[BTCC] Knockhill rounds 13,14 & 15 2021

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

I've not watched all of the coverage yet but Paul O'Neill seemed to be much more vocal about calling out contact in the support classes at Knockhill.

Which was somewhat of a surprise as over the years he has given the impression that a bit of rubbing and tapping was what saloon car racing was all about. So a bit of a change of tune, there. And he, I believe, acts as a mentor/coach to some of the young drivers so I have always had my concerns about his attitude.

Maybe he was shamed into saying it after Ash Sutton criticised the driving standards at Oulton apparently in a discussion with the organisers of TOCA.

TOCA/BARC have to decide whether their meetings are non-contact parts of the sport or not. They can't be like the females of our species and be a little bit pregnant - they either are or are not!

[S griffin]

I think O’Neill’s one off appearance at Knockhill in 2013, where he was taken off in the first race, which pretty much ended his weekend made him change his tune.

Certainly standards have improved. The last thing we want is it to be like F1 where every bit of contact is investigated, but we are at least seeing drivers attempting to overtake instead of just nudging the car in front out of the way like has happened in the past.

[hen henths]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Which was somewhat of a surprise as over the years he has given the impression that a bit of rubbing and tapping was what saloon car racing was all about. So a bit of a change of tune, there.

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Maybe he was shamed into saying it after Ash Sutton criticised the driving standards at Oulton apparently in a discussion with the organisers of TOCA.

Good point. There's probably an unspoken line Ash and Paul would draw regarding contact, given that Ash has enjoyed indulging in a few little taps when racing against a friend like Josh Cook.
I'm sure what they're getting at is that contact becomes too much when it's destabilizing another driver to they point they may lose control and it's probably something to be avoided by/to the less experienced drivers, for the same reason. It needs to be completely avoided in the more dangerous parts of the circuits as well.

[AnnoyedMoose]

There are degrees of contact though. The sort of contact we saw between Sutton and Turkington exiting a slow corner is totally different to cars moving over on each other while flat out on straights. Treating both as just contact is only going to muddy the waters.

[BTCC frog]

Autosport estimated that 25kg of ballast is worth one tenth of a second at Knockhill. If that is true for every car (obviously some are affected more than others but discounting that), here are the adjusted qualifying results if there was no ballast.

2021 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Qualifying – Knockhill

1 Ashley SUTTON (GBR)?Laser Tools Racing -0.041s
2 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR)?Team BMW?50.776s
3 Tom INGRAM (GBR)?Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +0.039s
4 Jake HILL (GBR)?MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square?+0.053s
5 Josh COOK (GBR)?BTC Racing?+0.135s
6 Senna PROCTOR(GBR)?BTC Racing?+0.177s
7 Rory BUTCHER (GBR)?Toyota Gazoo Racing UK?+0.187s
8 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR)?Halfords Racing with Cataclean?+0.212s
9 Chris SMILEY (GBR)?Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com?+0.228s
10 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR)?Laser Tools Racing?+0.260s
11 Adam MORGAN (GBR)?Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport?+0.313s
12 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR)?Team BMW?+0.325s
13 Daniel LLOYD (GBR)?Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing?+0.411s
14 Stephen JELLEY (GBR)?Team BMW?+0.450s
15 Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR)?Halfords Racing with Cataclean +0.483s
16 Jason PLATO (GBR)?Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing?+0.497s
17 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +0.519s
18 Ollie JACKSON (GBR)?MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square?+0.573s
19 Jack GOFF (GBR)?Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct?+0.614s
20 Sam OSBORNE (GBR)?Racing with Wera & Photon Group?+0.744s
21 Sam SMELT (GBR)?Toyota Gazoo Racing UK?+0.841s
22 Jade EDWARDS (GBR)?PHSC with BTC Racing?+0.892s
23 Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL)?Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions?+0.910s
24 Paul RIVETT (GBR)?Racing with Wera & Photon Group?+0.953s
25 Carl BOARDLEY (GBR)?Laser Tools Racing?+0.987s
26 Jack MITCHELL (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct?+0.996s
27 Jack BUTEL (GBR)?EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com?+1.132s
28 Nicolas HAMILTON (GBR)?ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading?+1.365s
29 Rick PARFITT (GBR)?EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com?NO TIME