Five companies tendering to supply TOCA engine for 2017

Five companies have put their names forward to supply the stock TOCA engine to the British Touring Car Championship grid from the 2017 season.

Current incumbents Swindon, along with RML, Mountune, Neil Brown Engineering and Cosworth, have submitted tenders for the contract and are being considered.

Series bosses are also close to completing the tender process for the supply of all the other stock parts for the NGTC regulations, to start supplying the championship from the start of the 2016 season.

Many of the parts are currently supplied by GPRM, along with Cosworth, Xtrac and AP Racing. The current contract for the stock parts runs until the end of this season, with the engine contract expiring at the end of next season.

Speaking to TouringCarTimes, BTCC series director Alan Gow said: “We’re going through the whole tender process at the moment and we should have that clarified in the next week or two.

“We do everything in five year cycles, including all the other components such as gearbox and electronics.

“The engine is a year further, it goes to 2017. But we’re going through the same process with the engine at the moment.

“We’ve had expressions of interest and submissions of tenders by the usual people you would expect and some you would expect not to. Swindon, RML, Mountune, Neil Brown and Cosworth are the five main engine tenders.

“There is a number of tenders [for the parts contract] but we’re down to a shortlist so I won’t say who they are. We’re a week or two away from that.

“However all of this of course is subject to TOCA being successful in securing a continuance with the MSA for the BTCC, which itself is a tender process that we are now waiting on the answer to.”

Gow also reflected on the successes of the NGTC rule set, which every team on the grid has run to since the start of the 2014 season.

He said: “It’s the fifth year of NGTC in total and the rule set has evolved into a fantastic technical set of regulations. The proof is in the pudding – look at the diversity of cars out there – different makes and models, front wheel drive and rear-wheel drive.

“The NGTC rules are doing exactly what we wanted them to do and I don’t think there would be anyone down the pitlane would say otherwise.

“When we brought them out we said 10 years [lifespan], but only refresh the areas you need to refresh.

“You wouldn’t notice any changes we have made. They are purely tweaks on what we already have. It’s a refinement of what we’ve got.

“The aim of the car has always been to make it easier and cheaper for teams to compete and that’s the continual aim.”