Revised Rules

[bramble]

What do people think of the new race format for this season? Personally I like it, I think it will bring more action and the extra pit stop will spice things up for the engineers too, but I think they should be provided with better equipment to make the tire changes faster.

[Sim_Da_BTCC_Man]

Honestly I hate the idea. I liked the idea of the sprint because thats what it was. The problems with pitstops is that the teams come in at the first oportunity and use tactics and it makes it boring. If this happend later in the race its far better. Plus at the end of the feature it settles down unlike the sprint.

[AussieV8]

Bramble what do currently use for the tyre change ???
The pit stops in the V8's have been getting faster every year and some teams are down to 7-8sec's for 4 tyres and fuel.

[bramble]

Well I'm making a comparison with F1 tyre changes. The guns they use in BTCC seem a bit clumsy and it seems to take them a wile to get the nut on the wheel before they tighten it up. It takes 8-10 secs for 2 tyres to be changed.

[AussieV8]

They should look to improve the whole pit stop procedure if this is the way they are going. We have a window that the teams have to pit in and in certain long distance races they have to do two. One for fuel and the other for tyres both can't be done together. I like the pit stops it makes the whole team involved.

[Peter]

I have mixed feeling here.

I was never a big fan of the Sprint Race. The race distance was so short that it did not allow drivers to storm to storm from the front of the field to the back and vice versa. Therefore, I am glad to see the back of this.

The Feature Race, on the other hand, was a bit too long. By the end of the race, the cars became very spread out and, thus, produced dull racing. The new race distance is ideal.

I'm not sure I like the idea of more pit stops. Although they worked wonders during the super tourer era, there were much fewer safety car periods. The purpose of a pit stop is to open the door to strategy with wide pit stop windows. Unfortunately, the production class seems to cause lots of safety cars. Thus it has become a routine to pit as early as possible, removing the objective of strategy.

In summary. the new race lengths are ideal. I do, however, feel that pit stops should have been abolished.

[AussieV8]

Do you think that the production cars should run in their own race and would the two classes survive. We have so many classes here so nearly every weekend there is some sort of motor racing on.

[Sim_Da_BTCC_Man]

They worked well when the Production class was the National Saloon Championship but it won't work now because of low grid numbers hence, why they are still racing together.

[Peter]

Originally posted by AussieV8
Do you think that the production cars should run in their own race and would the two classes survive. We have so many classes here so nearly every weekend there is some sort of motor racing on.

In an ideal world, I would love to see a strong field of touring cars and a seperate race for a strong field of production cars.

They did actually try to run the two seperate Sprint races at Brands Hatch in 2001. Unfortunately, it became a joke and was never repeated.

The reason we have the production class is because there are not enough tourers- Richard West predicted 15 touring cars for this season- not enough to provide a motor race.

The production teams love this series because of the exposure provided by the television coverage. If the two classes were segregated, the Production Class would receive a lot less television coverage, causing teams and sponsors to pull out

[AussieV8]

When we had the 2ltrs and the V8's together it was great racing. The little cars had an advantage on the tight tracks and so you would see them mixing it with the big guys. When the two divorced and went their seperate ways the crowds voted with there feet and didn't support the 2ltrs so they lasted a few years but buckled under the pressure. Oz is a nation of V8 nuts and that wont change for anything. We have two classes of V8's now the Class One teams( Shell V8 Supercars) and the Konica Class for class two or smaller budget teams and it works.

[thommo_fan]

i think the new rules should work really well, i liked the old sprint and feature race format but drivers got the points in the sprint as they did in the feature with the feature being nearly twice as long, and that wasn't really fair.
having pitstops in both races is good news but they need to make the pitstop window a lot shorter, maybe between laps 13 and 15 in a 25 lap race.

[touring fan]

I liked the old format better. It made each race at a meetig different.

[Ann]

How about we wait and see how it pans out? Radical I know but we really won't know til then. Revive this thread on 21st April!

[Radisich Fan]

Good idea!

[touringlegend]

Not sure yet on this. I suppose you could ask me after Mondello. ;)

[Radisich Fan]

Wo8uld have been better if we had two equal length races, but the second with a pitstop and the first without!

Better off still... keeping the old system..


I do like the fact that there are two standing starts though! :D

[thommo_fan]

i'm glad the rolling starts have gone because they were fairly uneventful. at least with standing starts drivers have got a chance to overtake when the lights go green.

[John]

Originally posted by AussieV8
Bramble what do currently use for the tyre change ???
The pit stops in the V8's have been getting faster every year and some teams are down to 7-8sec's for 4 tyres and fuel.

Theres some sort of standardised equipment - in the Supertouring era the stops were as low as 4-5seconds by the end of 2000 (for 2 tyres) but now they're nowhere near that.

[King Cleland]

At the end of 2000, the pitstops were pretty pointless to me!

[John]

How do u mean? Expand on that please KC

[McKay]

What KC means is that they were so bloomin fast it was like they never happened. They didn't fullfill their purpose.

[John]

But they still varied some were 4 seconds others 5. A second is still going to make a difference. Also theres the chance that someone will drop a nut or something and it gives the team more input - including the strategy to decide when to stop (early incase of a safety car or late to get a point for leading). I like the pit stops.

[AussieV8]

When the cars are in the pits and if one of the crew drop a nut is there any penalty line as there is here.

I mean that if a nut or a wheel rolls away and over the pit line the driver will receive a stop go penalty.
I have noticed two crew per wheel, here its one on one most times.

[John]

Originally posted by AussieV8
When the cars are in the pits and if one of the crew drop a nut is there any penalty line as there is here.

No that Im aware of - although I dont recall seeing that happen.

I remember Peter Kox went out of the pits once without a wheel nut so had to stop at the end of the pit lane and retire, but don't think I've seen one roll out of the pit bay before.

[AussieV8]

Accidents happen the crew are only human but the drivers are not to impressed and go right of if they get a drive through. Though you dont see the pit crew go of at the driver when they make a mistake on the track.