Whats Happened to the BTCC ???

[y2blade]

Henry Fiddleton said:

Some of the current Turbo cars have way over 350bhp I have heard.

Side exit exhausts, fire breathing, loud back firing and general awesomeness.

Full grids.

Turkington, Newsham, Plato, Neal are all pretty decent (the first two Turks+ News in particualr are excellent).

Its one of a few forms of motorsport still doing well- no need to give it a hard time.

You will not see many (any) ex F1 types due to the lack of works back teams.

Suits me, and most of the audiance fine.

This^^^^

I love it
Plato is the daddy.

[matt3001]

em177 said:

Janesy B said:

ex F1 drivers were VERY rare

Gianfranco Brancatelli
Guy Edwards
Johnny Dumfries
Slim Borgudd
Roland Ratzenberger
Damon Hill
Tiff Needell
David Coulthard
Jonathan Palmer
Christian Danner
Julian Bailey
Thorkild Thyrring
Jo Winkelhock
Ian Ashley
Eric van de Peole
Gabriele Tarquini
Jan Lammers
Johnny Cecotto
David Brabham
Derek Warwick
Gianni Morbidelli
Nigel Mansell
Jean-Christophe Boullion
Kelvin Burt

All have been F1 race/test drivers and competed in at least 1 BTCC race

Does show you how many crap drivers there have been in F1 also (few exceptions obviously).

[DanielSan]

Sounds like the OP has been watching the Dunlop Sportmaxx Cup rather than BTCC

[Janesy B]

simonigrale said:

I stand corrected! Although a few of them have an impressive run of DNQ and DNPQs

Supertouring worked back then, it just wouldn't fit in the grand scheme of things. I'd rather have what we've got now, rather than nothing at all.

Edited by Janesy B on Wednesday 27th March 22:29

[h5lrw]

em177 said:

Gianfranco Brancatelli
Guy Edwards
Johnny Dumfries
Slim Borgudd
Roland Ratzenberger
Damon Hill
Tiff Needell
David Coulthard
Jonathan Palmer
Christian Danner
Julian Bailey
Thorkild Thyrring
Jo Winkelhock
Ian Ashley
Eric van de Peole
Gabriele Tarquini
Jan Lammers
Johnny Cecotto
David Brabham
Derek Warwick
Gianni Morbidelli
Nigel Mansell
Jean-Christophe Boullion
Kelvin Burt

All have been F1 race/test drivers and competed in at least 1 BTCC race

Johnny Herbert Brands Hatch 2009.

[Blib]

h5lrw said:

em177 said:

Gianfranco Brancatelli
Guy Edwards
Johnny Dumfries
Slim Borgudd
Roland Ratzenberger
Damon Hill
Tiff Needell
David Coulthard
Jonathan Palmer
Christian Danner
Julian Bailey
Thorkild Thyrring
Jo Winkelhock
Ian Ashley
Eric van de Peole
Gabriele Tarquini
Jan Lammers
Johnny Cecotto
David Brabham
Derek Warwick
Gianni Morbidelli
Nigel Mansell
Jean-Christophe Boullion
Kelvin Burt

All have been F1 race/test drivers and competed in at least 1 BTCC race

Johnny Herbert Brands Hatch 2009.

Mansell attacked a bridge support and knocked himself out.

[Blib]

h5lrw said:

em177 said:

Gianfranco Brancatelli
Guy Edwards
Johnny Dumfries
Slim Borgudd
Roland Ratzenberger
Damon Hill
Tiff Needell
David Coulthard
Jonathan Palmer
Christian Danner
Julian Bailey
Thorkild Thyrring
Jo Winkelhock
Ian Ashley
Eric van de Peole
Gabriele Tarquini
Jan Lammers
Johnny Cecotto
David Brabham
Derek Warwick
Gianni Morbidelli
Nigel Mansell
Jean-Christophe Boullion
Kelvin Burt

All have been F1 race/test drivers and competed in at least 1 BTCC race

Johnny Herbert Brands Hatch 2009.

Mansell attacked a bridge support and knocked himself out.

[y2blade]

Mr Plato on BBC R2 in a moment

[egor110]

Does anyone remember the touring car race in the early 90's where they had drivers racing for their own countries in that countries cars?

So Germans in the bmw and Italians in the alfa.

[Dr Z]

Henry Fiddleton said:

Some of the current Turbo cars have way over 350bhp I have heard.

Side exit exhausts, fire breathing, loud back firing and general awesomeness.

Full grids.

Fire spitting, side exit exhausts you say?

I will buy some tickets to the BTCC at Thruxton then! Looks cheap enough and should be my first BTCC weekend...

[IainW]

egor110 said:

Does anyone remember the touring car race in the early 90's where they had drivers racing for their own countries in that countries cars?

So Germans in the bmw and Italians in the alfa.

FIA Touring Car World Cup. Monza 93, Donington 94 and Paul Ricard 95. It wasn't quite drivers in cars from their own countries, but they were all in national teams, no matter what series they were in or car they drove.

[SpeckledJim]

F1GTRUeno said:

I think one of the biggest factors is car design.

The rep cars back in the day somehow leant themselves very well to the Supertouring spoilers, wheels, body addons and so on.

A current Focus/Civic and so on just looks a bit frumpy and the racing effort is pretty rubbish too.

The A4/Avensis/3er are okay though the regs means they'll never be as extreme as the later Supertouring cars either.

I agree. 'Firebreathing hatchbacks' just don't quite cut it.

Just like in rallying, saloons simply look better.

[spud66]

supertourers are racing at Thruxton this weekend with a race on saturday and another on sunday couple of alfa 156's, 4 RS500's,beemer,couple primera's and a few others on the entry list + 30 odd historic touring cars in another race looks like a mega weekend of racing for there easter revival

[Dan Friel]

spud66 said:

supertourers are racing at Thruxton this weekend with a race on saturday and another on sunday couple of alfa 156's, 4 RS500's,beemer,couple primera's and a few others on the entry list + 30 odd historic touring cars in another race looks like a mega weekend of racing for there easter revival

This is the place to be this Easter weekend..

[carlosWRX]

Hi,

I would say to anyone who doubts how awesome BTCC will be this year is that you need to go to a race.
I went to the last race of the championship last year at Brands (incidentally my first ever live BTCC race) and I can confirm the cars are fire-breathing monsters, sound insane in the flesh, the racing is cut throat and wild and my only regret is that I did not make the effort before now. The television coverage is expertly put together but you really dont get an impression of what monsters the cars are.
I will be getting my race weekend pass for a couple of races this year

Carl

[acer12]

Can this thread be pinned and all the posters who don't follow the BTCC but yet want to moan about it can post here and not clog up the race threads with the usual 'btcc is crap, 80s rock bla bla"

It's gotten very very old at this stage and it gets frustrating when fans of the sport can't discuss the days race without having to scroll through the usual crap

[Forbes82]

I think the BTCC this year looks healthier and more appealing than it has for quite a while. However i do love the supertourers, hopefully the HSCC revival of it grows and survives, it was great to see at SS classic. Numerous ex BTCC drivers have shown an interest in participating so it could make for some fantastic nostalgic viewing.

[egor110]

acer12 said:

Can this thread be pinned and all the posters who don't follow the BTCC but yet want to moan about it can post here and not clog up the race threads with the usual 'btcc is crap, 80s rock bla bla"

It's gotten very very old at this stage and it gets frustrating when fans of the sport can't discuss the days race without having to scroll through the usual crap

Early 90's actually, late 80's was boring just rs500's winning everything.

[EDLT]

Oh boy do I hate motorsport. I can't wait until tomorrow when I get to spend five hours straight hating motorsport then take the next weekend off so I'm up to full strength when the F1 is back and I can hate that too.

[7/11]

Forbes82 said:

I think the BTCC this year looks healthier and more appealing than it has for quite a while. However i do love the supertourers, hopefully the HSCC revival of it grows and survives, it was great to see at SS classic. Numerous ex BTCC drivers have shown an interest in participating so it could make for some fantastic nostalgic viewing.

The BTCC is in rude health (even if the NGTC cars sound like tractors!)
The Clio's are in good shape too.

Buts that is the end of the story.

The support races are in terrible shape.

12 Porsches - for 34 laps races!
13 Formula Fords
14 Ginetta juniors

These are going to be SO boring on any long circuit, such as Snet 300.
A massive turn off and an embarrassment for the series.
Perhaps Alan Gow could focus his attentions on THE WHOLE PACKAGE and not just BTCC.

The fans deserve better.