Everything You Need To Know About Car Throttle's BTCC Race Car

Many of you already know and love the British Touring Car Championship, but just in case you need a little more convincing, here’s one of this year’s BTCC cars which, as you can see, is sponsored by CT.

The man behind the wheel is long-term CT friend Kieran Gallagher who’ll be racing for Team HARD this year. The 25-year-old got his Race License in 2012, and made his BTCC debut for HARD at the 2013 Knockhill round. In 2014 he competed in the VW Racing Cup for the same team, and he also raced for Parr Motorsport in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB season opener.

Now back in the seat of a BTCC race car, we caught up with Gallagher to find out what his built not bought Toyota is packing…

The car is built to NGTC (Next Generation Touring Car) specification, which was first introduced in the BTCC in 2011. It’s powered by a 2.0-litre Toyota VVTI direct injection engine with an Owen Developments turbocharger. The engine’s 350bhp is sent to the front wheels via an Xtrac sequential gearbox. Thanks to a kerb weight of 1200kg, the performance stats are pretty impressive too: 0-60mph takes 4.0 seconds and it’s good for a top speed of around 160mph. This is not your average Avensis, then!

Under the car’s skin, you’ll also find a turbo back exhaust system, bespoke cooling package, Cosworth electronics and dash with fully bespoke loom and an Xtrac gear lever with fuel cut technology. Externally, the Avensis features a because race car wide body kit and centre locking 18-inch Team Dynamics alloy wheels.

Below is a list of the more technical specifications:

• Bespoke front and rear subframes from GPRM
• Penske racing shocks
• Full race anti roll bars
• K&N induction system
• Front splitter for aero dynamics
• Full air jack system
• Lean treated windscreen
• Team Hard Corbeau revenge race seat
• Team Hard harnesses
• Full NGTC-spec roll cage
• AP racing brakes and Project Mu pads
• Titan power steering system controlled by DC electronics

With a dedicated race car such as this, you also need a dedicated race car driver. And Kieran Gallagher has enough BTCC passion to ensure that he gets his name as high up the grid as possible.

“To be able to race in BTCC is a dream come true and now there’s no going back! And to be doing it with TeamHARD and all our epic sponsors is the best thing about it. We have the coolest brands on board including Car Throttle, Ecotune (who do engine tuning), StudioJQ who designed the awesome livery, RCIB who have helped since the start, TAMZ vehicle detailing and Oakley.

As a thank you for all the support, I’ve got some epic Car Throttle BTCC giveaways planned, including driver training with me and even a shot at driving my BTCC car. During the race weekends, I’d also love to meet you guys, so please make sure you say hi. Oh, and in case you want to get your name/brand on my car too, check out this link.”

The BTCC series will return to the track at Donington Park (18-19 April), before moving on to Thruxton (9-10 May) and Oulton Park (6-7 June). For more info and updates on Kieran’s progress, here’s a link to his website.

Good luck, Kieran - everyone at Car Throttle!