ASCAR Date Change

[Amanda]

The first ASCAR race of the season has been moved to 11th May so it no longer clashes with BTCC/CART at Brands. This is great news for people like me who follow both series.

[nitromaster]

Yes, I'm glade that was changed.

It was also good that the Rockingham BTCC was date swapped with Croft since that clashed too.. (Okay, I mean good for me..)

[touring fan]

Is there still a clash with ascar and BTCC at silverstone though?

[cos]

Are ASCAR going to run at Brands Indy, or has this been changed.

[Ann]

Good news for the lack of clash & fact that I can now do both.

Bad news for the fact that I'd arranged something else on May 11th being one of those rare things of a free weekend during the season!

[thommo_fan]

ascar decided not to race at brands hatch after all.

[Amanda]

ASCAR and BTCC at Silverstone still clash. I will be at Silverstone that weekend!

[touring fan]

I can't decide but seeing as I have to go past silverstone to get to rockingham it will probably be the BTCC that I watch (or I'll take both season tickets and decide on the way there :D)

[Reynard]

ASCAR will stay as an all-oval series for 2003. Most of the races will be run at Rockingham, but there will also be two trips to the Lausitz Eurospeedway in Germany.

Format will (for the first half of the season at any rate) be the same as last year with two 100-mile races. A qualifying session will determine the grid for the first race of the weekend, while the grid for the second race will be the same as the result from the first race.

Shame ASCAR isn't going to Brands as I was rather looking forward to that, but who says it isn't going to happen in the future...

[Sim_Da_BTCC_Man]

isn't it funny how when ASCAR was first thought about everyone on this forum hated the idea when now we look at it and see what a great series it is. I realy do think ASCAR will maybe one day have equal level with the BTCC (although never will beat it ;) ) What a great final race of the season last year by the way.

[Reynard]

As far as I am concerned, ASCAR is already probably on par with the BTCC from a competitiveness point of view, perhaps even more so. Let me explain:

All cars are essentially identical (tubular steel chassis, small block Chevy V8 engine, four speed h-pattern gearbox). The only difference are the 3 bodyshells - Chevy Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix & Ford Taurus, and apart from minor styling differences, the areodynamics are pretty similar. When it was deemed that the Pontiac shell had an aerodynamic advantage, the rear wing was increased in height to level that advantage with respect to the other bodyshell profiles.

Since the cars are so closely matched, the difference is often down to the driver and his ability to set up the car and race it. tactics also plays a big part, especially with a mandatory tyre stop and the inevitable caution periods.

The emphasis in ASCAR is on consistency rather than race wins and this is reflected in the scoring system, with every starter or classified finisher being allocated points (same as in Winston Cup). So the driver who won the 2002 series, Nic Minassian, actually only won one race all year, Jason Plato finished third overall without a single win and Darren Turner, who won the most races, could only finish seventh overall. Something like that could never happen in BTCC.

Also, the mix of racers coming from oval and circuit racing backgrounds has proved to be interesting enough as well, particularly as it evolved into a season-long needle match.

As for the last meeting from 2002, I was working up an unholy red mist in company with the RML mechanics after Colin White took out Kelvin Burt in the penultimate race of the season. If there ever was an example of a deliberate take out, that was it...

In any case, I am really looking forward to the 2003 ASCAR season irrespective of who will be driving in it. If this season is anywhere near as good as last, then we are all in for a treat! :)

[touring fan]

Originally posted by Sim_Da_BTCC_Man
isn't it funny how when ASCAR was first thought about everyone on this forum hated the idea when now we look at it and see what a great series it is. I realy do think ASCAR will maybe one day have equal level with the BTCC (although never will beat it ;) ) What a great final race of the season last year by the way. not everybody hated the idea........;)