Swindon Engines awarded new five-year TOCA engine deal

Swindon Engines has been awarded with a new five-year contract for the supply of a new NGTC-spec ‘TOCA’ engine.

Swindon has been the provider of the TOCA engine since the inception of NGTC regulations in 2011, a deal lasting five years. With the original deal now nearing its end, the new contract will see the partnership between TOCA and Swindon stretch until at least 2021.

Nine engine manufacturers entered the first phase of the tender process, with a shortlist of four names put forward to a review panel formed of TOCA and nine teams from the BTCC, including those that run the TOCA engine and all other major engines run in the series. The panel voted with a clear majority to award the contract to Swindon.

The new-specification engine will now enter the final stages of development before being be put through a rigorous testing regime and manufacture before its introduction in 2017.

“I would like to congratulate Swindon Engines on the award of this new contract to supply the new ‘TOCA’ engine until 2021,” said BTCC Series Director Alan Gow. “Over the last five years TOCA, Swindon Engines and the BTCC teams have worked closely together on developing what was already a very impressive product, and we look forward to continuing with this philosophy into the next decade.”

“We are extremely proud to be able to continue our long-standing partnership with the BTCC, the UK’s highest profile motor sport series,” said Swindon Engines Managing Director Raphaël Caillé. “Swindon Engines has enjoyed a successful relationship with the series since the introduction of the NGTC regulations, and we have seen the BTCC flourish both on-track and off-track during this time.

“We have continued to develop our one-fits-all product over the last five years and provide a high performing, reliable and consistent unit, which benefits teams throughout the grid. Our engine remains cost efficient whilst not compromising on performance, as proven so often by the numerous race winners in the BTCC. We will continue to provide the teams with the highest level of service, reliability and engineering and we look forward to this next phase in our partnership with the BTCC.”

The engine tender forms part of a ‘mid-term’ NGTC evaluation, which has recently seen the Technical Partnership awarded to RML to provide specified chassis, suspension and associated components to the BTCC.

“As we witnessed with the recent chassis, suspension and associated components tender, awarding this contract was certainly not merely a foregone conclusion for an existing supplier,” commented Gow. “Swindon Engines’ tender and presentation was of the highest calibre and they were clearly voted for by a BTCC review panel, which included personnel from teams that use the ‘TOCA’ engine and others that use their own power units.

“Of course Swindon Engines has the proven record of supplying engines on a wide scale in the BTCC, having successfully supplied the ‘TOCA’ engine to the Championship since the outset of the NGTC regulations – but equally I have no doubt that all other bidders could have successfully done the same, such was the extremely high quality of the tenders.”