2024: BTCC chat & discussion

[Dan BSCS]

99hjhm said:

I worked on a project with a guy who at weekends was a race engineer for a known BTCC driver(mentioned in this thread) in known team that was running BTCC and Carrera Cup. He worked for the team at weekends for nothing, I can't imagine any of the mechanics below him were paid either.

I don’t know anyone who works in a BTCC team for nothing, other than work experience guys who clean cars and scrape tyres.

[emicen]

Dan BSCS said:

99hjhm said:

I worked on a project with a guy who at weekends was a race engineer for a known BTCC driver(mentioned in this thread) in known team that was running BTCC and Carrera Cup. He worked for the team at weekends for nothing, I can't imagine any of the mechanics below him were paid either.

I don’t know anyone who works in a BTCC team for nothing, other than work experience guys who clean cars and scrape tyres.

Yep. People might like to make the argument it’s not professional motorsport because unlike supertouring days, the drivers have day jobs. The reality is, it’s professional motorsport with cars run by professional teams. They have core staff who work full time and additional contractors for events.

Even the support paddock’s teams pay their mechanics.

[Sebring440]

Season launch and pre-season practice days:

https://www.btcc.net/2024/02/06/btcc-schedules-202...

[GlobalRacer]

emicen said:

Yep. People might like to make the argument it’s not professional motorsport because unlike supertouring days, the drivers have day jobs.

Not all of them though just like those days although the percentages are the other way around now.

[GlobalRacer]

Watson to Toyota as expected by many.

https://www.btcc.net/2024/02/07/jst-winner-watson-...

[On-Rails]

The rumours of One Motorsport being out keep resurfacing.

I hope not, but it has been awfully quite from them.

[GlobalRacer]

Still time to go. Still over a month before drivers have to be registered. Many deals are done last second.

It's not total silence like it was with other teams that folded now and in the past. They've been posting stuff on social media.

[Sebring440]

Interesting news:

https://www.btcc.net/2024/02/09/excelr8-moves-btcc...

[On-Rails]

Sebring440 said:

Interesting news:

https://www.btcc.net/2024/02/09/excelr8-moves-btcc...

Very interesting, may well be why Bobby T was testing a GT car, as I imagine there is no room for him given Excelr8 are supposedly sticking with the same lineup as last season.

[stevemcs]

Ricky Collard off to GT.

[Milkyway]

Looks like the Cook & Moffat pairing remains intact.

[On-Rails]

Milkyway said:

Looks like the Cook & Moffat pairing remains intact.

One of the least surprising announcements given all the rumours. Good for Aiden & I can see him grabbing a win even if reverse grid & getting more podiums.

[Milkyway]

On-Rails said:

One of the least surprising announcements given all the rumours. Good for Aiden & I can see him grabbing a win even if reverse grid & getting more podiums.

When I saw that Aiden Moffat had X2 TCL's... I thought that maybe he was going to have his own team again.

[GlobalRacer]

He's had them for a while though when he's been racing under team TBL's. Like Carl Boardley loaning them out gives him an income for racing. Not sure who would be using them this season though.

[Speed Badger]

I wonder why Ford have never re-entered as a manufacturer, even as just a partner in the same vein as the Toyota team? The Ford Focus BTCC car in it's various guises has always been a race winning car and it's smashing it at the minute. It looked really cool in the Valvoline special livery last year which harked back to the '95 and '96 Mondeo, but it seems like Ford don't do much of anything these days, motorsport wise.



On an unrelated note, I do find it odd how the Toyota team have a spicy hot Corolla touring car, yet the equivalent road going model, the GR Corolla, is not available in the UK. It's a bit like Honda re-entering the BTCC with a new Type R which they don't sell in Britain!

[GlobalRacer]

Speed Badger said:

but it seems like Ford don't do much of anything these days, motorsport wise.

They do a lot. Just not in the BTCC or TCR.

[Milkyway]

GlobalRacer said:

Speed Badger said:

but it seems like Ford don't do much of anything these days, motorsport wise.

They do a lot. Just not in the BTCC or TCR.

...or WRC

[stevemcs]

Milkyway said:

...or WRC

No Puma WRC then ?

[Milkyway]

stevemcs said:

Milkyway said:

...or WRC

No Puma WRC then ?

I wasn't so sure how much involvement Ford had.
(Like the good old days).

[DanielSan]

Milkyway said:

I wasn't so sure how much involvement Ford had.
(Like the good old days).

Nowhere near as much involvement as Toyota and Hyundai have with full factory efforts