Best BTC-T Team 2002

[Carl Breeze fan]

Who was the best BTC-T team in 2002 in your opinion? I think it was Arena Motorsport (but don't tell VLR!), because they developed the Civic so quickly it was un-believable. They were unlucky not to get a podium in only their fourth race at Oulton Park, and by the end of the year was the joint best car, if not THE best car.

[thommo_fan]

triple eight because they dominated the drivers, teams and manufactures championships.
arena were nearly on a par with them tho

[MG-ZS EX260]

WSR, done a great job for MG

[lauz]

all the teams did a great job to make the racing closer as the season went on, but arena showed the most determination and had an amazing car!

[Sim_Da_BTCC_Man]

Arena did a fantastic job in 2002. The car was soon on pace and Arena worked extremly hard (as did others), but there was also a great deal of tallent and experince in that team like the late Will Hoy who was always there to help Honda improve the car and explore the limits.

[King Cleland]

Arena

[thommo_fan]

yeah Will really helped arena move forward last year.

[Vauxhall]

obviously 888 were the best, they won the championship. :rolleyes:

[John]

Wheres GR motorsport on the poll? Werent they running a Touring Alfa or two? ;) Sorry! Wonder how many of next years cars fail to appear - always annoys me when that happens - and I'm not blaming the team cos I know theres alsorts of stuff goes on behind the scenes.

[The Stig]

Agree, don't under-estimate the late Will Hoys input at Arena, his experience and insight was obvious

[King Cleland]

Yes, his input in the car and with Priaulx and Morrison should not be underestimated!

[Claw]

Even though 888 won the title, I think Arena did a great job making the Civic from the back to mid-feild runner, to a race winner!

[John]

Vic Lee - compare the 406 (esp at the start of the season) to 2001. Lot of work done on it and it was far better - and Im not just referring to the colour change!! ;)

[King Cleland]

I remember a few of us predicting Peugeot's first win this year, but inevitably, the car fell back as the works teams improved.

[John]

I dont understand the Peugeot thing - how can it have been so successful in Germany and other countries but never even have won in the BTCC. There must be some jinx somewhere - maybe try an experiment and rebadge the Astras as Peugeots and see what happens to them!! ;)

[King Cleland]

Well, it is the same model, but it is run by different teams, so in effect they are different cars

[John]

But a lot of it is down to the car surely - if someone other than 888 were running the Astras in 2001 I expect they'd have still been competitive - all the touring car teams are professionals afterall. And MSD that ran Peugeot werent exactly rubbish were they.

[King Cleland]

Nah, there are many factors..

prodrive that run the Alfa in 1995 weren't rubbish and look at how bad the 155 was!

It was so good in the hands of AlfaCorse in 1994!

[Claw]

Yeah, cos they had some aerodynamic help. ;)

[King Cleland]

:D Contravesial comment there!

[John]

think I suitably placed 'alledgedly' ought to go somewhere!! ;)

The Alfa wasnt as good in 95 due to lack of devlopment - all the rest caught up. Wasnt down to Prodrive as such. Its a shame though - especially the fact tey didnt hang around :(

[King Cleland]

They lost Tarquini and were left with the two carthorses Warwick and Simoni too!

[John]

Tarquini did return though and didnt really do anything that stunning with it