Tuesday 1st May 2012

DTM uber alles!

As BMW re-enters DTM Riggers heads to Germany to see what we're missing

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As a nipper, in the mid-90s I was a regular spectator of the BTCC, during the height of the Super Touring glory days. Back then, we as punters were endlessly told that we were watching the world's premier tin-top series.

Latest DTM cars less aero-dependent

True, the series packed a punch, with decent grids, some handy drivers, slick teams and serious manufacturer involvement. Some genuinely entertaining racing rather helped with the spectacle, too, and helped to draw hefty crowds.

But however slick and big-budget the BTCC operation was, it never felt like this. I'm standing in the paddock at Hockenheim on race day of the first event of the 2012 DTM season, being jostled (albeit politely) by a throng of motorsport fans streaming past immaculate team transporters, and expensive-looking hospitality suites, all hoping to catch a glimpse of a favourite driver or other celebrity of the motorsport circus. PH among them, as detailed in our earlier blog.

Meaning tighter racing

They'll let anyone in these days...
In fact, the quality of the kit on show isn't far off the sort of stuff you see in the paddock at a GP or Le Mans. Except that in sports car racing or F1 you can't get anywhere near the paddock unless you're rich, important, or both. Or, perhaps, you're a scruffy journalist with a temporary media pass. Ahem. But while I've only ever felt ridiculously out of place taking a behind-the-scenes glimpse at an F1 or Le Mans paddock, at a DTM meeting, any punter can pay for a pass and rub shoulders with drivers and team owners.

And there are a lot of punters. Official word is that the weekend has brought a record 142,000 spectators out for the action, not least to witness BMW's return to DTM after a 20-year absence and the possible dawn of another golden age like that of the E30 M3 and Merc 190 Evos of the early 90s. I can easily believe that figure, since Hockenheim's considerable grandstands are filled to near-capacity in anticipation of the afternoon's race, bringing that feeling you only otherwise get at a GP and the sense of a whole large town's worth of people all gathered for one thing - the spectacle of motor racing.

Look who's doing a burnout...

Schumacher effect
The whole weekend package feels rather GP-like, actually. There aren't a whole lot of support races going on, but there's all sorts of entertainment to keep the masses happy (many of which are camping in immaculately tidy campsites) including demonstration runs by the likes of Nico Rosberg in a 1950s Mercedes GP car and one Michael Schumacher in last year's Mercedes F1 contender.

Of the support races, probably the most entertaining is the CNG-powered VW Scirocco R-Cup, the 235hp one-make racers, with their push-to pass buttons liberating an extra 50hp and loose rear ends making for an entertaining spectacle. In all honesty, the DTM boys could learn a little from these cars, because the new-era DTM regs, for all their spectacular technology (and the carbon fibre monocoque, with its steel roll cage, integrated seat and carbon body panels is truly trick) make the cars look, sound and behave all the more like prototype sports cars.

'That's what a real racing car looks like'

Trading paint
This is frankly a bit weird to those raised on a diet of production-derived saloon-car racing. On the other hand, once the racing gets underway, cars that looked glued to the road during qualifying suddenly seem a bit more lairy when they're all trying to pass and not be passed. There's little in the way of panel bashing or catch-it-or-lose-it slides, but the racing is certainly hard-fought and close.

Just how hard they're battling becomes clear when the HWA Mercedes team mates Jamie Green and Gary Paffett slip past Audi man Mattias Ekstrom. Paffett, behind Green, proceeds to chase down the lead Mercedes of Green before the leader pits and Paffett is left on his own. Paffett duly pits a short while later and, on exiting the pitlane, finds himself side by side with Green, a situation only resolved in Paffett's favour quite a few corners later and only after the two almost swap paint at more than 160mph. No team orders there, then.

Nico Rosberg. Not in his F1 car...

BMW's return was impressive, with Dirk Werner nabbing third place on the grid. Sadly, in the race Werner made a poor start, before getting tipped into a spin early on. That left Andy Priaulx to fly the BMW flag, and he fought hard to finish an impressive sixth, just a few car lengths behind Mike Rockenfeller's Audi. As the many T shirts worn by the fans said (see right), BMW is back.

Headed your way
It's this sort of top-level fight, and the fact that even F1 drivers of the calibre of Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard won't stroll to the front of the pack, that makes the DTM a genuinely involving spectacle. Sure, it's not got the dressed-up banger-racing appeal of the BTCC, but its charms are more subtle than that. And they're certainly not lost on 142,000 German fans.

Dad Keke looks on

So could we replicate the DTM format in the UK? Probably not - we don't have the right sort of venues. Look at the age of some of the grandstands at Hockenheim and you realise the Germans have been welcoming hundreds of thousands of spectators to circuits on a regular basis for many years.

Then again, if you want to see the DTM in Blighty, you need only to head to Brands Hatch on May 20.

 

[e21Mark]

I used to work for a Formula Opel Euroseries team that supported the DTM back in the 90's. Absolutely loved the combination of technology and vaguely road cars. As a fan of BMW it's great to see them amongst what has been far too many Mercedes, Audis and Opels in recent years. The more marques the better.

[e21Mark]

DTM drivers don't feel the need to punt each other off at every corner either.

[e21Mark]

EDLT said:

Because PH has to cater to the masses, and most of PH think that both of the Cs in BTCC stand for 'chav'.

Not entirely sure that's true given that one of the drivers is a regular poster here.

I always loved the BTCC back in the days of Soper, Winkelhock, O'dor etc. I enjoyed the cars being closer to what Jo Public could own/drive. The DTM was the other end of the spectrum. I met Jan Magnussen (as he'd driven for a Formula Opel team I was gopher for) and he told us about the front ends on his Mercedes being £45k a go! Bear in mind this was the mid-nineties. I lost interest when it became an Opel / Mercedes monopoly though. I think they're just different ends of the touring car spectrum though and there's plenty of room for both.

[e21Mark]

Agressive driving / racing was something that, to me anyway, seemed to be encouraged and rivalry between the likes of Cleland and Soper has been taken a step or two, or three, further by Plato and Neil. Close racing will bring occasional incidents but nowadays the racing sometimes seems to come second. Driving a slower car defensively, to protect ones position, is now seen as justification for simply barging your way past, instead of an example of race craft and positioning of the car. I used to love the David and Goliath battles between Minis and Ford Galaxies but if they'd adopted todays tactics the Minis would have simply been tipped into a spin. Personally, I think the pendulum simply swung too far toward the aggression for entertainment and away from the racing. Maybe it will swing back a little? I think it would be sad to simply dismiss the BTCC as being the domain of chavs though.

I still get goose bumps when I watch this though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCij9mYIokA

[e21Mark]

EDLT said:

Shhh. You're not allowed to remind people that there has always been contact in the BTCC.

I don't think anyone believes that do they? Isn't it the amount and the motive behind it, that's being discussed here though and the potentially negative effect on the series as a whole.