2010 British Touring Car Championship

[Trebor901]

some of them arent of best quality lol, but the ones ive put watermarks on are my favourites especially the Golf, might have to send that one to AMD see what they think

 

[Danny Pattiwael]

I miss Turkington. Poor bastard not able to defend his title :frown:

 

[Trebor901]

I think its a bit bad for BTCC's image for him not to be there and he must be gutted because he apparently went away and didnt even watch the first round because he was so gutted to not be there.

 

[Hannu Karesola]

I miss Turkington. Poor bastard not able to defend his title :frown:

Same here! Really sad he couldn't get a car for this year from WSR. They might find out later that Collard becomes pretty expensive because they have to change rear axle and straighten the body after every race weekend.

Luckily Mat Jackson is again where he belongs, behind the wheel of BMW. Great choice by Motorbase. Can't wait to see him driving in rain and going round others outside.

 

[Trebor901]

i dunno if Jackson will be able to get on with the Motorbase beamer as well as he did his own because he ran the h-patter box where as the motorbase cars run sequential

 

[Jamie Ralfs]

Matt Jackson. Race 3. Need I say more?

Also, I really wish Colin at least gets to drive at some point in the championship. Don't want to see him miss the entire calendar without a drive.

On another note, I read on the BTCC website that the NGTC regulations have now included RWD in their regulations! I tell you, I'm a happy bunny now.

By the way, what does anybody think about the BMWs having their 1st gear lengthened to prevent them getting as good a start? I know that the WSR team manager didn't like it at all when they interviewed him at Thruxton.

Regards.

 

[Trebor901]

Well sad day for BTCC fans and possibly touring cars if your really into touring cars as i am because it would seem touring cars has lost Giovanardi because he has been replaced at 888 by James Nash who is a good driver but imo will just turn into another person who drives like they're in banger racing. Was gonna go to Brands Hatch round but gonna go see the FIA GT1 at Silverstone instead now

 

[Jamie Ralfs]

Oh right...

I thought it was just for Rockingham that James Nash was replacing him.

I do hope its only just for this round. First Colin... now Fabrizio.

Regards.

 

[Tim Ling]

As you may already know, new vehicle rules are being introduced to the BTCC-the "Next Generation Touring Car" or NGTC.

“The broad concept for our ‘Next-Gen’ cars was that they should be larger than some current ones, be more exciting, faster, safer and also much cheaper to build, buy and maintain as well as provide a more ‘level playing field’, meaning even better, closer racing… if better and closer racing is possible for the BTCC!" said series organizer Alan Gow.

The idea is to use standardized parts, and 2 litre turbo charged engines to help reduce costs.

The car that will be used to help develop this NGTC will be a Toyota Avensis run by GPR Motorsport.

The full story can be found HERE on the BTCC website.

More info on the NGTC can be found HERE

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

The only beautiful Toyota in their current line-up. Curious how it will perform. When will this next-gen BTCC thing starts?

 

[Tom Watts]

its starts in 2011 with ngtc cars being the only ones run from 2013 onwards replacing the s2000 cars completly

 

[Günthar Rowe]

interesting news... more along the lines of the older Mondeo etc...

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

So the BTCC eventually will move away from the same concept as other touring car series. Not sure if I like that to be honest. The drivers that moved from BTCC and STCC to WTCC were always an enrichment. Let's hope those series stick together in the future also.

 

[David Wright]

I really enjoyed last year's BTCC and make a point of watching this years too. But I'm not sure I like the direction its heading in. Touring car racing is evolving into something so different to its origins. In the 60s you had 1 litre Mini Coopers on the same grid as 7 litre Ford Galaxies. Now all the cars weigh the same and will use many of the same components including engines. Will we reach the NASCAR approach where the cars have nothing from their production counterparts except a badge and faximile grill and headlights painted on the front?

 

[Dave Stephenson]

Maybe it can be the driving force for change in the series above. If people see you can go faster for less money and improve the racing then maybe they will be tempted to examine their own series too. Not that there are any major issues with car design in either STCC or WTCC. I don't think these cars are going to be a huge step away from the current crop of cars in the way they drive.

btw I agree, Toyotas are pretty darn ugly

 

[Dan Long]

In the BTCC Team Aon who run a pair of Ford Focus have been the talking point in the paddock this year and their incredible straight line advantage to the likes of the Hondas or Chevrolets.

At the start of the year Team Aon confirmed they would be running a pair of LPG run Focuses and by the time they got the the first race back in April the fords were over 4 mph faster than the others. Last year the Lacceti was famed for its straight line advantage but only had about a 2 mph difference to the rest of the pack.

After the first meeting in April the drivers had complained that the Focus had to much straight line speed and that it was unfair to all others. Alan Gow the series director stepped in and forced the focus to have a 37mm restrictor placed to stop it from being quite so fast and cut it from using so much turbo. It wasnt just the Gas that made it fast, it was the turbo!

So by the end of round 5 half way through the fords allready have 3 wins and with Snetterton coming up on 7/8 August the fords are going to fly so expect another couple of wins to them. They were over 1 second faster on the test day and has made even more people take notice that this car is still far to fast for everyone to be equal.

Jason Plato and Matt Neal who are 1 and 2 in the series retrospect has seen the 2 fords close the gap on them dramatically in the last 2 rounds as Tom Onslow - Cole has climbed to 3rd in the standings. Both drivers have been seen making comments that suspect that the fords need more restriction as otherwise the series will be marked by controversy and many drivers will be forced out of the championship and move to other series.

With Snetterton being the fastest track in Britain expect to see more and more drivers complaining about how fast and how much straight line speed they have.

Alan Gow has said that because the LPG hasnt been used in BTCC before everything is new and with all the data they have collected the 37mm restrictor is just a temporary measure until they can get enough data collected to make a accurate measure of how big the restrictor needs to be.

Thats all for my first post here so have a good read and should have something up on this after Snetts

 

[Wayne Reed]

Good right up Dan really good read

 

[Daniel Higgins]

Lol how about trying this with RedBull F1

 

[Jayblue]

Mmm i will be at Snetterton this weekend cheering on Plato, i hope its not a Ford dominated event!

 

[Dan Long]

Me also, I also support Plato and hope he wins