Unbranded awareness
The final round of the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch in October 2021 marked the end of an extraordinary era. For 12 years, Swindon Powertrain has serviced a contract that is unique in topflight racing, providing an unbranded engine to any team or manufacturer that wanted to use it in the championship, and at a cost that was affordable to all.
During the 12-year cycle of the engine it has undergone two major upgrades due to regulation and contract changes, been re-branded as the TOCA race engine, and has achieved every goal that the championship organisers set for it.
During the lifetime of the contract, Swindon’s engines have covered nearly 600,000kms, won 119 races, scored 49 pole positions, and powered more than 100 drivers in the championship. There have been title successes too, in the Independents’Trophy in 2012 with James Nash, Independent titles most years, Manufacturer’s title with MG in 2014 and overall Drivers’title in 2020 and 2021 in the hands of Ash Sutton.
The company has built and supplied 305 engines to a total of 21 teams, and there is no doubt that the engine concept has played an instrumental role in securing the strength of the series overall.
Next season the BTCC will field 32 cars as TOCA released its three licences in order to meet with demand, making this one of the strongest Touring Car series anywhere in the world.
The initial tender was for a 2.0-litre, turbocharged, four-cylinder engine that was based on a production car unit, to be
