BTCC Live - Disappointing

Words I would use to describe my day at Rockingham for the latest round of the British Touring Cars...

Shocking, distant, disappointed, lacking, cold, windy.

Let me try this again.

In 2012, can families be expected to pay £30 per adult (children were free) just to watch cars race round a track. You may think that a strange question, after all I was at a race meeting where the focal point tends to be cars racing round a track... But hear me out.

I was brought up going with my Dad to watch BTCC meetings at various tracks, DTM at Donington, and Eurocar meetings at Mallory Park among others, along with other race meetings.

Back then BTCC was in its hey day, the height of the 2.0 litre era with Cleland, battling Hoy, Menu, Tarquini among many others. Vauxhall, Ford, Renault BMW, Audi, Alfa Romeo etc, back then the list was long. I saw Nigel Mansell stuff his Mondeo in the wall at the Old Hairpin at Donington. You get the idea.

That was then, and this is now. Now I am the Dad taking my girls to see racing live... And I question whether it is enough for an events organiser in 2012 to simply say here is some racing, come see?

At a club level this is fine. The focus is more on the drivers than the spectators. However BTCC is supposed to be the top National racing series, and therefore the event should be the best day out in the Country as well.

Unfortunately I was disappointed. If the BTCC is to attract sponsors the show must not only look good on TV but also at the track, and to me families are the key. Gone are the days of a Dad taking his son to a cold, muddy circuit with smelly toilets and bad food. In 2012 families have many options and little money so a day out must be complete. The Mom must be entertained, the children must have fun and the Dad must enjoy himself as well. Smelly toilets and a muddy bank don't cut it anymore.

Now Rockingham has never had old school facilities and does not do muddy banks and I was glad to see that the place looked as good as ever!

However one thing Rockingham used to understand was how to put on a show for a family. How to get the fans and the families involved in the day, how to bring the business of "show" to the races.

A BTCC meeting could do with a bit more "show" and a bit more family. It could also do a lot more to take the racing and the cars to the paying public. We wanted to walk round the support paddock before the first touring car race only to find the paddock appeared to be closed to spectators! We found a gap in the fence and went in anyway but we were the only people there. Since when did stopping the fans going into a paddock become the norm, I was appalled. Even the BTCC pit road walkabout at lunch time was not good enough. The teams could at least push one of their cars out of the garage so the fans can actually get close to a real race car, er no.

Maybe my day was blighted by the bitterly cold weather. Maybe returning to Rockingham is harder for me than I expected because of my history with the place. Maybe I am a bit out of touch with live motorsport in this country, or maybe just maybe putting some cars on a track and saying there you go is not good enough anymore.

When I was at Rockingham we did everything we could to firstly take the racing, the cars and the drivers out of the garages and up to the fans, and secondly make the events a full family day out. I had hoped British motorsport had learnt something from that... Apparently not.

My daughter is now an MG fan with a picture of Platos MG6 on her wall so it wasn't all bad, but as a family day out it could have been so much more.

Come on Mr Gow, you are getting the Championship right, now concentrate on the events.

In 2012 a family day out at the touring cars should be so much better.

Good days racing... S'pose...

Good family day out... No...

Shame...

PS Thank you to Colin and Sue White of CWS for your hospitality. It was good to catch up!

Crossing Over To The Other Side

Why can I not get excited about Kimi Raikkonen testing and racing a NASCAR Craftsman Truck?

When Juan Pablo Montoya started in NASCAR I thought he was the sort of driver who could do well. He had raced in the IRL and won the Indy 500, and he had never really fitted in in F1 as he was a “racer” not a corporate “driver”. He was more likely to crash trying to overtake you than execute the perfect pit stop strategy and win.

I guess I don’t see Kimi as that sort of driver. Maybe I am being harsh. We are talking about a driver who went rallying, because he wanted too! To give him credit, he is starting out his NASCAR adventure in the Craftsman Truck series. Many non-American drivers have tried to break into stock car racing by jumping straight into a Cup or Nationwide car and then failed to learn the craft or make an impact.

If you are going to make it work you have to do your time, earn the respect. Obviously you have to learn to drive the cars, but for a driver from a “European” background you also have to learn the etiquette. Grooves are an alien concept in most European racing, especially single seaters and that includes F1. In Europe we have a racing line, not grooves, we have no idea of spotters and quite frankly not many race cars even have three pedals anymore.

So which non-American drivers would I like to see testing or racing a NASCAR Craftsman Truck?

If, like me, you are from this side of the pond, you may have a favourite short oval driver who you would like to see have a shot at the big time. You may even have a favourite ex-ASCAR or Pickup Truck driver who could give it a go, or a BTCC driver you think might make it. But in terms of F1 or other international series?

With moderns form of communication and transport the world is not as big as it used to be, however in racing terms I still believe the world to be a big place.

I believe different parts of the world have different styles of racing that work in their own markets but don’t necessarily work in other parts of the world. In the UK we like F1 and touring cars. In Australia they love touring cars too, but theirs are very different to the UK machines. The same applies to Germany. In Japan they like a different sort of racing again. Americans love NASCAR, but we are not talking about moving championships, we are talking about drivers crossing over. Drivers like Marcos Ambrose, and JPM have switched disciples successfully. Others like Sam Hornish and Dario Franchitti found it much, much harder.

Would I like to see Messrs Hamilton or Button in a Cup car? No. I would rather NASCAR concentrate on developing the next generation of American stock car drivers.

I have nothing against international drivers racing in NASCAR as long as they earn their place, and as long as the series for the “good old boys” stays true to that.

Favourite Race Cars Part 4 - Anything Else

With the motor racing off season upon us I found myself questioning... what does the author of a topical motorsport based blog write about when there is no racing??

The first answer I came up with is to talk about what I love about racing, starting with my favourite race cars, so here we go... last of all...  Part 4... Anything Else.. 

LE MANS

I am not the biggest Le Mans fan but the stand out cars for me are...

1964 Le Mans winning Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe - just gorgeous!

The 1989 Le Mans winning Sauber Mercedes was a good looking race car; they even cleaned the Mercedes badge on the front in the pit stops.







1991 Jaguar XJR1- even though it was purple.

1998 Panoz GTR1 - Not good looking... not very quick... but such character.







OTHERS - just 'cos I can...

1990-1992 Jaguar XJR-15 - The one make series was not around for long but in its day it was stunning.

1993 DTM Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI - came with matching brght red, and always immaculate, transporters.

I am not a rally fan but if I had to choose; the Ford RS200.







A list of my favourite race cars would not be finished without...

So, not the shortest list, and not in any way definitive (no GT40, Lotus Cortina, Mk1 (touring car) Mini Cooper, Ford Coupe bodied Legend, IROC Dodge Avenger, Lightning Rod Sierra, step away from the keyboard...), but a talking point nevertheless!!

I hope you enjoyed my favourite race car list, now what about yours...

I've Been Thinking...

Did not get to watch this year's Bathurst 1000 as it is not on any TV channel I can get... pity, that's one great piece of tarmac!!

Good Cup race from Charlotte. Lots of 2 and 3 wide racing... pity Jimmie couldn't get alongside Kyle at the end though... 

Chase now down to 3?? Depends if Talladega brings any upsets; have a bad day there and you won't finish in 20th, you'll finish in the wall!! Fancy partnering the 48 in the draft?? 

If Harvick or Hamlin want to beat the 48 at the end of the year, they need to start beating the 48 now!!

First pictures of 2011 Cup cars are filtering out. The new fronts look good!!

Kasey Kahne leaves RPM... In one way, I can't say I blame him as they obviously don't get on, and the results are showing this... but... he should have stayed to the end of the year!!

Autosport headline "Raikkonen to miss rally after crash"... so where's the news...

Another Autosport headline "Korean track hailed by F1 drivers"... they haven't started practice yet!!

I very rarely watch a Grand Prix live, I watch the races later in the day. The advantage is that I can miss the build-up, watch the start and when I get bored speed the race up until something interesting happens, or the race finishes. Some races I watch at 30 times speed, and the better ones at only 12 or even 6 times speed! Lets see what happens this weekend...

Go Webber!!

DTM in America?? It might give the Japanese manufacturers something to have fun with but will anybody care??

Charlotte was the last Nationwide race of 2010 for the pretty new cars... roll on 2011!!

NASCAR to use E15 ethanol next year, and fuel injection on the way... just stay away from bigger wheels, bigger brakes, and sequential shift transmissions!!

Just read the "official" top 50 jokes, no sign of Ecclestone in the list... Man walks into a bar and asks for David Coulthards personality, barman says I don't work miracles, I just serve drinks...

How do you set up 43 NASCAR drivers for a big ol' bar room brawl... Have at it boys, then near the end of the year race at a flat half mile short track and a restrictor plate track... back to back!!! Sounds like fun...