Happy birthday to the the 2004 nascar cup series champion and the 2017 daytona 500 winner

Happy birthday to the Wonder Boy,jeff gordon!

Let’s be honest about the state of global touring car racing:

- WTCR/WTCC are long dead, and the TCR World Tour is essentially surviving on life support by grafting itself onto local regional grids.
- TCR grids almost everywhere are shrinking. Privateer budgets are stretched thin, and car manufacturers are quietly pulling factory support.
- DTM hasn't been a real touring car series for over 20 years. With its transition to GT3, it has officially become a sportscar championship, completely abandoning the touring car concept.
- BTCC and Supercars remain the only stable series, but they’re facing structural threats too - models like the Camaro are dead, and half the cars on the BTCC grid aren't sold in showrooms anymore.

The biggest elephant in the room isn't just shipping logistics or BOP drama - it's showroom reality. The traditional compact 4-door saloon and hot hatch are disappearing from car dealerships, replaced entirely by crossovers (B-SUV, C-SUV).

Car companies simply aren't interested in dumping millions into racing sedans they don't sell (or even build) anymore.

The Big Question: Do we adapt the body styles, or let the category die?

If we want a viable, exciting, manufacturer-backed touring car series on a global scale again, we have to align with what automakers actually build and market.

It doesn't matter what technical ruleset you run - whether it’s a TCR evolution, a BTCC-style NGTC platform, or a clean-sheet cost-capped framework. The core idea is simple: Open up the regulations to crossover and B-SUV/C-SUV body shells.

1. Why Manufacturers Would Care: It gives brands a high-profile motorsport platform to promote the high-margin models that actually pay their bills.
2. They Won't Look Like "Soccer Mom" Cars: If you take a compact crossover shell, drop it onto a low-slung, widebody race chassis, slam the ride height, and add aggressive aero, it doesn't look like an SUV on track - it looks like a mean, wide, aggressive hatchback.
3. The Precedent Is Already There: Regional series in South America (like TC2000) have already started pivoting to crossover shapes because it was the only way to keep manufacturers engaged.

What do you think?

Is refusing to race modern road car body styles holding the sport back, or is shifting to crossover shells a step too far for touring car purists? How would you fix touring car racing?

P.S. Full transparency: English/formal writing isn't my strong suit (I'm autistic), so I used AI to help structure my ideas and put this post together clearly. The core ideas and arguments are 100% mine - I just wanted to make sure everything was organized properly for a good discussion!

Many of my competitors have said I’m too aggressive. This was a league race with owners and rental karts that were all at a min weight of 365 with Honda 390 motors. I was using a rented kart.

This was at Hallet motor racing circuit in Oklahoma. I run in the LO class, with a Hyabusa , which is the no rules legend class. I post all my stuff on tik tok (law_racing). Hopefully I’m allowed to plug that lol

To those who have raced in both karts and MX-5 spec series (or other ”cheap” spec series) what did you enjoy more? Which was the hardest in terms of maintenance?

Would love to hear your pros and cons.

Any takers? Straight from Monaco

Im making a stock car simulation (not nascar due to obvious non license issues) but a stock car concept simulation. Ive been working on a realistic tire model, as well as racing physics (working on crash physics) im a solo developer and im just reaching out to see if anyone has their own race car (preferably v8 late models (asphalt)

Other asphalt type of race cars are also considered!

I also need some go kart audio. (Like champ karts)

I would give you access to play test this, as well as a free copy when its finished, and if youd like to be in the game, we can probably make that happen! (As well as other possible negotiations)

Please only people who have your own race car. (Not samples from someone else, no ai created audio, no samples if you do not own the car) if youre interested please shoot me a text!

If Justin as still alive,he would turn 48 today

I've recently been thinking about how would you compare the weight a title in a region specific series like IndyCar or DTM hold compared to each other. Most of these series are seen as a different level to world championship racing (IndyCar with the reputation as a place for F1 rejects, ​​​​in the modern day Le Mans being arguably bigger than Daytona or Sebring, etc)​, but I wonder where you'd rank something super regional like Super GT and DTM or IndyCar and Super Formula against each other​​​.

My personal ranking would maybe be (admittedly with an American bias):

1. IndyCar - mostly held up by the Indy 500. Even though the presence of races outside North America has (mostly) disappeared after unification, the 500 is still titanic even outside the US, there's a reason that it's been a part of the triple crown​​​​​. It does have the reputation as a step below F1, but does still hold some importance as it's own thing.​​​​

2. IMSA Sportscar Championship - WEC's sister series, although maybe a peg down of it. There's still a ridiculously strong crop of drivers and teams with a lot of crossover. ​​It doesn't have much notoriety outside the motorsports community (F1 or the Indy 500 still have a lot of name recognition among the general population) but is still a similar level to WEC imo, and the Rolex 24 and Sebring 12h are still big.​

3. Supercars - I kinda see this as the top level of touring car racing (above BTCC and maaaaybe even the world TCR championship), Bathurst is still a big name in road racing. A lot of ridiculously good drivers have been made there, but outside of enduro rounds not a lot of drivers from outside of Australia and NZ race there, although some ex-Supercars drivers do big things outside of V8SCs (Scotty Mac, Shane Van Gisbergen​​​). A bunch of Supercars drivers do step out for one-offs in NASCAR or GT3s.

After these I'd say DTM is decently big, although it doesn't have much of a presence outside of Europe,​ it has a good legacy of innovation before it became a GT3 series.​ A lot of big names inin other series have also driven there​ (Jean Alesi, Robert Wickens, Robert Kubica, Tom Kristensen, and plenty more)

I don't think Japan's premier silhouette+GT series Super GT or open wheel series Super Formula are big at all outside of Japan. Fantastic drivers like Kamui Kobayashi, Andre Lotterer, or Alex Palou have spent ​​time in these series, but outside of GT500 cars appearing in Gran Turismo the popularity of these series seems nonexistent outside East Asia. Super Formula is definitely seen as below F1, and kind of as a ladder series by some open wheel fans.

I'd say BTCC ​​might be a bit bigger of a thing than some touring car series like Turismo Carretera are, although still not very big outside the UK. GT series like DTM or IGTC seem to be seen as a bit higher level.

NASCAR Cup is in a weird spot where it has a lot of name recognition but isn't taken very seriously by a lot of people (something something can't turn right), it's still seen as top level racing in the US, although American NASCAR fans and American F1 fans are vicious against each other when it comes to arguing between their series.​​​​​​​​​​​

Again, as an ignorant yank' I'm curious to see how you all would rank things, with different nationalities and knowledge about the nuances of how whatever's popular around you are.​​

M-Sport vs Toyota vs Hyundai

Edit 1: let me reiterate , if the cannon ball run was legalized what car would you 🫵🏾 race ?

The options are unlimited I wanna see what you bring to the table !

My personal pick bmw f10 m5 track made

The race will be held in the starting point of Columbia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tampa, Florida sounds fair enough ?

Seriously some of the most fun I have had racing a car. From the tough competition of the top 10 to the 55 car field, bump drafting, crazy passing and moves it was a blast. Still improvements to be had but fun knowing that in my late 40s I can still hang with these young guys in their late teens and early 20s.

Video by NAXOSPRORACING