BTCC Rounds 10, 11, 12 - Oulton Park

pagey318 · 15 May 2017, 16:03 (Ref:3733636)

Oulton Park this weekend...

What do we think will happen? Will the BMW dominate at what is normally kind to RWD? Will Subaru begin their fight back as we approach RWD friendly circuits? Will Tom Ingram continue his good form and mature drives to extend or maintain his title push? Will Honda be in the mix?!

crmalcolm · 15 May 2017, 17:48 (Ref:3733647)

Quote:

Originally Posted by pagey318

Oulton Park this weekend...

What do we think will happen? Will the BMW dominate at what is normally kind to RWD? Will Subaru begin their fight back as we approach RWD friendly circuits? Will Tom Ingram continue his good form and mature drives to extend or maintain his title push? Will Honda be in the mix?!

Mixed messages from Plato in the latest blog. We found a problem with the chassis - or it was a radical setup change that fixed the front end?

The car has a great CoG due to the boxer engine - or it was only a perceived advantage due to lack of ballast.
It still seems to me that they are unsure why Plato is off Sutton's place, and they want more boost from TOCA to compensate.

Will Honda go well, Neal hopes so with little ballast going into the weekend.

Who will take the most points, I wouldn't be surprised to see a BMW podium shutout in R2.

S griffin · 15 May 2017, 17:58 (Ref:3733653)

Jordan needs to get his mojo back, he seemed to have lost it after a good season opener at Brands. Plato needs a good weekend too, can't make many more excuses and Motorbase need to have a clean weekend

luckn002 · 15 May 2017, 17:58 (Ref:3733654)

Hopefully the MGs will do better too, and another strong circuit for the VWs which dissapointed at Thruxton. It would be great to see Mat Jackson get a few top tens though I can't remember the Focus having strong form at Oulton compared to other teams.

skells22 · 15 May 2017, 18:03 (Ref:3733658)

there another question that needs answering, will we safety get past this round without a visit from the red flag? we seen 4 of them this year plus will the weather play a part

crmalcolm · 15 May 2017, 18:27 (Ref:3733666)

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckn002

Hopefully the MGs will do better too, and another strong circuit for the VWs which dissapointed at Thruxton. It would be great to see Mat Jackson get a few top tens though I can't remember the Focus having strong form at Oulton compared to other teams.

If 888 or Motorbase have another poor weekend, you wonder where they go next. Both teams should be putting in podium results.

Rob877 · 15 May 2017, 19:49 (Ref:3733687)

First time visit to Oulton Park this weekend for me, some free tickets helping make up my mind to travel. Heading down from Newcastle and in two minds whether or not to drive down on the Saturday and camp at the track or just drive down on Sunday morning. What's it like for traffic etc on race day? I'm guessing busy as I think it's the busiest weekend of the year BTCC wise. Also looking at Google maps it looks like there are 3 separate entrances to the circuit, any tips on which one is best for a quick exit? Really looking forward to it, haven't been down since 1996! Sorry if this has been asked before, have tried to look through other threads but couldn't find much info.

thetool · 15 May 2017, 22:46 (Ref:3733708)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob877

First time visit to Oulton Park this weekend for me, some free tickets helping make up my mind to travel. Heading down from Newcastle and in two minds whether or not to drive down on the Saturday and camp at the track or just drive down on Sunday morning. What's it like for traffic etc on race day? I'm guessing busy as I think it's the busiest weekend of the year BTCC wise. Also looking at Google maps it looks like there are 3 separate entrances to the circuit, any tips on which one is best for a quick exit? Really looking forward to it, haven't been down since 1996! Sorry if this has been asked before, have tried to look through other threads but couldn't find much info.

Traffic will be very bad in the morning, it's quite rural and the roads aren't the best access wise. Also it tends to draw huge crowds which exacerbate the problem. I wouldn't worry about exit/entry choice, you likely won't get one as there tends to be police/stewards directing people on race day.

5five · 16 May 2017, 07:13 (Ref:3733757)

BTCC Race 3 is before the last race of the day at Oulton. Last year, if you parked on the infield part of the track via the main entrance, we were stuck in a queue you couldn't get out until all the racing of the day had finished, as cars were being directed out via the track.

thlbtcc · 16 May 2017, 07:22 (Ref:3733760)

Quote:

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Mixed messages from Plato in the latest blog. We found a problem with the chassis - or it was a radical setup change that fixed the front end?

The car has a great CoG due to the boxer engine - or it was only a perceived advantage due to lack of ballast.
It still seems to me that they are unsure why Plato is off Sutton's place, and they want more boost from TOCA to compensate.

Will Honda go well, Neal hopes so with little ballast going into the weekend.

Who will take the most points, I wouldn't be surprised to see a BMW podium shutout in R2.

A very interesting read indeed.

"We found a problem at Thruxton with the chassis which was a carry over from the shunt at Brands Hatch. It’s a big problem but a very small thing to find. I now know why there’s a 0.5 second gap between me and Ash."

https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/blog/20...ru-riddle.html

BLiTZ · 16 May 2017, 07:50 (Ref:3733766)

Quote:

Originally Posted by thlbtcc

A very interesting read indeed.

"We found a problem at Thruxton with the chassis which was a carry over from the shunt at Brands Hatch. It’s a big problem but a very small thing to find. I now know why there’s a 0.5 second gap between me and Ash."

https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/blog/20...ru-riddle.html

Would that problem with the chassis be the Jason Plato shaped bit in the driver's seat?

That said, it can't be as Price and Cole's chassis dont have the same part fitted

But in all seriousness, If Plato is playing some sort of long game, he's leaving it too late into the series to claw his way back unless the Subaru dominates again like it did last year. If we have a post-Thruxton repeat of 2016 then I'm sure TOCA would step in sooner to level things out again (though they do like having Plato in with a shout of the title going into Brands so who knows!).

Akrapovic · 16 May 2017, 08:10 (Ref:3733775)

I don't think he's playing a game, because otherwise Sutton is ruining it.

However it's pretty easy to poke holes in that blog post. They claim the CoG adjustment ruined their car, but then he says they were fastest through S1, which is where the CoG would hurt the most. Also says that Sutton was gaining round the bends too. So this CoG clearly didn't hurt the car as much as claimed, since it still handles fine. And are all cars meant to be equal? Or have different strengths and weaknesses? Because the Subaru appears to have most of its strength in the corners. What exactly is the problem with that?

It's also not that terrible in a straight line to get a decent position at Thruxton.

All just smoke and mirrors, but the mirror is broken and the wind is blowing the smoke away. The car isn't that bad, the CoG didn't kill it, the straight line speed is not a game changer. It appears they did have a problem with the chassis, so we'll see if that makes a difference at Oulton. Realistically, he should be up with Sutton.

VIVA GT · 16 May 2017, 08:30 (Ref:3733779)

Well, I admit that I've never been a Plato fan (I always think it's a good idea to get your 'understatement of the day' out of the way early), but I do admire the sense in the idea of using time in the races for testing. (Of course, it could have been his engineer that suggested it). Where he was at Thruxton there was no chance of salvaging any kind of result, so at least they made use of being there...

Urinal2001 · 16 May 2017, 08:39 (Ref:3733781)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob877

First time visit to Oulton Park this weekend for me, some free tickets helping make up my mind to travel. Heading down from Newcastle and in two minds whether or not to drive down on the Saturday and camp at the track or just drive down on Sunday morning. What's it like for traffic etc on race day? I'm guessing busy as I think it's the busiest weekend of the year BTCC wise. Also looking at Google maps it looks like there are 3 separate entrances to the circuit, any tips on which one is best for a quick exit? Really looking forward to it, haven't been down since 1996! Sorry if this has been asked before, have tried to look through other threads but couldn't find much info.

Oulton is one of the best campsites in the BTCC calender imo. I can recommend staying over on that basis.

crmalcolm · 16 May 2017, 09:58 (Ref:3733809)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLiTZ

Would that problem with the chassis be the Jason Plato shaped bit in the driver's seat?

That said, it can't be as Price and Cole's chassis dont have the same part fitted

It would be interesting to hear his explanation for why Price and Cole are performing to about the same level if their chassis' are fine?

If his car is off the pace due to a chassis fault (that can be fixed with a radical set-up) - then how much better could Sutton go with the same radical set-up, when Scott said the car is already 'handling extremely well but the straight line speed deficit is certainly curtailing the efforts from our drivers'?

Perhaps the argument for a CoG amendment is no longer relevant and the car is now on a par with others for weight distribution?