Whats Happened to the BTCC ???
Discussion
I used to be a big follower of the the BTCC back in the mid 90s when I was a wee boy. I attended most of the meetings between 94 - 98. I remember the cars being twice as powerful as the road cars, the wheels were 18" - 19" when the road cars had 16" wheels if you were lucky, they were so low that they even put the Max Power boys to shame. There were around 10 Factory entries with most of the grid being either Ex Formula 1 drivers or International Sports Car stars with the odd BTCC veteran thrown in for good measure.
I watch it now and you've got Matt Neal and Jason Plato belting each other in the pit lane. Diesel Seats with 13" wheels and a load of nobodies driving around in cars that look like track day specials. Plus a current Hot Hatch has as much if not more power with bigger wheels and more aggresive looks.
Maybe this has been said before or I'm missing the point buts whats happened? Funds? Lack of Manufacturer support?
Will we see any change? At least the DTM cars come over once a year albeit with 2 or 3 Manufacturers.
I watch it now and you've got Matt Neal and Jason Plato belting each other in the pit lane. Diesel Seats with 13" wheels and a load of nobodies driving around in cars that look like track day specials. Plus a current Hot Hatch has as much if not more power with bigger wheels and more aggresive looks.
Maybe this has been said before or I'm missing the point buts whats happened? Funds? Lack of Manufacturer support?
Will we see any change? At least the DTM cars come over once a year albeit with 2 or 3 Manufacturers.
Not much money about so it's all about paid drives these days. Although the BTCC does appear to be going through something of a renaissance. Entries are increasing every year, some of the old names are coming back and although the standards are a joke sometimes, you have to remember the type of audience this is catering for.
Some of the current Turbo cars have way over 350bhp I have heard.
Side exit exhausts, fire breathing, loud back firing and general awesomeness.
Full grids.
Turkington, Newsham, Plato, Neal are all pretty decent (the first two Turks+ News in particualr are excellent).
Its one of a few forms of motorsport still doing well- no need to give it a hard time.
You will not see many (any) ex F1 types due to the lack of works back teams.
Suits me, and most of the audiance fine.
Side exit exhausts, fire breathing, loud back firing and general awesomeness.
Full grids.
Turkington, Newsham, Plato, Neal are all pretty decent (the first two Turks+ News in particualr are excellent).
Its one of a few forms of motorsport still doing well- no need to give it a hard time.
You will not see many (any) ex F1 types due to the lack of works back teams.
Suits me, and most of the audiance fine.
My god, the season hasn't even begun and it's being criticised already for not being what it used to be! Although may I say it's a pleasant change for people to want the ST days back and not the RS500 ones! 
To answer the OP's question, it's all about money. While the manufacturer teams in the ST days were good to watch, they pushed budgets through the roof and it's become more of an independent/pay-driver championship ever since. Hopefully the new NGTC rules will help improve the spectacle with flaming side-exit exhausts, 18 inch wheels, aggressive looking cars and engines kicking out 350-400BHP.
You say the drivers are nobodies, but everyone's got to start somewhere. Although Yvan Muller, James Thompson and Gabriele Tarquini are still out there on the WTCC grid, drivers get old and retire and somebody has to replace them.
By the way, if you want to watch Super Tourers this year, check out the HSCC's Super Touring series. Patrick Watts and John Cleland have purchased a Peugeot 406 and Vauxhall Vectra respectively to compete.
To answer the OP's question, it's all about money. While the manufacturer teams in the ST days were good to watch, they pushed budgets through the roof and it's become more of an independent/pay-driver championship ever since. Hopefully the new NGTC rules will help improve the spectacle with flaming side-exit exhausts, 18 inch wheels, aggressive looking cars and engines kicking out 350-400BHP.
You say the drivers are nobodies, but everyone's got to start somewhere. Although Yvan Muller, James Thompson and Gabriele Tarquini are still out there on the WTCC grid, drivers get old and retire and somebody has to replace them.
By the way, if you want to watch Super Tourers this year, check out the HSCC's Super Touring series. Patrick Watts and John Cleland have purchased a Peugeot 406 and Vauxhall Vectra respectively to compete.
The Supertourer days were awesome, and awesomely expensive. A full works team was somewhere in the region of £10 million a season which, for a national series is rather a lot. More if you end up replacing half the body panels every race as usually happened. It was a series that couldn't last and when manufacturers pulled out no one could afford to keep it going so the regs were changed to make it cheaper.
as said by most.That said I can't say I find the BTCC something that fires my passion. It's all a bit Witherspoons, which is fine every so often and if you like that sort of thing, whereas I usually prefer a good gastro pub where the conversation is less childish most the time and the dishes served more exotic and not what I could cook just as well at home.
That said looking at the entry list for my poison this year it appears someone has finally let the cat out the bag that you can have twice the fun for the same sort money in a proper "Corr Dad, what sort of car is that!" racer rather than play bumper cars in rep mobiles that have been in a Halfords ram raid.
The BTCC has always been a reflection of what the average punter drives on the road, which is part of its appeal. The early to mid 90s was the last period in which rear-drive mid range saloons were all the rage which spawned many a meaty sporting sibling for the purpose of racing which made it all the more exciting to watch.
Trouble was, it went through a period of it becoming effectively the British RS500 Championship which put off a lot of the other manufacturers.
Personally, I think it an excellent series. Perhaps lacking a little bit of pro-polish but it should by rights be much more popular than it its. Drivers should be household names. A lot of my non-motoring interested buddies cite F1 as having no relevance to what they drive on the road. BTCC does yet still it struggles to get but a cursory mention in the dailies.
Trouble was, it went through a period of it becoming effectively the British RS500 Championship which put off a lot of the other manufacturers.
Personally, I think it an excellent series. Perhaps lacking a little bit of pro-polish but it should by rights be much more popular than it its. Drivers should be household names. A lot of my non-motoring interested buddies cite F1 as having no relevance to what they drive on the road. BTCC does yet still it struggles to get but a cursory mention in the dailies.
BTCC is as popular as it is ever likely to be. It really isn't that more exciting that GT's except in the one the drivers aren't intending to hit someone in a race before they have even left the collecting area 
Now if you want to talk about motor sport that is far less popular than it really should be let us start another RallyX topic
Now if you want to talk about motor sport that is far less popular than it really should be let us start another RallyX topic
MissChief said:
The Supertourer days were awesome, and awesomely expensive. A full works team was somewhere in the region of £10 million a season which, for a national series is rather a lot. More if you end up replacing half the body panels every race as usually happened. It was a series that couldn't last and when manufacturers pulled out no one could afford to keep it going so the regs were changed to make it cheaper.
Team Dynamics apparantly spent about £3000 in door mirrors alone in 1999 and that was for a privateer effort!It's still a niche market for spectators, but the crowds are getting larger all the time. I definitely noticed the difference in 2009 when I stopped being a regular at all the rounds, from when I started in 2001. At Knockhill last year, the crowds were on a par with the Super Touring days, I've honestly never seen it that busy. I missed the first BTCC race because I was in a massive queue. Plus with every TV owner in the UK now needing to have a digital TV, the coverage should be accessible for all, rather than stuck away on a channel that not everyone has.
The driving standards do wind me up a bit, particularly as I'm a supporter of somebody in a RWD car that just doesn't recover well from a tap to the rear quarter, but hopefully they'll find a balance this year between rubbing and blatant punting off.
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