lionel hutz Posted April 3, 2016 Author Share Posted April 3, 2016 Will the new Circuit of Wales be joining the BTCC calender when it's complete? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Will the new Circuit of Wales be joining the BTCC calender when it's complete?Potentially, but I don't know where it would replace. It also depends when it's finally completed. I'm not sure it would suit Touring Car racing to be honest, GTs and single seaters, aye, but BTCC thrives on circuits like those we have on the calendar at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionel hutz Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 Potentially, but I don't know where it would replace. It also depends when it's finally completed. I'm not sure it would suit Touring Car racing to be honest, GTs and single seaters, aye, but BTCC thrives on circuits like those we have on the calendar at the moment. The obvious replacement would be one of the Brands Hatch Circuits, or it could just be another weekend on the calendar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 The obvious replacement would be one of the Brands Hatch Circuits, or it could just be another weekend on the calendar I suppose, but the GP circuit is fantastic, as is the Indy, both bring completely different challenges and I wouldn't be keen to get rid of either. I suppose they could add an additional round, but I'd be very surprised if they did that, the extra costs would stretch the already very limited budgets of the teams (outwith Dynamics/BMR/888/WSR) and potentially drive a few out. My fear would be that they'd punt Knockhill like they did with Mondello in 2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionel hutz Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 They wouldn't punt Knockhill out whilst the top driver in the series is Scottish and is sponsored by Knockhill.EDIT: I didn't know there used to be an Irish Round, please bring it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 They wouldn't punt Knockhill out whilst the top driver in the series is Scottish and is sponsored by Knockhill. EDIT: I didn't know there used to be an Irish Round, please bring it back. They did it in '03 when Anthony Reid was there - also sponsored by Knockhill - although granted he doesn't have family connections to the place.Mondello was funded by the Irish Tourist board, the only way it would be re-introduced would be if they heavily subsidised the travel costs like they did in the early 2000s. Don't think Mondello can host a 32 car grid either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionel hutz Posted April 5, 2016 Author Share Posted April 5, 2016 They did it in '03 when Anthony Reid was there - also sponsored by Knockhill - although granted he doesn't have family connections to the place. Mondello was funded by the Irish Tourist board, the only way it would be re-introduced would be if they heavily subsidised the travel costs like they did in the early 2000s. Don't think Mondello can host a 32 car grid either. I doubt Knockhill can either, if a car stalls on the grid then it'll be chaos. I think that's what happened in a support race two years ago. Red Flag and the race was cancelled. 32 cars is a ridiculous amount for a circuit racing series held on tracks that cars can lap in under a minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 I doubt Knockhill can either, if a car stalls on the grid then it'll be chaos. I think that's what happened in a support race two years ago. Red Flag and the race was cancelled. 32 cars is a ridiculous amount for a circuit racing series held on tracks that cars can lap in under a minute. I think they extended the grid at Knockhill to take it up to 34 cars during the winter there. But that would be the absolute maximum. Brands Indy is limited to 32 hence why there's 32 TBLs. That was Tingram in the Ginetta I think, wasn't it? Knockhill is quite a bit wider than it was in the Supertouring years, but aye any more than about 26 cars makes it quite a spectacle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 You seem to be making the mistake of assuming the Circuit of Wales will ever be built Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorge Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Do love a bit of the BTCC but only been to Knockhill once: it was so long ago that Jenson Button won the Formula Ford race that day.... (and it was raining, obviously) Might go this year if I've nothing on that weekend, still mid August? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Do love a bit of the BTCC but only been to Knockhill once: it was so long ago that Jenson Button won the Formula Ford race that day.... (and it was raining, obviously) Might go this year if I've nothing on that weekend, still mid August? All the BTCC rounds are a week earlier than usual this season, so it's 13/14 August I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Do love a bit of the BTCC but only been to Knockhill once: it was so long ago that Jenson Button won the Formula Ford race that day.... (and it was raining, obviously) Might go this year if I've nothing on that weekend, still mid August? I was there that day - 1998. It was chucking it down, then dried up for a bit but started chucking it down again before the second race. Derek Warwick got a spawny victory because he crashed at the first corner and had to pit so put on wets before everyone else. They still did park and ride to the carparks back then but as we were already drenched we just walked rather than wait in the queue for the bus! I remember looking at the programmes a few years ago to see who had been in the support races when I was going in the late 90s. Button, Mark Webber, Dan Wheldon and Juston Wilson were among them. In the mid 2000s I'm sure Paul di Resta as there too. Will need to see if I can find them to have another look. EDIT: Just remembered I have some old British motorsport yearbooks from the Super Touring era in my flat which have details of some of the support series. I'll try to post some pictures of the various championship standings later to see who was driving what at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 As ever with these things it wasn't as exciting as I'd thought. The only notable names I missed for 96 and 97 were Peter Dumbreck, Marc Hynes, Luciano Burti, Andrew Kirkcaldy, Darren Turner, Antonio Pizzonia, one of the Schekter kids and Narain Karthikeyan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy boo Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Just noticed this thread. I do like watching the races but for some reason I don't make a point of catching them live like I do with F1/Indycar/Nascar. Always like to see Shedden do well as he was instructing on my first Knockhill track day. It'll be intersesting to see how Subaru do. I'm biased though being on my third and as someone said they should be blue and yellow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorge Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 I was there that day - 1998. It was chucking it down, then dried up for a bit but started chucking it down again before the second race. Derek Warwick got a spawny victory because he crashed at the first corner and had to pit so put on wets before everyone else. They still did park and ride to the carparks back then but as we were already drenched we just walked rather than wait in the queue for the bus! That's the one, yep. Was at the first corner for race 1 and at Clarks for the second, saw some cracking shunts that day! Nearly two hours to get back on the motorway after almost getting bogged down in the carpark, hah... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarto Mutiny Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 The thing that always puts me off Knockhill is that the car parks are always an utter shambles. They seem to have a new system in place every year, and yet they haven't hit upon one that actually works. Took over two hours to get out last time I was there in 2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gianfranco Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 I'd call myself a casual fan of this I maybe watched 4 or 5 races last year including the last one which was incredible. I used to know every single track as well mainly due to the TOCA touring cars game by codemasters. Great game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 I was there that day - 1998. It was chucking it down, then dried up for a bit but started chucking it down again before the second race. Derek Warwick got a spawny victory because he crashed at the first corner and had to pit so put on wets before everyone else. My favourite Christmas present of all time (still is, don't know if that's sad or not) was a VHS of the 1998 season highlights and what really got me into motor racing as a kid. Absolutely loved it, I'm sure its still in a box in the loft somewhere despite not owning a VCR for over a decade, just can't bring myself to get rid of it. Watched the highlights of the Goodwood Meeting the other night there as well, seeing the Super Tourers on track had me grinning ear to ear. So much nostalgia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 I'd call myself a casual fan of this I maybe watched 4 or 5 races last year including the last one which was incredible. I used to know every single track as well mainly due to the TOCA touring cars game by codemasters. Great game Toca 2 on PC I wish they'd bring out a modern version of it, it got so many people into the sport. My favourite Christmas present of all time (still is, don't know if that's sad or not) was a VHS of the 1998 season highlights and what really got me into motor racing as a kid. Absolutely loved it, I'm sure its still in a box in the loft somewhere despite not owning a VCR for over a decade, just can't bring myself to get rid of it. Watched the highlights of the Goodwood Meeting the other night there as well, seeing the Super Tourers on track had me grinning ear to ear. So much nostalgia. The Supertourers are racing at Knockhill this year, 10/11 of September I think it is. Absolutely cannot wait. I'm a complete nerd when it comes to BTCC between about '91 and '00! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 I started following this account on Twitter today: https://twitter.com/1990sBTCC I tried to get TOCA 2 to work on my PC a year or so again but it didn't like Windows 9/10. Got as far as choosing a team before it crashed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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