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Old 25 Apr 2017, 08:13 (Ref:3729065)   #56
BLiTZ
Racer
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
United Kingdom
Posts: 266
BLiTZ should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
Quote:
Originally Posted by crmalcolm View Post
We've found the break during the day to be of benefit. Call it controversial, but we actually get some lunch ourselves during that period knowing we can sit and eat comfortably without missing any track action.

When you look around the crowds, there are usually quite a lot of spectators who are getting restless before the end of the day, so I think any additional track activity could saturate some.

With youngsters being the future of the sport, BTCC is doing a great job at the moment of giving races that don't seem to drag on too long, come in fairly quick succesion during the day and allow time to get to the track and home again without it being too long a day.

The problem with a start any earlier than 11am for the first BTCC action would cause problems both with TV scheduling and travelling to the track for the day spectators. BTCC knows it's market lies in the more casual observers alongside the dedicated minority - make them feel like they are missing out on something and they will look elsewhere for their entertainment.
I know the TV deal has a lot to do with the format, but I think the restlessness comes from having to wait around until tea time for the last BTCC race. You forget that the casual fans only came to see Jason Potato in his Soobaroo race against Mat Kneel in his Type ARGH Yo! The fact that most people bugger off to find the nearest bar/food stall/bouncy castle during the support races tells you the majority of spectators aren't general motorsport fans. Even then, we were surprised by the amount of people that darted for the car park when the rain started and left before the third race even started!

The difficulty comes (as you say) in satisfying ITV, I.E. the first race needs to be around 11am allowing a program to start at 10am with an hour's build up and adverts. Then allowing 2-3 hours between for the benefit of teams for repairs etc means the day ends up stretched to 5-6pm.

I'd hate to have your day job if you think a day at the BTCC is a short day lol. Ok I know the accident knocked timings on their head a bit, but I was out of the house at 7 and didn't get back until gone 9 and we're only just south of York. Usually we'd be back closer to 7pm but even still that's a long day by my books. I feel even more sorry for the folks who travel the length of the country!

Overall, you're spot on with the race duration thing. I actually commented with my dad that we hadn't been to the British GT's in a few years (during the mid 2000 (read boring small fielded) years of BTCC, we started going to the more Endurance based meetings, BGT, ELMS, WSC, FIA GT etc) but then remembered that whilst the racing was interesting, you often ended up sat for an hour or two with little clue of who was in the lead and barely saw any action or overtaking (bar the massive pile up in the wet at Oulton in 2002) and that as an 'entertainment' package the BTCC couldn't be beat!

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the BTCC weekend format, the support packages are great (even the F4's and I don't really care for single seaters) and the only thing I'd love to see would be another form of multi-make championship, some kind of modern take on production saloons would be ace! I just think there are bits that could be changed to make the day feel a little less stretched out or broken up.
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