The British Touring Car Championship Is A Highly Competitive Racing Series, Where The Smallest Things Can Make A Difference Between First And Second Place
The British Touring Car Championship or BTCC is a very competitive and electrifying tip top racing series in the world. Big manufacturers and privately run teams compete for race wins to be crowned BTCC. Unlike other racing series, the competition is so close that it is not dominated by the big manufacturers, and the privateer teams regularly win races and are frequently in the running for both the drivers Championships and the constructor’s championships.
A lot of this close competition is because of the rules, the rules are quite restrictive and even some of the parts like the gearbox and drive trains are standardised parts. This is done to decrease the costs and to decreasecut development time of new automobiles. Ford managed to develop its Fiesta in Australia and in as little as 14 weeks due to the standardised parts. Teams can choose their engine, which is has to be a turbocharger engine with no more than four cylinder is a marksman displacement of 2 L. This will provide around 300 hp and these engines have to be from a road cars engine and last the entire championship year without needing to be rebuilt. These engines can be fuelled by petrol, bio ethanol, LPG and diesel and to ensure that each fuel provide a similar amount of power the boost pressure turbo is varied. The teams can also design their own suspension, although almost all of theparts like this spring’s and dampers are available off the shelf. Also, to minimise costs, one maker of tyres is picked to make one tyre to use on all the circuits; this has become known as the control tyre. The motorcars have to be based on a production car and everything but the chassis is stripped out and racing seats installed. The roll cage must be solid enough to survive the largest of crashes and they also have five point racing harnesses and a racing fuel tanks to minimise the risk of fire. This is all done to make the motorcars as safe as possible, as crashes in this formula are regular. Most of these crashesare small but every now and again there is a really big one.
We have heard that the racing is close in the BTCC, and as a result even a slight advantage can make a difference between first and second place. This is why if you want to be a champion, it is vital not to overlook the smallest detail on the motor, such as the wiper blades. But how can wiper blades make a difference to the performance of a touring car? The obvious way is in a rainly race where wiper blades are required to clear precipitation and grime from the windscreen. It is vital that replacement wiper blades are fitted to the cars frequently, as allowing the replacement wiper blades to degrade when they are not in use is dangerous. Their ability to clean the windscreen of precipitation and grime can also be affected by the design. The peak of replacement wiper blade design is one with no metal frame and this is called a flat wiper blade. These flat wiper blades are sprung to give an even pressure along the blade making sure of a streak and jump free wipe. The advantages of flat wiper blades are they have no frames, so they can sit closer to the windscreen, which helps smooth the airflow over the car. This improve airflow can raise the top speed of the car, whilst increasing the down force generated by the rear wing by allowing the airflow to be less turbulent when it reaches it.