[BTCC] 2008 Season

WTCC, BTCC, DTM and Aussie V8s
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HC
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[BTCC] 2008 Season

#1

Post by HC »

BTCC 2008 Season
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Finally we have enough people that like this series, so here's the 2008 season thread.
2008 Calendar

1/Brands Hatch
30/Mar/2008
2/Rockingham
13/Apr/2008
3/Donington Park
04/May/2008
4/Thruxton
18/May/2008
5/Croft
01/Jun/2008
6/Snetterton
13/Jul/2008
7/Oulton Park
27/Jul/2008
8/Knockhill
17/Aug/2008
9/Silverstone
31/Aug/2008
10/Brands Hatch
21/Sep/2008
Next year looks to be an even more exciting year. With more cars and the Ginetta's on the support bill. I was planning on visiting one of the Brands rounds but since it's so far away I'm not sure yet.

Don't forget to catch Tin Top Tuesday, the radio show devoted to BTCC.
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#2

Post by PTRACER »

I only watched one or two races last year, thanks to working 6 full days a week and not having much free time on my hands.

Was last year pretty good?
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#3

Post by HC »

I would say so. There was only one race which I thought was boring for a couple of laps. Now are these all sprint races that only take something like 30 minutes. Still it's awesome that they won't bore you for a single second.

It was a very close fought championship, all the way till the last lap. Sadly Neal did some dirty driving to help his new 2008 team. There were a couple of new cars, the new Opel, the new Honda Civic, Team RAC had 2006 WTCC BMW's. Young blood with Onslow-Cole and Jackson. Rain was a big factor, who doesn't forget Oulton Park and Donington Park. Although there were some fairly big shunts I thought it was a pretty clean championship, fought by two great legends in touring car racing. Also Rockingham made its return, last time they raced there was 2003 I think. So lots of excitement.

Best moment of the year was that Setanta pit reporter asking some famous TV star if she liked boys playing with each other. Setanta did a good job replacing MotorsTV.
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#4

Post by Jonathan McLeod »

Just to correct something, the RAC BMWs were brand new 2007 cars, not from the WTCC.

The number of entries already certain before the Autosport show this year is very promising. 19 firmly announced entries to date and quite a few more in the works.

The Autosport show should provide some more news later this week.
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#5

Post by PTRACER »

HC wrote:Sadly Neal did some dirty driving to help his new 2008 team.
Oh yes, I heard about that. I despise that sort of thing, I really do.
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#6

Post by HC »

Jonathan McLeod wrote:The Autosport show should provide some more news later this week.
I know some of you are members at MotorsTV but for the ones that haven't read it yet.

The Autosport International is the world’s premier motorsport exhibition and Motors TV will be on hand to provide exclusive coverage of the event. In two special programmes, showing at 9pm on Sunday January 20 and Sunday January 27, Motors will go behind the scenes to bring viewers the latest news from the NEC in Birmingham.
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#7

Post by Cheeveer »

You guys should check out STCC.
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#8

Post by OSNOF »

PTRACER wrote:
HC wrote:Sadly Neal did some dirty driving to help his new 2008 team.
Oh yes, I heard about that. I despise that sort of thing, I really do.
I despise Jason Plato, so I didn't really mind too much about that. I am however sorry that he got burned by the Caparo the Tuesday beforehand- no-one deserves that in the first place, and on a BTCC level, it did spoil the quality of the title fight.

2007 was probably the best season in a long time. The racing was still as good, but it was far more genuine than it had been in previous seasons. Mainly because Rob Collard had left. The most exciting weekend (note the word 'exciting' and not 'best racing') was probably the second Brands meeting. You had a 10-car pile-up at the start of the first race, some rather stupid driving in wet conditions in the second race, and a superb race in the third race, where Fabrizio turned rallycross driver for a few seconds, and a great fight for 3rd.

As far as 2008 is concerned, it should be more of the same. Consistently good quality racing with a healthy field.
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#9

Post by Toto87 »

HC wrote:Best moment of the year was that Setanta pit reporter asking some famous TV star if she liked boys playing with each other. Setanta did a good job replacing MotorsTV.
Yeah this one also made me LOL. :haha: 2007 was one of the best year for the series, fantastic battle for the champ in the last race of the season, all the races were exciting !

By the way, talking about TV coverage of the BTCC, what channel is going to broadcast the season this year ? Still ITV & Setanta Sports ? I used to watch BTCC on MotorsTV back in the days (from 2002 to 2006) with all the support races but now we get no coverage at all.

I always perfered BTCC over WTCC/ETCC and DTM. Now WTCC and DTM are going backward in term of racing, so BTCC is easily the best Touring car series. :thumbsup: We need MotorsTV to get the right of showing this series again ! Pls MotorsTV, do that for us.
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#10

Post by PTRACER »

I guess I'll be watching the repeats on ITV then. There's no way I'm going to pay for Setanta.
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#11

Post by kart99 »

Toto87 wrote:
HC wrote:Best moment of the year was that Setanta pit reporter asking some famous TV star if she liked boys playing with each other. Setanta did a good job replacing MotorsTV.
Yeah this one also made me LOL. :haha: 2007 was one of the best year for the series, fantastic battle for the champ in the last race of the season, all the races were exciting !

By the way, talking about TV coverage of the BTCC, what channel is going to broadcast the season this year ? Still ITV & Setanta Sports ? I used to watch BTCC on MotorsTV back in the days (from 2002 to 2006) with all the support races but now we get no coverage at all.

I always perfered BTCC over WTCC/ETCC and DTM. Now WTCC and DTM are going backward in term of racing, so BTCC is easily the best Touring car series. :thumbsup: We need MotorsTV to get the right of showing this series again ! Pls MotorsTV, do that for us.
I believe it is still ITV/Setanta that have the rights to show races live etc.

I have to say I am really looking froward to this season. We have got new cars in the fied for the first time, eg the Chevy Lacettis that Robertshaw racing will be running, and a lot of top line drivers in it now. The 2007 season was a great season, decided only in the final race. This year looks like its going to be an absolute cracker, with new teams and cars and drivers, as well as the fact that cars that have been built specifically for this championship, such as the Team RAC BMW's, Team Dynamics Civics, and the VX Racing Vectras will now be fully developed, and it looks like the grid will be strong in numbers again. Overall I am looking forward to this season andcannot wait for it to start.
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#12

Post by Warren »

When was the last time a Rear Wheel Drive car raced in this series?
What if?
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#13

Post by PTRACER »

BMW in 1996. They were given weight penalties that year, if I remember correctly, while the four wheel drive Audis weren't.
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#14

Post by ellis »

There was RWD Lexus's (Lexi?) in the last few years and the current BMW lot of course.

Audi got a weight penalty later in the year in 1996. And a bigger one for 1997.
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#15

Post by Warren »

Kewl. I don't follow the series and the last time I did see some clips(few years, now), it was all Front Drivers, or seemed to be.
What if?
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