[BTCC] BTCC 2020 season discussion, News and Rumours!

[WestHam92]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Personally, I think the smart thing for WSR is to keep the 3rd car under wraps.
With the turnaround between weekends being so short, having a spare car ready to run makes more sense for a title challenge than trying to boost numbers on an already healthy grid.

Can teams swap chassis during a season, or does a driver have to use the same chassis number for the whole season?

I suppose the only upside for WSR running a third car is if the driver was on the pace straight away and could help Turkington's title bid, much in the same way that Neal did for Shedden.

[S griffin]

I wouldn’t want to see a talented driver denied the opportunity to race that third Beemer. Some positive noises from Bennetts says they intend to run the third car

And yes, it could help in the title fight

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I wouldn’t want to see a talented driver denied the opportunity to race that third Beemer. Some positive noises from Bennetts says they intend to run the third car

And yes, it could help in the title fight

What noises are they making?

[S griffin]

He’s said he’s hoping to find someone to race the third car at Thruxton, if they have the budget. Wouldn’t say that unless they were intending for it to happen

[Peter Mallett]

Positively positive noises.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by S griffin

He’s said he’s hoping to find someone to race the third car at Thruxton, if they have the budget. Wouldn’t say that unless they were intending for it to happen

Ah ok. Do you have a link to where/when he said that?

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Ah ok. Do you have a link to where/when he said that?

Reported in Autosport early August, and mentioned in the Brands Hatch thread. Forget the exact wording but basically WSR are talking to a couple of drivers with a view to doing the last 3 or 4 races prior to a full season next year. Autosport said 3rd car may run at Thruxton, although that wouldn't be 4 races from the end.

[WestHam92]

Originally Posted by redshoes

Reported in Autosport early August, and mentioned in the Brands Hatch thread. Forget the exact wording but basically WSR are talking to a couple of drivers with a view to doing the last 3 or 4 races prior to a full season next year. Autosport said 3rd car may run at Thruxton, although that wouldn't be 4 races from the end.

Cue the speculation! Would they be former BTCC drivers or youngsters from support series?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by redshoes

Reported in Autosport early August, and mentioned in the Brands Hatch thread. Forget the exact wording but basically WSR are talking to a couple of drivers with a view to doing the last 3 or 4 races prior to a full season next year. Autosport said 3rd car may run at Thruxton, although that wouldn't be 4 races from the end.

Cheers. It makes sense to run a couple of drivers on a 'trial' basis.

From Silverstone onwards seems more likely to me, with more time between rounds to turn around 3 cars.

[porsche962fan]

wouldn't make more sense for WSR to have AJ (or someone of his calibre) back as rear gunner for Turkington ?

[Matt K]

AJ won't be back, his decision to step down was pretty definitive and he won't risk his finances to race in the BTCC. I bet we won't see him back anytime soon if ever. I know running just a few races costs less but Jordan wouldn't do that just to go around and help Turkington get the title.
But WSR rumours seem interesting, let's see what happens out of it and who that may be. If it's some new talent then I'm all for it. If these are likes of Collard or Mat Jackson then I'm afraid, I'm not excited by such a prospect.

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Cheers. It makes sense to run a couple of drivers on a 'trial' basis.

I think they meant it as talking to a couple of drivers, of which one will get the seat for the rest of the year rather than the two drivers getting a couple of rounds each.

[WestHam92]

Originally Posted by redshoes

I think they meant it as talking to a couple of drivers, of which one will get the seat for the rest of the year rather than the two drivers getting a couple of rounds each.

It would be a good way to test someone out for next season. If they're doing that, they might as well have two drivers split across the rest of the season.

[porsche962fan]

could imagine this again

[S griffin]

Why not? MJ has RWD experience in the series and he is probably eager to come back

[WestHam92]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Why not? MJ has RWD experience in the series and he is probably eager to come back

I can't imagine WSR would be too happy if Jackson hit the ground running and took points off Turkington. It would be great for them if he did that to Sutton, but definitely not their own driver! Unless of course they were to make it part of Jackson's deal that he has to follow orders.

[Sodemo]

Jackson might be checking the fine print of his contract with PMR knowing there is a vacant seat at WSR.

[S griffin]

Anyone else seem to notice that we seem to have a lack of onboard cameras this year? I don’t seem to remember seeing any so far this year

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Anyone else seem to notice that we seem to have a lack of onboard cameras this year? I don’t seem to remember seeing any so far this year

I'm sure I saw it somewhere that they're not installing the in-car cameras due to social distancing regulations. I think it's the same reason that there are no on the grid cameras and no roaming camera men up and down the pit lane filming the teams in the garages.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Anyone else seem to notice that we seem to have a lack of onboard cameras this year? I don’t seem to remember seeing any so far this year

The TV production teams are not in the race team 'bubbles' so they're not permitted access to fit the cameras (at least I *think* that's the case).

[porsche962fan]

and no grid girls either

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by Greem

The TV production teams are not in the race team 'bubbles' so they're not permitted access to fit the cameras (at least I *think* that's the case).

Correct.

ITV have shown recorded onboards from the qualifying pole lap, but that has been from the TOCA Judicial camera

[crmalcolm]

Yes - the onboard cameras are part of the aliveDRIVE system (or at least were until recently), which are installed by Cosworth and sync up to every car plus the piData in real time.

Cloudbass would typically add the broadcast element, tapping into the Cosworth system to generate the footage seen during live transmission.

With the current 'bubble' system, Cosworth and Cloudbass are kept separate, and Cloudbass only have access to 'historical' in-car footage when released to them.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by Greem

The TV production teams are not in the race team 'bubbles' so they're not permitted access to fit the cameras (at least I *think* that's the case).

Ah that makes sense, thanks. I wondered how social distancing would have affected this, as it’s not like we have onboard cameramen!

[Sodemo]

I do think such "restrictions" around the lack of onboard cameras are puzzling. I can't fathom what the concern is surrounding it. They can't get the car alone with no one else around for 10-20 minutes to rig up a camera inside?