A new race series, entitled BARC/Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup, aims to prepare drivers for the British Touring Car Championship with race prepared production cars running on road tyres. The aim is to have a mixed grid broken into classes, including hot hatches, sports coupes and fast saloons.
Following the announcement of the new series, the team that prepares Vauxhall's BTCC racecars, Triple Eight Race Engineering (888), has released details of a development of Vauxhall's Astra VXR specifically for the track. The Astra VXR Sprint R has the same 240bhp as the road car, but the racer is 200kg lighter, despite the integrated roll cage. Other niceties include racing dampers and springs, racing brakes, clutch and exhaust and a stripped out interior with just one racing seat with a six-point harness.
If all goes to plan, the new race series will kick off in 2007, following the BTCC calendar. The new Vauxhall Astra VXR Sprint R will cost £39,000 (plus VAT).
Shane O' Donoghue - 21 Jun 2006