Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship 2013 Season Thread

[Famine]

Slightly unrelated, but man, I wish this wan't an April fools joke:

Heh. I was just writing about that at the time

I'd love to see a Plato in-car for race 1... That Civic, driven by the defending champion, went round a bit easily if it wasn't punted - but curiously we saw every in-car of the start apart from Plato's...

Also liked Andrew Jordan's comment that it was "a Jason Plato move"

 

[Ardius]

Nice to read some good commardarie in the paddock on twitter;

Dave Newsham ‏@newshamracing
Well, that's a weekend to forget! Feel real bad for @RobertoAustini hope your back for Doni...

Rob Austin BTCC ‏@RobertoAustini
@newshamracing yeah same here. Don't worry though dude, not your fault, just motor racing. We will be there, I have some top mechs ;-)

Dave Newsham ‏@newshamracing
@RobertoAustini glad to hear that mate. Lets hope we both have better weekends!

Rob Austin BTCC ‏@RobertoAustini
@newshamracing indeed! Cant wait! Got to put some serious hours in first though.

Rob Austin BTCC ‏@RobertoAustini
Poor Sherman :-( http://fb.me/DmFR0Zd0

Dave Newsham ‏@newshamracing
@RobertoAustini bet your a bit stiff today, I've got a bit of a limp! How's the shell, will it fix?

Rob Austin BTCC ‏@RobertoAustini
@newshamracing ... Though and the cage is Ok. It kind of rotated in the wall so I "think" it looks worse than it is. #fingerscrossed

Dave Newsham ‏@newshamracing
@RobertoAustini sounds encouraging... Have a pleasant day off �� I promise never to write the word limp on twitter again! #notcool

Rob Austin BTCC ‏@RobertoAustini
@newshamracing lol cheers dude. See you at Donny ;-)

👍

Makes a change from the Chris James drama last year.


Also, I really love Welch's new livery:

 

[Furinkazen]

Great to see that spirit. 👍

 

[05XR8]

Good to see a nice field of cars and the liveries look way better than the last couple of years.

 

[JacoJa]

I felt very sorry for Rob Austin. Apart from that, it was the most exciting touring car weekend I've seen in a very long time. It certainly puts the V8 Supercars to shame, in terms of excitement.

Can't wait for Donington. 👍

 

[ASH32]

Good to see a nice field of cars and the liveries look way better than the last couple of years.

Just need a little more colours, there is too much white and blue, other than that they are decent.

 

[Ardius]

I felt very sorry for Rob Austin. Apart from that, it was the most exciting touring car weekend I've seen in a very long time. It certainly puts the V8 Supercars to shame, in terms of excitement.

Can't wait for Donington. 👍

Its nice to be able to say that this is BTCC every weekend! Thrills and spills guaranteed!

Hopefully Donington isn't the wreck-fest it was last year, might be hoping in vain with Andy Neate turning up.


Also;

 

[JacoJa]

Damage probably not as bad as it looks? Hope he can get it repaired in time for the next race.

Its nice to be able to say that this is BTCC every weekend! Thrills and spills guaranteed!

Aagh! I can't wait to go to a meeting in person.

On a off-topic note, I just bought the BTCC 1998 season review on DVD. Should bring back some fond memories of TOCA 2 on PS1.

 

[cgg]

Who here loves Frank Wrathall?

 

[05XR8]

I don't LOVE him but, he's showing and proving in that Toyota. Good stuff.

I wonder if the A4 will be switched to an A3(putting aside the benefits of a long wheelbase) as factory teams are doing the Hot Hatch thing. Will be interesting to see the Passat. I prefer the longer wheelbase cars a la Super Touring days. I wish Honda kept the Accord in touring cars.

 

[Strawman Andy]

Gonna buy one of these, help Rob out.👍

Check out his FB page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rob-Austin-Racing/300548846320

 

[raceorama123432]

gonna buy one of these, help rob out.👍

Check out his fb page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/rob-austin-racing/300548846320

Save Sherman

 

[TyrrellRacing]

Doesn't deserve to race with such a cringey quote.

 

[Ardius]

Who here loves Frank Wrathall?

I was a fan up to race 2 last weekend, hopefully just a blip for him as he's normally an exceptionally clean racer.

I wonder if the A4 will be switched to an A3(putting aside the benefits of a long wheelbase) as factory teams are doing the Hot Hatch thing. Will be interesting to see the Passat. I prefer the longer wheelbase cars a la Super Touring days. I wish Honda kept the Accord in touring cars.

Unlikely, the Audi's are not backed by VAG or Audi UK at all, so it would be either Rob Austin or someone else putting the money in to develop it.
I doubt Rob would put in 3 seasons worth of hard work and development on the A4 just to ditch it all and start again!

Also, I'm not sure he'd get away with the same trick of using the 4WD version, letting him run RWD?

By the way, there are only 2 factory teams in the BTCC currently, and 1 of them runs a saloon. So I'm not sure where you're getting the "factory teams are doing the hot hatch thing" from? If you're referring to WSR and Motorbase, WSR seem to get a small amount of BMW help while Motorbase get nothing from Ford.

We currently have quite a nice mix of hatchbacks and saloons, both are competitive.

 

[MatskiMonk]

By the way, there are only 2 factory teams in the BTCC currently, and 1 of them runs a saloon. So I'm not sure where you're getting the "factory teams are doing the hot hatch thing" from? If you're referring to WSR and Motorbase, WSR seem to get a small amount of BMW help while Motorbase get nothing from Ford.

We currently have quite a nice mix of hatchbacks and saloons, both are competitive.

Personally I'd still rather it was mostly saloons... the 125i looks great IMO, but I prefer watching 4 door saloons hammer round a track than hatchbacks.... just seems more 'Grown Up' (obviously it isn't... but y'know what I mean)

 

[Ardius]

I prefer variety, and I like that the BTCC has nearly always provided variety whether that be Mini Coopers versus Chevrolet Camaros or now with Honda Civics versus Audi A4s for example.

In a way, the BTCC is one of the few series that is most like a series you might find in Gran Turismo...

The more different engine layouts, drivetrains, car shapes, etc, the better in my opinion. There are plenty of boring old saloon-only GT and touring car series out there such as V8 Supercars or DTM.
There are so many motorsport series out there now that are either spec series or are very close to becoming spec series (even F1!). To me BTCC stands out as one of the few that still allows vastly different approaches, even if there are a large number of spec parts still.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I prefer variety, and I like that the BTCC has nearly always provided variety whether that be Mini Coopers versus Chevrolet Camaros or now with Honda Civics versus Audi A4s for example.

In a way, the BTCC is one of the few series that is most like a series you might find in Gran Turismo...

The more different engine layouts, drivetrains, car shapes, etc, the better in my opinion. There are plenty of boring old saloon-only GT and touring car series out there such as V8 Supercars or DTM.
There are so many motorsport series out there now that are either spec series or are very close to becoming spec series (even F1!). To me BTCC stands out as one of the few that still allows vastly different approaches, even if there are a large number of spec parts still.

Italian V8's offers more variety than BTCC, with different body styles, displacements, and even awd. With NGTC BTCC is getting a little too spec for my liking, although you can't argue it's getting the teams on the grid.

There are hardly any saloon only championships though, Aussie V8s is the only one that comes to mind?

 

[raceorama123432]

There are hardly any saloon only championships though, Aussie V8s is the only one that comes to mind?

I think you mean, proffesional saloon championships 👍 There are loads of saloon car championships across the globe at club level.

I love the NGTC cars. Their faster; and look so much more mean!

 

[Holdenhsvgtsr]

There are hardly any saloon only championships though, Aussie V8s is the only one that comes to mind?

Knock Knock big wide world calling anyone home?

 

[MatskiMonk]

Knock Knock big wide world calling anyone home?

Opens door, realises you seem to have misunderstood, looks at pictures of multiple body styles racing against each, thinks that maybe that would be a better response to ardius's claim that there are plenty of saloon only championships... Closes door...

(Just playing along)

 

[raceorama123432]

Knock Knock big wide world calling anyone home?

Nice, you take them? I think i've met the guy who owns the Elan 👍

 

[05XR8]

I prefer variety, and I like that the BTCC has nearly always provided variety whether that be Mini Coopers versus Chevrolet Camaros or now with Honda Civics versus Audi A4s for example.

In a way, the BTCC is one of the few series that is most like a series you might find in Gran Turismo...

The more different engine layouts, drivetrains, car shapes, etc, the better in my opinion. There are plenty of boring old saloon-only GT and touring car series out there such as V8 Supercars or DTM.
There are so many motorsport series out there now that are either spec series or are very close to becoming spec series (even F1!). To me BTCC stands out as one of the few that still allows vastly different approaches, even if there are a large number of spec parts still.

I agree with you here. I sat up and really noticed BTCC when the 850wagons were running. BTCC stands out because they smash into one another and keep going. Whether penalties are given or not, they race for wins.

 

[Holdenhsvgtsr]

Opens door, realises you seem to have misunderstood, looks at pictures of multiple body styles racing against each, thinks that maybe that would be a better response to ardius's claim that there are plenty of saloon only championships... Closes door...

(Just playing along)

Or maybe they other cars such as the kit cars run in a different championship but are lumped in with the saloons to make up the grid numbers

There's this one too

 

[MatskiMonk]

Or maybe they other cars such as the kit cars run in a different championship but are lumped in with the saloons to make up the grid numbers

There's this one too

I really think your missing what I was getting at, I've not said that there aren't any saloon cars racing these days, obviously there's plenty, but compared to certain eras of the BTCC and DTM etc, its no longer the case that some series are exclusively/mostly 4 door saloons, which would be my preference. The only exception I could think of these days was Aussie V8s (at least at a level where's there's any chance of actually being able to watch a race). That's all.

 

[Ardius]

So what do people think of David Addison's commentary? Judging by the lack of comments on it, I'm guessing he went down pretty well as normally new commentators get a flood of comments about how awful they are!

 

[raceorama123432]

So what do people think of David Addison's commentary? Judging by the lack of comments on it, I'm guessing he went down pretty well as normally new commentators get a flood of comments about how awful they are!

Was soo much better than Toby Moody. I think David is more suited to this style of racing 👍

 

[Tom]

So what do people think of David Addison's commentary? Judging by the lack of comments on it, I'm guessing he went down pretty well as normally new commentators get a flood of comments about how awful they are!

I was really impressed with him, seemed to be able to go into far deeper detail than Moody.

 

[Holdenhsvgtsr]

Gonna buy one of these, help Rob out.👍

Check out his FB page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rob-Austin-Racing/300548846320

Bought

 

[raceorama123432]

Bought

I already own won

 

[Strawman Andy]

I already own won

Do you mean "one"....?