F1 Discussion

[Fernandofan08]

(13-07-2013 12:22 AM)OllieWestwood Wrote:  But if you were Kia, why would you run BTCC where MG and Hinda are the only competitors as a manufacturer and neither are run by the manufacturers, when you could take a stab at a world championship and run in all your target countries in the WTCC? Sure the racing ain't as good but for a upcoming Asian manufacturer, racing all over Europe and Asia with global tv coverage on Eurosport or motors vs a trip to croft, or knockhill with itv 4 coverage?

As a manufacturer surely it's a no brainier?

Don't get me wrong I want more manufacturers in the BTCC like the super touring era, but as a marketing exercise which lets be honest that's all motorsport is for a manufacturer at that level as neither BTCC NGTC or the current world touring spec allow much innovation or development towards road car technology, you have to gonfornthe bigger audience and geographical racing?

If I was KIA I would! The reason being that, Yuasa/Dynamics are the manufacturer team with manufacturer backing, Triple 8 MG is the manufacturer backed team aswell. KIA can manufacturer-back a privateer company and be right at the top. That could lead into a WTCC entry if they want,but BTCC is cheaper and they could make the Ceed into a top challenger then set up a WTCC programme, which is much, much more expensive than BTCC. The other plus side, is that KIA is becoming a better known franchise in the UK. They do the USA Pirelli challenge, they do Korean/Asian motorsports, breaking into europe via BTCC could be the first step; No point shelling out much more money to fly all over europe and fail, when you can localise to a very similar category which is still renouned among tin tops in europe.

I dont really see motorsport as having much road relevance anymore. the idea of pushing a car to the limit, designing superior power, speed, handling through the chassis etc conflicts with what manufacturers now push for tiny eco engines.

Imagine if say Honda or MG or KIA, did their Civic Type R/MG6/Pro_CEED in BTCC performance editions in the uk; id have an MG6 if it was akin to a type R! With BTCC KIA is getting into a relatively cheap motorsport with a very large local fanbase.