[BTCC] BTCC Rounds 1, 2 and 3 - Thruxton - 03/04 April 2010

[White flag man]

Originally Posted by trebor901

it took us nearly an hour cos they decided to let all the team trucks for the support races out before the public

What time was that ?
I left around 6.30.

[awrb]

Originally Posted by Icebaby

Pinkney underperformed in 2009 in a car capable of winning races, 2010 he's off to a solid start although his car livery is not pretty.

I did agree with you about Pinkney's livery before the season, but I thought it looked quite good on track. Either that, or because ITV's online stream showed it as about three pixels, I couldn't see how bad it looked!

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Senseless move from Neal. Bit strange didn't retrieve Collard's car during the SC period either. Very good to see the bantering between Gio, Plato and Neal though..

[trebor901]

Did anyone else hear the bangs comin from the back of the Focus when they were waiting for the lights to go out? absolutely awesome the noise they made, it was like huge fireworks going off

[FIRE]

Good racing.

[Pettersson]

Originally Posted by trebor901

Did anyone else hear the bangs comin from the back of the Focus when they were waiting for the lights to go out? absolutely awesome the noise they made, it was like huge fireworks going off

Maybe they are using an anti-lag system during the starting procedure to get that turbo spool up.

A bit of lousy TV-pruduction from ITV from time to time. Especially in race 1 where they missed Shedden's incident. From the onboard cams of e.g. Chilton and others, you could see the skidmarks in Church and a white car stranded. The commentators didn't pick it up until Chilton went off etc. As a viewer I expect to see what happens to the leading cars.

Too bad for Rob Collard, but he would never have won that race. The WSR cars where never close to being on the pace, and he was awefully slow going into the chicane. But still, that doesn't justify trying to run over him. But as many of you say, Collard as a defensive driver and an offensive Neal on the same bit of track is a recipe for disaster

Great thing the season is underway.

[Sodemo]

Yep, the coverage was a bit patchy. For some reason the Villiage -> Church camera position wasn't manned in Race 1 for the BTCC.

On a related subject, I have noticed that they no longer have a camera position at the start of the Campbell Cobb Segrave complex, instead they rely upon a camera on the exit of Segrave to cover all 3 corners and the run up to Noble, bit sloppy really. They could probably do without the Church exit corner or the exit of Allard and have a position manned at Campbell.

One thing I noticed from the days of the ST era was that in the live BBC telecasts the cars never seemed to "look" as quick as when BHP did the coverage with their cameras and setups.

[Rockmunky]

There's more high up camera shots it seems, which doesn't help.

[cos]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Yep, the coverage was a bit patchy. For some reason the Villiage -> Church camera position wasn't manned in Race 1 for the BTCC.

I think that camera was out of action due to the G50 crash earlier in the day?

[trebor901]

this whole damn Rob Collard, Matt Neal thing is being blown stupidly out of proportion, its a typical BTCC / touring car accident and just because of the 2 people involved it seems everyone is gettin on their high horse about it. And it seems the clerks of the course probably read the rubbish BTCC.net forums for views cos they seem to be doing what the people on there say most of the time. If it had been between 2 completely different drivers then people would have turned the other cheek but its stupid. People making decisions when they're watching it on tv or dont even know what its like to be behind the wheel of one of these things during a race.

Matt Neal and Rob Collard are both good drivers they just do stupid things from time to time and it is from time to time, Matt Neal seems to get ambushed as soon as he even nudges someone in a race but if someone like Jackson did it then nothing would be said. BTCC fans these days seem to be becoming deluded and wanting to pick on one person when its not just one person who has made BTCC into posh banger racing.

[Tim Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by awrb

I did agree with you about Pinkney's livery before the season, but I thought it looked quite good on track. Either that, or because ITV's online stream showed it as about three pixels, I couldn't see how bad it looked!

The combined liveries of the whole grid makes it difficult to watch this year, in my opinion. In the past it's been easy to spot who's where, whether there's been a change of position etc, but there's so many white cars this year I was finding it difficult to keep track.

I understand that certain teams are leaving their cars as blank canvasses for the moment, but it would be nice to see a bit of colour (whole car, rather than just flashes) before I have to start paying attention to the commentary!

[trebor901]

Putting fancy liveries on costs quite a bit of money though

[steve_r]

Originally Posted by trebor901

Matt Neal and Rob Collard are both good drivers they just do stupid things from time to time and it is from time to time, Matt Neal seems to get ambushed as soon as he even nudges someone in a race but if someone like Jackson did it then nothing would be said.

Hell of a "nudge"!

[Tim Wilkinson]

Re: colours - Compared to the cost of a BTCC budget? Seriously? Most of the "white" teams I'm talking about ran the same cars in other colours last season, too, and have changed since.

When the two lots of BMWs, O'Neill's Integra and the Civics were near each other it all looks so same-y, and the Forster cars will be similar when they come in as well. Watching the '09 clips highlighted it even more.

And for Matt Neal to even suggest that Collard was in anyway to blame for the collision is laughable. Collard should have seen Neal in his mirrors and given him space? That's debateable even if Neal isn't coming through Collard's blind-spot and all 4-wheels off-track!

[awrb]

I think the reason people are annoyed about this one (well me anyway) is that it was obviously Neal's fault, and we all know WSR are strapped for cash as it is. Not only the cost of repairing that car, but also the lack of exposure will have cost WSR a fair bit of the money they don't have.

[Craner Curves]

It will have cost Rob Collard a lot of money.

[Tim Wilkinson]

Maybe he should nick a truck off of Steve Neal.....

[trebor901]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

It will have cost Rob Collard a lot of money.

like he hasnt got loads with his huge demolition business and to be quite frank if they cant afford it they shouldnt be there

[Tim Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by trebor901

Putting fancy liveries on costs quite a bit of money though

Originally Posted by trebor901

to be quite frank if they cant afford it they shouldnt be there

[dyewat808]

Originally Posted by awrb

I think the reason people are annoyed about this one (well me anyway) is that it was obviously Neal's fault, and we all know WSR are strapped for cash as it is. Not only the cost of repairing that car, but also the lack of exposure will have cost WSR a fair bit of the money they don't have.

Thats what I had thought. Still, I for one absolutely refuse to judge an incident depending on who was in it, even if a driver involved has a nasty track record (no pun intended or anything ). I think too many people say that it is to do with the drivers involved. Maybe its true, but that doesn't change the incident itself. I don't think it has anything to do with the drivers personally - it was a bit of an optimistic move, no matter who was behind the wheel. And anyway, this stuff makes the BTCC what it is, annoying as it is or otherwise.

[BootsOntheSide]

Neal was totally at fault for the Collard incident. Having pulled off one overtaking move he insisted on going for a non-existant gap, giving Rob no chance to react and get ouot of the way. It's not often that Collard is blameless for a collision, but this time he was. WSR desperately needed a good result to get some new sponsors on board, after being left with two weaker drivers who can bring sponsorship, and this just isn't what they need.

Great weekend for Gio and the annoyingly-named Uniq Racing With 888 (read 'the experience, talent and hard work of 888, with the money of Uniq'), but there are plenty of signs that others can challenge too. Thruxton's never been good for the BMWs (and the change to the start rules is crazy, the rear-wheel drive cars are at a disadvantage in other ways), Honda and Ford both look competitive, and the Chevrolet is right there too.

[safc_fan89]

I don't understand how Neal could even claim that Collard should have seen him coming. It was at best a hopelessly-midjudged move from Neal, but unfortunately it's what I have come to expect from him.

[safc_fan89]

Originally Posted by trebor901

BTCC fans these days seem to be becoming deluded.

If you want to have a discussion with people, probably best not to label them as deluded...

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by trebor901

like he hasnt got loads with his huge demolition business and to be quite frank if they cant afford it they shouldnt be there

I never said he couldn't afford it, but a decent sized repair bill at the first event isn't ideal for him. Just because he can afford to pay for his drive, doesn't mean he has a bottomless pit of money and can smash the car up at every meeting like some of the gentleman drivers out there.

[awrb]

Originally Posted by trebor901

like he hasnt got loads with his huge demolition business and to be quite frank if they cant afford it they shouldnt be there

Yeah you're right, they just shouldn't bother. Only people with 10's of millions should enter so they can smash their car up at every race. Should be in the rules.