My End of the BTCC Season Awards

[rdjones]

Well thats another BTCC season over and done with, only 7 months to go until it all starts again at Donington Park. Anyway driving home tonight I came up with my end of season awards and this is what they look like:-

Driver of the Year - Nominations:- Muller, Reid, Thompson, Neal, Plato, Huff, Turkington
Winner:- Reid

Young Gun of The Year (Drivers under 25) - Nominations:- Turkington, Huff, Chilton, Hines, Bentwood
Winner:- Turkington

Best Newcomer - Nominations:- Huff, Watson-Smith, Hoggetts, George
Winner:- Huff

Worst Driver - Nominations:- Hurriman, Marsh, Bulter-Henderson
Winner:- Hurriman

Most Improved Driver - Nominations:- Hughes, Turkington, Breeze Winner - Hughes

Driver with the worst luck in 2004 - Norminations:- Collard, Kaye, Watson-Smith, Breeze
Winner:- Watson-Smith

Team of the Year - Nominations:- VX Racing, WSR, Seat, Competch Racing with Halfords
Winner:- WSR

Worst Team - Nominations:- Varta, PSP
Winner:- Varta

Race of the Year - Norminations:- Knockhill Race 3, Knockhill Race 2, Brands Hatch Race 3, Thruxton Race 2
Winner:- Knockhill Race 3

Highlight of The Year - Norminations:- Huff's last lap in Race 3 at Brands, The Reid/Neal incdent at Silverstone, Reid's 2 wins at Knockhill, Plato's win in Seat's 2nd ever BTCC race
Winner:- Ried's wins at Knockhill.

Thats what I think anyway you may agree or disagree.............

[John Winter]

This is how I look at it:

Driver of the Year - Winner:- Plato
Young Gun of The Year (Drivers under 25) - Winner:- Huff
Best Newcomer - Winner:- Huff
Worst Driver - Winner:- Hurriman
Most Improved Driver - Winner:- Turkington
Driver with the worst luck in 2004 - Winner:- Watson-Smith
Team of the Year - Winner:- WSR
Worst Team - Winner:- Varta
Race of the Year - Winner:- Knockhill Race 3
Highlight of The Year - Winner:- Huff's last lap in Race 3 at Brands

[Hazard]

Driver of the Year - Muller. He da man!

Young Gun of The Year - Bentwood

Best Newcomer - Huff

Worst Driver - Hairuman

Most Improved Driver - Eaves (Sorry, but he's not in your noms!)

Driver with the worst luck in 2004 - Watson-Smith (Though George is a top runner in that too)

Team of the Year - VX Racing (4 titles)

Worst Team - Varta

Race of the Year - Brands Hatch Race 3

Highlight of The Year - Plato's win in Seat's 2nd ever - Completely got me by surprise - more shock of the year - that and the other 6 wins

[touringcarnut]

Driver of the Year - Between Plato and Reid
Young Gun of The Year (Drivers under 25) - Huff

Best Newcomer - Huff

Worst Driver - Hairriman

Most Improved Driver - Turkington

Driver with the worst luck in 2004 - Bentwood

Team of the Year - WSR

The rest I can't decide by a clear enough margin.

[luke]

Driver of the Year - Plato
Young Gun of The Year Huff
Best Newcomer - Huff
Worst Driver - Hurriman
Most Improved Driver - Turkington
Driver with the worst luck in 2004 - Watson-Smith
Team of the Year - Seat UK
Worst Team - Varta
Race of the Year - Donnington race 3
Highlight of The Year - Plato winning more times then anyone else and Thompson winning the title.

[BootsOntheSide]

Driver of the Year - Reid
Young Gun of The Year - Turkington
Best Newcomer - Huff
Worst Driver - Hairuman
Most Improved Driver - Hughes
Driver with the worst luck in 2004 - Bentwood
Team of the Year - WSR
Worst Team - PSP
Race of the Year - Donnington race 3
Highlight of The Year - Hairuman's massive points haul

[Pete Fenelon]

Driver of the year - Reid
Young Gun - Huff (Turkington's been around a bit too long!)
Best Newcomer - Huff
Worst driver - Hairuman
Most improved - Hughes
Worst luck - Pyper! Terrible weekend!
Team of the year - VXR
Race of the year - Croft 2
Highlight - Thommo showing the ETCC lot who was boss at Donington

(Hey, who said the highlight had to be a BTCC moment!)

[garcon]

Hooligan of the year (any year...): Reid. And Neal.
Driver of the year has to be Plato.
Contest of the year: Thompson vs Muller.
Young gun: Huff.
Team of the year: Seat
Highlight: Have to agree Thommo showing the way to the ETCC grid was pretty cool. And it was the only one I saw live!

I wasn't sure about the new format at first, and although Plato made superb gains from it I'm still not entirely convinced about the reverse top ten idea particularly with the shenanigans it created in race 1. But having said that, it has been a superb year of close racing - for the championship to go down to the final round of the final weekend and still only be decided by two points was incredible!

[NoahsGirl]

Driver of the Year - Winner - JT
Young Gun of The Year (Drivers under 25) - Winner:- Turkington
Best Newcomer - Winner:- Huff
Worst Driver - Winner:- Hurriman
Most Improved Driver - Winner:- Turkington
Driver with the worst luck in 2004 - Winner:- Watson-Smith
Team of the Year - Winner:- WSR
Worst Team - Winner:- Varta
Race of the Year - Winner:- Knockhill Race 3
Highlight of The Year - Winner:- The BTCC back at Knockhill

[chev chenko]

driver of the year = plato

young gun = turkington

best newcomer = huff

worst/crazy driver = reid (by far the best to watch + i had to have him on my list and he fits here quite nicely)

most improved = chilton

worst luck = muller (like him or not you,ve got to feel sorry for the bloke)

best team = seat

worst team = lets not say worst, without them no btcc, lets just say proton were,nt as good as the rest this year

race of the year = the final race at donington, its the first time ive seen the whole crowd applaude after a race, not just to be polite, genuine applause. what an end to the best season for years

highlight 2004 = donington 25th/26th september rounds 28,29,30

[tonyp]

Driver of the year - James Thompson

Young Gun - Huff

Worst Driver - watson-smith

Most improved - Chilton

Worst Luck - Collard (seems to do everything right but never gets anywhere)

Worst Team - There are no bad teams

Highlight of the year - Muller coming off at craner curves in race 1 @ donington (lol)

Race of the year - all 3 donington races (only because they all wanted to win)

[Alfa Fan]

Originally posted by tonyp


Worst Driver - watson-smith

[/B]

Have you actually watched the races this year??
Watson-Smith is a contender for best driver of the year, defintly not worse. He has been the victim of bad luck, when putting that Proton in positions it shouldn't be, ie, top 6.

How can you say that SWS is worse than these drivers:

John George (no offense, like him a lot, but he hasn't had the equipment this season, still thumbs up for effort )

Richard Marsh (although again not had the equipment to really prove himself)

Jason Hughes (amateur driver, but a welcome addition to the series, would freely admit he's no superstar)

Fariqe Hairuman (no excuses here. Hairuman has had exactly the same equipment as SWS, and has had more testing during the off-season)

I would rate, on natural ability, SWS within the top few drivers this season.

[redshoes]

SWS was disapointment of the year for me, but through no fault of his own. His early season drives throwing around a clearly less than great Proton for all his worth were a joy to watch. His ability to keep his right foot planted and recover from seemlying impossible angles reminded me of Patrick Watts. With the reverse grids I thought he had a real chance of finishing 9th or 10th in race one and holding on to take a podium in race 2. Had a good shot at that a few times, notably Brands, but always seemed to luck out. By the latter half of the season the lack of development was showing and he never came close to a good result.

I've always been a supporter of the plucky amateur. The sort of person who knows thet are never going to be a superstar but do it just for the sheer enjoyment. The sort of people we used to get in Production a lot. Definately put John George, Richard Marsh and Jason Hughes in that category, although with varying degrees of ability.

Hairuman on the other hand was just too far out of his depth. He could have done with a season or two in Clios to learn some racecraft, although I suspect even there he would have struggled.

Perhaps not worst team but we have to mention Team Shortterm. Don't get me wrong I like GA, but what was is, seven different drivers over the season. If ever anyone asks about how easy or otherwise it is to get sponsorship, here's your answer.

[touringcarnut]

Originally posted by redshoes


Hairuman on the other hand was just too far out of his depth. He could have done with a season or two in Clios to learn some racecraft, although I suspect even there he would have struggled.

SWS was consistantly the faster of the two, and showed some real quality early in the season as you rightly say. I hope that he can get a drive in 2005, in a car that doesn't resemble a wardrobe on wheels. Maybe WSR can offer the guy something? The way things work it'll be Hairuman who gets a drive

[redshoes]

Hairuman was Proton's protege. Don't be surprised if they find a drive for him back in SE Asia.