Owen Developments turbochargers on the BTCC grid

The British Touring Car Championship, the UK’s premier race series, roars into action on the 2nd / 3rd April 2011 at the famous Brands Hatch circuit, marking an important weekend for forced induction specialist Owen Developments.

This is because the Oxfordshire based firm, which supplies motorsport and aftermarket performance turbos to a global customer base, has been selected by TOCA - the organisers of the British Touring Car Championship - to supply the control specification turbocharger units for the NGTC (Next Generation Touring Car) engines being used by the majority of the grid.

Owens, which already boasts a vast amount of motorsport turbocharger experience (including supplying the control turbos for the FIA Formula 2 championship) strengthened its reputation in the BTCC in 2010, when it supplied the turbo units used by Mountune Racing on the successful and rapid LPG powered Team Aon Focus driven by amongst others, Tom Chilton.

With the advent of the cost-cutting NGTC regulations for 2011 and the decision to switch to turbocharged 2.0-litre engines for the BTCC, TOCA decided that a single specification control turbo unit was the best way of managing both budgets and performance.

“We needed a ‘spec’ turbo and we were looking at a unit that could last for a whole season,” comments Peter Riches, TOCA’s Technical Chief. “We spoke to a lot of potential suppliers and dyno tested several turbo units and this, in conjunction with recommendation from Mountune Racing, lead us to conclude that Owen’s was the best choice.” As such Owen Developments has been awarded the exclusive BTCC turbocharger supply contract until 2015, ensuring stability of technical regulations and costs.

Speaking about the BTCC / NGTC supply contract, Owen Developments MD Brian Owen said “Everyone at Owen Developments is delighted and proud to be supplying TOCA and the BTCC teams with turbocharger units for such a high profile championship. Our technicians have produced an advanced, motorsport turbocharger that uses the latest ball bearing centre housing, designed to deliver sufficient engine performance in a low-stress manner. We’re extremely satisfied with the way our turbochargers have performed in testing on a variety of BTCC engines and are confident that as the 2011 season progresses, we will be able to both meet and exceed TOCA’s performance and reliability criteria.”