Probably could have worded that better but basically, what cars would everyone have least expected to ever race in the British Touring Car Championship, yet they did?

For instance, in 1986, the late Tony Lanfranchi raced a Vauxhall Nova for a couple of rounds.

Not saying it should be bought back but I really enjoyed those 2 events. I guess we have taken a bit of that on board with race 3 reverse grid but having the end of season free for all with guest drivers, pace car bunch ups and last man removed was a good watch.

Considering it took only 3 years for it to start threatening to run the series into the ground due to costs...

The Toyotas at Brands Hatch in 1992 and Silverstone in 1993.

After the brilliant/sensible news that hybrids have been dropped, I'm proposing the next generation of regulations are build around SUVs to encourage manufacturers. Just look at the Puma in WRC to see how a tall SUV can be turned into a great looking low down race car. In the mid 90s, manufactuers were pushing saloons, so that's what BTCC was, then it was hatch backs, and BTCC followed. It seems manufactures now want to shift a load of SUVs so I'd LOVE to see a full grid of manufacturer backed SUVs. Thoughts?

Last season I starting watching the championship , but i fancy attending a few races next season starting at Brands Hatch.

I'm a little confused by the ticketing. There's the admission fee, then stand tickets . Do I need these as well or are there areas of the track I could just bring like camping chairs and watch from there ? Thanks

In other words, if the BTC-Touring rules had been given a whole year's worth of extra time to be properly introduced, at least within a reasonable enough time frame for teams to develop new cars for the new rules. Nissan might have returned like they were originally supposed to for instance.

I would much rather have seen just the Production class that produced 9 different class winners from 4 different manufacturers in 2001. Yes, it would have been a massive comedown from all those years of Supertourers but still would have been better than an absolute drubbing of the opposition by Vauxhall in the Touring Class.

The one that sticks in my mind is Charlie Cox at Thruxton in 1995.

https://motorsport.radio/btcc-kieth-odor-25-years-on-from-his-tragic-death/

Ignoring the Nissan Skyline entered by Win Percy and Allan Grice in the 1988 Donington 1 Hour Endurance race.

Just seen that there will be a free entry testing day at Donington next year, has anyone been before and what’s it like? Is it worth going to?

In recent years:

Dan Cammish being denied the 2019 title by a break failure on the penultimate lap of the season.

Dan Lloyd being denied a first win for the Cupra by a driveshaft failure on the last lap at Donington in 2023.

Can't help but notice that almost every time a works Nissan competed in the BTCC, it was car #23.

The Skyline that contested the 1988 Donington 1 Hour Endurance Race in the hands of Win Percy and Allan Grice was #23.

The late Keith Odor, Anthony Reid and Laurent Aiello were #23 during their respective stints at Nissan.

Is (or was) that number significant to Nissan in some or another?

Thought that, seeing as EXCELR8 are quick out-of-the-box for the next season's announcements, I'd begin to list teams and drivers as they're announced, to keep it in one place?

If I miss anything confirmed, drop it in a reply and I'll update the list...

Team VERTU (EXCELR8)

1. Tom Ingram
2. Tom Chilton
3. tbc
4. tbc

Announcement: https://btcc.net/team-bristol-street-motors-transforms-into-team-vertu-for-2025-btcc-season/

On Nettan Lindgren's wikipedia page, it says that she is the " only female class winner" in the BTCC. 'Ha!' I thought 'You've got that wrong!', because a seson earlier (1989) Louise Aitken-Walker won Class C twice (and finished second nine times). Both of these drivers are famous enough to have a Wikipedia page.

But then, looking over the 1988 season, I noticed that, in Class D at Donington, Geoff Kimber-Smith's endurance partner was a lady by the name of Barbara Cowell. They finished 14th overall, but first in class. Alas, she doesn't have a wikipedia page, and I can't find any other information about her.

Two questions: Does anybody have any additional info on Barbara Cowell, and are there any earlier female drivers with a class win?

Thanks for your time folks.

I would recommend that if you have a spare 3 hrs watch it on YouTube, that was some race. If you want to know a brief run down of what happened see below.

!Jake Hill’s car was in contention for the win right up until they had to make an extra pit stop with 18 minutes left. This cost his team 24 seconds. On the last lap in front of me at Cascades the top two crashed, one ended up in the gravel the other was delayed. They finished only 12 seconds behind in second.!<

What do you think? Here are some of my takes.

Jake Hill

Best season: It has to be 2024, he stepped up a level this year and cut out the mistakes of the previous BMW years. Next would perhaps be 2021.

Worst season: maybe 2017 when he was outscored by Mike Epps, although the points didn't fully represent his performances that year.

Tom Ingram

Best: Although he won in 2022 against probably a superior BMW, I would say almost winning in 2024 against still a superior BMW, but driven by a stronger Jake Hill, was his most impressive performance. Honourable mention to 2018 as well for some fantastic fightbacks.

Worst: 2014 maybe, a bit harsh as it was a rookie season but he didn't look to have as much potential then as it transpired.

Ash Sutton

Best: All four of his titles were special, 2017 for the shock although he was raw then, 2020 when he beat the faster BMW and Honda but made mistakes, while 2021 and 2023 were total domination in the best car, the latter with a few mistakes. 2021 was probably the best of those but 2022 I think was his best of all, dragging a Ford that had no business in the title hunt to the front after almost maximising the points every time with some extraordinary racecraft to defend at times.

Worst: Like Ingram, it has to be the rookie season as he has been so impressive since. It was a great rookie season but I did not expect it to lead to the title in 2017.

Colin Turkington

Best: Probably 2014, as that was the only time he was the clear class of the field. 2009 comes close for the quality of opposition although I think he had the best car, and 2016 in the Subaru was also very impressive. In 2018 and 2019 I think he was outperformed by his closest title rivals both times.

Worst: 2005 looked like a step back at the time, he was nowhere near Yvan Muller. Really 2006 was a big breakthrough.

Dan Cammish

Best: 2019 just pips 2020 because I think the Honda wasn't quite as good that year, and he could have won the title in an inferior car to the BMW.

Worst: 2022 had the biggest gap to Sutton and he often struggled to get through traffic. But in general the Ford days have been some way off the Honda days, perhaps that's just how it appears due to his teammate.

Josh Cook

Best: 2021 for the five wins and closest title challenge, although 2019 was even closer, and I also thought he did well to stay so close in 2024 when the Toyota didn't have the pace of its rivals.

Worst: 2020 perhaps, as he was a long way behind Cammish in a similar car, and just ahead of Chilton who was in decline.

Aron Taylor-Smith

Best: He is getting closer to his best now, but still hasn't quite hit the highs of 2014 when he beat Alain Menu in the same car.

Worst: He was a long way off Cook's pace in the MG in 2017.

Adam Morgan

Best: I think he actually got the very best out of the Mercedes in 2020, when it was past its best.

Worst: His debut season, 2012, was error-strewn and the improvement in 2013 was stark.

Tom Chilton

Best: The title challenge in 2018, ahead of Tordoff in the points, was unexpected and very good.

Worst: 2021 when he couldn't get to grips with Rear-Wheel Drive at all.

Dan Rowbottom

Best: The 2021 season when he shocked so many by fighting at the front, and has perhaps not hit those heights again since.

Worst: It looked like a totally different driver after he returned, as 2019 was horrendous.

Aiden Moffat

Best: 2017 for the two wins, although 2018 was good as well and the switch to Infiniti seemed to halt his progress.

Worst: 2020 was disappointing, well off the pace of Sutton.

Chris Smiley

Best: His breakthrough season in 2018, including a win.

Worst: No points in 2016.

Sam Osborne

Best: I think he is still improving and 2024 was the most consistent and quickest he has been.

Worst: Just one point in 2022, although not really representative of his efforts.

I am not including the drivers with just one or two seasons to their names, but here would be my takes for some from the recent past.

Jason Plato

Best: The 2010-2012 period when he was battling against the faster Hondas, but despite the lack of title, 2011 was probably the best of the bunch, and the comeback in 2009 close behind, as well as beating Turkington in 2018.

Worst: Who knows what happened at Subaru? And 2018 was the worst of all.

Matt Neal

Best: Probably 2006, although with an honourable mention to 1999.

Worst: Getting destroyed by Giovanardi in the Vauxhall years, probably 2008 was the worst.

Gordon Shedden

Best: The comeback in 2016, having been unlucky to be so far back in the first half, and the BMW was probably the better car.

Worst: The incident-packed 2021 season.

Andrew Jordan

Best: Almost beating Turkington in 2019, despite no points at Donington, just pips his title winning season.

Worst: 2017 where he was outperformed, surprisingly, by Rob Collard.

Mat Jackson

Best: I think it would be 2016, followed by 2014 and also 2008.

Worst: 2010 was disappointing, finishing behind Kane.

Rob Collard

Best: 2017 where it was surprising how close he was to Turkington, and 2016 was also a good title challenge.

Worst: 2006, destroyed by Turkington.

Rory Butcher

Best: The breakthrough in 2019, while he was also very fast in 2020.

Worst: 2023 was a big step backwards and Collard was faster.

Sam Tordoff

Best: Almost winning the title in 2016.

Worst: 2018, although he had a lot of bad luck.

Any more suggestions?

Along with a bunch of British GT racers (Ian Loggie and Phil Keen at least) so it should be quite an entertaining day of racing for £15 a ticket if you are nearby.

Oh, and Hill will win £10k if he wins outright in his first Fun Cup race so he's going to be really trying.

By the looks of the posts on twitter looks like Btcc will have a bigger presence on it this time round! Think they will be some announcements or livery reveals?

I would love to have a BTCC app similar to those that exist for F1 and MotoGP, but am I living in fantasy? It wouldn’t need to be anything special, more or less the information provided by the website, just in an app form. Standings, when the next race is, news etc.

Like how Thomson drive the bmw for 1 round, is there just a BMW sat in WSR doing nothing or what would the team do with it. Also do other teams just have spare cars and why?

Personally I think Road Atlanta would be great considering it’s long back straight.

Before anyone else says it, my first nomination is Matt Neal becoming the first Independent to score an outright win at Donington in 1999.

I would have liked to have seen how Jamie Davies would have done in the Volvo 850 at Snetterton in 1996. He was due to stand in for Kelvin Burt at that event but he had a massive accident of his own during the pre-event test and wrote off the car so Rickard Rydell was Volvo's sole representative at Snetterton in the end.