Alfa, BMW, Nissan & Volvo confirms new ETCC rules!

[JMeissner]

New rules for the ETCC!
ETCC 25/04/01

Four manufacturers has confirmed their approval to the new rules of the European Touring Car Championship next year. The four manufacturers are: Alfa Romeo, BMW, Nissan and Volvo. They have all accepted the new rules that will be established in June this year. The series organisers also hope that Honda, Peugeot and Renault will join. Volkswagen has also been with the development of the rules but has yet to decide which make they will use within the concern, if they are going to join the series. The new rules will replace the current Super Touring and Super Production classes that are being run today in the ETCC. Eurosport will probably continue transmitting the races live also next year.

The four manufacturers has agreed on the following things. Each race will have 24 cars on the grid. The cars will be homologated for three years at a time and with an opportunity to make five changes during that time. The turnover for each manufacturer will be around four million euro (EUR) per year. Volvo, one of the manufactures, has for example already started their development of the new car. Rickard Rydell is contracted as test driver and will also race with the car and Prodrive will tune the cars. But keep in mind that there is going to be 24 cars on the grid for each race, which could mean six cars from each manufacturer the first year. Nissan will probably use the Primera, BMW the 320i, Alfa Romeo the new 147 and Volvo the S60. No manufacturer will confirm that they will join the ETCC next year; they want to wait until June when the rules get official.

Johan Meissner
johan@touringcartimes.com

[Sodemo]

Thats press release seems rather vague to me. It doesn't mention at all what the rules are. Are they using the BTCT rules?

[JMeissner]

Well, there is only the main structures who are set. FIA has to approve the rules before it can be official...

And it looks as if they will not use BTCT rules, instead whole new rules, taken forth by the manufacturers them selve...

[Sodemo]

Whoops, that doesn't sound too good....!!

[JMeissner]

What does not sound so good?

[Sodemo]

Well if the BTCC is to survive we needed a Europe-wide spec for saloon racing, having lots of different technical rules is not good, we need 1 formula. Now manufacturers might not enter the BTCC as Britian is the only country to use the BTCT rules.

[JMeissner]

It could be that way... But lets wait with that until we know for sure in June...

[Tim.Lad]

Maybe the ETCC rules can be adapted to the BTCT next year if theres not to much in them, i`m sure the ETCC will have to go down the same road as the BTCC at some point, hmmm could i get any more "CC`s" in this sentence ??

[runnyhunny]

If there are MINOR differences between the European rules and the BTC Touring ones, then maybe the British ones can be flexed a little.

However, even if Europe goes a completely different way, then, well, I don't care.

The BTCC *CAN* survive on it's own.

Also, if JSM and ABG can get their cars running well, then I'm sure lots more private entries will be encouraged. Who needs manufacturer support?

[hunttheshunt]

I disagree-the BTCC does need manufacturer support. However, when there are rules like the new BTCC rules which allow for cheap cars both manufacturers AND privateers are attracted.

Also, hopefullt the ETCC and the BTCC will have very similar rules. It makes common sense.

[runnyhunny]

Why do we *need* manufacturers?

What's wrong with all of the grid being private entries?

That's how things were with the Sierra RS500s...

[redshoes]

The RS500 would never have been there is it wasn't for manufacturer support in the first place. Ford put all the initial effort (and funding) into developing the car and then made the parts (or at least most of them) available to privateer teams.

JSM and ABG may be privateer teams but they would never have got this far without intervention from the factory. TOCA require an official request from the manufacturer before a car can be added to the list of approved models.

[vauxhall]

Originally posted by runnyhunny
Why do we *need* manufacturers?

What's wrong with all of the grid being private entries?

Manufactuers make the racing closer, if the feild was just indies the racing wouldnt be close,
for example Matt Neal for the past few years!
the other indie teams havent been able to get near him!

Keep the manufactuers but some indies would be ok!

[Bennett Fan]

Keep the manufacturers, otherwise it would be a club series.

[Craig]

What ? Like F3, F3000, CART, etc. have become ?

[runnyhunny]

vauxhall,

What makes you think having manufacturers involved makes the racing closer?!

Matt Neal's ST Primera was helped along a bit by Nissan, and there have not been many privateers in the BTCC in recent years.

Looking further back, there were competitive privateer championships in, say, 1995-1998.

As for manufacturers making things closer, well... err... didn't Renault run away with the game in 1997? Nissan in 1999? Ford in 2000? Audi in 1996? Alfa in 1994? BMW in 1993?

[redshoes]

Originally posted by Craig Antill
What ? Like F3, F3000, CART, etc. have become ?

F3000 I'll give you but are you saying there's no manufacturer involvement in F3 or CART ?

[vauxhall]

Originally posted by runnyhunny

As for manufacturers making things closer, well... err... didn't

Renault run away with the game in 1997? No! Biela was close

Nissan in 1999? Knockhill there was only 10pts between them, fight went to last race

Ford in 2000? Ford did no dominate every race!

Audi in 1996? 4WD!

Alfa in 1994? Aero!

BMW in 1993? Best team in Touring car world, with most power car


Indies budgets are all over the place so you dont get the close racing most of the time as you do with works teams

1991 - mainly all indies - BORING really!

1993-1999 - Mainly all works - Best seasons ever

2002 will be great

[runnyhunny]

1993-1999 best ever?! No way! Have you seen the 1992 tape?!

Biela was nowhere near Menu during 1997.

As for Nissan in 1999... I don't think many people are of the opinion that David Leslie would ever have won it! (or been allowed to)

Ford in 2000 - they dominated the championship. As did Audi in 1996, Alfa in 1994 and BMW in 1993. They are dull championships. Yes, there were good races, but I want to see a title fight!

[KA]

I agree with you totally about 1992, but I'm not sure I agree about not needing manufacturers- it depends really on what you want from your BTCC. If all the manufacturers bail out & you only have independent teams in the entry, then you can say goodbye pretty sharply to most of the top touring car drivers- Muller, Plato, Thompson, Soper etc- they expect to be paid for their drives, not the other way round.
I'm not, for one moment, running down the independent drivers- there's an awful lot of talent out there, but you can probably divide them into two camps. First you've got the long-time independents- the Dave Pinkneys of this world, who will be in there come hell or high water as long as they can find & fund a drive, and then you've got the young drivers looking to make a name & a career for themselves. This second group are are basically not going to hang around in independent BTCC teams once they've acheived enough to stand a chance of landing a paid drive in the ETCC, GT's or anything else.
During the 90's, the BTCC was the strongest touring car championship in the world, and attracted the best drivers & teams- (the downside of this being that they tend to do the job so well that they dominate). Take the manufacturers out of the BTCC, and you'll end up with something much lower-profile- yes, you might get closer & better racing, (but you can already get that in any number of club categories)- the problem is you might not- you might end up with a series full of drivers with more budget than talent...

[Sodemo2]

98' was a great year. Volvo, Nissan, Honda, and Renault all fighting for race wins.