I never did keep this blog up but I am looking at restarting it although there is little of 2020 left and all the crap we have been through means I will be looking at the ends of the championship year but I will try my best to catch up.
Tuesday, 3 November 2020
Tuesday, 4 April 2017
BTCC Round 1 - Brands Hatch Indy Circuit 2017
So the BTCC Season is finally underway at the Indy Circuit at Brands Hatch. The next time we are here will be for the final round and if the end is as good as the start we are in for a cracking year.
Qualifying was hit by rain and in the topsy turvey world that such conditions produce we saw the Eurotech of Jeff Smith takes his first ever touring car pole infront of Tom Ingram in the evergreen Toyota. The Hondas of Shedden and Neal made up the 2nd row with the first of the BMW's driven by Turkington in 5th and Morgan's Mercedes in 6th.The BMR Subaru's, despite all the pre-season hype, could not manage better than 18th in the hands of Plato with Sutton 4 places further back after a rather fraught qualifying for the BMR newcomer.
Race day dawned bright and sunny with blue skies and a very warm track.
Race one saw a safety car as Matt Neal in the Honda and Colin Turkington in the BMW came together at the start leaving both cars out of the race and needing some work by the teams for race 2.
Tingram had quickly got past Smith at the start to gain a lead he was never to lose despite some pressure from Shedden in the Honda. Smith slowly fell down the order gaining a few dents as he did so.
Behind there were moments aplenty with most cars bearing scars of their encounters but that is really a product of the Indy Circuit which always produces close racing.
Race 2 saw yet another start line incident as Plato in the Subaru was turned into the pit wall which he impacted heavily leaving him needing attention and his car recovering. The race was red flagged and once the debris was removed the race restarted over a shorter distance.
Ingram initially led but the winners ballast showed and Shedden was able to get past him and into a lead he wouldnt lose.Ingram initially held 2nd but an on form Rob Collard in the BMW finally got past Ingram to make it onto the podium for BMW.
Race 3 had the Vauxhall of Tom Chilton on pole, it would have been Josh Cook in the Ford but Rob Austin was disqualified from race 2 which shuffled the positions meaning Cook was now in second.
The start saw the BMW of Jordan rocket away from 3rd place to lead into Paddock Hill, again he was not to lose this lead giving the Pirtek liveried car its maiden victory. Behind him Chilton's Vauxhall held second with the Ford of Cook being pushed down the order.
Turkington made good progress from his 10th place start to be behind the Vauxhall by mid distance. He made the pass on Chilton and set about trying to catch Jordan which he almost did but Jordan held on to give BMW its first double on the podium this year. Chilton gave returnee manufacturer its first podium with a fine 3rd place.
On now to Donnington, cant wait.
Qualifying was hit by rain and in the topsy turvey world that such conditions produce we saw the Eurotech of Jeff Smith takes his first ever touring car pole infront of Tom Ingram in the evergreen Toyota. The Hondas of Shedden and Neal made up the 2nd row with the first of the BMW's driven by Turkington in 5th and Morgan's Mercedes in 6th.The BMR Subaru's, despite all the pre-season hype, could not manage better than 18th in the hands of Plato with Sutton 4 places further back after a rather fraught qualifying for the BMR newcomer.
Race day dawned bright and sunny with blue skies and a very warm track.
Race one saw a safety car as Matt Neal in the Honda and Colin Turkington in the BMW came together at the start leaving both cars out of the race and needing some work by the teams for race 2.
Tingram had quickly got past Smith at the start to gain a lead he was never to lose despite some pressure from Shedden in the Honda. Smith slowly fell down the order gaining a few dents as he did so.
Behind there were moments aplenty with most cars bearing scars of their encounters but that is really a product of the Indy Circuit which always produces close racing.
Race 2 saw yet another start line incident as Plato in the Subaru was turned into the pit wall which he impacted heavily leaving him needing attention and his car recovering. The race was red flagged and once the debris was removed the race restarted over a shorter distance.
Ingram initially led but the winners ballast showed and Shedden was able to get past him and into a lead he wouldnt lose.Ingram initially held 2nd but an on form Rob Collard in the BMW finally got past Ingram to make it onto the podium for BMW.
Race 3 had the Vauxhall of Tom Chilton on pole, it would have been Josh Cook in the Ford but Rob Austin was disqualified from race 2 which shuffled the positions meaning Cook was now in second.
The start saw the BMW of Jordan rocket away from 3rd place to lead into Paddock Hill, again he was not to lose this lead giving the Pirtek liveried car its maiden victory. Behind him Chilton's Vauxhall held second with the Ford of Cook being pushed down the order.
Turkington made good progress from his 10th place start to be behind the Vauxhall by mid distance. He made the pass on Chilton and set about trying to catch Jordan which he almost did but Jordan held on to give BMW its first double on the podium this year. Chilton gave returnee manufacturer its first podium with a fine 3rd place.
On now to Donnington, cant wait.
Friday, 31 March 2017
BTCC 2017 Season Opener
This weekend around the Indy Circuit at Brands Hatch in Kent the British Touring Car Championship gets underway. This year there really isn't a favorite to win as there have been lots of changes in the field with new driver combinations from the front to the back of the grid. Ashley Sutton moves from MG to take the wheel of one of BRM's Subaru Levorg's, his place in the MG 6 is taken by ex-BKR man Aron Taylor-Smith. The other MG man is Dan Lloyd who takes over from Josh Cook who has moved to Team Parker replacing the injured Stewart Lines.
A full run down of the men and their teams is:
Halfords Yuasa Racing - Honda Civic Type R - Matt Neal & Gordon Shedden
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing - Subaru Levorg - Ashley Sutton, James Cole, Jason Plato & Josh Price
MG Racing RCIB Insurance - MG6 - Aron Taylor-Smith & Dan Lloyd
Team BMW & BMW Pirtek Racing - BMW 125i M Sport - Andrew Jordan, Colin Turkington & Rob Collard
Eurotech Racing - Honda Civic - Jack Goff & Jeff Smith
Ciceley Motorsport - Mercedes Benz A Class - Adam Morgan
Speedworks Motorsport - Toyota Avensis - Tom Ingram
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts - Audi S3 Saloon - Ant Whorton-Eales & Ollie Jackson
Laser tools Racing - Mercedes A Class - Aiden Moffat
Handy Motorsport - Toyota Avensis - Rob Austin
Power Maxed Racing - Vauxhall Astra - Senna Proctor & Tom Chilton
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo - Ford Focus - Matt Jackson, Martin Depper & Luke Davenport
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport - Ford Focus - Josh Cook & Stephen Jelley
TAG Racing & Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing - VW CC - Michael Epps, Jake Hill & Will Burns
Simpson Racing - Honda Civic Type R - Matt Simpson
BTC Norlin Racing - Chevrolet Cruze - Chris Smiley & Dave Newsham
As you can see there are no real tail end charlies that stick out from the rest and there are a lot of very quick drivers some of whom are young men who would like to make their mark, Cant wait till Sunday
A full run down of the men and their teams is:
Halfords Yuasa Racing - Honda Civic Type R - Matt Neal & Gordon Shedden
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing - Subaru Levorg - Ashley Sutton, James Cole, Jason Plato & Josh Price
MG Racing RCIB Insurance - MG6 - Aron Taylor-Smith & Dan Lloyd
Team BMW & BMW Pirtek Racing - BMW 125i M Sport - Andrew Jordan, Colin Turkington & Rob Collard
Eurotech Racing - Honda Civic - Jack Goff & Jeff Smith
Ciceley Motorsport - Mercedes Benz A Class - Adam Morgan
Speedworks Motorsport - Toyota Avensis - Tom Ingram
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts - Audi S3 Saloon - Ant Whorton-Eales & Ollie Jackson
Laser tools Racing - Mercedes A Class - Aiden Moffat
Handy Motorsport - Toyota Avensis - Rob Austin
Power Maxed Racing - Vauxhall Astra - Senna Proctor & Tom Chilton
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo - Ford Focus - Matt Jackson, Martin Depper & Luke Davenport
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport - Ford Focus - Josh Cook & Stephen Jelley
TAG Racing & Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing - VW CC - Michael Epps, Jake Hill & Will Burns
Simpson Racing - Honda Civic Type R - Matt Simpson
BTC Norlin Racing - Chevrolet Cruze - Chris Smiley & Dave Newsham
As you can see there are no real tail end charlies that stick out from the rest and there are a lot of very quick drivers some of whom are young men who would like to make their mark, Cant wait till Sunday
Sunday, 26 March 2017
Formula One Australian Grand Prix 2017
So, that was a bit of a surprise result although not completely unexpected either. With McLaren dropping the ball slightly and with the Ferrari and McLaren looking more or less equal on pace, Ferrari perhaps are a bit quicker in race trim, the story of the season could be a lot different from the last few.
Vettel in the early laps of the race certainly looked faster that Hamilton and if he could have got past he would probably have pulled away. The pass, disappointingly, came in the pits as Hamilton stopped for a new set of soft tyres and looked like he had a small enough gap to keep the Ferrari behind him after Vettel's stop but then he caught Verstappen and found it impossible to get past the Red Bull.
Vettel quickly built a sufficient gap and pitted to return to the track in front of the Red Bull and Mercedes, just!
And thus it remained, once Verstappen pitted, to the end of the race giving Ferrari a useful lead in the World championship.
Reliability of these new cars is a bit suspect with almost everyone including Hamilton complaining of problems.
The racing was very processional with little overtaking especially at the sharp end. Lets hope it was just the nature of this rather narrow point and squirt track.
Vettel in the early laps of the race certainly looked faster that Hamilton and if he could have got past he would probably have pulled away. The pass, disappointingly, came in the pits as Hamilton stopped for a new set of soft tyres and looked like he had a small enough gap to keep the Ferrari behind him after Vettel's stop but then he caught Verstappen and found it impossible to get past the Red Bull.
Vettel quickly built a sufficient gap and pitted to return to the track in front of the Red Bull and Mercedes, just!
And thus it remained, once Verstappen pitted, to the end of the race giving Ferrari a useful lead in the World championship.
Reliability of these new cars is a bit suspect with almost everyone including Hamilton complaining of problems.
The racing was very processional with little overtaking especially at the sharp end. Lets hope it was just the nature of this rather narrow point and squirt track.
Saturday, 25 March 2017
2017 is GO!!
I have always loved motorsport in all its forms and I have followed both Formula one and Moto GP for as long as I can remember. In the last 10 years or so I have added the British Touring Car Championship to my roster of interest.
This weekend (25th & 26th March) sees the first F1 race of 2017 in Australia and the Moto GP Qatar Grand Prix.
Qualifying has taken place in Australia with Hamilton's Mercedes on pole infront of Vettel in the Ferrari with the new bigger, heavier and faster cars looking much better than before and, it would seem, closer times. Tomorrows race will be interesting.
MotoGP qualifying is also about to start with some mixed times in practice with Vinales heading FP1 and FP3 and Scott Redding in FP2 so qually will be interesting, Unfortunately due to the series not being televised on terrestrial TV I wont actually see it for a week or so.
Results will appear on the appropriate results page.
This weekend (25th & 26th March) sees the first F1 race of 2017 in Australia and the Moto GP Qatar Grand Prix.
Qualifying has taken place in Australia with Hamilton's Mercedes on pole infront of Vettel in the Ferrari with the new bigger, heavier and faster cars looking much better than before and, it would seem, closer times. Tomorrows race will be interesting.
MotoGP qualifying is also about to start with some mixed times in practice with Vinales heading FP1 and FP3 and Scott Redding in FP2 so qually will be interesting, Unfortunately due to the series not being televised on terrestrial TV I wont actually see it for a week or so.
Results will appear on the appropriate results page.
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