The Best BTCC Car of All Time.... [Archive]

Eurotech

5th February 2010, 22:11

DazzlaF1

5th February 2010, 23:06

http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/AndyBlackmore/BTCC/st/btcc_1997_plato.jpg

1997 Renault Laguna, no contest (well in my opinion at least)

BTCC2

6th February 2010, 02:25

Yep 1997 Renault Laguna.

wedge

6th February 2010, 14:14

Whaaaat!

Sierra Turbo Cossie, surely no contest?!

If I were to be biased then it would have to be Audi A4 - Vorsprung Durch Technik! :D My father bought a spanking new one when it was first released and has been loyal A4 customer ever since.

Eurotech

6th February 2010, 17:56

The problem with the Sierra Cosworth's is that they never had anything to race against...

Daz

6th February 2010, 21:22

Easy one this, the 1996 Audi Sport UK A4 Quattro just looked awesome in silver with the red rings on it.

VkmSpouge

7th February 2010, 15:03

So probably not BMW 320i, J-Team Motorsport 2007, Jim Pocklington? :p :

It's a tricky question, as I can only comment on cars from 1992 onwards (I've only ever seen a couple of races from the before the super touring era). I quite liked the 2005/06 Honda Integra with Matt Neal. Joachim Winkelhock's 1993 BMW 318i was another good one.
I think the best livery of any car good or bad was that on the 1999 Arena Motorsport Renault Laguna.

Rollo

8th February 2010, 03:02

I know this has probably been done already but I'm just wondering what everyone thinks is the best car the raced in the BTCC is.

In terms of winning championships it's either got to be the Vauxhall Astra Coupe or the Mini; for my money it's the Mini.

John Whitmore and John Love took the car to the Championship in 1960 and 1961, and Richard Longman won back to back in 1978 & 1979, some 18 years after the first time it won the championship.

The Mini also had victories at Bathurst, several Monte Carlo Rally wins, as well as the BTCC and therefore I think is probably one of the "greatest cars ever raced", let alone in the BTCC.

mattie007

8th February 2010, 12:34

For me its the MG ZS. I have been watching BTCC since 1996, but really got into it when MG returned and even bought a ZS.

MG ZS, 2002 MG SnR Hotwheels Livery, Anthony Reid

http://i48.tinypic.com/wrlw1e.jpg

RaceOnBtcc2010

8th February 2010, 13:24

I know this has probably been done already but I'm just wondering what everyone thinks is the best car the raced in the BTCC is.

I want to know The Car, Best Livery, Best Driver etc.

I'd say the Astra Coupe, VXRacing 2004, James Thompson

What about you....?

John Cleland Is A Legend
undoubtedly the Best BTCC Driver Of The 80's And 90's
BTCC Champion 1989 Vauxhall Astra
BTCC Champion 1995 Vauxhall Cavalier

8th February 2010, 16:41

Hi,

At least, not BMW.

Regards,
Dodge Steering (http://www.carsteering.com/dodge_steering.htm)

Eurotech

8th February 2010, 20:40

no ones mentioned the Honda Integra yet....

Rollo

8th February 2010, 22:03

The problem with the Sierra Cosworth's is that they never had anything to race against...

At least not in Britain. The BTCC switched to a 2L formula in 1990, and as such the BTCC never saw the greatest exploitation of the Group A rules under which it was built. That accolade goes to the:
Nissan Skyline GTR R32.

The only way to beat the GTR that was tried was to change the rules. As far as I know, no manufacturer took on the GTR at its own game and won... which is a nice segue to:

no ones mentioned the Honda Integra yet....

The Honda Integra DC5 was Team Dynamics' attempt to out Astra the Astra, and by taking a car which was never officially sold by the manufacturer in the UK they actually did take on the Astra at its own game and won.

CarlMetro

9th February 2010, 09:55

Personal favorite of mine is the Ford Mondeo, with an honorable mention to the old Civic Type R circa 2003 when Matt Neal could drive a whole race without ramming someone off the track, sounds unbelievable but it's true :)

MrJan

9th February 2010, 11:06

The Audi A4 or Alfa Romeo were probably the best. Stretched the rules and walked most races until rule changes had to be implemented.

I used to quite like the Esso livery on the 406 as well but that yellow and blue Laguna is iconic for me as I was at just the right age.

Driver wise then Cleland is undoubtedly the legend of the BTCC in my era but I always preferred Will Hoy. Menu, Smoking Jo, Biela and even Plato deserve mentions as well (Plato partly for the way that he dominated the Renault Spyder support series)

Abo

10th February 2010, 13:33

So much choice!

Team Dynamics Nissan Primera would be up there on my list just for the impact Neal had on me back then (independent taking on the manufacturers etc. etc.). And the Volvo estate was fun.

For 'best' though I think it'd be a tossup between the 155 and the Cossie. I reckon I'd come down on the side of the Cossie though

Allyc85

10th February 2010, 18:39

Best car is so hard as theres so many variations, rules and situations etc.

But im going to go for the Integra as it was a privately built effort that is still competitive years after its début.

Eurotech

10th February 2010, 23:21

Lets make this a bit easier, how about the Best car from 4 of the different stages of the BTCC:

>Pre 1990
>Super Touring
>BTC-T
>S2000

BDunnell

10th February 2010, 23:35

I think comparisons between eras along these lines are, sadly, impossible. How is an Audi A4 better or worse than a Lotus Cortina?

Mark in Oshawa

11th February 2010, 00:04

AS someone who watched from afar, I loved the Volvo wagon....and James Thompson's Honda...not sure on the year.....

wedge

11th February 2010, 00:19

AS someone who watched from afar, I loved the Volvo wagon....and James Thompson's Honda...not sure on the year.....

Volvo 850 was iconic. Not thee best in its era but surprisingly one of the best cars.

daz90

11th February 2010, 18:23

The 97 Laguna was probably the best package in any single supertourer season, the 96 Audi A4 a close second to that, with the 94 Alfa 155 in third, but each of those had one excellant season each while the rest of the time they were either competative but not dominent (Laguna & A4) while the Alfa 155 was only any good in 94, the 1995 package was appalling.

If it hadn't been for the weight penaltys suffered by BMW the supertouring 320i would get my vote as best BTCC car, but it was forever weighed down to keep it in check, as was the Audi after 96. However the early three door e30(?) from 1990 to 1992 was rather succesfull, it even competed occasionaly against the Sierra cosworths.

Anyway, i am rather biased too towards John Cleland and the Vauxhall Cavalier, the 95 paint job, although simple, was one of my favourite paint jobs.

Wim_Impreza

11th February 2010, 18:43

The Volvo S40 was a great looking car with Rickard Rydell in 1998. I have played a lot of hours with it in TOCA2.

reidy_fan

11th February 2010, 20:25

Lets make this a bit easier, how about the Best car from 4 of the different stages of the BTCC:

>Pre 1990
>Super Touring
>BTC-T
>S2000

pre 1990, sierra RS500
Super touring, nissan primera
BTC-T, vauxhall astra coupe
S2000, BMW 3 series

VkmSpouge

11th February 2010, 21:09

Super Touring: The best car seemed to rotate from year to year. Prodrive's 2000 Ford Mondeo, Williams' 1997 Renault Laguna, RML's 1999 Nissan Primera were all fantastic.

BTC-Touring: Vauxhall Astra coupé, utterly brilliant car. I hope Martin Johnson brings it back this year. The Honda Integra also deserves a special mention, it looked great and was the best of it's time.

BTC-Production: Honda Civic Type-R, a great little car developed by Synchro Motorsport. James Kaye took the Production title in 2002 and then the cars were passed onto Barwell Motorsport for 2003 where Luke Hines took the title.

Super 2000: BMW 320i (not the BMW 320si), one of the original S2000 cars and was a great car.

BTCC2

11th February 2010, 22:38

Super Touring- Renault Laguna
BTC-Touring- Vauxhall Astra Coupe
BTC-Production/Class B- Peugeot 306
Super 2000- Vauxhall Vectra
Pre 1990- Ford Sierra Cosworth

WSRfan82

12th February 2010, 09:15

For me it has to be either the 1995 Volvo 850 T5 or the 98 Volvo S40, Rydell was my hero in the good old days of the BTCC

Daniel

12th February 2010, 12:51

shazbot

12th February 2010, 12:51

The Laguna has a soft spot for me as I played a small part in its development. I seriously doubt any Super Touring Car had as much half scale wind testing done. I'm not sure anyone model tested actually. It was all done in the Willimas F1 tunnel, slotted in for a few days during F1 development! Can't see that happening today.

philipbain

12th February 2010, 22:19

My 2 votes go to:

Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500, insane turbo nutter grunt (ultimately 550BHP at it's height) going through a manual H pattern gearbox to the rear wheels with 8 inch wide tyres!

Nissan Primera, the ultimate exploitation of the Super Touring regulations, taking the shell of a rather bland road car and turning it into a formidable racing car.

Daniel

12th February 2010, 23:50

Nissan Primera, the ultimate exploitation of the Super Touring regulations, taking the shell of a rather bland road car and turning it into a formidable racing car.

Did you read what Tim Harvey wrote a while back in EVO?

One word springs to mind, starts with c, ends with t and also has e, a and h in it ;)

rwdvectra

13th February 2010, 00:00

BTCC2

13th February 2010, 00:29

My fav of all time were the facelift vectra's. Fell inlove with these cars and thats all i've had since

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/571/vectra1999btccd.jpg (http://img38.imageshack.us/i/vectra1999btccd.jpg/)

You forget just how good the super tourers looked dont you? Some of them looked stunnning.

VkmSpouge

13th February 2010, 11:32

For me it's the 406 in Esso Ultron livery. It wasn't crap as everyone seems to think, just very very very very very very very unlucky :p

OK I admit it was a crap car but the best looking touring car ever :D

The Peugeot 406 was a very strange car, looked great in BTCC livery but went crap. But in the hands of Laurant Aiello (I think) in the STW it won the championship beating Audis, Hondas, BMWs and Opels, none of which it could beat in the BTCC.

mac853

13th February 2010, 16:03

Best TC cars in different classes:

GroupA 1600cc - Honda Civic EG6
GroupA 2500cc - Nissan Skyline BNR32, Ford Sierra
ST - Audi A4, Nissan Primera MKIII, Honda Accord
SP - BMW320I, Honda Integra DC5R
S2000 - BMW320SI, Seat Leon TDI

kmchow

14th February 2010, 08:07

The Peugeot 406 was a very strange car, looked great in BTCC livery but went crap. But in the hands of Laurant Aiello (I think) in the STW it won the championship beating Audis, Hondas, BMWs and Opels, none of which it could beat in the BTCC.
Wasn't part of the STW 406's success was the engine? I recall reading Peugeot Sport France wouldn't let the BTCC team get access to the engine as they were afraid the secrets would get eventually leaked out since the BTCC team was subcontracted out.

kmchow

14th February 2010, 08:09

My top pic for the best car in the ST era was the Volvo 850 wagon. While it was a bit unreliable or unpredictable, the car looked totally mean. Boxy, but fast and intimidating looking!

Eurotech

14th February 2010, 14:57

I've got to say I still have a soft spot for the Volvo Estate. Imagine how the drivers must have felt being overtaken by that!

Daniel

14th February 2010, 15:07

Wasn't part of the STW 406's success was the engine? I recall reading Peugeot Sport France wouldn't let the BTCC team get access to the engine as they were afraid the secrets would get eventually leaked out since the BTCC team was subcontracted out.
IIRC back in the day Pipo were the engine builders for the the 306 maxi which shared a good deal of the engine with the 406, I've been told the engines were pretty much the same actually but who knows.

AndyRAC

14th February 2010, 16:05

For me it's the 406 in Esso Ultron livery. It wasn't crap as everyone seems to think, just very very very very very very very unlucky :p

OK I admit it was a crap car but the best looking touring car ever :D

It wasn't very good in the TOCA Touring Car games either.

While it will never happen, I'd like to see just one set of regs worldwide for Touring cars. The DTM, Aussie V8's wouldn't agree though.

wedge

14th February 2010, 23:28

I've got to say I still have a soft spot for the Volvo Estate. Imagine how the drivers must have felt being overtaken by that!

I think pretty much everyone felt the same. It was surprisingly a good car because it was really good on the quick corners.

Eurotech

15th February 2010, 00:09

its like the situation in the VW Racing Cup where you have Vans competing (and doing quite well!)

Brown, Jon Brow

17th February 2010, 22:52

The best cars have been the Renault Laguna 97 and the original Astra Coupe. Both were near unbeatable.

kmchow

22nd February 2010, 06:32

I've got to say I still have a soft spot for the Volvo Estate. Imagine how the drivers must have felt being overtaken by that!
The '94 BTCC Year in Review had a good shot of some of the other drivers when they rolled out the '94 Estate for presentation. I recall one driver looked he was about to laugh, but covered/smother his mouth with his hand. Others smiled when they saw the Estate. Some had their mouths open. IIRC, Volvo tried to keep everyone guessing whether they would race an Estate or the saloon until very late.

Brooksy

19th March 2010, 19:19

I think the most successful had to be the BTC Vauxhall Astra Coupe. In more recent years the BMW 320 has done rather well and let's not forget the Vectra. My personal favourite has to be the 1999-2000 Honda Accord though. I always liked it at the time but more so now because I now drive an Accord saloon of that model (not bad for a first car). Nowadays I like to pretend I'm James Thompson where possible. :)