TCR International Series

[Juntos]

Dominican Republic? There we go - a dog with false teeth.

[Metzo]

will probably just be a few cars in dominican touring series like with S2000

[kurski]

Originally Posted by Metzo

will probably just be a few cars in dominican touring series like with S2000

I remember only the Dominican Republic drivers Jonathan De Castro and Benjamin Breny + track Autodrómo Internacional de Las Américas.

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by kurski

Marcello Lotti confirms Honda, Ford, VW, SEAT, Opel as manufacturers this year.

With 3 more manufacturers to be announced at the first BOP test in February. That's a great score I'd say, really curious about those other 3 brands. For diversity a French and another Asian brand would be good.

[GusGasfuss]

Originally Posted by Bramzel

With 3 more manufacturers to be announced at the first BOP test in February. That's a great score I'd say, really curious about those other 3 brands. For diversity a French and another Asian brand would be good.

Good thing to hear that, but i think the field is almost done, with 5 manufacturers with 3 cars each...and i believe there must be more Seats than only 3. Because they are already available and some are in use in 2014 too.

Maybe the old Seat Leon Supercopa can be used in the national TCR-Series, there is already a Endurance/Long-Run-version of this car from Seat.

[Mies7337]

Lotti has done a very good job. A lot of national TCR series are announced already. He knows what manufacturers, privateers and also the audience want. I think it's not going to take a very long time before this series is gonna be bigger than the WTCC. Maybe in its first year it's going to have more cars on the grid than the WTCC. I'm actually looking forward to the races already.

[Speed-King]

A lot of national TCR series are announced already.

Right, though not a lot of them in really big markets just yet. Many countries may only have a sales potential of half a dozen or so of cars. But then, if you have enough of those, that also becomes kinda attractive.

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Right, though not a lot of them in really big markets just yet. Many countries may only have a sales potential of half a dozen or so of cars. But then, if you have enough of those, that also becomes kinda attractive.

The thing is, the more potential markets there are for cars, the more people will build them. And the more cars developed, the more choice there is and the better it will be for the championships. They're creating a ball and [i]if[/if] they can get it to roll they're definitely on to something.

[Speed-King]

Oh, I am absolutely with you there - and I think the ball is already rolling by now to a certain degree. I just think it would really help them if they could get another relatively high profile series in their portfolio.

Right now, the biggest two series other than the international one are probably BeNeLux and Italy, though I have my doubts that either can sustain a full field in a single class series, which seems to be the plan right now. At least not as long as a lot of money is tied up in Supercar Challenge and Italian GT respectively.

[Bramzel]

I agree, and I don't expect too much of the BeNeLux series yet. It'll be mostly BE I think, the Supercar Challenges big touring class will offer stiff competition. Its a real shame Germany just adopted new regulations, TCR would be perfect for the ADAC touring cars.

[mikuni]

Originally Posted by Bramzel

Its a real shame Germany just adopted new regulations, TCR would be perfect for the ADAC touring cars.

I think a few countries are in the same boat. But you could look at it another way. TCR is young, and if they can build a solid base, as ST did in the early 90's, it will be in a good position to pick up any series' in 2017 or around then, when regulations are being reviewed again.

It won't take much for the remaining WTCC manufacturers to look towards this, and it may even attract those looking at other options, such as WRC or WEC.

[Bramzel]

Very true. And there are other countries who could be looking for a new format soon, Sweden comes to mind?

[Andrew Abbott]

Lotti also mentioned that the start date for the TCR Asia Series had been pushed back to around mid-June.

http://www.touringcars.net/2015/01/m...urers-for-2015

[Rubio]

Originally Posted by mikuni

It won't take much for the remaining WTCC manufacturers to look towards this, and it may even attract those looking at other options, such as WRC or WEC.

TCR cars are built by private teams. Manufacturers are not really interested in TCR regulations, which is to be expected from a series with performance balancing.

IMO, success of national series depends on how many cars can be built and supplied by private teams. I expect that such national series will exist just a class of cars in one championship. In any case it's far too early to say anything even for the main championship. The concept looks attractive, but with 2 month left the list of drivers is completely unknown (except Engstler) with only rumours spreading a lot

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Bramzel

Very true. And there are other countries who could be looking for a new format soon, Sweden comes to mind?

Sweden is locked into Solution-F until 2018, I believe.

My obvious candidates would be France and a multi-national Eastern European series, potentially as a class within the Eset-V4-series.

[Spanner monkey]

TCR cars are built by private teams. Manufacturers are not really interested in TCR regulations

Manufacturers have to homologate their model & can only be built by nominated teams E.g Honda is J.A.S


I think Sweden is only locked in to Solution F to the end of 2016.

[Andrew Abbott]

Manufacturers have to give their blessing to teams to build / run TCR cars. There has to be some form of 'interest'.

[Go_For_Pole]

If the market for cars gets as big as early signs show then you can bet that there will be this interest

[champcarman]

Australia should look at TCR as a replacement for the so called "Development Series".

A way to get manufacturers of more relevance to what is driven on the roads in Australia involved using current model cars.

[mikuni]

I'm not sure I see the manufacturer involvement the same way. Sure it is not a traditional series to show case a manufacturers level of engineering as some have been in the past, but really these days, what is?? I think a manufacturer could get great exposure in this series.

Originally Posted by champcarman

Australia should look at TCR as a replacement for the so called "Development Series".

A way to get manufacturers of more relevance to what is driven on the roads in Australia involved using current model cars.

I can see the reasoning, but it would be a difficult step from 300bhp FWD cars to 600bhp RWD cars (see Dahlgren). Not so sure development would be the right word for the series, but the decent guys would manage the transition.

[Speed-King]

I think a manufacturer could get great exposure in this series.

Manufacturers not so much, but I guess it could be pretty attractive for the various importers that have to deal with a limited budget.

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by Rubio

TCR cars are built by private teams. Manufacturers are not really interested in TCR regulations, which is to be expected from a series with performance balancing.

GT3, Lotti's big example, has performance balancing and plenty of direct manufacturer involvement. So I can't agree on that one.

In GT3 the financial margins will be bigger though, manufacturers will need TCR to run in a lot of countries. Otherwise it won't be interesting financially.

[RED55]

Rubio;3492163]TCR cars are built by private teams. Manufacturers are not really interested in TCR regulations, which is to be expected from a series with performance balancing. [/I]

I think this is a series that could become very popular all over the world, All manufacturers make a car that could fit the rules quite easily for sensible cost and I suspect these cars with slick tyres wont be that far off much more expensive WTCC and BTCC spec machinery in terms of pace.

Manufactures may not get involved at factory entry level ,but that's not what Lotti is wanting, its a series which has a platform to allow cars to run in series all over the world .
Example NGTC car can only run in BTCC (even though FIA have approved its technical rules ) There is no other country that has shown any intention of adopting the rules they are too expensive .

TCR rules you could run a car say in the US , then put it in a container and ship it out and run it in China so its much more valuable at resale too as its not out of date or too unique

Im looking forward to seeing the way it turns out but from a racing series to enter at reasonable cost it has to be respected for its efforts.

[PorscheFanNo1]

Originally Posted by Spanner monkey

Manufacturers have to homologate their model & can only be built by nominated teams E.g Honda is J.A.S


I think Sweden is only locked in to Solution F to the end of 2016.

Yes I think you are correct, originally locked until end of 2015, but was extended one more year, so should be until end of 2016 now.

Will be really interesting to see if TC3 picks up momentum and what it can turn into. I just hope it wont be escelating costs for building the cars the same way as all previous regulations has been (Supertouring, S2000, NGTC). If they can control the costs the same way as GT3 has managed then I think we are into something good.

[auroan]

Originally Posted by RED55

[I]Rubio;3492163]
Example NGTC car can only run in BTCC (even though FIA have approved its technical rules ) There is no other country that has shown any intention of adopting the rules they are too expensive .

NGTC is only expensive because GPRM (the sole supplier of the "expensive" bits) have a monopoly and can almost charge what they like. If there was more than one supplier of these spec (but custom) parts, prices would be cheaper due to competition.