[BTCC] Brands Hatch Indy 2013 rounds 1-2-3

[Paulaweybridge]

How true, that's why I hate TV commercials.

All the team at Brands is one of the very best in the world, if not the best.

Originally Posted by crooky

The irony was that they were so quick at clearing the accident that they actually missed a part of the race.

[Paulaweybridge]

That's good and I hope so.

Originally Posted by Passo

Spoke to Will Bratt about half an hour ago. He says that upon first looking, the main cage of Austin's car looks okay and is salvageable. The team thinks they can get the car sorted for Donington. I'm assuming further inspection will be required at the workshop though.

[Icebaby]

[QUOTE=medius;3227286]Plato's strongest teammate since Darren Turner I feel.

Thats not true, Thompson was stronger in the Seat and would have beaten Plato had he done a full season.

[ascarmarshal]

Originally Posted by Paulaweybridge

Unfortunately the organisers of some race series often put their commercial interests before safety.

Fine until it all goes pear shaped and as you say lands up in the Coroner's Court !!!

I am on the side of MSA officials who act properly and with concern to everyone's safety.

Same here Paula. It is one of the reasons I stopped marshalling a year after Mum died after a brief return in 2006/2007. Some organisers don't seem to care about safety but only their image and keeping those who are watching at the circuit or on TV entertained.

[Speed-King]

[QUOTE=Icebaby;3227320]

Originally Posted by medius

Plato's strongest teammate since Darren Turner I feel.

Thats not true, Thompson was stronger in the Seat and would have beaten Plato had he done a full season.

Matt Jackson also kept Plato honest when they both raced the Silverline Lacettis.

[Icebaby]

[QUOTE=Speed-King;3227322]

Originally Posted by Icebaby

Matt Jackson also kept Plato honest when they both raced the Silverline Lacettis.

Thats also a good point, Turner's performances were under par. Tornoff has demonstrated there is nothing wrong with that second MG.

[asifan]

Good weekend, good racing. Plato and Shedden are very much the class of the field. Neal is way back behind Shedden is terms of speed, he was just lucky with reversed grid.
My worry is Turkington. I hoped he could get a podium, but a very unlucky weekend. Althought he did a good damage limitation got a few poins. I hope they can get the cars sorted.

[PawUloN]

Originally Posted by asifan

Good weekend, good racing. Plato and Shedden are very much the class of the field. Neal is way back behind Shedden is terms of speed, he was just lucky with reversed grid.
My worry is Turkington. I hoped he could get a podium, but a very unlucky weekend. Althought he did a good damage limitation got a few poins. I hope they can get the cars sorted.

Well, big fail for Collard with the new BMW... Jeff Smith did quite well today, as well as the youngster Tordoff. I was disappointed by Newsham and hoped for better results for Mat Jackson. Austin did very well in the first race, hope they can sort their car out...

[VXDave]

The most pleasing thing from my perspective is that if you look at best lap times, there's not a single crap car out there... even the HARD CC's & Insignias are not massively off the pace and they've only just been built. Just seems that reliability is the main concern for new teams.

Bring on Donni!

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by PawUloN

Well, big fail for Collard with the new BMW

The car was only completed on Thursday and like everyone with a new car, they're learning. You don't find out problems until you run the car at a race meeting and unfortunately it's had a few. But then so did the Honda and MG at the start of 2012.

[touringlegend]

Top 10 finishes for Turkington was a very good weekend in my eyes, and it proves that the cream always rises to the top.

Shedden's been tipped by many to win the title again as he'll have improved confidence, not sure I really believed that till today but he was storming.

For all cars having close lap times I wouldn't get too carried away - remember that was Brands with sub 50 second times.

[asifan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nU8t3iYWgw

Video of the Plato - Jordan indicent.

[cmk]

A few fantastic drives this weekend. Shedden looked absolutely on it. Plato was fantastic too, but like when Yvan Muller is on it the general reaction is "oh, that's to be expected". It's almost hard for him to impress unless he wins 3/3. Tordoff was a pleasant revelation, wouldn't have guessed it was his first BTCC meeting. Very solid stuff from Jeff Smith too.

Gutted for Rob Austin. Cruel luck. Wrathall was lightning quick but really needs to breathe a bit and drive within his limits. Too ragged.

Generally pleased to see that the atmosphere was jovial, good mature handling of the post-Race 1 situation by Plato and Jordan.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by cmk

A few fantastic drives this weekend. Shedden looked absolutely on it. Plato was fantastic too, but like when Yvan Muller is on it the general reaction is "oh, that's to be expected". It's almost hard for him to impress unless he wins 3/3. Tordoff was a pleasant revelation, wouldn't have guessed it was his first BTCC meeting. Very solid stuff from Jeff Smith too.

Gutted for Rob Austin. Cruel luck. Wrathall was lightning quick but really needs to breathe a bit and drive within his limits. Too ragged.

Generally pleased to see that the atmosphere was jovial, good mature handling of the post-Race 1 situation by Plato and Jordan.

Yeah, poor Rob Austin. Wrathall just jarred him off the road in race 2, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It was an idiotic maneuver by Wrathall, IMO. He just needs to cool off, take a deep breath, and focus forward.

I really like Jason Plato. Some say he's reckless, but he does seem to have terrible luck sometimes. He's the reason I watch BTCC in the first place. I was watching 5th Gear and he mentioned the BTCC and I was like "what's this??" I love 5th Gear so I decided to check it out and since last year I've been absolutely hooked! Very exciting to see Turk back, as well. Gutted to see Matt Neal winning race 3, tho. I haven't watched it, but checking the results, it seems he won.

[cmk]

I bet Wrathall knows he was in the wrong given that he's apologized, but I feel his real sin was in not thinking what a slightly loose RWD car's line would be. The wider line in to square off and get the power down on exit produced the closing gap he went for, and the looser the car gets, the wider that entry can be as the car can start to rotate later. The Wix Audi was definitely running a "loose is fast" setup this weekend!

I started watching BTCC in Plato's rookie year (1997, I was 13, yikes!) and I think he's finally managed to act my age after some argy-bargy.

Neal drove a good Race 3, clean and just as fast as necessary, he deserved the win.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by asifan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nU8t3iYWgw

Video of the Plato - Jordan indicent.

I'd be more interested in seeing an on-board from Plato when Shedden had his moment in R1.

[Andrew Abbott]

Originally Posted by cmk

Tordoff was a pleasant revelation, wouldn't have guessed it was his first BTCC meeting.

... that's because it wasn't. Tordoff competed for the team at the Brands Hatch finale in 2010.

[BtccLee]

Originally Posted by AndySpeed

... that's because it wasn't. Tordoff competed for the team at the Brands Hatch finale in 2010.

Yes, but even so he was hardly startling in Clios or Porsches, the occasional great weekend and then just average. He was consistent and if he continues like this, MG will give Honda a mighty headache in the manufactures battle, and he will certainly win a race.

[safc_fan89]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

Commentary aside, the TV coverage wasn't that great. Far too much time focused on Plato, Neal and Shedden, when there was plenty happening in the lower half of the top ten and the other points placings.

ITV's coverage has never been particularly good. They frequently seem to miss incidents, not get any replays and the overall presenting is far from slick.

Looks like I am in the minority, but I think Austin was as much to blame for the race 2 collision. He ran wide and there was space for Wrathall to take the inside, and then Austin just cut across him. It wasn't a case of Wrathall just barging him out of the way, he was just doing what any driver does and positioning the car where there is space. You can't just turn in on someone when they have positioned their car in such a manner, they can't disappear. He didn't even have to turn to the right because there was plenty of room for both cars to get round the second part of the corner, and Austin would have held the inside line for the next left-hander.

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by safc_fan89

ITV's coverage has never been particularly good. They frequently seem to miss incidents, not get any replays and the overall presenting is far from slick.

Looks like I am in the minority, but I think Austin was as much to blame for the race 2 collision. He ran wide and there was space for Wrathall to take the inside, and then Austin just cut across him. It wasn't a case of Wrathall just barging him out of the way, he was just doing what any driver does and positioning the car where there is space. You can't just turn in on someone when they have positioned their car in such a manner, they can't disappear. He didn't even have to turn to the right because there was plenty of room for both cars to get round the second part of the corner, and Austin would have held the inside line for the next left-hander.

I think the fact that Wrathall held his hands up and apologised for making a mistake, as well as accepting the fine and points says it all.

[BillWiskins]

From Rob Austin's Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobAustinRacing/...347776/photo/1

Glad to see them looking on the bright side... not sure I'd look at that car and think 'bonus!'. Really hope they can make it out for Donnington.

[Sodemo]

Brands was horrendously cold, especially on the Saturday, it was maybe 1 degree warmer on Sunday, but it was still horrible.

Some good racing on the Sunday, Clios aside the supports were weak, although the Ginetta Junior's were very entertaining, even for a small field. Race 2 of the BTCC was a bit of a snooze, nothing much happened, lots of cars breaking down, not much racing happening, which is odd for a BTCC race. Big shame that Austin's car got wrecked in race 3, kind killed a lot of the interest for me after that. I was surprised about how poorly the Motorbase cars performed, other cars like the Austin Audi seemed to be getting gobbled up on the straight, especially by the MG. That thing has some serious straight line speed. That's something else that I don't fully understand about the regulations. Why was the MG so obviously faster down the straight? What performance calculations led to that engine advantage?

Good to see the Team Hard cars out there. I did wonder how long the cars would last out there, the Passat actually did more laps than I thought (remembering the troubled Thorney Insignia birth). One thing about the Passat, the rear wing looks strange. It looks a bit too high and at a funny angle. Also, the wing mounts are of a different style to that of the other NGTC cars...

After watching the coverage off ITV4, I though Addison did a great job as commentator. I wasn't a massive critic of Toby Moody at all, I thought he did a solid job, however I could tell and hear the difference. I think Addison was just more concise, explained the race better and was a great choice by ITV.

[wheelsportaddict]

Originally Posted by BillWiskins

From Rob Austin's Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobAustinRacing/...347776/photo/1

Glad to see them looking on the bright side... not sure I'd look at that car and think 'bonus!'. Really hope they can make it out for Donnington.

Well from what I can gather, the shell is fine. Sub-frames are a bit bent but hopefully, should be good for Donny.

[kimbo]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I was surprised about how poorly the Motorbase cars performed, other cars like the Austin Audi seemed to be getting gobbled up on the straight, especially by the MG. That thing has some serious straight line speed. That's something else that I don't fully understand about the regulations. Why was the MG so obviously faster down the straight? What performance calculations led to that engine advantage?

MG's nowhere as far as the speed traps are concerned, the Hondas consistantly fastest through them. Perhaps the MG's can carry more speed into the corner, giving the impression of extra top end?
I was marshalling at p6 (Druids out) and Plato was clearly making up loads on the brakes coming in to Druids - don't know if that's relevant to the above, though.
Kim

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

That thing has some serious straight line speed. That's something else that I don't fully understand about the regulations. Why was the MG so obviously faster down the straight? What performance calculations led to that engine advantage?

There aren't any performance calculations at this point. This year's boost adjustments don't kick in until after Donington, and I don't believe anything was carried over from last year.

Originally Posted by kimbo

MG's nowhere as far as the speed traps are concerned, the Hondas consistantly fastest through them.

Plato was virtually as quick as the Hondas, and in some cases quicker, during FP1/FP2/Q/R1 when there was no ballast to deal with. It was only during R2/R3 when ballast was applied that Plato's speed trap position dropped.