BTCC 2018 in-season discussion

[thesmackdown]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Well JP could certainly fund a ride in one of Tonys cars. Thing is, since being run by BMR in 2015 they have not achieved anything approaching the success they did with CT and JP piloting.

I am guessing someone with experience and a common language with the engineer will be able to get similar success out of those cars.

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Do we know that they made more power last year?

Or are down this year just compared to progress in others?

Or is the explanation that the higher power last year caused wear, that they weren't aware of?

Speed traps are down from.last year which would be a fair clue I would reckon

[BobJones]

Originally Posted by thesmackdown

Also, I can't wait for the book that someone will write about the rise and fall of BMR.

When the current regulations and ITV deal reach the end of the line in a few years, and Mr Gow retires, I hope he writes a book that exposes all the rule-bending and penny pinching from over the decades.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by BobJones

When the current regulations and ITV deal reach the end of the line in a few years, and Mr Gow retires, I hope he writes a book that exposes all the rule-bending and penny pinching from over the decades.

I'd love to read that, however there would probably be multiple libel cases instigated if Gow really revealed the true goings-on behind the scenes.

[BobJones]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

There would probably be multiple libel cases instigated if Gow really revealed the true goings-on behind the scenes.

Sad, but true.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I'd love to read that, however there would probably be multiple libel cases instigated if Gow really revealed the true goings-on behind the scenes.

Careful! Fanboys will be on to tell you to front up or shut up. The series is straighter than a very straight thing.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Careful! Fanboys will be on to tell you to front up or shut up. The series is straighter than a very straight thing.

🤣

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by BobJones

When the current regulations and ITV deal reach the end of the line in a few years, and Mr Gow retires, I hope he writes a book that exposes all the rule-bending and penny pinching from over the decades.

Why would he do that? Negative for BTCC and also for himself.

[porsche962fan]

so he shall the secrets to the grave ?

[medius]

Post-Croft, we're at the mideason break. Let's collate some opinions.

What have we learned so far?
Winners and losers of the first half?
Who has underperformed? Overperformed?
Most surprising moment?
Thoughts on driving stanards?

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by medius

Post-Croft, we're at the mideason break. Let's collate some opinions.

What have we learned so far?
Winners and losers of the first half?
Who has underperformed? Overperformed?
Most surprising moment?
Thoughts on driving stanards?

We have so far learned the BTCC keeps being competitive no matter what

Winners have been Turkington and the WSR BMW squad, plus Tingram too and also PMR for getting their first win. Losers have been BMR, while Team HARD have also struggled to get results.

Plato has been the biggest underperformer, he should be getting more out of the car. Overperformer? Probably, Eurotech, no one saw that coming

Biggest surprise no doubt was Simpson's pole and subsequent win

Driving standards have remained high this season thankfully

[Matt K]

Originally Posted by medius

Post-Croft, we're at the mideason break. Let's collate some opinions.

What have we learned so far?
Winners and losers of the first half?
Who has underperformed? Overperformed?
Most surprising moment?
Thoughts on driving stanards?

We've learned that there are always people who'll complain no matter what

Among the winners I'd put Turks of course as he's the leader of the championship but also Tingram, Motorbase, Eurotech and PMR. All these three teams perform much better than last year.
Losers are for me BMR of course and Dynamics as well. Neal may be third in the championship but so far I can't see them among the strongest contenders.

Underperformers are Plato and Jake Hill (or the whole Team HARD), overperformers are Sutton and PMR for me.

As far as most surprising moment is concerned I'd put pole and win by Simpson.

Driving standards are quite good, however I haven't seen every race so far.

[Alfisti]

Most surprising - and pleasantly so - was Dan Lloyd returning. Top that with the win. A quality driver is Dan, clearly the BTC Norlin team know their onions too. Pleasing to see Chris Smiley going well.

Most pleasingly of all is that all of our drivers are still in one piece at the mid-season break: that accident last year at Croft was awful.

[Evantra]

As we've reached the midpoint of the season, I thought I'd give my thoughts and opinions on each of the teams' performances so far. Sorry in advance for the very long post...

- WSR - 9/10 - A good season so far for the BMWs, but, though they are leading pretty much everything, to me they aren't quite as dominant as they have been in previous years. Turkington has been near-perfect as usual, Jordan is right up there although hasn't got a win yet but Collard hasn't quite showed the form as last year.

- BMR - 3/10 - Enough has been said about the Subaru, Sutton and Plato already so I'll leave this here. Josh Price has been very disappointing though, and seems to be swapping the bottom two positions with Smelt in nearly every session...

- PMR - 10/10 - The Astras have surely been the surprise of the season, with 3 wins in 15 races and numerous podiums. Cook looks a lot better than last year and is a genuine championship contender.

- Dynamics - 8/10 - The new FK8 has been quick but perhaps a little overshadowed by the older models. Although not coming across to me as being and overly quick car Neal has crept up to P3 in the championship and Cammish is doing very well for his rookie year, and the car can only get stronger as the season goes on.

- Eurotech - 9/10 - Ignoring Croft, Eurotech have been one the quickest teams this season. Goff has carried on his late-2017 pace and is in the title hunt, Brett Smith has been skirting around the podium and Simpson is now a race winner.

- BTC Norlin - 7/10 - Shame that Nash didn't work out though his replacement couldn't have really been much better, with Lloyd giving the team their maiden win in the most recent race. Smiley has been on the podium too and very quick all season. This is a team punching way above its weight though could do with some more consistency across all tracks.

- Speedworks - 10/10 - Tingram is still my bet for the title, and has been fighting cleanly at the front at every track, often with a great amount of ballast on board. Very likeable driver who is fully deserving of the championship.

- TPR - 2/10 - I believe Jelley is yet to score a single point, despite the new BMW, and seems to be involved in his fair share of incidents. Bit of a shame given the size of the team and their success in GTs that they haven't done better in the BTCC.

- HARD - 5/10 - I really like the team, the drivers and the cars, so it's a real shame that with all the work they've done over the winter that the CC has been a bit of a backmarker this season. Bushell and Hill have shown occasional flashes of speed, and hopefully the car will be more suited for Snetterton. Though, with quite a few reliability issues maybe the VWs are showing their age...?

- AmD MGs - 6/10 - With Butcher at the wheel, we can safely say Shaun has proven us wrong about the MGs, and again Snett should suit the car. Boardman has been disappointing though after a 4th place in the wet-dry race.

- AmD Audis - 5/10 - Jackson has been a lot more impressive to me this year, and is getting some pretty strong results in the Audi. Perhaps though the car now is as fast as it's going to get and maybe AmD would be better off trading in 1 or 2 TBLs for a new build for 2019. Smelt, on the other hand, is out of his depth with his inexperience.

- Ciceley - 9/10 - Seems that Morgan had an off year in 2017 but is more than making up for it so far, and is another who should be fighting for the title come Brands. Oliphant has been very impressive too for a rookie, but Moffat has been the most disappointing so far, being a bit of a magnet for contact so far. I predict a win for him on his home turf, however.

- Motorbase - 8/10 - Up there with the Astras as being the strongest car this season, Chilton has been slowly making his way up the championship order, and Cole is doing a lot better than in his BMR years. Hard to believe Tordoff has evaded the podium so far (6x 4th places!) having a fair bit of bad luck and is more than due for a win.

- HMS - 6/10 - The Alfa couldn't really be more of an Alfa, being extremely quick but suffering from a bunch if mechanical issues. However, Austin is more than capable of winning races by the end of the season, and I would love to see a second Giulietta added for '19.

[S griffin]

Good write up there

[medius]

The question I'd like to pose is those who departed this term, would they have done better than those who replaced them? I think AWE would have fared better in a second season than Smelt. Flash and Cammish? Itwould be difficult to be certain Gordon wouldn't have bettered Dan's performances given how close everyone is this year.

Obviously commercial/financial reasons played huge a part for changes but overall I think the grid is far stronger in 2018 than 2017.

[Alfisti]

I don't think we have any obvious weak drivers this year. It certainly would be easy to suggest Sam Smelt for example, but wouldn't necessarily be fair to do so. He certainly lacks experience, but we all start from somewhere. Certainly the young man is gaining confidence and was able to fight JP for position a few weeks back.

I suspect that with time he will get better: classic example to me is Mike Bushell - struggled in his first year, now back with confidence and the right mentality to survive and hopefully thrive in BTCC.

I hope that we will see AWE and Mike Epps back on the grid one day too. As usual money plays a big part, competing at the sharp end of a Mini or Clio grid certainly gives the association of success with the brands they promote, whereas the lower end of a BTCC grid may not.

[VIVA GT]

I'm not a follower of football (understatement) but hear that the German Team have been knocked out of the World Cup. Have TOCA been advising FIFA on equivalency?

[v jones]

There is speculation that Rye House Speedway has folded,the connection is that the promoter was Warren Scott/BMR. The rumour is that financial problems have forced this,riders not being paid.

[Evantra]

Here we go again!

https://twitter.com/tonygilham34/sta...911783426?s=21
"Some very interesting @DunlopBTCC news from @TeamHardRacing at 3pm tomorrow #thereturn #original #001"

Any ideas?

[medius]

Chassis 001 was the NGTC prototype Avensis most recently seen in the BTCC driven by Michael Caine and Tony Gilham in 2016. Its lately been raced in Britcar by HARD. maybe Gow has granted a guest entry TBL for Snetterton anniversary weekend? Speculation on the driver commences now!

[porsche962fan]

who wants to hang around at the back of the grid ? that car was never competitive, it would be even less in 2018 unless it gets a big boost increase

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Here we go again!

https://twitter.com/tonygilham34/sta...911783426?s=21
"Some very interesting @DunlopBTCC news from @TeamHardRacing at 3pm tomorrow #thereturn #original #001"

Any ideas?

Tony Gilham is going to return to driving, to replace a Team HARD driver who is moving to another team for the second half of the season.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by v jones

There is speculation that Rye House Speedway has folded,the connection is that the promoter was Warren Scott/BMR. The rumour is that financial problems have forced this,riders not being paid.

Reporting is all a bit vague (as expected).

Fans of the team are hopeful that it's just a technical issue.
The team post just says 'unforseen circumstances'.
Somerset have said that it is due to 'internal problems'.

In connection to btcc - we've seen issues at BMR and 888 internally so far. Hopefully we don't see grid numbers affected.

[S griffin]

I wonder if this annoucement from Tony Gilham has anything to do with the 60th anniversary meeting at Snetterton