Touring cars @ Brands
Discussion
Going to Brands on Sunday to watch the Touring cars, have been looking forward to this for weeks. Last time I saw touring cars it was at Donington and Mansel was racing!!(Did tiff hit him?) anyhow just wondered is Brands always a pain in the a**^ to get out of, or was the AI Grand Prix just very busy?
Del
Del
The A1GP was especially busy and the queues out of the car park this weekend shouldn't be as bad, that's probably put the kiss of death on it and we'll be there for hours. Although the last BTCC race there in back in May they pulled the usual trick of making you leave a different way to what you came in to put a few extra miles on your journey.
unfortunately on sunday coming out of the paddock entrance I was directed away from the A20 altogether, and into the wilds of kent with no further clue as to where the hell I was which wouldn't have been too bad if I had a passenger to look at the map and give me directions, eventually saw a sign for Dartford and the delights of the M25, a bit further North than ideal as I was heading to Gatwick, conversely my mate heading for Norwich ended up on the M26. 
We to got directed 'right' out the back of the circuit instead of the left I wanted. Seemed to drive for miles around the back lanes following other cars, but eventually came out at the Dartford tunnel, so actually missed all the traffic. Bit rough though sending you off in an unknown direction with no signs!
Anyway, going back Sunday for BTCC - was offered free grandstand seats as an A1GP ticket holder
Anyway, going back Sunday for BTCC - was offered free grandstand seats as an A1GP ticket holder
delfto said:
Going to Brands on Sunday to watch the Touring cars, have been looking forward to this for weeks. Last time I saw touring cars it was at Donington and Mansel was racing!!(Did tiff hit him?) anyhow just wondered is Brands always a pain in the a**^ to get out of, or was the AI Grand Prix just very busy?
Del
no, Tiff hit him at Brands during the August Bank holiday meet in 1998. I remember cos I met Tiff a few days later and he called Mansell a "whingeing ****"!!!!!!
'Our Nige' was visiting the camp site we were staying in and when he rode past us on a pit bike he totally blanked us when we cheered him...from that moment on I lost all respect for him.
It was also the weekend Jordan won the Belgium GP with Damon Hill in the rain......
Nick P said:
no, Tiff hit him at Brands during the August Bank holiday meet in 1998. I remember cos I met Tiff a few days later and he called Mansell a "whingeing ****"!!!!!!
'Our Nige' was visiting the camp site we were staying in and when he rode past us on a pit bike he totally blanked us when we cheered him...from that moment on I lost all respect for him.
It was also the weekend Jordan won the Belgium GP with Damon Hill in the rain......
Remember that weekend well as I was at Brands, having got back from Belgium (on the same ferry as most of the Jordan team) at about 3am that morning! Great weekend.
Traffic should be reasonably OK, it has been for the last few BTCC races - depends how many tickets have been given away... As for the A1GP, I sat in the Kentagon watching the Brazilian GP and heard mutterings of "an hours wait" when I was about to leave. So headed for Scratcher's Lane and used the back roads to Dartford and home (about 15 miles from Brands) within half an hour
nre said:
unfortunately on sunday coming out of the paddock entrance I was directed away from the A20 altogether, and into the wilds of kent with no further clue as to where the hell I was which wouldn't have been too bad if I had a passenger to look at the map and give me directions, eventually saw a sign for Dartford and the delights of the M25, a bit further North than ideal as I was heading to Gatwick, conversely my mate heading for Norwich ended up on the M26.
When we came out of the Paddock entrance we were pointed south towards the A20, even though we wanted to go north (we were heading back to Norwich).
When we reached the junction with the A20 the police would again only allow us to head south, not north. Fair enough, we thought. Hop on the M20 when we get to the junction and get back up to the M25 that way. But the northbound sliproad for the M20 was closed due to road works...
So we followed the diversion signs, which took us all the way back up the A20, past the junction we'd come out of, and placed us on the end of the queue that didn't move.
U-turn, back down the A20 and on to the back roads, where there was barely another car to be seen. Free at last!
I am going to brands this weekend too, should be great racing! Looking forward to Clio cup as well, love the little renaults whizzing about , they always have a lot of contact and prove to be brilliant entertainment. I always leave before the last race or put myself in a position where I can scarper quickly as soon as the race ends, have never found it to be really bad getting out, even when I went to the Champ cars a few years back, and that was bleedin' crowded!
dank said:
I always leave before the last race or put myself in a position where I can scarper quickly as soon as the race ends
Chances are they'll bring the last BTCC race forward slightly to fit in with ITV's live schedule, so the rush will be right after that...
There's a couple of races after the BTCC is over (Porsche & Seat Cups i think)...
Might pay to wait a bit and miss the car-park madness.
>> Edited by monkeyhanger on Friday 30th September 19:53
Loved the racing, touring cars are just so entertaining.
I live close enough to hear the racing so getting lost wasn't an issue but it was certainly banged out. The police were efficient and on the ball with the traffic control though I thought.
Couldn't resist some sideways action either before leaving. mucho handbrake and opposite lock.
I live close enough to hear the racing so getting lost wasn't an issue but it was certainly banged out. The police were efficient and on the ball with the traffic control though I thought.
Couldn't resist some sideways action either before leaving. mucho handbrake and opposite lock.
Have to agree with bigwig the racing was great and so too were the other races. I loved the Clio's. I was standing at surtes bend were a Clio rolled got some great shots, and WOW twas a lot easier to get out of the car park than last week!!
Also have to agree with rubystone it was donington. I was there with me video camera,that's when video cameras were big, (looked like an outside broadcast)
Del
Also have to agree with rubystone it was donington. I was there with me video camera,that's when video cameras were big, (looked like an outside broadcast)
Del
When Mansell raced in the Mondeo, he got tapped all over the place, IIRC, at donnington there was some incident at the Old Hairpin, that ultimately ended in Tiff punting Mansell into the bridge support knocking Mansell out. If you look at the video from the infield somewhere up Craner Curves, you can see Tiff actually lets off the brakes before smacking Mansell, this was in the 1993 TOCA shoot out i think.
Mansell did also get punted off at Brands, I think it was coming out of Druids, cant recall who did the dirty that time though, infact in both Brands races in 1998 he failed to finish due to accidents.
Regards
Iain
>> Edited by chassis 33 on Tuesday 4th October 15:51
Mansell did also get punted off at Brands, I think it was coming out of Druids, cant recall who did the dirty that time though, infact in both Brands races in 1998 he failed to finish due to accidents.
Regards
Iain
>> Edited by chassis 33 on Tuesday 4th October 15:51
chassis 33 said:
When Mansell raced in the Mondeo, he got tapped all over the place, IIRC, at donnington there was some incident at the Old Hairpin, that ultimately ended in Tiff punting Mansell into the bridge support knocking Mansell out. If you look at the video from the infield somewhere up Craner Curves, you can see Tiff actually lets off the brakes before smacking Mansell, this was in the 1993 TOCA shoot out i think.
Regards
Iain
At the '93 TOCA Shootout Mansell lost it at the Old Hairpin without anyone's help. We could see him getting increasingly out of shape on a few of the preceeding laps, but on the last one it got away from him. Unfortunately, he reacted as any rear wheel drive person would and lifted off the throttle, which started a huge tank-slapper. He was going to have an accident before Tiff hit him, but Tiff made it a big one!
Stiff Needle was faced with the classic 'left or right' choice and went the wrong way. He would've lifted off the brakes to help the car change direction better, as he knew he was going too fast to stop.
Mansell dropped it due to lack of FWD experience and Needell was in the wrong place.
The melodrama afterwards was priceless though!
Sorry, bit of a
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