[BTCC] 2024 BTCC Rds. 7/8/9 - Snetterton 25/26 May

[InYourMirrors45]

I’ll probably get slaughtered for this but what on earth has happened to the TOCA Package?!

Snetterton just half hour down the road for me so I attend both days every year, but will give today a miss and save some money after yesterday.

The Radicals and Porsche Caymans are absolute garbage. Simply not suitable for a headline event IMO. The F4’s have always been average at best, understandably so as it’s a one make single seater series. The Mini’s just isn’t competitive this year unfortunately. Other than the BTCC Sessions it felt like a glorified club event, it really was dire. I know we lost the presence of Ginetta a season or two ago but they really need to find a suitable replacement for that soon. Think it’s a bit of a cheek that the ticket prices for entry stay the same when the support races are a massive step down in quality and in some cases quantity (aware that’s not the circuits fault) I never thought I’d say it but I was actually bored at a BTCC event yesterday.

[thetool]

The problems are multiple really:

a) The manufacturers aren't interested in running/promoting series anymore. Look at 2006 for example: BMW, Renault, Porsche and SEAT all heavily involved with at least one series each which the UK branch was actively involved in as a promoter.

b) There are substantially fewer paid drives higher up the ladder, so excelling in junior series is no longer the pathway to a top F1 drive that it once was. This, coupled with the FIA's stricter rules about the required pathway to F1 has removed the role of national single-seater championships. Using 2006 again, we had 22 Formula BMWs and 24 Formula Renaults on the grid for the first round.

c) There are more series running internationally, and the notion of trying to race at as many relevant GP venues as a junior seems to a more important consideration than it once was.

[Alfaholic]

Originally Posted by InYourMirrors45

I’ll probably get slaughtered for this but what on earth has happened to the TOCA Package?!

Snetterton just half hour down the road for me so I attend both days every year, but will give today a miss and save some money after yesterday.

The Radicals and Porsche Caymans are absolute garbage. Simply not suitable for a headline event IMO. The F4’s have always been average at best, understandably so as it’s a one make single seater series. The Mini’s just isn’t competitive this year unfortunately. Other than the BTCC Sessions it felt like a glorified club event, it really was dire. I know we lost the presence of Ginetta a season or two ago but they really need to find a suitable replacement for that soon. Think it’s a bit of a cheek that the ticket prices for entry stay the same when the support races are a massive step down in quality and in some cases quantity (aware that’s not the circuits fault) I never thought I’d say it but I was actually bored at a BTCC event yesterday.

You're not wrong about the Caymans and the Radicals - with two different car specs & then splitting both classes into pro & am, it seems like all you need to do in the Caymans is to finish to get a trophy. Having spent both days there this weekend another observation is that if it wasn't for the Donington catch-up races, there would have been a severe lack of racing.
With essentially the same package at Silverstone (just substitute the Porsche Carrera Cup for the Radicals) which is the other event each year I normaly go to for both days, for the first time I'm going to buy a Sunday ticket only and drive up & back on the day.