[BTCC] 2010 rumour mill

[Jamesy-18]

Hi all,

Just wondered if anybody has heard any rumours regarding new teams/drivers/cars coming into the championship next year or any driver changes to the current grid?

Thanks!

[touringlegend]

Nothing that I've heard although I'm sure some of our members will know more than me.

I guess we've got to say Herbert is a likely candidate for a 2010 Dyanmics seat!

[Hazard]

No idea. And generally, the only people we'd trust at this point would be those already in the championship - and only then if they were Team Dynamics, West Surrey Racing, Triple Eight or Ray Mallock Ltd.

Dodgy game this touring cars.

- We expect Team Dynamics to be there - most certainly with the Civic again.
- We expect West Surrey Racing to be there if the RAC money stays, and with BMW's.
- We hope that Triple Eight will be there, running the old Vectra still - though whispers have been mentioned around Kia's.
- Don't expect Ray Mallock to be there unless a big sponsorship drive turns up. If it does, maybe in the 2009 WTCC Cruze's - it'll be good timing as the car will just be turning up here (so maybe with Chevrolet backing?).

Kia's and Chevrolet's, hmmm. Does that sound like the Scrappage Touring Car Championship to you?

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Hazard

No idea. And generally, the only people we'd trust at this point would be those already in the championship - and only then if they were Team Dynamics, West Surrey Racing, Triple Eight or Ray Mallock Ltd.

Dodgy game this touring cars.

- We expect Team Dynamics to be there - most certainly with the Civic again.
- We expect West Surrey Racing to be there if the RAC money stays, and with BMW's.
- We hope that Triple Eight will be there, running the old Vectra still - though whispers have been mentioned around Kia's.
- Don't expect Ray Mallock to be there unless a big sponsorship drive turns up. If it does, maybe in the 2009 WTCC Cruze's - it'll be good timing as the car will just be turning up here (so maybe with Chevrolet backing?).

Kia's and Chevrolet's, hmmm. Does that sound like the Scrappage Touring Car Championship to you?

What about Motorbase?There's a big feature about them in last week's Autosport magazine, surely they'll be back again?

[Aunt Sally]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

What about Motorbase?

Motorbase?

None of the forums seem to take Motorbase seriously for some reason. They get coverage in the mags, Autosport, good article last week, and Motorsport News. But no matter how hard they try, they just get ignored.

Anyway I would be really surprised if they didn't come back again with the BMW's in 2010.

[helterskelter]

Originally Posted by Hazard

No idea. And generally, the only people we'd trust at this point would be those already in the championship - and only then if they were Team Dynamics, West Surrey Racing, Triple Eight or Ray Mallock Ltd.

Dodgy game this touring cars.

- We expect Team Dynamics to be there - most certainly with the Civic again.
- We expect West Surrey Racing to be there if the RAC money stays, and with BMW's.
- We hope that Triple Eight will be there, running the old Vectra still - though whispers have been mentioned around Kia's.
- Don't expect Ray Mallock to be there unless a big sponsorship drive turns up. If it does, maybe in the 2009 WTCC Cruze's - it'll be good timing as the car will just be turning up here (so maybe with Chevrolet backing?).

Kia's and Chevrolet's, hmmm. Does that sound like the Scrappage Touring Car Championship to you?

With Vauxhall (and therefore General Motors) pulling the plug it would be silly and nasty towards 888 if they (GM) supported Ray Mallock Limited in the Btcc. I suppose there's a good chance of seeing at least a Cruze next year, I don't think Plato will give up after the good season he's enjoying. I don't think 888 will be there as an independant, I think they might sell the cars to someone. If they do stay, it'll be for a paying driver, possibly Andy Jordan. From what I've heard from Fabrizio the last time I've spoken to him, the Kia rumours are absolutely untrue and he's still looking for a 2010 drive, with the seious risk of having to retire or to settle for some national GT series, which would be a real shame... Anyway, unlike Thommo with N Technology, Fabrizio's contract is with Vauxhall, not with 888, which means he's not engaged to anyone at the moment, so Giovanardi and 888 are both not forced to enter the championship with him at the wheel.

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by helterskelter

With Vauxhall (and therefore General Motors) pulling the plug it would be silly and nasty towards 888 if they (GM) supported Ray Mallock Limited in the Btcc.

Stranger things have happened. In STCC eg VAG pulled the plug on KMS Audi (5 times STCC champs) before 2008 season and came back with another team 2009 pushing VW-biogas. That can't even be blamed on the world economical issues, just pure marketing strategy.

[helterskelter]

Originally Posted by stedevil

Stranger things have happened. In STCC eg VAG pulled the plug on KMS Audi (5 times STCC champs) before 2008 season and came back with another team 2009 pushing VW-biogas. That can't even be blamed on the world economical issues, just pure marketing strategy.

There must have been some technical reason, probably the fact that the other team had some experience with biogas or that they had already designed an engine using that technology, and they found it useless to pay KMS to develop an engine that another team had already developed (just the first thing I can think of, though).
With GM, the situation is quite different. Vauxhall have pulled the plug because, as Fabrizio says in the interview I linked above, it's more urgent to save a few thousand workers than keep on racing. We're in a situation in which nobody knows if Chevy is going to continue in the World Touring Car Championship, Vauxhall has retired after winning so many titles and RML is running a car that Chevrolet doesn't want to promote anymore, as a privateer effort.
The only situation I'd find reasonable is if Chevy pulls out of the Wtcc and joins the Btcc with the Cruzes, keeping Huffy in and possibly hiring Fabrizio and some paying driver to fill the 3rd vacant seat. That would be an intelligent move, that would make sense, as the Cruze is newer than the Vectra and the Btcc is much cheaper than the World championship. Like that, RML can keep a lot of workers and GM spends less and has more exposure in the UK, as I seem to understand that the Btcc is much more popular than the Wtcc in GB!

[GroupOfOne]

Matt Hamilton is aiming for a full 2010 programme in the (old) Honda Civic, with the final two (or three) rounds of this year being a toe in the water/extended test session.

Think the key player in the silly season is Triple 8, once they've decided what they're doing/who they're running then other stuff will fall into place around that.

[duke_toaster]

That's presumably the Michael Doyle car, then?

I've not heard anything about 888 and Kias, but if they do it would obviously be with factory backing. Andy Jordan has a reasonable amount of personal sponsors (John Guest, Pirtek?), but if that would stretch to Gio or Matt Neal is another issue.

RML could stay, as I'd imagine Plato's now bringing budget and Jackson almost certainly is. If they get new backers on that is. The lack of live ITV1 coverage isn't helpful ...

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

That's presumably the Michael Doyle car, then?

It's the ex-Synchro car.

[touringlegend]

I'm not ignoring them. (See left!)

[mark_l]

John Cleland is coming out of retirement to race a Vauxhall.

well no one said the rumours had to be truthful.

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by mark_l

John Cleland is coming out of retirement to race a Vauxhall.

well no one said the rumours had to be truthful.

They usually have to be at least a little believable though.

More chance him racing a Volvo really - or there'll be conflicts of interest!

[touringlegend]

What of a Volvo team though, seriously?

I noticed the course car C30's are provided by Volvo Cars UK so they obviously have some sort of interest in the BTCC.