Quote:
Originally Posted by S griffin
Fact is anyone who thinks there should be no contact in BTCC is very naive. I mean if it's ok for Villeneuve and Arnoux to entertain us with a bit of wheelbanging, what's wrong with a few tin tops rubbing door handles. The real problem is drivers using the Andy Neate school of not knowing when to back out of it. The only other red flag this year was at Thruxton and that was just bad luck. The two ones here could have been avoided by a bit more common sense. After the R3 red flag I thought at that rate they were going to have to bring back the Snetterton night race, such were the delays
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I would really like to believe that I am not naïve, let alone very naïve. However, the FIA's and MSA's book of regulations clearly state that road course circuit racing is no contact, which means no rubbing, whether that's door handles or love taps on the rear quarters of the car in front. And it certainly means no wheel banging in any discipline including F1.
It may add to the enjoyment of certain spectators and TV viewers, but it has no place in the classes of motor racing that we are discussing. The skill is in being able to pass other cars without touching, and that is, in my humble opinion, far more superior than getting past after knocking on every panel of the car in front. That doesn't require panache and finesse, any knucklehead can do it.
And possibly if Neal hadn't tried to dive into the pits from the opposite side of the track then Thruxton wouldn't have required the red flag; I don't think that that was bad luck, it was lack of judgement!