Surprisingly no thread about it so far, so here I'll go.Should be an interresting season. Strong field, with most of last years' main names returning. And round 1 has shown that the Hondas, the Chevys and the Fords seem to be fairly well balanced. Obviously it's a tad hard to judge only on Brands Indy, since it isn't a very representative track, but we will see later in the season.
2011 British Touring Car Championship
shame the audi never got out this weekend. 
will be interesting to see how the new NGTC cars (that are going through major teething problems right now) develop.
definitely still destroys the WTCC in terms of spectacle, and it still has my nod as most favoritest racing series in the world
will be interesting to see how the new NGTC cars (that are going through major teething problems right now) develop.definitely still destroys the WTCC in terms of spectacle, and it still has my nod as most favoritest racing series in the world
It's interesting, but kind of annoying when people get excited about it, especially ITV, since they lost the F1 license it's like they are making a big deal out of BTCC to compensate...
yeah I hate it when tv stations get excited about good close racing 
Sport is supposed to be done by professionals, anyone can rock up to BTCC and win. But it never used to be like that before S2000.....
They make a big deal about it, going over incidents, and moaning about tyres all the time, the S2000 and even turbo cars aren't hard on the tyres, the BTCC drivers just say that when they start making mistakes and screwing it up. When you have a driver like Collard of all people, rejoining the first race (after a collision on the warm up lap) with a rear wheel pointing in a different direction to all the other wheels on the car, then you do wonder about the professionalism of the BTCC (well you bloody should..).
Seriously, if you think the BTCC is good racing, you should really look elsewhere, to a degree I'd rather watch NASCAR, at least there's foreign drivers there and the wrecks there don't LOOK intentional.... the fact the BTCC is made up entirely of only drivers from the UK shows the amateur level that is BTCC now. Foreign drivers are a good indication that a series is popular for good reasons. Hence, F1, WTCC, DTM, EURO F3, Italian F3, World Series, GP2, GP3, Formula 2 the list goes on, Professional drivers, stewarding and professional racing, and it's a rare occasion to see an intentional wreck, or a ram to push another car wide but you know that nobody who goes into the BTCC is really gonna 'make it' in motor racing.
See I come from the exact opposite mindset. I grew up in the paddock of SCCA club racing events, where no one is a professional. For me, working out of your garage is where the true passion and spirit of the sport comes from. Plus, I'm all about the variety of the cars.
If I understand correctly, it's not about the tyre wear, but the heat in the tyres which causes them to lose grip. They thrash those cars pretty good. That incident between Collard and Griffin was bad yes. but it's not like these type of incidents have never happened in F1 (or LMES this very same weekend. I really have to wonder about the professionalism of that series :tilt
If there were foreign drivers, it wouldn't be the BTCC, it would be the ETCC or the WTCC. I'm all for the concept of having national champs that feed into a world champ, but they don't seem to have gotten it right yet
For me this series is the very highest, most competitive pinnacle of the club racing that I love. I'm glad they actually cover this series, we don't even get SCCA Runoffs coverage anymore The driving standards in terms of pushing aren't good, that I'll admit. I do not like the amount of pushing that goes on from the back. They need to enforce the standards better, but I don't mind a little contact. It IS touring cars after all.
But I think that quite a few of the young guys coming up are gonna 'make it' pretty well. The older 'gentlemen racers'... well they bring money to the sport, so it's hard to complain.
What utter and complete bollocks. You do realise the people with the #1, #2 and #3 in WTCC have all raced in the BTCC. Yvan Muller was the 2003 champion, Robert Huff drove alongside Jason Plato in 2004 and Gabriele Tarquini was the 1994 champion. Then you have Alain Menu, the 1997 and 2000 champion. That's just the ones racing now, you still have Thompson, Rydell and Prilaulx. Then you have 2007 and 2008 champion Fabrizio Giovandardi, regarded as one of the greatest tintop racers of all time. I also found a list of F1 drivers that have competed in the BTCC...
Gianfranco Brancatelli
Slim Borgudd
Roland Ratzenberger
Damon Hill
Tiff Needell
David Coulthard
Jonathan Palmer
Christian Danner
Julian Bailey
Jo Winkelhock
Ian Ashley
Eric van de Peole
Gabriele Tarquini
Jan Lammers
Johnny Cecotto
David Brabham
Derek Warwick
Gianni Morbidelli
Nigel Mansell
Jean-Christophe Boullion
...look at all those English unprofessional ****wits!
Johnny Herbert had three rounds I think too, and wasn't able to thrash everyone else by any means.
and Jim Clark is conspicuously missing from that list.
and Jim Clark is conspicuously missing from that list.
That's what I get for grabbing a list from another forum, another two names to prove BlueFail wrong though. I keep forgetting that the BTCC actually used to be the support race for F1, good times.
You do realise ITV have to actually work for the their money? Of course they are making a big deal out of BTCC because they have to get a load of people watchin' ITV4 (and the ads) to satisfy the investment. It isn't anything to do with F1 and trying to compensate.
Firstly quite a large amount of drivers in that list of categories are not professional. I think F1 would be the only single-seater grid that has actual professionals (and I'd hazard it's probably only at 50-60%). The rest are glorified amateurs... wealthy ones at that. There are probably more paid drivers in BTCC than GP2, GP3 and F2 combined. So which class is really the more amateurish?
BTCC is about pure entertainment. That's why it can attract spectators to its races and can be broadcast on TV. It's very simple to understand. It's supposed to be the way it is because most people don't want to get lost in the subtle complexity of racing. They want arguments and bumper to bumper racing.
BTCC is the most popular national series in the UK. With the UK being the most prolific motorsport nation on the planet I think it's perfectly fine to think you've 'made it' in motorsport if you do well in it. Especially if it pays the bills as well.
Oh yes, same here.
Why WTCC never considered BTCC's format(3 races, random reverse grids, ballast system) is just beyond me. They managed to bore the public over the years with the race 2 top 8 reversed farces. And that Q1 reversed grid established this year just look wrong.
Really?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FgeopsJKIM
Not going to argue with the rest, RiseAgainstMe, Quicksilver and Intrepid pretty much covered my thoughts.
I heard how the first round was so great. Was it? I can't watch it... If there was a stream from someone...
Witrh "Jo Winkelhock", you probably mean Joachim Winkelhock, right? Also competed in DTM and his nickname was "Jockel".
...and Van de Poele is written like this, I think
Witrh "Jo Winkelhock", you probably mean Joachim Winkelhock, right? Also competed in DTM and his nickname was "Jockel".
...and Van de Poele is written like this, I think
Maybe not THAT much(3 rather predictable races up front once everyone got through Druids for the first time), but definitely on the average standards of last year, yes.
You failed to read, all these drivers you've listed raced before 2001, 2001 was the downfall of BTCC. IMO. But RiseAgainst makes a good point to be honest, I can't complain, especially when mentioning the ILMS series....
So wait, with Honda and Ford pulling out at the end of 2000, leaving Vauxhall as the only manufacturer in the BTCC, what would your plan of action have been?
Going back to Brands Hatch.. It was a decent weekend. Shedden and MacCrashwall had their share of action. Hondas looking insanely quick, Plato will need every point he can get to keep up with Neal. Eager to see the next event
And to think there were 8 manufacturers before 1999...
There actually are 10 at the moment(including Audi and Proton to come later in the season), but only 3 if you only count work teams.
But still, I(I don't really want to speak on other people's behalf, so I'll stick with "I". But I do belive this is the general opinion aswell) don't really mind if the cars are fielded by work teams or not, all I want is a good fieldn with a nice amount of different and competitive cars. That's what I have at the moment, so I can only be happy.
Blakehoo88 put up the last 2 races on YouTube, but the link to the first race that I put up has been deleted
Race 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... CCKME&feature=related
Race 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqK_RgUOjo4
Search youtube for BTCCLIVE2010 you should find race one there.
Btcclive2010's put up races 2/3 as well
I think Jason's good start will be harder to match throughout the season. The turbo cars were so much faster, it was only due to the fact Brands is relatively low speed that he managed to stay ahead. If Matt Neal wasn't taken out of the first race, I'd think he'd be leading the championship right now.
I think Mat Jackson is going to be Mr. Consistent again, I hope so anyway. I look forward to seeing more of James Nash upsetting the big names.
Bring it on! The F1 anti-dote.
I think Mat Jackson is going to be Mr. Consistent again, I hope so anyway. I look forward to seeing more of James Nash upsetting the big names.
Bring it on! The F1 anti-dote.
Donington: directed by Michael Bay
... or Sylvester Stallone
... or Sylvester Stallone
Joachim is to hard to pronounce so they simply say Jo (like Joe). His other nickname also comes from his time in the British Motorsport: "Smoking Jo".
2011 British Touring Car Championship
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