Like most Kiwi motorsport nuts this whole TCR (which stands simply for ‘Touring Car Racing,’ by the way) thing has caught me by surprise.
One minute I’m thinking it was some sort of cut-price, Euro-centric alternative to the BTCC, ETCC and WTCC. The next I’m reading/hearing/generally finding out not only that last year a WTCR series actually replaced the long-running FIA-sanctioned WTCC, but also that (in what seems like just the blink of an eye) there are now 19 TCR-based championship series operating around the globe with the freshly-minted Aussie one set to kick off next month (May) and the much rumoured NZTCR one set to become the 20th.
I say ‘much rumoured’ but the reality is in fact the opposite. I’ve spoken over the past week to several people with serious ‘skin in the local motorsport game’ and all – to a man – proffered not so much ignorance but rather a kind of (audible sigh) ‘not ANOTHER bloody class we can’t afford’ sense of resignation, and general sort of, ‘no-one’s talked to me about it’ funk!
So, even if MotorSport NZ is (apparently) about to officially announce the creation of a local series, the promotor who ‘wins’ (ahem!) the tender to run it is going to have his or her work cut out getting everyone from team owners/principals through drivers, circuit and club staff and volunteers, as well as local parts and service suppliers, members of the local motorsport media and your average fan alongside.
Which is pretty much the response I got when I came out in support of the ABB Formula E electric single-seater series and plans by a bunch of (non-motor racing) movers and shakers to bring it to Auckland in 2020 or 2021.
I’ve no idea why I am different, but as I researched the TCR category, car and various series’ around the world for my column this week, I couldn’t help but see the very real potential in a local version.
Before I launch into the ‘whys,’ though, let me cover over some key ‘whats.’
The TCR category is the brainchild of former World Touring Car Championship promoter Marcello Lotti, the Italian coming up with a set of regulations with the aim of producing a cost-effective touring car class while still involving manufacturers.
TCR cars are front-wheel-drive, four/five-door saloons or hatchbacks using turbocharged production engines with a capacity of between 1750-2000cc and with a maximum power output of 260kW (350hp).
Several manufacturers have, or are in the process, of homologating TCR cars including Alfa Romeo, Audi, Seat, Honda, Hyundai, Peugeot and Volkswagen as well as Lada (true!) and Chinese manufacturer Geely’s new Lynk & Co brand.
The key in terms of levelling the playing field is that each manufacturer must nominate a car builder and that builder must make cars for sale to teams (and/or) individuals.
Amazingly more than 600 TCR racing cars have been built and sold to customer teams so far, with several second-hand ones already here and being used in both the North and South Island Endurance series.
As to where an NZTCR series would fit into the local motor racing landscape is a moot point.
The obvious way would be to simply slot it into the annual ‘summer’ motor racing series along – say – with three or four (each) of the Castrol TRS and Toyota Finance 86 series rounds.
That said, as my contacts made clear when I mentioned the possibility of a local TCR series, the consensus appears to be that there are way too many ‘vested-interest’ classes on Motorsport NZ’s books still able to ‘buy’ a spot and bit of TV time on the ‘summer series’ programme.
And unless the governing body or promotor ‘pulls on some big boy pants’ and strips some of the less relevant ones, the status quo will continue.
A better idea might be to create a whole new March-November series with the NZTCR category headlining a mix of sprint (think Manfeild ‘Winter Formula First and Formula Ford/1600’) and endurance (Eneos North Island and South Island series) race formats – at least for the first two seasons.
Yes, I know someone is going to pipe up and say ‘but who is going to buy a car at (something in the region of) $200K per new one landed.
But really, is that even an argument these days?
Wander up or down the pit lane at a round of either (North or South) endurance series and set your mental calculator to work. Then if you think that is an aberration (last time I did this I came up with a figure of just under $5 million at ballpark RRPs) ask around about the average build cost of a competitive front running Ford Mustang or Chev Camaro – say – to run in the Central Muscle Cars Series.
From my own involvement with the SAS Autoparts MSC NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series, and latterly the Archibald’s Historic Touring Car one, I also have a fairly good idea now of the sort of ‘freight’ you need to run a competitive car at or near the front of either of those fields at a ‘classic’ meeting.
Reliable sources who have been involved in putting together suitably serious campaigns to win the NZ Formula Ford title over the years also tell me that the $35K it cost a mate of mine 20 years ago would get you to the first two rounds of the current NZ F1600 title race…. but no further.
My point?
That finding the budget to buy and run a TCR car in a NZ series will not be a problem.
What will be (a problem) is convincing those with the readies (either team owners/principals, or owner/drivers) that a local series will have a suitable ego-boosting and accountant/sponsor-satisfying promo plan attached (which you can read as ‘a decent local TV package’) and that there will be a ready market for this year’s cars next year.
As to who might be interested in running a car or cars, all you have to do is check out – first – the number of Pro teams that now operate in the TRS space, then wonder what they do for the other 9-10 months of the year.
Knowing Lyall Williamson and son Nick, I’m fairly sure that Auckland-based International Motorsport would jump at the chance to return to the local touring car scene.
As, I’m sure would one of their driving/car/engine-building alumni, Angus Fogg.
In Christchurch John and Trish Crawford could no doubt be convinced to add an NZTCR string to their Motorsport Solutions’ bow.
I shouldn’t need to remind you either that no less a driven entrepreneurial-type than Hayden Paddon has just set up (a race) shop at Highlands and told NZ Herald motorsport reporter Eric Thompson on Saturday that he was actively looking for projects to keep his team of specialist mechanics and fabricators busy.
Yes, I know that he’s more a gravel than a grip guy but Paddon’s ties (if not with the WRC squad, at least with the local distributor and the factory) with Hyundai remain strong, and, if you didn’t already know, touring car series veterans Gabriele Tarquini and Yvon Muller finished first and second respectively in the inaugural 2018 WTCR series driving…..Hyundai i30 N TCRs!
The only (ever so slight) reservation I have with the idea of an NZTCR series is relevance.
While I do know that it’s been years since Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons fought it out for market supremacy here, the ‘car’ of choice in terms of number sold every year is now a ‘Ute’ – a Ford Ranger Ute to be exact.
There is still a market for the ‘hot hatches’ on which the TCR is built, but here it is small and getting smaller every year.
What are selling are SUV equivalents, like Toyota Rav4s, Hyundai Santa Fes and Volkswagen TIguans…………so perhaps that could be the next step.
Either way bringing a cost-effective, truly international formula to this country has got to be a good, rather than a bad thing. So, from where I stand, I say;
‘NZTCR? Bring it on!’
Also see: Where will TCR fit?
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