[BTCC] 2014 BTCC speculation, rumours and news

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by S griffin

So Mat Jackson is back after all. He may not be good in qualifying, but he can make up for it in races. Just like team mate Gio in fact.)

???

back in VX Racing days Gio often had just a single flying lap in qualy and ended up on pole or front row to the dispair of others

his last active touring car race ETCC Salzburgring he did qualify on pole beating Pepe Oriola in the TDI Leon and you know Slazburgring has those long straights...

[S griffin]

Actually if you look back he did sometimes struggle in Quali, not all the time, but quite often. I think it may have been with ballest though.

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Actually if you look back he did sometimes struggle in Quali, not all the time, but quite often. I think it may have been with ballest though.

yes he was often 1st and 2nd so had success ballast , also in 2nd half of 2009 VX Racing for some reason visibly suffered straight line speed on all cars

[cos]

Originally Posted by davyboy

I imagine that...

The price of a 2014 Motorbase seat is significantly higher than last year. The Jackson family offered Dave Bartrum an amount below what he wanted... and left him to stew on it. Knowing he couldn't muster more from anyone else, Bartrum capitulated at the 11th hour and Mat's got the drive.

... again, just a theory of course

In any event, it's great to see Mat back.

Should have held out a couple more hours - there's a new millionaire who's looking to go BTCC racing...

[Moneyseeker]

Impressive from Menu P3 and only a few laps too, amazing how close the Civic Hatch and Tourer were.

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

Impressive from Menu P3 and only a few laps too, amazing how close the Civic Hatch and Tourer were.

Menu is not for nothing a class driver

how did GIO do ?

problem is with this tests there are no turbo boost regulations and you don't know what setup teams are running, old/new tyres or with ballast

[Craner Curves]

That's why it's a test. They can play with boost, setup and ballast and don't have to worry about setting the ultimate quick time.

[gregc]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

Menu is not for nothing a class driver

how did GIO do ?

problem is with this tests there are no turbo boost regulations and you don't know what setup teams are running, old/new tyres or with ballast

Gio was 12th, though I wouldn't read anything at all into the times from today. Add the mixed weather conditions in as well as the freedom the teams have to mess about with boost & ballast, and about the only thing you can say for sure is that most of the grid got some testing done

Shame that pretty much the whole infield was off limits, does anyone know if the work is due to be completed in time for the BTCC meeting?

[thetool]

Originally Posted by gregc

Shame that pretty much the whole infield was off limits, does anyone know if the work is due to be completed in time for the BTCC meeting?

Donington was in a shocking state today. WON'T be returning for the race meeting unless improved access is guaranteed.

[touringlegend]

Originally Posted by davyboy

I imagine that...

The price of a 2014 Motorbase seat is significantly higher than last year. The Jackson family offered Dave Bartrum an amount below what he wanted... and left him to stew on it. Knowing he couldn't muster more from anyone else, Bartrum capitulated at the 11th hour and Mat's got the drive.

... again, just a theory of course

In any event, it's great to see Mat back.

Yep, great to see Mat back, but I'd go with your theory on why it's been left that late!

[thlbtcc]

Originally Posted by thetool

Donington was in a shocking state today. WON'T be returning for the race meeting unless improved access is guaranteed.

Could you elaborate please? I went last season and it seemed okay to me.

[andyjr0999]

It was the Porsche Carrera Cup GB media day also today. Looks like we are set for another poor grid turn out as only 6 cars were present. I heard that 22 cars were looking to be racing so I don't know where they got that from.

[medius]

Originally Posted by thlbtcc

Could you elaborate please? I went last season and it seemed okay to me.

No infield access, bar 200m on the start straight. Good enough reasoning (heavy plant moving/working on the infield, lack of barriers on the inside of Redgate), but it took away some of the best viewing/photography shots for spectators. I understand why some where pretty upset at being moved from somewhere they weren't supposed to get to, but...signs said no access, they accessed, can't complain about being moved TBH.

It might be the concentration of numbers, but it looked busier than last year. Good 2000+ turned up I'd say.

[Greem]

It pains me every time I see the butchery that took place at Donington. Remember that the current mess and site access problems date back to 2009. The work of a few months has taken years to fix

The circuit management took the right choices about reinstating the infield - by doing it slowly, and properly, and getting it right.

It'll be finished for the 2015 season according to the last update I saw from Kevin Wheatcroft. Not a moment too soon.

Good news on the attendance today though.

[andy97]

Originally Posted by thetool

Donington was in a shocking state today. WON'T be returning for the race meeting unless improved access is guaranteed.

Give over, as far as the circuit is concerned this is still the close season when they will do work to improve the infrastructure. And as has been said, there is a lot of work to do. There has been massive investment in Donington in the last 2 or 3 years, and on top of which there is the Formula E headquarters being built. All of which points to a bright future for the circuit. The circuit management should be thanked and applauded for the efforts they have put in so far.

[PandaKing]

Just for reference, today's times were about 0.5secs slower than the best times of race 1 last year.

[redshoes]

Times were a bit meaningless today. With all the infield earth moving going on the track was very dusty and lacking grip. By mid-afternoon the rain put pay to any realistic times.

[thetool]

Originally Posted by andy97

Give over, as far as the circuit is concerned this is still the close season when they will do work to improve the infrastructure. And as has been said, there is a lot of work to do. There has been massive investment in Donington in the last 2 or 3 years, and on top of which there is the Formula E headquarters being built. All of which points to a bright future for the circuit. The circuit management should be thanked and applauded for the efforts they have put in so far.

Donington's race season starts this weekend. I'm not saying that in the future it can't be good, just that currently it isn't anywhere near. Why should we spend £25+ going to Donington when other tracks like Oulton Park, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, etc are far superior?

[thetool]

Originally Posted by redshoes

Times were a bit meaningless today. With all the infield earth moving going on the track was very dusty and lacking grip. By mid-afternoon the rain put pay to any realistic times.

That felt like a bit of a joke. TOCA clearly put in a lot of effort this year for the presentation to the media etc, they must have been appalled to discover they were running on a building site. I can only imagine they were unaware it would be like that?

[kipper]

Originally Posted by thetool

Donington's race season starts this weekend. I'm not saying that in the future it can't be good, just that currently it isn't anywhere near. Why should we spend £25+ going to Donington when other tracks like Oulton Park, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, etc are far superior?

It is true that Donington's season starts this weekend; however, it was always going to take a decent amount of time to put things right given the circuit's well publicised issues over recent times. I can't imagine that the winter weather has helped matters.

The vast majority of Donington's car meetings will not get a decent sized crowd, so I doubt that the lack of infield access will pose too many significant problems. As for whether, it is worth paying to attend the Donington BTCC meeting, that is purely a matter of personal choice.

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by thetool

That felt like a bit of a joke. TOCA clearly put in a lot of effort this year for the presentation to the media etc, they must have been appalled to discover they were running on a building site. I can only imagine they were unaware it would be like that?

So exactly when are they meant to make the improvements?

[kipper]

Originally Posted by thetool

That felt like a bit of a joke. TOCA clearly put in a lot of effort this year for the presentation to the media etc, they must have been appalled to discover they were running on a building site. I can only imagine they were unaware it would be like that?

I'm sure that TOCA (and the majority of the media, for that matter) are aware of the on going works at the circuit. At the end of the day, the event is designed to provide a single point of access for the media to drivers and teams, with a bit of track running thrown in for good measure. Spectator access for such events is probably a secondary objective.

[Greem]

I would imagine TOCA know only too well how advanced the rebuild is.

As it goes, at weekends over the last two years there has been very little site work going on. The infield has been open at all (so far as I know) meetings with access from the Esses to the Old Hairpin, all the way up to Hollywood and Redgate.

They'll get there eventually. It'll be great when finished.

[TimRTC]

The infield will be able to be re-opened when they put the safety fences back in which could be done in a few hours, the grassed area is still there as it was last season, but the fences were removed to allow the works vehicles to access. There was still access around the entire outside of the circuit.

The closed section was clearly marked with fences, people obviously just ignored them. The media crew had access here and obviously the main photo shoots at Craner and in the pit-lane would not have been affected.

Still given the whopping turn-out in the rain for this event, I doubt Donington will miss one person not turning up on race day...

[TimRTC]

I was hoping to get some photos up tonight, but turning into a rather long job. Will have them tomorrow night.

A few notes from observation then:

Lots for United Autosport, Motorbase, Morgan, MG, Newsham and eBay (who had all three cars present, rather than the shared Collard/Foster car of 2013) and a decent amount for BMR (excl. Menu who only seemed to appear occasionally), Belcher, Abbott, Stockton, Eurotech and Ingram.

Very little for Rob Austin (software problems with the power steering) and the Honda estates only made a brief appearance.

No running for the Holland Audi or the Protons (which I don't believe were actually there).

Stockton span twice while I was watching, once into gravel which caused a stoppage, Clarke had a long run over grass on the inside of Craner which did quite a bit of damage to the car and effectively ended his session. Newsham had a few dodgy lines at Old Hairpin and threw up a lot of dust.