The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship feature stand proved a huge success at the 2014 Autosport International Show held at the NEC in Birmingham this weekend (9-12 January).
Thursday and Friday, which are reserved for members of the motorsport trade, kicked off the BTCC action in style with a number of unveilings and announcements taking place.
The brand new BTCC website was the first of those announcements as we launched our new responsive design on Thursday morning, just in time to showcase our breaking news in all its glory. One of the first stories to appear on the new site was confirmation that the HSCC Super Touring Car Championship will be supporting the BTCC at Oulton Park in 2014 – seemingly much to the delight of our fans!
Fans’ favourite Rob Austin was the first to attract members of the media to the BTCC stand as he unveiled his 2014 livery and confirmed that a two-year deal had been struck with Fast Exocet. BTCC newcomer Simon Belcher was next up as his Handy Motorsport squad took the covers off a quite stunning looking KÄRCHER-backed Toyota Avensis.
Further BTCC unveilings took place at the show as AmDTuning.com showcased its newly built Ford Focus, which will be driven by Dave Newsham in 2014. Honda Yuasa Racing gave its Civic Tourer a first public outing whilst Jason Plato’s MG sat proudly in front of the Autosport main stand. The eBay Motors BMW was also on show, as was Gordon Shedden’s 2013 machine and Andrew Jordan’s Pirtek Racing Honda – now proudly boasting No.1 on its side and roof.
It was back to the BTCC stand on Thursday afternoon as first Welch Motorsport confirmed that Ollie Jackson will drive its second Proton for the upcoming year, whilst American Robb Holland announced his Rotek Racing team’s plans to give the Audi S3 Saloon its global debut in the BTCC. All of this fresh off the back from MG KX Momentum Racing completing its driver line-up with Sam Tordoff joining double champ Jason Plato for a second year.
Series Director Alan Gow starred on the main Autosport stand as an exciting new media partnership between the BTCC and Haymarket was announced. The three-year deal will see even greater content across the publisher’s hugely popular titles while Autocar, WhatCar? and Pistonheads will have their logos on the BTCC cars until at least the end of the 2016 season.
Tens of thousands of fans visited the BTCC stand during the weekend where a programme of driver interviews and autograph sessions took place conducted by our very own Alan Hyde. In total some 28 interviews took place with drivers, team bosses and major personalities, whilst BTCC stars featured on the main Autosport stand no fewer than ten times, including our five champions who appeared together for the first time since Andrew Jordan’s title success.
The star attraction was arguably the group driver signing on Saturday afternoon as we recreated our renowned fan-friendly atmosphere that can be witnessed at our race events up and down the country.
Thank you to everyone who came to see us – we hope you enjoyed the show!
