BTCC & S2000 - Sort of...

[Blooze]

As I mentioned else where, I been gettin' off watchin' the British Touring Car Championship on the SPEED Channel lately.  I like the more or less frenzy associated with the various Makes as well as the drivers.  It puts me in mind of the before days of NASCAR when the cars were actual variations of cars you drove on the street.  I bought a 1996 Thunderbird once, and the fact that it had the same engine and body Ford was using had no little influence on my choice.

So I looked them up on the internet and have started trying to become a little more knowledgable about the sport, and I decided to build me some of them, more or less, in Forza.

And, of course, I couldn't just build me one and be done.  No...  I need to build a bunch of them, and turn them into a competitive league.

So, here are me erstwhile specs (subject to whim and whimzy as I get further into this and find what will and will not work).

• The cars must be FF Hatchbacks
• They can start no higher than Class D

They must be fitted with Race level everything (except for engine parts)

• Suspension pieces and brakes
• Weight Reduction and Roll Cage
• Slicks and the widest tires possible
• Transmission, Clutch, and Rear End.
• Forza Front and Rear Aero (if available)

...then fill out with engine goodies to B500.  That is pretty much it.  There are no engine swaps, I haven't decided to what to do about boost swaps.

Heres the list of cars I've identified (hell, I bought 'em all already I think...)  They must be the latest models...
Class F

• 2009 Citroen C4 VTS
• 2008 Alfa Romeo Mito

Class E

• 2007 Peugeot 207 RC
• 2006 Ford Focus ST
• 2009 Volvo C30 R-Design

Class D

• 2010 VW Golf GTI Mk6
• 2007 Honda Civic Type-R
• 2007 Renault Clio RS 197
• 2009 Mini Cooper Works
• 2006 Vauxhall Astra VXR
• 2009 Ford Focus RS
• 2007 SEAT Leon CUPRA

Class B

• 2007 SEAT Leon Supercup

Edit: The Mazda 3 is out and the 09 Focus is in


The BMWs need to be checked out, that 135i has a 397 Pi and the D class cars are too old.  One thing may be that the lower classed starters have to big an advantage on the D class cars.  I know later on, I'm working the Citroen next.  

I am going to try to emulate the liveries of as many of the actual BTCC cars as I can.  Or at least paint them in the spirit of the ones that I see on the BTCC Home Site ( http://btcc-racing.com/ )  This should be quite a challenge for me...  attached is the beginnings of my first try on a Vauxhall, and the real deal...  As you can see, I got a ways to go.

I've got the Vauxhall built now and will be the rest of the day getting it tweaked and QR'd to see if it is viable as a B class car at all.

So, anyways - this thread is going to be about my trials and tribulations - you are welcome to join in and discuss, or hell, maybe even build one of these yourself.

EDIT - 12/28
I got to fritzin' around over the holliday and end result was creating an additional group.  S2000.  There's already a couple of them in the game, both Peugeots.  They are very similar to this BTCC spec, 'cept they are A class and AWD.  So that is the spec for my S2000 Group as well.  I have a feeling that built ones are going to far outshine the ones in the game - they have the speed really crippled for some reason.  I tried taking the BTCC to A Class and I didn't really like them.  In my opinion FF reaches it's viable limit in B Class.  But, AWD is a different story.  And there are a number of hatchbacks that are either already AWD, or are upgradable BTCC cars.  This ends up being cool because one gets an additional class out of the foundation parts.

So here is the initial car list...

• The 2 S2000 Peugeots
• The 2007 Peugeot 207 RC - Conv - neat comparison to make here
• 2010 Golf GTI Mk6 - Conv
• 2009 Ford Focus RS - Conv
• 2008 Subaru WRX STi
• 2009 Alpha Romeo Brera

And I am sure there are some others that will work their way in...

BTCC Cars

Driver	Car	Atl II	Seb II	Tsukuba	QR
Blooze	SEAT Leon Supercup	59.765	80.247	59.903	199.915
Blooze	Ford Focus ST	61.070	79.883	60.451	201.404
Blooze	Vauxhall Astra VXR	60.916	80.750	60.406	202.072
Blooze	09 Ford Focus RS	61.732	80.587	60.345	202.664
Blooze	Mazda 3 (out maybe)	62.226	80.676	60.968	203.870
Blooze	Citroen C4 VTS	62.262	81.153	60.653	204.068

S2000 Cars

Driver	Car	Atl II	Seb II	Tsukuba	QR
Blooze	Peugeot S2000	57.463	75.269	57.074	189.806
Blooze	Peugeot 207	58.077	75.047	57.337	190.461
Blooze	Subaru WRX 08	58.406	75.564	57.688	191.658

$

[Blooze]

That, right now, is my top B Class QR, which shows you how well I am doing in B Class.  The previous holder of that position is a SEAT Leon Supercup (203.345) and it still is the fastest on Tsukuba by .3xx.   But, at least it looks as tho these BTCC cars will make viable B Class cars.  Except in P2P... 

The only thing that makes any sense to run in there is a AWD.  I almost caught my WRX on Kaido A, but lacked a tenth of being able to make up the head start the thing got off the line.   A feller needs a running start with the other drive types, or forget em.

I am going to go run the rest of the ranking tracks in a private room so I can make some of the money back.  These are sort of expensive - almost $120,000 a piece.

$

[Fit4aking]

Built out a MiTo last night to see what all the Hot Hatch mess is all about.  It started in F so I had a lot of room for spare parts, which is a good thing right???  Not so much.  With only one tire width upgrade available I found myself trying to pilot 297hp on 225 tires.  Scary ride in default toon.  If this ever becomes a real challenge I will reserve the Alfa for the speed tracks, it hauls.

I think I'll try one of the other cars before I spend too terribly much time in the ole MiTo.  The MkVI, and the Type R seem to be looking for a home in my garage.  Who know's, by the time this is all over I may have an entire stable of purpose built BTCC style cars.

[Blooze]

That's interesting - you descibed the problems with the Citroen exactly, the other F Class starter.  The tires seem to limit the amount of grip that the car will ever hold.  With Race compound and 80% of the Aero it still only generates 1.07 @ 120.   Taking a bit more time with it will help - get used to how soon you have to set up braking, and you can do quite well with it, I think.

Do you have a QR for the MiTo?

I almost got the Vauxhall painted...

$

[Fit4aking]

No QR just yet.  I had about enough time to build it and run a few laps at Laguna before I was whisked away to run some RWD B-class tracks with Open.  The car is still in default toon anyhow so the numbers would be skewed.  I'll update as I progress with the car.

[feuerdog]

Ooh, cool. A new spec to build around.

I have a handful of seasonal series to finish off and i'll be done with my current priority, but i'm definitely interested in building something BTCC based. Excellent idea.

[Blooze]

Sure, jump in!  We're trying to get builds and Quick Ranks on as many of these as possible to ascertain how many and which would make a group for a series.

$

[Blooze]

I ran into a little trouble with the Mazda 3...  It only has adjustable Aero on the front.  Boy does that make a mess out of it, or at least as far as I am concerned.  First, I got to modify my rulz and I never am to keen about that.  Second, I got to do something so I can even keep it on the track because of it.  The Air on the front and none on the back makes the back end very jumpy, why... it is almost like a stock FF car, and that just won't do.

Right now I have enough money won with it so that it isn't a financial mishap as well so I may just sell it and be done with it.  I like the car in a lot of ways so I may just kick it out of the club and build it out in some other fashion.  But then, do I need another FF in B Class - talk about coals to Newcastle.

Ah well, I will nap on it...  my bet is that it's history, tho.

$

[fndrbndr]

I built out the JCW Mini for a Kaido challenge on another site.  I used a race tranny and pulled the gear ratios off the web.  It has serious issues putting down power on the downhill.  All that power makes it a real handful, at least for the ham-fisted AWD rally driver I find myself turning into on Kaido and Positano.  I'll try it on another track later. 

[Blooze]

Thanks Fender, it will be good to get some other input on this.

I built out and ran the '09 Ford Focus today, I think partly because I like the way it looks in Spiny's Black & Green Livery and I wanted to use it.  It has a bit of Pi room after the requirements and it wound up competitive.

I say it is competitive, but it feels strange compared to, say, the Vauxhall.  It has a heavy feel even tho the weights are comparable (2700-ish)

I woke up after my nap with a heavy finger - the Mazda is gone.  Heh...

$

[Spiny Anteater]

Blooze - you should have said. All my tunes and paints are free to the guys on here if you ask (although I'll be away for the next week so expect slow delivery for a while). Incidentally, if it was you that bought the Focus paint, you are the only buyer 

[Blooze]

Hell, I don't mind - in fact I enjoy picking up stuff from the troops around here.  You know, support the mates.  I cruise all of your Stores and check out your stuff...

We have the makings of a cool bug Spiny.  My Focus has the Holeshot Holestar wheels on it - I use it exclusively, partly because of the cool retro look, partly because it is as light as you can get.  Anyway, it is a chrome wheel, and if you try to paint it they tell ya so.  "It's Chrome, you can't paint it."

So I got your design, added it to my car, and then bought the wheels.  In that order.  And looka what happened.  Just the center of the wheels are green.  It really looks cool.  I will take a better picuture later on.

I'm going to try to reproduce this.  It will be expensive, sort of, half the price of a set of wheels extra.  But what the heck, it's only credits... $

Oh, since you offered, it would be nice to have an unlocked version of that paint.  I appreciate it.

$

[Open2nd]

Blooze, to paint unpaintable wheels(it only works on some, not all Chrome) buy a set you know are paintable and paint them, then install the rim you can't paint.  It will work on a few of the chrome ones, the Holestar's being one of them.

[Blooze]

You wouldn't happen to know the name of a paintable set right off the bat would ya?

$

[Open2nd]

Here's the original thread on it..  More may have been confirmed but I don't think there are many more than the few listed in the first post. 
http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/thread/3096888.aspx