Any thoughts from CRC members out there......

they deserve each other, Plate will nudge and Neal is just "gaaaaaaar im coming through"

Both are not clean, I don't think they are a good example to rookies coming up through the lower ranks. Just look at the mayhem in the Clio Cup, with BTCC as an example its not suprising.

Bring back the good old days of the 90s!

Jason Plato is what makes the BTCC what it is

The BTCC is intended to be touring car racing I.E. contact. If you don't like it, don't watch it.

Plato does the BTCC style door banging and small contact that you expect, but Matt Neal piles through cars in his way. Plato is also guilty of that from time to time. Contact is fine, but blatent wrecking isnt.

BTCC is a flaming disgrace. It's supposed to be Britain's premire motorsport yet it's a complete joke. No drivers go onto better things from there and ask any driver on there way up the ranks they will have the clio cup or formula renault on the list over the BTCC. The reason for that? More chance of going onto better things.

BTCC is a lot worse than any club event I've watched/taken part in. Germany have the DTM, that puts the UK to shame.

Quote from duke_toaster :

The BTCC is intended to be touring car racing I.E. contact. If you don't like it, don't watch it.

Ermmm..... I've got the MSA handbook and contact isn't permitted. Okay little taps are going to happen but half the moves pulled off in BTCC are blatant "GET OUT ME WAY N00B!!!!". Reminds me of demo servers. The skill in BTCC is hitting the guy hard enough in front to get him out the way without damaging your own car. A skill many of them still haven't got right.

I just love how Tim Harvey (aka Professional wrecker, would fit in with iDi) tries to justify the wrecking and says it's alright. Probably why people seem to think that's correct behaviour.

BTCC is just like the WWF in my opinion, there for entertainment and barely classes as a sport.

Keiran

i agree, i was chatting to a guy who races at a local level at castle coombe.

he reckons its a matter of time b4 someone is badly hurt or worse.

i think the drivers are encouraged to drive at this "standard", because the powers that run the BTCC want the "armchair wreck loving" public to watch this style of racing. thus giving them the tv ratings.

its like gladiators on 4 wheels.

Good post Keiran

Folks, take a look at the WTCC - awesome racing, and a far better depth of quality of drivers and the number of incidents (ditto DTM regarding number of incidents, not so sure about depth of quality (Matthias Lauda, Susie Stoddart, Vanina Ickx etc)) is also far less than the BTCC.

Ofcourse theres going to be the occasional incident where it goes wrong and driver A/B/A+B end up going off, but atleast in WTCC/DTM there is a more genuine attempt to pass cleanly/with a minimum of contact - wheras the BTCC seems more of a banger series at the moment.

I like it...defenetly more fun than F1 or something.

Plato vs Neal? Both are crazy...no doubt about that.

If It's just a little tap (not intentional but you knew you'd be close) then it's ok, but what Neal did to plato in race 2 was just stupid, a mega-late lunge down the inside when it's fairly obvious plato's not leaving any room is just asking for trouble, as for Plato's (very similar) move i'm sure it was just caused by a bit of red mist as a result of what hapenned earlier. just a shame it caused so much carnage.

Bloody entertaining tho'!

Quote from keiran :

BTCC is just like the WWF in my opinion, there for entertainment and barely classes as a sport.

http://www.wwf.org/ ? Harsh words.....although I agree it's certainly no sport



I usually like touring car racing because the cars they use allow a certain amount of contact without the race ending for either of the cars involved (like perhaps it would in a single seater race). So drivers can take a few more risks basically, but I certainly don't enjoy seeing drivers see this safety net as an excuse to smash hell out of each other, just to pick up a place or two.

Neal and Plato are as bad as each other. They take it in turns each week to be the accuser, but it doesn't make a bit of difference to their moral limits on the track. Neal will try anything without thinking twice, and Plato will take someone off before giving up a place, every time.

They're probably the two best drivers out there, but they've done a great job of making themselves look like a pair of reckless idiots this (and last) season.

It's a real shame also because this sort of thing must a real put-off to people/manufacturers thinking about entering the series.

Quote from sinbad :

http://www.wwf.org/ ? Harsh words.....although I

ooops, it appears to be called WWE - http://www.wwe.com/ I always thought it was WWF - World Wrestling Federation

Yeah, my brother referred to it as WWF today (I mean the wrestling). BTCC is slightly less scripted though.

If they returned to the old 90's format of decent cars, decent clean driving and sensible rules then that would be okay. But they don't, and it's very dull motorsport in my opinion.

I don't get how Plato has become such a driver, I think it's a case of if you don't take that guy out, the guy behind you will take you out.

I remember watching Plato as a very young lad in the Lagunas with Alain Menu and I can't say i remember him being such a driver, I thouight in motorsport as you got older you were wiser and took less risks?

I watched the BTCC today and thought some of the driving was unacceptable, However I did like watching Turkington catch the 2 Integras and have a good race with them before his car packed in.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Yeah, my brother referred to it as WWF today (I mean the wrestling). BTCC is slightly less scripted though.

If they returned to the old 90's format of decent cars, decent clean driving and sensible rules then that would be okay. But they don't, and it's very dull motorsport in my opinion.

I partly agree, I'd love to see a return to super-touring cars. (Whatever happened to that SCV8 series that was meant to be starting? Basically identical V8 touring cars underneath various manufacturer bodies iirc. That looked great. Here: http://www.crash.net/news_view.asp?cid=0&id=82095 remember?)

Anyway, the cars don't help, but I'm always a fan of all of our national series' because the tracks are all great. That's the main reason I watch the BTCC, although I usually enjoy the support races more than the touring cars.

yeah, the cupras and clios are pretty good, reminds me of LFS!

the BTCC was dying on it's arse a couple of years ago, and it's gonna take a couple more years and some decent direction to get it back where it should be in terms of racing and sportsmanship. it was awesome watching Giovinardi and Turner battling it out in race 2, and Turkington Vs Neal & Co in race 3.

I like a bit of a crash every now and then (as long as it's nothing serious) but sometimes these boys get a bit carried away with it.

I can't help thinking back to the 97 season when plato was just a kid, in his first race he quallified on pole and finished 2nd to menu, He was the good guy of the pack at the time and I've supported him since, but lately he's let himself down a bit.

As for the cars, The supertourers were great for speed but lousy for cost, I'm not a fan of DTM either, it's a mega-money form of racing in cars that barely resemble the showroom models. I'm a fan of 'proper' tin-top racing in cars that are genuinely based on real-life cars. hopefully we'll see some more cars next year, getting more manufacturers involved can't hurt .

I never need an excuse to post this video

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AFfcNvwTk_U&search=btcc

In the 90s the grids were huge, and there were soooo many manufacturers it was crazy. I remember crashes, and door banging...but nothing as blatent as the crap driving of today.

EDIT: my favourite BTCC car of all time...and its a Volvo!

I think they need to go for much more standard Group N cars.

Quote from sinbad :

I partly agree, I'd love to see a return to super-touring cars. (Whatever happened to that SCV8 series that was meant to be starting? Basically identical V8 touring cars underneath various manufacturer bodies iirc. That looked great. Here: http://www.crash.net/news_view.asp?cid=0&id=82095 remember?)

The series never happened but about 20 chassis were built, they're currently all over the place. A couple compete in the (UK) V8 Supercars series, including a stunning Peugeot 406 bodied car.

Quicksilver - LOVED the vid, shame BTCC is now just a demo server but faster

and i supose i can only dream about the SCV8

Plato semi-wiped out today at the first major race at Knockhill in the BTCC after getting too friendly with the inside kerb and gravel during a 3-abreast attempt at rounding the " real radio hairpin " lol.

After the second race , I dunno what when on , but Bob Collard and our friend fab. Giovanardi didnt exactly shake hands and congratulate each other after getting out their cars.

Calum

Cool vid, reminds me of when I was a kid

Tarquini's little incident in the Alfa is the one I think back to whenever I take too much kurb in a XFR and Kelvin burt's little smash in the Volvo is one I had a poster of on my bedroom wall for years, wish i still had it. makes the BTCC of today pale in comparison.