BTCC 'Premier' UK Series?

[norwichsam1]

I have often seen the BTCC referred to as the UK's premier racing series and this just got me thinking. How exactly can it be seen as this. Surely being the 'premier' series would imply that all the top drivers/teams/manufacturers are involved.

Now no disrespect meant to any of the competitors (even the furthest backmarkers are out of my league!) but when a series is mainly reliant on 'pay' drivers, bringing budget to the team (or even running their own teams), or race cars that are 5 of 6 years old, surely its hardly a premier series. I mean for example when you have the likes of Colin Turkington, Fabrizio Giovanardi, James Thompson etc on the sidelines and teams of the calibre of 888 and WSR unsure if they can raise the budget to race, while the likes of Jeff Smith & Liam Griffin can be in a decent cars it seems ironic promoting itself as the premier series.

How popular would footballs premier league be if instead of the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney etc, the teams relied on rich businessmen who fancied turning out for the likes of Man Utd or Arsenal?

[AndySpeed]

A lot of it comes down to PR hyperbole - it's a struggle but you're unlikely to get any more sponsors unless you flog it for every last exaggerated word it's worth in your press releases are you?

In many respects it is and it isn't the premier series - I believe it still gets the largest UK crowds over the season. The racing is very entertaining and the support package is very good too.

[norwichsam1]

don't get me wrong I love the whole toca package, I guess its frustration as much as anything that more companies, manufacturers dont want to get involved, I'm actually all for the small teams and privateer drivers but just not at the expense of the top professionals, and equally for the privateers themselves surely it would be far more prestigious for them to be on a grid of tin top greats, ex f1 stars etc rather than a field where the vast majority are well funded amateurs.

If you were to take away the promotion and 'hype' would you really know the difference between the BTCC and a good quality club event these days?

[VkmSpouge]

I have often seen the BTCC referred to as the UK's premier racing series and this just got me thinking. How exactly can it be seen as this. Surely being the 'premier' series would imply that all the top drivers/teams/manufacturers are involved.

I think premier UK series would imply that is the top level of British motorsport and it certainly is in contention there. You look at all the other British series they are also dominated by pay drivers too because there is little in the way of manufacturer involvement.
But if British Touring Cars isn't the premier UK racing series, what is?

[inimitablestoo]

Trouble is, how many other British series have manufacturer involvement? (One-make series don't count. On many levels...) Sure, Mercedes and Volkswagen power all the top cars in Formula 3, and it is our top series on the road to F1, which by extension should mean it's the most important series in Britain, but they're not true factory efforts. The British GT series is probably the only other big one that could contest the title, and that tends to be mostly for amateur drivers with a number of pros thrown in, usually as support.

In terms of crowd numbers, TV exposure and (though I can't prove this with figures, I imagine it's true) sponsorship value, the BTCC is way ahead of the F3/GT package. Added to which, it tends to have familiar names (Plato, Neal, even the likes of Shedden and Chilton are probably established enough now to count among the real stars of the series) which you won't get in F3 (occupational hazard) or tend to find in GTs (er, pass).