Touring Cars in 2012 and beyond.

It may not have been the most popular series recently, with the withdrawal of SEAT and BMW, but it looks like there is a future for the WTCC. I was reading a very good article on Touring Car Times recently, which can be found here. Without repeating everything, it looked at the potential return of manufacturers to the WTCC from 2012.

So far this year, the WTCC drivers championship is a Chevvy love-in, with Rob Huff leading Yvan Muller by six points going into this weekend's Valencia meeting (the teams championship is already wrapped up). The Cruze's are so much quicker than the rest of the pack, it's ceased to be a true contest, although that's not because of an inbalance, it's simply because RML are so good at prepping the cars.

With Volvo having used 2011 as an evaluation season, with the Polestar C30 of Robert Dahlgren performing well, it looks likely a more serious effort will be made in 2012. Volvo's normal hunting ground, the STCC, is fragmenting, so although they have thrown their hat in with the TTA, Volvo must be a safe bet for Polestar running Dahlgren and Tarquini in 2012. Tarquini has replaced James Thompson in the STCC this year, perhaps to give him racing time in the C30 before the new WTCC season. Given that SEAT have almost completely gone, and the Leon is seriously aging, it would appeal to Tarquini to be in a well-funded manufacturer seat capable of delivering podiums and wins.

Meanwhile, Arena International who run Team Aon in the BTCC are developing an S2000+ Ford Focus Global Touring Car for a works entry in the WTCC next year. While the development year in the BTCC has been tough, Arena have brought Tom Onslow-Cole back onto the team to help develop the car with Tom Chilton. Coupled with a Mountune developed 1.6 turbo engine, this years development work, and a few good drivers (I'd be seriously looking at Turkington if I were Arena, although I'd be leaving the current drivers where they are), the potential is there for a strong Ford presence.

Team Dynamics have also admitted to the development of an S2000+ Honda for testing and assesment in getting the Japanese manufacturer back into the WTCC. The model of this car is unknown, but suggested to be a JDM Civic or Accord. While the car is unlikely to race the full 2012 championship, it could appear at selected rounds as it undergoes development. And with Steve Neal confirming Dynamics are committed to the BTCC, a very likely candidate for driving duties would have to be James Thompson. When Thompson left Polestar and the STCC this year, he said he was looking to return to the WTCC as he had 'unfinished business.' having spent some of 2009 running the Dynamics Civic in the BTCC, and having been a Honda works driver for N-Technology in 2008, this could be the driver/car/team combination to really take the fight to Chevrolet/RML.

Finally, the long mooted entry from Subaru could take shape in 2012. Rumour was they were ready to announce their entry to the WTCC before the earthquake struck Japan, when they put plans on hold, but with the situation stabilising, they might be ready to finally come out racing.

So while the manufacturer side of things is looking bright, the regulations are still hard to follow. Constant performance-balancing weight penalties are being applied between races, although Chevvy still seem to be running strong despite them. The media package still isn't great - Eurosport fund the WTCC so it's staying where it is, but the highlights package that ITV4 ran in the UK last year has been dropped. Channel 4 picked up just the UK round, which to be quite honest was terrible, both in production and content.

But with domestic championships going different ways on the regulations, is S2000+ appealing outwith the WTCC?

The BTCC are developing NGTC, which while suffering a shaky start is beginning to pick up pace. The Dynojet Avensis has manufacturer support from Toyota, the Rob Austin Racing Audi is coming on leaps and bounds with Chris Swanwick making his debut in the second car towards the end of the 2011 season, and I can't help but think that if Speedworks bought into the Toyota developed engine they'd be performing better too. Dan Welch's Proton Gen-2 had a good debut at Snetterton, finishing all three races, and we're due to see the Thorney Motorsport prepared Vauxhall Insignia turn out for the final rounds of the year. John Thorne has said that Vauxhall will be lending support, although not as a manufacturer entry. And Matt Hamilton will return next year in a TH Motorsport Skoda Octavia. All in all, a good showing for the regulations.

Speculation still remains as to where the big BTCC teams will go in 2012. Team Dynamics will likely develop an NGTC Civic, with the new UK Civic due to be unvieled in September. WSR are said to be courting SAIC to run the new MG6, and are likely to move to NGTC next year too. With RML still using WTCC hand-me-downs, it's unlikely we'll see any change to the Chevrolet package. Motorbase and Team Aon too are likely to remain S2000/NGTC hybrids in 2012.

In Scandanavia, things are much less stable. The rift caused by the STCC's adoption of NGTC from 2013 has caused a breakaway faction, the TTA, to establish their own series running to the silhouette Solution F regulations run in the Belgian TCS, to which most of the major teams have signed up, including Volvo. While the STCC is going NGTC, the Danish TC (which had amalgamated with the Swedish TCC to form the current Scandanavian TCC) has announced it is to reform and establish a new series, clearly unhappy at the way the STCC has turned out.

With WTCC-developed equipment traditionally finding it's way down to domestic series, ie the Cruze, Leon and 320, that market is vastly reduced with the move away from S2000.

The BTCC will go from strength to strength. We'll have an unprecidented amount of manufacturer presence in 2012;
Vauxhall
BMW(?)
Ford
Toyota
Honda
Proton
Audi
SEAT
Skoda
MG(?)
Chevrolet

That's quite a list and the lo-cost draw of NGTC really must be doing it for someone if teams are able to attract support for their programs. All we need is the return of big name sponsors to be able to fund the big name drivers. While it's great to have the brands in there, when you're missing the likes of Giovanardi, Turkington Thompson and others you have to wonder what's going on.

The thing with the BTCC is that the days of full works teams is completely gone.

Fortunately the NGTC rules make it easier for teams to build cars, and NGTC removes the shackles of restrictive brands because of this. What we will see is a grid of ''faux-works'' cars, which to the outside average joe, looks like a well supported championship!

I was thinking the other day about how touring car racing rules have evolved. Group A was the first attempt at a properly recognised and named formula. Now, three generations of Touring Car formula later (GrpA -> ST, 5ltr, C1 -> BTC-T, S2000, V8SC, DTM) we find ourselves with a completely different world Touring Car map!

Europe
WTCC - S2000 ''evo'' if you like. New, more powerful, 1.6 petrol turbo's with all the previous rules regarding S2000 cars in the chassis and body departments, its the only formula left which does not have control parts!
BTCC - NGTC. 2 litre petrol turbo's and brand new cars. Costs cut using common parts and common subframes, cars are ''bigger'' than the S2000's, and most will be ''three-box'' saloons. There is much greater freedom in the engine and suspension departments, they sort of resemble a diluted V8 Supercar.
STCC - NGTC. Following the split with the TTA, the STCC will use the same rules as the BTCC, as it is thought that the cars will be cheaper to build, and a market for used cars over the North Sea could emerge.
SRL/TTA - The Swedish Racing League's TTA division. Solution F based spec chassis with brand new Touring Car style bodies, Rear wheel drive, V6 powerplants, KERS. Support from Sweden's top teams. Should be interesting to see how it pans out.
DTM - Welcoming back BMW with the ''new'' DTM regulations. Follows the trend of common parts. DTM cars will share common monocoques and common roof lines. Coupe shaped. Potential application of these rules in Japan and the USA.

Asia/Australasia
JTCC - A planned JTCC would use the new S2000 regulations with 1.6T engines. Not much has been heard this year however.
Super GT - Possible application of the 2012 DTM regulations. Again, not much has been reported on a solid decision.
V8 Supercar - COTF, Car of The Future. A nod to NASCAR there. Similar in principal to NGTC. More common parts, common subframes, however Tony Cochrane is trying to attract more manufacturers. Hyundai and Toyota have always been tipped for this. Lets see how it goes. The cars look exactly the same as they do now, and the engines will be the same. Bigger emphasis on safety, as there have been two fatal accidents in V8 Supercar racing in the past half-decade.
NZ V8 Supertourers - Spec GM engine, RWD, common chassis. Not much else is known...

And just 20 years ago, all of these countries used ONE formula.

Group A...

I've been thinking quite a bit today, and I think the BTCC should take a leaf out of the STCC's book and try to get the racing closer to the people! The Gothenburg race has proved a massive success.

The UK has a few cities that have similar type ex-dockland/shipyard areas. Due to UK law, public roads cannot be closed for the purposes of Motorsport (with exceptions to this law in the Channel Islands, South-East Scotland and Northern Ireland), so it would make sense for either old derelict land, or large car parks infront of big stadia to be utilised.

So.. I'd like to present my case for a BTCC race in the centre of Glasgow. This thing would cost millions to pull off, but I think the city would benefit greatly, and it fits in well with the regeneration project. I also couldn't think of a better place to put a BTCC city race. Feel free to pick holes in it and tell me what you think!

This is complete pie in the sky type stuff that probably will not ever happen, but i've been looking at the plans for the Exhibition Centre complex in Glasgow. We are getting the Commonwealth Games in 2014, which means there is a lot of brand new facilities and infrastructure being build, most notably the brand new Scottish Hydro Arena.

The circuit would make use of the large car parking facilities in the SECC complex, and there is plenty of room for pits and paddock. The paddock would make use of the SECC's Exhibition halls.

Now, you ask, how the hell are the spectators going to get in without completely freezing up Glasgow's already congested city centre?! Well, the SECC complex is served by the Argyl Line, which is a sub surface railway running through Town and stretching out to the East and West (reminds me of some of the sub surface lines in London, which makes me wonder why it hasn't been integrated into the Glasgow Subway system..), which has interchanges close by at Central Station (Links up to the West Coast Main Line and Urban services to the South East and South West), Queen Street (Fast and frequent link to Edinburgh and services the North), Partick (Interchange with the Subway, which in itself interchanges with at least three Bus Stations) AND there are plans to build a Guided Bus/Light Rail link stretching from Glasgow Airport to the City Centre, VIA the SECC complex. The location of the circuit is pretty much reachable by the whole country without the need for a car!

Ideally, this would be a night race on the Saturday night, to avoid disrupting the traffic too much during the day, plus, BTCC needs a night race. The event would have Qualifying on the Saturday morning and a quick warm up after lunch. There would be two 60km races in the evening (a BTCC race is normally around 45-50km in legnth). One thing I would love to see in the BTCC is a Gold Coast 600 style guest event, how cool would it be to see some guys from the Aussie V8's, the WTCC or Sportscars swapping seats during the races?

This sort of event would really generate mega interest in both Glasgow and the BTCC. Plus it would be a great way to show off Glasgow, its a city that is currently building massive venues for the Commonwealth Games, which, in my opinion, are up to standard with the venues being built in London for their Olympics, both Aesthetically and in terms of quality and infrastructure.

So what do you guys think of that?

Haha, I love the fact you've went so in depth with the infrastructure for this!

I think the problem with a night-race in a city centre is the noise issues - and in a world that now runs 24 hours, you also have to consider the noise levels during the day. I suppose the cars could run silencers, but that kinda defeats the point. As Jason Plato told Matt and I, the BTCC 'sells noise.'

I would rather see another permanent circuit developed on the west coast of Scotland, but where and how I'm not sure.

In other news, Team Dynamics have confirmed that for 2012 they are developing full NGTC Civics based on the new model to be unvieled at Frankfurt in a week or so, as I said in the OP.

http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=6637

I was reading about all the developments going on around the Clyde earlier. Kinda got me going on a BTCC master plan, haha.

As for a new permanent facility, it would have to be built somewhere along the central belt along the M8, near one of the ''new-towns''. Anywhere north of the central belt would be considered ''controversial''.. I have seen some facilities for motorsport in Ayrshire, auto sprinting I think, and a hillclimb near Shotts, and of course, we also have Larkahll which is a very modern Karting circuit. However, Scotland really does need a new circuit, desperately.

That's great news regarding Dynamics, that would suggest that they are doing both a BTCC programme and a WTCC programme?

Are RML capable of doing both championships with two different cars? Is this in GM's interest?

There is Kames at Muirkirk in East Ayrshire. Bit small though, and would need a hell of a lot of development. Probably better starting from scratch.



Great wee track though.

Thats the one I was thinking of.

There is also Ingliston, near Edinburgh Airport, all the roads are still there, but at the time it was one hell of a dangerous, but awesome track. I believe it is still used for sprint events like Kames, but it was once able to host car racing.

See personally I think this street race of yours should be in Bristol

Ingliston did host BTCC then called the British Saloon Car Championship races and held its last car race in 1992. It could only race 16 cars at a time back then so it would probably be cheaper to build a new track or close down Edinburgh Airport Edmonton-style and host the race there.

Since ive never been able to get to Knockhill, ive always liked the idea of a street race around Glasgow, so far that ive even designed a few in my spare time. My first design is based in the West End and surrounds Kelvingrove Park, The Art Galleries and Glasgow University. It runs clockwise and at 2.88 miles its probably more suited to GT1, LMS or even Formula 1 but i wouldnt say no to the BTCC. The starting grid would be opposite the Art galleries with the pit lane behind the building and paddock stretching along Kelvin Way and throughout the park.


My second design is more of a semi-permanent track like the STCC's Gothenburg race. Also clockwise its barely 1 mile long and is built next to the recently opened Riverside Museum.


And if someone can find me a crazy billionaire and a spare mountain in Scotland, i think this should be built and host everything with 4 wheels
(If anyone interested in my designs, please check out my thread in the My Tracks section of Ten Tenths http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125705)

Three great designs right there, I used to put a lot of stuff onto MyTracks, but I haven't designed a track in years.

Some interesting news for next year.

The WTCC is going to be racing at Sears Point/Infineon Raceway.

I think that might just get it on the TORA TCC calendar for next year!

Mmm, new Merc DTM car.

STR will be present in the BTCC in 2012 with 2 or 3 cars, using the same S2000/NGTC combo they have this year.

With Geoff Steel Racing also going with the Turbo for the end of this season, that leaves only WSR and ES Racing as the only un-confirmed entries for next season.

So! Let the silly season begin!

I'm thinking that WSR will be saying goodbye to the BMWs and constructing full NGTC cars next season. Supposedly they are one of the teams courting MG/SAIC.

But Team Aon are supposed to be leaving to concentrate on the WTCC. STR were mentioned as doing the same, but they've released that statement to confirm otherwise.

WSR definitely have the toolage to build their own NGTC cars for next year, as you say, they are one of the teams in contact with MG.

I'd be thinking that Eurotech will continue with the Vectra's for next season.

Triple Eight is a bit of a mystery, who knows what they are doing next year..

The 2012 Audi A5 DTM car (aka Audi R17) has been revealed.

http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=6706

LIKE!!!!

Stunning looking thing. I can't wait to see the Merc being unveiled. I've never really followed DTM, but just looking at the Audi and BMW, I might have a change of heart.

mmm yummy! And the DTM's been pretty shocking over the last few years, but from the look of the cars, drivers and rules for 2012 it could be a fantastic season!

Mercedes unveiled their 2012 DTM car. Very nice.

http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=6709

Since a thread on TTA wouldn't be worth it, here is Citroen's entry to the 2012 TTA season. Remember there was talk of Citroen using the C5 in DTM?

http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=7153

That's actually rather nice. Keen to see how the TTA works out. Disappointed with the way it came about, but it'll be good if they can make it work.

Not exactly Touring Cars per se, but as it's on the TOCA package...

Karter Laura Tillett has been testing a Total Control Racing Renault Clio.

http://www.lauratillett.com/index.html

Move over Danica...

http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=7177

re:numberboards - Alan Gow's influence as FIA's head of Touring Cars showing through in the WTCC?