BTCC Rounds 19-21 Croft

[Sodemo]

By the way, best weather radar page ever in my opinion...

https://www.ventusky.com/?p=53.7;-1....=20201011/1800

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

By the way, best weather radar page ever in my opinion...

https://www.ventusky.com/?p=53.7;-1....=20201011/1800

Looks an impressive site - very well presented information.

As with all forecasts though - the accuracy has to be considered. A couple of years ago, the accuracy of certain forecast sites/apps was covered in an article (Why are all my weather apps different?). Ventusky did not feature, but the article did say the following:

'AccuWeather’s predictions were best for temperature averages and highs, probability of precipitation and wind speed. The Weather Channel and Weather Underground came top for low temperature predictions. Dark Sky came last in all these categories.'

The thing to remember is always that the forecast is precisely that, I guess that's one reason there is such a market for weather apps - if you can convince people yours is the most reliable, you can sell advertising space alongside your platform.

For Motorsport, I think the air temp is probably the least important factor. Track temp and precipitation I would imagine the two most important factors, firstly from how that affects the cars and secondly the visibility in heavy rain.

Out of interest - Ventusky is showing me an accumulation of 0.1mm of rain over 3 hours on Sunday, but a thunderstorm just off the coast that may reach land? Only time will tell where the most accurate forecast lay....

[codename_47]

As F1 fans know, predicting a weekend's weather this early in proceedings is a fool's errand

I'll believe rain will fall when there's a race on and I see droplets falling from the sky and not before!

This includes you, ITV, don't spend ages bigging up the chances of rain when it won't happen

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by AnnoyedMoose

I really wish ITV would do a main feature on how the money side of BTCC works.

Unlikely to happen though. Few teams or driver will openly talk about the commercial side.

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by AnnoyedMoose

I really wish ITV would do a main feature on how the money side of BTCC works.

Getting sick to death of reading on the socials now about how drivers must be leaving because they don't like the car, because a family member has Covid, because they've got better offers elsewhere etc. Everything except they can't afford it..

same at job interview the question why do you want to work for this company and you have to answer everything else bar the obvious , for the $$$

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by codename_47

As F1 fans know, predicting a weekend's weather this early in proceedings is a fool's errand

I'll believe rain will fall when there's a race on and I see droplets falling from the sky and not before!

This includes you, ITV, don't spend ages bigging up the chances of rain when it won't happen

Absolutely. Stick a man 10 miles downwind on race day, that's the way to forecast weather!

[codename_47]

*In 2001, ITV's first year of coverage, they decide to take a new approach and talk about the finances of the sport*

"So, Vic Lee, can you tell us how your team is funded?"

*nervous coughing and aside glances*

"It's funded very well, thanks" *Sniff*

[Alfisti]

Import and distribution of agricultural produce no?

[codename_47]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Import and distribution of agricultural produce no?

He found a way to market some of the salt/sugar ballast from his trucks is what I heard....

Ingenious

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by redshoes

Unlikely to happen though. Few teams or driver will openly talk about the commercial side.

They actually did a piece on funding last year. Jack Goff was one of the drivers involved.

[tux]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Not sure it was so much him, more the car being off the pace.

Shouldn't matter though, surely? All the cars are the same, same engine give or take, gearbox, brakes, suspension. Only thing i couldnt think is that the chassis loses some stiffness over time, is that still a thing? For sure i know some teams used to change chassis in GT racing after a year or so for that reason.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by tux

Shouldn't matter though, surely? All the cars are the same, same engine give or take, gearbox, brakes, suspension. Only thing i couldnt think is that the chassis loses some stiffness over time, is that still a thing? For sure i know some teams used to change chassis in GT racing after a year or so for that reason.

If you have all the money, big budgets, and reasonably well paid, extremely skilled and talented engineers & mechanics with loads of experience then you can afford to completely rebuild the car and race with new or reconditioned/rebuilt parts every weekend. There's many mentions of Team Dynamics replacing brakes regularly on this forum, but there's much more to it than that.

At the other end of the scale, if a lot of your mechanics are weekend volunteers and your budgets aren't stellar, you're going to struggle to reach those levels of detail and you'll have to run less-than-pristine components.

So yes, the cars are the same. But they're also not, in some cases.

[note that I not implying anything about any specific teams here, just making a general observation that applies to all levels of racing]

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Greem

If you have all the money, big budgets, and reasonably well paid, extremely skilled and talented engineers & mechanics with loads of experience then you can afford to completely rebuild the car and race with new or reconditioned/rebuilt parts every weekend. There's many mentions of Team Dynamics replacing brakes regularly on this forum, but there's much more to it than that.

At the other end of the scale, if a lot of your mechanics are weekend volunteers and your budgets aren't stellar, you're going to struggle to reach those levels of detail and you'll have to run less-than-pristine components.

So yes, the cars are the same. But they're also not, in some cases.

[note that I not implying anything about any specific teams here, just making a general observation that applies to all levels of racing]

when this was posted in another thread:

Originally Posted by Tja

Interesting post by Team Dynamics today:

https://twitter.com/TeamDynamics/sta...52157989703680Out of interest, why would they take both cars apart like this with such a short turnaround between the races? New engines going in?

there was a level of surprise that a team like Team Dynamics would strip a car so far down between races. As you say, they are at one end of the scale, whereas some other teams may not have the resource to be as thorough.

[again, not criticising the teams - limits to resource is a fact of life that many have to live with]

[redshoes]

I can't find the relevant thread/post, so I'll stick this here as it's vaguely relevant to Croft. There was a post recently that mentioned the possibility of rival teams getting set-up information from photo, which as I recall some people were dismissive of.

Watching the latest Motorbase video about the rebuild of Butcher's car, there is a shot towards the end showing a partly built up front subframe waiting to have the engine install. There's a very obvious attempt to blur out the details.

https://youtu.be/3LMYH7cp8Ko?t=213

[S griffin]

Really hope to see the car out in action at Croft, would be just reward for all the hard work the boys have done. Just shows how independent teams can be up against it in terms of a rebuild in time. After all, look at James Gornall

[thetool]

Originally Posted by redshoes

There's a very obvious attempt to blur out the details.

Very odd, in complete contrast to Dynamics picture where you can see more-or-less the main front assembly.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

By the way, best weather radar page ever in my opinion...

https://www.ventusky.com/?p=53.7;-1....=20201011/1800

There's a few offshore wind operators who use this service. It's meant to be really good.

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by thetool

Very odd, in complete contrast to Dynamics picture where you can see more-or-less the main front assembly.

I think the difference is that the Dyanmics photo shows the just the bare stock subframe, which will be the same for everyone. MB video looked like it had part of the suspension arms attached. As there is some flexibility allowed in how bits are mounted, I guess they didn't want the exact configuration shown.

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Really hope to see the car out in action at Croft, would be just reward for all the hard work the boys have done. Just shows how independent teams can be up against it in terms of a rebuild in time. After all, look at James Gornall

Which expert on here said “it didn’t look to bad”!

[S griffin]

And which expert is trying to score points on here?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

Which expert on here said “it didn’t look to bad”!

Thoughts regarding the severity of the damage were discussed at the time - does it need to be dragged up again?

[Mike Harte]

For those wishing to view the qualifying tomorrow, it will be on ITV.com from 14.40, or so the BTCC website states.

Racing is back on ITV4 on Sunday from 11.30.

[S griffin]

Yes the French Open men’s final is on ITV1 , so the BTCC returns to ITV4

[GT6]

looking forward to it, as news gets depressing elsewhere lets hope BTCC cheers us all up

[Moneyseeker]

Butchers car all done for Croft. Great video on what it took to get there - tremendous effort by the team and suppliers.

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