BTCC rounds 1-3 Brands Hatch Indy thread

[PandaKing]

Real shame for Nick Foster, this was possibly his best weekend before the drive through. He did look like he was past his start line before he twitched.

[touringlegend]

Originally Posted by medius

Any update on the injured WSR mechanic that fell off the pitwall in one of the Free Practice sessions which caused a red flag Yesterday? Heard he was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

Think it was Race 2 Louise Goodman interviewed Rob Collard on the grid, asking how his engineer was. His first name is Craig, but I could swear Louise said his full name was "Craig Poorly"

[porsche962fan]

Menu and Gio are 15th and 16th in the standings, surely that must be rectified after Donington

think Rob Austin could have won 3rd race with reversed grid such a shame

I also looking forward to see the top speed of the Civic Tourer, Tim said the VTEC engine delivers too much power and causes the front wheel to slip but will come very handy in the following circuits

[Bramzel]

I managed to watch the three races on Youtube (fellow continentals, get them while they're still on there!), great fun! Especially race three was a feast to watch.

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by touringlegend

Think it was Race 2 Louise Goodman interviewed Rob Collard on the grid, asking how his engineer was. His first name is Craig, but I could swear Louise said his full name was "Craig Poorly"

Porley

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

Menu and Gio are 15th and 16th in the standings, surely that must be rectified after Donington

I think they're out of their depth and should give the cars to young drivers.


*cough*

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

I think they're out of their depth and should give the cars to young drivers.


*cough*

and how exactly did most of those ultra young drivers finish up ? oh yeah even worse

[medius]

I think the irony is lost there Craner.

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by medius

Any update on the injured WSR mechanic that fell off the pitwall in one of the Free Practice sessions which caused a red flag Yesterday? Heard he was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

He has a broken leg.

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

and how exactly did most of those ultra young drivers finish up ? oh yeah even worse

Tordoff and Goff were ahead of Gio in race 3.
Smith, Ingram and Morgan were ahead of him in race 2.
All five were ahead in race 1 and all five are ahead of both Menu and Gio in the points.

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by sceptic

Tordoff and Goff were ahead of Gio in race 3.
Smith, Ingram and Morgan were ahead of him in race 2.
All five were ahead in race 1 and all five are ahead of both Menu and Gio in the points.

I was reffering mostly to the new young rookies Clark, Moffat , Geddie and Cole

BTW Craner what you think of Moffat's results ?

[rdjones]

I only saw the first 2 races but I have to say I really enjoyed them. I know its early but its going to be cracking season.

[slummingangel]

Originally Posted by touringlegend

Think it was Race 2 Louise Goodman interviewed Rob Collard on the grid, asking how his engineer was. His first name is Craig, but I could swear Louise said his full name was "Craig Poorly"

pretty sure collard called him chris and the car get well soon craig on it

[CarsCarsCars]

Originally Posted by slummingangel

pretty sure collard called him chris and the car get well soon craig on it

Collard said "...Chris, oohh no, Craig..."

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

I was reffering mostly to the new young rookies Clark, Moffat , Geddie and Cole

I think you have a different definition of young.

Jack Clarke and James Cole are both older than all five of the "young" drivers I mentioned, and Geddie is older than Ingram and Goff.

[S griffin]

Great day of racing. Glad to see driving standards have been kept up from last year.

The DQs leave me a bit mixed. On the one hand it should discourage dirty driving and perhaps that's why we hardly saw much of that . On the other there have been more blatant moves than the one Depper pulled in R2, so could there be a bit of overkill in steward's decisions this year?

Wouldn't have been surprised if Menu had been DQed. Yes Ingram moved over on him, but Menu wasn't alongside and I didn't see the brake lights come on on Ingram's car. Still a great drive, by Menu, glad he's back. Certainly seems to have mellowed a bit.

Great start to the season from Jordan, but race 3 showed he ain't gonna have it all his own way.

Great day for Nick Foster, just shows when the car is right, he can mix it with the best of them. But the way Colin just drove past his teammates, showed who the world class driver is. Nice to see Colin's family there too.

Mat Jackson would have had a better weekend with more luck. Gio didn't have a good start, but he will be there soon.

Great!

[davyboy]

Fantastic weekend's racing ! This season is set to be very special.

[Sodemo]

I went on the Saturday and Sunday. I'm a massive Brands Hatch fan, and have been since I first went in 1997. The view from Paddock grandstand is possibly the finest in motorsport. Anyway, enough of my love affair with Brands, the racing was pretty good in all three BTCC races. Driving standards seemed to be fairly good, although I think both the Honda drivers have proved once again that they can't pass cars without making contact, which was a bit of a shame for Turkington who was on the receiving end both times.

I heard a mention that there is already moaning about the BMW RWD start advantage. Now several years ago Mr Plato (and possibily others) was doing the same thing, moaning about the 320 S2000 starting ability and then TOCA made WSR change the gearing to hamstring the cars ability to get good starts. I really hope something similar doesn't happen to the WSR cars on this occasion. If they do penalise them in some way, I hope there is a sweetener to even the balance out, maybe a softer tyre for the BMWs to use or better protection from being turned around through contact...? I don't think having a RWD car is the advantage some people think. They take longer to warm the front tyres, they are more likely to spin as a result of contact and to be honest the races aren't really long enough for them to play their tyre preservation card.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I went on the Saturday and Sunday. I'm a massive Brands Hatch fan, and have been since I first went in 1997. The view from Paddock grandstand is possibly the finest in motorsport. Anyway, enough of my love affair with Brands, the racing was pretty good in all three BTCC races. Driving standards seemed to be fairly good, although I think both the Honda drivers have proved once again that they can't pass cars without making contact, which was a bit of a shame for Turkington who was on the receiving end both times.

I heard a mention that there is already moaning about the BMW RWD start advantage. Now several years ago Mr Plato (and possibily others) was doing the same thing, moaning about the 320 S2000 starting ability and then TOCA made WSR change the gearing to hamstring the cars ability to get good starts. I really hope something similar doesn't happen to the WSR cars on this occasion. If they do penalise them in some way, I hope there is a sweetener to even the balance out.

The sweetener should be a black flag and DQ for anyone that 'love taps' a BMW or A4 in the rear quarter.

[S griffin]

I'm already thinking about going to a race this year. First time in four years it would be.

[FIRE]

Good start of the season.

[thlbtcc]

So many things to talk about, which is nice!

Good to see Mat Jackson prove his metal again, out-paced Gio the whole weekend. Yes, he's had 1.5 years in that car & team, but he lacked testing in 2014.

If Adam Morgan's car is struggling with straight line speed at Brands Indy, then what on earth will happen at larger circuits?

The DQ's seemed a little strange. However, upon reflection, it's only being used when a car is forced to retire due to contact. Eye for an eye. I like that. One supposes the Menu/Ingram incident wasn't so cut and dry.

The field is so close, it's fantastic. It isn't so much that there are 30 cars on the grid, but more there are 15+ drivers that are podium contenders. We've seen with Jordan in Race 3, he was further down the grid and with full ballast, so couldn't break into the Top 10. In Race 2, Plato charged from the back to the top 15, but in 2012, that may have been 3rd-6th or so.

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by thlbtcc

So many things to talk about, which is nice!

Good to see Mat Jackson prove his metal again, out-paced Gio the whole weekend. Yes, he's had 1.5 years in that car & team, but he lacked testing in 2014.

Actually this race weekend was the first real dry driving for Gio

from a crazy site

The car is not fast enough at the moment but we began to take more positions. It is frustrating because my team mate was going well but ‘if, if, if’ isn’t good enough for me I know what changes we need to make before Donington and hopefully then can push us further forward.

I hope to be quicker in the qualifying as that will be key

for Donington I barely wait to see how the Tourer compared to Jordan and the other cars on the straight line

[BtccLee]

Forgive me, I am about to fill your screen with much Touring Car based excitement.
Quite simply a superlative opener. There was an incredibly special atmosphere at Brands Hatch on Sunday, one which I have never felt before. The support rounds produced great racing, the Clio encounter a brilliantly thrilling affair. Then we come to the BTCC. The drivers were incredibly well behaved all weekend and this produced some of the best racing seen in the series of late. Any questionable incidents were dealt with well, the organisers still seem content to allow the minor contact and bumps that are a feature of Touring Car Racing whilst clamping down on race ruining incidents. The decision to delay Smith's grid penalty to allow for an appeal was intelligently done and displayed the understanding of the organisers.
What did it tell us? The field is clearly far more competitive than ever, times remained close throughout the meeting. The Civic Tourer is a quick racing car and given time will certainly be a race winner and championship contender. Ballast in race 3 in now clearly a handicap, Jordan really struggled. However, his race 1 and 2 performances were befitting of the champion he is, he holds the advantage heading to Donington. The BMW looks a lot quicker, Collard and Foster really impressed all weekend and Turkington had a great opening round. Plato and the MG6 are arguably the best package overall right now but reliability still seems an issue.
The top 5 are covered by 9 points heading to Donington, everything is so close. What happens at Donington is anyone’s guess. If the racing is even half as good as it was at Brands Hatch, the racing will be tremendous!
2014 a golden year? On the evidence of Brands, it certainly will be.

[PabloTeK]

Posted on another forum, but I'll give it a go here too...

Anyone else feel that the SC was over-eagerly brought out in race 2? A car well back in the gravel trap and one off on a straight IMO doesn't constitute a safety car in any level of racing!

[S griffin]

Yeah, the second one in particular ruined a good battle for the lead. Too hasty as usual.

[Thaw Daggerslash]

Originally Posted by PabloTeK

Posted on another forum, but I'll give it a go here too...

Anyone else feel that the SC was over-eagerly brought out in race 2? A car well back in the gravel trap and one off on a straight IMO doesn't constitute a safety car in any level of racing!

The BTCC has a history of deploying the safety car for the smallest of incidents. It is certainly not something that is new, let's put it that way...