EERC/Belcar Meeting Brands Hatch 25/26 June 2005

[Elio]

A 5th revision of the timetable is now online here.....

http://www.giganet.nl/belcar/index.h...andstiming.htm

Just a flipping around of some of the Britcar races. Timings essentially stay the same though.

[Elio]

Just to make the wait `til next weekend seem even longer!!!....... Check out the Final Instructions here:

http://www.brscc.co.uk/championships...0June%2025.pdf

Subject to the usual additions/deletions/changes/typos........

Britsports/GoldArts - 43 cars
Production S1 - 39 cars
Britcar - 42 cars
BELCAR - 57 cars

[martinparsons]

And guess who's back....with a car and online (thanks BT for taking 3 weeks to connect me



See ya all at Brands

MP

[Snapper Baz]

Good to hear from you again MP' will be a stonking weekend I hope for all! ...branded to the paddock for all the boys and girls..hope you all have found a way of getting all your fuel, spanners food and drink to the pits a back!!

[Eddy V]

Originally Posted by archibold

Hi Eddy

Not going to argue with you. This was what I was going from, which was an extract from an email to competitors on 6th June from EERC:
Archibold

No need to argue Archibold, maybe they have a one off deal with Wige.
But to be honest, I couldn't care less about the Belcar, most of them just a bunch of br***s.
Shame I can't be there to see the fear in their eyes when approching Paddock at full speed for the first time.
Made some drivers eyes view pictures a while ago and some of the drivers got pale just seeing them.
Only one driver is laughing at the moment as he knows the track all too well: Marc Goossens (Corvette).

[Elio]

Although I`m looking forward to this weekend very much, I must admit that the "names" in Belcar are a little disappointing. Other than Goossens, Kumpen, Vosse, Ickx etc etc there aren`t very many "famous" drivers in the list. That said, I expect the Belgian racing fraternity probably wouldn`t recognise many of Britcar`s competitors apart from, say, Leslie, Lockie, Greensall etc, if they were to have an away day at Spa......

Eddy - there are a few more in there with experience at Brands, though probably not to Marc`s level.....

Vincent Vosse should know Brands pretty well from his FF days. Risto Virtanen and Max Weisenburger have both done FF Festivals in the 90s. I can remember the likes of Rene Snel and David Hart from the days of the Dutch Ferrari/Porsche Challenge`s races at Brands in the past. There are a few others in there as well, not least Rob Croydon - he lives within walking distance of the track (or at least used to)!

The money has to be on Goossens/Hart though - especially now that the Kumpen Viper is supposed to be written-off.....

[PorscheGT]

I'm really curious at the times of the Belcar cars.. And what the difference between Belcar and Britcar will be
Are there actually Britcar's who can keep up with the Chevy, the Porsche GT2-R and the ex-Oreca Kuismanen viper??

[Eddy V]

[QUOTE=Elio]there are a few more in there with experience at Brands, though probably not to Marc`s level..... QUOTE]

You are right Elio, but like you say they are on a different level. The race could still be fun though, even if I do not like Belcar very much. Seen 'm too often I guess. Give me a good clubbie any day !!!
Shame we have a race at Zolder (seems to be the home of Belcar ) on the same weekend.
Oh well, maybe it is better I'm not there.

[Snapper Baz]

Had a walk up the pitlane today (Friday afternoon) and stayed about half an hour-wow...if you like big saloons then don't miss this weekend...and what a great sound as well!!!

[Elio]

Yes indeed.... Spent the day there as well - I don`t think I`ve ever seen a more congested pitlane prior to that 1st Belcar Session!

[Rod Birley]

Big shunt at the end of the Production race. Very bent BMW M3 which actually crossed the line first. Second place excluded, but no other action as far as I know.

[King Arthur]

Fantastic weekend for the saloon lovers. I have seen many types of motorsport but the rolling start was AWSOME I and my son will remember that for a long long time

KA

[Rod Birley]

A full grid does make a good site, something of a rarity nowadays.

[Elio]

Shame there was so much cement dust around Paddock and Druids that you couldn`t see it that well!! - sounded goood though!!

[Rod Birley]

The noise problem has caused quite a lot of concern. It is difficult for people to understand why similar cars run at different levels, especially when one BMW (for example) runs at 106 dBs and another can run at 118 dBs....big difference.

[dazbaz_99]

My first trip to Brands and my first impressions were good. Great viewing, and the walk round the Grand Prix Circuit was quite something, really has a great character and a sense of atmosphere.Alot more than at Silverstone, which is the only other circuit i have been to, to watch race meetings. Belcar was quite an awesome sight, and the Britcar series seems to be getting stronger by the month. I hope that Belcar come back again next year.

Hopefully i will get my photos developed in the next few days and if i managed to get any good ones i will post them. Anyone else take any photos from the race's?

[archibold]

Have to say that Belcar looked really good and to see cars of that calibre on the GP circuit was really good. Not sure how many took the start 40+ I guess but they certainly filled the GP circuit. It's a pity that Belcar is not more familiar over here as there were not many people there.

Archibold
#76 - Britcar

[jonbryant]

Could I suggest that maybe a whole weekend where the shortest race was 90 minutes could perhaps have been broken up with some sprint races...? I for one was a little bored by the end of the Sunday having watched the same cars for 2 days! Not a criticism per se but maybe a point to be noted.

[Elio]

I think the (usually) highly entertaining BARC South-Eastern Saloons were originally going to get a race or 2 but were kicked-out as there wasn`t enough time to squeeze them into the programme. Rod should be able to correct me on that.

The trouble is that if you put in a few sprint races (ie. 3 or 4 so that you know you`ve had them!) then you would be taking time away from the endurance races as well. I know that`s an obvious comment, but the longest "Endurance" race all weekend was the Belcar, and at 2hrs 5mins that`s hardly much of an Enduro. I think that the EERC races are not much more than elongated sprints really.

[jhawkins]

I race in Britsports - No 28.

I have to say that there was a real buzz around the paddock this weekend. Britsports had a great showing with 34 on the grid, This series seems to have grown quietly and is now due for some higher profile coverage as Britcar is getting. It certainly provides some exciting racing from the cockpit, how that translates to the spectator I don't know, but hopefully we put on a good show for anyone who came to watch.

[Elio]

I for one think it`s great! - but then I`m one of those sad anoraky types!

Sundays race was heading for the type of finish we had in Saturday`s Britcar and Production S1 race`s until the incident with Doug Newman at Paddock. The only comment I would have is that I wouldn`t mind seeing a few more non-Radicals out there! They do seem to be proliferating somewhat - it would be a shame to see it end up as a kind of long-distance "unofficial" Radical series. That said, it`s always great to see the immaculately prepared no 28 Prosport though!!!

[Rod Birley]

True about the BARC south east T&R series Elio. We had planned to have two races at the weekend, but were squeezed out by time constraints. It looks as though the meeting in November might not be on the GP circuit now, shame.

[Andrew Kitson]

Marcus Pye reckons Britcar meetings are a bit like Formula Libre events of old.
These meetings IMO need a single seater Libre class to add a bit more variety. Maybe a 25 lapper or something or 15 laps or so on the longer tracks.

[Snapper Baz]

I thought it was a great weekend, got some great shots of all involved, the good bits bits, the dodgy bits and the bloody ridiculous bits. All in all a very well organised meeting and I think James and his gang and the BRSCC did extremly well in keeping the meeting going. I can understand from a marshalling view that it could have been a bit much with lack of lunck break etc so a big well done to all those guys and girls for a job well done as well. There were a lot of spectators if you ask me-lots out on the GP circuit so would be keen to see how many tickets got sold for the event. Obviously the lure of big powerfull sports cars helped with the spectator numbers-if the meeting had been realy pushed it would have been superb crowd wise. One thought of concern though was the amount of people that were in the pitlane most of the time. When Goosens car came in clouds of smoke and a small fire underneath hundreds crowded round to see what was happening...had the car gone up in flames big time I think we could have been reading about a sad event instead. I kept my distance to get the pics but it looked a bit iffy. I'm not sugesting anything other than the amount of non-accredited etc should be kept at bay somehow if possible. Hope it all happens again next next year James!

[Elio]

I agree with the people in the pitlane comment. It was like that on Friday - it seems the Belgians brought every man and their dog along to Brands (not literally!). They seemed to be a bit difficult to control all weekend!! - whether it was teams getting their wrists slapped by not having their Friday wristbands, or team personnel zipping in and out of the spectator areas on scoooters and mopeds, it was all a little mad.