BTCC of yesteryear

[CarfanLUFC]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I'm not so sure about that, Andy Middlehurst was closing fast in the Sierra Cosworth on wet tyres...

Good point, it's easy to forget what a solid job Middlehurst did that in Sierra in 91. Unfortunately never really built on it in BTCC terms. Successful in Saloons though

We also had the Mitsubishi on track in 91, two different cars actually and also that Rover which had no factory support.

Shame Mitsubishi didn't stick around. I remember Gravett really struggling early season in the Sapphire as well.

[andy97]

Shouldn’t this thread be in the historic section?

[BTCC frog]

As a relatively new BTCC fan (I only started watching it in 2015), I would be interested to know what you think was the best season in the history of the BTCC was. I have all the season review DVDs since 1994, and have so far watched 1994, 1995 and all of them since 2007, and of those I think the best year was 2016 or 2017. I know 1992 is thought of as one of the best seasons ever, but I would be interested to know what other BTCC fans think.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by CarfanLUFC

Without doubt, good driver as well which I didn't really give him the credit for in the original post.

He would of course have easily won at Silverstone 91 had the race not been abandoned for the rain storm. Would have been a nice win for the unsponsored privately entered M3 from Pyramid.

That race has always intrigued me. There’s a few minutes of highlights on the season review, which includes Cleland’s off and Sytner taking the lead prior to the red flag. Also there’s a bit of footage on Tales from the Tarmac, where I notice Ayles also on wets was second behind Fearless Frank, but I want to know more about this race

The late Frank de Jong’s site carries a bit more info, but not enough. Has anyone got a full race report? I want to know how the race developed and who was still running at the end and in what order prior to the controversial countback

[Mondeo Man33]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Didn't Pinkney buy the Sapphire for 92, although he didn't actually race it?

I didn’t know that, very interesting!

[CarfanLUFC]

Originally Posted by BTCC frog

As a relatively new BTCC fan (I only started watching it in 2015), I would be interested to know what you think was the best season in the history of the BTCC was. I have all the season review DVDs since 1994, and have so far watched 1994, 1995 and all of them since 2007, and of those I think the best year was 2016 or 2017. I know 1992 is thought of as one of the best seasons ever, but I would be interested to know what other BTCC fans think.

That's a good question. 92 gets mentioned a lot because of the finale. In reality, BMW were actually way off the pace at the start of the season. Harvey and Bellm only just made the top 10 at the first round as the Vauxhalls and Toyota's dominated. It wasn't until the BMW clicked and Harvey did his hell on earth 5 wins a in row run that made it a 3 horse race, although mid season it looked like Allam was in the hunt as well

93 was supposed to be Soper's year but it surprised a lot of people how quickly smoking Jo got used to British circuits, shame also the Mondeo only appeared in the 2nd half.

Modern BTCC (although I really enjoy it) is deliberately set up to be close so it's no surprise when the lead swaps around there is 2 or 3 drivers still in contention at the final meeting. That said, I can't think of a poor season for years, they have all been entertaining and that's all you can really ask for.

[S griffin]

92-93 were probably peak looking back. I remember last year re watching the 92 review and it was a great season. Plenty of great racing, relatively clean, great manufacturer entries, plus very talented privateers who could mix it with the works cars. Although definitely the BMWs, Vauxhalls and Toyotas left the others for dead.

[S griffin]

As for 93, obviously you had the BMW domination at the beginning, which was mainly down to their Yokohama tyres. By round 8 they’d only lost one race due to the Michelin tyres suiting the awful Renault 19s in the wet. Then after that we of course only saw one more BMW win, but thankfully their FWD rivals took points off each other and we had so many different winners at the end. Of course if the Mondeo was ready earlier it would have been a different story, as Radisich was the only other driver apart from the BMW drivers to win more than once. Incidentally we had six new winners that season, a feat not matched till the ultra competitive 2018. Yes 1993 was a great season too

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by andy97

Shouldn’t this thread be in the historic section?

Well the historic section is called “historic racing today” and seems to be more about modern historic series and not discussing races and events of old.

I don’t see he problem of having a specific thread talking about the history of the sport.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Well the historic section is called “historic racing today” and seems to be more about modern historic series and not discussing races and events of old.

I don’t see he problem of having a specific thread talking about the history of the sport.

https://tentenths.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=12

[andy97]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Well the historic section is called “historic racing today” and seems to be more about modern historic series and not discussing races and events of old.

I don’t see he problem of having a specific thread talking about the history of the sport.

There is a separate section for “Motorsport History” and that is what is being discussed here, not “historic racing today”

[touringcarnut]

Originally Posted by S griffin

That race has always intrigued me. There’s a few minutes of highlights on the season review, which includes Cleland’s off and Sytner taking the lead prior to the red flag. Also there’s a bit of footage on Tales from the Tarmac, where I notice Ayles also on wets was second behind Fearless Frank, but I want to know more about this race

The late Frank de Jong’s site carries a bit more info, but not enough. Has anyone got a full race report? I want to know how the race developed and who was still running at the end and in what order prior to the controversial countback

Would love to know this as well!

[CarfanLUFC]

Originally Posted by S griffin

As for 93, obviously you had the BMW domination at the beginning, which was mainly down to their Yokohama tyres. By round 8 they’d only lost one race due to the Michelin tyres suiting the awful Renault 19s in the wet. Then after that we of course only saw one more BMW win, but thankfully their FWD rivals took points off each other and we had so many different winners at the end. Of course if the Mondeo was ready earlier it would have been a different story, as Radisich was the only other driver apart from the BMW drivers to win more than once. Incidentally we had six new winners that season, a feat not matched till the ultra competitive 2018. Yes 1993 was a great season too

In 94 and 95 the Rouse prepared Mondeo's seems to really chew their front tyres up. I'm still not sure to this day if that was the set up of the car, the car itself or if Radisich was over driving it constantly in his attempts to keep with the Alfas (and then the BMW's, Vauxhalls, Volvo's and Renaults)

Also, totally agree with you about the 19. Even in the fairly early years of Super Touring that car looked nothing like you'd expect to be on the grid, it looked so out of place. If it wasn't for those superb Michelin wets it would have been a season of absolutely nothing, especially when you consider the driver line up.

Glorified national saloon car cup entrant. Nigel Albon did a fairly credible job keeping the car fairly competitive in the 94 Total cup given the likes of Nigel Smith were running an ex RML EE Cavalier which was no slouch. Even managed to pick up a win.

[BTCC frog]

Some interesting facts from the last few years (excludes fastest lap, pole position, led a lap points):

2018:

Points from race 1:
1. Dan Cammish 110
2. Colin Turkington 100
3. Ash Sutton 93
4. Tom Chilton 86
5. Jack Goff 84
6. Sam Tordoff 75
7. Andrew Jordan 72
8. Matt Neal 67
9. Josh Cook 60
10. Brett Smith 57
11. Adam Morgan 55
12. Chris Smiley 55
13. Tom Ingram 44
14. Matt Simpson 41
15. Senna Proctor 37
16. James Cole 37
17. Aiden Moffat 36
18. Tom Oliphant 34
19. Rob Collard 28
20. Rob Austin 25
21. Daniel Lloyd 25
22. Rory Butcher 23
23. Ricky Collard 20
24. Mike Bushell 19
25. Jason Plato 17
26. Ollie Jackson 8
27. Stephen Jelley 2

Points from race 2:
1. Tom Ingram 115
2. Ash Sutton 85
3. Colin Turkington 84
4. Andrew Jordan 80
5. Josh Cook 78
6. Senna Proctor 75
7. Adam Morgan 73
8. Tom Chilton 72
9. Dan Cammish 71
10. Sam Tordoff 63
11. Matt Neal 62
12. Chris Smiley 57
13. Jack Goff 56
14. Rob Austin 44
15. Aiden Moffat 39
16. Rory Butcher 39
17. Matt Simpson 29
18. Ollie Jackson 28
19. Tom Oliphant 23
20. James Cole 21
21. Mike Bushell 19
22. Jake Hill 17
23. Ricky Collard 17
24. Tom Boardman 13
25. Daniel Lloyd 13
26. Rob Collard 13
27. Brett Smith 11
28. Ant Whorton-Eales 6
29. Jason Plato 2
30. Bobby Thompson 2
31. James Nash 2
32. Glynn Geddie 1

Points from race 3 (no double points at Snetterton):
1. Tom Ingram 118
2. Colin Turkington 103
3. Adam Morgan 98
4. Tom Chilton 92
5. Josh Cook 91
6. Andrew Jordan 80
7. Ash Sutton 67
8. Matt Neal 67
9. Jack Goff 62
10. Sam Tordoff 60
11. Senna Proctor 55
12. Rob Austin 52
13. Rob Collard 44
14. Daniel Lloyd 40
15. Aiden Moffat 40
16. Chris Smiley 40
17. Matt Simpson 39
18. Rory Butcher 37
19. Dan Cammish 30
20. Mike Bushell 24
21. Ollie Jackson 18
22. Bobby Thompson 15
23. Jake Hill 12
24. James Cole 9
25. Ricky Collard 9
26. Jason Plato 6
27. Tom Oliphant 5
28. James Nash 4
29. Stephen Jelley 2
30. Tom Boardman 1

So, interestingly, Dan Cammish scored more points than anyone else in race ones, and was second on race one and two combined. It was only his poor race threes that dropped him to tenth overall. This indicates that maybe he struggled when in the middle of the pack, due to reverse grids, and so maybe he wasn't very good at battling other cars in his first season, although he was already very quick. Tom Ingram, on the other hand, really struggled in race ones, but made up for it by being the top scorer for both race two and race three. This indicates the Toyota Avensis was not very quick when carrying success ballast, but was the fastest car when it was lighter, and Ingram often battled his way through to a podium from a low grid slot in race two. Another driver whose stats I found interesting was Brett Smith, who was in the top ten for race ones, but scored very few points in race two and none at all in race three.

[BTCC frog]

2019:

Points from race one:
1. Dan Cammish 126
2. Colin Turkington 108
3. Andrew Jordan 102
4. Tom Ingram 85
5. Rory Butcher 83
6. Tom Chilton 73
7. Matt Neal 71
8. Sam Tordoff 66
9. Jason Plato 65
10. Ash Sutton 64
11. Josh Cook 61
12. Chris Smiley 61
13. Tom Oliphant 59
14. Jake Hill 42
15. Adam Morgan 41
16. Rob Collard 39
17. Stephen Jelley 28
18. Aiden Moffat 26
19. Ollie Jackson 21
20. Mike Bushell 19
21. Senna Proctor 16
22. Bobby Thompson 15
23. Jack Goff 15
24. Matt Simpson 13
25. Michael Caine 4
26. Michael Crees 4
27. Mark Blundell 2
28. Daniel Rowbottom 1

Points from race 2:
1. Andrew Jordan 146
2. Dan Cammish 127
3. Colin Turkington 120
4. Ash Sutton 87
5. Tom Ingram 80
6. Matt Neal 80
7. Jason Plato 80
8. Josh Cook 79
9. Rory Butcher 67
10. Tom Chilton 53
11. Adam Morgan 53
12. Tom Oliphant 45
13. Sam Tordoff 41
14. Jake Hill 41
15. Ollie Jackson 33
16. Stephen Jelley 30
17. Rob Collard 28
18. Senna Proctor 28
19. Chris Smiley 24
20. Matt Simpson 17
21. Aiden Moffat 15
22. Michael Caine 12
23. Bobby Thompson 9
24. Mike Bushell 7
25. Carl Boardley 3
26. Daniel Rowbottom 2

Points from race 3:
1. Josh Cook 130
2. Rory Butcher 109
3. Jason Plato 84
4. Matt Neal 80
5. Colin Turkington 76
6. Ash Sutton 75
7. Tom Ingram 73
8. Tom Chilton 72
9. Tom Oliphant 70
10. Adam Morgan 61
11. Dan Cammish 59
12. Andrew Jordan 59
13. Rob Collard 49
14. Aiden Moffat 48
15. Chris Smiley 47
16. Jake Hill 45
17. Stephen Jelley 44
18. Sam Tordoff 34
19. Jack Goff 30
20. Ollie Jackson 27
21. Bobby Thompson 10
22. Michael Crees 7
23. Senna Proctor 5
24. Matt Simpson 3
25. Mark Blundell 3
26. Sam Osborne 2
27. Rob Smith 2
28. Carl Boardley 2
29. Daniel Rowbottom 2

Dan Cammish was the top scorer in race one for the second year running, with Andrew Jordan winning race two. The top three in the championship scored significantly more points than anyone else in races one and two, but none of them scored particularly highly in race three. However, Turkington was better than Jordan and Cammish in race three. Josh Cook, on the other hand, did not score many in races one and two, but was the best in race three by a long way, which lifted him to third in the championship.