[BTCC] Knockhill rounds 13,14 & 15 2021

[skells22]

It's time for the halfway point of the season as the btcc gang head North to Scotland for the annual trip to Knockhill

Who will find the gravel trap 1st and will we get more red flags after last time out?

[S griffin]

Hopefully not as many red flags. Knockhill is a bit more forgiving than Oulton, although still not a place you want to go off.

[Craner Curves]

Paul Rivett! Great news.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

Paul Rivett! Great news.

Really? Lemme guess, HARD? Great news indeed if true

[porsche962fan]

Motorbase replaces Neate

[thetool]

None of this Neate stuff makes much sense. If it were any other driver I might go along with it at a stretch, but here I can't help think there's something more to it.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by thetool

None of this Neate stuff makes much sense. If it were any other driver I might go along with it at a stretch, but here I can't help think there's something more to it.

He claims that it is all Covid related, and that he was admitted to an intensive care unit sometime after the outing at Oulton. And Rivett is, at this time, only standing in for Neate at Knockhill and Thruxton, whilst Neate is hoping to have recovered sufficiently enough to resume after that.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by thetool

None of this Neate stuff makes much sense. If it were any other driver I might go along with it at a stretch, but here I can't help think there's something more to it.

It makes absolute sense.

Fall in with a virus. Get admitted to hospital as a result. Find yourself not fit enough to drive for a while.

What else do you think there is to it?

[S griffin]

Wonder why they didn’t bring Jess Hawkins back? Go for someone more experienced at a tight circuit like Knockhill?

[BTCC frog]

Surely after two awful rounds at Brands Hatch and Oulton Park it will finally come good for Colin Turkington at Knockhill. On a circuit that has always suited RWD, with no ballast, he has to be the favourite for pole and the race one win. With similarly low ballast on Oliphant and Jelley's cars, it wouldn't surprise me to see WSR lock-out the first three places on the grid.

And it will be great to see Rivett back in the championship, although unfortunate for Andy Neate that he is still ill.

[medius]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Wonder why they didn’t bring Jess Hawkins back? Go for someone more experienced at a tight circuit like Knockhill?

Money, she has very little (certainly not enough for more than a weekend + damage), cars still costs money to put on a grid, and Andy won't normally pay for a car he isn't driving.

Snetterton when he sat out was more because of Internet warrior backlash. He wouldn't have sat out if he didn't think it was the right thing to do.

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Wonder why they didn’t bring Jess Hawkins back? Go for someone more experienced at a tight circuit like Knockhill?

Aston Martin and Formula W commitments?

[crmalcolm]

Apologies for the late intro (36hr plane journeys are not fun!):

Next up on the BTCC calendar for 2021 is Knockhill. This is another circuit that is traditionally seen as a RWD-favouring track, so the FWD runners will again be hoping to disprove this theory. Turkington will be hoping that he can get his title challenge back on track, while Rowbottom will be hoping to capitalise on his great weekend last time out and emerge as a genuine title contender.

The first BTCC meeting at Knockhill was held in 1992, making this a fairly recent addition to the calendar as the series branched out of England to include races in Scotland and Wales. The 1992 meeting was a memorable one, with heavy rain dominating proceedings. A future WRC champion by the name of Colin McRae made a guest appearance that day for BMW – although his performance was not without incident. After finishing a credible eighth in the first race, he was disqualified from race two for a dangerous manoeuvre overtaking Matt Neal.
Alain Menu also had a weekend to forget – he broke his leg in an accident involving a paddock quad bike after qualifying and took no further part in the rest of the season.
John Cleland also found himself disqualified from a race that day, for ignoring a black flag in race one. The podium for race one saw Jeff Allam take the top step, ahead of Tim Harvey and Andy Rouse. Race two saw Tim Harvey take the win ahead of Allam and Cleland.

A relatively short circuit, many drivers describe the track as being like no other on the calendar. High kerbs make for a common photo opportunity of seeing a car up high on two wheels, and the undulations make cars very unstable. A current driver has previously claimed that you do not drive Knockhill in the traditional way. Instead of slow in, fast out – they said you try and carry as much speed as possible through the corner and hold on tight!!

A change to the grid sees Andy Neate continue to take time away from the BTCC to recover from COVID-19, with his seat being taken by Paul Rivett for this round and Thruxton. In a local arrangement, it has also been confirmed that any Scottish driver who wins a race will see Flower of Scotland played for their podium ceremony.

NGTC machinery may not seem ideally suited to this circuit, with the 2012 race wins going to S2000 machinery – Collard taking a pair of wins. Turkington repeated this feat in 2013, indicating that the circuit seems to favour RWD.

In 2020, RWD machinery again took the first two race wins, Sutton claiming both before home favourite Rory Butcher took the race three win. Sutton’s pole was the first for the Infiniti Q50, and for both races he was followed by Turkington. Race three was initially red flagged following a sizeable accident involving Ollie Jackson, Mike Bushell and Sam Osborne. The rear-right wheel of Jackson’s Ford Focus was locked, which ultimately spun his machine through the chicane and in front of the oncoming traffic. Bushell had nowhere to go – hitting Jackson’s Focus with some force – whilst Osborne side-swiped the Vauxhall Astra ahead of him while trying to take evasive action.
The unfortunate Bushell later confirmed that he had dislocated his shoulder as well as suffering ligament damage to his wrist, whilst all others involved emerged relatively unscathed.

Qualifying will be on the ITV Hub at www.itv.com/btcc from 1440hrs, with the Sunday coverage on ITV4 starting at 1115hrs. BTCC races start at 11:45, 14:40 and 17:25.




The early weather forecast shows that Saturday is predicted to be 17deg temperatures with a 89% chance of rain.

Sunday is predicted to be 16deg temperatures with a 99% chance of rain later in the day.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

It makes absolute sense.

Fall in with a virus. Get admitted to hospital as a result. Find yourself not fit enough to drive for a while.

What else do you think there is to it?

Absolutely. The man is ill. Nothing sinister going on here. Rivett presumably can bring some budget. Also presumably driver changes have been waived by Lord Gow - which is a good thing, otherwise we'd have had a car missing from the grid and a team taking a hefty financial hit.

Get well soon Andy Neate.

[S griffin]

I agree, people reading too much into it, when quite frankly I don't see any reason to doubt that his health is not great at the moment

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by BTCC frog

Surely after two awful rounds at Brands Hatch and Oulton Park it will finally come good for Colin Turkington at Knockhill. On a circuit that has always suited RWD, with no ballast, he has to be the favourite for pole and the race one win. With similarly low ballast on Oliphant and Jelley's cars, it wouldn't surprise me to see WSR lock-out the first three places on the grid.

And it will be great to see Rivett back in the championship, although unfortunate for Andy Neate that he is still ill.

Well it seems the RWD cars didn't really turn up at Oulton Park, a circuit in the past that they have dominated. The cynic in me says that they have done something else to the RWD cars to hamstring them, which will be kept a secret until its not.

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by medius

Money, she has very little (certainly not enough for more than a weekend + damage), cars still costs money to put on a grid, and Andy won't normally pay for a car he isn't driving.

Snetterton when he sat out was more because of Internet warrior backlash. He wouldn't have sat out if he didn't think it was the right thing to do.

Jess isn't available, as she has other racing commitments. Nothing to do with money.

[porsche962fan]

any bets that Morgan will again outdo WSR ?

[Matt K]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

any bets that Morgan will again outdo WSR ?

Hopefully not but I wouldn't bet against it. If so, it'd be a confirmation that WSR is in a big hole.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Matt K

Hopefully not but I wouldn't bet against it. If so, it'd be a confirmation that WSR is in a big hole.

He's been nominated as one of the BMW Manufacturer entries for most of the season so far, so good results are expected.

[Matt K]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

He's been nominated as one of the BMW Manufacturer entries for most of the season so far, so good results are expected.

But I think Dick Bennets and his team would rather see his cars finishing ahead of Morgan

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Matt K

But I think Dick Bennets and his team would rather see his cars finishing ahead of Morgan

Maybe, but there are other factors in play. The cars were built by WSR, and as I said, Morgan has been nominated as one of the two manufacturer BMWs this season, so it is in Team BMW's interest to see Morgan at the front.

[Jay87]

Seems so odd that Chilton has no pace at all in the car yet morgan is right on the pace. Can't recall Turkington struggling for pace for this long either.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Maybe, but there are other factors in play. The cars were built by WSR, and as I said, Morgan has been nominated as one of the two manufacturer BMWs this season, so it is in Team BMW's interest to see Morgan at the front.

Since when has Morgan been scoring manufacturer points? I haven't heard any mention of that. Also it's my understanding that the manufacturer cars scoring points were nominated before a race weekend or has that changed

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Since when has Morgan been scoring manufacturer points? I haven't heard any mention of that. Also it's my understanding that the manufacturer cars scoring points were nominated before a race weekend or has that changed

For the first two events, Morgan and Turkington were the nominated BMW entries.