BTCC: James Thompson wins 2002 Championship

[GilesGuthrie]

Well, today the BTCC was decided, at the last round. After blowing yet another engine, James Thompson, of the works Vauxhall team, took his Astra Coupe to the title, ending a season-long battle with his team-mate, the ice-racing king, Yvan Muller, and semi-works Egg Vauxhall Astra Coupe driver Matt Neal.

I went to a round of the BTCC this year at Knockhill, and can confirm that after some time 'in the woods', the BTCC is back, with its new rules working stunningly well. Although Vauchall are still dominant, being the only works team to have completed two years' development, MG and Honda are catching up, Honda especially, with their Civic Type-R and hotshot drivers Andy Priaulx and Alan Morrison. They were undoubtedly helped by superior durability of their engines, allowing them to do more testing under the 5 engines per season rule. James Thompson used something like 8, and all four Astra drivers suffered at the hands of the 5 point 'excess engine' penalty, and at not being able to test.

Whilst my own favourite driver (Neal) didn't win, I'm happy for James Thompson, and for the BTCC in general. It is indeed rocking again.

And here, to end this report, one of my pics from Knockhill...

 

[vat_man]

Hey Giles - is Matt Neal that guy that won that huge bonus for winning in a privateer Nissan a few years back?

They've just started showing the races here again, I saw one of the rounds from Brands I think, the series has certainly got a lot of variety in the cars - good to see Astras, Civics, MGs, Peugeots et al mixing it up. Is there any talk of anyone else coming aboard?

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Yeah, it was £250,000. There was some issue with it as I recall however. Neal was driving a year-old Nissan, and if memory serves, the works Nissans were new, and quite trick pieces of kit, but they weren't working properly, and so it was clear from the outset that the old car was quicker, at least initially.

The series is definitely working well. I think there's going to be a Touring class Alfa soon (147 I think). There might be a VW Bora soon. Manufacturers are definitely interested, I think that several are looking at it, including Ford, who are looking at running a TDCi Focus, even though the rules for diesel cars have yet to be set.

 

[vat_man]

Okay - I think I'd heard somewhere (probably Autosport) that Ford were looking to run diesel Focus (Foci?) - low pressure turbos, I hear (didn't we deal with that turbo nonsense in the 90's?).

It's interesting Alfa are looking to step up - I wonder if the two classes hasn't been a bit of a master-stroke, enabling manufacturers to jump in at a cheap, low profile level, and then move up to Touring class after a couple of seasons.

Let's hope it runs successfully for a while before the manufacturer dollars make it nonsensical (again).

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Yeah, the late 80s/early 90s were about turbos vs NAs, but there have been some reasonably successful endurance races with TDis vs petrol NA cars. The BTCC governing body are looking into it quite carefully though.

Alfa wouldn't really be stepping up, since they don't run in the Production class. The car they'd want to use in the Touring class is a 147, whereas those using Alfas in the production class are using 156s. I know that the Dynamics Alfa driven by Gavin Pyper was actually a road car purchased from an Alfa dealer... They're not getting any factory support at all.

As for the manufacturer dollars, well that's the cycle of motor racing!

 

[Talentless]

 

[sukerkin]

Nice to see you're a Touring car fan Giles.

I've never managed to get up to Knockhill for a round - it's a bit far for us Midlander's to do in a day trip. I tend to haunt Silverstone and Oulton Park (my personal favourite track).

As to new blood in the field, I've heard that Team Halfords will be dropping the 406 Coupe next year and might be introducing a Touring version of the 306. That'll give Tim 'Rammer' Harvey something new to smash up .

It was great to see the MG's showing some spirit later on this season wasn't it - I've got nothing against the Astra's but it was a bit of a one horse race last year. Plus, Reidy's one of my favourites so it was good he got a car that looks to be becoming competative.

James Kaye's another I hold in good esteem. I was a bit put out when he dropped the Accord (I used to love driving that in GT2) for, although the Civic is certainly a better car, (now they've got the bugs out) it just doesn't look the part of a Tourer. I know that's a tad shallow of me, I admit it .

Nice shot of Neal's Astra by the way. Very crisp and clear. What camera did you use? I've got a stack of pics from races but none can compare to the quality of what you posted. I use a Canon EOS 500 with an 80-220mm USM Tamron - not enough lens for motorsport photography really. I keep promising myself a better one ... maybe for next season

 

[GilesGuthrie]

I heard about the 307 too. I heard that Peugeot were saying they'd give any assistance they could that didn't involve cash, which is nice-ish!

As to the MGs, it does seem that they've got the bugs ironed out, but the team and whole organisation is riven with politics between Lola, WSR and MG themselves. Could be some trouble ahead.

And it is nice to see the Honda competitive. I see what you mean about it being less of a car than the Accord, but it does seem to be the case that racing cars are getting smaller these days - you only have to look to the dominance of the 206s in WRC to see where this trend's going to go.

And for your kind comments on the photo, thanks!

I use a Canon EOS50e 35mm SLR camera, and on that day I was using a 75-300mm lens and Fuji Superia 100 colour print film. I remember these things because there's so little variety!

Because I can control the length of the shutter speed, I've started to use slower film, so that I can pan with the subject. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I would imagine that that image was a 1/60s at F/5.6. That's normally what I'm using.

You should be OK with 200mm for a while, although the 75-300 F/4 - F/5.6 USM Canon lens is really cheap, at about £150. I'd like to get a superzoom - something like a 28-200 for pitlane work, when I never seem to have the right lens on! My dream is the Canon 100-400 lens with maximum aperture of F/2.8 and Image Stabilisation. But since it's £1,400, it's not gonna happen!

I want to get to more races next year, but my location sometimes works against me! Still with my father having guaranteed access to Silverstone, and a friend having a number of season tickets at Knockhill, there's no excuse for me next year (apart from the default: laziness!!!)

 

[sukerkin]

Hi Giles

I'd not heard about the politicing in the MG ranks, it'd be a shame if it got in the way of building the team so they can give a serious challenge to the Astra's next year.

As to my TAMRON, it's major problems seem to be an overall lack of sharpness and the fact that, if you're stuck in stands, a 220mm zoom just isn't enough ! On the plus side, the autofocus is so quick and accurate I don't bother with the manual modes on the Canon anymore (although perhaps I should considering that panning on a car as it flashed by Woodcote was giving the USM fits ).

 

[kristof]

AAAAAAh the BTCC!!! We won't see Alpha in a 147, they refused to back it in 2001 when one was entered and it failed miserably. This was due to them concentrating on the 156 as their racing model.

Very few privateer teams this year due to costs. Vauxhall and Honda are rumoured to enter 3 car teams, with MG and Proton entering 2 car teams. Privateers will probably be 2 MG's, 2Vauxhalls and maybe 2 Honda's.

VLR racing are on the verge of announcing an affiliation with Team B&Q York City Racing to enter a pair of production 307's with Tom Boardman rumoured to be driving one car and Jim Edwards Jnr in the other!

As for the future Ford are stronlgy rumoured to be in talks as long as some rules for deisels can be sorted, Peugeot may return if the production 307's turn out a success and we may also see Alpha returning to the fold!
If Ford decide against entering I'd expect to see Volvo being entered with the S60 instead!