An Idea For A National Saloon Championship

[Anthonyreidisalegend]

Hi, I'm new to this forum, however, have been attending the site for a while now and finally decided to get an account.

I think I've got a good idea for a future BTCC support race and one that could introduce young drivers into the touring car game without joining the British championship inexperienced and being punished. Now, talking of inexperienced, compared to many of you here on these forums, I am very inexperienced in motorsport and have come here hoping that you'd give me your honest opinions on this and some suggestions to improve the concept. So do go easy

The concept is to hold a national championship where the only cars allowed are Mondeo-sized saloon cars. These cars must have four doors and a boot or hatchback. There will be a very long list of cars allowed entry into the championship including models such as the Audi A4, Volvo S80 and Volkswagen Passat.
All cars must have modifications to include safety features (such as roll-cages) and racing suspension, wheels, standard aerodynamics, tyres, colour schemes/ decals to include sponsors and exhaust systems, so they appear as racing cars.

However, the 2.0 petrol engines are strictly standard with no tuning; identical to the engine you would find on the roads (this may exclude gearbox coolers, giving components increased longevity).
This way, it is much cheaper for the teams to run the cars and obtain spares as it is all standard. This should attract lower budget teams into taking part- hopefully.
Also, as the power- to- weight ratio must be the same for each entrant; the racing will be as fair as possible regardless of the size of engines as standard.

As saloons are being used, it should also hopefully attract drivers who are one day, hopeful of racing touring cars as well as classic saloon racers.

So, please do leave some feedback.

[johnw]

Something like this perhaps?
http://www.barc.net/competitors/regu...8RegsVer01.pdf

[Anthonyreidisalegend]

Yes, kind of, except that the majority of entrants into that championship have opted to run either coupes or hot hatches.
This championship aims to bring back four-door saloon car racing, just like the BTCC used to before the hot hatches and coupes entered that.

But yes, the engine regulations are largely the same.
Thanks for showing me that

[R59]

Another series to thin the available competitors out even more. Oh joy!

Quite agree though - BTCC should be proper saloon cars, with 4/5 doors......

And a V8....


Rob.

[DriversKnow]

There are plenty of cars to choose from in the Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup...

Full Eligible Car list
Class A 161 to 210bhp per Ton

BMW 130i Msport (183) BMW 335i (190)BMW 540i (178) BMW 335D (173 D) BMW 123d (145 D) Ford Focus ST (162) Honda Civic Type R pre-07 (166) Mini Cooper S Works (203) Peugeot 206 GTi 180 (166) Renault Clio 197 (161) Renault Clio 182 (165) Renault Clio V6 (175) Renault Megane 230 (171) Seat Ibiza Cupra (163) Seat Ibiza TDi (136 D) Seat Leon Cupra (175) Toyota Corolla Compressor (173) Vauxhall Astra VXR Sport Hatch (173) Mazda RX8 (166) Nissan 350z (205) Vauxhall Vectra VXR (177) Volvo S60 T5 (181) Honda Accord Type R (163) MG ZT 260 (155) Volvo S60 R (200) Mazda 3MPS (184) Alfa Romeo 147 GTA (185) Alfa Romeo 156GTa (180) Vauxhall Corsa VXR (165) Vauxhall Astra CDTi (124 D) VW Golf GTi SE (171) Volvo C30 T5 (164) Mazda RX8 (166) Lexus IS300 (165) Mercedes C350 (177) BMW Z4 Coupe 3.0Si (190) Porsche Cayman 2.7 (188) BMW M3 E46 (219 – ballasted to 210)

Class B 131 to 161bhp per Ton
Audi A3 Sportback 2.0T (136) Citroen Xsara VTS (143) Fiat Stilo Abarth (137) Ford Focus ST 170 (143) Ford Fiesta ST (132) MG ZR 160 (147) MG ZS 180 (144) Mini Cooper S (143) Mini Cooper S R56 (155) Peugeot 206 GTi 180 (158) Renault Clio 172 (156) Seat Ibiza Cupra (145) Seat Leon FR(141) VW Golf GTi 200ps (150) Alfa Romeo GTV 3.0 V6 (159) Saab 93 Aero (153) Ford Mondeo ST 220 (146) Honda Accord Type S (137) Mazda 6 MPS (156) Skoda Octavia VRS (135) Volvo S40 T5 (155) Mitsubishi Colt CZT (140) Fiat Bravo 1.9 MultiJet (111 D) Alfa 147 MultiJet (115 D) BMW 120d (116 D) Honda Civic Type R-2007 on (158) Peugeot 207Gti THP175 (140) Audi TT TFSI (159)Chrysler Crossfire (157) Toyota Celica T Sport (158) Vauxhall Corsa SRi (140).

Class C Up to 130bhp per Ton

Citroen Saxo VTS (130) Citroen C2 VTS (116) Fiat Panda 100HP (103) Fiat 500 1.4 (105) Mini Cooper (111) Mini Cooper R56 (113) Seat Arosa 1.4 16v (112) Peugeot 106 GTi (128) Suzuki Ignis Sport (115) Toyota Yaris Sport (111) Vauxhall Corsa SRi 1.8 (115) VW Lupo GTi 6 (128) Citroen C4 VTS (130) Proton Satria Gti (121) VW Polo GTi (117) Hyundai Coupe V6 (126) Nissan Micra Sport SR (107) Skoda Fabia vRS (100 D) Renault Twingo GT (102) Suzuki Swift Sport (113) Alfa Romeo 147 2.0 (122) VW Polo Gti (117)Fiat Punto HGT (120) Fiat Grande Punto Sporting TJet(110)

[Thorney]

Whats the attraction of racing 4 door cars? I never really understand that. Coupes, hatches look a lot nicer.

[R59]

4 door cars: They look like "touring cars", not "shopping cars".

Coupe's should be treated as GT's imho!

Thankyou Mr Dunlop. Where's the Vauxhall VXR8?? eh? eh?

Ideally - in the SportMaxx series, you should look to ballast/lighten cars so the power/weight is pretty well even - within a few bhp/tonne - in each class, crikey! the Lexus IS300 gives away almost 40bhp/tonne to the BMW M3 running one of those would be a no-brainer.

Though looking at the level of competition, the balance is not far away.
It'll be interesting to see how it goes when you get a grid-full.

The last thing you want to see is the way that prod saloons went in the 80's/90's, with effectively 3/4 one-make classes where you ran the car which was most competitive - like running Sierra Cosworths in A, BMW M3's in B, Golf GTI's in C, Toyota Corollas in D as it was then.

[DriversKnow]

We have introduced BTCC style success ballast, which will hopefully give each car a chance to shine.

In our 6 pilot non-championship races last year, overall wins went to a Nissan 350Z, BMW M3 E46, Astra VXR and Megane R26. Class wins went to Clio 172s, Seat Leons, Fiat Punto HGT, Mini Cooper, MG ZR and Alfa 147, so it is pretty open already!

[Al Weyman]

4 door cars: They look like "touring cars", not "shopping cars".

Coupe's should be treated as GT's imho!

Cant see that Rob, I would have thought a 4 door is more the shopping car and the coupe more the tourer. I agree with the former poster why the hang up on 4 door cars?

[R59]

Thinking about this on a horizontal plane....

Grand Tourers (GT's) have two doors, and seats in the back that you can just about squeeze Ronnie Corbett/Joe Pasquale/R2D2 in the back. Like a Jag XJS for example.

Quite a few Coupe's have stuff all room in the back, and thus fit the above description better than they fit "Saloon", which also, in some manufacturer's speak means "2/4 doors and a boot", when "hatchback" means it's a hatchback (3/5 doors)

I'm just being picky.

What's more, if saloon cars had to be saloon cars with 4 doors, then maybe manufacturers would be more inclined to produce their whizzy models with 4 doors - though GM produce the "VXR8" as a 4 door car, well it is a Holden Commodore after all.

The whole thing then has more in common with families, rather than lads with hot hatches and hats on backwards/sideways.

Just thinking out of the box again.....