2016 BTCC silly season
Discussion
t day out at that!Well Saturday was my first full day in the car so safe to say I haven't been wintering at Portimao like plenty of others 
Pig of a day though, had plenty of potential but just no luck with the suspension failure in R1 and tyre problems in R2. Car has good pace but it's tricky to drive, once we sort it I'm hoping for some really good results. It's just so bloody competitive and close, outside the top teams it does seem to come down to who is having a good or bad day at any given time.
To be fair to Neate he seemed to be trying to keep his nose clean. Some others definitely werent!
Pig of a day though, had plenty of potential but just no luck with the suspension failure in R1 and tyre problems in R2. Car has good pace but it's tricky to drive, once we sort it I'm hoping for some really good results. It's just so bloody competitive and close, outside the top teams it does seem to come down to who is having a good or bad day at any given time.
To be fair to Neate he seemed to be trying to keep his nose clean. Some others definitely werent!
It is so close at the moment, I guess it'll spread out a bit as the new cars get a bit more sorted but it's impressive to see the Avensis up there winning races, and the MGs looking competitive too. Brands Indy is always close though, it'll be interesting to see how it looks next time out.
Is DP still a horrible place to go to? It's four years since I was last involved in BTCC and had the pleasure of visiting such glamorous locations as the Premier Inn just outside Andover and the vast expanse of unkempt gravel and portaloos which is Donington Park.
Is DP still a horrible place to go to? It's four years since I was last involved in BTCC and had the pleasure of visiting such glamorous locations as the Premier Inn just outside Andover and the vast expanse of unkempt gravel and portaloos which is Donington Park.
Speedworks have played a blinder, they invested early, got the new parts on the car and spent plenty of time and effort making them work and it's evidently paying off. I'm delighted for them, they're a great bunch.
Donington has smartened up massively since a few years ago, I can't speak for it as a spectator but the paddock looks a lot better and tidier than it has done before. Oh and I can't bear that bloody Premier Inn, not that I have to as it seems to become fully booked as soon as the calendar is released! I usually plump for the Solstice Park Holiday Inn further down the A303!
Donington has smartened up massively since a few years ago, I can't speak for it as a spectator but the paddock looks a lot better and tidier than it has done before. Oh and I can't bear that bloody Premier Inn, not that I have to as it seems to become fully booked as soon as the calendar is released! I usually plump for the Solstice Park Holiday Inn further down the A303!
I once ended up in a pub with rooms in central Andover, I'd genuinely rather have slept inside the hospitality tent, it would have been a lot quieter, with fewer drunks fighting and police intervening at 3am that's for sure.
Knockhill was probably my favourite race to go to actually, the team that run the circuit are fantastic and couldn't be more helpful, the crowd are great and everyone always seemed to have a fantastic day out.
Silverstone on the other hand... The sole advantage of that round for me was I could drive there and back easily without needing a hotel, but the catering, circuit management and general air of 'we can't really be bothered' from everyone involved was palpable. Except when they were chasing an invoice for payment, of course!
Knockhill was probably my favourite race to go to actually, the team that run the circuit are fantastic and couldn't be more helpful, the crowd are great and everyone always seemed to have a fantastic day out.
Silverstone on the other hand... The sole advantage of that round for me was I could drive there and back easily without needing a hotel, but the catering, circuit management and general air of 'we can't really be bothered' from everyone involved was palpable. Except when they were chasing an invoice for payment, of course!
Lol, general rule of thumb is avoid Andover in my experience!
I like Knockhill too, it's a pain getting there and the track does its best to destroy your racing car but there's a lot to do around there and we've found a nice family run hotel in Dunfermline that we all enjoy staying in.
Silverstone I find they can be unnecessarily officious although at least are polite about it recently, plus the fact the place is so big that for the busier meetings you end up with a load of contractor supplied fluorescent jackets flooding the place with no idea where anything is or who they should and shouldn't be letting in places!
I like Knockhill too, it's a pain getting there and the track does its best to destroy your racing car but there's a lot to do around there and we've found a nice family run hotel in Dunfermline that we all enjoy staying in.
Silverstone I find they can be unnecessarily officious although at least are polite about it recently, plus the fact the place is so big that for the busier meetings you end up with a load of contractor supplied fluorescent jackets flooding the place with no idea where anything is or who they should and shouldn't be letting in places!
The Wookie said:
plus the fact the place is so big that for the busier meetings you end up with a load of contractor supplied fluorescent jackets flooding the place with no idea where anything is or who they should and shouldn't be letting in places!
My old boss used to go everywhere on a cub pit bike due to having bad legs.He just used to aim at security people with a smile and a wave looking like he should be going where he was going. He never got stopped anywhere. Was quite amusing to watch.
jamiebae said:
Knockhill was probably my favourite race to go to actually, the team that run the circuit are fantastic and couldn't be more helpful, the crowd are great and everyone always seemed to have a fantastic day out.
Saturday night in the Champions Club House. There's been some antics after a session in there!jamiebae said:
Shedden: Q-2, R1-2, R2-1, R3-DNF
Neal: Q-3, R1-3, R2-2, R3-5
Neate: Q-18, R1-18, R2-26, R3-26
Certainly putting the emphasis on 'rear' this weekend.
As I mentioned in the race thread, the engine didn't sound right and seemed massively down in power. So I'll let him off from any Judgement since Neal and Shedden have been pounding those Hondas around since year dot.Neal: Q-3, R1-3, R2-2, R3-5
Neate: Q-18, R1-18, R2-26, R3-26
Certainly putting the emphasis on 'rear' this weekend.
Agreed about running as a gentleman driver in a GT championship rather than paying 100's of thousands for a works drive. Seems silly.
Edited by Janesy B on Monday 4th April 16:23
Janesy B said:
As I mentioned in the race thread, the engine didn't sound right and seemed massively down in power. So I'll let him off from any Judgement since Neal and Shedden have been pounding those Hondas around since year dot.
Agreed about running as a gentleman driver in a GT championship rather than paying 100's of thousands for a works drive. Seems silly.
This is the thing I don't get really. Agreed about running as a gentleman driver in a GT championship rather than paying 100's of thousands for a works drive. Seems silly.
If you want to race you want to win, or at the very least you want to outperform the equipment you've got and spring a few surprises. Driving a works Civic run by Dynamics and finishing at the back is the equivalent of turning up to a bike race with £10k of Pinarello Dogma, a full on aero skin suit and a personal trainer, and being beaten by a 50 year old bloke on a steel Peugeot he bought in 1988.
Sure, in Ginettas or the Carrera cup he'd get pasted too, but in something where you pair up with a pro driver against other amateurs I'm sure he'd be in with a chance of winning given the (alleged) budget being brought for the Honda drive.
I just can't understand the mentality of throwing limitless piles of cash at driving when you have no chance of winning, for me that's not a racer or a businessman thinking, it's someone who wants bragging rights because they race in a series with TV coverage for a works team.
This isn't meant to come across as a character assassination, and as mentioned above he seemed to give other drivers room and have reasonable driving standards this weekend, but I've never met a racing driver who didn't want to win stuff, but that's what he seems to be.
The Wookie said:
Lol, general rule of thumb is avoid Andover in my experience!
I like Knockhill too, it's a pain getting there and the track does its best to destroy your racing car but there's a lot to do around there and we've found a nice family run hotel in Dunfermline that we all enjoy staying in.
Silverstone I find they can be unnecessarily officious although at least are polite about it recently, plus the fact the place is so big that for the busier meetings you end up with a load of contractor supplied fluorescent jackets flooding the place with no idea where anything is or who they should and shouldn't be letting in places!
Mid 1980's we used to stop in a small hotel when racing at Thruxton - rooms were ok and the food was good but the whole place was stuffed full of models of frogs!I like Knockhill too, it's a pain getting there and the track does its best to destroy your racing car but there's a lot to do around there and we've found a nice family run hotel in Dunfermline that we all enjoy staying in.
Silverstone I find they can be unnecessarily officious although at least are polite about it recently, plus the fact the place is so big that for the busier meetings you end up with a load of contractor supplied fluorescent jackets flooding the place with no idea where anything is or who they should and shouldn't be letting in places!
More recently (couple of years ago) I stopped at a very good B&B near Knockhill, just a small place but the rooms are top quality and after breakfast you won't need to eat for the rest of the day.
Silverstone and security - they were the worst back in the '80's - even when we turned up in a race truck they wanted tickets! But most of the time we managed to blag it!
BTW Oli, you were doing very well in race one, up to p15 if I remember correctly, did the other driver (no name and shame) cause the damage or was it a racing incident?
Best of luck for the rest of the year and I hope to get up to Croft so will come and say hello if that ok with you.
PS. Any chance of two tickets for Croft?
FWIW said:
^Ego.
To be fair he's not alone, but considering the people he's ripped off along the way I'm amazed he's pulled it off again. There will be tears before bedtime...
I wouldn't be surprised if Dynamics have requested payment up front and have a very water tight contract regarding no refunds in a large number of situations regardless of how many race weekends are completed To be fair he's not alone, but considering the people he's ripped off along the way I'm amazed he's pulled it off again. There will be tears before bedtime...
skeggysteve said:
Mid 1980's we used to stop in a small hotel when racing at Thruxton - rooms were ok and the food was good but the whole place was stuffed full of models of frogs!
BTW Oli, you were doing very well in race one, up to p15 if I remember correctly, did the other driver (no name and shame) cause the damage or was it a racing incident?
Best of luck for the rest of the year and I hope to get up to Croft so will come and say hello if that ok with you.
PS. Any chance of two tickets for Croft?
Proprietor didn't look like this did he?BTW Oli, you were doing very well in race one, up to p15 if I remember correctly, did the other driver (no name and shame) cause the damage or was it a racing incident?
Best of luck for the rest of the year and I hope to get up to Croft so will come and say hello if that ok with you.
PS. Any chance of two tickets for Croft?
It wasn't a move I'd have gone for but it was just one of those things. To be honest I did worse cutting across to the pit lane after the suspension broke assuming he wasn't close enough to catch me by then!
Of course mate, come and say hi! As for tickets, haha sorry I hardly get any, one of my best mates had to buy his own on Sunday!!
DanielSan said:
I wouldn't be surprised if Dynamics have requested payment up front and have a very water tight contract regarding no refunds in a large number of situations regardless of how many race weekends are completed
Indeed. If they haven't done that they deserve everything that's coming to them!Andy did qualify 0.5 sec behind Shedden for R1, all equal ballast. I know this put him miles off given the tight nature of brands, but if I had the accident he had, then come and qualify half a second off Shedden in a car he's been running for ages, I'd take that.
Wookie - that Audi looks damn sexual, I had a man-gasm every time you went past me, and I don't even particularly like Audi!
Wookie - that Audi looks damn sexual, I had a man-gasm every time you went past me
, and I don't even particularly like Audi!
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