One of the new

BTC Touring In motor racing, BTC Touring (BTC-T) was the set of new regulations for the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) introduced in 2001 BTCC, after the demise of the Supertouring category. The cars were based on standard bodyshells, but were allow ...

specification cars entered in the

2001 BTCC season The 2001 theAA.com MSA British Touring Car Championship season was the 44th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season and marked the beginning of a new era of lower-cost rules and regulations for the series. The season saw a rivalry between ...

was the JS Motorsport-built Alfa Romeo 147. It was the first of the independently built BTC-T cars to race, being ready in time for the first round of the season. Despite originally intending to run 4 BTC-T spec and 2 Production spec cars, only 2 BTC-T cars were ever entered in one event, and no Production spec car was ever built. The team had 4 different drivers across the season: the experienced

David Pinkney David Pinkney is a British businessman and auto racing driver. He competed in the British Touring Car Championship on and off between 1989 and 2011. Racing career James Weaver talked David into racing and he started out in the Uniroyal Saloon ...

(rounds 1-4) and

Tim Harvey Tim Harvey (born 20 November 1961) is a British racing driver, best known for being the 1992 British Touring Car Champion, and the 2008 and 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain champion. A household name in the 1990s, Harvey won sixteen race ...

(rounds 3-4 and 9-13) sharing drives with the younger

Mark Blair Mark Blair (born 27 November 1974 in Matlock, Derbyshire) is a British auto racing driver. He started his racing career in karting in 1986, and represented England in the 1990 World Kart Championships. In 1992 he switched to rallying, driving i ...

(rounds 10-11) and

Tom Ferrier Tom Ferrier (born 14 November 1981) is a British racing driver. He had a long running karting career, a milestone was winning the 1998 British Championship. He also won the Star Cup of the Formula Renault Championship the following year, before ...

(rounds 2, 7-9 and 12-13). Darren Malkin had been announced, before the season started, as one of the drivers; however, he never made an appearance. The 147 proved to be unreliable, racking up 16 DNFs across the season, failing to start seven other races, and a multitude of other reliability gremlins. Despite this, the car was reasonably competitive - Harvey taking a surprise podium at the feature race at

Oulton Park Oulton Park is a hard surfaced track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England. It is about from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection a ...

, albeit in a race marred by attrition, and Ferrier was running in a fine second place at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

until engine failure ended his race. Harvey was the most successful driver, finishing 8th in the Driver's championship, whilst JS Motorsport's 4th place in the Team's championship was more a reflection of the small grid than anything else. The team did not reappear for 2002, and the 147s were not raced again.

References

{{BTC-T Cars British Touring Car Championship Touring cars Cars introduced in 2001 Front-wheel-drive vehicles 147 BTC-T