The offseason is the time after one season ends and before the next one starts. Teams use that time to improve the cars and plan who’s driving and how they’ll compete.
Media day is an event where teams and drivers present themselves to journalists and broadcasters, often including interviews, photo/video shoots, and sometimes on-track demonstrations. It’s a key moment for fans to learn about new liveries, driver changes, and team expectations.
Teams can’t just test whenever they want for free. They have to pay for things like tyres and fuel, so sponsorship may show up later when the season is underway.
Test Day is when teams run cars before the real racing starts. They’re usually focused on checking everything works and gathering information, so the fastest times don’t always mean who will be quickest in the race.
“Data gather” means the team is collecting information from the car while it runs. That helps them adjust the setup so the car works better in the races.
A “pole lap” is the fastest qualifying lap that earns pole position (starting first). Comparing a testing lap to a previous pole lap is a way to judge whether a car is on pace for top qualifying results.
The hosts describe Proctor testing to understand how the car behaves so he can coach Sam Osborne. This reflects how driver coaching in BTCC relies on firsthand seat time—especially for setup changes, braking points, and cornering balance.
A reserve driver is a driver who isn’t the primary race entrant but can step in if needed (injury, schedule changes, or strategic testing needs). They also help the team by learning the car and providing feedback, which can accelerate development.
The hosts emphasize how many laps a reserve driver did, treating lap mileage as a proxy for how quickly someone can learn the car and contribute useful feedback. In development, more laps generally improves the quality of driver input and the team’s ability to refine setup.
Before the season starts, teams may use a temporary design on the car during testing. It helps them keep things organized while they’re still dialing in the car.
BTCC weekend schedules are not always fixed—sessions can be delayed or reshuffled due to incidents, crashes, and track work like barrier repairs. That’s why teams and fans watch the live timetable closer to race day.
“Pre-83 touring cars” refers to classic touring cars from before 1983, typically grouped by era for historic racing. This is a “historic throwback” concept—fans get to see older machinery and period-correct racing styles.
Instead of setting the grid purely by timed laps, a qualifying race uses an actual race to decide who starts where. It can make the weekend more unpredictable because it’s about racing, not just one fast lap.
An unofficial test is basically a track session that isn’t run like an official, timed event. Teams can still learn a lot, but it’s not about posting official lap times.
A race license is the official approval that lets a driver compete in races. The episode is saying Hamilton got his license, which is why he can realistically be lined up for the next season.
A lineup is the list of drivers for the season. If the lineup changes, it can affect how well the team performs because drivers need to get used to the car.
A pit lane walk is when fans are allowed into the pit area to see the cars and teams up close. It’s usually calmer than race day, so it’s a good time to meet drivers and get autographs.
The paddock is the area where teams work on the cars between sessions. It’s where you’ll usually see people preparing the cars and where you may be able to meet drivers.
They’re saying Saturday tickets cost less than Sunday tickets. And the good news is there’s still racing on Saturday, so you can get the experience without committing to the whole weekend.
A touring car race is the actual competition where the cars race each other on the track. It’s the main thing most people want to see at a touring car event.
LIVE
The touring car season only days away. We bring you up to date with all of the moves
and shaping in the offseason. Hello and welcome back to the British Touring
Car Podcast. We are into April and although I had gestured about it I didn't put any
April's Falls out there although some of the teams did but we're gonna catch you
up with all the news that we've learned since our last podcast if you haven't
gone and watched that or listened to that already go and do that now so you're
caught up all up to date. Absolutely in sort of podcast HQ news we've hung the
flag properly which is very good so that's another little win ahead of the
season and media day is only a couple of days away. In fact by the time this podcast
is out I don't know when you're editing and outing plans to be but tonight
there should only be a couple of days away from when you listen to this
podcast which is at the end of this news roundup will go through what you can
expect on media day if you're going and if you're not going how you can follow
from home. Yeah we're gonna be heading down there I think it's Wednesday isn't
it? So we're really hoping that the weather holds out and if you are there
and you see us feel free to come and say hello and we have got some very exciting
there you go look at that shiny for the camera shiny shiny stickers which we will
free of charge if anybody wants one so just pop along and say hi and demand a
sticker and if you're lucky we'll give you one. Yeah we'd love to know your
thoughts on the season if we meet you in person. If we meet you during the season
at media day or even in the comments down below let's know how you think things
are going to develop and we'll bring you up to date with the news that's
happening in the meantime. Absolutely so first on the agenda we covered it very
briefly on our last podcast because we did an emergency voice note in the car
Mikey Davil has been announced as the final piece of the jigsaw at PMR Racing
so he completes the lineup with Moffitt on his side of the garage of the LKQ
sponsorship and then Dexter Patton under the awesome banner with PMR on the other
side of the garage no real surprise on this one. No and it was nice to see those
cars out at Croft although they cut it very tight to the deadline of actually
having the cars ready. Believing rumours that was the first turn of the wheel
for those cars obviously they built the brand new Audi A3 Saloons this season.
And they look in my opinion fantastic. They look really mean they look like it's
hard to describe it but they just look like touring cars they look like proper
race cars. I think they really suit the LKQ livery as well I'm not as keen on
Dexter's awesome sponsorship. I think there'll be more to come on that one.
But you know what I'm like with the busy livery. Yeah I don't think it's going to be massively busy
but I think there will be a few more sponsors to go on that car. Now of course
one thing that is just important to mention on how this all works and why some
teams may not have tested so far is that it's not free to go testing you have to
buy your tyres you have to buy your fuel all that kind of stuff so it may well be
that some of Dexter's sponsors are sponsoring for the season but not paying
for the testing so therefore why would you put them on the car if they're not
paying for the event you're testing at etc etc. So I'd like to thank Dexter for
expecting to see on those kind of cars some more indeed the BMW which went out blank
and Hyundai which you'll get to which went out blank those sponsors will come on
board as the season begins you would have thought. Yeah we did have the majority of
the teams at Test Day at Croft minus some fairly obvious ones obviously we've
already mentioned that Unlimited Motorsport won't be joining us for the
2026 season. Crucially one motorsport wouldn't know where to be seen as kind
of expected and then they're not on the grid if they turn up at media day I
will be stunned but they are not on the grid yeah and they announced the media
day is my suspicion and they were at that point only two virtue cars running both
the Toms Ingram and Chilton and only two BMWs running so the third BMW was there
it was in the truck it still had the number seven on it but only De Leon and
Rainford took to the track for the Croft test which you might as well discuss
we'll go slightly out of order so in that Croft test as you say all teams got
running it's very hard to you can't really take anything from Test Day.
You can't because on paper or electric screens the Plato cars were a little bit
slow to begin with and got better as the day went on however let's not forget
brand new car probably a case of just get out the lads and put some miles
through the system we're not worried too much don't find the limit don't find the
wall as Buxton would do later in the day in his Toyota just you know this data
gather and then we'll build as the day develops actually as the day went on they
did get faster and got a bit more competitive yeah there is a little part
of my brain that goes Plato is one of these drivers or team principles now
that will go don't show the thing too early if they got that underlying pace
there I think they would have filled those tanks up and done running for as much
time as possible to make sure the reliability is good make sure all the
systems on board are working as they should when they should
and that they're able to set up and tweak the car in the right way for both
drivers as well and if there is that underlying speed there I don't think
he's willing to show it until we get to that opening round up
Donnington yeah there's always a little bit of that as well as you say a bit of
sandbag and we see that in all forms motorsport and testing so that's not a
great surprise and so you can't take too much out of testing however
the team drives at the quickest where the one you'd expect it was Sutton
it was Napa it was Ingram it was Virtue however there was a new track record
for Croft set during this testing period and it was Dowder Leon still to be
confirmed at WSR in the BMW who managed to set a 120.4
which is quicker than Tom Ingram's pole lap of last season
so maybe maybe Croft is coming back to the BMW real giants
quite possibly or we've just got more powerful touring cars this season
you mentioned Napa were running there interestingly they were running five cars
now you might question why five drivers five drivers yeah
Proctor was out there testing for them obviously he's in part the driver
development program and helping Sam Osborne for the season
so he kind of needs to know how the car goes around the track himself
to be able to give Sam that guidance I also have suspicions that he will be
stepping in at some point of the season but yeah so do I
and I think that might be a slight plan in the back of Napa's mind because he's done
I hear exactly what you're saying about he needs to know the car if he's going to coach somebody
but he did a lot of laps or something this is just a reserve driver
now okay fair enough it's always good to have a reserve driver that can step in if you're ready
but also Proctor knows what he's doing this is not someone that's been away from the grid
for years upon years upon years we saw him last year but he needs to learn that
yeah I do agree but he did a hell of a lot of laps for just a reserve driver put it this way
Mick Schumacher was not doing that level of laps when he was
driving at wherever he was was it Mercedes? He struggled to do that amount of laps when he was
racing. Stop of Andorne has not done that many laps at his reserve driver or Givonazzi or whoever
else obscure F1 driver who's now in a testing program has done so that stuck out to me I think
we may see Proctor at some point in the season but we shall see how that goes. Yeah and it'd be
good to have him back because we saw what he's paid for last season. Absolutely in terms of cars
we saw running Virtu have released their livery for the two Toms and if you've not seen it yet
imagine last year's car and you're pretty much there it's um there's a few tweaks it's a little
bit underwhelming in my opinion. Their graphic designer has had an easy winter she would say.
Yes absolutely absolutely. A little bit of money for going oh we'll just change the proportions of
the colors slightly. Yeah I mean the more interesting part about the livery reveal is that Ingram is
running 80 not one and I think that probably tells you all you need to know about how excited
I am for the livery it is it's fine it's fine it's the merch is nicer this year they've got rid of the
predominant green and gone for a bit more of a cleaner smarter look I would say but yeah the
livery is much for muchness it's not going to win my award for livery of the year. If you haven't seen
any of the liveries from what they've run in testing like Playtoe Racing they've been running a
specific testing livery go and have a look on our Facebook page and Instagram for pictures that we've
managed to acquire along the way to see what those new cars look like. Absolutely talking of liveries
as well might as well get over on the subject we've obviously seen the PMR ones as we discussed
and restart racing released theirs this week as well. A slight change from last year's is a little
bit less busy and the more of the color is focused at the back of the car rather than the front
I think it looks quite nice it was quite clean looks quite smart. As people will know I'm glad
to see it being a little less busy I just hope that that doesn't mean that they might struggle
for money throughout the season but yeah it's a fairly clean cut car and quite a jazzy release video.
Yeah I quite like to say it's quite a smart livery I'm not going to I don't think it's going to win my
livery of the season but it's certainly more interesting on than virtue in my opinion and it
looks again hard to describe it almost looks like a forza livery or something that someone's
designed in a good way but it does look very smart looks a bit sort of racing gamey which is
which is good. One thing to say ahead of the season start is that the timetables are now
all out for all 10 rounds so it's important to know that it is very exciting it's important to
know that these timetables can change on the day depending on what happens and crashes and
barrier repairs and all that kind of stuff but crucially it does give us indication of
what support rating we can expect this year and assuming that moaned continually last year
is a hell of a lot better than last year so it looks a lot fuller it does look a lot fuller
they've gone back to what they did a couple years ago of getting guest series in for certain events
which I don't understand why that didn't happen last year but we were over last year we're moving
into this year. What do you mean they have the junior program? Yeah we've still not got the junior
program that is hopefully coming next year watch this space but along with the usual suspects we
have got F4s we have got what I call big Porsches which is the Carrera Cup Great Britain we've got
the Porsche Sprints which is the little of the Porsches and we've got the Mini and Mini Challenge
but we've also got three rounds this year the Legends which are the small sort of hot roddy
racing which are fantastic we've got four events that are being supported by catering which
it'd be interesting to see variations of catering across those events but sometimes give good close
to close racing. We've got the Mini Sevens which are the slightly smaller minis in one event we've
got the Mini Miglias which are the tiny minis that run seven abreast through the fastest track in the
country at Thruxton and that normally means we'll be seeing Michael Jordan and Andy Jordan
because they tend to be racing in that series and also I think Geoff Smith has been in that
series in the past so we might see some old touring car alumni in that series at Thruxton and
we've also got Owen Park something quite interesting we've seen it at Croft before which is the
classic touring cars which is anything from the pre 83 83 yeah pre 83 touring cars so you'll be
seeing like Ford Escorts, Cortina and stuff like that which I think should be good in a bit of a
historic throwback it's a shame it's not the Super Tourers but they have their own event I think
down at Brands which you should go and check out if you haven't done already absolutely but it is
nice to see some different support on the grid and actually the pre 83 stuff it's something a
bit different you know you and I were never seeing those cars race being too young so it'll be it's
sorry everyone so yeah it'd be great to see those on track and actually yeah it's always great to
see and smell and hear those old cars on track because they are completely different in every
possible way to the current crop of racing reveals yes and also we've obviously got the
shake up on Saturdays for the touring cars with having a qualifying race as well as qualifying
and a single 40-minute practice session and you can go onto the BTCC website look at all the
timetables for all of the events and see when they appear throughout the calendar across the year
and ahead of the season we will be doing a 10 minutes with to explain how SAS days are going
to work once we understand I know I've measured I've measured see a graphic from a team that
have explained it in bite-sized chunks and more on like I can understand so we will be doing it I
haven't shared with you yet but we will be doing a 10 minutes with before the start of the season
so keep an eye on our socials for that one and then finally in terms of news round up we have had
an unofficial sort of test at Sneterton this week it's I say unofficial because it's not timed
in the same way the Croft one is and again the usual suspects are there Jason Plato's outfit was
there with the two drivers of Daniel Robot and Adam Morgan but also crucially we did see a new
driver in a Hyundai going out for team what we assume would be team Virtue Nick Hamilton has
been on the track this week in one of those cars yeah there were rumours in the early part of the
season early part of this year that Hamilton obviously got his race license he posted that on
social media and we'll be looking for a driver for the 2026 season and then everything went a
bit quiet for a couple of weeks but yeah he's sprung up at Sneterton with Hamilton 28 his race
number on the side of one of the Hyundai's no livery on that car at all very much how sort
like the Toyota's main Toyota team have been running so it does look more than likely that he
will be taking a seat at Virtue whether he has a teammate it's yet to be seen I'm kind of thinking
that he probably won't I agree with you so I think it will just be the three drivers at Virtue
with obviously the two Toms being the main orchestrators in that team I think we'll see
a fourth driver come in partly for the season is my honest opinion I think that yeah that's what we'll
see run I don't think it's a particularly strong look for Virtue a team that have won I'm not talking
about Nicky I'm talking about the wider point that considering the team that they had last season
drivers that they had it was a really strong line up where you thought well in the end it was
they couldn't yeah because let's not forget they kind of did this thing last this basically is
repeating itself from last year with Chris was the last minute announcement that the team arrived
on major day from America not able to drive the car so his first outing in it was at the season
opener and you kind of feel like a big team like Virtue who have won major major honours would have
learnt from this but is it a little bit of a cost-cutting exercise from them well quite possibly
that we know that you know those other two seats will probably acquire a little bit more sponsorship
they haven't got the the two Toms behind it in the same way but I don't know it's it's just I kind
of feel with Nick it's very late for him to be testing okay it's better to do something than
nothing but it's very late in the day what makes it a little more challenging for him especially
is obviously the disability that he runs with he's run that in the Cupra
in recent seasons and he will have had a car specifically set up that way yeah I think it's
a lot of work for Virtue to do and don't get me wrong they're a team that should be able to do it
but it might take a quite a lot of adaption for him yeah that's also fair that might be explained
slightly why it's a bit late to testing but yeah I just think from Virtue it'd be a real shame for
them to go from what they had last year to come down to a three car team um this season I think
that would be it's not a great look for the champions especially when you see a team like
PMR and the struggles that they had last season go up to a three car team and new cars and new cars
I completely agree yeah it's bizarre how things happen on the grid and but that's the way they do
happen and I think we'll only know fully what the lineup will be at media day when all of the drivers
are then announced maybe one motorsport will be there or maybe not we're not seeing hide nor
hair of them I'm not seeing anything online to suggest that they are we'll be back so yeah I
don't see that happening so I think that sums up all the team news obviously we have at the minute
got four seats or five seats to be announced as I make it which are all three licenses at WSR
although given the amount of running Leon and Rainford have done in the cars you would be
fairly confident that they will be at WSR for the season uh but they have got a spare seat
or spare license I should say there um have a spare car yes so they keep bringing around places
with them so that could end up being filled we'll have to see and of course we've got the
two seats at virtue I would expect now from what we've seen this week Hamilton's been one of those
and the other one I've seen all kinds of names attached to the fourth seat I don't I honestly
what I don't want to see is the merry-go-round and I don't think virtue a team like that should
be having another merry-go-round that they did last season to be on to you I think that
you don't see that from other top teams is all I'm going to say on that point
mentioning media day then yes we'll get on to it we will be going down to france hatch next
wednesday that's wednesday the 8th of april um we're going to be down there nice and early for
it starts generally media day is run in a certain way where you'll have two four hour testing
sessions as they were but there'll be a lot of media work beforehand so they're going to do the
running shoots for all the promo stuff for all the cars for the whole season basically
where they get all the drives and car lined up on the grid that classic sort of like aerial shot
of the whole grid information as long as all the drives and cars are there yep well if you
do the ones that are there and then they'll do running shots as well yeah absolutely then the
rest of the day is pretty much if you're going up to you really the whole thing is times if you are
at home you can or should be able to keep up with it on somewhere like tsl I thought they would be
doing the official timing for it um and then if you're there on the day basically you can just
walk around the track you'll see lots of cars on track doing various testing programs there will
likely be a red flag at some point there always is um apologies if there's not other in that and
there's normally a chance also to have a pit lane walk about now these happen throughout the season
there was normally around about lunchtime or at the start of the day depending on the timetable
there is a pit lane walk about what I would say is that if you're particularly keen on getting a
driver's autograph this is probably your best time to do it because this will be a lot quieter than
the ones or should be a lot quieter than the ones you'll get during the season where obviously the
tracks are a lot fuller um you can leave early there's no obligation to stay all day you might
want to come down for a couple of hours and go home we shall we shall be there all day because
we've got a lot of shots to do a lot of things to to see and speak to crucially tickets are free
as well so you can just rock up and come in um and be able to see touring cars in the flesh free
of charge if you're brand new to the sport it's a perfect opportunity to go am I going to like this
yeah there will be no racing so there'll be no on-track action in terms of that way but as you
just rightly said there if you're thinking about is this something I want to come and see
further down the line in the season for a full weekend or saturday or sunday and yeah this will
absolutely give you give you a taste of sort of the sights the sounds that kind of thing that you
can expect to see as the season develops yeah and once more honestly if I hadn't thought about until
now is if you are getting into the sport and you want to understand it and want to watch a little
bit of it generally saturday tickets are a little bit cheaper and now you get a touring car race
a touring car race on the saturday so if you don't want to do a full sunday racing it's a bit too
much for you or something or you haven't got the time to commit to a sunday and you want to get
down there on saturday by all means and hopefully you enjoy it yeah absolutely I say this is a really
good opportunity if you're on the fence but going to an event and what to expect to come along to me
today to see how it goes and I say if you don't have to say all day because you're not going to
miss anything in that way but yeah we're looking forward to it we always you know you like to
spend the day walk around get as many photographs as we can try and get a few driver interviews as we
go through and see what challenges brands have to present to us in that front because obviously last
year it was at Wellington which is a bit of an easier paddock to access yeah we'll have to see
what happens with a bigger circuit to walk around well there is that as well yeah so yeah we're
looking forward to it as I say if you are there and you see us by all means come along have a chat
get our opinions on the upcoming season give us yours we're always happy to have a chat
we had that last year me today a couple of chats with some people which is very nice it's always
good we're always happy to say hello I've had a coffee by the time we get there so I should be a
bit I won't be grumpy for the early morning start because I think we're leaving about six in the morning
so it's going to be a long day yeah well we'll get it sorted then all the pictures that we take
there we'll try and put as many up on our social media as possible and we're also going to be doing
a booklet for the upcoming season so you can know who the drivers teams rules all the bits and pieces
you need to know all the key essentials for the 2026 season it's basically a program which you
don't want to pay seven quid for which you pay nothing for so there you go and most of our facts
are right most of them well it just doesn't matter no it doesn't it doesn't matter I can I can put
your picture if it's in for something like James Doran and see what happens I mean that's how the
programs run so yeah I think that pretty much covers media day to be fair yeah we'll bring you a
review of our media day experiences hopefully with as Russ said those interviews that we may get with
some drivers who's looking quick who's not who actually turns up and who doesn't ahead of the
2026 season starting later this month yeah finally thank you so much for the support we've had to
the point of this video it's absolutely taken off in the last couple of weeks that's great to see
by all means in the comments comment with you think we'll see you on motorsport at media day
yes or no will we see a comment down below as ever thank you for liking sharing subscribing
keep subscribing to YouTube that number is going up and up and up and up and we're very happy to
see that and it's obviously helping our algorithms we've heard from a few people that they've been
watching other racing videos and we've been a suggested video which is really helping your
likes your subscriptions are really helping push our videos into the algorithms now which
means we can get to more people which means we can continue to grow and bring you what I
like to think is great content I think so too but until next time we'll be back again thanks very much
bye for now
so
as April drew there I saw again good so I always have to mess up one
it then makes the rest of the pod go quicker
this is what I imagine Bruce the scythe used to go through
About this episode
Teams are days from BTCC media day and the hosts run through the offseason reshaping: PMR Racing completes its 2026 lineup with Mikey Davil, while Croft testing is treated as mostly data-gathering rather than pace proof. A new Croft track record (WSR BMW) and Plato’s slower early pace are discussed, alongside Napa’s five-car test effort and the possibility of Proctor stepping in. Livery reveals get mixed reactions. The calendar and support series are detailed, plus shakeups to Saturday format and an unofficial Snetterton test hinting Nick Hamilton could join Team Virtu.
