British GT - Oulton Park Thread - Page 3

Graham Goodwin · 9 Apr 2007, 20:36 (Ref:1887484)

Last I heard was that one Ginetta driver had broken a shoulder

dj choc ice · 9 Apr 2007, 23:00 (Ref:1887602)

graham that wouldnt surprise me in the weather conditions for the monday race today, it was bad conditions and it must have been scary going quickly with dry tires on a damp/wetish track.

in total on the monday race, 6 ginetta's were totalled, 1 caught fire after a crash which wasnt good at all, and the F3, well mondays race left a lot to be desired.

BGT race on saturday was cracking though, much better than the race today imo

SALEEN S7R · 9 Apr 2007, 23:23 (Ref:1887616)

Anyone have any idea as to the spectator numbers? Yes I understand there was a good crowd but what are we talking here? 10,000? 20,000? Id imagine it woudnt be that much less than a BTCC meeting. Either way the new GT3 format seems to be going down well in British GT, I was a little concerned that the speed of the GT3 cars could be signifcantly slower than last years GT2 cars but so far at least those concerns seem to be unjustifed.

MikeHoyer · 10 Apr 2007, 09:00 (Ref:1887781)

I'm not sure, it was a pretty good crowd, but I think it was down on last year.

TheNewBob · 10 Apr 2007, 09:22 (Ref:1887802)

I spent a fair amount of time down at Cascades yesterday - the F3 start was a mess down there and Ginetta's were on a mission to total each other. Still, in the greasy/drizzly conditions they got the crowds "ooh-ing" and "aah-ing" which kept them trackside rather than nipping off for a walk or a bite to eat (erm... when the red flags weren't out, that is).

I find Oulton Park keeps the noise in very well - the BGT's sounded louder than they would at, say, Donington or Silverstone, because of Oulton's very enclosed nature (and loads of surrounding trees, too). Watching and listening to the GT's sliding and wiggling their way up a soggy Clay Hill was a joy, but I feel the race would have been better for the crowds had it been dry, and more cars had stayed on track.

About engine notes, the Morgan and Marcos were fabulous as per usual. That Viper V10 is always a welcome return to BGT, and the Ferraris and Ascaris sounded great. I have to say the DBRS9's were lovely - again, watching them going up Clay Hill was great, particularly when they were out of sight over the bridge and the remaining noise was a "Murcielago-style" high-pitched whail. The Porsches were dull, though.

Any idea which bad-tasted rich person owned the Veyron present at the circuit yesterday?

Rob974y · 10 Apr 2007, 10:16 (Ref:1887837)

Well i was pleasently suprised, initially i wasnt going to go to any BGT races this year when i heard that GT2 was being dropped but after several discusses on this forum regarding this subject i felt more euthsiastic. My main concern was the loss of the more agressive more racing bred GT2 cars but after staying at Oulton for the whole weekend and i can say that i find this new GT3 format just as exciting as the old GT2 and GT3, the GT Racing this weekend was great, and the like other have said the cars seemed pretty quick.

dj choc ice · 10 Apr 2007, 12:17 (Ref:1887972)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNewBob

I spent a fair amount of time down at Cascades yesterday - the F3 start was a mess down there and Ginetta's were on a mission to total each other. Still, in the greasy/drizzly conditions they got the crowds "ooh-ing" and "aah-ing" which kept them trackside rather than nipping off for a walk or a bite to eat (erm... when the red flags weren't out, that is).

I find Oulton Park keeps the noise in very well - the BGT's sounded louder than they would at, say, Donington or Silverstone, because of Oulton's very enclosed nature (and loads of surrounding trees, too). Watching and listening to the GT's sliding and wiggling their way up a soggy Clay Hill was a joy, but I feel the race would have been better for the crowds had it been dry, and more cars had stayed on track.

About engine notes, the Morgan and Marcos were fabulous as per usual. That Viper V10 is always a welcome return to BGT, and the Ferraris and Ascaris sounded great. I have to say the DBRS9's were lovely - again, watching them going up Clay Hill was great, particularly when they were out of sight over the bridge and the remaining noise was a "Murcielago-style" high-pitched whail. The Porsches were dull, though.

Any idea which bad-tasted rich person owned the Veyron present at the circuit yesterday?

i agree with you on the noise of the DBRS9, it did sound an awful lot like a lamborghini murcielago RGT when it went up and over clay hill which was by no means a bad thing.

no idea who had the bugatti veyron but it was smaller than i imagined but no prettier in reality than on the telly, in other words its revoltingly ugly but i did like the milky white on the black though, reminded me of a ipod for some reason

.

i think the crowds were better last year judging from piccies from 2006, maybe a crowd of around 15,000-20,000 for this year but not as many as the BTCC in 2006.

JAG · 10 Apr 2007, 18:38 (Ref:1888294)

My first impression was the crowd was bigger than 2006, seemd to be more parked cars and the infield was packed.

I was at Oulton Park when their was 40,000 for a BTCC race in '95, so I'd say just over 20,000.

Justin Moran · 10 Apr 2007, 18:55 (Ref:1888306)

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj choc ice

reminded me of a ipod for some reason

.

Thats one expensive ipod!

Justin Moran · 10 Apr 2007, 18:59 (Ref:1888310)

Would aree that the crowd on saturday was bigger than I expected after seeing virtually no-one on saturday over at Druids. But the crowd were entertained by the slip sliding around the double apex on saturday ( before the red flags were flying!) I was marshalling there all weekend and the spectacular cockup by the F3's really was a sight to behold!

rdjones · 10 Apr 2007, 19:20 (Ref:1888330)

The 2nd F3 race was a total farce IMO, in fact I got that fed up of it I left after the 2nd red flag. As for the crowd, the lad who I was with yesterday reckon it was about a 3rd of a TOCA size.

archibold · 10 Apr 2007, 21:47 (Ref:1888541)

Just recovering from our first round in British GT, it's quite a shock going back to the day job! We haven't really got to grips with the Viper yet (#17) and so kept changing the settings dramatically looking for time. Net result was we ended back where we started in terms of pace...ho hum. It was somewhat reassuring to see a professional in the Brookspeed car also struggle for pace.

The Saturday race was hard work in the dry until we had a minor coming together with a Ferrari which bent the exhaust. Not much damage but with a brand new car you don't want a fire in the side pod so we parked it and waited for Monday. In the second race we picked the wrong tyres and had to go back and change, jsut missing the pit window, so started from the pitlane on cold slicks to everyone else's warm tyres. We then made steady progress through to 11th with the wetter conditions in the second half suiting the Viper more and more. It goes to show that the Viper is basically a good car that has too many restrictions to work at the moment on a tight twisty circuit like Oulton Park. It's particularly painful out of slow corners...

We're being promised a rule tweak for Donington which is the good news, bad news is that the general concensus is the Lambo is even faster than the Ferrari 430!! Still it's a learning exercise and we have a long way to go before we can expect to be at the sharp end as drivers at this level.

If anyone has any questions about the Viper please feel free to come over at a meeting or IM me.

Archibold
#17

renkadima · 10 Apr 2007, 22:01 (Ref:1888565)

Can Oulton hold three times the crowd that was there Monday? I wouldn't like to be there if it can - the queues for food and toilets were quite big enough thank you!

Well done to MSV for getting such a crowd through the gates. I saw plenty of ads for the event on Motors TV. Let's hope Donington can make a similar effort.

JAG · 10 Apr 2007, 23:38 (Ref:1888631)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdjones

The 2nd F3 race was a total farce IMO, in fact I got that fed up of it I left after the 2nd red flag. As for the crowd, the lad who I was with yesterday reckon it was about a 3rd of a TOCA size.

I disagree with that, when there was 40k on in '95 it was, at the absolute max, twice as big.

Recent BTCC events haven't touched 30k, 25k at a push.

Dragaan · 11 Apr 2007, 00:06 (Ref:1888649)

I hope no one minds if I post my thoughts on this. I'll try to be objectionable, not argumentative.

I would say that quibbling over the number of visitors doesn't matter. Its not the point. Ok, so larger numbers of spectators can help with TV coverage, but theres more to it than that.

The biggest and most important difference between the BGT and say the likes of the BTCC is spectator enjoyment and the organisers and teams interest in Joe Public. I personally would much rather spend less money to watch equally enjoyable racing and be able to not only wander around the pits but also be invited by the teams into the garages as opposed to being limited behind a barrier with the highlight being the drivers coming out rarely to sign autographs.

The BGT is far more open and friendlier. You get to see the cars. You get to talk to the drivers. Its amazing. Drivers, Mechanics and even the Team bosses will find the time to chat to you even when things are going wrong for them. I for one get so much enjoyment out of wandering the pits and feeling part of the event. If all I wanted to do was watch the race then I might as well save the money and sit in front of the TV.

Jeff Carter the PR manager for the BGT/F3 and SRO have tried very hard recently to make the BGT even MORE fan friendly, including the addition of a humongous tv screen at the paddocks.

Give me the BGT anyday.

Dave Brand · 11 Apr 2007, 06:20 (Ref:1888726)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragaan

I personally would much rather spend less money to watch equally enjoyable racing and be able to not only wander around the pits but also be invited by the teams into the garages as opposed to being limited behind a barrier with the highlight being the drivers coming out rarely to sign autographs.

If that's what you want, you would enjoy club meetings. Good racing, run for the competitors, not the sponsors.

**Adam43** · 11 Apr 2007, 07:45 (Ref:1888763)

because the competitors don't have any sponsors

Most are strictly amateur.

I too can vouch for them being fun. There is some interesting machinery out there too.

In many ways I have often though of the British GT series as a club racing, but at the top level of it. Most need a external source of funding, but most are there because they just want to race big powerful GT cars.

Dragaan · 11 Apr 2007, 10:25 (Ref:1888888)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Brand

If that's what you want, you would enjoy club meetings. Good racing, run for the competitors, not the sponsors.

I might do, but you can't beat the roar of the GT cars. BGT gives the best of both worlds!

SebringMG · 11 Apr 2007, 13:20 (Ref:1889013)

I thought the meeting on Monday was pretty good - pretty surprised by the amount of people who turned up (many more than i have seen at the LMS and FIA races at Silverstone recently). The BGT race was really good - I agree with whoever said the 2nd F3 race was a farce!! Seemed to me that half the Ginetta grid disappeared once it started to rain

On the whole for my first visit to BGT was very impressed!! May end up going to the next round too at this rate!!!

TheNewBob · 11 Apr 2007, 17:19 (Ref:1889145)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAG

My first impression was the crowd was bigger than 2006, seemd to be more parked cars and the infield was packed.

I was at Oulton Park when their was 40,000 for a BTCC race in '95, so I'd say just over 20,000.

That BTCC meeting was the previous time I'd attended Oulton Park, actually!

My problem was with navigation. There were no signposts for the circuit until you were 2-3 miles away. And the circuit entrance and exits were horrible, too. Goodness knows how bad it must get when everyone decides to leave after a BTCC meeting.

Truckosaurus · 12 Apr 2007, 08:09 (Ref:1889525)

I'd agree with Bob about the poor signing. Although OP has signs from the main roads (albeit with trees and hedges blocking some of them) once you are in the warren of lanes you've got no hope on finding the entrance...

TheNewBob · 12 Apr 2007, 08:27 (Ref:1889535)

By the way I took the opportunity to upload a couple of videos:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TheNewBob

MSportUK · 13 Apr 2007, 08:32 (Ref:1890238)

Our pics are online at MSportUK.com. Selection below (clicky)...

More at MSportUK.com. Saturday only I'm afraid.

Piglet · 13 Apr 2007, 09:16 (Ref:1890258)

Nice pics but way too much what I believe is known in some quarters as "swedish lilt" in them for me!

Mulsanne Bleu · 13 Apr 2007, 15:14 (Ref:1890509)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNewBob

That BTCC meeting was the previous time I'd attended Oulton Park, actually!

My problem was with navigation. There were no signposts for the circuit until you were 2-3 miles away. And the circuit entrance and exits were horrible, too. Goodness knows how bad it must get when everyone decides to leave after a BTCC meeting.

I agree, as I live some 30 miles away, I used to have this problem, now I get around this by turning up late at night and sleep in my car until the morning I am due to sign on which I literally did on Saturday

I didn't get much sleep for that weekend but I had plenty of good photos with all these dew everywhere

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
British GT Oulton Park	ascarracinguk	Marshals Forum	106	4 May 2006 19:12
British GT Oulton Park Videos.	JAG	Sportscar & GT Racing	4	22 Apr 2006 10:59
Oulton Park British GT	JAG	Sportscar & GT Racing	71	20 Apr 2006 17:18
British GT Oulton Park who's going	Happy Snapper	Motorsport Art & Photography	6	12 Apr 2006 09:48
British GT Championship Oulton Park	rdjones	Sportscar & GT Racing	35	22 Jul 2004 20:46