British Touring Cars: fisticuffs!

I recorded ITV4's coverage of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) races at the Rockingham race circuit last Sunday, and I've finally got round to starting to watch it. It's a daunting task, as they broadcast the whole day's events, including all the support races as well as the day's three BTCC rounds, from 11ish in the morning to 6 in the evening.

There's been a lot of tension in the Touring Car Championship this year because the series is in a state of transition, from the existing FIA-rules based S2000 formula (highly tuned normally aspirated 2 litre engines, modified suspension, production saloon and coupe bodies, light-weight chassis, etc.) to the new Next Generation Touring Car spec, AKA NGTC (turbo engines, wider track, fewer lightweight components, etc: you can google/wikipedia the details for yourself). This year teams were allowed to choose whether to go over to the much cheaper to run full NGTC spec car (but which would obviously cost a bit to develop initially), stick with the expensive to run but proven S2000 one, or a hybrid of the two, with an NGTC engine in an S2000 car.

At the moment, the S2000 cars have more complex internals to the engines, more exotic materials and light-weight components, and are therefore more expensive to run; but because BTCC didn't follow the FIA route and reduce the engine capacity to 1.6 litres (as used in this year's World Rally Championship) when transitioning from S2000 rules to the turbo engines, they would obviously be much more powerful, at full boost, than even the most highly sophisticated of the normally-aspirated S2000 ones. This would have meant that the S2000 spec cars would not only be more expensive to run, but would have had a performance disadvantage in all but the most twisty of circuits where their more sophisticated chassis would hold sway. Also, it would have meant that the result of each race would have been a foregone conclusion based on the circuit layout. In any case, it doesn't matter if the cars have parity over the season: to follow the BTCC ethos, there has to be close racing on track.

As a result, the turbo boost on the NGTC engined cars (whether the car is full NGTC spec or a hybrid) has been reduced to try to ensure parity. The hybrid cars have an NGTC engine in an S2000 chassis, with some limitation on components, so I imagine their turbo boost level is capped to a fairly low level, where the full NGTC should be allowed a little more boost to compensate for their weight/chassis disadvantage. The whole thing is supposed to work out so that every type of car has a chance of competing at every circuit, so where the S2000 cars have the advantage on the twisties, the turbo cars have a better chance on the straights. All of this is an attempt to deliver the classic BTCC product, which is very close racing by high-end professional racing teams, and to give people who love motor racing and hate the processional aspects of series such as Formula 1 something to watch.

Of course, teams and drivers on each side of the divide feel they are at a disadvantage during this transition year. Jason Plato is driving for Silverline Chevrolet who are fielding S2000 spec Chevy Cruzes this year. It's a winning combination, and Plato and Silverline took the BTCC championship last year. His arch-rival Matt Neal is driving for the works Honda Racing team (run by Team Dynamics), in a hybrid Honda Civic, with an NGTC engine in an S2000 chassis. It has to be said that despite the S2000 chassis, the handling of the Honda falls somewhat short of that of the Chevy, but is still producing consistently faster lap times - mainly because as soon as they hit a straight, despite the turbo boost restriction, they are much quicker accelerating, and can just drive past the normally aspirated S2000 cars, particularly on the longer straights.

Despite having a car which is slower in the twisties, Matt Neal has been able to hold up the sweeter handling Chevy of Jason Plato, keeping in front until he can blast away on the straight. This has lead to double frustration on Plato's part, because his driving skill and his Chevy's handling advantage can rarely be used (not that Neal isn't also a skillful driver, but he's hardly having to apply himself this year). Should Plato get his Cruze into the bends first, however, he is able to gap the Honda and the other chasing hybrids and NGTCs: the question is, can the pure S2000s make a big enough gap to avoid being passed on the long straights of circuits like Snetterton or Thruxton? The answer to this seems to be "No" at the moment.

Neal complains that he gets blocked by weaving cars on the straights, so that he is unable to use the advantage that his car has. In my opinion though, given the "single move" rule, it's easier to block with a slow car in the twisties than it is with a car that is slow on the straights. Despite disliking Plato's arrogant attitude (and he's always been like this) I think I side with him. The Hondas should not be walking away with this year's championship. If a car is only fast on the straights, and can just drive past the competition without the need for any skill on the driver's part, it's not motor racing. Having said that Plato's arrogant, Neal is very smug, and that's not a very likeable trait either.

All this boiled over during the qualifying for last weekend's BTCC meet at Rockingham, with it's long start/finish straight on the 'oval' part of the circuit (it, like most of motor racing's so-called ovals, is a rectangle with rounded corners). In trying to better his provisional pole position time, Plato aggressively blocked Matt Neal from passing him at the end of the straight, so he wouldn't be held up in the twisty in-field part of the circuit. When they came around again to the straight, Neal drove up to the back of Plato's car, and rammed him from behind. This just demonstrates the speed differential, that a Touring Car could drive into the back of another one (outside of a braking zone, of course) so hard that it's described as a ramming! Touring cars have always in the past been matched for speed, so that it was down to the drivers to provide the racing, not the car's technological advantage. That's what's always given us the close racing we love in BTCC.

Despite these shenanigans, Plato posted the fastest time for pole position, and triumphally and childishly flipped Neal the bird, at which Matt Neal completely lost it. In an astonishing display of unprofessional behaviour, all caught on camera, Neal went for Plato, and both had to be held back by their team crews. Rather oddly, to my mind, Neal threatened to "rip [Plato's] f***ing face off", while Plato returned to his motorhome, still giving the single-finger salute (what's wrong with the traditional British vee, by the way?).

Neither driver came out of this well, both looking petulant and childish. Both were fined £1,000 and had 3 points put on their driving licenses: these must be adding up by now, and they should both be careful that they don't get a racing ban. It was absolutely hilarious, though, and I wish they'd just let them get to it. As commentator and former BTCC competitor Tim Harvey said, I guess it shows how much it means to them.

It has to be remembered that this problem is going to last one season only, and next year they'll all be in NGTC cars: they'll all just be  known as Touring Cars then, and we'll be able to get back to single-class, first past the post racing, and Plato and Neal will have to find another reason to hate each other ... not that they have ever needed one before.