Quote from mr_x :

Also if you think about it logically, the racing is going to be closer and there's going be more contact because the British circuits are nothing like what the WTCC visit. British tracks are very narrow compared to the World Circuits.

The amount of contact in one BTCC race is far greater than the amount of contact I've ever seen in a club racing weekend on the same circuits and TBH series like stock hatches are hardly exactly the kind of cars where you'd expect drivers to worry about denting them, but to be fair they manage to race without driving into each other and have far more closer action as a result, I can't remember the last time I saw a big crash caused by another car that was seemingly in control or aware before he committed to a corner that there was going to be contact. The problem with BTCC is they just accept contact, I'm not sure if they actually always want to take the other guy out but they will not slow down or go off line, let alone off the track to avoid contact, in club racing and serious formulae you'll find people will do anything to avoid contact and because they trust each other to do that can then spend most of the time much closer.

Quote from hungryhippo :

Another vote for WRC and BTCC.
V8 supercars would be nice if they changed the rules to allow more than two manufacturers in the series. pushrod, two valves per cylinder engines only ?

The whole point of V8 supercars is that it is Ford vs Holden and TBH I don't think there'd be many companies producing simple large V8 cars wanting to enter other than Ford or GM.

Quote from mr_x :

I'd love to see you do any better

Since when does this involve what I can or can't do? In LFS and real life I'll not deliberately stick my car in a position that there is no hope in hell of not hitting the car in front.

The video I posted still shows the usual in BTCC where punting the rear of the car in front is seen as fair play... The contact half the time is avoidable if the driver just took his foot off the throttle pedal but they don't and just plough through it. Reminds me of some LFS races on public servers...

Hell 1/10th scale touring car racing is cleaner than that and half the time we can't even see the gap we're trying to pass by... Not to mention how quickly these cars accelerate to top speed...

Quote :

When F1 has racing like this then I'll watch it again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY1Nl8yRbqI

At least BTCC drivers overtake and put on a spectical, rather than follow each other in a procession.

So they've managed to negotiate one corner without contact, guess that's why someone has gone to the bother of posting it on youtube?

Who is talking about F1? If you don't like it, so what... I'll watch it over BTCC any day. The BTCC is an entertainment series in my book, if the series wanted to promote fair clean racing they'd penalise all the drivers who made contact in the video I posted... What they want is to provide entertainment for the sort that are after thrills and spills over good hard racing.

As ajp71 has said, there is nothing wrong with the tracks, it's just the mentality of the drivers. The support races manage to provide good action without resorting to half spinning the car in front...

I'm not gonna get into another BTCC vs everything else slanging match, happened enough already, and I'm fairly sick of it.

I'm quite passionate about BTCC, followed it and been to races every year since i was 8 years old, and loved every single meeting i've been to from start to finish.

MotoGP, WSB and BSB (plus all of their respective support races) would be enough for me if everything else was cancelled.

WRC is at a real low point right now, it has become so stale, IMO.

BTW fellow Brits, the IOM TT coverage starts on Friday, at 8ish I think, ITV4.

MotoGP, WSB and BSB are the best for racing...no doubt about it.(and i'm not a bikey type at all)

BTCC is great entertainment.

F1 is at an all time low on the racing front, but i still watch it mainly due to Lewis. I've found myself falling asleep after 10 laps again though, which says a lot for the excitement factor.

I would watch as many different series as i could see tbh. Thanks to the fantastic http://www.racing-underground.com/index.ru I'm watching loads more motorsport now. Champ cars and GP2 are both highly recommended.

....and Red Bull Air Racing gets my vote as well

Saw the last half of GP2 Monaco while waiting for the Monaco Grand Prix to come on. Looks like good stuff, prolly start following it

Quote from Hyperactive :

+10000 for the older V8 supercar races. I have downloaded few old Bathurst races (1990 and 1992) and I really liked those.

My favorite era of V8SC is when Brocky and Dick Johnson were in there prime Race tracks are just too safe these days Which is I guess what attracted Brocky to the Targa serries and his ultimate demise, but at least he was still doing what he loved to do in the end

Bathurst back in the 70's and 80's was a much different track from today, I never forget some of the amazing action of that era There is just too many safty car periods in modern racing for my liking

Quote from Glenn67 :

Bathurst back in the 70's and 80's was a much different track from today, I never forget some of the amazing action of that era There is just too many safty car periods in modern racing for my liking

One of the all time must see videos

http://video.google.com/videop ... 244029&q=twr+bathurst

Quote from The Moose :

....and Red Bull Air Racing gets my vote as well

Ive seen it before on TV and its very impressive,at longleat or somewhere like that for the UK round,

But for air races check out the reno air races. Old war planes some tuned to over 3000HP doubling there output, and then they clip the wings by 6ft for speed! racing wing to wing at tremendus speeds, its insane!

http://www.airrace.org/indexJS.php

Vote for the IRL, mainly cause Dario won the Indy 500.

Isle of man TT stuff on ITV4 just now, if anybody cares.

I just finished up watching all of the 2007 races so far in GP2, and I must say it is pretty interesting to watch.

All race weekends have two races except Monaco, and so far the 3 rounds have been great. Monaco didn't have any passing really for Formula 1, but in GP2, people were passing in the tight hairpin, and all other kinds of places that you don't normally see passing. Was really great. But I do like to see these cars on road circuits; Bahrain and Catalunya were really good races... Go Timo Glock!!!

Quote from ajp71 :

One of the all time must see videos

http://video.google.com/videop ... 244029&q=twr+bathurst

That other (American) commentator sounds as fascinated as some movie critics on DVD audio commentary tracks

What do you guys suppose is the best Sports Car Series to follow?

WSB has some of the best racing around BAR NONE, some of the tussles between Hagi, Bayliss and Toseland this year have been immense, Bayliss is one of the hardest mother****ers to walk the earth ATM, a real hero.

As for cars, SuperGT,FIA GT,V8 supercars are all pretty decent also some of the smaller series, like the Peugout CC and Renault cups are quite fun.

But for pure racing, IMO WSB can't be beaten ATM

Quote from deggis :

That other (American) commentator sounds as fascinated as some movie critics on DVD audio commentary tracks

That would be Allan Moffat, another Bathurst legend.

A1 GP - The only formula car racing I find interesting.
ALMS - USA's most "European" championship.
DTM - Probably the worlds best Touringcar series.
FIA-GT - The second best Sportscar series in Europe.
GrandAm - Best racing on American soil.
LMES - The best European Sportscar series.
STCC - One of Europes best Touringcar series.
SuperGT - Beautiful cars and really good racing.
SCCA - Both the GT and Touringcar series are world class.
V8 Supercar - Complete and utter madness in good looking cars.
WTCC - Getting better each year.

Quote from X-Ter :

DTM - Probably the worlds best Touringcar series.
V8 Supercar - Complete and utter madness in good looking cars.

Naaah, add your DTM description to the V8's and thats what you got. V8SC absolutely rule.

I watch just about everything my TV picks up on motorsport, but dont get into the bikes too much, except MotoGP now that Casey Stoner is kicking ass!!

Formula Renault is great action as is the Clio and Cupra cups here in the UK.

Clios particularly is a very close series with young drivers wanting to prove themselves to get BTCC drives. Always full of action.

Saw DTM live at Brands last week. Wow - those cars are unrestricted - completely flat bottoms, loads of aero, driver in the middle, carbon brakes. They sound almost like Le Mans prototypes! Racing is pretty boring though.

Quote from Gentlefoot :

DTM: Racing is pretty boring though.

It depends on the race. DTM has had some of the best racing I've ever seen yet sometimes it can be an F1 style procession from green light to chequered flag.

Quote from Gentlefoot :

Formula Renault is great action as is the Clio and Cupra cups here in the UK. Clios particularly is a very close series with young drivers wanting to prove themselves to get BTCC drives. Always full of action.

I've seen the BTCC and support events (UK FRenault, Clios and Cupras) live and the Clios is demolition derby, it's got a few names for the future there, Andrew Jordan especially (Mike Jordan's son) - Tom Onslow-Cole won the Clios last year. The Cupras look like Max Powerised BTCC cars.

Quote :

Saw DTM live at Brands last week. Wow - those cars are unrestricted - completely flat bottoms, loads of aero, driver in the middle, carbon brakes. They sound almost like Le Mans prototypes! Racing is pretty boring though.

II find it that they have the balls to call ground-up racing cars with the aero orgy, carbon brakes and central cockpits touring cars rather remarkable ...

Even Motorsport Mundial's 5 min or so highlights package couldn't make their visit to Lausitz exciting. The BTCC on the other hand - probably some of the best racing there is. Wheel to wheel (or slightly closer ) racing.

MotoGP is can be quite good, I'd like to see the 125's on TV due to Bradley Smith, the first British motorcyclist for several years to kick ass on circuits and the only British rider in any of the categories.

Quote from duke_toaster :

MotoGP is can be quite good, I'd like to see the 125's on TV due to Bradley Smith, the first British motorcyclist for several years to kick ass on circuits and the only British rider in any of the categories.

There's also Daniel Webb in 125s and Eugene Laverty on a 250. They don't tend to do too well though.

SCCA Runoffs, US national amateur racing championchip ("the olympics of american racing") some 20+ races with very varied classes:
* Formula Vee (good ol' vw beetle converted to open wheeler) with at least three changes for the lead every lap (slipstreaming galore)
* le mans prototype looking cars classed for engine displacement vs. weight (see 5l v8 battle it out against 700cc bike engine powered cars)
* Showroom stock (buy a car, add rollover cage, race it)
And many many more interesting classes. Lots of minor racing incidents, very few major incidents, ralely dangeorus incidents.

V8SC, cars built like grandpa used to build them, tuned with state of the art equipment and budget. Matched with top notch commentary.

DTM, ultra hi-tech silhouette touring cars. Some races turn very boring while others are entertaining.

F1 Qualifying - Nailbiting entertainment. The races are kind of boring unless you focus on the strategies and the mid field battle.

Grand Am & SCCA Speed World - Nice close racing but a tad too cheesy commentary for my taste.

WTCC/STCC/BTCC - very close racing and carnage, on a few tracks this is top notch.


FIA-GT/SuperGT - I dont know if its the lousy camera production or if its the racing that makes it yawn-boring to watch, its usually lots of shots of very nice looking cars driving around with no context.

Rallycross - depending on the tv production this sometimes beats all opposition in good entertainment (The amateur level classes with very different cars shoehorned into one class, couppled with short races, full contact racing)

Conclusion, every class has its perfect track where the racing is top notch and a few wrong sized tracks where there can be no racing at all. However, to realy enjoy a race I need some context, I need to know the drivers and the cars and their strongs and weaknesses hence I have to watch the boring races too (even if I have to admit that I fastforward alot in some races).

Quote :

WTCC/STCC/BTCC - very close racing and carnage, on a few tracks this is top notch.

Hehehe, BTCC is top notch everywhere - Thruxton suits them, Brands is great, Knockhill might have well have been made for the BTCC, bumper to bumper action

Quote from duke_toaster :

Hehehe, BTCC is top notch everywhere - Thruxton suits them, Brands is great, Knockhill might have well have been made for the BTCC, bumper to bumper action

yeah, bumper to bumper spinning each other out.

It is a good series to watch, if only for the comedy.