Vauxhall to bow out of BTCC at end of the season

m0rk

sarcasm comes free
Staff member
May 19, 2001
27,787
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Clanfield, UK
From the amount of money Vauxhall must be ploughing into it they will be seeing zero return.

They're not even winning the only championship that matters to them this year because it got sacked off.

Instead they're getting their asses handed to them by a bunch of amateurs with a much smaller budget. That's a harsh truth when you spend £xxxxxx's on two professional drivers & one of the dearer race teams to design & build & run your cars.

I was surprised they bothered with this year to be honest - though with an obsolete model you could argue that their heart isn't into it.... I wonder if they'll pull the plug mid season?
 

FSiLeonMike

Barmy Army Reservist (TA)
Apr 26, 2007
1,303
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Bury St Edmunds/Stowmarket-ish
From the amount of money Vauxhall must be ploughing into it they will be seeing zero return.

They're not even winning the only championship that matters to them this year because it got sacked off.

Instead they're getting their asses handed to them by a bunch of amateurs with a much smaller budget. That's a harsh truth when you spend £xxxxxx's on two professional drivers & one of the dearer race teams to design & build & run your cars.

I was surprised they bothered with this year to be honest - though with an obsolete model you could argue that their heart isn't into it.... I wonder if they'll pull the plug mid season?


If Gio isn't top of the pile mid season, i reckon they will bow out early. If he is top, i reckon they will run the season, and go out on a high
 

m0rk

sarcasm comes free
Staff member
May 19, 2001
27,787
33
Clanfield, UK
I couldn't give a crap about him

he is a pay drive, and can buy another pay drive next year

He wasn't awarded it on skills, just a cheque book to subsidise the other two cars

Same as Luke Hines, and Tom Chilton
 

m0rk

sarcasm comes free
Staff member
May 19, 2001
27,787
33
Clanfield, UK
No, I wasn't saying he was a bad person or driver - just that he didn't earn the spot like one of the Pro's

Just that next year his cheque book will be equally well accepted at another team

But I bet that without the big budget works teams BTCC will flounder without a radical change. No Manufacturer will join a privateer championship, so t will forever be just that - unless someone flukes it
 

FSiLeonMike

Barmy Army Reservist (TA)
Apr 26, 2007
1,303
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Bury St Edmunds/Stowmarket-ish
No, I wasn't saying he was a bad person or driver - just that he didn't earn the spot like one of the Pro's

Just that next year his cheque book will be equally well accepted at another team

But I bet that without the big budget works teams BTCC will flounder without a radical change. No Manufacturer will join a privateer championship, so t will forever be just that - unless someone flukes it

BTCC has struggled before with tiny grids, the regs will be shook up if they need to increase the field.

They did it before, and they will do it again, its the nature of the beast, so to speak.
 

warren_cox

Back from the dead
What a turnaround. Our company was looking into the potential of a small scale sponsorship deal, but seeing where this is all heading I don't think our Directors will be prepared to invest.

Do you think ITV are likely to pull the plug on the ITV4 coverage when this happens?

Such a shame as it has been such a great Sunday afternoon entertainment for so many, and whilst the Indies will continue, it's unlikely to get the same backing without major players.

What a week for the BTCC. IS Plato running at Thruxton?
 

Fl@pper

Back older greyer and less oilier but always hope
Jun 19, 2001
12,370
26
Gloucester
when Vauxhall turned up with 3/4 cars to make up the numbers it sort of killed it off for me
 

RobDon

Pro Detailer
No surprise really, they've nothing to prove and running in the BTCC will have nothing to do with the amount of cars they sell in the showroom. If the current economic situation is prolonged, I can see the death of the BTCC in the next few years.

Look at the British rally championship now compared to what it was like years ago - a ghost of its former self.
 

warren_cox

Back from the dead
No surprise really, they've nothing to prove and running in the BTCC will have nothing to do with the amount of cars they sell in the showroom. If the current economic situation is prolonged, I can see the death of the BTCC in the next few years.

Look at the British rally championship now compared to what it was like years ago - a ghost of its former self.

This post is so true, and when you reflect on it gone are the days when people swamped the stages of a rally to see a man risking his life at the wheel of a rally car.

Instead everyone sits in and watches nobodies with names you couldn't possibly spell sing shabby ballad covers cooked up by high trouser band Cowell and his fellow bellends on a Saturday night from the comfort of their sofa. Manufactured gutter trash is now gripping the nation more than anyone prepared to go and pay good money to race round a track at the potential expense of their life.

I know times are hard, but the big players pulled out of rallying some time ago. Now the BTCC is going the same way. Honda pulled out of F1 and by the grace of a small miracle Brawn Racing somehow managed to rise out from the ashes.

Is it that there is so much motorsport that it has become diluted? Is it that there is so much more to do that people as less interested watching racers go round in circles all afternoon? Is the politics of racing causing die hard fans to find something else to get involved in? Is it the fact that we all drive cars that will do 120mph+ that means the thrill of speed has lost its edge? Is motor racing becoming an unenvironmental dinosaur in a heavily taxed ecomental world? Maybe people are just moving on.
 
What a turnaround. Our company was looking into the potential of a small scale sponsorship deal, but seeing where this is all heading I don't think our Directors will be prepared to invest.

Do you think ITV are likely to pull the plug on the ITV4 coverage when this happens?

Such a shame as it has been such a great Sunday afternoon entertainment for so many, and whilst the Indies will continue, it's unlikely to get the same backing without major players.

What a week for the BTCC. IS Plato running at Thruxton?


Historically, this means that costs will be brought down again, indy teams will start building their own cars again and everything will be a lot more competative!

There are too many good people in BTCC to let a little thing like VXR going worry them! Now sponsors can get more for their money.....watch this space.;)
 

microgerry

Active Member
Apr 11, 2007
88
5
Connah's Quay, Flintshire
VXR going is no great loss and if that means Matt Neale will retire then I am all for it! There are far too many good drivers and teams in the series for it to die off just yet. The decision doesn't surprise me after SEAT going last year. Let's all hope that the guys we support can really stick it to them this year and they can go out on a LOW.
 
Jul 17, 2004
1,829
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West Lothian
VXR going is no great loss and if that means Matt Neale will retire then I am all for it! There are far too many good drivers and teams in the series for it to die off just yet. The decision doesn't surprise me after SEAT going last year. Let's all hope that the guys we support can really stick it to them this year and they can go out on a LOW.

He'll go back to daddy I expect. ;)

Can't see the plug being pulled mid-season. They will be contracted to 888 until the end of the year and will have to honour that. They said it was announced this early so that 888 could get themselves a new deal with something else for 2010.

Mixed feelings about this. Used to support them back in the early days purely because of John Cleland being my hero, but after he went my interest went too. And I wasn't happy with the way they treated Colin T in 2005, booting him out for Chilton for 2006, a move Ian Harrison says he now regrets.

If you look at the likes of the STCC, there are very few works teams in that (most are semi-works or backed by some dealers) and it's very strong with a lot of variety of cars on the grid. So all is not lost for the BTCC yet.
 

JasonP06

Full Member
Sep 11, 2006
369
0
One thing I really hope we will see happen with VXR gone is teams like Team RAC, CVR, Team Dynamics and Airwaves BMW experiencing an upturn in points and positions that are obtainable to them and therefore, hopefully, creating a more open series with a greater diversity of winners.

So whilst we will for sure loose that sense of quality works influence that VXR brought, I believe we have enough about us as a series to remain competitive.
 

JasonP06

Full Member
Sep 11, 2006
369
0
don't bother me...didn't like taking pics of the vectras anyway!

lol


I don't even like seeing em!

Seriously though a nice hot bath has a rather strange effect - it can make you think about stuff more. And I had this idea we have one thing over VXR. Say it is 2010 and CVR decide to do a second season. As soon as the season started the VXR gear became out of date. Yet two years on from SSUK pulling out in 2008 SEAT merchandise is still as relevant and in vogue as it was back when Jase' was bothering Gio for fun.
 

F2 Stu

I. Am. Legend.
Oct 4, 2001
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Crawley, UK
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Now who didn't see this coming:? :whistle:

Vuaxhall were a bit **** in the halcyon days of the supertouring era, with the manufacturers pulling out left right and centre it was a no brainer for them to continue when the rules were changed to cut costs and compete against lesser teams and reap the rewards and they been doing that for the past 10 years or so.

Makes no sense them competing now against no other manufacturer tbh
 
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ArosaRacer

Wee man returns in a fL mk2 cupra
Aug 28, 2005
2,297
14
44
Bayview, Kent
You did say they would Stu ! im not a Vx lover and i wont be sad to see the back of them. That Mike bloke who runs Vxr reminds me of Victor Meldrew ive never seen him smile once!
 
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