Britcar Changes and Improvements

[AlvinTaff]

Looking at the many Britcar threads, a lot of people have many complaints or ideas on what they think would improve the Championship.

Why don't we list them all here (be sensible), for James, Claire and David to look at and ponder??

[phatgixer]

1. Have a clear statement that there is a determined focus on making a 24 hour race happen in 2010, from James and the removal of any obfuscation in terms of how difficult this is to achieve.

2. Improve team / race control communication during the races either by way of on screen messages or old fashioned voice / radio / tannoy announcements. This with particular regards to when the safety is deployed.

3. Safety car to be driven as fast as is safe to keep competitor's tyre temperatures within safe limits, especially on formation laps. At present it is far too slow.

4. Cars only released from pit lane at end of Safety car crocodile.

5. Adopt (simplified) VLN tech regs and class structure, perhaps?

[farmeryellow]

Good topic..
I will start with an easy one...the Britcar website
Is it not hard to update with race results within a few hours? just a quick head line showing winner/ and class winners with a note saying full race report to follow.
we have just had Britcars 2009 major race (two days ago) and not a word anywhere.
Take a look at the Zolder 24h web site for some ideas
http://www.24u.be


Paul

[GuyS.]

Just my 2 bob's worth, but I would make Nat A licence grade or higher mandatory for GT Class 1 & 2 and Production Class 1 for all races, and mandatory for ALL drivers in night races.

[dhmotorsport]

phatgixer said:

1. Have a clear statement that there is a determined focus on making a 24 hour race happen in 2010, from James and the removal of any obfuscation in terms of how difficult this is to achieve.

2. Improve team / race control communication during the races either by way of on screen messages or old fashioned voice / radio / tannoy announcements. This with particular regards to when the safety is deployed.

3. Safety car to be driven as fast as is safe to keep competitor's tyre temperatures within safe limits, especially on formation laps. At present it is far too slow.

4. Cars only released from pit lane at end of Safety car crocodile.

5. Adopt (simplified) VLN tech regs and class structure, perhaps?

1: It is simple, is there going to be enough entries in 12 month to a race we have to invest a massive amount of money in now? If there is we will go ahead.

2: Certainly something we can work on

3: This is the job of Race control and not Britcar, we have no say in how fast the car goes it is down to the Clerks

4: This was in ourrules but we now have to run MSA safety car rules which only close the pitlane when the safety car is passing

5: How much more simple can our regs get, there are 6 power to weight ratio's, one for each class, depending on how much power you've got compared to your weight determines which of the 6 classes you race in. Thatspretty much it. Virtually everything else is free.

[dhmotorsport]

farmeryellow said:

Good topic..
I will start with an easy one...the Britcar website
Is it not hard to update with race results within a few hours? just a quick head line showing winner/ and class winners with a note saying full race report to follow.
we have just had Britcars 2009 major race (two days ago) and not a word anywhere.
Take a look at the Zolder 24h web site for some ideas
http://www.24u.be


Paul

Fair comment. I had a day off today after spending Saturday night and Sunday dismantling the circuit (with alot of help). I'm back in the office tomorrow so results will be updated as will championship points.

[AMV8KING]

Let me start off by saying that I think the idea of this thread is extremely valid and so far the contributions have been sensible. It is obvious to me that there is a great deal of goodwill towards this championship but equally a fair amount of dissapointment with some of the current short comings.

We were a new team to the Championship in 2009 and have been equally pleased and disapointed with the Britcar experience but as we stand now in October, I believe that Britcar is offering (potentially) the most attractive to race a GT car in the UK in 2010 so I / we would be willing to participate in some form of working group involving key Britcar representatives and teams to make improvements to be implemented straight away if the 2010 is to offer a) a better racing environment and b) a commercial platform for teams, sponsors and ultimately, Britcar themselves.

Speaking from a commercial perspective some of the immediate issues that need to be addressed if 2010 is to be an improvement (and for us to commit to returning to the championship) are:

1. Attracting new participants to the series. In my view this is crucial and so far I have not seen any pro active efforts to inform either existing teams or potential new teams / people entering into endurance racing for the first time of the benefits of the championship, which does have some attractive benefits.

2. The presentation of the championship as a whole is poor. I think improvements need to be made in order to attract new teams / sponsors / spectators / media partners / race car manufacturers.

3. Publicity of the championship is very very weak. As someone said earlier, to not have results up on your own web-site 48 hours after the biggest race of the season is a crime.

Neal - Nicholas Mee Racing

[AlvinTaff]

I would add:
No restrictions on pit stop times,
No restrictions on the amount of fuel allowed to be put in at each stop apart from the Safety Car
You drop 2 scores from the Races you enter not 2 from the scheduled Calender.

There are some more.

[ishift]

Points tables still not updated !

[TuckerJr]

The points have now been updated.

[mickholly]

TuckerJr said:

The points have now been updated.

Not working for me

[mickholly]

TuckerJr said:

The points have now been updated.

It's fine now

[gtdc]

phatgixer said:

4. Cars only released from pit lane at end of Safety car crocodile.

Agree with all except that one...

[gtdc]

AlvinTaff said:

I would add:
No restrictions on pit stop times,
No restrictions on the amount of fuel allowed to be put in at each stop apart from the Safety Car
You drop 2 scores from the Races you enter not 2 from the scheduled Calender.

There are some more.

If you didn't restrict the pit stop times and the amount of fuel you would lose a big way in which the organisers can equalise the performance.

For example, the Moslers are quick but guzzle fuel quicker than me in a vodka bar. if they could take on a full tank at each stop they would just romp away. That would be very dull.

Melindi

[AlvinTaff]

Yeah ok I see what you mean. Would be good though that the fast pit crews could give the team an advantage by getting the car out quicker.
Maybe restrict the amount of fuel that can be put in at each stop and not the pit times

Edited by AlvinTaff on Wednesday 7th October 19:58

[Jemco Andy]

AlvinTaff said:

Yeah ok I see what you mean. Would be good though that the fast pit crews could give the team an advantage by getting the car out quicker.
Maybe restrict the amount of fuel that can be put in at each stop and not the pit times

Edited by AlvinTaff on Wednesday 7th October 19:58

The thoughts are great and hopefully JT will see, listen and talk to people. But can't go with the above.

Whilst the standard & quality of drivers continues to improve in Britcar, and it's good for our drivers to test themselves against the likes of the Sumpter's, McInerney's, Lockie's, Newry's, Scott's etc - the quality of some of the pit crews leaves alot to be desired.

We were next to Melindi and the Mosler/Falcon in the pitlane, and a) it was very busy/too packed to be safe and b) I was geniunely scared when the Mosler crew were filling the car. We need to give the crews a minimum time to aim for when re-filling. However, I do agree with comments made elsewhere, there shouldn't be a minimum pit stop time for any other reason to come in e.g. puncture, or like the situation we had on Saturday when the lights failed.

Just my opinion.

We should do everything we can to ensure the finest cars in the UK race within Britcar - for those that were there, the sight of the three Moslers & the RSR at the head of the field for the first hour was something that cann't be matched in any other GT series.
There were more cars in GT Class 3 than the whole BGT field last year, and the diversity of cars throughout the field more than matched the Ferrari/Porsche/N24 GT Cup.

And finally, the spirit up & down the pit lane was old school Britcar, and made a very long week/weekend most enjoyable. Well done to everyone who took part, and especially those throughout the field who had sterling races - yes the Moslers were as quick as expected, but the drives by the teams such as the Mustang, Gent BMW and Fenn Lotus should be applauded.

Andy

[gtdc]

Jemco Andy said:

I was geniunely scared when the Mosler crew were filling the car.

With your arse... you have a point there!

;-)

Melindi

[Jemco Andy]

See old school Britcar banter!

[gtdc]

We like that!

M

[phatgixer]

Jemco Andy said:

but the drives by the teams such as the Mustang, Gent BMW and Fenn Lotus should be applauded.

Andy

Yes, that was a great tussle. Mike Jordan's class shone through at times.. The new boy in the Gent BMW (Steve Clark) did well. Was less than a lap between them all at the end, but the pace of the mustang in last session on a damp track was credit to the man in with the silly beard