BTCC is back...and better than ever

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

Sunday, 30 March 2014 marks the start of the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. One of motorsport’s most popular series’, certainly in the UK anyway is set for one of its most exciting seasons in its established history. The BTCC has been around since 1958 and has undergone radical reforms from class systems and night racing, to the super touring era of the 1990s. However none of these periods have what the fans can look forward to this season, as no fewer than seven…YES SEVEN champions line-up on the grid for the season opener at Brands Hatch in Kent.

Reigning champion Andrew Jordan returns to defend the crown he so brilliantly won last season for the Pirtek Racing Honda squad. To do that though, he must overcome challenges from the works Hondas of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden, the flamboyant Jason Plato from MG, BMW’s Colin Turkington and the returning Alain Menu and Fabrizio Giovanardi. All of the above have won the BTCC title, stretching back as far as 1997.

Crème of the crop

It was Brands Hatch that brought down the curtain on the 2013 title battle on a wet and windy October afternoon and Jordan held his nerve and a late crash in one of the races to claim his maiden title.

Having become an elite Red Bull athlete over the winter, Jordan enters this season in confident mood. He was the fastest driver at the BTCC media day recently at Donington Park and knows the package of his car inside out. He starts the season as the slender favourite but it is very hard to do back-to-back titles. Only Neal and Giovanardi have done that in the last 30 years.

Andrew Jordan is defending champion and the man to beat in 2014

Whilst Jordan (car pictured above) knows everything there is to know about his car, the works Dynamics Honda boys of Neal and Shedden have to learn a new car from scratch. The new Honda Civic tourer looks an absolute beauty but is it quick enough for them to launch a challenge? Evidence would suggest they will be right up there as expected, despite some early teething problems in testing. The relationship between the teammates is second to none, despite the odd incident on-track. I won’t forget the collision instigated by Neal on the final corner of a race at Oulton Park in 2011 (video below).

Meanwhile at MG, the Triple Eight racing crew will be aiming to spearhead Plato to a third title. He last took the top honours for Chevrolet in 2010 and is the most successful BTCC driver in history for race victories. Never hiding behind anything and always with plenty to say, the Fifth Gear presenter and BRDC board member loves his racing and apart from two years in the mid-2000s, has been a permanent fixture on the grid since 1997. It is the third season of the Plato/MG relationship and this campaign – they want to win and anything else will be considered as a failure.

By contrast, Turkington’s performances were outstanding last season after three years away from the paddock. He won the title for Team WSR in 2009 driving a BMW, so like Jordan – he knew the team, if not the car last season. He strung together some great weekends though and was almost unbeatable at Croft and Knockhill in 2013. His canny driving style means he will always be there to pick up the pieces and collect the points, even if he isn’t the fastest over a race weekend.

For Menu and Giovanardi, it is a return to familiar stomping grounds. Giovanardi is a touring car legend, having won titles in his homeland of Italy, alongside Spanish, European and British titles. He last graced the BTCC at the opening round in 2010 with two wins from three at Thruxton before a lack of sponsorship saw him sadly disappear. There was never a more exciting driver in his first spell on these shores and he is the big gamble by Dave Bartram and his ailing Motorbase Ford Focus squad, who had a winless and fairly lamentable 2013. Menu will be driving a Volkswagen this season. His last full campaign was the final year Super Touring was around, when he clinched the 2000 title in the unstoppable Ford Mondeo. The Swiss was one of the most consistent drivers in his first touring car career. Only once (1999) did he finish outside the top three of the standings at the end of a season between 1994-2000. For these two, race wins will be ideal but anything else has to be considered as a bonus.

Others to watch

It isn’t just the seven champions to lookout for though. Still buzzing from his maiden win at Rockingham in September, Rob Austin will be a threat in his Audi car, now with new sponsorship. Young gun Adam Morgan has taken Austin’s former sponsorship, WIX Racing and now has a Mercedes-Benz to play with. Morgan was one of the biggest surprises last season, cutting out his wild errors of his debut 2012 year with a more mature approach in 2013 that earned many plaudits.

A late deal has got multiple race winner Mat Jackson back onto the grid with Motorbase. He had a very difficult 2013 with some fairly anonymous weekends. However he has figured in championship fights in the past and is an excellent benchmark for the returning Giovanardi. Turkington will be supported by another experienced campaigner in Rob Collard. Always one for a good scrap, Rob never gives up and will be hoping for more luck to come his way this time around.

Another youngster to watch out for is Sam Tordoff, who will once again be backing Plato up at MG. Tordoff won his first touring car race at Snetterton last summer and handled the occasion of being paired with Plato very well. His progress will be one of the season’s interesting side stories. Then there is Dubliner Aron Smith with Menu at Volkswagen, looking for a new breath of fresh air after being deemed surplus to requirements at Motorbase, whilst rookies Marc Hynes and Tom Ingram are bound to show flashes of potential as will another former race winner in Dave Newsham, now in an AMD Ford Focus.

Commitments

With new deals with Dunlop and ITV, plus a one-class formula with all 31 cars using the NGTC car requirement, the BTCC is firmly in a good place.

There are 10 race meetings across the country from Silverstone in Northamptonshire and Snetterton in Norfolk to Oulton Park in Cheshire and Thruxton in Hampshire – the fastest circuit in Great Britain.

It all starts on Sunday with three events and with 13 race winners on the grid, there is bound to be plenty of commitment down the field. BTCC 2014 could be a special season. It certainly has all the ingredients to deliver.

Categories: 2014, Andrew Jordan, Brands Hatch, BTCC, Dunlop, Gordon Shedden, Honda, ITV, Jason Plato, Matt Neal, Touring Cars

Autosport International Show 2014 - Plenty of cars, plenty of colour

By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

The motorsport season officially began for many budding fans of the sport this weekend. Some of the finest and colourful models were on display to the public for the 2014 Autosport International Show.

The annual exhibition, once again in Birmingham’s vast and spacious LG Arena or in the NEC as it might be better known saw some of last season’s cars pitted together with new designs for 2014 and echoes of a great past. As ever I made the trip on Saturday, 11 January for the 11^th successive year. Leaving Birmingham, I couldn’t say I had been shortchanged in going.

The Live Action Arena produced the usual blend of thrills and spills. Hosted by Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft and Pollyanna Woodward from Channel 5 programme The Gadget Show, the content was diverse from stunt driving to BRISCA racing and a display by the six contenders nominated for the prestigious McLaren Autosport Young Driver award. After a slow burning beginning with a fair amount of talking from the hosts, the action hotted up in the second part of the programme with the Freestyle Motocross at the end of the performance a definite highlight. Even if you left feeling a bit disappointed with the general content, everyone who had tickets for the arena would have to admit it was worth the value to see these experts in action.

One of the main selling points of the 2014 show was a grand exhibition of cars to celebrate the life and career of British racing driver John Surtees. This year marks the 50^th anniversary of his 1964 Grand Prix championship triumph with Ferrari and the great man was in attendance all weekend to reminisce about the past and share his thoughts on the current breed of driver. Among the exhibits of a man who is still the only individual to win major world championships on two and four wheels were his F1 winning car from 1964 which won races in Italy and on Germany’s daunting Nurburgring circuit and the 1970 Team Surtees TS7 which made its debut on home soil at Brands Hatch in that year. I was surprised with how good the quality of this part of the exhibition was and it was a fitting mark to a man who I think is sadly often overlooked for his achievements in British and world motorsport.

As ever, the Autosport Stage in association with KX Momentum Energy Drink was a place for the stars to be interviewed with some lucky fans winning tickets to the 2014 British Grand Prix for testing and challenging questions. It was short of mega superstars from Formula One although respected commentator Martin Brundle was a frequent visitor to the stage throughout the weekend. New Sauber driver Adrian Sutil was there too but only for the Sunday of the exhibition and Max Chilton was the other Grand Prix driver in attendance. After a 100 per cent finishing record in his maiden season in the elite, Chilton was confirmed this weekend as a Marussia driver once again for 2014. The show must carry on but there was also a small box for guests to come and leave messages of support for Michael Schumacher following his recent skiing accident which has left him fighting for his life. It was a nice gesture but I was personally disappointed there were no cards or paper left out for guests to fill out and post in the box. It was a good thing I brought pen and paper to the event. If you didn’t and wanted to leave a message for Schumacher, I’d imagine you’d be leaving a little bit annoyed.

The F1 Racing Grid was the last chance to see cars in their V8 guise

The F1 Racing Grid returned for another year and was a real highlight of this year’s proceedings. It was the last time that visitors will get to see the F1 cars in the previous regulations of the V8 era (Lotus Renault car pictured above). 2014 brings a new raft of technical changes including the return of turbocharged power and a switch to V6 units. There was easier access to the cars throughout apart of course from when top guests arrived to be interviewed. Sky commentator Brundle admitted in one of his many exchanges this weekend that “all bets are off for the 2014 season.”

It is fair to say that Pirelli attracted some difficult publicity in 2013, most notably when the Italian manufacturer’s tyres kept blowing up during the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last June. Question the tyre construction if you want but don’t question the staff who work hard for them and the options open to fans for their stand. The racing simulator and driver reactions game were both back – both priced but at prices that wouldn’t leave anyone out of the market. I tried the driver reactions twice during the day and got a high score of 37 and an average in six 30-second stints of 33. I was pretty happy with that and it does get the adrenaline going. Those who don’t fancy a lengthy jog should try this. I must also credit Pirelli for the neat presentation of their display.

There was a lovely collection of cars from the likes of Caterham, Porsche, Ford and Subaru and the Asian manufacturer was also highly prevalent at the Wales Rally GB display. Celebrating its 70^th anniversary in 2014, three classic Impreza models were on show in Birmingham, including the late Colin McRae’s winning car from 1997 and the machinery that took Richard Burns to his WRC title four years later (pictured below). This was during a golden period for rallying which might have a brighter future following this weekend’s announcement that it has been added to the portfolio of events in 2014 to be live on BT Sport. It was another polished display but I for one would have liked to have seen two or three more manufacturers represented on this stand.

Richard Burns' 2001 WRC world championship car was a highlight

Lastly the pick of the exhibition this year was the Dunlop BTCC section. It looked superb, slick and stunning and you were able to get close to the drivers too. A whole host of the BTCC class were there which included a couple of mass signing sessions during the weekend. Those in attendance included defending champion Andrew Jordan, 2012 title winner Gordon Shedden, seasoned campaigners Matt Neal and Jason Plato and the popular Rob Austin. I was lucky enough to get autographs from many of the drivers and had a brief conversation with Neal, telling him I liked the look of the new Honda Civic that he and Shedden will be driving in the upcoming campaign. It was great to see the camaraderie between the drivers and I’m a huge fan of the championship. With F1 becoming more sanitised (especially when you think of the double points decider gimmick in Abu Dhabi), I will even go as far as saying the Touring Cars is my favourite motorsport and the championship I’m looking forward to the most in 2014.

So there you have it, another year and another exhibition at the NEC comes to an end. Autosport International continues to drive the crowds through every year and will be back next year hoping for another special exhibition. Having been to 11 of these now, I would happily admit that I have been to years where I enjoyed it more (2008 and 2012) being standouts but it was an improvement on last year and well worth going.

What will happen in the motorsport season in 2014? Well like Martin Brundle, all bets are off and I won’t be making any predictions. I’m sure though the sport in general will create many more headlines and talking points over the course of this calendar year.

Categories: Autosport International Show, Birmingham, BTCC, Caterham, David Croft, John Surtees, Motorsport, NEC, Pirelli, Subaru

A competitive soul

I come from the natural breed of being competitive and wanting to do well at anything, whether that is a group scenario, my football team doing well or even on a computer game.

However, I know that not winning might hurt but it isn’t the end of the world.  It is important to show that if you aren’t successful, you don’t act like your life is over.

I can use many of my own prime examples to show that life is more than just a game where there is a winner and a loser.

In computer games, I do get annoyed if I get taken out of a Grand Prix by some loony at Silverstone (like I was today!)

However, rather than throw a hissy fit, I curse my disappointment and a bit of anger at what happened for around a minute before trying to analyse, could I have done something different to avoid the contact?

Media day competition

The BTCC day last October ended in disappointment but also dignified

Last October, my course at University went on a media day to the final round of the British Touring Car Championship at Silverstone.

The main challenge of the day was to come up with a preview to the weekend’s event in groups of four or five (in my case) and the winner would get the article published on the official Silverstone website.

The task was hard and I really wanted to win, especially as it could have meant returning 48 hours later to watch the live action from the championship decider.

So when the winners were revealed, I was disappointed and not surprised.  My face throughout the day was one of frustration as things weren’t going according to plan for a variety of reasons.

However, the right team won the prize and deserved the rewards.  It had been an interesting challenge which ended in disappointment but gratitude.

Afterwards, one of the winners offered the race tickets to me but I declined the offer.  It was a lovely gesture but one I couldn’t accept as I wanted to accept defeat in a proper and dignified manner.

I felt if I had taken the prize, I would have not only cheated my team but feel guilt as I didn’t deserve it.

Our national game

Meanwhile in our national game, all of us who follow a football team are convinced that they can do absolutely nothing wrong.

As a Liverpool fan, I have many rivals including Manchester United, Chelsea, Everton and I’d put Arsenal and Manchester City into the mix too.

As a fan, you can’t do anything but hope that your team wins. 

When they win, it feels fantastic and there’s no harm with a bit of banter against the opposition, especially if you know a fan that follows the losing team.

However, keep things in perspective.  Football is just a game.  It is a very passionate game where we all want to end up with top honours but it is only a game and nobody should take it too personally.

I am a competitive soul and always have been.  However, one lesson I have learnt in life is to be dignified in victory and gracious in defeat.

Categories: BTCC, Chelsea, Football, Liverpool, Manchester United, Media, Passion, Silverstone, University, Victory