Btcc 7 week thread

[MG CHRIS]

Seven weeks till the next race and half way through the season any news in this thread.

Top 10 points so far

01/ Matt Neal/ 140/
02/ Mat Jackson/ 131/
03/ Gordon Shedden/ 120/
04/ Andrew Jordan/ 111/
05/ James Nash/ 104/
06/ Jason Plato/ 100/
07/ Robert Collard/ 66/
08/ Tom Chilton/ 64/
09/ Alex MacDowall/ 47/
10/ Paul O'Neill/ 32/

Race winners so far

Indy Matt Neal Jason Plato
Jason Plato
Matt Neal
17/04 Donington Park Matt Neal Matt Neal
Andrew Jordan
Mat Jackson
01/05 Thruxton Gordon Shedden Gordon Shedden
Matt Neal
Jason Plato
05/06 Oulton Park Gordon Shedden Gordon Shedden
Jason Plato
Mat Jackson
19/06 Croft Jason Plato Matt Neal
Matt Neal
Mat Jackson

Shaun hollanby will not return to the race seat and is corrently looking for a new driver.

I think that its been an fantastic season so far close battles and lots of dramers. Hopefully the new ngtc cars will show more progression up the grid and get more relaible and with a new team entering hopefully at the next round with a ngtc proton and thornley later on in the year with a insgnia the grid is looking healthy.

I think we have reach parity between the 2 engines the turbo cars are not blasting past on the grids and the n/a look better in the corners mayby another 0.05 bar reduction but not that much more.

[metalsteve]

I walked past Fleet automotive/Welch motorsport the other day and in a workshop up the back there was what looked very much like a grey proton gen 2 on the ramp so i assume the build is coming on ok. Didn't get a clear view as there was a couple of vans parked up in the way. I'll keep an eye out and see if i can get a sneaky picture.

[MG CHRIS]

Nice to hear the car is coming along haven't heared anything from them since they announced to enter with the proton be intresting to see a ngtc car not build by GPR which didnt do a very good job of the 3 ngtc cars we already have on the grid. Also more news of a ngtc skoda in the pipelines according to shaun hollanby likely to be a project with matt hamilton as he leaked a picture of what looks like a skoda octavia.

[metalsteve]

Yeah GPR seemed to make a pigs ear of the NGTC toyotas, its nice to see The RAR Audi making good progress since taking it all in house and using the Lehmann engine, just a bit of reliability needed now.

I'd heard rumours about the skoda but hadnt realised it was linked with AMD miltek, that would make a lot of sense and i guess a lot of the lessons learned with the golf could be applied to the skoda. As a skoda driver i look forward to this rumour coming true!

[MG CHRIS]

What i believe is that it hasn't got anything to do with AmD and that matt hamilton is building it himself. But why would AmD announce it i don't know could be a tie up with AmD will have to wait and see.

Be good to see how the proton fairs at the next round cant wait to see hat it looks like and the insgnia later on in the year.

Who will be the first top teams to develope a ngtc car i think it will be 888 as gilham is selling his car at the end of the year so mayby they have a new car to develope. Then again wsr are rummors that they are getting a turbo next year not sure if its a new car with a turbo or a turbo engine in the bmw be intresting to find out.

[andy97]

MG CHRIS said:

What i believe is that it hasn't got anything to do with AmD and that matt hamilton is building it himself. But why would AmD announce it i don't know could be a tie up with AmD will have to wait and see.

Maybe it just makes sense for the VAG NGTC engine runners to share engine info?

[MG CHRIS]

andy97 said:

MG CHRIS said:

What i believe is that it hasn't got anything to do with AmD and that matt hamilton is building it himself. But why would AmD announce it i don't know could be a tie up with AmD will have to wait and see.

Maybe it just makes sense for the VAG NGTC engine runners to share engine info?

Could well be hopefully we will not have to wait long for some news

[MG CHRIS]

RAR will have 2 cars out at the next round 1 intresting thing is that they are looking for another driver.
Either pinkney is not going to race the second car and the team is looking for another driver for the 2nd seat or rob is not racing and pinkney and a 2nd driver will race. I hope rob will continue to drive he deservers to be on the grid cant say the same thing for pinkney.

[EDLT]

MG CHRIS said:

turbo engine in the bmw

Plato will explode if that happens.

[MG CHRIS]

GSR are back on twiter expect some news soon. Could be a turbo engine that they were saying to have at the start of the season. Also motorbase are looking to get their 3rd car out on the grid. Also forster motorsport might be back a guy from the team on the btcc forum said watch out for us in the middle of the season.

So we should have a couple more cars out for the next round

Ngtc toyota of speedworks
2nd RAR audi
3RD motorbase focus
GSR bmw 1-2 cars
Forster?
Dan welch proton.

[MG CHRIS]

AmD has announced there driver for the rest of the season. Martin byfod will drive for them. He has years of experiences in support packages including winning the elf renault clio cup in 2007.

Intresting choice see if he is any good come the next round.

[Allyc85]

Good luck to him. As said he has won in the support races so it will be good to see if he can adapt to the the BTCC!

I also see Geoff Steel Racing are converting their BMW's to turbo power, and ex BTCC champion Colin Turkington will be racing in the WTCC at Donington in a BMW!

[MG CHRIS]

Allyc85 said:

Good luck to him. As said he has won in the support races so it will be good to see if he can adapt to the the BTCC!

I also see Geoff Steel Racing are converting their BMW's to turbo power, and ex BTCC champion Colin Turkington will be racing in the WTCC at Donington in a BMW!

Have they announced it yet or is it just the comments on twiter. Nice to see the bmw with a turbo engine in if its true with turks driving it would be excillent.

Good news for him racing at donny the wtcc has been a boring this year with chevy winning pretty much everything. Any news on welch with the proton.

[Allyc85]

Announced here, hopefully they can get a good quality driver to pilot it!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92944

I havnt read anything about the Proton, but Thorney Motorsport did post a picture of a bare Insignia shell the other day.

[MG CHRIS]

Allyc85 said:

Announced here, hopefully they can get a good quality driver to pilot it!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92944

I havnt read anything about the Proton, but Thorney Motorsport did post a picture of a bare Insignia shell the other day.

Missed that thanks. Be intresting to see when it out and whos going to drive it and what it is like against the best car on the grid at the moment the hondas. The bmw is a good handling car and with the engine it will be up a car to beat with a good driver init.

Did see the picture the other day of thornly they going to be busy getting it ready for the last race. I think we might see a 30 car grid by the end of the year things are looking good for the btcc. As long as plato doesn't moan to much and just gets on with driving it im sure he will claw back the 40 points between him and neal.

[MG CHRIS]

Johnny adam as been testing for motorbase looking likely he will be the 3rd driver. Also on the btcc forums the dan welch proton is its closing stages and the team is working hard to get the car finished by the next round in 2 weeks time i believe. Can't wait to get some proper racing back on tv been a long 7 weeks without btcc.

[S18DMW]

Thorney Insignia will be ready for the last 1 or 2 races apparently before embarking on a full season next year. Will be interesting to see how they do.

[metalsteve]

MG CHRIS said:

Johnny adam as been testing for motorbase looking likely he will be the 3rd driver. Also on the btcc forums the dan welch proton is its closing stages and the team is working hard to get the car finished by the next round in 2 weeks time i believe. Can't wait to get some proper racing back on tv been a long 7 weeks without btcc.

I did spot Dan Welch in my local the other day, welch motorsport are based in Fleet. I wanted to ask how things were going but he was having a meal with friends and it would have been rude to interupt. If i see him again and get the chance i'll see if i can find out how the proton is coming on.

[andyp82]

I very much doubt you will see anyone from Welch Motorsport in the Fox and Hounds this week!!!

[Allyc85]

But once the car has been finished there could be

I see we should have at least one Skoda on the grid next year

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93410