BTCC: 2019 Brands Hatch Discussion Thread

[apex11]

How does it compare to other categories? For example in Blancpain GT series Audi and Lamborghini has the same chassis and engine, does the series count as a silhouette too?

Well it doesn't compare very well does it... the Audi and Lambo are the same car granted... but the rest are not..the Merc is a Merc etc etc....

Just simply saying how it is..no need for the outraged hate...if you don't like the truth keep ignoring it...

Outside of the proper racing and hero's on two wheels BTCC is the best track Motorsport series IMO...

as you were...

 

[Trebor901]

Ash showed him up....

No he didnt there was way more going on behind the scenes at BMR than has been told. Bills not payed, cars that werent even owned by the team i.e. one of the cars was actually a car they had leased and just ripped apart and then Platos engineer jumped ship. And the team boss was declared bankrupt over the winter which means someone else now runs the team.

 

[apex11]

No he didnt there was way more going on behind the scenes at BMR than has been told. Bills not payed, cars that werent even owned by the team i.e. one of the cars was actually a car they had leased and just ripped apart and then Platos engineer jumped ship. And the team boss was declared bankrupt over the winter which means someone else now runs the team.

So they sabotaged Plato's car?

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Well it doesn't compare very well does it... the Audi and Lambo are the same car granted... but the rest are not..the Merc is a Merc etc etc....

Outside of the proper racing and hero's on two wheels BTCC is the best track Motorsport series IMO...

Even then they're not really the same car - sharing the same components & platform ( must be a tiny % of cars which have an individual chassis these days ) does nothing for aero which is a big thing for a GT car, and they're not even the same size or wheelbase. The Audi/Lambo are probably not a bad comparison for BTCC tho.

Agreed about BTCC, something I always try and watch. Not sure about "the best" but definitely up the top at the moment. Hybrid in 2022, huh - well given the entire powertrain is tightly controlled that won't make any difference to people building a car. I'd say it's long overdue, frankly.

 

[Dobermann92]

Well it doesn't compare very well does it... the Audi and Lambo are the same car granted... but the rest are not..the Merc is a Merc etc etc....

Just simply saying how it is..no need for the outraged hate...if you don't like the truth keep ignoring it...

Outside of the proper racing and hero's on two wheels BTCC is the best track Motorsport series IMO...

as you were...

I don't deny the truth, I don't really know what makes a silhouette. For example NASCAR cars are called stock cars, however they are as far from stock as a car can get. Sharing parts or technologies doesn't really matter. I have problem with the word itself.

 

[CMGARAGE]

I don't deny the truth, I don't really know what makes a silhouette. For example NASCAR cars are called stock cars, however they are as far from stock as a car can get. Sharing parts or technologies doesn't really matter. I have problem with the word itself.

NASCAR are silhouette (or were to the best of my understanding, I don't follow the series personally).

The definition may be quite broad but I think me and Richard define it as a series in which superficial shells are constructed on top of a specific race designed chassis (space frame, carbon tubs etc).

Current BTCC is a bit of a hybrid (before they bring in actual hybrid ) where a road going car is hacked to bits to add a set of subframes which house shared components and more sophisticated suspension.

The CRUCIAL factor for me though is that the car starts of as a road going shell. Cars I consider silhouette have been built from the ground up to be race cars with panels added to create the illusion they share DNA with the road car.

A ford NASCAR doesn't start life as an actual Fusion, the Focus Touring car does.

Either way, it doesn't matter at all. All modern high level race cars are far removed from their namesakes. The rules as they stand aren't to make a spec series in disguise but rather create a cost controlled, competitive and most importantly sustainable formula.

It seems to be working.

AND HERE WE GO!

 

[snyperal]

Why all the dislike for plato?

 

[CMGARAGE]

Why all the dislike for plato?

He plays up his panto villian role. He's a marmite character (people seem to either love him or hate him, no middle ground). He's also been a presence in the series for so long now everyones bound to have an opinion on him.

I hope he reaches his milestones and think he's a net positive for the sport but I'm not in the 'BTCC needs Plato at the sharp end' camp.

I've enjoyed his rivalry with Neal over the years but it's a bit long in the tooth now. I'd much rather watch the next generation like Sutton etc.

Looks like he has a car to show he's not done yet.

For me, the more lads up at the front scrapping it out, the better.

 

[MarkR]

Good to see both the ballast and tyre choices mixing things up well too, nothing predictable about this racing.

Personally, I don't see the issue with the cars sharing standard parts to keep costs down. Racing is all about 'win on Sunday sell on Monday' as it has always been. F1 cars have nothing whatsoever in common with the road cars they sell for the likes of Mercedes and Renault. BTCC, TCR look like the cars we can buy regardless of how close they are in reality and humans like to belong to groups and gangs. The dealers make plenty of race wins and success as part of the halo effect. That new 330i looks good too. No matter how much Kwik Fit sponsorship I see I don't buy overpriced tyres fitted by apprentices from them so marketing has its limits!

The racing is close and exciting and there have already been some great overtakes, overshoots, cutbacks, cars moving up significant numbers of places and off-track excursions today it's good enough for me.

 

[SVP Skins]

He never 'lost it' same as Alonso didn't 'lose it' .... it's simply the fact that a crap car / set up, will make a good driver look crap and also affect their heads.

Which is why i said i expected him to be the front end of the field.

 

[CMGARAGE]

https://www.motorsport.com/btcc/news/chilton-penalty-butcher-maiden-win/4366355/

Butcher promoted to Race 3 win after Chilton given 5 sec penalty.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Personally, I don't see the issue with the cars sharing standard parts to keep costs down. Racing is all about 'win on Sunday sell on Monday' as it has always been. F1 cars have nothing whatsoever in common with the road cars they sell for the likes of Mercedes and Renault. BTCC, TCR look like the cars we can buy regardless of how close they are in reality and humans like to belong to groups and gangs. The dealers make plenty of race wins and success as part of the halo effect.

It's ironic when GT - GT4 especially - is closer to road cars than touring cars are, perhaps it's time to go *really* back to basics for TCs, TCR cars are fairly close to GT4s on pace which is nuts for what it was intended to be. Limit mods to tyres/dampers/springs/geometry tweaks to fit the tyres/exhaust/ECU tune/strip & cage and with modern cars it'd still be quite fast, and we might even get homologation specials again. F1 is less about directly selling cars than demonstrating technology, similar to sports prototypes. GTs and TCs on the other hand can really be a flashy demo of actual product.

And I managed to have an awful weekend & missed the entire thing, and even forgot to record it...

 

[snyperal]

8 hours of glorious close racing. I love watching the ten year old ragging those ginetta's too!

 

[Richard Dastardly]

8 hours of glorious close racing. I love watching the ten year old ragging those ginetta's too!

Ginetta Jrs in the rain at the end of last season were absolutely spectacular. Well Knockhill ended up half SC, but while it was going it was pretty good.

Incidentally it's actually hard to define what a silhouette car is these days - Group 5 just had to "resemble the base car from the front", but now it's basically "build a racing chassis and then stick a replica body on". Top two Trans-Am classes are examples, they use replica composite bodies on seperate tube-frame chassis. GT300/GT500/DTM and even NASCAR are just straight up branded prototypes at this point, they really only take styling cues from production cars.

 

[apex11]

When the best drivers are borked by car / weight / tyres / Motorsport is exciting. It can level the field a bit and mostly the best will drive like the best and it creates the best drivers driving on the edge... like Ash Sutton...
This is why BTCC works.

 

[Raikku]

It's just sad that, while serie is much more interesting than ie wtcr, it's almost impossible to watch here in Finland(like in most countries). Simply can't understand what they think they achieve with almost complete media blackout everywhere else than in UK.