[BTCC] Donington park rounds 4,5 & 6

[skells22]

next weekend the BTCC guys will be out and about. after 3 races we got three different winners as the cars hit Donington.

[850Estate]

*Looks at prediction game*

Josh Cook to win Race 1, Martin Depper to win R2 and Aron Smith to take R3 please.

Looking forward to this already. Hopefully the Subarus have been further improved and we could genuinely see about 15 potential race winners on the grid (maybe more), I'd imagine a Honda will take one win, but that's really all I can predict.

[Sodemo]

I might go to this one. Maybe just qualifying. I have a hard time dealing with the crowds on race day. I prefer the "one man and his dog" at F3 type events.

[S griffin]

I'd love to go too

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Maybe just qualifying. I have a hard time dealing with the crowds on race day. I prefer the "one man and his dog" at F3 type events.

Will be interesting to see ow much of the infield is open and how much it spreads out the crowd. Brands, particular at Paddock, was the busiest I've seen it for many years.

[850Estate]

Originally Posted by redshoes

Will be interesting to see ow much of the infield is open and how much it spreads out the crowd. Brands, particular at Paddock, was the busiest I've seen it for many years.

How much of Donington is open now? I've not been since the early 00s, before all the Grand-Prix efforts nearly killed the place. There was a stage a few years ago where it looked like a big building site/quarry.

[redshoes]

Infield from the chicane/tunel round Redgate to the Old Hairpin has been open in recent years.

There has been more work over the winter but the specifics are a bit vague.
http://www.donington-park.co.uk/news...rs-completion/

Parking on the outside overlooks Craniers will be open again this year, pre-booked only.

[GT6]

After a great time at brands i will have to watch this on catchup TV as i will be at silverstone next weekend for the WEC/ELMS

[skells22]

no Andy Neate for the rest of the championship as the Orange cars decide to have 2 cars so 31 cars this weekend

[GT6]

Originally Posted by skells22

no Andy Neate for the rest of the championship as the Orange cars decide to have 2 cars so 31 cars this weekend

There must be more to it. I know he was not exactly fast at brands but why suddenly drop him

[steve_r]

Sounds like he quit rather than was dropped.

[EastonNeston]

I am lead to believe, from a very reputable source the change was made for the very simple reason that the 'driver' concerned defaulted on the agreed payment schedule, & therefore the team terminated the contract between the two parties, as they were fully entitled to do.

Very simply, if you don't pay, you don't play!

[MikeH]

Originally Posted by EastonNeston

I am lead to believe, from a very reputable source the change was made for the very simple reason that the 'driver' concerned defaulted on the agreed payment schedule, & therefore the team terminated the contract between the two parties, as they were fully entitled to do.

Very simply, if you don't pay, you don't play!

And to quote the wry Keith Wiggins of Pacific when he fired Jean-Denis Deletraz for not coughing up the sponsor cash:

"He had defaulted on payment and on ability alone we are not prepared to keep him."

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by MikeH

And to quote the wry Keith Wiggins of Pacific when he fired Jean-Denis Deletraz for not coughing up the sponsor cash:

"He had defaulted on payment and on ability alone we are not prepared to keep him."

Now he was a character, one of teams he drove for impounded his red Ferrari Testarossa for non payment and he turned up at the next race in a yellow one - apparently.

Sorry mods - OT!

[thlbtcc]

Now ballast is added for championship order, Cook and Ingram should go well in qualifying. But if the Subarus have been allowed to modify their slow engine parts I wouldn't like to predict what will happen!

[auroan]

Originally Posted by thlbtcc

Now ballast is added for championship order, Cook and Ingram should go well in qualifying. But if the Subarus have been allowed to modify their slow engine parts I wouldn't like to predict what will happen!

The only way the Scoobie's engines will be quicker for such a short timescale between Brands and Donny, is if Mountune had the parts ready for TOCA to approve before the first round.

[porsche962fan]

^ didn't Tim Harvey say in the final sum up after Brands that this season is too late for Scoobys for title challenge because by the time they got it running the Hondas will be too far away ??

[850Estate]

Originally Posted by auroan

The only way the Scoobie's engines will be quicker for such a short timescale between Brands and Donny, is if Mountune had the parts ready for TOCA to approve before the first round.

“I don’t think our chassis is there yet, but I think it’s as good as the rest, we’re just lacking horsepower. After 6000 revs we’re lacking horsepower, we have to use a standard inlet manifold as part of the rules, and that’s not compliant with this application. Honda have changed their inlet manifold and so have the others but we have to go through a process that it doesn’t work and I think we’ve proved that now and we’ll be allowed to change our inlet manifold.

“It’s also worth mentioning we’ve got the lowest base boost level of all the cars, lower than the Honda quite a bit, a lot less than the TOCA engine. We’ve even got less than the Ford so there’s more to come.
We can do a better job, for sure and I think the ingredients are there for a really good year.”

Will be fascinating to see if they are up to anywhere near their full potential. I hope they do get close soon as I want as a big a title fight as possible.

Anywhere heard anything r/e inlet manifolds?

[auroan]

Harvey just confirm'd during the quali broadcast that the scooby engines are exactly as they were at brands

Oulton Park is when they'll get some more ooomph

[porsche962fan]

Shedden there near the front ready to strike and bag points


there is hardly doubt the man will become triple champion IMO

[Mark0994]

MG 1-2
As MG owner this is fantastic.

[CJFG]

Fantastic qualifying for those 888 MG's. A debut pole position for Sutton with Cook alongside. I expected them to be toward the sharp end in qualifying after running well in practice but not 1st and 2nd, that was a surprise.

I'm happy Ingram is up there in 5th, hopefully he'll have an opening first race here like he did at Brands Hatch. Hill starting 10th is a nice sight too.

Those Subaru's are ever-improving, if only slightly, though I'd have thought Plato would be the lead of the quartet. At the moment though Turkington seems to be adapting better to the car, hopefully it will creep further forward as the season progresses.

The combination of the weather and various incidents has set a fascinating grid for tomorrow's opening race. It should be a good one with Morgan (14th), Tordoff (21st) and Jordan (25th) having to do a burn from the stern.

[grantp]

I'm not a regular or avid follower of the BTCC but as I could hear the action today I though I would follow some of the Live timing.

3 (or was it 4?) red flags in the 30 minute qualifying session. Mainly as the track dried out and times tumbled.

Is that normal for a BTCC meeting?

[CJFG]

Originally Posted by grantp

I'm not a regular or avid follower of the BTCC but as I could hear the action today I though I would follow some of the Live timing.

3 (or was it 4?) red flags in the 30 minute qualifying session. Mainly as the track dried out and times tumbled.

Is that normal for a BTCC meeting?

Not as far as I'm aware. The ever-changing weather conditions played a part in those stoppages as cars kept sliding off the road (the Old Hairpin being a particularly troublesome spot.)

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by auroan

Harvey just confirm'd during the quali broadcast that the scooby engines are exactly as they were at brands

Oulton Park is when they'll get some more ooomph

They are testing at Brands at the end of the month, so presumably that's when they will have the improvements.