When BTCC was good

Best IMO! :cool:

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Renault 19 goodness, even though it wasn't actually that good unless it rained :)

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Was about to post that myself. Mick from on Renault Sports Club has purchased one and is setting about restoring it :D

First time I went was in 96 to Snetterton, that was fantastic and probably the best sort of time for the sport. Went afew years back and apart from quite a crash down in the bomb-hole with an almost flipped alfa it was pretty dull.
 

My father had that picture as the background on our family pc for so long back in the day, as a side effect he now owns a Volvo 850 T5 (and a Vectra, except mother wouldnt allow BTCC Vinyl on either of them)

Was my favorite kind of racing, loved Toca 2 on the Ps One - shame what its turned into :(
 
Was about to post that myself. Mick from on Renault Sports Club has purchased one and is setting about restoring it :D

I remember when these were for sale ages ago, was so tempting to do something with it but I was still at uni and had no money at the time :)

Would have been about 2001, think they were being stored in the same units (some farm maybe?) that Paul Mitchell was running out of back then.
 
Yep I Know Mick Well on RSC. Sat in Tim's ex 19 that leanne's now got, not Mick, as bit for it running gear are from her car. There only 2 out of the 4 19's made left. Leanne/Mick have one, and the other at Renault in France. once Mick/Leanne got the fund's for it to be fully painted in yellow, etc with sticker's and the rest of it. you'll soon be seeing it at show's.
 
i watched started watching the btcc around the days of menu, harvey, rydell, etc and still watch it now, have been to brands hatch for the last 3 or 4 seasons and thruxton aswell, and also silverstone. I still think it is great, as previously said, for £20-30 for a days motor racing i dont think you can go to wrong. And there is still plenty of action going on, and has been fairly close at the top with different manufacturers all sharing race wins in the last couple of seasons. Hopefully this season will be just as enjoyable. Battle last year between plato and giovanardi was great, some awsome action going on there, all out battle at some points and some great overtaking. Or was i watching something different?
 
[TW]Fox;10972798 said:
They changed the rules after the Mondeos went bonkers and started winning everything which made larger cars uncompetitive.

It won a single title, after winning 3 races, on it's 7th year in the series. :confused:

I don't think we can blame the Mondeo for the rule changes, successful it was not.
 
Mid to late 90's was my favourite era too. Proper "saloon car racing" I went to see the BTCC at Knockhill in 98 and 99, ****** rains both times, but whats new at Knockhill, great day though.

I think BTCC has improved over the bad patch it went through during the early '00's and I do still watch it now, but I don't like it as much.

I actually rally like this video of '89. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHXzrNyMc6I

I always thought they should still run manual gear boxes so they are close to the road cars they are supposed to be.
 
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between alfa's wing, and audi's 4x4 the rules started to become more prescriptive. the supertouring cars were also expensive to build and run.
 
So why did the BTCC dumb down so much? Economics? Lack of interest from OEMs?

Seems like a shame considering the popularity of DTM.

It was primarily driven by cost. The amount of money being poured into the top super touring cars was pricing a lot of competitors out.

DTM is ok, but the street circuits always seem to be a bit too narrow and end up with a bit of a procession.
 
Great clips, still like watching and seeing it live nowadays. Good racing generally, and the Clio support race that follows them is something else :cool:
 
It won a single title, after winning 3 races, on it's 7th year in the series. :confused:

I don't think we can blame the Mondeo for the rule changes, successful it was not.

They won half the races that year and the Mondeo drivers were 1-2-3 :confused:

I stopped watching around 2000, it wasn't the same with only a couple of manufacturer teams. They're supposed to be on different regulations this year and Seat are running a diesel car!
 
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