Why TOCA Junior has struggled to get off the ground

Last week was full of surprising developments. Whether it was the unbelievable scenes in the White House or Williams leaving Bahrain Formula 1 pre-season testing with the fastest lap time (who had that on their Bingo card?), there were plenty of shocks. However, the news that the new TOCA Junior championship would not be taking place this year was not one of them.

Sadly, this announcement was a case of when it would be made, not if.

Even from before the formal launch of the series last August, TOCA Junior was already facing an uphill struggle. Developing a bespoke rear-wheel-drive tin-top for the category was never going to be easy. As soon as Dave Beecroft and his team were given the nod to fill the void of Ginetta Junior and run a championship for teenagers on the British Touring Car support bill, they had their work cut out and the gestation of what was to become the Chevron B1417 was not straightforward. Back when the series was first mooted, it was originally supposed to begin in 2024, but it was quietly pushed back a year to give more time for the championship’s development.

Fast forward to that launch event in the East Midlands in August and, as soon as the price of the car was revealed (£78,500 +VAT), the scale of the challenge organisers faced was thrown into sharp relief. There are no two ways about it, it is a very hefty price tag. And that is not down to any greed on Beecroft’s part, it is the simple reality that manufacturing a car on a very limited production run does not come cheap. It was a lot of money for teams or individual drivers’ families/sponsors to part with – especially for a car that, if we are being brutally honest, looks like something plucked out of the 1980s.

INSIGHT: The bespoke car created for the UK’s newest junior category

Nevertheless, a wealth of major teams from across the national motorsport world were in the room in Daventry and were interested. Fairly soon afterwards, Mini/Porsche outfit Graves Motorsport and sportscar squad Toro Verde became the first to sign up. But they did not open the floodgates, instead all was worryingly quiet on the announcement front.

The ‘Chevron’ (and the decision to use the name of Derek Bennett’s Bolton manufacturer opened a whole other can of worms) did finally hit the track for the first time at the end of September, but this was again later than intended. And that timing is significant – many of the well-supported youngsters this series was aimed at would already be testing months and months before making their car racing bows, and that was simply not possible when even the initial prototype machine had yet to turn a wheel.

BTCC star Tom Ingram then sampled the B1417 in October and his positive comments about its capabilities were not enough to convince more to commit and, as the weeks rolled by, so the questions grew.

That was until the inevitable happened last week, when the plans for a 2025 campaign were embarrassingly dropped and a major revamp is now planned for next year. With the acceptance that teams were not on board with the idea, Beecroft and the category’s partners have decided to go down the centrally-run route. This does bring many benefits; it reduces the cost for drivers as they do not have to pay a sizeable price for the privilege of running with a team and enables far stricter controls to be implemented in terms of testing and other spending.

It was also revealed that other cost-saving initiatives would be explored in recognition that price was a major barrier to entry. But running the cars in-house is not a panacea that will automatically make next year a success, not least because championship organisers now need to develop plans of how the cars would be financed and operated in practical terms.

Even if the idea in principle seems more palatable, there is a large elephant in the room. Will anyone have any confidence to commit to the championship for 2026 when it has already faced postponements? Restoring trust and spreading the word is now the big task for category bosses moving forward if the series is to get off the ground.

The 2025 cancellation was no surprise and now it is down to Beecroft and his team to shock the doubters and prove TOCA Junior and the Chevron B1417 has a future

There can be no denying the BTCC meetings have really missed the presence of a strong junior championship in the past two seasons since Ginetta decided to jump ship to the British GT support bill. But, unfortunately, what is less clear is whether TOCA Junior can provide that successful alternative.

Back in Daventry last August, BTCC boss Alan Gow revealed that he had “a lot of interest” from manufacturers about developing a series based around a production front-wheel-drive hatchback. Despite so many compelling offers on the table, he plumped for Beecroft’s rear-wheel-drive vision of a new car created from scratch.

There is logic in that, not least that having a grounding in such machinery opens up a wealth of different directions aspiring racers can then subsequently head in. Yet making it a reality has been fraught with challenges. Ultimately, last week’s news of the 2025 cancellation was no surprise and now it is down to Beecroft and his team to shock the doubters and prove TOCA Junior and the Chevron B1417 really do have a future.

What does the future hold for TOCA Junior and the Chevron B1417?

Photo by: JEP