BTCC: 2014 season.

[calster17]

Though I'd start the season's thread since nobody else has. :)

 

So, with the first round over with, whats everybody thoughts?

[Ryzza5]

My thoughts are 'where can I download these?' :)

[Eudemon]

It was a great start to a new BTCC Championship and it showed well in qualifying and during the race that the cars do seem to be fairly equal in areas. I was surprised about Jordan taking Round 2 with full success ballast though but then Indy is a short and tough track to pass on. Watching Turkington pull off all those passes just before Paddock Hill showed why it's great to have him in the series, he was sorely missed in 2012 as he's a very fair but hard racer. I was surprised by Foster's pace too, good to see who is a #3 driver and I love the BMW's constantly spitting out those flames.

 

The Honda Tourers were quite something, you could see the rear was wanting to poke out at times but watching Shedden's on-board shots and hearing the car scraping and speeding round the course and how close he could get under braking at times makes it look like the car could very well be a contender and is not a slouch compared to the hatch, the real test will be in the tighter tracks with off-camber corners and high-speed chicanes imo.

 

Having Giovanardi and Menu back is exceptional, the old guard showed their quality even though they never had the best weekend, especially Menu in the final race, he's still got it and that Passat CC is a real beauty of a car and I love seeing it on the grid. Felt sorry for whoever it was who got tapped by him as he crossed over his front but for sure the three rounds showed some damn fine racing particularly that final one.

 

Can't wait for the next one at Donington, just wish it wasn't 3 weeks away!! :cry:

 

ITV4 need to work on their production and research as Louise said a few wrong things, the cameras missed a few incidents and there was a lack of on-board shots I noticed, also Steve Rider kept saying "two weeks" till the next event even though the screen graphics was clearly showing April 20th as the next date.

 

It's great to have it back though, and even with that size of grid there is still 1 or 2 cars to appear so yeah, can't wait!

[Eudemon]

Wow what another great day of racing for the BTCC. That final race with Turks and Flash was absolutely mind-blowing!! It's always a joy to watch Shedden when he feels the car is right and just basically throws it around and hopes it sticks. Good job by MG on Race 1/2 and it was especially nice to see Mat Jackson in the Airwaves Focus starting to show that car has some real fight within it.

 

Bring on Thruxton in 2 weeks!!

[Ryzza5]

Yeah lots of good racing battles going on there. Was hard to pick out a few of the incidents with the lack of cameras and an interesting overtake from Shedden to win the race (both went wide at the final chicane but I'm still a little dubious about overtaking while cutting the corner).

[Eudemon]

It's a 50/50 move and whichever way it went both would feel hard done and want it looked at. Turkington did the same kind of thing to Giovanardi back in 2006 at the same track (it's on youtube) so it would be quite ironic for him to feel really put out with this. Shedden was in front at the entrance to the chicane and the speed he was pulling off in that Honda probably would have meant a drag to the line on the inside for the final stretch would have netted him the win as he would have been able to push the BMW onto the grass.

 

It's a racing incident in my eyes, however I can't help feeling that if that was Plato I would actually be calling for his head, so maybe I have no impartiality to this after all. :hmmm:

[Ryzza5]

Few spectacular crashes at Thruxton, and enjoyed watching the end of race three even though it was pretty messy. Shame Plato got taken out (no doubt he assumed that car was beyond recovery before it snapped back and hit him) but good to see the Fords do well.

[Eudemon]

Yeah the season is hotting up and like you said it is very good to see the Fords starting to reach up the top of the pack again, all we need is for Menu and the other BMW's to pull more of their weight and the Championship will be far more open. :cool:

[Ryzza5]

Yeah I'm waiting for Menu and Plato to have a bit of a fight :)

[Camel]

I've only managed to catch 1 race so far. :(

 

Is there anywhere that I can catch up on the races I've missed?

[Eudemon]

There's a channel called Auto Sport on youtube, just search BTCC 2014 and you should find it.