Hello !!!

The German Touring Car Masters (in Germany called DTM) is an important Championship in Germany. And the administration of the DTM, the "ITR" says it is the greatest championship near by the F1.

But just two manufactures, boring races and not many spectators at the races outside of Germany don´t confirm the ITR.

What do you think about the DTM. Is it an important championship ???
Is it good as the "good old days" form 1984 to 1996 ???
Is it spectacular like the F1 ???

Didn't find any newer threads about this.. sorry if I'm wriong

Boring races.. but Tom FTW!!!!!

DTM is a good series, but the races are boring. The small Czech DTM is better.

i spectated at the last 3 DTM's at brands hatch (didnt bother with this year) and to be honest they were very boring, the cars are spectacular but after the first few practice sessions they get boring

I like it, but they should find ways to make it better.
Less fun bits:
There are only two teams (v8sc does this better) It leads to team play at a unprecedented level where Ekstrom can go from eight to first in a few laps.
They have to constantly artificially create action (success ballast)
Too tight racing (wrecker series)

Fun:
Hight end cars, nothing like the heavy, low powered, high CoG wtcc cars.
Ekström! =)
Tight racing

Given the right circumstances, DTM can be fantastic (Norisring this year is an excellent example)

But it doesn't provide the constant thrill that the WTCC or BTCC provides.

its a good series but i would always choose V8 Supercars over it, the Australians have got that series very good and competitive over the last few years and it has gone up and up in quality in my mind.

DTM definately needs new manufacturers

It doesn't help really that the car's have so much aero, just decreases overtaking, which imo, has made it very very boring.

It used to be absolutely awesome. Now it isn't - bring back the mid 90s

Let 'em drive on the nordschleife with older cars again and it's fun.
But it's somehow more exciting than F1 imo.

Just boring, IMHO.

• Too much aero, making overtaking extremely difficult, almost as difficult as F1.
  
• Boring tracks, honestly, just compare WTCC's calendar with the DTM's : almost half of the DTM's courses were modificated to follow F1's standards, which usually leads into Tilkedromes(Hockenheim, Nürbürgring, Lauzitzring, Oschersleben). Bring back the Ring plox!
  
• Stupid pit rule, which put a big importance into strategy, more than in passing skills, which is a bit strange for a touring car series
  
• Small grids, 20 while the WTCC is getting 25 or so at every meeting
  

Don't know why I'm still watching it

Quote :

What do you think about the DTM. Is it an important championship ???

Not really important in the scale of world motorsport, but important in regards touring car.

One of the key indicators here is that it has no 'famous' race.

1) Endurance Racing (ACO) has Le Mans
2) F1 has Monaco
3) V8 Supercars has Baathurst
4) Indy has Indianapolis 500 - although the race is more famous than the series, i'm not even 100% sure (nor do I care) which series races the Indy 500 anymore.
5) Nascar has Daytona

Those are the big races, and DTM isn't on there. So let's instead look at different regions and list the big series there:

America: NASCAR, Indycar #1, Indycar #2 (it has another name, nobody outide of America cares what it is), American LeMans / Grand-Am, Those funny oval truck racing thingies, stock cars, pumpkin launching and all other sports not already mentioned or covered by baseball and [alleged] football

Southern Hemisphere non Japan: V8 Supercars at Baathurst, F1, V8 Supercars anywhere else

Japan: Toyota F1 team

Northern Hemisphere: F1, Le Mans, GP2, DTM / BTCC / STCC and other local touring car series

DTM is just a local series of touring car races, it happens to be quite a big one - the biggest of all the local racing series - but if i'm going to watch touring cars other than the BTCC (which I favour because I know the tracks) then i'd watch V8 Supercars.

So um, no. DTM is not the biggest thing outside of F1. It might be in Germany, but to the rest of the world that claim is laughable.

Yeah DTM needs a 'centrepiece' round, of course everyone's going to say Nurburgring Nordschliefe, but I'm not so sure.

Norisring perhaps, that place has some 'history'.

Although perhaps not the most exciting of circuits.

Nordschliefe + less aero + another manufacturer = DTM good

Quote from Becky Rose :

Indycar #1, Indycar #2 (it has another name, nobody outide of America cares what it is)

Indycar #1 = IRL
Indycar #2 = Indy Lights

Quote from samjh :

Indycar #1 = IRL
Indycar #2 = Indy Lights

I'm filing this in the early onset altzeimers part of my brain in the hope that I can forget the irrelevent information contained within your post.

It was fantastic in the mid 90s. Now? Not so much.

Quote from 5haz :

Yeah DTM needs a 'centrepiece' round, of course everyone's going to say Nurburgring Nordschliefe, but I'm not so sure.

Norisring perhaps, that place has some 'history'.

Although perhaps not the most exciting of circuits.

Norisring = Nuremberg yes Hitlers favourite place :} funny because it's also Audi's home race... :P

The more interesting series in Germany is in my opinion the VLN

DTM is nice to watch...if you are a spectator at the track. Because they make quite a nice sound

But that's really all about it. But the DTM had one nice side effect. With the withdrawel of Opel, some DTM cars from them made it to hill climb championships and the VLN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MUcPW_b4-U

It´s got boring since they use those stupid carbon fiber prototype thingys where a slight touch rips half the bodywork off.

Quote from ATHome :

The more interesting series in Germany is in my opinion the VLN

I've only heard of the VLN from its Nordschleife endurance race. What does VLN stand for?

Veranstaltergemeindschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring

translation would be sth like. Community of Endurancechampionship Nürburgring

in the past days the BF Goodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft (now the official League name) was called the "Veedol Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring" because of the Oil-Main-Sponsor Veedol.

People connected VLN to Veedol Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring which is wrong because it still stangs for Veranstaltergemeindschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring.

Oh yes and DTM was perfect until Opel dropped out. Now its just the worst piece of shit i have seen in my life.

Veranstaltergemeindschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring, its a series running solely on the Nordschleife - GT track combo. But as its open for everyone and allows small private teams to enter say a stock Civic TypeR its has a really big team- and fanbase. Normal races are about 4 to 6 hours long

craziest part of the regs has to be the allowance of so many aero parts (especially those little fins on the rear corners) on a series that has so much contact, it's too easy for a slight "rub" to rip off small parts which slow the car down. either ban the rubbing or preferably get rid of the complex aero work, easiest way to do this is stock body shells from a model that has a production run of at leats 10,000 per annum and no loop holes so if audi for example want to fit a front splitter, every car of that model range no matter how basic, has to leave the showroom with the same front spitter which has to be aprt of the front bumper assembly so it can't be removed. allow a rear wing to be fitted which must conform to a standard spec and then let the teams fit their V8s in them but use a spec gearbox and simplify the suspension so it's not too fragile.

actually to save costs why not just let the V8 supercars run instead

Quote from baSh0r :

Veranstaltergemeindschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring

Oh dear god!

There used to be an aweomse 8min or so DTM video from the 80s/90s with the "Supermode - Tell my why" tune on Youtube. Sick video showing the good old days of DTM, when it was proper racing. Can't seem to find it now, probably has been taken off knowing what big dicks Youtube can be.