Team Halfords Confirmed!!

[Claire]

How happy am I that finally the team and drivers have been confirmed. :D :) :D :) :D :) looks like it will be the 307 as well, may not be one of the favourites but will be great to see a new car out on the track and Dan defending his indy title.
Roll on Mondello, it can't come fast enough. :cool:

[bramble]

Great news! How competitive is the 307 expected to be though?

[cos]

And an ex-F1 man desigining the cars! Usually teams designing their own cars from scratch (e.g. the Lexus and the Alfa from 2001) don't fare very well, but I think this will be the exception.

[Reynard]

The only thing that's got me a bit worried is that although VLR have secured the services of Sergio Rinland, this is a designer who, over the years, has designed just as many lemons as success stories...

We'll just have to wait and see what he comes up with, I suppose - it will either be very very good or a complete lemon.

[Kelvin]

Originally posted by Reynard
it will either be very very good or a complete lemon.

or in the case of Halford sponsorship, a complete orange! :D

[Reynard]

Originally posted by Kelvin
or in the case of Halford sponsorship, a complete orange! :D

I guess I was kinda asking for that one, wasn't I? :)

But no, I'm very sceptical about Sergio Rinland. There's also the issue that the structure of a tin-top racing car is very different from a single seater, both in terms of materials and in structural (torsion and impact) performance.

Guess we won't know till the car hits the circuits...

[touring fan]

Well, I'm suprised they've been able to do it but pleased that they have.

[Ann]

:D Very, very pleased that this is finally confirmed! :D

I reckon the 307 should do well once they iron out the inevitable initial niggles. It handles very well on the road & those in the know say it is a far better design for racing than the 406. Its not disimilar to the Civic and we all now how well they went towards the end of last year. I look forward to seeing for myself.

[Mocko]

The artists impression looks like an orange with wheels so there we go.

Whether it goes well from the pen of their new designer who knows but surely VLR's experience of developing the Super P 307 will give them an advantage.

And, with my respect being the prize for this question, howmany times does the artists' impression of the 307 pop up in Autosport.

[thommo_fan]

great news, and if the 307's go well then its a big opportunity for dan and carl, because up until now dan hasn't had a decent car in the btcc but hopefully now he has.
i'm expecting the car to be challenging for podiums by mid season, like ann said, the situation isn't that disimilar from the honda civic.

[cav1995]

Well I'm no fan but thats tip top news. I'm not familiar with the ex F1 designer guy but it does sound promising.

Shame about the revolting block shade of orange.:p

Things look to be getting tougher and tougher for my team.:(

[andyb]

Originally posted by Mocko

And, with my respect being the prize for this question, howmany times does the artists' impression of the 307 pop up in Autosport.

I think its in three times, which I'm quite pleased about,,,,as I'm the artist ;)

[lauz]

im glad that team halfords are confirme, and i think that they two drivers are going to prove that the 307 will be just as good as the others in the series.

[Mocko]

Originally posted by andyb
I think its in three times, which I'm quite pleased about,,,,as I'm the artist ;)

Well, along with the correct answer, you get the added bonus of my eternal respect so, well.... and good work as well.


Anyway, I do think that Vic Lee and his boys are deluding themselves when they reckon they are going for the championship.

[speedy]

its all public relations talk. Happens everywhere in racing - 'win the championship in 3-5yrs' etc. Mind you, it probably helps the staff to know what the boss is aiming for - imagine how they would feel if Vic had said 'we just want to not finish last' ? They would probably walk out from the insult to their work!

[Carl Breeze fan]

I've just seen that Carl will take over Dan's #10, while Dan will race with the #0. Interesting?

[Peter]

Originally posted by Reynard
I guess I was kinda asking for that one, wasn't I? :)

But no, I'm very sceptical about Sergio Rinland. There's also the issue that the structure of a tin-top racing car is very different from a single seater, both in terms of materials and in structural (torsion and impact) performance.

Guess we won't know till the car hits the circuits...

I don't understand why you doubt Rinland's ability.

It was he who designed the 2001 Sauber, which beat Jordan and BAR to fourth in the constructors'.

I don't think there is a big stumbling block when moving from Formula 1 to BTCC. With all respect to the designers of BTCC chassis, they are less adept than F1 designers.

Enrique Scalabronie's 1999 Renault Laguna was a competitive beast. Ok, it failed to compete with Volvo and Nissan, but the team had lost its star driver.

[The Stig]

Bit late contributing because this thread has moved on somewhat, but delighted that after all the speculation, we've got a couple of 307's to "admire" Expect them to be competitive by mid-season. Perhaps another similarity to the Honda's in more ways than just the physical.

[Alan]

Well if will power would make cars win races VLR are on to a winner with Ann and Claire supporting Dan!!!

Does anyone know if the 307's will be at Mondello or will we be seeing the 406's for a while?

[Claire]

Should be the 307's, the paint may be wet but they should be there. Fingers crossed they don't encounter too many problems.

[Ann]

I can't believe I didn't think to ask about the cars when speaking to the team yesterday but at the begining of the week they were certainly on schedule to be finished today. As Claire says they may be in danger of smudging but they have every intention of getting them on that ferry!

[Alan]

Might have to take your hair dryers over to help the paint dry ladies!!!

Lets hope they make it.