BTCC 2018 : All Chat Here

GlennM

RMS Regular
Messages
253
Location
Greenisland
Drives
335d
Good coverage on ITV4 of the best motor racing on the planet. More overtaking in two laps than you'd see watching a full year of F1!!
Good start to the year from our local drivers in BTCC and the Porsche 911s.
Totally Agree! Fantastic racing... even the Ginetta Juniors was crazy exciting!

Yeah Carrickfergus lad Chris Smiley done really well on the BTC Norlin Civic! Shame about the Race 3 incident though!
 

MagicRat

RMS Regular
Messages
329
Location
Nabbey
Drives
JapScrap
Good to see Chris Smiley and the Norlin team get their first podium. Rotten luck for Colin Turkington in all three races. Can't believe so few people comment on the best motor racing series on tv, considering the amount of local participation on track.
 

svensktoppen

RMS Regular
Messages
32,749
Drives
FK2 CTR
Managed to miss out on btcc this year, must get on it again. Still best race series around, full stop!
 

MagicRat

RMS Regular
Messages
329
Location
Nabbey
Drives
JapScrap
Great to see Colin win his first race of the year, especially after losing his mum. Not a good day for Chris Smiley and the Norlin team. Very happy to see young Dan Harper win for the first time in the Porsche.
 

MagicRat

RMS Regular
Messages
329
Location
Nabbey
Drives
JapScrap
2019 Calendar announced today.....no Rockingham next year, Thruxton is getting a second date.
 

MagicRat

RMS Regular
Messages
329
Location
Nabbey
Drives
JapScrap
Great result for Chris Smiley today, first BTCC win!! Plus he got away with punting off that c unit Plato in the first race.
 

svensktoppen

RMS Regular
Messages
32,749
Drives
FK2 CTR
Have managed to miss all the races this year... What Freeview channel is it on now?
 

surprising_skoda

RMS Regular
OP
surprising_skoda
Messages
3,807
Location
Dungannon
Drives
Skoda/BMW/Austin
Well it's time to update this seeing there's been races but nobody's been talking!
Tomorrow is the decider. Silverstone was supposed to be the one it got wrapped up at but thanks to some great determination from the leading drivers it is going down to the wire. Well, Ashley Sutton had a spate of bad results at the last meeting and before he started the third race of the day he knew he couldn't do it, on the hard tyre from the back of the grid there was no hope, and he couldn't make up enough points so he is totally out of the championship running now.
Colin wielded the BMW hard, limiting the points lost, but Tom Ingram was scorching around in the Toyota and has closed the gap right down to just 30-odd points. Tom Chilton got some decent points too so he's kept it possible but probably not likely unless the other two have the worst possible weekend.
But it's all Hondas at the front for the last 3 rounds at Brands so who knows? The three contenders are 15th, 17th and 19th on the grid for the first race and anything can happen around the first lap in the mid-field.
 

Rooneyrocket

RMS Regular
Messages
695
Location
Belfast
Drives
CRV
Tom Ingram has been flying, proper man on a mission job showing the big manufacturers up this year but can he make the final push. I really doubt it though due to Turkingtons experience he just knows how to score points leading the championship with only one win to his name this year, consistency seems to be the key but then again anything can happened at the first turn at batchs. Expecting an exciting day ahead myself tomorrow.

Would be nice to see the BTC Norlin guys perform well as the hondas are quick here.
 

MagicRat

RMS Regular
Messages
329
Location
Nabbey
Drives
JapScrap
Good luck Colin, hoping he can wrap it up in race 1. I was at Brands Hatch when he won it in 2014, that bar steward Plato punted Colin right off in race 2 and everyone could see it coming, happened right in front of me just at the pit exit, wasn't a nudge or a racing incident, it was a full smack up the rest end.

I spoke to Colin after the face and offered to give Plato a good digging to which gentleman Colin declined but Rob Collard & Nick Foster were up for it.

Fingers & toes crossed for today, couldn't make it over for the finale as I'm in Japan.
 

Dan.86

RMS Regular
Messages
8,889
Maybe not the dramatic dog fight we were looking for the but the right man won. Great work by Turkington just bagging the points and keeping the focus.

Really felt for them given the year they’ve had. Well deserved.
 

svensktoppen

RMS Regular
Messages
32,749
Drives
FK2 CTR
Spent the weekend catching up on the last few BTCC races, managed to miss most of it this season. Beats F1 and MotoGP hands down, lol.

Last race at Brands is always good, and this one was no different. I thought it would go down to the wire with the disaster of race two but Colin just scraped through with a little help (quite a lot of help actually, lol) from a fellow BMW racer.

That aside, I wouldn't have minded at all of Ingram had made it, that's a stellar season and incredible achievement by an independent driver to even be in the running for top spot!
 

MagicRat

RMS Regular
Messages
329
Location
Nabbey
Drives
JapScrap
Couldn't get the ITV player to work so just been reading the race reports on the BTCC website. Great season from Colin and a worthy champion. It's a very difficult title to defend so I hope Tom Ingram has better luck next year and he's the 2019 champion.
 

surprising_skoda

RMS Regular
OP
surprising_skoda
Messages
3,807
Location
Dungannon
Drives
Skoda/BMW/Austin
Couldn't get the ITV player to work so just been reading the race reports on the BTCC website. Great season from Colin and a worthy champion. It's a very difficult title to defend so I hope Tom Ingram has better luck next year and he's the 2019 champion.
Or Andrew Jordan, a very likeable chap and would keep the BMWs at the top. I was glad to see some independents running right up there this season. And glad to see that none of the push to pass drivers were too high up the order, clean good racing was the way to win this year.
 

MagicRat

RMS Regular
Messages
329
Location
Nabbey
Drives
JapScrap
BMW this year, Subaru last year, so it's a good bet that a FWD car will win the championship next year. Alan Gow doesn't like any driver, car, or team to dominate so there might be more equalization for rear wheel drive next year.

I think Dan Cammish is a contender for next year. His record before Touring cars is excellent, he's had his first year including two wins and Team Dynamics know how to win the championship. They have the newest equipment which they've developed over the year so they should be on pace from race 1.

It'll be an interesting few months ahead with drivers and cars changing teams, it's already started with Eurotech announcing their withdrawal - good because Brett Smith always appeared out of his depth and involved in unnecessary accidents in every race. Speculation has already started on who's bought the 2 Civics, possibly AMD or the Jordan family coming back as a team. Now that would be interesting as Andy Jordan in a Civic would be a race winner and title contender. His record in FWD is much superior than RWD and he has been overshadowed by Colin over the past two years at WSR.
 

Dan.86

RMS Regular
Messages
8,889
You could be right but a paid driver spot on a premium brand would be some package to give up. Unless their contracts are coming to an end.
 

dufunk

RMS Regular
Messages
2,248
Location
Moon
Team-Toyota-GB-with-Speedworks-Motorsport-2019-Corolla-1.jpg


Team-Toyota-GB-with-Speedworks-Motorsport-2019-Corolla-2.jpg


Team-Toyota-GB-with-Speedworks-Motorsport-2019-Corolla-3.jpg


Better looking than the Avensis anyway.
 

MagicRat

RMS Regular
Messages
329
Location
Nabbey
Drives
JapScrap
Plenty of changes for 2019 and we haven't reached the end of November. Toyota giving factory support to Tom Ingram and Speedworks in 2019 with the Corolla, moving to a two car team in 2020. The Avensis has been racing since 2011.

Kwik Fit on board as the new title sponsor, hence the number plate on the Corolla and new reduced ballast weights for 2019. AMD have purchased the Eurotech Honda Civics and a new team have the MGs that AMD were running this year. New drivers in at Team Hard, but that happens every other weekend.
 

svensktoppen

RMS Regular
Messages
32,749
Drives
FK2 CTR
That's awesome, and very well deserved :cool:

Where does he sit now in the pantheon of BTCC greats? Three championships, tons of wins, must be getting near the top?
 

Dan.86

RMS Regular
Messages
8,889
That's awesome, and very well deserved :cool:

Where does he sit now in the pantheon of BTCC greats? Three championships, tons of wins, must be getting near the top?

Rouse has 4 titles and I think Plato pipped him for wins a good few years ago so not sure.
 
Top