BTCC rounds 1-3 Brands Hatch Indy thread

[Craner Curves]

Who could forget the paper cup on the track at the second Brands meeting of 03 that setup that chaotic last lap.

[PandaKing]

The only sour point was the group of severely underdeveloped cars at the back. Hopefully as the weeks go by they will progressively catch the rest of the field. Is in season testing banned because some of those cars desperately need it.

[Sodemo]

I know, it was kinda surprising to see the Toyotas and Hynes' MG in the pits on regular visits. You would have thought that having 2+ years of running and development that most reliability niggles would have been resolved by now...?

[Bodysnatcher]

Originally Posted by PabloTeK

Posted on another forum, but I'll give it a go here too...

Anyone else feel that the SC was over-eagerly brought out in race 2? A car well back in the gravel trap and one off on a straight IMO doesn't constitute a safety car in any level of racing!

I posted the reply on the other one.

BTCC has it's way of doing things.

That car was not "well back", trust me, I have experience in judging that sort of thing.

BTW from my (fairly close) point of view that first safety car was redundant since 1/2 the field did not maintain the gaps & still ran past the incident at a fairly high speed.
Studied the times & gaps on TSL and noticed a couple got penalties.

If a safety car is deployed, speeds should be more controlled.

[PandaKing]

Just out of interest did Hynes get a brand new car or did he have one of the old MGs and Plato got a new one?

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by PandaKing

Just out of interest did Hynes get a brand new car or did he have one of the old MGs and Plato got a new one?

Plato has the brand new one

[Inside BTCC]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

Plato has the brand new one

Jason and Sam are in the same cars as last year, Marc's was previously built as a spare

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Inside BTCC

Jason and Sam are in the same cars as last year, Marc's was previously built as a spare

Do you know why Marc was beset with so many problems last weekend ?

[PandaKing]

Power steering wasn't it?

[Sodemo]

Do people seem to think that the RWD cars, or specifically the BMWs are likely to face a performance "sanction" after running quite comfortably at the front? In the past, BMW and Audi (with AWD) have had weight penalties placed upon them...? Obviously any penalty applied to the BMWs would have to be applied to the RAR Audis too.

[PandaKing]

I think it's brutally unfair, I think the next two rounds we are going to see a significant straight line speed advantage for the Hondas due to their VTEC engines. Every car has it's weaknesses and the RWD cars are slow to warm their tyres.

Ironic really that the boost-parity system, that Matt Neal and co campaigned against so vocally, would have reduced some of the competitive edge of the BMWs

[Tja]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Do people seem to think that the RWD cars, or specifically the BMWs are likely to face a performance "sanction" after running quite comfortably at the front? In the past, BMW and Audi (with AWD) have had weight penalties placed upon them...? Obviously any penalty applied to the BMWs would have to be applied to the RAR Audis too.

Tim Harvey said before the start of race 1 that the RWD starting advantage will be looked at after the first two races. I guess he meant after the first two events, similar to the boost adjustments. So I'd say it's pretty likely something will be done. But since the RWD cars don't seem to have such a big advantage towards the end of the race with the new tyres, perhaps they won't get any weight penalties, just the longer first gear as they did a few years ago?

[S griffin]

Please no longer first gear!

As was mentioned in Autosport a while back, people should stop complaining about RWD start advantage, as if they have no disadvantage, when they do. Their disadvantages are they take longer for tyres to warm up, they're easier to spin around and they don't like mixed conditions

Back in the 90s with the 4wd and RWD they would discuss mid series if they needed a weight break or more weight on. That worked just fine, so that's the only thing they should consider.

[Tja]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Please no longer first gear!

Back in the 90s with the 4wd and RWD they would discuss mid series if they needed a weight break or more weight on. That worked just fine, so that's the only thing they should consider.

I actually think enforcing a longer first gear would be a better option than weight penalties. The gearing affects them where they really have an advantage - off the start and out of tight corners like the hairpin at Knockhill. The weight penalties on the other hand hurt them everywhere. It increases tyre wear, hurts their braking performance and of course acceleration.

[Sodemo]

It was great watching Gio throw his car into the corners, very spectacular, though perhaps he is overdriving a touch?

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Tja

I actually think enforcing a longer first gear would be a better option than weight penalties. The gearing affects them where they really have an advantage - off the start and out of tight corners like the hairpin at Knockhill. The weight penalties on the other hand hurt them everywhere. It increases tyre wear, hurts their braking performance and of course acceleration.

Do you also think that the FWD cars need to be given special front tyres that take longer to get to temperature in order to negate the advantage they have over RWD there ?

[Tja]

Originally Posted by davyboy

Do you also think that the FWD cars need to be given special front tyres that take longer to get to temperature in order to negate the advantage they have over RWD there ?

I think that neither FWD cars nor RWD cars should be penalised. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. All I'm saying is, that should TOCA decide the RWD cars have an 'unfair advantage', a longer first gear would be better than weight penalties.