Ermahgerd. 1st reply!!11 BTCC driver lineup is looking really great. Just waiting for V8SC to open up purchases of the 2014 season web stream service (Superview). I bought the endurance pass in 2013, and it worked nicely.
Agreed, I think 2014 is going to be an absolute cracker for the BTCC. Just waiting to hear if Turkington is confirmed at which point we'll have 7 ex-champs on the grid at once.
Going to be interesting to see how Menu and Giovanardi develop the cars they're in as neither the Focus nor the Passat have been consistent front runners yet.
There is not excuse, who you are to be on the phone whilst driving. I spend hours on the road with my job, and if my Bluetooth has ran out of charge ( my wife moans like hell ) I don't answer my phone, its as simple as that.
Although a possible star in the making, he deserve's what he gets due to complete negligence
Studies show that headsets does not limit the distraction at all. The important thing is to prioritize so that the conversation is never prio 1. Driving with one hand might make gear shifts clumsy, but it does not make you lose attention of the road any more than talking with a headset. Talking to someone in the car is different as you can signal to the other party to stfu when the traffic situation needs it.
Texting on the other hand is hard to do without looking elsewere than the road ahead.
Although I agree with you on headsets, there is no mention of headsets in use in the news article, therefore he was using his mobile, with "one hand on the wheel".
Its illegal people, when are people going to remember this. I see it all the time on the M25, people in 4x4 or executive cars on the phone, and I think, you knob !!, but thats my personal opinion
Given his form in GT and plenty of FWD rally experience i would say he has a good chance to do well, beating muller would make him the best driver in history of any disapline but i think if they car is good he can get regular podiums.
Quick shout-out to Tom Ingram who is confirmed at Speedworks. This guy has put in so much effort since he was a kid, he was slightly older than me so I used to watch him race before I went out for my race and he was always at the front. Now he has his chance to mix it with the best in arguably the most competitive BTCC season for a decade.
I wouldn't read too much into it... First, the mic wasn't quite up to the task (evidenced by the regular audio clipping) and second, first hand experience taught me what you hear in a video/broadcast doesn't correlate to the real thing at all...
In comparison to the other cars in the clip it sounded significantly quieter, plus I'm (very) unlikely to hear them in the real world, so video/broadcast is all I really have to go on. I'm not saying it sounds terrible or anything, just that first impressions aren't that great. The first outing of the AMG cars last year sounded a lot better, IMO, for example.