WTCC: How to improve it....

[AndyRAC]

Right, I'm not the biggest fan of it, however, I do think we need a World Championship for 'Touring type cars'. But, it has to be a proper series, not the current mess we have. In fact, I saw a comment from a driver in Motorsport magazine, ".....fly halfway around the world for two 20 minute races...."

So, what cars, tracks and format to we want?
Personally, I think it needs to be 400+BHP, RWD and lots of flames & noise, 10 rounds, with about 50-70 minutes a race.

This is providing Manufacturers want it......

So, fire away. Be as sensible, or ridiculous as you like.

[inimitablestoo]

The obvious thing on the distance is to go back to the mid-80s WTCC/ETCC style and make the races long enough for two-driver affairs. Add a few even longer events such as the Spa 24 Hours and revive the Tourist Trophy at Silverstone (I'd suggest the Bathurst 1000 too, but I doubt you'd prise that away from the V8 Supercars again) and you'd have something like the 1987 World Championship.

The regular rounds needn't be that long - indeed, a series of one-hour races with a driver change would probably make more sense for a touring car category than it did for the now-defunct GT1 World Championship. I've always thought it curious that WTCC races are shorter than their British Championship counterparts - surely a World Championship ought to be the pinnacle? I'm aware that driver change events aren't for everyone though, so perhaps I'd leave it as single-driver for the hour-long events and just bring in guest drivers for the enduros.

As for the cars, something more powerful than the BTCC (again, that idea of a World Championship being the pinnacle) but probably less powerful than a DTM machine, simply because it needs to be attractive to manufacturers. Got to be realistic, as much as I'd like a NASCAR-style V8 soundtrack. Somewhere between the BTCC and DTM in terms of aerodynamics too - more than you'd get on the road cars, but not pseudo-F1 madness.

Right, I'm off to the FIA...

[BDunnell]

I've never really cared one jot about whether a WTCC exists. Different countries have different traditions regarding touring car racing. In Britain, the American muscle cars and the 1980s Group A cars were, to some extent, aberrations — the British series has generally been contested by more 'average' family saloons. In Germany and Australia, to name but two, the traditions are different again. There is, therefore, no single touring car formula that appeals worldwide. The WTCC will always be run to whichever rules are in vogue with the FIA at a given time. To some extent, this is sensible — there's no point coming up with a formula unique to a World Championship.

[wedge]

^^^
What he said.

If only DTM adopts the V8SC formula...

[Allyc85]

If only every country had V8 supercar rules and a World Final at the end of the year

[wedge]

If only every country had V8 supercar rules and a World Final at the end of the year

Sidney Olympic Park is an awful Mickey Mouse track....

[inimitablestoo]

I've always liked it myself - although I'd take Bathurst and Surfers Paradise over it any day

[inimitablestoo]

Actually, there's one thing they could do with immediate effect - put the Suzuka round on the full Grand Prix circuit and not the pointless West (or is it East?) layout that has been used in the last couple of years.

[Robinho]

Avoiding gp tracks altogether would be a good start, they are too wide and the straights are too long for 300hp tintops, they need more narrow and twisty tracks relative to the F1 style circuits. The majority of the success of the BTCC I believe is down to the quality of the tracks which are largely suited to the size and power of the cars

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Sent from the moon using a shoe

[BDunnell]

Avoiding gp tracks altogether would be a good start, they are too wide and the straights are too long for 300hp tintops, they need more narrow and twisty tracks relative to the F1 style circuits. The majority of the success of the BTCC I believe is down to the quality of the tracks which are largely suited to the size and power of the cars

I've never really agreed with this view, for I think it depends on the F1-style circuits in question. With a lot of them, I take the point. However, the Silverstone GP circuit was always great for BTCC cars in the Super Touring days, so there's no reason it wouldn't be for today's BTCC and WTCC machines.