RAC RETURNS TO BTCC WITH WSR

[GT]

Taken from www.wsr-racing.com...

12 Jan 06: SUNBURY-ON-THAMES, UK

RAC, the longest established motoring organisation, is sponsoring West Surrey Racing (WSR) in the 2006 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), under the name Team RAC.

The sponsorship deal represents a return to RAC's roots in motorsports, after the organisation was involved in the initial BTCC when it was established in 1958. Team RAC is the latest in a series of activities designed to demonstrate RAC's expertise in motoring, which includes the current advertising campaign - More Know How - featuring real-life patrols giving motorists practical hints and tips.

Under the sponsorship, Team RAC will enter the 10 race events with two branded WSR-designed and built MG ZS cars.

Commenting on the sponsorship deal, Shaun Meadows, Marketing Director, RAC, said: "We are delighted to be sponsoring a team in the BTCC, which is a key event in British motorsports. Our recent advertising campaign has shown our patrols sharing advice with motorists and this deal further demonstrates how we can establish RAC as the experts on motoring."

Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, WSR, said: "We are extremely pleased to be working in partnership with RAC and forming what I believe will be a formidable force in the 2006 BTCC. The RAC name has been associated with British motorsport since the earliest days of the sport in this country. The MG is a race-winning car and with further development I'm confident we can build on our previous success. We are currently in negotiations with a number of experienced drivers to complete our line-up."

Alan Gow, BTCC Series Director, said: "It's great to see a household name such as RAC in the BTCC. With the WSR team and thanks to the excellent marketing opportunities the BTCC offers, I'm sure RAC will enjoy great results both on and off the track."

The Team RAC car will be unveiled on Thursday 12 January at the Autosport International Show, held at the NEC, Birmingham. The Team RAC drivers are due to be announced in the next few weeks.


Full size picture in the gallery HERE (http://gallery.brit-cars.com/showphoto.php/photo/721/size/big/limit/recent)

http://gallery.brit-cars.com/data//504/medium/WSR-RAC-racing.jpg

[Wak]

Wot we gonna do with our x power colours.
Its all orange now!
Who's going to Brands then....count me in.


Wak

[GT]

I'd say the X-Power colours are still suitable - everyone knows it as MG.

Not sure whether its a good idea for them to release their own merchandise this year or not. A mass sea of orange could easilly be mistaken for Team Halfords support!

But in either case, what is important is that WSR have finally secured themselves a deserved deal for 2006. The years of struggle have finally paid off!

We know these cars can win, we know theres been a shake up of BTCC rules again, we know that the Independants have a good chance against the manufacturers from the 2005 season...

So lets hope that combined with the enevitable 3rd ZS from Jason Hughes, we can see a lot more action from these British hero's in action!

Are there any more speculations as to who the 2 drivers will be?

[DEBBIE]

What a result for WSR, I'll be at the local ones to cheer them on.

Wonder who they'll have racing for them. Rob C and Anthony R? Could make a feisty combo to spice up the field a bit.

:woohoo:

[Jerry Zedman]

FANTASTIC NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Clark Trent]

What a result for WSR, I'll be at the local ones to cheer them on.

Wonder who they'll have racing for them. Rob C and Anthony R? Could make a feisty combo to spice up the field a bit.

:woohoo: As I said on another thread. Hope it is Anthony and Colin. With Rob and Jason running their own cars under the WSR banner. Now that would be a good reason to drive to Knockhill for a soaking.

[AndrewM]

:woohoo: Great news... I have asked my on-the-spot reporter at the NEC to get over there and get all the info and photos.

Drivers.... I think Rob deserves another year, and it would be nice to see Colin back.

[Jerry Zedman]

Oh well, looks like I'll be spending some time at there stand on Saturday then!!!!

As per other thread, I reckon Colin and Rob C.

[Tony]

Good news indeed. Not sure about the orange but I'm sure I'll get used to it. At least it will be easy to spot the car in the pack.
Rob and Colin would make a good choice for drivers, Rob would probably put some money in the pot too allowing a bit more development.

I guess Green Flag no longer being the series title sponsor has opened the doors for the RAC.

[KelV6]

Orange colour will suit JLD, our Tango Man :flag1:

[yellowtrophy]

Excellent news

[DaveyHird]

damn - just emailed this to you Paul... and you already knew!

I for one was very doubtful of any mg's in this seasons BTCC - now we have at least 3 entries.

Dont ask about drivers, would welcome Turky and Reidy back, but Rob did a fantastic job last year and deserves a drive, in either the orange beasts or a privately entered car.

Cannot wait for 2006 season now. Only went to a pair of races last year, Oulton and Croft... I wanna do 5 this year.

Croft, Oulton, Knockers, Donny and Silverstone, maybe Brands.

:party:

[Jerry Zedman]

It would be good to see you northern monkey down sarf this year Davey boy. I'll now have to do Oulton Park as well as Croft this year as 'punishment' :drink1: for my comments! :kiss1:

[GT]

I expect I'll do my usual ones...

Donny, Silverstone, Thruxton, both rounds at Brands... maybe Snetterton if I have the energy :D

[DaveyHird]

I am defo gonna do a 'long-haul' event in 2006. do I head way up north to knockhill or way down south to Brands.. and then which Brands?

Brands looks good though, might try for the first race of the season...

[yellowtrophy]

I can't undestand those of you who don't make the trip to Oulton Park. By far the most picturesque circuit on the calendar, yet so close to the motorway network. Not only that, but I know of no other circuit (with the possible exception of Knockhill) where you can get as close to the track without those massive Brands Hatch and Silverstone style catch fences in your way!

As for the orange cars - we had quite a few forum members who were happy to put the green "viper stripes" on their own cars - however, will anyone be brave enough to do a replica of the 2006 car?!

[Wak]

I see Jerry you've got into this orange colour very quickly (noting your first response)....lol

[GT]

Paul, OK, OK... I'll do what I can to trek further north :lol:

Afterall, Snetteron is only 4.5hours each way :D

As for the 2006 replicas... I can only say great minds think alike! (http://www.brit-cars.com/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=1699)

[Tim]

Its great news, just not so sure about the colour. Will be interesting to see who they get to drive. Hopefully they should be able to attract some big names, now that the team have some money.

Anyone going to the media day?

[GT]

Interest for the media day has been shown HERE (http://www.brit-cars.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1652) on a thread started by Tootall.

Seems a few should be going :)

[blue harbour]

Excelent news- i'll make a few races this year no-doubt!

Anyone noticed that this car- which looks largley like a mkI zs saloon- appears to have the MKII grille on the front!??

Wonder why they've changed to that!??????:confused:

[Pam]

Brilliant news! Looks like I'll be treking all over the country agaion this year then. :D

[Beefcake]

Great news...there goes my money for a house again!

[Beefcake]

Book these dates!

taken from www.btcc.net

1 09 April Brands Hatch, Kent view
2 23 April Mondello Park, Co Kildare view
3 14 May Outlon Park, Cheshire view
4 4 June Thruxton, Hampshire view
5 16 July Croft, North Yorkshire view
6 30 July Donington Park, Leicestershire view
7 13 August Snetterton, Norfolk view
8 3 September Knockhill, Fife view
9 24 September Brands Hatch, Kent view
10 15 October Silverstone, Northamptonshire view


Mondello and Thruxton are out, but the rest I will have to think about!

[DEBBIE]

Excelent news- i'll make a few races this year no-doubt!

Anyone noticed that this car- which looks largley like a mkI zs saloon- appears to have the MKII grille on the front!??

Wonder why they've changed to that!??????:confused:

I know that at the end of last season they were having problems locating MK1 rear bumpers (They were doing the rounds of scrappy's) and it was going to cost a lot to convert the jig to take the MK11 version. It maybe that the MK1 and MK 11 front bumpers are easily interchangeable and with the number that get demolished they decided to go with a part that was easier to get hold of.

Just an idea.

[Tootall]

Top news indeed :music049:

GO TEAM TANGO

[Clark Trent]

It has occured to me that maybe we should all register an interest with RAC to show our appreciation. Quoting BTCC involvement as reason for joining. I'll get my coat.

[Alex B]

I might get called into order for this but all comes to mind is....IT IS ORG***IC....yiiiihhaaaaa....

And the colour so eye catchful nobody will be able to look anywhere else...so MG is back into action once again to show them !!!

Bad side of things I'll have to spend some cash on flight and race tickets...and might need to pay a rent for a house....:santalol: ...but at the end great great news indeed !!!

Alex ;)

[Madgasters]

Best news i have heard in a long time, I hope its a 3 driver line up with Anthony, Colin and Rob they would make a great team.

I should be at most of the races this year now:flag1:

[BeverleyM]

I haven't really got any more to add to this thread, apart from the fact I have seen it in the flesh now :dancing:

I did see Warren today walking around, but that is probably pure coincidence. Who knows ;)

[Alex B]

Bev you lucky girl ;)

See you on saturday !!!

Alex

[Tootall]

I did somewhere that Warren has signed up with a GT team iirc for testing and driver training.

[zamo]

GREAT NEWS.

.WILL HAVE TO SPEAK TO THE MUM FROM MY BOYS SCHOOL WHO WORKS FOR JASON TO SEE IF HE HAS SORTED ANYTHING OUT YET UNLESS PAUL KNOWS ANYTHING.

[GNASHER]

It would be good to see you northern monkey down sarf this year Davey boy. I'll now have to do Oulton Park as well as Croft this year as 'punishment' :drink1: for my comments! :kiss1:
Yes Mr Zed,get your 4rse back up here for a half or ten :drink1:

[Alex B]

I suppose it's a silly question but why are they still using the "old" shaped ZS ? :rolleye: ...it's not that I don't like it...mine is one of the old boys...

Alex

[Dave Clark]

I am so pleased that after years of financial battle WSR have finally got a sponsorship deal that is worth shouting about!! So so chuffed. It also gives me something to live for until the end of September this year at least!!

Love the colour scheme although they could've used some blue in there to diferentiate it between them and Halfords. I'm now looking to get the media day off from work because I'd love to see that - and its at brands too - which is on my door step..

I'm hoping that driver line up will include either Reid, Turkington or O'Neill. If Collards in there then its not such a bad thing but he didnt impress me much last year as much as Reid and Turkington did and O'Neill's always been a highly rated driver for me!

GOOD LUCK TO WSR FOR 2006!!!!

[Dave Clark]

go to this link http://gallery.xpowerforums.com/showphoto.php/photo/16371/cat/9243/page/1 and if you notice the 03MY ZS has Rover 45 indicators and an 04MY grille, but an 01 spec front bumper! Its a ZS going through time!

[MaddAussie]

Just caught up with this thread :D :D :D :D :D wooo hooo!!!!!

[BeverleyM]

The WSR/RAC car is on the MIA stand near the Autosport stage. There is no-one around from WSR to chat to, at least not when we went over yesterday.

Hopefully some of you with more time to investigate will find out some more, but its certainly fabulous news, all the more so as it was such a suprise.

[Jerry Zedman]

Here are some shots (that can also be found in the gallery):

[robbo sps]

Hello Jerry....
and co..

Madgasters put me onto this great news.

I will be at Brands in spril, a few people on sports car forums are aslo going, the usual BTCC meet up.

Hopefully between this site, XPF, Sportscars and.org we could have a really good MG show ??

And put other matters behind us ??

[Madgasters]

Hello Jerry....
and co..

Madgasters put me onto this great news.

I will be at Brands in spril, a few people on sports car forums are aslo going, the usual BTCC meet up.

Hopefully between this site, XPF, Sportscars and.org we could have a really good MG show ??

And put other matters behind us ??

Well said Phil:uj2:

[King Minger]

Hey Phil!:xyxwave:

I can feel a really good MG BTCC year coming on :)

Al

[Jerry Zedman]

Hi Phil - well said.

Re meet up of all MG fans to have a unified 'attack' on the other marques.......why not?!!!!

I believe this will be the last year for us to do this as the MG ZS is to BTCC rules not the Super 2000 (or whatever they are) rules which means racing anything other than that will not score points, etc as per Herr Gow.

Hopefully by the end of the year tho Nanjing will be making MGR cars and would have seen how well the MG can compete and win. They will start production with the idea of WSR racing Super 2000 spec cars in the 2007 season (as well as entering into WTCC) to raise awareness to the general public as to how good MG cars really are!!! :flag2:

We can dream, can't we? :drink1:

[Mat C]

Yes good news indeed. Don't worry about the colours clashing with the Halfords Hondas - remember last year the 3rd Honda was running a semi Halfords and Castrol colour scheme ? Well that's how all 3 will look this year so the clash wont be that bad. Plus cast your minds back to 2003 and their was 3 Civics and 3 Astras all running a red and white colour scheme. We didn't mix them up !

[GT]

Robbo - There are no other matters as far as we're concerned :D

I suspect we'll all go as usual :D

[Alex B]

on WSR site the top running banner http://www.wsr-racing.com/gallery.asp shows a ZS with a RAC blue sticker on, different to the one senn at Autosport show, could this be the definite one ? check this other image taken at Autosport show http://gallery.brit-cars.com/showphoto.php/photo/792/perpage/30/limit/last14

Alex

[Pam]

Also on the WSR site are 6 job vacancies:
WSR CURRENT VACANCIES (6)
BTCC : Team Administrator
BTCC : Race Truck Driver
BTCC : Hospitality Truck Operator
BTCC : No 1 Mechanic
BTCC : No 2 Mechanic
BTCC : Team Manager

Anyone interested in being our man/woman on the inside?? ;)

[dogsquaw]

mmmmm, my lease is up soon...and I loath and detest the job I'm in... I wonder what the cost of renting a place in Middlesex is?

[Alex B]

mmmmm, my lease is up soon...and I loath and detest the job I'm im... I wonder what the cost of renting a place in Middlesex is?

If you hate your actual job and would like any of those offered by WSR go for it...it's free to try...then you can figure out the rest...life's too short not to eh ? ;)

Alex :flag1:

[Tootall]

Alex well spotted on the ZS with the blue sticker looks like that could have been taken in WSR HQ.

[Alex B]

Funny though how we surf through the net in a desperate search for the latest news on WSR ;)

Alex

[Tootall]

Just a few ideas,

WSR CURRENT VACANCIES (6)
BTCC : Team Administrator - GT
BTCC : Race Truck Driver - MisfitThis job needs someone with long hair ;)
BTCC : Hospitality Truck Operator - BeverleyMThe best hostess around
BTCC : No 1 Mechanic - Myself
BTCC : No 2 Mechanic -Any fit bird:p
BTCC : Team Manager - AndyM

[Dave Clark]

I applied for the Team Administrator job 3 days ago. Like Ria, I detest the job I'm in, hate the job I do, hate the company I work for and hate the way they treat their staff! I'm looking around, and the closing date for the job is 14th February. I normally hate that day too but for once it cant come quick enough for me!! :lol: (I hoped no-one had visited the site to see them so that I have a greater chance of getting the job with less applicants!)

I have gone for a couple of jobs recently but I'm hoping that I can get this job by far over any of the others! This would be a dream for me!! :woohoo:

[Jerry Zedman]

I think I might apply for the hospitality truck operator - I have a licence to drive!!!!! :flag1:

Or even the race trucky!!!

[Pam]

I'd love that job as well Dave but I think the commute may be a bit too much for me every day. Sorry about advertising the jobs on here, blame Alex! I wouldn't have been looking at their site tonight if he hadn't posted a link. ;)

[dogsquaw]

I applied for the Team Administrator job 3 days ago. Like Ria, I detest the job I'm in, hate the job I do, hate the company I work for and hate the way they treat their staff! I'm looking around, and the closing date for the job is 14th February. I normally hate that day too but for once it cant come quick enough for me!! :lol:

I have gone for a couple of jobs recently but I'm hoping that I can get this job by far over any of the others! This would be a dream for me!! :woohoo:

Oh Dave, that is so not fair. I'm really really giving it serious thoughts. I'm a PA and the job would be right up my alley, but I dont want to go up against someone I like. Ah well, we'll compare notes and give each other some tips. Good luck matey boy

[Dave Clark]

Ria go for it - I wouldnt want to get it thinking you may have got it if you'd applied. At the end of the day WSR are only going to pick whoevers best for the job. I'm only thinking its a dream job - I dont really think I've got much of a chance! There are other more experienced people out there - you being one of them and although I've had admin experience you've got more and at a higher level!

[Jerry Zedman]

I've looked at WSR's web site. I can only find the small photo of the car. Yes, it looks more like a race prepared beast than the one at Autosport. Woohoo!!!!! either that or same one but with orange stickers. Can't see the front of the car for profile. Mk 2 front and rear anyone?

[Alex B]

Well Pam I actually had a look at those jobs myself but refrained from spreading the word to avoid all this...but I see you couldn't help it eh ? :kiss1:

Alex ;)

Jerry no bigger images at least not there....couldn't find them myself either.

[Pam]

Well Pam I actually had a look at those jobs myself but refrained from spreading the word to avoid all this...but I see you couldn't help it eh ? :kiss1:

Alex ;) Trust me to put my big foot in it!! :p

[KelV6]

The job I want is:
BTCC: Team Photographer, any vacancies at WSR ? (pretty please)

KelV6

[Pam]

Neil would love that one as well Kelvin (but you're far more qualified than he is for it)

[Jerry Zedman]

I want a job from WSR. Not sure of title tho.

Description:

To stand around pits and paddock and talk to people. To give a hand and pretend you know what you're doing/looking at. To push the cars out when required and to push them back into garage. To wash the cars and to put new BCF stickers on. Other duties include eating breakfast with drivers and being able to poke camera in front of them for amateur shots!

What do you reckon?

[Tony]

I think you stand more chance going for the truck drivers job ;)

[Alex B]

Jerry so what you're asking for is getting paid for some of your actual jobs ? :happy1:

:angel: Alex :angel:

[Jerry Zedman]

I have a LGV class 2 licence (can't be the trucky then), I have little recent admin skills (can't do that then), show me an engine and I'll go 'yep, it's an engine' (can't go for mechanics job then), I have no experience of running a team - let alone in motorsport (can't go for that then). I can do all of what I stated above (and do at every meet, bar the pushing cars out bit) but as stated, I can't seem to find a post that covers my requirements!

Oh well, I'll have to continue with my present job then (which ain't that bad TBH)! :flag2: :car2:

[AndrewM]

I want a job from WSR. Not sure of title tho.

Description:

To stand around pits and paddock and talk to people. To give a hand and pretend you know what you're doing/looking at. To push the cars out when required and to push them back into garage. To wash the cars and to put new BCF stickers on. Other duties include eating breakfast with drivers and being able to poke camera in front of them for amateur shots!

What do you reckon?

Sounds like Marketing or PR to me :) . Although the pushing cars bit seems like proper work :p

[Jerry Zedman]

Thanks Andy, I'll apply to WSR now to see if that vacancy exists! :love1: :lol2:

[GT]

mmmmm, my lease is up soon...and I loath and detest the job I'm in... I wonder what the cost of renting a place in Middlesex is?

Shouldnt their team name be South Middlesex Racing instead? :D

[Jerry Zedman]

middlesex as a county does not physically exist any more. A place called London has swallowed most of it up and the rest has been given to the boroughs north and west of London!!!