Global Touring Cars?

[I Rosputnik]

V8 powered C-segment saloon cars and it's starting in South Africa this year.

Here's what the car sounds like.

[Matt]

It's a V8SC COTF with a smaller body.

[NaBUru38]

It's great that South Africans have decent touring cars.

I saw the video and I felt like the car is really fast. I think tha the Argentine cars are too stiff and roll very little, so they look slower than they are. THis GTC Ford rolls a bit more, and that's enough to feel the cornering speed.

[FIRE]

I like the technical concept of NZ V8 Supertourers and this GTC.
The V8ST has great racing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug1F7_FTbRU

I would like to see this concept in Europe (e.g. Superstars) but maybe different engines for each brand.

Still wondering why this concept is much cheaper than NGTC.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Was Andy Rouse not proposing (or his name was being used) something of this type a few years back in the UK?
Space frame V8s with Silhouettes draped over

[ptclaus98]

Fantastic! Where can I get my RWD V8 Ford Focus for the road?


Silhouettes are great when they actually showcase the ability of the car it's supposed to imitate. This is laziness.

[Matt]

This is awesomeness.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Was Andy Rouse not proposing (or his name was being used) something of this type a few years back in the UK?
Space frame V8s with Silhouettes draped over

V8ST and GTC cars use road car bodyshells so they are not real silhouettes.

[AxelF]

Originally Posted by ptclaus98

Fantastic! Where can I get my RWD V8 Ford Focus for the road?


Silhouettes are great when they actually showcase the ability of the car it's supposed to imitate. This is laziness.

I agree with you - that aren't touring cars. Its silhouette prototype racing.
Like DTM, but in smaller doses.

I think, approach of Superstars was a good one. Cars, that are nearly like on street, with V8 sound and spectacular body parts. But still out of a normal chassis. Mixing with talented drivers and ex-f1 drivers.
The only mistake - not known outside of italy :-(

[Speed-King]

Found an update on this, seems like it's been pushed back to 2016 for South Africa:

Press release issued by GTC back in July

Global Touring Cars on Track

Exciting developments as GTC gathers momentum

The Global Touring Car series has announced some exciting developments as it confirmed that it will start racing from 2016.

“Launching the Global Touring Car Africa Series has been a labour of love.” GTC Director Mark Woolley said today. “Following our launch and an on-going test program and having now had some time to understand what SA motorsport and the local car industry wants from a premier formula, we are ready move forward and provide South African race fans a with race series they deserve.

We have made some exciting changes and there have been some major developments in the past weeks and we can now confirm the foundation blocks that will ensure that GTC will fly.”

2-Litre Turbo Power Units

A major change is GTC’s decision to switch from V8 to 350kW 2-litre turbo engines in line with recent world motorsport trends and in response to South African carmaker input. “This development may surprise fans most.” Woolley explained, “GTC will not work in SA unless local motor manufacturers are involved, and they need us to use an engine specification that mirrors their global product ranges and meets their international motorsport criteria too.

Currently, around the globe, high capacity engines are being dropped in favour of smaller capacity, high output units and some key manufacturers have suggested that their involvement depends on them being able to use their own power units and we fully respect that. As we did with our initial V8, we are also currently developing a GTC specification 2 litre turbo engine to supply independent teams who may want to run a competitive off-the-shelf power unit.

There have been some concerns that these engines may not produce the noise of a V8 but let me assure you, a 2 litre turbo unit pushing out 350kW can sound spectacular – fans will remember the thrill similar engines produced in a modified series in SA some years ago. Expect these cars to spit flames and make a splendid noise through their turbos. GTC promises to be a globally relevant series, we therefore cannot be left behind by clinging onto what we hope will work.”

2016 Start

As a result of these changes, GTC will start racing at the beginning of 2016. “We are very close to confirming several key manufacturers who will compete in GTC,” Woolley explained. “This means we will have to build more cars than originally anticipated and certainly more than we have capacity to deliver for a 2015 start.

Car builds will start towards the end of the first quarter of 2015, with most teams receiving their machinery towards the end of the third quarter, giving them plenty of time to shake down and develop the cars ahead of a full ten race season in 2016.” Woolley confirmed.


Broadcast package confirmed

“These changes well illustrate how much work has gone into making GTC work. We are really pleased to have negotiated a strong television broadcast package for the series too, the details of which we will confirm shortly.

A number of corporate entities are talking to us about title sponsorship of the series, based on the strength of what GTC has to offer.

We still have a way to go. But rest assured GTC will deliver on its promises with manufacturer backing and title sponsorship just a step away. Soon there will be no looking back.” Woolley concluded.

[Matt]

aaaaaaaaaaaaand theyve lost my interest with that powerplant change.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Matt

aaaaaaaaaaaaand theyve lost my interest with that powerplant change.

Although I prefer V8's these 2L 350 kW engines are powerful.

If manufacturers are involved it's logical they chose something different than these old V8's.


Still I like the concept. Would like TC3 had chosen this.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Still I like the concept. Would like TC3 had chosen this.

Nah, TC3's idea of taking the GT3 approach to touring car racing is a concept I have been waiting for to be tried out for half a decade and I am really interested to see how it works out.

Silhouettes have been tried a bunch of times and you pretty much know what you can expect from such a format...

[Matt]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Although I prefer V8's these 2L 350 kW engines are powerful.

If manufacturers are involved it's logical they chose something different than these old V8's.


Still I like the concept. Would like TC3 had chosen this.

powerful yeah, but they'll sound like absolute crap.

[Andrew Abbott]

Being European I'm perhaps less likely to judge the success of a series on its engine size and sound. Good luck to them with this project - I'm glad they've decided to make the cars 'slightly' more relevant to the market.

[Matt]

WTCC and current BTCC cars literally sound like they're farting around the track.

thank the turbos for that.

[Speed-King]

Having watched some old Wesbank Modified Saloon videos lately, I think going back to such a multiclass formula would not be the worst idea:

The old videos show it only needs a handfull of proper big bangers to make up the big division, import some used V8 Supercars, MARC V8s or touring car-ish GT3s like the Bentley, the Nissan or the M6 for that. Have a secondary division for improved two litre turbo cars from BTCC and TC3 and make up the rest of the field with the production spec cars from the Bridgestone production series.

I would actually watch that if there was a stream of it, and they wouldn't need to shoehorn everybody in the same engine formula.

[Andrew Abbott]

Originally Posted by Matt

WTCC and current BTCC cars literally sound like they're farting around the track.

thank the turbos for that.

This clearly bothers you very much

[Matt]

Originally Posted by AndySpeed

This clearly bothers you very much

It does, very much.

[Metzo]

would you rather watch boring races with great sounding cars or exciting races with boring sounding cars?

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Metzo

would you rather watch boring races with great sounding cars or exciting races with boring sounding cars?

On TV or in person?

[Metzo]

it doesn't matter how you watch it. just wonder why the sounds bother him so much

[Matt]

It's just that it was more unique with the V8's in them.

Only two touring car series in the world would have had the big displacement V8 formula, now its just another cookie cutter small displacement turbo 4 farty series.

[rich07]

The MARC Focus V8s which are similar to GTC sounded great at Bathurst 12hr this year with their V8s and were quite popular with fans, then again it's Australia (as am I) so a bit biased there . Can't see a turbo four sounding as good.

[Speed-King]

Looks like the series is still on track for a 2016 debut:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.p...89386237816077

As of March, there were 5 chassis already sold, with a goal of getting 12 cars on the grid for 2016.
Initially, the plan seems to run in one race with the national production cars, which is probably a smart idea.

Also, there won't be spec-engines, and supposedly there is some manufacturer interest in developing/supplying engines for the class.