[BTCC] rounds 22,23 & 24 Rockingham

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

He's been (literally) a giant of the sport for a while now, and maybe with the likes of Turks returning, AJ winning, and Ingram, Smith, etc rising up, it's about time we saw new faces right up front!

yeah, maybe it's really time to hang his helmet and take over Team Dynamics management from his father and leave the driving to so some young guns

how nice would be to see the likes of Tom Ingram at Dynamics


I know Matt would like to equal Andy Rouse 4 titles BUT even those titles of Rouse are not really fair !!! cos he lost many titles to people he didn't race against like 86 Chris Hodgetts , 88 to Frank Sytner, 89 John Cleland et etc , in reality Rouse should have had at least about 8-10 BTCC titles in a normal championship system !!!

[porsche962fan]

looks like very agitated spirits at Motorbase now..

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

done the maths,

Turks extended his lead from 23 to a whooping 55 points

need to correct I miscalculated

Turks leads by 55 points !!

maxium on offer for a race weekend is:
20 x 3 = 60 for win ,
1 x 3 = 3 for fastest lap ,
1 x 3 = 3 points for leading a lap
1 point for pole position
= 67

that means 67 points possible


this means if Colin gains just 12 points on Plato at the end of Silverstone race 3 he is CHAMPION !!!

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

this means if Colin gains just 12 points on Plato at the end of Silverstone race 3 he is CHAMPION !!!

I hope he can perform a miracle then!

[Bramzel]

Does anybody have some background on the Welch/Belcher incident? I'd think that these 'back-of-the-grid-low-budget-allies' would be a bit more sensible with their expensive machinery, but I guess I was wrong.

[geordiecriag101]

Another great days action, not just from BTCC but supports as well, the last Ginetta GT supercup was exciting from start to finish.

From standing track side, Colin has the BMW doing everything he wants, so clean and precise it hard to see anyone beating him this year.

The MG's once the tires start to go off just look a nightmare to drive, so much understeer it was horrible to watch.

The Honda's looked not to bad through the twisty bits but lack of straight line speed was killing them, Flash looked down all day.

Here's my vid of the action, all comments welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYDsura3fek

[geordiecriag101]

Opps forgot to add this vid, taken at the KX energy question time on the Saturday night staring Ash Hand, David Pittard, Tim Harvey, Dave Bartrum, Jason Plato, Marc Hines and from Autosport Scott Mitchel.

The last 4 and half mins are a one off performance from Rick Parfit Jr's band of Summer of 69, with United Autosports James Cole on guitar, Jason Plate, Marc Hines and Flash on vocals, enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltkNLYks6PY

[S griffin]

It's nice to see Colin getting revenge for the bum hand he was dealt at Knockhill and proved why he is the best. Those wins were crucial to lay down the marker for the final two races. Fact: Not only has he the most wins, but double the next person in terms of wins.

Tordoff was very gracious in defeat in race 1 unlike his team mate, whose claim that Colin would say the same in his shoes. Somehow I feel Colin has too much grace to do that as we have seen in the past. Plato needs to stop thinking he is the voice of everyone and just drive.

For Shedden his first non-score was bound to happen sometime, as the balance shifts. People say he's out the championship and it's between Plato and Colin, but Flash is only 9 points behind Plato, so is he?

Great win for Rob Austin, it's been a tough year for him. Also great to see ex champions Gio and especially Menu finally up there fighting.

Next stop Silverstone where I will be a lot closer to the action. I'll be there.

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by S griffin

For Shedden his first non-score was bound to happen sometime, as the balance shifts. People say he's out the championship and it's between Plato and Colin, but Flash is only 9 points behind Plato, so is he?

I think for Shedden it will be all about vice champion besides he already claims that they will be slaughtered at Silverstone due to their base boost..

[S griffin]

He did win at Silverstone last year though

[BtccLee]

I thought Rockingham was a brilliant meeting, lovely atmosphere and brilliant racing all day long. Turkington is doing a superb job and certainly will be a worthy champion. The more I think about it though, 55 points is still not a massive gap if he has a DNF. I am not suggesting anyone would do anything stupid but the risk remains. A wet finale?

The RWD/FWD debate is getting more and more heated. I have noticed that, leastways on Twitter, it is beginning to split more and more fans. I believe Turks is a class act and that WSR have done a tremendous job. Parity doesn’t mean identical characteristics, I understand that. I do feel that there is an issue though. Remember the RWD rules were rewritten several times and I wonder if what I believe is a slightly less restrictive rule set has given them an advantage.

It is all very well comparing it to the Honda years but at that stage the field was still very close and it was an equal platform. It isn’t quite that with RWD. We say it is only one BMW up front. When people mention the Hondas, we don’t say about Jeff Smith. Honda just had three drivers capable of extracting the maximum from those cars. Look at Knockhill, all three BMW’s were up there and people merrily say that Foster and Collard aren’t the quickest (not my personal view). Austin was up there at Rockingham.

The issue is if everyone starts moving towards a RWD platform, it is a Touring Car championship and Touring Cars are predominantly FWD. So changes will be made. The problem is that they have to focus on RWD I think because if they changes the FWD package (i:e open up the rules) it could become tricky unless they safeguard the cost aspect. And they don’t want to deter RWD cars as it adds variety. A definite quandary.

Boost will always be an issue. The teams vote for it in case it suits them, I cannot see them doing so again. 2015 will see changes and hopefully a bit less politics. Then again, I think that is simply a by-product of the competition.

One final point. Whilst I would love to see Turks wrap it up at Silverstone, so we can just go racing at Brands Hatch, there are implications and that is why we have parity. My point is that parity doesn’t mean this cannot happen, it still allows the best team and driver to be victorious and if everything goes well and they have a perfect season then they will wrap it up early. However, if it happens every season that will affect that championship badly. Brands Hatch won’t be able to advertise a “Showdown” so less fans will be attracted. If fans switch off and viewing figures drop, then sponsorship becomes harder to find. Teams drop out. It is a cycle. My point is that we do need parity and I think it is very easy to forget the need to maintain the interests of a variety of fans who want different things. I am not saying that will happen this year. But if it happens for the next five then it’s an issue.

[FIRE]

Before the races Gio had taken an overdose energy drink?

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Before the races Gio had taken an overdose energy drink?

he stepped up a gear

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by BtccLee

I thought Rockingham was a brilliant meeting, lovely atmosphere and brilliant racing all day long. Turkington is doing a superb job and certainly will be a worthy champion. The more I think about it though, 55 points is still not a massive gap if he has a DNF. I am not suggesting anyone would do anything stupid but the risk remains. A wet finale?

The RWD/FWD debate is getting more and more heated. I have noticed that, leastways on Twitter, it is beginning to split more and more fans. I believe Turks is a class act and that WSR have done a tremendous job. Parity doesn’t mean identical characteristics, I understand that. I do feel that there is an issue though. Remember the RWD rules were rewritten several times and I wonder if what I believe is a slightly less restrictive rule set has given them an advantage.

It is all very well comparing it to the Honda years but at that stage the field was still very close and it was an equal platform. It isn’t quite that with RWD. We say it is only one BMW up front. When people mention the Hondas, we don’t say about Jeff Smith. Honda just had three drivers capable of extracting the maximum from those cars. Look at Knockhill, all three BMW’s were up there and people merrily say that Foster and Collard aren’t the quickest (not my personal view). Austin was up there at Rockingham.

The issue is if everyone starts moving towards a RWD platform, it is a Touring Car championship and Touring Cars are predominantly FWD. So changes will be made. The problem is that they have to focus on RWD I think because if they changes the FWD package (i:e open up the rules) it could become tricky unless they safeguard the cost aspect. And they don’t want to deter RWD cars as it adds variety. A definite quandary.

Boost will always be an issue. The teams vote for it in case it suits them, I cannot see them doing so again. 2015 will see changes and hopefully a bit less politics. Then again, I think that is simply a by-product of the competition.

One final point. Whilst I would love to see Turks wrap it up at Silverstone, so we can just go racing at Brands Hatch, there are implications and that is why we have parity. My point is that parity doesn’t mean this cannot happen, it still allows the best team and driver to be victorious and if everything goes well and they have a perfect season then they will wrap it up early. However, if it happens every season that will affect that championship badly. Brands Hatch won’t be able to advertise a “Showdown” so less fans will be attracted. If fans switch off and viewing figures drop, then sponsorship becomes harder to find. Teams drop out. It is a cycle. My point is that we do need parity and I think it is very easy to forget the need to maintain the interests of a variety of fans who want different things. I am not saying that will happen this year. But if it happens for the next five then it’s an issue.

This is a tricky one. First off, reflecting on the season as a whole, if Colin Turkington was in an FWD car would we be having this debate ? That aside, there have always been tracks that suit RWD and others that don't. What's happened this year is that WSR have managed to develop the BMW to suit more tracks - i.e. the car has been stronger than expected on tracks where it was previously weak. This isn't a RWD thing as Rob Austin remains weak on those tracks he's always been weak. The BMW is a very good package but over the course of a season the Honda and MG are still better. The ingredient to turn a good package into a dominant one has been Colin Turkington. Rather than look at applying sanctions to the RWD platform... maybe they need to consider applying sanctions to Colin Turkington, the driver

[Sodemo]

Something will change over the winter I have no doubt about that. Whether its further hamstringing the RWD cars or giving the FWD gang a technical break or something, I don't know, but something will change.

My preferred option would be to see a weight reduction of some form. Difficult I know, but it would be interesting to know how underweight these cars are now. I believe the minimum weight is 1280Kg. Maybe make the FWD cars 40Kg lighter so they would go down to 1240Kg or something? Again, its impossible to know how underweight the cars are so this is all just conjecture.

[davyboy]

I think you're right, something will change... but wouldn't it be ironic if Turkington ended up in a quick FWD car and cleaned up again

[S griffin]

Weight would be easiest as then at least then it evens it out more. But you can't do much if the driver is Colin.

[RED55]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Something will change over the winter I have no doubt about that. Whether its further hamstringing the RWD cars or giving the FWD gang a technical break or something, I don't know, but something will change.

My preferred option would be to see a weight reduction of some form. Difficult I know, but it would be interesting to know how underweight these cars are now. I believe the minimum weight is 1280Kg. Maybe make the FWD cars 40Kg lighter so they would go down to 1240Kg or something? Again, its impossible to know how underweight the cars are so this is all just conjecture.

Most Teams will struggle to get 20kilos out never mind 40, a lot of cars are already struggling to get to base weight, the TOCA kit cannot be lightened it can only come from chopping the bodyshell, and that according to the regs isnt allowed to the extent required .

its not impossible but will be tough to do

[S griffin]

There was a well written column by Scott Mitchell in this week's Autosport about this RWD thing. Well worth a butcher's.