BTCC 2013

...Leading the charge to the Honda’s will surely be Jason Plato in his MG KX momentum Racing MG as run by the multiple champions Triple 8. Plato had his car displayed on the Dunlop stand in the Tesco cancer trust livery in which he competed the final event of the year in, while he also had the car in its normal livery displayed on the central Autosport stand which was sponsored his energy drink sponsorship KX.

Plato took to the stand to reflect on his hugely successful debut year with MG although, had it not been for the elements, it could have been so much more following his move from Chevrolet and said, “It took a brave decision to walk away from the environment I was in with RML and Chevrolet. There was an element of risk and gamble in that, but I wouldn't have taken that decision for anyone other than Ian Harrison and the guys at Triple 8. I just had a feeling we were going to get the job. We were ahead of our planning. We didn't really expect to have so much pace from the car so early on.”

"Our goal was to be competitive and start to look towards race wins towards the end of the year. So I'm fantastically pleased with what we achieved. To only get the car at 6am on qualifying day at the first round of the year, and then to win six races and fight for the championship was a very good performance. In the dry the MG was the machine to have, but I can't remember another season in which there's been so much bad weather, that was the big weakness last year.”

"I really want that piece of silverware in my kitchen at the end of this year now."

As well as driving Plato also has a big responsibility in the KX academy which he helped set up along with the energy drink to help fund young tin top drivers. One of the drivers to be part of the KX academy is Sam Tordoff and he confirmed on the Autosport stage with the other academy members that he is close to securing a BTCC drive for 2013.

Tordoff has had a one off race during the final meeting of the season in 2010 with Triple 8 in their Vauxhall Vectra and is strongly linked again with Triple 8 to become Plato’s team mate. Since 2010 Tordoff has been running and winning in the Porsche Carrera cup support series to the BTCC and said on the central stage, "The plan is to race in British Touring Cars this year. It's something I've been working towards for the past four years on the TOCA package, so that's the aim. Things are still in negotiations and should be announced soon." ...

Windy wrote:That would be a lot of cars to overtake in race two after you get knocked off the track in race one

mg-zs wrote:Apperently 888 are driving with the 2012 MG6
They only updating car

mg-zs wrote:Apperently 888 are driving with the 2012 MG6
They only updating car

Jordan sets the pace

Andrew Jordan set the pace at today’s (21 March) official BTCC pre-season test, recording the quickest time on Dunlop’s new soft compound tyre in extremely cold conditions at Donington Park.

The reigning Independents’ Champion has set his sights on challenging for overall honours in 2013, and the 23-year-old laid down a marker by pipping double title winner Jason Plato and reigning champion Gordon Shedden.

With Series Director Alan Gow having confirmed a capacity grid of 32 cars during the morning’s media conference, the teams and drivers went on to demonstrate the hugely competitive nature of the championship during the test, as the top three cars were eventually separated by just 0.102s.

...

Jason Plato said: “We’re really happy with the running we completed today. Sam and I were on different programmes, which is good, and we got through everything we needed to. We certainly weren’t sandbagging, but I am confident we could have gone as quick as Jordan and we regularly set 1m10.4s throughout the session. We set our best time on used tyres too so we didn’t see the full potential of the car, but none of that really matters until Brands Hatch.”

BTCC announces record entry

The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) has today (Thursday 21 March) announced both a record – and capacity – 32-car entry list for the upcoming 2013 season.

An incredible 13 models from 11 different marques are entered, including both Honda and MG as official Manufacturer teams. In total this amounts to the biggest BTCC season entry list in its 2-litre history. No fewer than 26 of the unprecedented 32-car grid will be entering with the BTCC’s NGTC-spec machinery, whilst a further six competitors will contest the Jack Sears Trophy for S2000 cars.

The BTCC also boasts four champions on its 2013 grid plus a new multi-year television contract with ITV – securing the current vast ITV coverage until at least 2017. A new ‘soft compound’ Dunlop tyre has also been introduced to add a new strategic element to each team’s race weekend. This year’s BTCC will again comprise 30 races across ten events at nine venues around the UK, with the season commencing at Brands Hatch on 30/31 March.

Sam Tordoff had admitted that Jason Plato is his target for pace in this year’s Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Tordoff, 23, joins the 888-run MG KX Momentum Racing team for this year, following his admission into the KX Akademy, the scheme fronted by team-mate Jason Plato.

“The first person you look to beat is your team mate, so I want to get onto his pace as soon as possible and start matching him,” he told BTCC Crazy at today’s official media day.


“We’re team mates and we’re here to do the job for the team rather than as individuals. Jason Plato’s my mentor in the KX Akademy so it’s in his interest that we both do well and further the reputation of the Akademy. We’ll be working together and hopefully we won’t meet too many times in the gravel trap.”

Windy wrote:I think Sam Tordoff needs to paint his car, or does it just need some stickers




Media day comming up very soon...

patpending wrote:It got some stickers...

mg-zs wrote:will be on circuit this weekend.
hope it looks better in real
and is fast in wet

Windy wrote:

I wonder how fast it goes in the snow?

mg-zs wrote:

Windy wrote:

I wonder how fast it goes in the snow?

only 1 way to find out

Andrew Jordan took the opening pole position of the 2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship amid a shower of sleet at a cold Brands Hatch.

...

The session got off to a dramatic start with a number of drivers spinning on their out-laps while trying to get some heat into the tyres. The first notable victim was Pirtek’s Jeff Smith on the run up to Druids, but real chaos followed when Colin Turkington lost control on the exit of the same hairpin. As cars dived one way and then the other to avoid the stricken BMW 125i M Sport, an unsighted Jack Goff unfortunately collected the 2009 champion. Turkington managed to hobble his damaged BMW back to the pits but the Vauxhall Insignia of Goff wasn’t so fortunate – his car was unable to continue after the contact. Liam Griffin and David Nye both endured their own lurid moments while trying to avoid Turkington, but were able to re-join later in the session.

patpending wrote:Well done to Plato and Tordoff!

Morris Motors wrote:Anyone noticed that they took 3 days to update their website and it STILL doesn't even mention that they actually won anything at all! They do attract some flak which is undeserved, but really, what *are* they doing at Longbridge?

I wonder if there have been so many cockups with their internet activity and press releases that everything has to be signed off now, hence a delay?

mg-zs wrote:because he won twice lastt round
honda was crap
so has no or hardly

Success Ballast

After both the first and second races on Sunday, the following weight handicaps are added to the top five finishers’ cars before the start of races two and three respectively: 1st = 45kgs; 2nd = 36kgs; 3rd = 27kgs; 4th = 18kgs; 5th = 9kgs. Sixth place or lower does not carry any ballast. After race three, the same amounts of ballast are added to the cars of the five highest-placed drivers in the championship in time for the next round when their cars must take part in practice, qualifying and race one carrying that extra weight. Ballast allocation is decided by the order in which the drivers cross the finish line – eg. if a driver finishes race one in second place but is then relegated places in the official results or even excluded (possibly due to a rules infringement) his or her car must still carry second-placed ballast in race two.

Are you struggling to tell your ballast from your boost restriction?

If, like me, you are a newcomer to BTCC since the MG KX Momentum Racing team debuted last year, you might find some of the equalization techniques employed in the BTCC between rounds and races somewhat baffling. There’s no denying that they result in an amazing spectacle so I thought it was high time that I learnt a little bit more about the regulations and shared my findings with you. At last week’s FleetWorld show, MG KX Momentum’s rising star Sam Tordoff took some time out from setting incredible times demonstrating the capabilities of the MG6 DTi-Tech road car to talk me through it.

Sam confirmed that Ballast for Qualifying and the first race of each meeting is determined by your place in the overall Championship standings. “So for example, Jason will still carry the heaviest ballast into round three despite finishing outside the top six in the final race at Donington?” I asked. “That’s right” Sam confirmed and before I was able to rather grumpily note that this didn’t seem at all fair to me, he threw in the curve ball “but we should get an improved boost, so that will help us.” At this stage I had to admit that someone had tried and failed to explain boost to me last year and, frankly, not got very far. “Boost works differently to success ballast, which is directly derived from race results and championship standings but is instead based on fastest laps, so qualifying performance plays a big part in this. Boost levels are determined from a rolling average of the two previous rounds and apply to models rather than to a single team”. I asked if this meant that the MG KX Momentum Racing team would have an advantage at Thurxton. “It certainly won’t hurt but I’d expect all the Civic’s to be strong again, we know that they are going to be very quick there but we know that we’ve got great pace too and I’m looking to mixing it with them all again next weekend.”

Thankfully, the boost calculations are only applied round to round and the application of Ballast is relatively straight forward in races two and three at each round. In the second race, the top 5 drivers from the first race benefit from grid position relating to their previous finish but are handicapped with additional weight – first place takes pole and maximum additional weight - known as ‘success ballast’, second has second place and the next highest weight penalty and so on down to fifth position.

In Race three, the success ballast is awarded in the same way – based on the finishing positions in the previous race. Starting position however, is a little more complicated. I asked Sam to explain “It works on the principals of a ‘reverse grid’ but it’s not quite that straightforward. At the end of race two, those cars placed between 6th and 10th go into a pot. Whoever is drawn out goes to pole and that part the grid reverses behind them. Say I finish in 8th place in race two and am drawn out, I will start on pole and the grid will follow behind me i.e. 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 – the previous race winner, will now start in 8th. Behind them, drivers in positions 9 – 32 begin where they finished race two and remain unchanged. It means that depending on the draw, the reversal can be as few as six cars or as many as ten.”

I’m grateful to Sam for helping to clear these things up. As always, we will have updates from Thruxton over the weekend as Sam, Jason and the rest of MG KX Momentum Racing team aim to keep their MG6’s at the top of the tree heading into the early season month furlough.