[BTCC] BTCC 2020 season discussion, News and Rumours!

[porsche962fan]

wasn't Clarke rumored to be with Dynamics at some point ?

[Steel Wheels]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Drivers who last appeared in the BTCC in a Motorbase Ford Focus (and who may or may not be retired):

Caine,
Hamilton,
Cole,
Depper,
Davenport,
Clarke,
Giovanardi,
Griffin,
Thompson

Out of those Caine & Hamilton races last year and didn’t indicate that was it, Cole ‘took a year out’, Davenport went racing elsewhere (iirc), Clarke & Griffin just sort of drifted away so possible, Depper, Giovanardi & Thompson are the only ones I would of considered ’retired’ or ’assumed retired’ In my eyes but..................:

[TR4racer]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

With the confirmation that Smiley is not at PMR (sorry Pickles), what are we now looking for?

Files driving for Simpson Racing.
Shedden in a Vodafone-sponsored Motorbase.
Smith at Excelr8.

So expect none of those will happen!!

Yeh, I might have been overly optimistic thinking that Files winning TCR Europe for Hyundai and being British would help him with a Hyundai BTCC drive...well it is all about rumours and speculation after all

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by TR4racer

well it is all about rumours and speculation after all

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by jsmee

Mat Jackson is one of the cleanest BTCC drivers out there. Always has been. Dare I say it, even cleaner than Clean Colin Turkington. Certainly up there with the most professional.

Porsche962fan, if you honestly believe he will get stuck in with fistycuffs with Motorbase, you've read too many tabloid column inches.

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I agree with you but definitely wouldn't say Mat is the cleanest!

[Jiiiiiiim]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

wasn't Clarke rumored to be with Dynamics at some point ?

He was their official test driver for a season, but then he disappeared off the radar.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by jsmee

We're talking about Mat Jackson here. See my earlier comment.

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Over and above the fact he is a clean racer and decent human being, if MJ smashes his car up ut costs him money. If he intentionally or avoidably smashes up someone else's then the stewards will be having words.

It's not going to happen.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by jsmee

Anyone considered Collard at HARD in a BMW 125i alongside Boardley...?

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Yes. But as #HARD have had their fourth driver signed for sometime and have three VWs at an advanced stage of preparation it isn't Rob in a BMW run by Tony.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

I'm guessing you are referring to RML in 2009?



The results were 14-6 in JP's favour, and 8-1 in qualifying. I'd describe that as MJ occasionally shading it over JP in races, as opposed to being more than a match.

So? What does that prove? MJ had a lot of bad luck that season, remember he didn’t get any results at Croft due to a dodgy tummy. When all was going well, he was more often than not up there with Plato, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind. Statistics don’t tell the whole story. So therefore I am standing by what I said

[Robshillito1990]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Yes. But as #HARD have had their fourth driver signed for sometime and have three VWs at an advanced stage of preparation it isn't Rob in a BMW run by Tony.

Whatever happened to Chris James and "es racing" returning to btcc 😂😂 he was sniffing around the Hard garage at times last year....couldn't drive a golf cart let alone a touring car.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by S griffin

So? What does that prove? MJ had a lot of bad luck that season, remember he didn’t get any results at Croft due to a dodgy tummy. When all was going well, he was more often than not up there with Plato, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind. Statistics don’t tell the whole story. So therefore I am standing by what I said

As I said previously, I haven't included the Croft results in the comparison.
When both drivers were classified, JP was more than a match for MJ, not the other way round.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

As I said previously, I haven't included the Croft results in the comparison.

When both drivers were classified, JP was more than a match for MJ, not the other way round.

I’m not talking about stats, I’m talking about performance. When all was going well MJ was more often than not up quite close to JP and on more than one occasion. 4 wins to JP’s 7 was not bad. It’s not as if Plato got 7 wins and MJ’s best result was 4th

[porsche962fan]

here for example Jackson did have the upper hand on Plato but probaly had to let him thru for title fight ! so this may have skewed the statistics !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmeYIaqdYcM


miss those S2000 cars

[BobJones]

Originally Posted by sceptic

I'm also going to predict a return to the BTCC for someone we all thought had retired.

Huh.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I’m not talking about stats, I’m talking about performance. When all was going well MJ was more often than not up quite close to JP and on more than one occasion. 4 wins to JP’s 7 was not bad. It’s not as if Plato got 7 wins and MJ’s best result was 4th

Getting up quite close is not the same as being 'more than a match'.
Stats, performance, results - they're all the same.
Any driver on the grid can look good 'when all is going well'. It's when things aren't going well that matter.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

here for example Jackson did have the upper hand on Plato but probaly had to let him thru for title fight ! so this may have skewed the statistics !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmeYIaqdYcM


miss those S2000 cars

Agreed - it's possible to pick out many individual occasions when one driver has the upper hand on another.
My point was, not whether MJ can challenge JP, but that in 2009 he was not 'more than a match'. He was/is a worthy team mate, but didn't get the upper hand over the season.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Jackson will at least be more of a match for Plato than Collard (sorry Rob, no offence) and 2009 was the first time Jackson had had a team-mate and driven for a team in which he wasn't the lead driver and it was only his 3rd season (not counting 2001 in the Production Class). Great to have him back though.

[S griffin]

Exactly. He missed the first meeting in 09, got a late deal for Thruxton with little to no testing beforehand, yet still grabbed a R3 victory when the opportunity was there. He proved that he could keep up with Plato thereafter and then had some mid season bad luck. But then he had a very good run between Knockhill, Silverstone and the Rock, showing he could do just a good a job as Plato and sometimes beat him. That you cannot argue against, no matter how much you try and use stats

Anyway let’s see if the car and MJ are up to the job

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by S griffin

But then he had a very good run between Knockhill, Silverstone and the Rock, showing he could do just a good a job as Plato and sometimes beat him. That you cannot argue against, no matter how much you try and use stats

Right. I'm glad you agree with me.
'Can do just as good a job and sometimes beat JP.'

[mj088]

This is all very well but who won the Strawman Award in 2009 for most pedantic poster?
I can see who will win this year and its not even as close as Plato and Jackson in Chevys over 10 years ago!

[Alfisti]

It's closer than that I think! It's Reidy and Matt Neal with bumpers rubbing cutting the grass.

Matt cried (some things don't change), Reidy posed in a boxing ring a few days later for Autosport IIRC.

(Could have been The Sun that set the photo shoot up, memory failure)

[mj088]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

It's closer than that I think! It's Reidy and Matt Neal with bumpers rubbing cutting the grass.

Matt cried (some things don't change), Reidy posed in a boxing ring a few days later for Autosport IIRC.

A-hem, I think you will find they were mowing the grass actually

(do I get a point for that)

[Jiiiiiiim]

So back to 2020.

The reckoning on here is out of the 4 seats left the Team HARD seat is taken (any advances on the rumour of Nic Hamilton), Excelr8 is not Smith (any word on who?), Simpson won’t be in his car and Motorbase is a surprise (to some).

Throw into that a returning (thought to be retired driver) one more rookie if rumours are right, so we could be loosing some experienced race winners off the grid, BUT still look to be having a huge competitive field 😊

[Pickles]

I saw it mentioned/rumoured somewhere that Dynamics were trying to help Shedden into Simpson's Civic... Anyone have any more info on that?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Pickles

I saw it mentioned/rumoured somewhere that Dynamics were trying to help Shedden into Simpson's Civic... Anyone have any more info on that?

I think it was a bit of 2+2= situation. Neal said that they are working to help Shedden back into a BTCC drive, and Simpson has been heard to comment that he would be happy to sell the drive if the right person came along.

If the two are linked, I am not sure. It won't be the first time that Dynamics have been involved with helping former drivers of theirs into seats elsewhere on the grid though.