BTCC 2013

CQR NEON wrote:Ready for 2014 anyone? 

Touring Car Times have done a story about that sexy Megane here:

http://www.touringcartimes.com/2013/09/15/ngtc-renault-megane-being-built-by-mda-wheels/

Also MASSIVE Well Done to Rob Austin on his first win today!!!!!

Watched as much as I could of it on the TV Wall at work (My mission to educate the population of the US Military Base about Touring Cars continues) and he drive AMAZINGLY well!!

Cicely Racing to switch to Mercedes A-Class NGTC for 2014....





http://www.btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=3565

http://www.touringcartimes.com/2013/09/25/ciceley-racing-to-run-mercedes-a-class-in-2014-btcc/

oh god ^^ really....well may roll who knows

Audi, BMW and now Mercedes. TAKE THAT DTM

lol issue is btcc driver = not same standard as dtm drivers actually scratch that not same standard as any decent club racer

It seems as though they have NGTC spec for any car. Let me enter my parents' Ford Escape and kick some rear end.  

Looks nice, shame it's not a touring car though... it's too short (4,292mm, NGTC minimum is 4.4m). But, they let the Civic through (4.3m) so I guess anything goes in the British Hatchback Championship these days  

It'd be nice if we went back to proper 5dr saloon racers like the Accord, Mondeo etc but the fashion seems to be the shorter cars. No bad thing, they still look amazing.
Great to see the A Class, in. Stunner of a car. The only Merc (that's not a Black series) I'd want to own.

The thing with NGTC is that parts are interchangeable, the Suspension, brakes, engine ect for Morgan’s Toyota can be used on the Merc, the main difference between all the cars is there aero, wheel base and weight distribution I hope that Toyota goes to Lee Wood, that particular car was the first NGTC car in the BTCC

Strange thing is the current C-class is SHORTER than an MG6 (Merc 4.58m, MG 4.65m), be a lot more aerodynamic than the A-class too!

Shorter wheel base seems to be more advantagous, also FWD or RWD?

That's my point, they're all pushing the boundaries of the rules to get shorter and shorter cars with shorter wheelbases, what next a 4.0m Renault Clio with 150mm bumpers front and rear to get it up to an acceptable length? If NGTC rules specify 4.4m cars, they should be 4.4m cars, anything else makes a mockery of the rules and other teams who built cars to the regs.

CQR MAGiC wrote:That's my point, they're all pushing the boundaries of the rules to get shorter and shorter cars with shorter wheelbases,

News just in Mini to Return to the BTCC!

If you believe this your a moron and probibially drive a Peugeot

face its btcc might as well run banger racing

WOAH where has all the BTCC hate started coming from?

And the cars are following the trend of UK and European buyers going for midsize hatches (Focus ect.) rather than big saloons (Mondeo ect.) which is the explaination i've heard for their prominence nowadays.

As for the 4.4m issue, sadly that's something only Alan Gow can truly answer. but the slight leniency allowing more models and manufacturers in seems to be doing the sport good.

The A-Class and Civic are still in the same market sector as the Focus which is all I can think to defend that line of judgement, I doubt we'd get to the stage where we'd see cars from a lower market segment than that. (Fiesta's, Clio's ect.)

You do realise this entry (and the proposed Renault entry) has nothing to do with the manufacturer, other than they built the road car body shell that an independent team will strip back and fit common NGTC parts too, including a standard TOCA (Vauxhall derived) engine? The headlines I've seen recently such as 'Mercedes to enter BTCC' might sound like good PR, but it's worlds apart from reality. There's only to manufacturer-supported entries in BTCC are Honda and MG, and MG sold a grand total of 782 cars in the UK last year (yes 2 per day). The C-class sold over 37,000 cars and comfortably outsold the A-class in the UK last year too, so the road car relevance argument seems tenuous at best...

CQR MAGiC wrote:You do realise this entry (and the proposed Renault entry) has nothing to do with the manufacturer, other than they built the road car body shell that an independent team will strip back and fit common NGTC parts too, including a standard TOCA (Vauxhall derived) engine? The headlines I've seen recently such as 'Mercedes to enter BTCC' might sound like good PR, but it's worlds apart from reality. There's only to manufacturer-supported entries in BTCC are Honda and MG, and MG sold a grand total of 782 cars in the UK last year (yes 2 per day). The C-class sold over 37,000 cars and comfortably outsold the A-class in the UK last year too, so the road car relevance argument seems tenuous at best...

+1

Plus there is no dislike of btcc its a great series but its the uks best series I point you towards the British GT championship which should be and is the the best home grown series now

CQR MAGiC wrote:You do realise this entry (and the proposed Renault entry) has nothing to do with the manufacturer, other than they built the road car body shell that an independent team will strip back and fit common NGTC parts too, including a standard TOCA (Vauxhall derived) engine? The headlines I've seen recently such as 'Mercedes to enter BTCC' might sound like good PR, but it's worlds apart from reality. There's only to manufacturer-supported entries in BTCC are Honda and MG, and MG sold a grand total of 782 cars in the UK last year (yes 2 per day). The C-class sold over 37,000 cars and comfortably outsold the A-class in the UK last year too, so the road car relevance argument seems tenuous at best...

Of course I realise that, But i'd rather see lots of different Chassis fielded by privateers than 4 different Chassis like you get in WTCC or a totally silhouette series like the STCC or NASCAR.

I like the fact that privateers can field different chassis (even with the TOCA engine and other TOCA bits) rather than relying on manufacturers to build race cars and even more so can be competitive in the series too. Variety is good!

As for the road car relevance link, that was more of an argument I've seen presented elsewhere in this argument before.

So long as I'm seeing lots of different cars having some close racing I'm happy, whether they're Saloons or Hatchbacks

BTCC I found got boring when Seat and many other manufactures left the series as a major competitor back then you had MG, Honda and Vauxhall as factory efforts or something along them lines. Then you had a massive host of Independents which was a proper championship back then.

Now its Plato complaining when he wins or when he doesn't.

Also even Ginetta Juniors have better driving standards sometimes.  

Slider S15 wrote:Cicely Racing to switch to Mercedes A-Class NGTC for 2014....





http://www.btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=3565

http://www.touringcartimes.com/2013/09/25/ciceley-racing-to-run-mercedes-a-class-in-2014-btcc/

Think I just had a moment...

Looks like a mini Erebus E Class!

In unsurprising BTCC news, Matt Neal has broken his hand doing martial arts for what is at least the THIRD year in a row....

The Tony Gilham Racing Driver Merry-Go-Round continues with VW Cup Driver Tom Barley becoming the TENTH different driver at the team this season...

http://www.touringcartimes.com/2013/10/08/tom-barley-to-tony-gilham-racing-for-brands-hatch-finale/

(PS: Am I the only one who thinks Tom Onslow-Cole would have been better off staying at Tony Gilham Racing rather than moving to Motorbase?)