BTCC 2019 silly season

[Sammo123]

Allyc85 said:

Shame to see the Alfa won't be on the grid next year, hopefully they can come back in 2020.

https://www.motorsport.com/btcc/news/hms-alfa-rome...

You say that but I never really took to that Alfa. It was an out of date model and didn’t seem to go that well. I know Rob Austin is everyone’s most favouritist driver ever, but I have never really seen the fascination with him either. He has his moments but otherwise seems to be a solid midfield driver at best.

[Kraken]

He knows how to play the social media game well which is so important these days to building a fan base.

[DanielSan]

It should be even more fun next season asking their fan club members on social media exactly what do they get in return for handing their hard earned cash to him now his team definitely isn't there and he isn't even racing someone else's car. Not that'd I'd ever do that and just watch the st hit the fan

[Jay_87]

Oilphant confirmed at WSR.......

https://www.touringcartimes.com/2018/12/12/tom-oli...

Which of the three is making way?

[Kraken]

Collard according to Motorsport News.

[Jay_87]

I thought there would be a strong chance that Ricky Collard would get a drive there as he is a BMW driver and showed some good speed once he got to grips with the car.

[agent006]

I thought Ricky was going for a more single seater or WEC career.

[steve-5snwi]

..........and thats Rob Collard out of WSR too.

[acer12]

We can’t have a speculation thread without discussing Plato. I have a feeling he will take an out if one is presented. On a recent profile video on his house he mentioned he may be looking to sell because of work move

[Sammo123]

acer12 said:

We can’t have a speculation thread without discussing Plato. I have a feeling he will take an out if one is presented. On a recent profile video on his house he mentioned he may be looking to sell because of work move

From what I’ve heard he’s going to end up in one of the Astras next year alongside Senna Procter.

[Kraken]

acer12 said:

We can’t have a speculation thread without discussing Plato. I have a feeling he will take an out if one is presented. On a recent profile video on his house he mentioned he may be looking to sell because of work move

There is no way he will give up when he is so close to 100 wins and every interview he has given recently he has said how passionate he is still is about it and how it gets him out of bed in the morning.

He will either be with BMR still or will swap to PMR with Cook going the other way. There was a lot of talk of him starting his own team but with all the entries and TBL's accounted for that looks very unlikely.

[MG CHRIS]

I recon Plato too pmr don't forget he knows the team well as they are mostly ex 888 staff. Unless he be a surprise 2 car team with a new manufacture he does normally do this when he's been a bit quiet.

Also jake hill in with the Audi just been announced this afternoon.

[DanielSan]

Jake Hill confirmed in one of the Trade Price Racing/AMD Audi's.

[Rob197]

Cook and Sutton at BMR would be good

[GbGaz]

Loving the debate and speculation as always! I'm interested to see what Carl Boardley can achieve in a full season this year, though as already suggested..... the car could be the limiting factor!

As I think it all currently 'possibly' stands....

West surrey Racing/BMW - ??Colin turkington?? Not confirmed as yet..rumours of racing abroad
West surrey Racing/BMW - Tom Oliphant
West surrey Racing/BMW - Andrew Jordan - Not confirmed...but has budget
BMR Racing/Subaru - Ash Sutton - Not confirmed
BMR Racing/Subaru - Josh Cook - Rumours!
Team Dynamics/Honda - Matt Neal - Not confirmed
Team Dynamics/Honda - Dan Cammish - Not confirmed
Motorbase/Ford - Tom Chilton - Not confirmed
Motorbase/Ford - Sam Tordoff - Not confirmed
Motorbase/Ford - ????
Speedworks/Toyota - Tom Ingram
BTC/Honda - ????
BTC/Honda - ????
Power Maxed Racing/Vauxhall - Senna Proctor - Not Confirmed
Power Maxed Racing/Vauxhall - ????
Team Hard/VW - Mike Bushell
Team Hard/VW - Bobby Thompson
Team Hard/VW - Carl Boardley
Team Hard/VW - Michael Crees
AMD/Honda - ???Jack Goff???
AMD/Honda - ????
AMD/Audi (Trade Price Cars) - Jake Hill
AMD/Audi (Trade Price Cars) - ????
Ciceley/Mercedes - Adam Morgan - Not confirmed..but well y'know!
Ciceley/Mercedes - Daniel Rowbottom
Exceler8/MG - Rob Smith
Exceler8/MG - ????
Aiden Moffat Racing/Mercedes - Aiden Moffat
Simpson Racing - Matt Simpson
Team Parker/BMW - ???Stephen Jelley???

30 Cars.

Interested to hear peoples thoughts on some of those empty seats...

I can't help thinking that TOCA have held back those other two TBL's for a reason...we've had 31/32 cars for a couple of years - it's as if someones trying to pull together a team behind the scenes?? Hmmm.....

[Kraken]

TOCA want to reduce the number of cars to around 26 so I wouldn't expect them to add to the grid unless there were exceptional circumstances.

[Sammo123]

GbGaz said:

I can't help thinking that TOCA have held back those other two TBL's for a reason...we've had 31/32 cars for a couple of years - it's as if someones trying to pull together a team behind the scenes?? Hmmm.....

Over the next few years the amount of TBL’s will be reduced in an attempt to make the series more desirable to teams who have the money to keep afloat for more than one season. At the moment there’s teams who struggle through from one race to another with very little money. Reducing the TBL’s will stop teams like this from entering in the first place.

[DanielSan]

Sammo123 said:

Over the next few years the amount of TBL’s will be reduced in an attempt to make the series more desirable to teams who have the money to keep afloat for more than one season. At the moment there’s teams who struggle through from one race to another with very little money. Reducing the TBL’s will stop teams like this from entering in the first place.

And stop the second half of the season arrive and drive deals happening, it's a bit of an open secret that Alan How doesn't like it. I don't blame him to be honest.

[l354uge]

James Martin was asking plato (publicly over twitter, a hole) about one of Warren's company's going under, BMR going tits up?

Check out @jamesmartinchef’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/jamesmartinchef/status/1074409...

Edited by l354uge on Sunday 16th December 21:57

[airbusA346]

l354uge said:

James Martin was asking plato (publicly over twitter, a hole) about one of Warren's company's going under, BMR going tits up?

Check out @jamesmartinchef’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/jamesmartinchef/status/1074409...

Edited by l354uge on Sunday 16th December 21:57

According to this Warren has been made bankrupt.

https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/eiir/IIRCa...

Robert Scott was made a director of BMR Racing Ltd a few days before this.