The BTCC Championship organiser, TOCA has awarded a new technical partner contract to RML, famous for building touring cars for both the WTCC and the BTCC in the past.
The Wellingborough-based RML Group are widely regarded as one of the world’s leading touring car design and engineering companies.
RML was selected after a long and in depth tender prcess which began earlier in 2015. The “BTCC Design group” which comprises of the Championship’s leading designers and engineers, chose RML from all the candidates for a six year term, commencing from next season. The regulations were first introduced in 2011, initially running with the S2000 cars, and this is the scheduled mid term evaluation coming half way through the projected ten year period that the regulations were to be used for.
RML will now provide NGTC chassis, design, engineering and component supply services to all teams competing in the BTCC. They are undertaking comprehensive elvaulation and design work which will lead to some NGTC part updates. These will be made available for the 2016 season onwards and most components will be compatible with existing parts. This means a team can choose to upgrade just some of their parts and keep some old, change all of them or stick with the existing parts depending on their individual budgets and expectations. All existing components will continue to be eligible to be used in the championship.
RML will work alongside both the BTCC design group and the Technical working group (TWG) who will oversee and ultimately approve the revised designs.
The TWG have already requested the redesign of several components on the ground sof both durability and the ease of use by teams when constructing cars. The updates will be developed with the aim of maintaining the current concept, performance and price.
As part of the contract RML will provide full spares and technical support at all BTCC events including official test days as well as being available for customer support at any time.
RML have already invested heavily in the new programme with supply of parts available from November for teams building or updating cars. RML plan to test their own car with the 2016 components in the coming months to ensure their performance and reliability.
RML is no stranger to the BTCC having first joined the championship in 2013 and last raced as a team in 2011. They have been involved since in an engineering capacity, building cars for several of the current teams.
Alan Gow spoke about the appointment of RML and of the success of the NGTC regulations so far;
“Our NGTC regulations have been incredibly successful for the BTCC – no doubt they are one of the most important milestones in its proud 58 year history – but success is never achieved by merely standing still, which is why this ‘mid-term’ review was always scheduled into our ten year NGTC programme.
“Actually, it’s great testament to the concept of the regulations that they remain largely the same after 5 years, without requiring any more than some fine-tuning to take them through the next five. Very, very few top-level championships have technical regulations that are as fundamentally sound and enduring as ours have proven to be.
“So as we enter the next phase of the NGTC regulations and indeed the BTCC itself, I would like to thank current supplier GPRM for their tireless work and commitment – but at the same time look forward to this new partnership with RML as the BTCC continues to go from strength to strength.”
Simon Holloway, RML Group Commercial Director is pleased to be taking over the contract “We are delighted to have been selected by TOCA to provide NGTC chassis design, engineering and supply services for the next six years. The MSA British Touring Car Championship is quite simply the biggest and best series in the UK so it’s an honour for the RML Group to play a leading role in its engineering and design operations.
“As well as its undoubted levels of skill and professionalism both on and off-track, the BTCC also enjoys unrivalled commercial opportunities and welcomes huge audiences both trackside and on television. Being involved is advantageous on so many levels. We’re looking forward to working with TOCA and the BTCC teams greatly, and forging a successful, strong and lengthy partnership together.”
Outgoing supplier GPRM will continue to support competing teams at the track until the end of the season. By Marc Waller
