British Rallycross Championship 2019

[BertMk2]

The retro class is looking good isn't it? We need some more supernationals in there really (and a few more supercars wouldn't go amiss - I guess Simon Horton hasn't got the Subaru finished yet, I was expecting to see him on the list as well as the missing Higgins). Decent entries for the Swifts and Minis - but I still can't help feeling that they're just duplicating each other.

Is this the last year for the RX150's? If they can't get a half sensible entry then surely they'll get dropped - they can't even be combined with anything else so with such a small entry they're 'dead' track time really.

[chunder]

Shouldn't be having a race or even class for two cars, that is just plain silly.

[CS1]

Whats happened to Albatec?

[Hickey]

Wait, is Roger Thomas not racing? Seeing as there is chat on his new car on this thread...

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by Hickey

Wait, is Roger Thomas not racing? Seeing as there is chat on his new car on this thread...

Comment on Facebook says the car isn't ready yet: bit of a bugger when that was the first Supercar to confirm entry in the British Championship this year!

[S griffin]

Ah well, we should have enough cars to make a decent season

[schanche]

What’s happened to Albetc (Scot) has the money run out? Normally a Regular BRC

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by schanche

What’s happened to Albetc (Scot) has the money run out? Normally a Regular BRC

Couple of comments on Facebook are suggesting that Albatec will appear in the GRC this year.

Just seen that Oliver Bennett is a late entry for the first round at Silverstone.

[Rod Birley]

So who won today, suspect it would have been Julian Godfrey, no results on TSL only live timing which I missed. Did Oliver Bennett turn up?

[geordiecriag101]

Yep Julian won the Supercars from Derek Tohill with Pat Doran third. Oliver was there but they found a few problems in warm up so pulled out from the event to get the car sorted ready for trip to Abu Dhabi for World RX

[chunder]

Bennet did the odd lap in praccy but that was it.

Ollie O popped a motor, it was even out before meeting end, no doubt for JG to take home, rough week as the motor he built for Ken Block's new car blew too. Say no more about that!

Lovely weather, some good drives. Harris RS200 failed noise test (FFS its the middle of nowhere) then had an electrical fire, ran fine after that, Bowes Mini the steering wheel came off over the jump! The Golf kept popping driveshafts. The MR2 went better than it ever has, until the stupid jump took a corner off.

Every driver I talked to at a club level had NO idea why they ran BTRDA same day, and every single one of them also has no idea why they don't run together.

Interesting that.

[Rod Birley]

Thank you for confirming the results. Sounds like some things won't change. I wonder how other domestic series are doing.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

Originally Posted by chunder

Every driver I talked to at a club level had NO idea why they ran BTRDA same day, and every single one of them also has no idea why they don't run together.

It's stupid, even for club level hillclimbs we try to make sure that we're not clashing with other events in the region, it's ridiculous for a national championship to have this problem. It's in the interests of both championships to make sure they don't have events on the same day, so you'd thought they'd pick up the phone or drop an email when planning the calendar.

[chunder]

People know my opinion about this.

There is no need for two series at all, the numbers are not there in either to warrant it, if you had one single British series it would be overflowing with entries. I am sure it could be done, the drivers I talked to want it, as do most fans.

the only people you would have disagreeing here, are people with a foot in one of the camps.

But yes, clashing dates is just bonkers, but this is what you get with egos and the like.

[tbtstt]

I do wonder how much difference it would have made (perhaps a few more Super Nationals) but, even so, it did seem pretty daft to have both Championships starting on the same date.

Great driving from Godfrey. Shame that Ollie was out so early as I was hoping to see him and Julian fighting for first. Good showing from Tohill as well, pity he was just off the pace of Godfrey.

Disappointed not to see Bennett in action. After his performance at the final round at Silverstone last year I thought there was a real chance of him challenging the regulars again, but the car did three practise laps and that was it.

Close racing in the Swift Junior and BMW MINI classes again. A couple of years ago I thought they were the least interesting thing in the Championship, but both had some excellent scraps yesterday.

Retros were a bit hit-and-miss in the morning, but everyone looked like they were trying in the afternoon. Was disappointed to see two RS200's reduced to zero by the end of heat 1, but pleased when Harris reappeared again in the afternoon.

[dwh43scale]

Full results here -
http://www.chronomoto.hu/livetiming/...9&f3=%28all%29

Gallery will be available on Flickr shortly.

My first time at Rallycross (apart from Lydden a few years back) although watched it as a lad on Grandstand (DAFs, 4WD Capris etc).

Bit of a curate's egg. Dust a huge problem on the jump side until damped down. Felt like we were a few cars short of a really good event especially in the quicker classes. Feels as if the track is too short and nadgery. If the jump side was extended further south with a bit more tarmac, might be better ?

Glad I went, especially as it is just up the road. Not sure it will become a fixture in my diary.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by dwh43scale

Felt like we were a few cars short of a really good event especially in the quicker classes. Feels as if the track is too short and nadgery. If the jump side was extended further south with a bit more tarmac, might be better ?

I'd agree with both of your points there; if O'Donovan and Bennett had both run the full day I think the Supercars would have been a lot closer. Shame that Thomas didn't have his Fiesta ready in time either.

There isn't much room for expansion at the top end of the circuit but, as you say, the circuit could be extended at the bottom which could add more speed and fluidity to the lap. The time to do that would have been the Winter though, so I don't think we'll see any changes this year.

Should be a bigger entry for Lydden, so the next round might be worth a look if you can make it.


PS: I imagine Kevin Feeney is sore today, his landings from the jump were painful to watch!

[chunder]

the watering was odd.

They left it two or three rcaes too long to water it initially, a few guys spun and had incidents as they couldn't see.

Then they watered everywhere apart from the joker area, so that the leader laid a dust trail and the drivers leaving the joke, at the merge, were blinded, they were very very lucky.

I sometimes wonder if people running these events have really any idea!! not helped by the sort of dirt they use, like a fine sandy top coat that really is not suited to this.

Overall interested to see what happens to the venue, it surely can't be supported by two meetings a year, and I doubt the Speedmachine thing will get as big a crowd this year, unless they really pull out the stops and get interesting stuff. But looking at the amount of building going on around the whole circuit, they don't seem short of money.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by chunder

I doubt the Speedmachine thing will get as big a crowd this year, unless they really pull out the stops and get interesting stuff.

Be interesting to see how Speedmachine fares this year: with reduced ticket prices and, in theory at least, more racing to see (with the European Championship there) I wonder how numbers will compare to last year.

[chunder]

I would hope they have learned their lesson with regard to pricing, they seem to have, they have been pushing it endlessly on social media and even had people putting bloody leaflets under wipers in the car park!!

[CS1]

Originally Posted by schanche

What’s happened to Albetc (Scot) has the money run out? Normally a Regular BRC

I doubt the money has run out!

[geordiecriag101]

Well that's the first round done and dusted, and for once the stars of the days racing were Swift's (both Snr & Jnr) and the BMW Mini's. The Slow and tight nature of the track means its better suited to the lower power cars with close and hard racing shown by Luke Constantine winning the Jnr Final from Patrick O'Donovan by just 0.038's!!

As for the other championships, Tristan Ovenden had his Clio singing all day with his closest rival being Jack Thorne despite it only being a S1600, that car is a total weapon. Julian Godfrey was un touchable all day despite Derek Tohill best efforts, and it was great to see Steve Hill have a strong day in his Evo, the winter changes have worked.

The Retro's seamed to be the only group that has had an increase in numbers this year, with Steve Harris in his RS200 just monstering the field with his starts once the car was sorted out.

As said by a few people, having 2 championships in this country just is not working, everyone is losing out at the mo as its forcing people to chose between either one, what ever has gone on in the past needs to put to one side for the good of the sport.

Didn't mean that to go on for so long, so here's my vid from the days action if anyone interested:

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

[dwh43scale]

British Rallycross Round 1 Silverstone

Albums for each class racing can be found at -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dwh38/albums

[silver bullet]

Originally Posted by chunder

People know my opinion about this.

There is no need for two series at all, the numbers are not there in either to warrant it, if you had one single British series it would be overflowing with entries. I am sure it could be done, the drivers I talked to want it, as do most fans.

the only people you would have disagreeing here, are people with a foot in one of the camps.

But yes, clashing dates is just bonkers, but this is what you get with egos and the like.

I have a foot in both camps as I race with both series and I disagree.

As you say if both series were combined it would be overflowing with entries which means some people would have their entries refused or there would have to be race cancelations towards the end of the meeting, and with all the modern huge rigs in the paddock nowadays there wouldn't be room for everyone.

Also 50% of the BTRDA drivers cars are not eligible for the British Championship, which would mean they would have to go to Ireland or to other European domestic championships if they wanted to carry on racing.


It has been well reported in various places that the reason that both meetings were on the same day was down to those dates being the only ones available from Silverstone and Blyton.




If meetings were being cancelled due to lack of entries then maybe you would have a point, but as they are not and both were able to run viable meetings I don't think there is any reason to complain.

125 competitors over two meetings with 20 plus drivers not there due to work commitments or cars not being ready is nothing but positive.

Perhaps if you asked the drivers at both meetings if they were happy with how things went, and how the meetings were run, and how much track time they got, I think you would find that almost everyone was happy.
Both championships are aimed at different drivers and have different priorities.


There will be no more clashes for the rest of the season, and a driver base that will increase as the year goes on.

You keep saying over and over that there is only room for one championship, perhaps you could give us the reasons why you think that, and perhaps pay attention to the drivers in the lower classes who are the ones who would have their races cut or entries refused.

[chunder]

You seriously think the series and tracks could not cope with 120 odd entries? Ban the rigs, it's simple. No need for them at club level and even MSA is club level always was.

They always used to manage back in the day when Stock hatch was strong which is essentially why it went balls up anyway. As some bright spark though there was enough to cover for two series.

You could perhaps structure it so that events with bigger paddocks and entries ran as BTRDA and RAC, and then run the odd BTRDA solus, You can't run Supercars at Blyton anyway, so that would fit. This is what used to happen.

No reason why we couldn't go to Ireland again, or maybe try and sort something out with Holland or Belgium as those tracks have typically been shafted by IMG hosting fees. More costs, but maybe some deal could be done as before.

You say driver would lose out, so cap the entry at a limit each track can cope with/ it's not hard, the more cars, the more fans, the more money the MSA makes, the more people spend at the track. Wouldn't you rather turn away entries than have to make them up on the day? Would make drivers plan better, get the money in early, rallies are usually booked out hours after they open for entries, not hard.

If you are telling me Lydden or Croft could not cope with 100+ entries I would say nonsense.

I did ask several drivers at Silverstone and they had no idea why the two series are not combined, all had raced in each series, and were dumbfouded initially at the double dates and the reasons given.

yes there would be a drop off, but what's better? Two split series with relatively poor grids, disparate but somewhat similar categories and racing at different tracks, or a series that is stable, stronger for being combined, less pointless nonsense and more dates.

What on earth is the point in having rallycross that can't run together, why have different classes? Why, because they can, not because its the right thing to do it's idiotic to the layman I'm sorry.

I don't know your position with either, but most people I talk to think along similar lines.