HYUNDAI TCR RACER vs ROAD

As a new race series hits our shores, we strap into one of the front runners, and towel up an i30 N for kicks

I THINK I’m about to lose feeling in my right leg. I’ve been strapped into one of only three Hyundai i30 N TCR cars in the country, and the belt of the racing harness pressing me into the seat feels like a hot iron as it pinches my flesh. I try to hide the pain spreading through my thigh like a flash flood as the engine fires into life, and the door is closed with a solid THUNK.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The reason why circulation is being cut off in my leg is because I’ve convinced HMO Customer Racing to allow me behind the wheel of its boxfresh race car which is based on our hot hatch benchmark, the Hyundai i30 N. Handy, then, that I’ve brought along a road car to join in on the day’s antics.

TOURING car fans of a certain vintage will understandably be sceptical about the introduction of TCR, which harks back to the touring car wars of the 1990s. During that tumultuous time, tin-top racing was divided into two distinct camps, with Super Tourers trying to use European manufacturing might to uproot the V8 muscle of the ATCC. Ultimately, it was the ATCC that won out, clearing a path for the local domination of what we now know as Supercars. While the key plot points have returned in 2019, the players involved this time round are eager to avoid history repeating, on the surface at least.

TCR stands for, rather literally, Touring Car Racing, and is the brainchild of Italian Marcello Lotti, who also founded the World Touring Car Championship. While he may have taken naming lessons from Australian colonisers, Lotti is thought of as a tin-top racing management genius in Europe. He and his right-hand man, Nunzia Corvino, were let go from WTCC following a ‘difference of opinion’ with the commercial rights holder on how the category should be run. Lotti’s latest creation has boomed since its inaugural season in 2015, replacing the WTCC in 2017, and invading Aussie shores in a seven-round championship for this year.

The formula for TCR is simple, with C-segment hatchbacks (and some sedans) the basis for each racer. Starting life as a production chassis, a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-pot sends power to the front wheels via either a productionbased or bespoke racing gearbox (the former receive weight concessions). The homologated cars are built by manufacturers and sold to teams and are subject to Balance of Performance testing similar to GT3 racers. The rule book specifically outlaws outright factory entries.

Australian Racing Group (ARG) has been anointed by CAMS to control the commercial and promotional rights to TCR in Australia. ARG is managed by Matt Braid, who was formerly managing director of Volvo Cars Australia and of Supercars. Former Supercars CEO James Warburton joined ARG earlier this year as a non-executive director, adding extra clout to ARG as a category manager, which is also launching the new retro-inspired S5000 open-wheel category.

While Braid is quick to note that TCR doesn’t have ambitions to become a Supercars rival, it’s clear the arrival of the booming series has Australia’s biggest category worried. It’s alleged that pressure has been applied internally at Supercars to prevent star drivers dabbling in the new series, and TCR has been blacklisted as a support category at some of the country’s biggest events.

A total of 17 TCR cars from eight manufacturers are in Australia, with plenty of familiar names running teams and performing driving duties. Garry Rogers Motorsport has a four-car outfit, likewise Kelly Racing. Supercars veteran Jason Bright has started a team, and rally ace Molly Taylor has been lured from dirt to tarmac to compete in a Subaru.

All too often new categories in Australian motorsport are overhyped or underfunded, resulting in disappointingly short half-lives. It seems TCR, with the experienced heads of ARG at the helm, is doing its best to become a legitimate staple of the local racing fan’s diet, inking a free-to-air TV deal which dovetails with live streaming, while becoming a main feature at Shannons Nationals events.

BEFORE I’m unleashed in the TCR car, it’s time to take the Hyundai i30 N road car for a spin on track, and there’s a 911-shaped twist. A number of Porsche Carrera Cup teams are also testing at Wakefield today, meaning I’ll need to keep an eye on the mirror to ensure I don’t return the car to Hyundai’s head office with a Porsche badge embossed on the back bumper.

“YOUR BEST FRIEND HEATING UP THE TYRES WILL BE THE BRAKE PEDAL. JUST SLAM IT”