Is rubbing really racing??

[mini saltire]

The BTCC has always been rife for a bit of rubbing damage but this year it appears that the prefered method of overtaking is a tap in the rear quarter panel, send the boy into a spin. Is this really motor racing or just high budget stock car racing?? Most of the drivers are very skillful and I am sure they could find a cleaner way past a slower car. Or perhaps I am just getting old!!

[Tank Slapper]

There is a difference between incidental contact and a deliberate move to send someone off the track.

I don't see anything wrong with the former in close racing, but the latter is just bad sportsmanship.

I haven't really followed BTCC closely this year, but one of the races I saw had Jason Plato very obviously steering into the back of another car to spin it. Don't know whether he was penalised but certainly should have been. If nothing is done by the stewards, then there is nothing to prevent it.

[FourWheelDrift]

I think it's bad too.

[agent006]

Tank Slapper said:

Don't know whether he was penalised but certainly should have been. If nothing is done by the stewards, then there is nothing to prevent it.

Eventually. He was disqualified at Silverstone after he did it for about the 6th race in a row.

[rustybin]

I used to love the BTCC but have given up on it for the last few seasons mainly for this reason. Combined with the fact that the cars now look like a chavs wet dream it seems to be the motorsport equivalent of a "When Killer Sharks Attack" type documentary. A worrying sign of what happens to motor racing when it becomes 'all about the show'; the show gets aimed at the lowest common denominator.

[Hirich]

Rubbing is racing (at least in closed-wheel cars). Ramming isn't. There have been many incidents in the BTCC where the offender should have been sent straight home.

[anonymous-user]

most closed wheel reacing doesnt appeal to me for this reason. a gentle tap in the rear quarter and you gain a place. I much prefer stuff like formula fords becasue if you purposely hit someone, you damage you car just as easily as theirs, thus its pointless. it makes going for an overtaking move just that little bit harder...

[rlk500]

I think one of the problems is that ultimately the cars are too slow. In the Cosworth/M3 days, the cosworths had power to burn, feats of derring do would far more likely end in disaster than these days, so now they just drive around with the accelerator nailed to the floor and the front of the car nailed to the back of the car in front. Taking liberties has become pretty much the norm, not good for racing or really as a spectacle as you end up with half the contenders in the tyre barriers at the first turn.