid who are unable or unwilling to upgrade to the latest equipment, and there are plenty of older cars on the market.

I did think something like that would be a good idea a lot of those cars about

I take they are going to be selective about what a Gen 1 car is

Technically the I30N and Veloster would be a Gen1 car but they are still more completive then say the Golf, Astra and Cupra

If they were to add more models the FK2 civic would fit into the category what about the FK7 it has been replaced by the Fl5

How is Gen 1 car being defined, A new Lynk and Co was introduced this year so the old one is a Gen 1 car

The Cupra Leon raced by Mark Smith in the last round has been up for sale for a while on his had is was said it was one of the last built and it was built in 2019

What about a Hyundai I30 Built in 2018

If im thinking of car that could be eligible for this cup outside of the mentioned some of which have never raced in TCR UK

Alfa Romeo Giuletta, Honda Civic FK2, Kia Ceed, Peugeot 308 Racing Cup, Renault Megane, Subary WRX

Or would it make more sense to say all cars built before a certain date are eligible for this cup

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by Petoli

I did think something like that would be a good idea a lot of those cars about

I take they are going to be selective about what a Gen 1 car is

My guess is that they will take each car on a case by case basis. The cars already named were done so because they were already racing in the series, and listing them now gives the driver an incentive to start planning for next year.

If someone approaches the organisers with a car new to the series, then they will assess and take a view.

Or would it make more sense to say all cars built before a certain date are eligible for this cup

I don't think that would be better. There's no obvious cut off date when gen-1 stopped and gen-2 started, as it's a evolution rather than a definitive change in spec. Different manufacturers developed their models at different rates.

[antnee]

They will just publish a list with the 'gen 1' cars, simple as.

[coffinpilot]

The complaints I heard at Donington when it was all being discussed by a couple of people running Gen 1 cars was that the (at least the Area) i30 has has upgrades that takes it out of Gen 1 specs. But if you were to buy the Ex Brad Kent or Scott Sumpton i30s for sale they're not upadated/upgraded.
Would become a minefield if provenance of upgrades was needed.
Only found that all out when I asked about Bruce Winfield having different headlights to some of the i30s I've seen.

[samchevron]

Bruce Winfield drives a slightly different spec of i30.

His car has the "2023" front end, previously used when the car was run by Target Competition in TCR Italy last year.

I spoke with him at Snetterton, wondering why the front end looked different to Leys and Shepherds. He was really happy to chat about it too.

[coffinpilot]

Originally Posted by samchevron

Bruce Winfield drives a slightly different spec of i30.

His car has the "2023" front end, previously used when the car was run by Target Competition in TCR Italy last year.

I spoke with him at Snetterton, wondering why the front end looked different to Leys and Shepherds. He was really happy to chat about it too.

I wonder if that's why they haven't confirmed them. After all TCR UK is the official spares suppliers like with the VAG Group.

[Andrew Abbott]

The only other car I've seen running the 'new' Hyundai i30 N lights as seen on Bruce Winfields car is that of Tim Rölleke at the end of the 2022 TCR Germany season.

Possibly just a lighting upgrade from the stock road car carried forward to the TCR car, rather than anything performance-related.

Even images of the cars Target Competition ran in TCR Italy last year don't suggest they used those headlights with that shape of daytime running light.

[coffinpilot]

Originally Posted by Andrew Abbott

The only other car I've seen running the 'new' Hyundai i30 N lights as seen on Bruce Winfields car is that of Tim Rölleke at the end of the 2022 TCR Germany season.

Possibly just a lighting upgrade from the stock road car carried forward to the TCR car, rather than anything performance-related.

Even images of the cars Target Competition ran in TCR Italy last year don't suggest they used those headlights with that shape of daytime running light.

Being a journo on the inside of Touring Car racing, do you know what upgrades (if any) that other teams have mentioned have been given to the i30? Or is it just a BoP thing mixed with sour grapes? Or is it just the cars suit UK circuits, because all I've heard when speaking to drivers of the newer Audi is complaints about the car not being able to get into top gear at most circuits leaving it compromised compared to the races on GP tracks on the continent.

[Evantra]

Stewart Lines just confirmed none of the Hyundais will be eligible for the Gen 1 cup.

[Evantra]

https://www.tcr-uk.co.uk/restart-rac...anded-program/

So Restart Racing confirm Sumpton in an FL5 in TCR Europe next year.

Also confirm they will have a presence in TCR UK in 2024.

No mention of Smiley in these plans, yet.

[Sodemo]

I looked at some of the times comparing Brands Indy from the BTCC to the TCR. The TCR cars look a fraction quicker here, I know track conditions and weather play a part, but considering the TCR cars are between 30-50 bhp down on the BTCC cars thats pretty impressive. I guess we know which chassis are better in that regard...

[tocatrucky]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I looked at some of the times comparing Brands Indy from the BTCC to the TCR. The TCR cars look a fraction quicker here, I know track conditions and weather play a part, but considering the TCR cars are between 30-50 bhp down on the BTCC cars thats pretty impressive. I guess we know which chassis are better in that regard...

Before Hybrid came in, the weights and power were roughly similar. I guess the power gain is offset by the weight which leaves the time differences down to the engineering/design of the car, aero, tyres, and then the variables you've stated.

From what I've heard from drivers who have driven both, the TCR cars feel softer and more pliable, you can chuck them around with more confidence that it won't spit you off. That could explain why drivers who didn't exactly shine in BTCC have done well TCR? Bigger safety net in the handling window.

[GCCheddaris]

It's going to be interesting to see if TCR put on better racing than the BTCC have at Thruxton, which, in particular, has come in for criticism for processional racing in recent seasons, even in reversed grid races.