British GT 2018

[gregc]

Originally Posted by coppice

Having enjoyed Oulton I am toying with..ahem ..the Rock this weekend . I have only seen ASCAR or whatever it was called and that was on the oval of course(and compared to the real deal it was simply dire) .

But what is Rockingham like as a spectator proposition for conventional racing ?

Mixed bag in my view (based on BTCC meetings) - on the one hand, from the grandstand you can see every part of the track with the exception of the chicane, and I also quite enjoy spending some time watching from the roof of the pit garages.

The downside is that in the grandstand you're a long way from the action, and (for good reason) you can't watch anywhere on the infield past the back of the paddock.

If taking photos is your thing it's pretty poor, the only real options that I can think of are the main straight from the garage roof, and the Tarzan hairpin through the fence at the back of the paddock.

[Rob29]

Only been once when it first opened they had an Indycar race-was not impressed.Had concidered going this weekend until I realised I would miss live TV F1;F2;FE;BTCC+supports;WTCC;NASCAR

[coppice]

Thanks -sort of what I feared . I will save my brass till Donington Historic next weekend !

ps What the hell were they thinking of when they built an oval in cold and damp Northants eh ?

[Alfaholic]

Also the grandstand faces roughly noth east and the forecast is for 9°C and 15mph winds from the north east!

I like the place for spectating, but even in the summer the grandstand seating is in the shade and can be quite chilly.

[Truckosaurus]

Weather's looking dreadful for Sunday again.

[skells22]

Have you look at the BBC forecast?
It just says cloudy

[B0U170NS]

Originally Posted by coppice

Having enjoyed Oulton I am toying with..ahem ..the Rock this weekend . I have only seen ASCAR or whatever it was called and that was on the oval of course(and compared to the real deal it was simply dire) .

But what is Rockingham like as a spectator proposition for conventional racing ?

I would definitely recommend going. I had never been to Rockingham, until today, and I haven't attended a British GT meeting since 2015, but I hugely enjoyed today despite the freezing temperature. Would highly recommend spending some time watching from above the pit garages.

[B0U170NS]

On a different note, does anyone know where the 3rd Barwell Lamborghini of Kujala and Machitski is this weekend? I thought they are entered for the full season?

[geordiecriag101]

Just back in from Rockingham and my view is that of all the circuits i go to Rockingham is the worst by far for spectating at. Yes you can see the whole circuit from the main grandstand but you are so far away you need binoculars and the only other places are on the pit roof and at the exit of Tarzan hairpin both of which give a fairly limited view. Might explain why i only go there a few times a year despite living 8 miles down the road.

Back to the GT's, was very interesting listening to the cars run as you easily hear which ones run a lot of TC (Bentley the worst by far) and the least (Merc from Lambo) plus its always great to see a GT3 car come alive once the pro driver gets in and starts to push.

Slight downside, could do with a few more GT3's but on the flip side, GT4 seams to be booming nicely and the field looked to be fairly close and well matched.

[geordiecriag101]

Forgive the double post, here's my vid from the days action at Rockingham if anyone interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KFAnP2mEng&t=8s

[rich07]

Originally Posted by B0U170NS

On a different note, does anyone know where the 3rd Barwell Lamborghini of Kujala and Machitski is this weekend? I thought they are entered for the full season?

I thought they switched that car to Blancpain?

[Akrapovic]

Some light rain at Rockingham. How British.

[dwh43scale]

Gallery from Snetterton British GT rounds for your viewing pleasure ...

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmiLxWea

[Greem]

Well, who would have expected 3 hours of racing at Silverstone with not a single safety car period?

From my vantage point (observer's box at Becketts) it was a gripping race in gorgeous weather. The top 3 only being separated by 4 or 5 seconds at the end meant the end result wasn't settled until the very end, too.

[Alfaholic]

Originally Posted by Greem

Well, who would have expected 3 hours of racing at Silverstone with not a single safety car period?

From my vantage point (observer's box at Becketts) it was a gripping race in gorgeous weather. The top 3 only being separated by 4 or 5 seconds at the end meant the end result wasn't settled until the very end, too.

Some/most of the credit for the lack of safety cars must go to your fellow orange wearers clearing stopped cars on a live circuit, although I notice that the Parfitt/Morris Bentley was demoted two places for a flag infringement (C2.1.5 (ii) - and I did download the MSA Blue Book just too look it up!)

Thought it was just as good as the Blancpain Endurance race held in similar conditions that I was also at a few weeks ago.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Alfaholic

Some/most of the credit for the lack of safety cars must go to your fellow orange wearers clearing stopped cars on a live circuit, although I notice that the Parfitt/Morris Bentley was demoted two places for a flag infringement (C2.1.5 (ii) - and I did download the MSA Blue Book just too look it up!)

Thought it was just as good as the Blancpain Endurance race held in similar conditions that I was also at a few weeks ago.

Ah, the Blue Book. Enjoy that

There was a lot of good old fashioned pushing done near me - the #22 Invictus Jaguar (retired), one of the Ginettas (rejoined) and two other cars behind me in the Loop. Everyone behaved through Becketts so the flag infringement wasn't one of mine!

Being able to trust that the cars will DTRT is extremely valuable to everyone.

I enjoyed this weekend much more than the Blancpain, but at that one I was a track limits judge. I was calling numbers in my sleep for days after that...

[GregUK]

Originally Posted by Greem

I enjoyed this weekend much more than the Blancpain, but at that one I was a track limits judge. I was calling numbers in my sleep for days after that...

I blame Dr Palmer!

[Bcarr6]

what with Derek Johnston and now Rick Parfitt Jr retiring from racing it looks like British Gt is going to potentially struggle to maintain the GT3 field size next year let alone expand it

[Greem]

That was a truly great race. I was on the exit of the Melbourne Hairpin so the first hour had me writing loads of reports for contact, but the second hour had almost nothing.

The whole race fizzed by so quickly it didn't feel anything like 2 hours.

Lovely to see so many spectators around the place, too. If you went I hope you enjoyed seeing history made!

[Bcarr6]

Beechdean AMR - Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Gen2 - Marco Sorensen / Andrew Howard

Beechdean AMR - Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Gen2 - Kelvin Fletcher / Martin Plowman

[Bcarr6]

And the announced grid so far- announced entries only, no rumoured or likely returnees included


British GT 2019

GT3

TF Sport - Aston Martin Vantage GT3 - Mark Farmer / TBA
TF Sport - Aston Martin Vantage GT3 - Jonny Adam / Graham Davidson
Barwell Motorsport- Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo - Sam de Haan / Johnny Cocker
Barwell Motorsport- Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo - TBA / TBA
Optimum Motorsport - TBA
Ram Racing - Mercedes AMG GT3- Ian Loggie / Callum MacLeod
Beechdean AMR - Aston Martin Vantage GT3 - Marco Sorensen / Andrew Howard

GT4

TF Sport - Aston Martin Vantage GT4 - Alex Toth-Jones / TBA
Optimum Motorsport - Aston Martin Vantage GT4 - Connor O’Brien / TBA
Beechdean AMR - Aston Martin Vantage GT4 - Kelvin Fletcher / Martin Plowman



7 GT3s so far, I imagine we will see a few more Aston’s, maybe a mclaren or two, perhaps that GT R back... who knows. I hope we can see 14-16 GT3s to fill half the total grid.

Looks like we might see another Aston fest in GT4 too

[PeterY]

I’ve just started a 2019 thread for this