BTCC Driving Standards

[designndrive62]

I know its been mentioned a bit in the donnington thread but thought id start another one about driving standards in the btcc. Todays racing included some of the worst driving and 'push and pass' moves that ive seen. This is meant to be the pinaccle of uk saloon racing, not banger racing and think it needs looking at and some consistant penalties applied - also relating to track limits, which seem to be widely ignored and not consistantly watched/penalised?
Just wondered if anyone else had similar views or thoughts?

[ukaskew]

Racing like that at club level would see every race cancelled due to low grid numbers by June. Above all else it's an appalling example for upcoming youngsters or for those dipping their toes into UK club championships.

[Allyc85]

I would say there should be grid penalties and time penalties, but it would only lead to more stupid crashes.

[designndrive62]

ukaskew said:

Racing like that at club level would see every race cancelled due to low grid numbers by June. Above all else it's an appalling example for upcoming youngsters or for those dipping their toes into UK club championships.

total agreement. it just leads to a 'biggest wallet = championship winner' scenario and at a club level some of the contact would not only have resulted in dnf's and no shows later in the season but also serious points on the licence and hefty fines.

[StoatInACoat]

Plenty of Drivers are "awarded" points on their racing licenses after the race. Macdowall picked up 7 points at Brands, 3 of which were for consistently cutting a corner.

Lots of cars that are double the size of single seater's + a fair amount of "pay to drive" drivers inevitably equals contact. Bumping and shoving is nothing new in BTCC, watch the season reviews on youtube from anywhere from 1993 onwards.

[designndrive62]

I'm aware that the btcc was never exactly a non contact form of racing and that macdowell was heavily penalised at brands for various reasons but its never consistant. many drivers at brands consistantly went off track at paddock and graham hill but only ever recieved the black and white flag, even when they continued to do so.

[ArnageWRC]

I wasn't aware there were driving standards in the BTCC.........;)

Nothing too drastic will be done, as that's all part of the entertainment....and why it's live on ITV4.

If you want to watch 'proper' tin tops, watch Aussie V8 Supercars and/or DTM.....

[designndrive62]

ArnageWRC said:

I wasn't aware there were driving standards in the BTCC.........;)

Nothing too drastic will be done, as that's all part of the entertainment....and why it's live on ITV4.

If you want to watch 'proper' tin tops, watch Aussie V8 Supercars and/or DTM.....

I already do :P

[Godzuki]

I haven;t been able to watch BTCC for some years now. Not shown abroad, and can;t see the feed in the UK. They aren;t even torrented double

[designndrive62]

Godzuki said:

I haven;t been able to watch BTCC for some years now. Not shown abroad, and can;t see the feed in the UK. They aren;t even torrented double

do itv not broadcast their web feed outside of the uk?

[Godzuki]

designndrive62 said:

do itv not broadcast their web feed outside of the uk?

No, and I really friggin miss the BTCC. I'm going to have to do some sort of proxy thing.

[Mister V]

Godzuki said:

No, and I really friggin miss the BTCC. I'm going to have to do some sort of proxy thing.

Have you tried racingunderground? I'm sure they have BTCC, someone on here must have a spare invite.

[Godzuki]

Mister V said:

Have you tried racingunderground? I'm sure they have BTCC, someone on here must have a spare invite.

Ooh... Never heard of that.



Anyone?

[Mister V]

Godzuki said:

Ooh... Never heard of that.



Anyone?

Just had a look, all of last weeks races are on there. Unfortunately I havnt got a spare invite.

[Godzuki]

No problem, thanks anyway. Appreciated. I'll have to trawl the internet and see what I can find. Saw the clip of Plato going off. Looked a bit;

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm rolling! Weeee!"

[BBS-LM]

Bloody hell craner curves was deadly today , good to see Donnington up and running again, as for the racing well it was all contact and not mush else. Also good to see the VW GTI up in the pack at last, I know AMD are not a very big outfit but they have done amazing to get where they are considering there budget, shame they got knocked out on the first lap of the last race, at one point I thought they would take the lead.

[John D.]

I've only watched the second and third races so far (forgot to set recording in time!) but I didn't think the driving standards were that bad. Yes there were lots of offs from contact between cars but virtually all of that was the result of cars bunching up in odd places (like halfway down the craner curves!), or first lap carnage where the cars are obviously close.

I didn't see many cynical 'tapping the car in front wide' overtakes (also known as a 'classic Matt Neal move') which have become common place and do annoy me. More just lots of very close side by side stuff where people got bumped, and cars turning in on others when they really should have given up the corner.

[jfxr242]

You can watch the btcc from outside the uk on :

http://www.justin.tv/

I know - I do !

[Mark_Karting]

I thought there was a lot more clean racing than at Brands. Until the start of Race 3, Platos incident was unlucky bunching in the midfield

[retrorider]

Driving standards have always been,well not the best.Dave Brodie sums it up in this clip from 1989 (about 2 minutes in)...

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