[BTCC] Snetterton, Rounds 16, 17 & 18

[touringlegend]

Plato has been fastest in both practice sessions, AON Focus's are apparently working on race setups so not the quickest.

Qualifying due up soon.

[Alfa Fan]

No Rob Collard for qualifying it seems.

[duke_toaster]

And it's over ... with Alex MacDowall on pole !

[Sodemo]

Top 15 looks reasonably competitive, the last 5 or 6 on the grid shouldn't really be there in my opinion. The BTCC is supposed to be the premier saloon car series, not the clubman Mini Sunday drivers championship, its embarrassing.

[Pato]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Top 15 looks reasonably competitive, the last 5 or 6 on the grid shouldn't really be there in my opinion. The BTCC is supposed to be the premier saloon car series, not the clubman Mini Sunday drivers championship, its embarrassing.

Agreed, I love BTCC but I think having those ancient cars on the grid like Johnson's Astra makes it look unprofessional. They should introduce an age limit on the cars entered.

Awesome job by Alex, always thought he's a driver with a lot of potential.

[Icebaby]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Top 15 looks reasonably competitive, the last 5 or 6 on the grid shouldn't really be there in my opinion. The BTCC is supposed to be the premier saloon car series, not the clubman Mini Sunday drivers championship, its embarrassing.

Interesting comments, I went along for practise today and saw the bottom 6/7 braking much earlier and carrrying less speed into the corners. Dissapointed with the new Vectra turbo engine ...it sounds like a tractor.

The caliber of cars is still strong but I would agree some of the drivers are way out of their depth.

[Icebaby]

[QUOTE=Pato;2741010]They should introduce an age limit on the cars entered. (QUOTE]

Should that also be an age limit on drivers as well?

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Pato

Agreed, I love BTCC but I think having those ancient cars on the grid like Johnson's Astra makes it look unprofessional. They should introduce an age limit on the cars entered.

Awesome job by Alex, always thought he's a driver with a lot of potential.

Fantastic for Alex - dead chuffed for him.

In terms of the older cars and drivers, and even the pay drivers, I couldn't disagree more. The BTCC is a semi professional series not a fully professional one and that's what makes it so brilliant. Enthusiastic amateurs like these guys have always been there as long as the series has. They're part of its DNA and when people like Martin Johnson get a top 10 finish, the entire TOCA paddock laud it. Long may they continue !

[Icebaby]

The drivers being looked at may find the comment "Enthusiastic amateurs" a bit below the belt having said that I think caliber wise its been a dreadful year.

[FIRE]

Good start voor Chevy after the summer break.

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Top 15 looks reasonably competitive, the last 5 or 6 on the grid shouldn't really be there in my opinion. The BTCC is supposed to be the premier saloon car series, not the clubman Mini Sunday drivers championship, its embarrassing.

Steady, you'll get the fanboys coming on and saying that "those guys are the heart and soul of the BTCC, they make it was it is". Which is crap in my opinion. Back in the 90s the privateers (I hate the Independant terminology) were of a better standard than some of them are today. I don't know how John George can motivate himself anymore after so many seasons of not doing very well.

I applaud the likes of Hollamby for trying a different car and the competitive Integra runners, plus Martin Johnson for being so competitive at times with his vintage car.

Icebaby, I'm confused. You slate the likes of Pinkney and Neate, yet are defending the "enthusiastic amateurs" to a degree?

[BootsOntheSide]

The perception is that Neate and Pinkney have been taking rides in decent cars away from more capable drivers. It's not entirely accurate as they're bringing money and sponsors themselves, but you'd think Pinkney and George would at least consider switching to sponsorship or purely team ownership by now? The likes of Johnson, Hollamby and the Forster team are merely extra entries, people having fun and living out their dreams - and I can't recall any of them really getting in the way of the frontrunners.

Great for McDowall to get pole, in a car even Plato hasn't got onto the front row yet.

[Alfa Fan]

How is George any different to Johnson, Hollamby, Forster or Depper?

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

shame that ITV4 stream is no longer available outside the UK, last year was great to follow

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by Pato

Agreed, I love BTCC but I think having those ancient cars on the grid like Johnson's Astra makes it look unprofessional. They should introduce an age limit on the cars entered.

BTC-spec cars won't be allowed next year anyhow so that should deal with that.

I'm curious what other 'ancient cars' you are referring to. The performance of Wood and Hamilton's old Hondas (when they turn up) is more down to lack of budget than the age of the cars. I'd hardly call Tech-Speed unprofessional and as Paul O'Neill has shown there's no reason an older car can't continue to be competitive.

The team that has done particularly badly is Depper and Forster, whose cars are anything but ancient. As I recall these are actually newer that the WSR cars of Colland and Neate.

[Sodemo]

I guess that if the last 5 or so cars weren't there then we would have a field of 15 or so cars, which would be quite poor. Having 20+ cars is a necessity in my view.

Regarding the races today, I thought race 1 was quite entertaining, though races 2 and 3 were more of a procession than I am used to from the BTCC.

[Craner Curves]

Top marks to James Nash trying to replicate Patrick Watts' 1993 tankslapper into the cabbage patch.

[aland]

Originally Posted by redshoes

BTC-spec cars won't be allowed next year anyhow so that should deal with that.

I'm curious what other 'ancient cars' you are referring to. The performance of Wood and Hamilton's old Hondas (when they turn up) is more down to lack of budget than the age of the cars. I'd hardly call Tech-Speed unprofessional and as Paul O'Neill has shown there's no reason an older car can't continue to be competitive.

The team that has done particularly badly is Depper and Forster, whose cars are anything but ancient. As I recall these are actually newer that the WSR cars of Colland and Neate.

I can see a u-turn on the BTC spec cars as the grid would lose at least 5 entries and that is a fair bit for a series still trying to build, plus for what you can buy and run these cars for perhaps more should be encouraged

the forster cars are ex mat jackson so I dont think they are newer than the wsr ones as both were ex rbm cars before mat bought them, dont know if they have had the updates like the motorbase and WSR cars

[redshoes]

I believe the WSR cars were built in 2007. The Forster cars were the ones used by Andy Priaulx in 2007 and 2008, and again by Jackson in 2008 / 2009 respectively. Updates or not they are not 'ancient'.

I thought it was interesting to note that in races 2 & 3, MacDowell in a state-of-the-art Chevrolet seemed to be unable to pass much older equipment. In race three I don't think he made up a single place on lap one and then spend half the race stuck behind John George.

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by redshoes

I believe the WSR cars were built in 2007. The Forster cars were the ones used by Andy Priaulx in 2007 and 2008, and again by Jackson in 2008 / 2009 respectively. Updates or not they are not 'ancient'.

Almost right. It's the Priaulx 2006 and 2007 cars Forster have. WSR have one 2007 car and a 2008 car (last year's 3rd car). Their other 2007 car has been used solely by Turkington since it's first race.

[Icebaby]

I tend to agree they may allow another year for BTC spec cars rather than run a field with less than 20. Some drivers and teams have done a great job this year in this spec car, Paul O'Neill deserves a works drive next year and carries a huge fan base, Techspeed demonstrated their great team effort to repair both cars for race 3 at Snetterton. The Golf and Shaun are a great addition and are improving the package so cannot be judged on this year. Johnson simply has a car that has had its day so again cannot be judged until he gets into something more modern. Wood has a good car but lacks funding.

The Vectra and BMW's are strong cars so it is obviously dissapointing for anyone in these not to be challenging for a podium in a weekend. 2009 was a classic year but 2010 is one of dissapointment in my view.

It was interesting to see Dynamics miss the Snetterton test when the perception was it was a works effort, clearly its a ristricted budget meaning even this team could miss races if they suffer heavy damage. Im not sure if it has been noted but Matt Neal was at the Snetterton test but in a Mazda Mx-5 race car. At Snetterton Chevy and Mazda had a dealer set of cars on display and Honda had 1 in the Mugen Civic which seemed strange.

[Sodemo]

Why were Mazda there again?

[pinkd56]

Maybe the Mazda race car was testing for the Britcar 24hr project that Mazda are doing