BTCC 2016

[Eudemon]

Really want this rain to stick around and get a bit heavier. Would throw in a factor that would reduce some of the RWD advantage Croft delivers.

[Eudemon]

Well just like I said and wanted, the rain came out and shook up the grid. Some risk takers decided to go with slicks and this was completely the wrong decision, whereas others had the perfect setup along with the absolute no fear to go balls to the wall and drive like the world was about to end unless they won the race. And that is exactly what Sutton in his MG did. Boy was he in the zone and dialled in. Throwing the car about like it was perfect conditions and the grip was never in doubt... but on greasy ever getting wetter track.

 

Full credit to the boy, he drove an absolute blinder. The safety cars helped bunch up the grid at times but the work still needed to be done and he did it. Now if all the rest of the remaining races could be in the rain, who knows what the MGs could end up doing.

 

But the summer break is on and an AGE of waiting is beyond us as the next round isn't until the end of July.

 

I always hate this time of the BTCC calendar. :impat:

[Camel]

Summer break you say? That gives me plenty of time to catch up on the days racing so I'm not going to complain. :p

[Eudemon]

That Race 2 at Knockhill was immense! Such an epic drive from Matt Neal to claw his way up the pack and eventually claim the victory. Annoyed with Plato not letting the faster Subaru through and even going as far as trying to back him into the cars behind to stop him from passing, even though they are on the same team! Turkington showed the real class of driver that he is by not pushing or punting Plato out the way, though I doubt many would have said much had he done so. Plato is so for himself that he cannot see past his own reflection compared to 'doing it for the team'. And you can tell he is hurting about not being the first to take the maiden win for TeamBMR Subaru as he tends to mention this a lot!

 

It was thrilling to watch Plato and Turkington at their best though, throwing the cars about and racing hard against one another but it was clear that had Plato let Turks through, that Subaru probably would have had another win and you can see from the interview afterwards with Turks that's what he was wanting to do.

 

Massive thumbs up to Neal taking his Honda from 8th to the front. A great drive on what is usually a very favourable RWD circuit.

 

Big mention also to the support races of the two Ginetta championships. That first Juniors especially that was shown was an absolute belter and makes me easily think we will be seeing some of those names in the next few years in the BTCC and other disciplines.

[calster17]

Only just back from Knockhill...left the track at 8PM! :D

 

Big thing for me was Welsh being there, despite the car getting mangled at the last race! As always put up a good fight and even managed to get a selfie with him! Also must have been the only guy there other than my mate wearing Welsh Motorsport branded stuff! So of course got smiles & welcomes from the team.

 

Race 3 was tense, I watched from Hislop's and got to see the Collard/ Turkington smash and the last 10 laps was crazy how little there was between the top 6!

Race 2 was fun, was between the Arnold Clark Chicane & Clarks. Forget how crazy the exit is from the Chicane is! Top driver for that was Mark Howard, due to the fact of going off at the same point 3 times, getting slightly airborn on the grass(making huge divits) and then just carrying on!

A special note to the F4, which on race one ended with 2 drivers colliding on the main straight, and a case of fisticuffs's braking out!

 

Also...

Got turned down for the roll of Grid model sadly... :lol:

[Eudemon]

You really have a penchant for the underdog don't you cal? I applaud you for it actually and I agree that it was quite remarkable to see Welch manage to get the car onto the grid, though I did see Rob Austin offered to lend him Sherman which I thought was equally brilliant and shows the respect a lot of the drivers have for one another.

 

The speed they hang on through that chicane is something else for sure and it is a real testament to Dunlop that the tyres don't just give out after more than 20 hard laps of it. I don't tend to bother watching the Formula races, I did have it muted in the background and glanced to see a replay of the fisticuffs and am I right in thinking those two were on the same team too? Maybe I heard that wrong.

 

And that is unbelievable that you were turned down for grid model. I mean look at that smile and those legs. You were born for the role mate! :p These teams man, I don't know what they're thinking in turning you down.

[Camel]

Sheddon!

 

Final race of the season and the top 2 drivers are separated by 2 points. Sheddon needs to beat Tordoff to win the championship and has just passed in on track. :panic:

 

BTCC 2016, you will be missed.

[calster17]

Was a fantastic season as always! The fact we had 8 drivers at the start of the day with a chance of winning the championship was just crazy! Respect all the drivers and don't normally mind who wins as long as it's a good race, but was rooting for Tordoff on the last race if im honest, but sadly it seemed he had no fight in him!

 

Great to see Flash do a Back2Back championship though!

 

Roll on 2017!

[Eudemon]

Late on this but the final day was a pretty good one with some amazing racing. Great to see Flash take it again though I wouldn't have minded if Turkington was to the one as he seems to be a class act and not get much recognition for it in a way. I mean when he won the title he never had a drive the next year, which is just ludicrous! Plato showing himself as a crybaby was quite good to see, hammering after Turks and basically bringing the pack onto his tail which could have so easily erased Turk's chances of winning the Driver's title by causing him a puncture or just forcing him into an error for no reason at all showed just how for himself Plato is.

 

You could see after Turkington took the first win for Subaru how much it aggrieved Plato as the whole Subaru thing was his idea, his baby and so he should have been the one to do the firsts for it. Don't be surprised if Turks is out of that team is what I say, though I guess that depends on how much influence Plato really has over it all and personally I hope it's very little.

 

As a whole, there were some boring follow the leader races and certain circuits will always turn out that way and the whole question of FWD vs RWD and such rears its head yet again along with the typical boost amount and what not. In saying all that though, it is still a damn good series and produces some exceptional racing and drama and I cannot wait for the 2017 season to start and will be keeping a beady eye on news about the drivers and teams who will be taking part again or making a brand new introduction due to catching the interest of others.

 

I also hope we lose some of the gravel hunters and lesser drivers as it would be truly great to have more front runners mixing it up throughout the pack and delivering much needed information and knowledge to them more than they can currently get with those they have at the moment.