[BTCC] Rd 16,17,18 Snetterton

[porsche962fan]

shouldn't Morgan be DQ ,?

Turks 5th in the standings now !!!

[850Estate]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

shouldn't Morgan be DQ ,?

Turks 5th in the standings now !!!

I reckon he'll get a few points, a fine and possibly a time penalty. Absolutely mental.

Anyway, look at this photo. It's a testament to how well built NGTC cars are that Dan wasn't seriously injured here, scary how close to him the damage is

[porsche962fan]

it looks like a write off and the rear frame too

wonder if from now Shedden has to be rear gunner for Neal....

[850Estate]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

it looks like a write off and the rear frame too

wonder if from now Shedden has to be rear gunner for Neal....

My hope is that they'll still have the ex-Wilmot car kicking around - if they can afford to keep and run it.

I'd imagine he might be, Honda's best attribute (imo) is teamwork and both drivers will work to help the one who has the best chance of taking the title - and right now that's looking very much like Neal.

Tordoff on pole for R3 by the way everyone.

[tux]

Welch was so lucky that the impact wasnt drivers side.

I echo the previous comments on driving standards, extremely poor and i apologise i know that without pay drivers there would be very few cars on the grid but some of the guys lower down need to either A. Calm down or B. be asked nicely to leave.

[850Estate]

That was a sickening accident. Hope the camera man is ok, that was terrifying.

[tux]

ITV say the camera man is conscious so thats good news.

Guess who are involved again, its always the same people.

[Sodemo]

Glad to hear everyone is ok.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Honestly it's been a long time coming but Alex Martin and Ollie Jackson have to leave this series before someone gets hurt. That was truly stupid, this was so close to a disaster, first with Welch and secondly with this cameraman incident, people's lives are very much at stake in this sport and this is a sorry reminder of that, and how certain people are just not cut out for the sport and never seem to learn that. Naming names is the only solution, and these people have to leave before anything worse occurs.

Somehow we've escaped without any major injuries so far. And I don't want the series to take far more risk than it needs to by allowing certain individuals to race.

[Moneyseeker]

Shocking driving standards,some of the grid need to reconsider their future participation, or have it considered for them.....

[skells22]

sometime cars stall on the grid

[850Estate]

I'll post far, far more tonight. But, with such a large grid, would a rolling start be a safer idea? Would also nullify the RWD advantage off the line.

[porsche962fan]

Jordan essentially implied that some drivers should be kicked out of the series

[rdjones]

Strong words there from Andy Jordan

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

Shocking driving standards,some of the grid need to reconsider their future participation, or have it considered for them.....

Unfortunately, I think this kind of incident is a by-product of when you have a mix of what I would term "gentleman drivers" and the more professional drivers who occupy the first 15-20 places on the grid.

[tux]

From the replays it seems Martin either turned across the front of Mark Howard or he was clipped by Fletcher/Howard but its not entirely clear from the angle of the replays.

[850Estate]

Remember when Phil Bennett got a one round ban years ago? I wouldn't be averse to Alex Martin receiving a similar punishment - he seems to be involved in accidents every single week.

The stewards will be tough on the people causing all the accidents today, of that I am sure. Mr Gow, as a racer himself, will not be at all pleased at the Championship looking like a destruction derby - it's not the image he's worked hard to build.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Strong words from AJ but it's him, not us, who's, in crude terms, risking himself by racing against a few of these guys, and in the heat of the moment I'm not at all surprised he made those comments, especially having been the victim of weekend-scarring driving from Warren Scott.

And again, to put it bluntly but assertively, I would personally be happier and feel more secure to see that the likes of Alex Martin have retired from motorsport altogether than to see his name on the entry list of a top national series. Shoot me down for it but I don't want to see any repeat or anything similar to what's been seen today.

[porsche962fan]

absolutely great driving from Shedden and Rob Austin !!!


WOW Shedden door and rear quarter is really bend

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Well at least the weekend ended on a positive. Amongst the dangerous driving by the minority - a minority that must be dealt with - there was some fine driving by most, and the end of race 3 is how to rub and race sensibly. Brilliant battle for the win.

[GT6]

Good days racing but accident in race 3 very scary

[porsche962fan]

the million dollar question

Will Plato drive rear gunner for Turks , ? Turks has a very real chance to get the title

hope Gow may be merciful and not take Welch TBL if they cannot get a car ready for the next round...

[850Estate]

Firstly, well done to most of the drivers at the front today. The Shedden/Neal v Collard battles were fantastic and showed what BTCC is all about. A bit of rubbing, a bit of bumping, but plenty of respect and nothing silly.

Well done to Rob Austin on getting his first podium with Handy Motorsport - it was a cracking drive from him, and the battle between him Plato/Jordan and Turkington was as good as you'd expect it to be. Again exciting, and again nothing silly.

Right, now onto the real controversial moments. We are very lucky we aren't talking about a death today, and even more remarkably everyone appeared to walk away completely unharmed. I haven't seen the on board of the Welch/Jackson incident, but apparently Ollie was handed a £1000 fine, points and a grid penalty (source: Welch Motorsport Facebook). It's been decided it was Ollie's fault and, given the stewards have access to far more data and cameras than any of us do, I'll assume their right.

It makes no difference as the damage to Dan's car is beyond repair seemingly, but to potentially have your season ended due to some..overly aggressive driving from a fellow competitor is a horrendous thing to happen to any driver, at any level.

Then we have the big accident in R3. I have to say, in my (ehm...plenty) of years of watching the BTCC that's one of the scariest accidents I've seen in the Championship. The last time I remember being that worried about the welfare of someone was Charlie Cox in 1995 at Thruxton, I saw the car headed for the gantry and froze. It's the most sick I've felt watching the Championship on TV (back in the 90s it was Grandstand or you were there in person!) and we're hugely lucky that the cameraman escaped unharmed. The sight of the car - and wheel - hurtling towards him is something that I don't think I'll ever forget.

That leaves us with the question of how it could've been avoided. My suggestions, and this is just my opinion, are as follows: I'd consider a rolling start on the smaller, tighter grids or tracks with notorious first corners. Snett' would be an obvious one, along with Knockhill and Croft (how many times did we see cars firing themselves off at the first corner back there in June?) It would certainly help lower the chances of repeat accidents that end the race before it has even begun.

I would also introduce far stricter penalties. I know the aim is to have all 31 cars on the grid, but sometimes that isn't possible. None of this reprimand/£500 fine/back of grid stuff - race and round bans. Two strikes (for more severe accidents, not just small bumps and push to passes - back of the grid - three strikes - race ban - and every time you hit 3 again it's another race ban. It would force people to think before trying something stupid or lashing out.

It's clear there are drivers who aren't fit to grace the UK's most prestigious (or second most if you're a BGT fan). Of course that's always going to be the case, but some of them appear to become downright dangerous on Sundays. The threat of race/round bans might kick their a*ses into gear, or even turn a few off entering. A 32 car grid is great, but I'd take a quality, sensible and safe 24 car grid over that any day.

There was some very good racing today, real touring car stuff, but unfortunately there was also an awful lot that didn't show our championship in a good light at all. I trust Mr Gow and the TOCA team to get it sorted, because I never want to see a race day like that again. The 3 things that I always thought of when analysing a race day were this

Did anyone die?
Was anyone hurt?
Are there some very damaged racing cars?

If the answer to any of them is yes, then unfortunately the race day hasn't been a success. Thankfully everyone escaped alive, and pretty much injury free (to the best of my knowledge), but plenty of teams have some very costly repair jobs to complete before Knockhill and that ain't good for anyone. Drivers, teams, supporters or organisers.

Good night everyone, and I hope everyone who was there today has a safe journey home

[Moneyseeker]

I would forget the feeble fines and penalties. There are at least 3 drivers that need their licence put through the shredder and sending back to doing track days....

[850Estate]

Last thing for the night (I promise!)

We won't improve anything with these penalties

http://www.touringcartimes.com/2016/...ton-penalties/

Jordan getting the same as Scott for pulling a John Cleland-esque hand gesture on him? Morgan effectively getting off with a couple of punts on Shedden? Whoever was at fault for the R3 mess (Martin for the initial contact perhaps?) getting away with that? That's where the series is going wrong. How do we expect anyone to learn?

Promise I'll go after this edit!

I've just watched it again, slowed it down and re-watched it (R3 incident) It looks to me like #14 turns across the front/is bumped by a #40 and is then rammed by #38 who has nowhere to go (Poor Mark Howard looked terribly shaken when he was interviewed on ITV4). For me cars should then be slowing down, but #84 and #54 appear to carry on at the same pace to try and shoot past. #84 makes it, #54 doesn't and makes contact with the stricken #38, sending him skywards towards the cameraman. For whatever reason #48 follows him onto the grass, and doesn't appear to slow dramatically before smashing into #54 as he's in the air and hitting the camera gantry.

I'd love to see onboards from Aron Smith, Alex Martin, Mark Howard, Kelvin Fletcher, Hunter Abbott and Ollie Jackson as, perhaps with the exception of Mark Howard, they all looked like they played a part in what happened.

I'm well aware it's difficult to react in the heat of the moment, get the car slowed and act sensibly, but that was definitely an avoidable incident.

https://twitter.com/StopwatchSuites/...89215559196672