BTCC 2011

nickyf1 wrote:Actually Dan, you are spot on, its called just that, ''The Chicane''!

Oh what a lucky guess. It would have took me forever to try and name that section of the circuit. lol

us scots lads need to meet up next year i reckon

I've uploaded nearly the rest of my pics to my Facebook now.

LICK ME

Um..............

............Nnnnno.

Scot wrote:And so it begins...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/94229

The Wrathall Toyota is the only one making a difference to the front of the pack in the last three or four rounds, "BTCC Establishment there is a grip somewhere, go get it"

Alan Gow, said that the fastest car of each combination (full s2000, half ngtc, and full ngtc) is the benchmark right? well then, why should you slow down a whole class that is yet to win a race?

After you turn in for the right hander at Duffus, you are already turning right for the next turn. It is a lot faster than it looks (I sat at the top of Duffus and watched the Ginetta Juniors fly over the crest).

Boardman just caught him in the overlap.

I don't agree.

He first bumped the rear of Plato's car as they passed under the bridge. That wasn't in the braking zone, and was a signal of his aggressive intent, he was trying to unsettle Plato, and he was willing to punt Plato to pass. While I don't think he meant to put him off, he could've lifted before the braking zone.

And that whole 'holding him up' nonsense that Boardman said after the race, yeah, of course Plato was holding him up, seeing as he was losing 4-5mph on the straights!

Boardman basically said several things in that interview which count against him in the stewards office.
He's learning from the Collard school of driving and that's not cool. JP was rightly aggrieved and stood no chance. Two hits by Boardman resulted in Plato out the race. Tom should be ashamed of himself.

Shedden makes compaint about the NGTC cars parity. Sorry Flash, you have the best car in the field and regularly out do them. When you got a turbo boost reduction you were the first to kick off about and STILL the Hondas lead.
The problem here is Honda have done a superb job and the others simply haven't caught up yet. So rather than rise to the technical challenge the teams pressure to reign in the Hondas. The same will happen for the NGTC cars until they become the majority.
I though Rob Austin was VERY measured in his response to the Onslow-Cole crash. Tom had NO business being on the outside of the chicane. That was never on and Rob was rightly defending his line which resulted in damage to his car and the Focus. But then, when you're a huge organisation with a massive budget like Team Aon, you can afford a few scrapes, RAR cannot. The big boys should quit bullying and remember they were the underdog once...

I don't think he should be ashamed of himself, Jason has done the exact same thing many, many times in the past and gotten away with it. Congratulations to Boardman for taking his first race in a car that has been outclassed all season. He gave him the slightest of taps on th straight an din the corner he simply carried more speed than Plato and again slightly tapped him. The nature of the corner makes it worse than what happens to other drivers in flat circuits. Plato and Neal are constantly hitting people under braking or mid corner to get them out of their way. Then Tim Harvey says they are the best moves ever, but when it happens to a driver he likes then he gets all upset.

The rest of the NGTC field pale in comparison to the Toyota. They have worked wonders with what has been given to them so the other teams need to just keep a lid on it. Plato complains that their car doesn't have a turbo so every turbo car must be restricted. I think Chevy should simply comply with the new rules and stick a new turbo engine in their car. That shoudl shut him up.

This sort of issue is what killed the original Australian Touring Car championship, the difference here is that there are different power engines, the ATCC had to deal with 4 wheel drive and 600hp Nissans, and 430hp Super-Light rear wheel drive M3s, when the fans wanted to see their beloved Holdens (ooh look a GM company what a coincidence) at the front.

I would be extremely suprised if there isn't any performance balancing between the cars for the next round at Rockingham and then Silverstone National after that, both of these tracks have whoping big straights on them and the NGTC car as well as the NGTC engined cars will simply trounce the S2000 cars. I think we'll see a lot of changes to boost pressure in the lead up to the event as well as during the event because at these two rounds the differences in straight line speed is going to be more evident than ever and i think that Plato's "moaning" over the power differences of the cars will be well documented, i think there will be a difference of atleast 5/6 mph on the banking at Rockingham and that is simply unfair for the S2000 cars meaning it will be un-racable for them.

This season was meant to be about parity between the three different spec of cars and this hasn't happened, this year we've had the British Turbo Charged Championsip and it has been a massive let down due to the differences between the turbo and no turbo cars, hopefully for 2012 we'll have a more equal season otherwise i can see the reputation of the series diminishing!

Richy wrote:I don't think he should be ashamed of himself, Jason has done the exact same thing many, many times in the past and gotten away with it.

Funny you should say that. I discovered this earlier from 2005 but Plato was disqualified for spinning Chilton on the Wellington straight. How everyone managed to avoid Chilton at the time, heaven knows.

"After the incidents at Knockhill, he was starting to get a bad reputation"

lol

Problem is that the S2000's are indeed outclassed. Chevvy are supposedly working on an NGTC or turboed engine for next year. So there ought to be better competition with them and Hinda. But that doesn't help the rest of this season. It wasn't a slight tap going into Duffus. Tom simply hit him hard enough to unsettle the car into the braking area which either way would have resulted in JP running very wide.
It's utterly crazt, I am the first person to say how bored I was getting with JP's constant moaning about the cars BUT that incident served as a very apparent example of just how bad it is. If it was any of you in the car and no matter how good an exit you had out of the corner no matter how well set up your car was, if you were getting eaten alive by competitiors that easily wouldn't you be a little miffed?
We've had that back in the heady days of the AWD TCC series when PLOW utterly dominated and people moaned. Parity is a very hard thing to do because what are you using as your benchmark?
The engineers at Honda are paid to make the most out of the regs and tey have, the other turbo cars aren't doing as well because the whole package clearly isn't working, or at least not at every circuit. The NGTC guys shouldn't be penalised based on the minor success of one team who have hooked it up. The other Toyota is very rarely troubling the top 10 let alone the podium. Welch had a good time in practice but in the dry he's dropped back again. Yes the cars have bigger tyres, brakes etc but they're also heavier! That's going to hurt them at some circuits. Really do wish the likes of Honda, Plato et al would just shut up and race. This isn't F1!

the only clean drivers are Snedden and Jackson in my view but Gio, Turkington and Thommo were all clean too

the Worse ones are Coll-bash-ard, Neal & Plato

Neal and Plato come from the era where a tap into the corner to move a competitor wide was acceptable. Collard twice put people off the circuit and into dangerous places. Nothing happened. He's forever hitting people and even Louise on the grid noted that everyone was wary of him. He's a dirty racer and has no place in BTCC.
Shedden is very fair, Mat Jackson has had his fair share of sillys in the past but yes certainly this year he's alot better and more respectful. Still don't like him though!

I feel for Plato, O'Neill and Collard, because they can't compete, and the NGTC engine parity issues are robbing us of a competitive end to the season (in fact, the whole season has been a farce). Collard only came into it later in the race because of his tyres, but looking at his fight with Tom O-C, everytime he passed at the hairpin, TOC would just outdrag him up the hill and take the place back as they had so much more grunt. That's not fair.

Unsurprisingly, I really really really want Shedden to win the championship this year. But it'll be tainted by all the problems experienced this year, and the fact that a few contenders were in no position to challenge thanks to the rules.

And I can't agree with the "Plato does it all the time argument." When was the last time Plato intentionally punted someone like Boardman did? As I recall, it was Oulton Park last year, when he ran into the back of TOC because he was blocking. Not saying that Plato is right for doing that - he got a fine and points for the move - but I do understand it.

Watching Plato this year, and most of the last three years since he left SEAT, there's a measured approach to passing now. He does not commit to a move unless it's on, and until it is he is quite patient. He almost waits until the car in front is settled then goes on the attack, pressuring the car in front into a mistake, or simply pouncing when one happens.

I have been caught behind defensive drivers in the TCC, and it is frustrating when you are in a much quicker car but can't commit to a move becuase you know it'll result in contact. Shedden was in this situation in race 1 and 2 at the weekend, stuck behind Matt Neal, but he bided his time and waited for an opportunity to present itself, which it did in race 2. Of course, his patience was probably tempered by the fact it was his team-mate ahead. Had it been someone else, he might've committed to a move much earlier.

The point is Boardman didn't need to commit to getting past the way he did. He could've ran on the left of the road under the bridge, braked earlier than Plato who HAD to brake late into the corner due to the speed difference, then carried more speed through the dip. He could've tried to get a better exit from the hairpin, or McIntyres, and outdrag Plato, because the advantage was his.

Instead he opted to run into the back of Plato to unsettle him, and had he not done that, there wouldn't be any debate over this. Running into Plato in such an avoidable way can only be termed deliberate, and as such to take him off seconds later has cast aspertions on Boardman's ability for me. Had he avoided contact the first time, then taken Plato off down Duffus Dip, I'd believe it to be accidental.

Alan Gow stated way back that if you ruin someone else's race, then TOCA will disqualify you. The example of Chilton above demonstrates that, Shedden at Mondello in 2006 too when he took out nearly all the Vauxhalls and SEATs in the first corner, and a bunch of others too. Boardman's impatience ruined Plato's race, so when are we going to hear about Boardman's DQ, TOCA, or because it was a popular win it's allowed to stand?

Second one from 41mins onwards.

Shedden can be aggressive, and he was decried on the BTCC forums for that move.

Quite frankly, I don't think there are any really dirty drivers in the BTCC. The wise heads on some of the older drivers means they use some more robust moves. I like Collard - he used to be the nice guy of the BTCC, then he toughened up a bit and started winning races about the time he started racing the Motorbase BMW in 2008. All of a sudden, he's a dirty driver.

I've said it before, but Turkington was accused of the same thing. He was too nice, then the season he grew a pair and got a bit rougher, he won the championship.

Hit the nail on the head there Scot.
Yes Plato used to be quite aggressive in his passing. Neal too. Final right hander at Brands is a good example from him. Enough of a touch to edge the car ahead wider into the corner and he'd zip up the inside. Not overly aggressive, not damaging to the car ahead. Just enough.
The last time I saw a car do what Boardman did on Sunday was in NASCAR but they were bump drafting!

Tony Gilham is back for the final three rounds with Geoff Steel Racing!

The car will run NA for Rockingham, then switch to the NGTC engine for the final two rounds. And it is quite striking in Tony's pink and green livery.

http://www.btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=2611&month=0&year=2011&form&searchterm

looks like its from toca2!

Now that's actually not a bad job with the livery, unlike the Vectra which simply had different panels painted different colours.