[BTCC] Round Five, Croft 25-26 Jun, Races 13,14&15

[Matt K]

Originally Posted by coppice

Not me . Why should I get a kick out of anybody's misfortune or is schadenfreude your thing ? What do you expect the lad to do - retire and get dad to give you the money instead ?

Motor racing is expensive and it always leaves a bitter taste that drivers like Chilton get so much flak. Fans of successful drivers from well off families - Hailwood , Moss , Norris , Seaman - don't seem too troubled about the fact that none of them would have got near a racing car or bike without family help. Crikey , it's only a BTCC drive ,why on earth shouldn't Mr Chilton spend his money how he likes ?

I agree 100%. It's rather a low point for anyone to be happy about someone else's 'misfortune' (or whatever we call it) but I've forgotten how envious people can be.
Anyway, Chilton's had a terrible time recently but still it has to remembered he was not at all a bad driver. Even at BTC he could at least be on a podium a few times and in earlier years was winning races not only in the BTCC but also WTCC. If he was just a rich kid and amateur he wouldn't have accomplished any of that.

[antnee]

Originally Posted by Matt K

I agree 100%. It's rather a low point for anyone to be happy about someone else's 'misfortune' (or whatever we call it) but I've forgotten how envious people can be.
Anyway, Chilton's had a terrible time recently but still it has to remembered he was not at all a bad driver. Even at BTC he could at least be on a podium a few times and in earlier years was winning races not only in the BTCC but also WTCC. If he was just a rich kid and amateur he wouldn't have accomplished any of that.

Absolutely - Tom has had some great results over the years. I really hoped his 3rd place finish in 2018 meant he would be fighting at the pointy end again, but he has slipped further and further back instead. It is a real shame as he is a proper professional and is able to get good media coverage for the series.

[antnee]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Short answer - £££

Long answer. Ciceley have purchased their cars, so they are no longer connected to the WSR entry.
The MB car is to a certain extent a separate entry. The reduced BMW branding means that there would need to be agreement from MB to run the car under the team BMW banner. MB would potentially (and justifiably) cut their support if WSR did that.
Which means they are (for all intents and purposes) budgeted as a 2-car entry.

So if you are budgeting to run 2 cars, building a spare makes little sense.

A few days ago you raised a concern that a reduction in backing from BMW would see Turkington without a drive. But you also don't understand why they haven't allocated budget for a spare car? Maybe they would have one if they budgeted less for their lead driver?

What was the 3rd car Cicely teased last year? Did that turn out to be the TOCA RWD Hybrid test mule?

To be fair, I am surprised that WSR doesn't have even a basic shell prepped and sat in the corner of a workshop given their BMW backing and being a supplier to Cicely.

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by redshoes

No team has a dedicated spare chassis. There may be a few teams who have older/obsolete chassis laying around, but that's not really the same thing.

How often in recent years has anyone actually been in a position to need a spare car?

I guess Motorbase do with an extra one running at Goodwood this weekend?

[touringlegend]

There is a 3 series shell at WSR, not sure if it’ll have progressed any since this article

http://www.speedhunters.com/2022/05/...surrey-racing/

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by Evantra

I guess Motorbase do with an extra one running at Goodwood this weekend?

That's an older shell, Ollie Jackson's car from last year. I don't think it has been updated to hybrid spec. They have also got Jackson's 2019 car, currently doing the rounds as the NAPA show car.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Evantra

I guess Motorbase do with an extra one running at Goodwood this weekend?

Chassis MBP-006-2017 has been updated to NAPA Livery (last used in 2019 by Jackson). It probably (I'm assuming) not converted to hybrid though and is used as a show car.

Chassis MBP-2020-007 has been updated to NAPA Livery (last used in 2019 by Jackson). It has been kept as a spare car, so probably is hybrid-ready.

The benefit of NAPA funding two new builds is that the Focus pool grew. They even have some others for sale if anyone is interested.

[Mike Harte]

Rain currently forecast for the hours between 12 o'clock and 3 p.m. And quite strong southerly wind, with temperatures between 15 and 20 degrees.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Chassis MBP-006-2017 has been updated to NAPA Livery (last used in 2019 by Jackson). It probably (I'm assuming) not converted to hybrid though and is used as a show car.

Chassis MBP-2020-007 has been updated to NAPA Livery (last used in 2019 by Jackson). It has been kept as a spare car, so probably is hybrid-ready.

The benefit of NAPA funding two new builds is that the Focus pool grew. They even have some others for sale if anyone is interested.

Typo. Chassis 007 last used in '21 by Jackson.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Rain currently forecast for the hours between 12 o'clock and 3 p.m. And quite strong southerly wind, with temperatures between 15 and 20 degrees.

Is that Saturday or Sunday?

[coppice]

Excellent - watching drivers try to carry big speed out of the chicane in the wet is the best show in town .

Re high winds , I was at a F Renault race at Croft years ago when a very strong wind had got up between qualifying and race . It was blowing from the hairpin to Clervaux and I wondered how many drivers would have the brains to brake a little earlier, as some aero grip was being lost . Not all of them - I think it was five off on the first lap...

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Is that Saturday or Sunday?

Sorry, should have said that it was for Sunday. Just looked again and it is showing Saturday dry with again a Southerly wind but not as strong as on Sunday, and at the moment it forecasts the rain on Sunday to be a little way West of the circuit.

The weather site I use is Ventusky, which I have found to be one of the most accurate of the forecasters, and when I did some testing a few years ago at Croft, it was the only site that we looked at that actually predicted the awful weather that we had to put up with.

[S griffin]

Hopefully it won't be as wet as it was in 2008. Shedden, I think, said they should start testing rudders after that!

[coppice]

If you want wet , the first BTCC at the current Croft in 1997 was unbeatable . Biblical rain, and somewhere there was a shot of the Renault mechanics paddling a toy inflatable ...

[CarfanLUFC]

No Boardley then after all. Damn

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by CarfanLUFC

No Boardley then after all. Damn

What happened? Saw he didn't get out in FP1.

Edit - illness. That's a shame

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by Evantra

What happened? Saw he didn't get out in FP1.

Edit - illness. That's a shame

He went out for the shakedown on Friday but the car broke down on the out lap.

But ok, he's sick

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by redshoes

He went out for the shakedown on Friday but the car broke down on the out lap.

But ok, he's sick

Great consistency from that car this year.

[porsche962fan]

looks like Cook's championship points lead just went out in smoke

[porsche962fan]

Turkington on pole

Cook only 20th

[hen henths]

Yeah, I wonder what happened to Cookie? The King of Croft is probably up for another win here. Maybe if it starts raining Sutton can take the lead in the championship.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

looks like Cook's championship points lead just went out in smoke

He has a fifteen point lead over Ingram and 29 over Turkington.
Turkington picks up one point for pole that is awarded after race one.
Cook starts 20th - how does his lead disappear?

[Evantra]

Great for Turkington and Lloyd after their incidents - think Ingram will take the championship lead back tomorrow.

Pleased for Gornall too, somehow don't think Butel would've qualified near that! Hope he gets some points.

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

He has a fifteen point lead over Ingram and 29 over Turkington.
Turkington picks up one point for pole that is awarded after race one.
Cook starts 20th - how does his lead disappear?

He means it's likely to get cut down tomorrow starting so far back.

Rather tiresome seeing you go after him on his every post.....

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by redshoes

He went out for the shakedown on Friday but the car broke down on the out lap.

But ok, he's sick

Has he got a case of the Chris Stockton bug that we saw at Silverstone some years ago?