[BTCC] rounds 7,8,9 Thruxton 2016

[porsche962fan]

well he is man enough to admit he's wrong unlike some other drivers...


what are the bets that Dan Welch will be guest on TTT ?

it looked like Dan could hold off Goff , maybe for the rest of the race if he hadn't that stupid failure

[850Estate]

Well, after a farcical start with the tyre explosions and mess that race 1 became, that was a very entertaining afternoon's racing. From all classes, not just the BTCC. As close as it's been at Thruxton for many years.

Naturally I'm gutted for Dan after the bolt failing in race 3, but I hope it doesn't take away from an excellent weekend for all the team at Goodestone Racing (about time I started giving sponsors a plug on here!) He looked relatively comfortable in 2nd, and whilst I think that Shedden would have taken Goff and him a top 5 could most definitely have been on the cards. The improvement from last year where he didn't even compete and where Andy Wilmot scored only a 20th, 21st and 22nd is massive. Bolt the RML parts on and who knows where he could be, just a shame that the team are so chronically underfunded they couldn't even use brand new tyres on his pole debut.

Oulton up next is a track which really suited the Proton, although I fear the lack of RML parts will, again, provide an unbreakable ceiling for any results.

Delighted for Motorbase and AJ getting that monkey off his back, the car is finally working well again after a disappointing Brands a month or so ago. It'd be great to see them up challenging for the title, and it's nice to see Jordan settled at a team again.

Credit to Matt Neal for apologising to Cook for his comments post race. It's only natural, when the adrenaline is flowing, to say something in the heat of the moment, and it takes a big man to admit his mistake on national television, so well done Matt. Just a shame his father couldn't follow the same approach, but ho-hum.

Further credit must go to Alan Gow and the organisers for cutting the race distance, which delivered an action packed 12 laps, without the lottery of tyres exploding. It was frustrating that we got less action, but absolutely the correct decision. I know Shaun at AMD was a bit cross as the the tyres were mainly affected on the RML cars, and I understand that, but safety for all the drivers is paramount.

Nightmare weekend for a few drivers, most notably Shedden. Two accidents which weren't in any way his fault, but incredibly not too much damage done Championship wise. The first I spoke about earlier, and the Goff one was just hugely unfortunate, with Jack touching a wheel on the grass under breaking.

It was also a difficult weekend for Aron Smith and BKR, on a track both car and driver usually do fairly well at.

Impressive weekend, again, for Michael Epps who is really taking everyone by surprise. It's not that I didn't rate him, I just genuinely knew very little about him. A trio of points finishes, on his touring car debut at the most difficult circuit on the calendar, for a small(ish) team is a fantastic achievement.

Eurotech were impressive again, and Daniel Lloyd enjoyed an impressive JST trophy winning debut. I remember Jeff saying they wanted someone to push them, and Daniel looks to be that man, a very quick driver which we already knew, but in a cracking car.

Roll on Oulton Park, and the (hopefully now) competitive Subarus...not that the field needs any more competitive cars!!

[antnee]

Fantastic racing through all 3 rounds.

My favourite part was the 5 or 6 cars virtually touching challenging for the lead while doing over 100mph, that is what you call close racing!

[S griffin]

I'm glad everything calmed down after the first Touring car race and the second F4 race, as there was some great racing throughout

Adam Morgan is definitely a title contender and what a story that would be if he wins, coming a long way from the wild man in 2012.

Aiden Moffat was doing well till his puncture, but I wasn't that surprised by the way he was driving over the kerbs, although it was more a lottery in that race. And what has Tingram got to do to get a full weekend together. I feel there should be some discretions on jump starts, like with handballs in football, as he lost a place at the start. And what a shame for Welch that he had that failure, as it would have been interesting to see if he could have kept them all behind him

Matt Neal did the right thing apologising, it's easy to say the wrong thing when emotions are running high after a crash and someone sticks a microphone under your hooter, so it's understandable. Also good job we had that NASCAR style pile up at a slow part of the circuit

Eurotech have certainly been boosted by having young Lloyd in the team, shame Smith had to make that silly mistake in race 2 as he is definitely driving as well as he did before his comeback as he said

Great day for Motorbase, easy to forget Jordan hasn't won for 2 years. Such a shame we didn't see the build up to his move as we watching the pitwall, really this gets frustrating

Bad luck for the Scoobys, but TBH such is the racing you usually don't notice who's not there.

[porsche962fan]

on Neal incident , Ingram passed with no problem and the MG should have been a bit more to the right , Neal didn't seem to do any sudden moves towards the right

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and incredible how little was missing for Shedden to escape the pile up

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[auroan]

We need to see the face on pics, that will show if the gap was closed between Neil's car and the Pit wall. Neil may not of moved, but he could have been closing the gap if the curve of the wall was coming out.....

Side on view doesn't help to much.

[porsche962fan]

you can use the asphalt marks as reference if he moved or not to the right, IMO Neal was waiting to Cook to pass then enter the pitlane


also Honda should consider putting armored plate on the rear right wheel "Max Max" style

[steve_r]

I'm glad Matt Neal is embarrassed by his own actions and comments. He should be.

Moving on - what fantastic racing again. So far, this has been an absolutely excellent season. Reducing the race length was the only sensible option.

I'm sure a small group of title contenders will eventually emerge from the pack, but at the moment there are loads of drivers in contention.

[Tja]

Originally Posted by Mat Jackson on TCT

I think for us Oulton will be strong, the chassis is in the window and we’ll have to see what happens with the boost, if it gets changed around we’ll see who gets what

Do they still change boost from event to event, I thought they dropped that before 2015? I couldn't see any issues with straight line speed at Thruxton, even the BMWs seemed to be doing a lot better than last season...

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by skells22

i thibk matt neal watch the video of the mayhem he caused and changed his mind

Maybe one day someone bigger than him will join the series and administer the punch in the mouth he so clearly deserves Why don't TOCA sort him out? How many times has he yelled in through drivers doors ? How does he know they are not injured when he starts his bully boy carryon? I thought he was a Marshall arts expert? What happened to self control? A disgrace

[Bramzel]

From an experienced professional like Neal you'd expect more self control indeed. Character doesn't change much over time though, as Tarquini shows in WTCC on a regular basis

The races were great fun again though, proper racing, not too much unneccessary contact and a good variety up front.

[antnee]

This is what you call close racing, 6 cars all going for the lead on lap 5 at 120mph

[S griffin]

Not as good as in 2007 when they went 9 abreast into the chicane and got through the other side fine

[porsche962fan]

did Barty make fun of Plato on TTT ?

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

did Barty make fun of Plato on TTT ?

I've not heard this, what was said?

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I've not heard this, what was said?

when Colin Turkington was interviewed Dave Bartrum asked something like How does it feel to be constantly faster than Plato , near the end of the show Bartie again made this reference of Colin being faster than Plato

[VIVA GT]

You can always rely on The Bartman...

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by steve_r

I'm sure a small group of title contenders will eventually emerge from the pack, but at the moment there are loads of drivers in contention.

I think the Subarus gaining pace in the latter part of the season will keep the pack fairly large for longer.

As the Subarus will likely enter each event with zero ballast, they will be taking a lot of pole/lead points along with race wins, meaning it is harder for someone in the pack to have a weekend that moves them clear of others.

[Matt]

Question....They've been running Dunlops in the BTCC for god knows how long at this point, why do they seem to have tire failures year after year?

Build a rock hard tire that will last a million laps and you'd eliminate all the tire problems. Sure the cars would be a little slower due to lack of grip, but it's a little silly to see all these tire failures year after year when it's a spec tire.

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by Matt

Question....They've been running Dunlops in the BTCC for god knows how long at this point, why do they seem to have tire failures year after year?

Most years it's down to teams and drivers trying to gain an advantage by pushing the boundaries. Dunlop give teams recommended tyre pressures and camber settings, plus tell drives to stay off the curbs for the first few years and inevitably some chose to ignore those recommendations.

This years was a bit of a perfect storm. The new RML front suspension is apparently harder on the tyres, plus race-day was the hottest we have seen for many years, which effects tyre wear.

Dunlop could make rock solid tyres which last forever but the danger is they produce no grip, which potentially could be just as dangerous. The less grip you have the more teams will further push the limits of tyres pressure / camber / curb usage, so we end up back at square one.

[S griffin]

And also they only test in Thruxton in the cold

[touring fan01]

Originally Posted by redshoes

Most years it's down to teams and drivers trying to gain an advantage by pushing the boundaries. Dunlop give teams recommended tyre pressures and camber settings, plus tell drives to stay off the curbs for the first few years and inevitably some chose to ignore those recommendations.

This years was a bit of a perfect storm. The new RML front suspension is apparently harder on the tyres, plus race-day was the hottest we have seen for many years, which effects tyre wear.

Dunlop could make rock solid tyres which last forever but the danger is they produce no grip, which potentially could be just as dangerous. The less grip you have the more teams will further push the limits of tyres pressure / camber / curb usage, so we end up back at square one.

Gows comments are bang-on; http://www.autosport.com/news/report...on-tyre-dramas

[FIRE]

Entertaining races.

[Sodemo]

Does the fact that the cars are 300kg heavier than cars of yesteryear have any bearing on the tyre loads and failures?

[Matt]

Originally Posted by touring fan01

Gows comments are bang-on; http://www.autosport.com/news/report...on-tyre-dramas

More mechanical grip is good.