Overall a good day's racing from someone going to their first BTCC meeting. But one thing definately DID leave a very bad taste in the mouth.

After Allison and Daz Turner's massive incident in race 2 at the chicane the safety car was brought out.

The siting of the car was dangerous - but some goon, be it Alan Gow or one of his kronies - instead of using the oppertunity under the safety car to get rid of the stricken SEATs to leave the best overtaking opportunity under local yellow flag for the race.

The marshalling was very good and efficient, but surely this sort of monumentally idiotic moment would put club racing to shame, let alone the world's second biggest touring car championship

I'm still confused as to what happened?

Quote from ajp71 :

I'm still confused as to what happened?

Allison and Turner had a nasty crash at the final chicane. Out came the SC, but the cars were left there - for the remainder of the race that section was under yellow flags. Why the hell didn't they move the cars!

Duke - toned your thread title down a little.

That really is a moronic decision. I see that happen every now and then, too, and I always wonder what the hell the directors are thinking.

How close to the end of the race was it?

I didn't notice that they yellow flagged that section, none of the commentators on TV said it was. Was there any towtrucks behind the barrier, or near the corner? might be a reason why they didn't move them.

After watching it on TV today i enjoyed all 3 races a hell of alot! particularly 8(ish) cars going side by side into club in race 3 and all of them getting through!

Quote from MAGGOT :

That really is a moronic decision. I see that happen every now and then, too, and I always wonder what the hell the directors are thinking.

How close to the end of the race was it?

Lap 5 of a scheduled 16.

they should of deffo moved the car if it was lap 5 of 16 .................. (wonder why they didnt move it)

Yea. Sometimes if just a couple laps left they'll leave it, but 11 to go? That's dumb.

Anyone got a video of what happened? Sounds like a typical case of trying to meet TV requirements/not boring spectators vs. safety/quality of racing.

for anybody who didnt catch it, its on ITV right now.

aahh just saw it, looks a pretty hefty accident. daft to leave the cars there, its one of the best overtaking opportunitys on the track.

the beemer looks lighting fast off the start and really good overall.

OOHH MY **** the carrera cup crash!! bloody hell, was nearly another couple of deaths in motorsport for this week.

amazing driving in race 3, 6 or 7 drivers wanting the same piece of racetrack at the chicane and everybody keeping it nearly on the black stuff and pointing the right way.

A highly compressed video of the crash is avalible here:

http://seggons.gom-team.com/BTCC_Crash.wmv

Alan Gow is a tool (great at some things, useless at others), he has his "favourites" and i wouldn't be surprised if he left the yellow flags out to favour one of his "friends"....

anyone got a vid of the "8 wide into club" or the Carrera crash? i gave up watching BTCC (or WTCC) a long time ago because a typical demo server was cleaner

Quote from nikimere :

Alan Gow is a tool (great at some things, useless at others), he has his "favourites" and i wouldn't be surprised if he left the yellow flags out to favour one of his "friends"....

I wouldn't go that far. If it wasn't for him BTCC would probably be dead and buried by now. He's made the championship what it is now, and I'd be very suprised if we don't see more manufacturers before the 2008 season.

Although the manufacturer is reflective all over motorsport, WRC only has 3 so called 'works' teams (Ford, Subaru, Citroen). WTCC only has 3 (Seat, BMW, Chevy), I don't think Alfa can be counted as a works team in WTCC anymore.

Quote from Jakg :

anyone got a vid of the "8 wide into club" or the Carrera crash? i gave up watching BTCC (or WTCC) a long time ago because a typical demo server was cleaner

5 Wide madness: http://seggons.gom-team.com/5_Wide_BTCC.wmv
Carrera Crash: http://seggons.gom-team.com/Carrera_crash.wmv

Quote from seggons :

5 Wide madness: http://seggons.gom-team.com/5_Wide_BTCC.wmv
Carrera Crash: http://seggons.gom-team.com/Carrera_crash.wmv

thanks mate!

Quote from mr_x :

I wouldn't go that far. If it wasn't for him BTCC would probably be dead and buried by now. He's made the championship what it is now, and I'd be very suprised if we don't see more manufacturers before the 2008 season.

That's why i said he's done some great things...
But like everyone else he has his faults, and that's the problem with just 1 person running the show.

Anyone got a link to a torrent of the Thruxton races?

I bet whoever owns that Ford Focus parked behind the fence was happy he didn't have a Porsche sized dent in his roof.

Quote from seggons :

5 Wide madness: http://seggons.gom-team.com/5_Wide_BTCC.wmv
Carrera Crash: http://seggons.gom-team.com/Carrera_crash.wmv

The 5 way battle, that was sweet!

Quote from BigDave2967 :

The 5 way battle, that was sweet!

You see that kind of action in the Ginetta cup constantly, I remember a race where they actually went across the finish line like that. I think it was 9 cars covered by less than a second

5 wide bit was pretty good but TBH like Quicksilver said many club racing series get that good racing without spoiling it with crashing.

Quote from ajp71 :

5 wide bit was pretty good but TBH like Quicksilver said many club racing series get that good racing without spoiling it with crashing.

Agreed!

When I saw that `5 wide` I thought here we go, maybe one car will make it out alive while the rest all pile into the tire wall in all directions at the chicane. But no, they kept it together with a nice bit of driving, that's the sort of driving that should be promoted in the BTCC yet isn't... The excuse of it's the nature of tin top racing doesn't go with me. Sure exchanging paint is to be expected but not body panels...

Brand Hatch on the other hand (Round 1 of the year) was an utter disgrace in comparison of what I caught of it. Cars being half spun and hopeless attempts at `passing`... What they were classing as attempts to overtake I would class as wrecking in LFS terms