'Independents' in Touring Class?

[hunttheshunt]

Does anybody think that the Alfas of JS MSport and Gary Ayles Racing, plus the IS200s will become like independents were a few years ago b4 matt neal got his hands on the primera. Do people feel that the vauxhall's and pug's, and then the MG's, will pull away from that group, leaving effectively three races within a race, along with the production cars? p.s. anyone got any news on what barwell msport are doing for the 2001 btcc? :confused:

[Craig]

Really very hard to say... remember how Indies like VLR did when the 2ltr formula was first introduced ? Pretty well... I guess it all comes down to how good their base car is, and how much money the majors are throwing at theirs in comparison.

[touringlegend]

I've just seen a picture of the Alfa 147 in Auto Express. I think it's a class B Alfa because it hasn't got all the extra bodywork like the Astra. But there is an article about about it and it reads as though it is a BTC Touring car. Does not look special at all.

[hunttheshunt]

Will be very interesting because next year we only have two manufacturers represented by works' teams. (3 once Rover arrive). Because of this the btcc needs independents next year, so hopefully they will be on the pace like mattie neal has been in recent years.

Secondly, is the manufacturers championship going to be a two (then three) way fight between vauxhall, peugeot and rover? or will alfa and lexus be competing despite not having works entries? This is another point-will independents in cars provided by vauxhall and peugeot be counted towards manufacturers points-then you probably can expect to see indpendents on the pace.

[apguy]

Anyone remember that I wanted to run a pair of ancient 405Mi16's in BTC Production class? Well after a month of dicussion with Ricky West and Peter Riches it was decided that the cars are "not the image the Championship wishes to portray". Fairy-nuff and I went back to the sponsors to raise some money to run a pair of Pug 306GTi-6's. All was going reasonably well until the final sporting and commercial regs came through. All 74 pages worth I kid you not!!

Considering Prod class is supposed to be Nat Saloons they have been completely absorbed into the TOCA mentality. Everything is defined; from how big the transporter can be, to which way round the cars must park in the paddock!
If anyone wants specifics then mail me. The document is not public domain so I won't post the entire thing. Essentially even the Independants need huge resources and a biiiig budget (£10K for registration). hence KG Motorsport are no longer fielding an entry. What I can tell you is the list of folks on the same distribution list.

Mark42 Racing
Mardi Gras
IES Racing
THM Motorsport
Auto IMG
Honda Europe
Barwell Motorsport
Tech Speed
EdenBridge
GR Motorsport

HTH

[Eddie_harasym]

Indipendants do have a place in the BTCC.

To be honest I think that the way the works teams and all the sponsors that come with them ruin the series.

There just there for the glory of wining and then when they do or do **** like pug a few years back pull out and leave a dirty big hole.

Last years NSC was great racing and a relaxed pit and paddock atmosphere. Works teams and sponsors seem to forget that if the fans didn't pay the entrance fees then there wouldn't be a BTCC.

There are some excellent indie teams, Team Dynamics and Arena have been testimont to this in receant years.

I hope to see more indies in the years to come, like this years Alfa project.

Just stick with the wings and splitters though (Evan if they are only for show)

[vauxhall]

yeh i like indie teams aswell but

i was watching a ozzy touring cars (carnt remeber what year) and they were all indie teams apart from audi and volvo..and the racing was pants! not close at all!

works teams give much closer racing! eg:

92-93-94-95-96-97-98-99-2000

fantastic years! (very close racing)

..dont say that 99 aiello won by a mile!!!!
when matt neal has double the amount of points as second place in the indie cup!!!

..i do agree on the wings and spliters! look brill!

[Larsen]

I think it's a good thing that there are not to many manufacturers otherwise the indies wouldn't stand a chance. You want to persuade independent teams that they can also win, than just the manufacturers. Only one independent won a race outright and that was Matt Dynamics Neal. This proves the decline of manufacturers in the BTCC, because one manufacturer can dominate just like Nissan in 99 it puts other manufacturers off. If the independents get the same spec cars like works teams (mind you, that doesn't matter this year)it will make the racing closer which is the key point of the btcc. Obviously it's good to see a whole varity of cars but look at the one make championships, you don't see teams dominate just like in touring cars because the cars are equal.