O/T btcc good or bad? [Archive]

turn 4 mad

23rd April 2007, 00:08

just wondered if you guys out there went to the rock today and what were youe highs and lows?
my highs: rockingham, race season, loads of people, people visiting the ovalfest stand
my lows: leaving the track 2hr to get out-very poorly organised, people going out and passing there team passes to get another 10 people in free,
roll on next week

Tiesse

23rd April 2007, 07:56

I agree, good to see so many people & the oval.. sorry motorfest stand. Also good to see the pickup stand. Disappointed that the opportunity to have any SCSA cars on dislay, with the exception of the 99 car hidden away at the back of the Motorfest stand.

Whatever happened, I was expecting there to be a long wait to get out & if that means because there is a lot of people at Rockingham, then I'll put up with it.

For the last race, we sat in turn 1 grandstand & I overheard somebody complaining that the Clio race was cut short. Was this due to time constraints on the racing day's finishing time?

On the whoole, a good day out that I, my son & nephew all enjoyed.

ray.martin

23rd April 2007, 10:43

The Clio race was curtailed due to live TV coverage of the last BTCC race.

uskram

23rd April 2007, 12:10

Pluses: Full grandstands,The Weather, Sight of the car park almost full (brill picture from the back of the main stand)Full grids,Timing Tower working and good competitive racing with very little breaks inbetween (as at ovalfest)

Minuses:queueing to park and to get in( but I'll live with it)

Couldn't see what the problem was getting out I thought it was very well organised. Got in my car at 5.25 and was home, 5 miles south of Bedford at 6.30!!

Nick Brad

23rd April 2007, 12:31

Seems those traffic issues are rearing their head again, all I can say is that you should expect queues of traffic when leaving an event and I welcome anyone to come over for a chat after racing sunday instead of rushing out.
I for one would rather have a wait to get out if it means more people attending an event and there is nothing saying that you have to leave Rockingham as soon as the last car leaves the track. Come and mingle, I will make a point of not leaving until at least 6:30pm on sunday so come and find me. :D

acorn

23rd April 2007, 13:06

Minuses:queueing to park and to get in( but I'll live with it)

Couldn't see what the problem was getting out I thought it was very well organised. Got in my car at 5.25 and was home, 5 miles south of Bedford at 6.30!!

I arrived at 0845 (at the back entrance gates)and the small queue was moving all the time. even getting through the ticket barrier wasn't too bad (despite them not opening 'til 09:00?). was it my imagination or were people walking from the t4 carpark to the t1 ticket entrance. was there not a gate at t4?

LessThanSte

23rd April 2007, 13:43

There was a gate at turn 4, so dont know what thats all about.

Queued from Rockingham Castle on the way in but didnt take us that long, 10 minutes extra tops. We got back to the car around 5:40 and were out, on the road, by 5:50. Talk about superb.

Back exit, ftw!

savage86

23rd April 2007, 13:59

I really enjoyed the day, the racing could have been better but the response from the BTCC fans was very good about the racing.
So i think were spoilt after watching PUT at rockingham.

Getting out the car park wasnt too bad the problem was i couldnt find my car.
It sits too damn low i couldn’t find it for a good 15 mins.

I think people are forgetting how terrible it is getting out of Donington far worse than Rockingham.

Anyone have any attendance numbers? my guess is 25,000 maybe 30,000 at a push.

hicksy

23rd April 2007, 14:14

I agree with all of the above comments. Was great to see the place crowded again. Its been too long. I was surprised to find myself queueing to get in from 2 miles away, I had no problem leaving the car park. Probably only took about 15 minutes to get out.

They only thing I didnt like was only being able to use one tunnel to leave the paddock. The stewards were ushering everyone out of the paddocks but you could only use the one tunnel. Small gripe really.

In all I had a great day. Even saw Posh and Becks.

JovialJooles

23rd April 2007, 14:33

I had no problem getting out, took about 15 mins from getting in the car to going through the temporary lights on Shelton Rd. I thought how well organised it was.

I also had no problem getting through the pit tunnel, whether that was because I was in my orange marshal gear I don't know.

Larsen

23rd April 2007, 14:43

If you ask me, i think Brands Hatch is the worst circuit to leave from. Enjoyed the racing yesterday, the BTCC was great as usual and the Clios...well...i think the word "nutters" sums them up :)

JG Fan

23rd April 2007, 14:48

Good - The pickup display and seeing lots of people at the rock made smile. Also it was th first time i have seen the new road course layout run i think that is better than the one touring cars used before.

Bad - The touring cars are too Slow and not load enough

Abo

23rd April 2007, 15:18

Were there many people looking at the Pickup display?

hicksy

23rd April 2007, 15:52

Were there many people looking at the Pickup display?

I stopped by on the way out and there were about 10 people looking then. Dont know about the rest of the day but I got the impression that it was a popular display.

LessThanSte

23rd April 2007, 16:23

Some videos i took btw;

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-1268357958979877431&hl=en-GB

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-48045289200903991&hl=en-GB

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-8815886270727586614&hl=en-GB

Enjoy :)

mbr

23rd April 2007, 18:05

We had a good day i thought the races were well organised and kept mainly to the timetable.It only took us about ten minutes to get onto main road when leaving.Anyway i know its a pain in the a**e having to queue but it was great to see the stands full again and it does create a better atmosphere.

hicksy

23rd April 2007, 18:16

The one thing that did stand out for me was that whenever there was an incident you could hear the crowd all gasp at once.

Teletubby

23rd April 2007, 22:17

Bad - The touring cars are too Slow and not load enough

But at least there are more than 10 of them!

Abo

23rd April 2007, 22:40

I stopped by on the way out and there were about 10 people looking then. Dont know about the rest of the day but I got the impression that it was a popular display.

Oh well that's cool, here's hoping it generates some new punters for this coming season :D

Sticker Rub

23rd April 2007, 23:19

I also had no problem getting through the pit tunnel, whether that was because I was in my orange marshal gear I don't know.

Me too. 2 guys in front of me were turned away but the stewards were waving through anyone in orange.

Although I expected to queue to get out, special mention has to go to the woman with the Napolean complex who was supervising the car park stewards by the outer paddock gate. It took me half an hour to get to that point through the car park & she was telling her staff not to let the queue out of the car park & countermanding them every time they did because cars on the road "had been waiting longer". She even had the cheek to give me a mouthful when she finally let us out because a marshal had told her to stop f*****g about & let us out. What a numpty.

Thank you doctor, I'll go & lie down now.

Tiesse

24th April 2007, 00:23

Some quick pics I took yesterday

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m206/Tiesse68/_MG_0658.jpg

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m206/Tiesse68/_MG_0733.jpg

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m206/Tiesse68/_MG_0706.jpg

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m206/Tiesse68/_MG_0705.jpg

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m206/Tiesse68/_MG_0633.jpg

JovialJooles

24th April 2007, 11:34

Me too. 2 guys in front of me were turned away but the stewards were waving through anyone in orange.

Although I expected to queue to get out, special mention has to go to the woman with the Napolean complex who was supervising the car park stewards by the outer paddock gate. It took me half an hour to get to that point through the car park & she was telling her staff not to let the queue out of the car park & countermanding them every time they did because cars on the road "had been waiting longer". She even had the cheek to give me a mouthful when she finally let us out because a marshal had told her to stop f*****g about & let us out. What a numpty.

Thank you doctor, I'll go & lie down now.

Ah, that would explain it.

I saw said woman arrive just as I was driving past the group of stewards and yes, she was telling them to stop the traffic out of the car park and let the road clear first.

Looks like I got out just in time.

Yippee ;)

timtime

24th April 2007, 13:25

I notice some posts on the BTCC forum are quoting an attnedance figure of 35000 which would make it one of if not the biggest crowds outside of the GP supports.

I personally had an excellent day on Sunday and had no problems getting in or out of the car parks. The circuit had had a bit of a make over in a few of the areas that had become jaded and I found the stewards and toilets which were both areas of criticism in the past to be of a good standard.

I was pleased to see that depsite some questions over access to the inner paddock this was unrestricted and better still that photography by the gate at Tarzan was possible.

The Touring Cars were as entertaining as usual about the only shame was the pressure of TV on the Clio race. Oh for a grid of SCSA cars like that.

Sadly my first love motorbikes mean I will be missing the first two rounds of the PUT/SCSA but if Sunday is anywhere near as good as last week you should be in for a treat.

Tim

JDPower

24th April 2007, 19:05

The problem getting out of the circuit appeared to just be through the main/front entrance. Dunno what the problem was but we waited in a queue to get out there for about 40 mins and only moved three car lengths. Pulled out of the queue to go out the Sheldon Road exit and was out in 5 mins.

I thought it was an ok day, some of the racing was a bit dull (eg the Porsche procession). And good to see the old phantom yellow is not specifically an oval thing :devil: :cheese:

Official attendance figure was 35000.

(I'll post some pics once I sort through them)

Al_Green

24th April 2007, 21:08

And good to see the old phantom yellow is not specifically an oval thing :devil: :cheese:

How very dare you! :D

Chigley

24th April 2007, 22:16

And good to see the old phantom yellow is not specifically an oval thing

Take that mans name, withdraw his season ticket (if he has one) and confine him to wheel washing for the duration of the seasons racing. :D

The cheek to suggest such a thing :mad: :imubash: :arrows:

Grrrrrrr
Ian

darknessrock

24th April 2007, 22:27

I'm sure I heard on the TV commentary that "this being an american style venue, they like to bring a yellow out for some unseen debris, whenever someone gets too far in front"! Surely this can't be true!! ;) ;) :) :)

racing59

25th April 2007, 07:28

I'm sure that when I saw them cleaning up after the race, they put a special yellow flag into a box marked "Phantom Debris/Bunch Up The Field And Make The Boring Procession Look Interesting For The TV Audience - FOR TOCA USE ONLY"

Not to be confused with the "I thought I saw a jelly baby on the track, it might be a blackcurrent one, and Rob may swerve to avoid it causing a wreck in T2" flag.

SteveA

25th April 2007, 10:00

I hope that all Jelly Babies are wearing hi-viz jackets when track-side!

JovialJooles

25th April 2007, 12:54

LessThanSte

25th April 2007, 17:42

Oh yes, something ive just remembered.

A Bacon & Egg Sandwich (which was cooked by an imbesile and then ended up mostly on me!) for FOUR quid. Whats that all about. And the coffee tasted like rats p**s.

I can only assume they expected chavs to turn up who didnt care about the food quality and had a credit card with them.

FOUR quid is scandelous.

My photos coming, shortly!

timtime

25th April 2007, 18:33

a.howes700

25th April 2007, 18:51

I can agree with a previous poster. The touring cars are obviously too slow and not loud enough. Last year I watched BTCC on television. Number of lead changes in the three races of the first meeting: one, zero and one. Number of lead changes in the second meeting: zero, zero and zero. A magnificent average of .167 of a lead change per race. Not NASCAR, is it? And these processions are supposedly improved by the good idea of having one race with a partially reversed starting grid. And these really are the most exciting wiggly track races in a whole season of British BRSCC so-called motor 'racing'.
I actually agree with that. (To be fair, a few years ago I saw several Caterham wiggly track races and they were the most compertitive slow track races I've seen, with as many as seven lead changes ib a race. Wow.)
Now, the pickups are using the perfect system of having the most successful competitors starting at the back.
If only the SCSA organisers had the common sense to introduce that this year. They apparently haven't. Much as I love SCSA, with 12 or so cars this year, it may not be any better than last year's disappointing races, with the fastest qualifier disappearing into the distance.

LessThanSte

25th April 2007, 19:15

It will probably be no different this week, and I am sure no one put a gun too your head and forced you to buy it. Call me cynical but there is more than a hint of irony in some of your recent posts.

Tim

Huh?

As for the food prices, this was noticed by a fair few people i spoke to at the weekend. The usual price at Rockingham last season was, i think, £2.80. I dont even think Silverstone charges £4 on an F1 weekend.

They are scandalous prices, pure and simple. OK noones forcing me to pay it but considering its meant to be a family friendly series, charging through the teeth for food doesnt seem to sensible!

acorn

25th April 2007, 19:50

this is the sort of thing that reflects badly on the circuit even though they probably had no part in setting the prices that the vendors(who i assume have to pay the circuit to be able to trade) set. maybe they should insist on maximum prices when offering the pitches.

what was the equivalent price in the diner?

JovialJooles

25th April 2007, 23:51

My photos coming, shortly!

Oh goody, my breath is baited!

JovialJooles

25th April 2007, 23:54

I know this will come as a shock to some people, but you can bring your own food to the venue...

Anyway, we all know the price of the food now, so hopefully we will be spared another dull rendition about it next week. :vader:

LessThanSte

25th April 2007, 23:59

As it happens, no they arnt. Mine are all crap :(

Probably as a result of sitting with my dad in the stands all day rather than wandering around. Such is life!

Tiesse

26th April 2007, 07:46

As it happens, no they arnt. Mine are all crap :(

Probably as a result of sitting with my dad in the stands all day rather than wandering around. Such is life!

Never mind, you can make ammends this weekend!

a.howes700

28th April 2007, 12:36

Apologies for my bad mathematics in claiming BTCC had an average number of lead changes of .167 per race. It is actually a magnificent .333 (ironic). I shall be watching the races tomorrow to observe if they are races or processions.
If anyone went to the BTCC meeting last Sunday as their first visit to Rockingham, and, having seen that it is the finest circuit in Europe for visibility and cleanliness, and is now considering whether to go tomorrow, I would inform them:
The minor classes will be slow and processional, the SCSA cars will be spectacular but insufficient in number (I hope I'm wrong) and the pickups are the best racers in Europe, second only to restrictor plate races in NASCAR
for thrills and close racing.
You will actually see vehicles OVERTAKING each other at 130 mph. They will actually go round corners side by side. The winner will NOT come from the first three positions of the line-up. You will even be able to talk to the drivers and approach the vehicles in ther pits. Sorry if I've shocked anyone who's only been to Silverstone or Donington before.
It only costs £15, too.