[BTCC] BTCC 2018 - Rounds 1, 2, 3 - Brands Hatch Indy

[850Estate]

That was a good weekend of racing. Looks like the pace is well spread throughout the grid, and I'm made up for the guys who got the podiums in R2.

Ollie's been at this a long time, and really hasn't ever made any enemies. He's had a few bumps like most, but he's pretty much always a clean driver and comes across as a genuine bloke. That podium will mean a lot to him (and Mr H and the rest of his team).

I dare say that Mark Proctor will be even more delighted than Senna on the win. He's been involved in motorsport a long time, and will know these days don't come around often.

Likewise Simon Hill with Jake. He's a huge talent, and it would be a darn shame if he was priced out of the championship. Another one who is an absolutely lovely bloke too - as is his old man (I've never actually met Senna, so I hope he doesn't take this personally!)

There was a real feeling of the changing of the guard this weekend. Neal and Plato miles off the pace, Turkington having a few issues, whilst Ingram and Goff started to look like the big players, and Sutton managed a bit of a dog of a car like a real pro.

The Honda clearly had issues, but even so I felt Dan Cammish looked a bit hesitant to really get his elbows out. I (along with every other normal person on here) would never grumble about a driver being overly clean, but he maybe needs to be prepared for a bit of wing-mirror exchanging to maximise his results.

Not so Tom Oliphant, who looked very comfortable in the touring car environment given his GT upbringing.

Thought the driving standards will generally good. Moffat looked lucky to avoid something for ending Hill's race on the formation lap though. Poor from him.

Final word to Rob Austin. Handy (sorry, Duo Motorsport with HMS) aren't a big team, and he was clearly hit very, very hard by the loss of Shane. Massive credit to them for building a beautiful (terrible livery mind you) car and making it competitive from the first session. They're doing him proud.

[porsche962fan]

^ you forgot old guard Collard who also was nowhere !!

Tim did mention that he fully expects WSR and Team Dynamics to bounce back

[mark_l]

Originally Posted by luckn002

Hope the couple of non-starts on the grid aren't a sign of things to come. Lucky that they both happened on the warm up lap and not in the race.

Brands does have an uphill grid so some cars did make a mess of getting away. Oulton could be a problem for those at the back of the grid.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thlbtcc]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

^ you forgot old guard Collard who also was nowhere !!

With qualifying more important than ever, Collard dropped the ball.

[S griffin]

Just want to know why Proctor is not eligible for the JST? I mean he didn't get a podium in his debut season last season. Is it because he won it as a rookie?

[850Estate]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Just want to know why Proctor is not eligible for the JST? I mean he didn't get a podium in his debut season last season. Is it because he won it as a rookie?

It is, yes.

[justracing]

Originally Posted by GT6

Brilliant two days, race 2 was worth the money on it's own, however the increase in the cost of southbank parking was rather step, 10 quid today, double last years price

Scandalous!

[mattcanary]

Matt Neal was really, really slow in race 2 - but I'm assuming that was down to car issues.

His pace in the third race wasn't bad at all - particularly in the latter stages. He started at the back, made up ground and overtook four cars on the last lap. He had been catching those drivers hands over fist in the last few laps.

First race was over virtually at the start.

Don;t think Brands was the meeting to judge him on.



Jason Plato however was slow. He didn't have any incidents that I can see, yet finished nowhere in all three races.

[AdrianM]

I don't have an account to be able to read the replies to see if there is any more info but JP was tweeting about chassis issues again. Not sure what they would be, sounds like his side of the garage is all at sea with setups which seems a bit odd.

[BobJones]

Originally Posted by AdrianM

I don't have an account to be able to read the replies to see if there is any more info but JP was tweeting about chassis issues again. Not sure what they would be, sounds like his side of the garage is all at sea with setups which seems a bit odd.

"No other way of describing my results this weekend other than ‘**** poor’ however, I left the circuit tonight with my tail in the air, as I believe we have made progress with our chassis issues and fully expect to be back on song in the not too distant future. Thanks to...

.... Thanks to My engineer Stan for throwing the kitchen sink at the car with a huge departure from the norm! and also my team for precisely bolting on the “let’s change everything” setup. 👌🏻👌🏻
Good riddance U/S 👊🏻"

https://twitter.com/jasonplato/statu...13022209183746
https://twitter.com/jasonplato/statu...13964778344448

He's also the only Subaru with the 'new' engine.

[Mike Harte]

This business with the engines for the Subarus raises a question in my mind.

The rules from TOCA is that teams are permitted to use two engines only per season without penalty. The engines are sealed at some point following the media day event, and apart from work on the engines supervised by TOCA to carry out such tasks as sealing oil leaks, no other work can be carried out on the sealed engines. The rules even state that for the elimination of doubt, that also means that head gaskets cannot be changed.

So, having said the above, it would appear that only Plato will have refreshed engines for this year, Sutton and Price having to rely on the engines, untouched, that were used for at least a good portion of last year.

Can they be the only cars on the grid in this position?

[S griffin]

Plato needs to get his finger out at Donny if he wants to show he’s not a spent force

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

This business with the engines for the Subarus raises a question in my mind.

The rules from TOCA is that teams are permitted to use two engines only per season without penalty. The engines are sealed at some point following the media day event, and apart from work on the engines supervised by TOCA to carry out such tasks as sealing oil leaks, no other work can be carried out on the sealed engines. The rules even state that for the elimination of doubt, that also means that head gaskets cannot be changed.

So, having said the above, it would appear that only Plato will have refreshed engines for this year, Sutton and Price having to rely on the engines, untouched, that were used for at least a good portion of last year.

Can they be the only cars on the grid in this position?

Allegedly he's paying for the engine, so he's got it.

[touring fan01]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

This business with the engines for the Subarus raises a question in my mind.

The rules from TOCA is that teams are permitted to use two engines only per season without penalty. The engines are sealed at some point following the media day event, and apart from work on the engines supervised by TOCA to carry out such tasks as sealing oil leaks, no other work can be carried out on the sealed engines. The rules even state that for the elimination of doubt, that also means that head gaskets cannot be changed.

So, having said the above, it would appear that only Plato will have refreshed engines for this year, Sutton and Price having to rely on the engines, untouched, that were used for at least a good portion of last year.

Can they be the only cars on the grid in this position?

it doesn’t mean they can’t change. it just means they will get a points penalty when they do change an engine.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by touring fan01

it doesn’t mean they can’t change. it just means they will get a points penalty when they do change an engine.

It doesn't alter the fact that the two drivers aren't racing on a level track, and also seems to show that Plato isn't a real team player, allegedly!

[Sodemo]

I was surprised the RWD cars couldn’t make those wets last longer than the FWD cars. I half expected Sutton to walk to the race 2 win at about half distance. The same for Turkington in race 1 (although that was much wetter). I guess tyre preservation isn’t particularly a strong trait of the RWD cars (confusingly).

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

It doesn't alter the fact that the two drivers aren't racing on a level track, and also seems to show that Plato isn't a real team player, allegedly!

which makes it even better to see Sutton wash the floor with him


AFAIK he has 97 BTCC wins so who knows, maybe if he reaches 100 he will finally retire ?

[Alfisti]

That Plato is whining was expected. But chassis, really? It's not new. It's not heavily crashed. Why don't they know what they're doing with it in the THIRD season with Subaru? Are we in fact saying that BMR can't build or setup cars for toffee? Are they knackered with Mr Faux gone? The CC was in fact #HARDs hard work, with reworking by Carlos, and that was just dandy. In fact, going on Bushells performance JP would be better off at HARD!

If true Ash Sutton is even better than I give him credit for... won a championship in a heap of useless junk. Heck, where would the competition be if he was in a proper team like WSR?

I was expecting engine moans, maybe these will come in a meeting or twos time...

[thlbtcc]

One thing I forgot to mention, but which I really enjoyed, were the onboard camera angles — especially the one from inside Sutton's Subaru. Great angle.

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by touring fan01

it doesn’t mean they can’t change. it just means they will get a points penalty when they do change an engine.

And the penalty is only for the team, not the driver.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by touring fan01

it doesn’t mean they can’t change. it just means they will get a points penalty when they do change an engine.

More to the point is there is clearly a problem if their engines haven’t been serviced over the winter. £?

[Jiiiiiiim]

Originally Posted by peebee2

More to the point is there is clearly a problem if their engines haven’t been serviced over the winter. £?

There was an issue over the winter, which has been resolved now, but they are paying the Price (not Josh btw) for it now. Sutton did an awesome job considering the older engine and limited testing, shows what a talent he is.

[peebee2]

If they are using old, unserviceable units it doesn’t seem “resolved”.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

This business with the engines for the Subarus raises a question in my mind.

The rules from TOCA is that teams are permitted to use two engines only per season without penalty. The engines are sealed at some point following the media day event, and apart from work on the engines supervised by TOCA to carry out such tasks as sealing oil leaks, no other work can be carried out on the sealed engines. The rules even state that for the elimination of doubt, that also means that head gaskets cannot be changed.

So, having said the above, it would appear that only Plato will have refreshed engines for this year, Sutton and Price having to rely on the engines, untouched, that were used for at least a good portion of last year.

Can they be the only cars on the grid in this position?

The comments from Price suggest that the engine change(s) were done before Media Day....

'We've already been out testing at Snetterton. With Subaru switching to Swindon engines, we'll find out how it runs on Media day.'

[AdrianM]

Yet some other reports say that Plato is the only one with a Swindon maintained boxer engine and still others say it's a TOCA engine for the Subaru and they've all got them and others say the Swindon boxer is undeveloped and is producing less power than the old Mountune ones. Media mess.

Miss the days when JP would contribute. We might know the actual facts then.