Britcar 24 2012

[Speed-King]

It's still another three weeks till the race, but here's the entry list:

http://www.britcar24hr.co.uk/newslet...List300812.pdf

Not the biggest ever (47 by my count), but some interesting stuff on there nonetheless:

Aston Martin with a factory run Vantage GT3 and Schubert (list says Stubert) with a pair of Z4s should be the favorites, I think.

Also interesting: Almost no real GT4s (two this year, vs ten in 2011), and just one Porsche, which is an old 993 RSR - kinda surprised no one is turning up with a 997 Cup of some kind.

Shorty's gonna be there with a Toyota GT86 in Class 4, which also features a pair of Smarts, whose drivers must have the biggest balls in the field, with all the GT3s and even two prototypes around.

[adam46]

I think the entry is still growing. They said 60 cars to me at Snetterton two weeks ago.

[Tim the Grey]

Chamberlain Synergy run Audi R8 has to be in with a shout...?
I'd expect several more Aston Vantage GT4s to appear. There's lots about, after all?
Tickets are 2 for £40 until the end of TODAY... £45 on the door.

[adam46]

Yeah Chamberlain Synergy are right up there I imagine. Is that Aston Martin actually factory run?

I got my tickets back in 2011 when they were 2 for £20!

[brands]

Booked the 2 for £20 plus infield pass offer back in the spring and they turned up yesterday.

Support series are the usual, hope Britcar have booked the 2011 weather

[rich07]

Audi R8 and both Schubert Z4s removed from the entrylist. Thats a shame.

The Carvell Motorsport Jaguar on the list in group two-is that the N24hr class winner?

[Tim the Grey]

It must be the Ecurie Itching Bishop team entry!
I can't think there's 2 of 'em...

Hmmm. I might have a reason to want to go, finally.

Anyone have a spare ticket about them?

[Tim the Grey]

I will, having dropped onto a ticket deal. But the entries seem to have plummeted this last week? Down to 35, now?

[brands]

Heading up to Sillystone this morning for the event, I hope the entry list doesn't shrink anymore or it will be a very long 24 hours.

Good luck to the teams, crews, marshals and officials.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by rich07

The Carvell Motorsport Jaguar on the list in group two-is that the N24hr class winner?

Yes, and they lost four hours having to change gearbox. I hope they get to end, it is a pretty car.

[Steven Humphrey]

Originally Posted by skycafe

Yes, and they lost four hours having to change gearbox. I hope they get to end, it is a pretty car.

They did-after we dragged it out of the Copse gravel with a couple of hours to go!

[brands]

The least enjoyable of the 5 Britcar 24 hour meetings I've been to.

The provisional entry lists were works of fiction and we ended up with 33 runners.

Not sure why so many cars were blacked flagged for noise, and 2 excluded, given the cars had 4+ hours of running prior to the race for this issue to be sorted out.
The #56 Seat sounded very loud in every session yet was allowed to run in the race for 10 hours before finally being pulled.

In the end the #28 BMW beat faster cars by staying on the track and not breaking down.

Weird moment was around 1AM when a safety car was deployed as 3 cars all lost a wheel in seperate incidents, one knocking off a corner on a barrier and 2 Ginettas having shafts/hubs break.

The Radio Le Mans coverage, especially through the night, was excellent and kept the hardy and cold spectators going.

[gravel_monkey]

do we know why there were so few entries this year. down 50% on all other years. i really wish this event would take off with spectators and teams as it is a great event and one we should treasure before we loose it

[Andy 308GTB]

Originally Posted by gravel_monkey

do we know why there were so few entries this year. down 50% on all other years. i really wish this event would take off with spectators and teams as it is a great event and one we should treasure before we loose it

Money...

Britcar and the GT Cup have seen their entries depleted this year.

Meanwhile, British GT, German ADAC, Blancpain and the Spanish International GT Open appear to be flourishing.

My theory is that those people with plenty of money have continued to race but may have tightened their belts. But others who were on limited budgets have put their cars away for the time being.

[Steven Humphrey]

Originally Posted by gravel_monkey

do we know why there were so few entries this year. down 50% on all other years. i really wish this event would take off with spectators and teams as it is a great event and one we should treasure before we loose it

It also clashed with the Spa 6hrs-apparently a lot of the historic racers usually do Britcar aswell.

[mattt]

Originally Posted by brands

...
Not sure why so many cars were blacked flagged for noise, and 2 excluded, given the cars had 4+ hours of running prior to the race for this issue to be sorted out.
The #56 Seat sounded very loud in every session yet was allowed to run in the race for 10 hours before finally being pulled.

....

The noise was made a big issue this year due to the complaints of local people last year and the effort that silverstone had to put in at the start of the year to get the 24 hour running again. They had to give the teams time to see if they could/would fix it, the teams were frustrated enough even after several warnings when they got excluded. the main issue with the increasing noise on the cars was caused by the padding in the silencer breaking down as the race went on apparently

[Cynic]

[QUOTE=brands;3140505]In the end the #28 BMW beat faster cars by staying on the track and not breaking down.
[QUOTE]

Is that not part and parcel of 24 hour racing though? One of the appeals of Britcar for me has always been the fact that smaller teams can pull off a giant killing act with the right reliability and fuel mileage.

I actually thought it was one of the more entertaining races despite the low grid, although admittedly the last few hours would have been better had the Ginetta and the Mosler not suffered their various wheel related maladies. The only puzzler for me is I'd like to know where on the circuit noise was being measured, as from where I was the Synchro car was nowhere near being one of the loudest.

[mattt]

Originally Posted by Cynic

... The only puzzler for me is I'd like to know where on the circuit noise was being measured, as from where I was the Synchro car was nowhere near being one of the loudest.

There was static and in motion noise tests. the static ones were taking place in the scrutineering bay, I'm not sure where the other ones were but I'd presume it was somewhere near the startline

Originally Posted by adam46

I was in the Media Centre from 10PM-ish through 'till the finish and there was loads of controversy regarding the noise issues. One car that got Black Flagged (It was two Black Flags for exclusion) for the noise was the #69 BMW 1-Series, which basically sounded no different from the road-going model going past on a road; it was by far the quietest car there.

It was a very odd situation that in the eyes of many in the Media Centre rather tainted the race.

It must have been louder than the road going to be given a black flag, at the end of the day the scrutineers wouldn't make up the noise meter readings

At the end of the day what would you rather have, the race to be banned due to noise and never happening again or two cars being excluded from the race and several others being on final warnings

[Osella]

who's going? I'll be there +1

[courageous]

I'm sure it will still be an interesting race but only 26 cars set competitive times in day qualifying.

[trebor901]

if you turn up to this at say 5pm you buy a ticket on the gate for saturday what time do you have to be out the circuit by? and how do they check?

[rich07]

Originally Posted by trebor901

if you turn up to this at say 5pm you buy a ticket on the gate for saturday what time do you have to be out the circuit by? and how do they check?

You could probably hide somewhere-Silverstones a big place. Im guessing you want to stay overnight?

[trebor901]

no i was just wondering whether you have to be out by midnight, because £35 is a lot to spend for just a few hours tbh im surprised they dont do a saturday-sunday ticket only instead of the fri-sun ticket

[courageous]

Ginetta on pole alongside the Mosler - looks like 33 cars to take the start.

Green flag in just over 1/2 hour

Streaming video http://www.ustream.tv/channel/silver...tcar-24hr-race
On board from the factory toyota http://www.ustream.tv/channel/toyotagb
radiolemans are streaming commentary
dailysportscar race content seems to be free
Timing http://www.tsl-timing.com/eerc/livetimingBritcar.html

[TF110]

They're going on about Toyota now. Good listen even though I can't see the videos.