BTCC 2011

Plato just had a massive roll, contact through the craners and he ran up a bank and the car rolled about 3 times!

No contact on purpose in that race what so ever, but perhaps some of the drivers are being too opportunistic and perhaps not giving as much room as they should be.

Foster's accident should be a big slap in the face to the BTCC field. Those kind of incidents are the worst you can have in touring cars, I couldn't help but think of Kieth O'dor and Mark Porter's fates as I saw that BMW spear out in front of the oncoming cars..

One thing I really enjoyed was this budding rivalry between Nash and Jordan, it is definitely going to be a big story of the season.

So, a number of dramatic incidents caused by some fierce racing, a clear 888/Pirtek rivalry, TOC does well in the Golf and Jason Plato out of Race 3... possibly.. Definitely one to remember!

lucky escape

Action packed racing in race 2, but the driving standards leave a lot to be desired. After the debacle that was qualy, would have expected things to improve for the races. But on the flipside, it has been damn entertaining so far.

Glad Plato is fine after his roll, but this weekend has seriously wrecked his championship, they were already on the back foot due to the advantage the turbo cars have.

Plato out of Round 6.

http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=6005

I'm more worried about that massive side on impact Plato got before the roll, no wonder he just stopped turning. Must have been a big hit by Griffin.

According to the ITV broadcast, it's 50/50 if he's going to be in race 3.

I just could not believe Tim Harvey insisting that it was the Audi that turned Griffin around, despite seeing the footage where there were NO Audi's present...

Scot wrote:Glad Plato is fine after his roll, but this weekend has seriously wrecked his championship, they were already on the back foot due to the advantage the turbo cars have.

He rolled where the F1 work was being done, surely that will be tyre barriered up A.S.A.P.

It probably will be, but the gravel didn't help much there either.

Non-contact sport is Touring Car racing..pffffffffffft.

Shambles, absolute shambles... I was shaking my head at the telly...

Automotive Jenga from Jackson!

Shambles isnt a word big enough, i think clusterf*** springs to mind.

Jordan gets past Neal ON SCREEN and they dont notice..

Jordan flashes his headlights to Wrathall so he can get by and lap him, and Tim harvey says he has a problem...

..

Severe Brain Fade the theme of the BTCC weekend then.

These NGTC teams are more embarrasing than Hispania.

ADx Garage wrote:These NGTC teams are more embarrasing than Hispania.

they got there cars 1 week before the start of the season...

Most teams have cars that have been properly set up even if they've got a new car such as Tech Speed with the Cruze and Motorbase with the Focus, they're new cars but they will have the technical information from last season. The teams with the NGTC cars have brand new cars with no tech info at all, so really they're actually doing magnificently well and i expect them to edge closer as the season goes on.

TOCA have also given the NGTC teams additional testing time to help them understand the cars set up better, so give them time and i'm sure they'll be competetive soon!

The NGTC cars look like plastic toys in comparison to the S2000's..

Well, what have we learned today? Success in the BTCC comes from just keeping cool and letting everyone pile off infront of you.

Is that five different teams in the top five of the drivers standings?

Lots of knee-jerk comments on 10-tenths about today, so i'm going to repeat what i said there..

''For me, none of it was on purpose, its just the product of lots of cars that are very equal on a narrow circuit with lots of undulations. Think about the amount of speed the drivers are trying to hold while racing in packs through the craners.

Its like restrictor plate racing in NASCAR.

Its easy to blame the drivers, but racing in packs at such speed will always have such an effect. The drivers that kept themselves out of the packs were the ones that came out on top, and I think all of the drivers need to take note of that.

Its just racing.''

sounds like some good racing for me to watch later tonight.

Yeah you are

So the points we can take so far:

- The Hondas are quick, but fragile.
- The Cruzes are slow, but tough.
- The Vectras are old, but competitive (with the NGTC engine).
- The BMWs are 'fast-starting,' but also 'quick-spinny.'
- The Fords are driven by imbeciles (and yes, I include Mat Jackson, how he got away causing the catastraf**k at the Old Hairpin in Race 3 and went on to take the win, I don't know).
- The Old Guard really are struggling this year, apart from maybe Matt Neal.
- The Young Guns are taking the championship by the scruff of the neck.
- The driving standards are leaving a lot to be desired, and I usually tolerate quite a lot of contact in the BTCC.
- Ben Edwards and Tim Harvey are yet to arrive at the Donny commentry box judging by the amount of simple details they missed.
- The BTCC is damn good entertainment!

It really is almost as if Peter O'hanraha-Hanrahan was commentating.

Interesting to read that on the BTCC forum, Alan Gow has said it is likely there will be a change made to the turbo cars to equalise them before Thruxton.

http://www.btcc.net/forum/showthread.php?10223-Turbo-and-non-turbo-car-equivalence

Paul O'Neill has made a few interesting tweets today. I'm going to try and talk to him....