2023: BTCC chat & discussion

2023: BTCC chat & discussion

Author
Discussion

Castellet

152 posts

17 months

Thursday 15th December 2022
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When I was a kid, it was the E30 M3 - where the race car looked like the road car, and vice-versa.

Drove a nice one in later life and quite underwhelmed.

JoelH

167 posts

29 months

Friday 16th December 2022
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Milkyway said:
Go back to the good ‘ol class system... plenty of variety then.
Fans hate class based racing in general. It's too confusing and for TV it's even worse as they always focus on the outright leaders and forget about everyone else.

Milkyway

9,291 posts

52 months

Friday 16th December 2022
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JoelH said:
Fans hate class based racing in general. It's too confusing and for TV it's even worse as they always focus on the outright leaders and forget about everyone else.
True... or try to explain how a driver near the back of the field is the overall Championship leader / Champion.

Sebring440

Original Poster:

1,926 posts

95 months

Friday 16th December 2022
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Milkyway said:
JoelH said:
Fans hate class based racing in general. It's too confusing and for TV it's even worse as they always focus on the outright leaders and forget about everyone else.
True... or try to explain how a driver near the back of the field is the overall Championship leader / Champion.
It was you that suggested going back to the class system?


Milkyway

9,291 posts

52 months

Friday 16th December 2022
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Sebring440 said:
It was you that suggested going back to the class system?
The old class system was great for having a varied field of cars...
but the points scoring system can get confusing, when in effect you can have three / four drivers all scoring the same points..
It would have to be like many other series.. have Class Champions as well as the overall Championship contenders.
Maybe, the smaller classes could become the feeders.

For class distinction purposes, use a different colour for the windscreen visors & numbers.
Keep it simple.


Edited by Milkyway on Saturday 17th December 08:58

freedman

5,395 posts

206 months

Sunday 18th December 2022
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JoelH said:
Fans hate class based racing in general. It's too confusing and for TV it's even worse as they always focus on the outright leaders and forget about everyone else.
Don’t agree at all

And tbh it’s only confusing if the watcher doesn’t understand the sport

SpudLink

5,669 posts

191 months

Monday 19th December 2022
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freedman said:
JoelH said:
Fans hate class based racing in general. It's too confusing and for TV it's even worse as they always focus on the outright leaders and forget about everyone else.
Don’t agree at all

And tbh it’s only confusing if the watcher doesn’t understand the sport
The thing is, in exchange for 6 hours of live ITV coverage, they have to provide something the casual viewer can enjoy. Not just the motorsport enthusiast.

JoelH

167 posts

29 months

Monday 19th December 2022
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freedman said:
Don’t agree at all

And tbh it’s only confusing if the watcher doesn’t understand the sport
A few minutes on the BTCC social media pages will show you that a large number don't really understand it now let alone with a multi-class system.

BTCC has a big audience of casual viewers compared to something like WEC.

Dynion Araf Uchaf

4,424 posts

222 months

Thursday 22nd December 2022
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Dan Lloyd to team Hard. Budget constraints I guess.

Edited by Dynion Araf Uchaf on Friday 23 December 08:46

JoelH

167 posts

29 months

Friday 23rd December 2022
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The Dan Lloyd news reinforces my point about the casual nature of a lot of BTCC fans. I've seen so many posts on social media saying things like "HARD must be paying him a lot of money to step out of a championship winning car", "Don't get why you would leave a top team to go to a bottom team", "The Cupra is rubbish compared to the Hyundai, bad move". etc etc

The number of posts from people who realise that drivers like Dan are bringing the budget are tiny in comparison. Even when he posts himself and says that the Excler8 2023 budget was too high for him people still ask why he left.

Sebring440

Original Poster:

1,926 posts

95 months

Friday 23rd December 2022
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JoelH said:
The number of posts from people who realise that drivers like Dan are bringing the budget are tiny in comparison. Even when he posts himself and says that the Excler8 2023 budget was too high for him people still ask why he left.
That's certainly true. It's all about the money. The drivers (or their managers) have got to be very astute businessmen/women to gather enough sponsorship (cash) to get a drive. And the difference in cost between the "top" teams and the, umm, "bottom" teams is quite marked. Fans that think that teams "pay" the drivers are sadly uninformed, but that doesn't mean that they are less of a fan.

JoelH

167 posts

29 months

Friday 23rd December 2022
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Sebring440 said:
Fans that think that teams "pay" the drivers are sadly uninformed, but that doesn't mean that they are less of a fan.
The point was made to reinforce the earlier posts that every BTCC fan would not understand a multi-class system not to imply that they weren't fans.

DanielSan

18,747 posts

166 months

Sunday 25th December 2022
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Sebring440 said:
That's certainly true. It's all about the money. The drivers (or their managers) have got to be very astute businessmen/women to gather enough sponsorship (cash) to get a drive. And the difference in cost between the "top" teams and the, umm, "bottom" teams is quite marked. Fans that think that teams "pay" the drivers are sadly uninformed, but that doesn't mean that they are less of a fan.
If you're paying for the privilege to be on the grid, going to HARD is a last gasp shot to stay on the grid while you hope to raise more cash next year. While the exposure is nowhere near as large, you could get a race winning drive in British GT's as alternative for the same budget. Or a season in front of the sake TV cameras and crowd in the Porsche Cup

That has to be worth considering surely?

Edited by DanielSan on Sunday 25th December 08:24

Dynion Araf Uchaf

4,424 posts

222 months

Sunday 25th December 2022
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DanielSan said:
If you're paying for the privilege to be on the grid, going to HARD is a last gasp shot to stay on the grid while you hope to raise more cash next year. While the exposure is nowhere near as large, you could get a race winning drive in British GT's as alternative for the same budget. Or a season in front of the sake TV cameras and crowd in the Porsche Cup

That has to be worth considering surely?

Edited by DanielSan on Sunday 25th December 08:24
But doing either of those? Where would it actually take you? There’s no progression in national motorsport unless you are paying the dollar. Maybe a GT championship is worth more than an independent cup championship. He’s already done Porsches. So realistically it’s just the same. Also he can get publicity for his sponsors in BTCC but won’t in GTs.

I like Dan as a driver but I have a feeling that most of his budget is family money with some other sponsors who are also family money.

Sebring440

Original Poster:

1,926 posts

95 months

Tuesday 27th December 2022
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Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
Also he can get publicity for his sponsors in BTCC but won’t in GTs.
That is certainly correct. It's very difficult for sponsors to get any exposure or brand recognition from the GTs.

Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
I have a feeling that most of his budget is family money with some other sponsors who are also family money.
You have a "feeling"? Why do you think that all his sponsors are "family money"?

On-Rails

65 posts

39 months

Saturday 7th January 2023
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Expecting some big news soon, so should be worth the wait!

Sebring440

Original Poster:

1,926 posts

95 months

Sunday 8th January 2023
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On-Rails said:
Expecting some big news soon, so should be worth the wait!
woohoobounceclap

rofl


Best post of the year so far!

What does it mean though?

LukeBrown66

4,479 posts

45 months

Sunday 8th January 2023
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Nobody, literally nobody as a casual fan is going to even think about watching 6 hours of BTCC coverage on ITV4. The only people watching that are either fans who cannot go, or people recording it and they likely do what most of us do and skip the filler to the main courses.

They might put up with it at an event because they have to, but it is too long a day for most people these days.

Some of the categories are mind numbingly dull and there for part entertainment/part marketing, never a good idea for fans. But the same applies to any big national series BSB suffers from the same thing. Having said that one makes can offer great racing, so it sometimes balances out.

Despite it being a big series, I feel the same about BTCC as I do about hybrid era F1 it just does nothing for me. The racing is good at times, but as with any series at times it is very dull. To get new people involved you need something gimmicky, or a rivalry, there is already potential for this, but the series does little to push it as they used to. I will perhaps watch one or two races a year but have zero desire to attend, would rather do a couple of clubbies.


Sebring440

Original Poster:

1,926 posts

95 months

Sunday 8th January 2023
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LukeBrown66 said:
I feel the same about BTCC as I do about hybrid era F1 it just does nothing for me.

I will perhaps watch one or two races a year but have zero desire to attend, would rather do a couple of clubbies.
Why are you bothering to post on a BTCC chat thread then?


Dynion Araf Uchaf

4,424 posts

222 months

Sunday 8th January 2023
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Sebring440 said:
Why are you bothering to post on a BTCC chat thread then?
How else is he going to tell you that he doesn’t like it?