BTCC in Mondello this weekend!

Cond0r

Well, it's that time of year again!

The British Touring Car Championship is on route to mondello this weekend.
Lots of changes this year from last, should be a great weekend of motorsport

More info here: modello.ie and here: btcc.net

If you book now, its a tenner cheaper than if you pay on the days.

Also looks like there's gonna be a cool after-race party in TIME: in Naas on Sunday night.

Anyone else going?

aidan_dunne

I've gone to it in 2001, 2002 and last year. Missed it in 2003 and it looks like I'm going to miss it this year as well, unfortunately. Pity as it tends to be some great racing.

Funxy

I would love to go but cant make it, im sure it would be a great day!

ando

i would love to go but it looks like I'll be elsewhere for the weekend would love it

Cond0r

Jaysus ye're all gonna be away

It looks like it should be very good this year alright.. lots of new cars in it.
New Astra Sports Hatch, Lexus IS200's, Integra Type R's instead of Civics etc etc

Should be some excellent racing as long as the weather holds up! :rolleyes:

CtrlSource

I'm going - both days! Should be excellent

With any luck the pesky showers that are forecast for Saturday won't last and will give way to sun.... and some great racing on Sunday!

Not sure about those Astra Sports hatches though

Cond0r

Yeah damn straight.. mondello is a very bleak place when its windy & raining

I'm not too sure about those Astra sport hatches either, especially judging by the standings of the VX Racing drivers in the championship.. looks like they made a mistake changing to those. Then again they would have been forced to change by Vauxhall, as the Astra Coupe is no more afaik.

On the flipside, Halfords Racing look like they've done everything right this season with the new Integra R's, they're running away with the championship.

Either way it will be a superb weekend of exhaust fumes and burning clutches

halman

At Coolock Halfords we have 16 tickets for the touring car championship
to give away. Call in offer applies to the Coolock store offer applies to members of clubs just show your card, first come first served.

Cond0r

halman wrote:

At Coolock Halfords we have 16 tickets for the touring car championship
to give away. Call in offer applies to the Coolock store offer applies to members of clubs just show your card, first come first served.

Ummm.. what kind of "clubs" ?

Too bad I booked my tickets

Beekay

I'll be up in Northern Ireland,probably watching much better racing at a better track.

But i still would like to go

Lord Nikon

My mate lives close by, hopefully I can have his Family Pass, wahoo for free access. Gonna break in the new 512Meg card for the camera too. Excellent.

Cond0r

Beekay wrote:

I'll be up in Northern Ireland,probably watching much better racing at a better track.

But i still would like to go

Would you like to enlighten us about this much better racing at this much better track you speak of?

neuromancer wrote:

My mate lives close by, hopefully I can have his Family Pass, wahoo for free access.

Damn you all with your free tickets, support the motorsport industry!

Beekay

Cond0r wrote:

Would you like to enlighten us about this much better racing at this much better track you soeak of?

Its Formula Vee up in Kirkistown on saturday.Very good racing

Beekay

Cond0r wrote:

Would you like to enlighten us about this much better racing at this much better track you speak of?

I would indeed.
Its Irish Formula Vee up in Kirkistown.Very Very good racing is to be had

Cond0r

Formula Vee? Better than Touring Cars? Hmmm matter of opinion I suppose. I went to see them in Mondello a few months back.. and the porsches were more fun

Personally I have to say I find the Formula Vee's extremely boring and would much prefer BTCC.

Beekay

What date was that?
Don't get me wrong,BTCC are great.Maybe i just find the Vee's more exciting because im actually supporting someone in them

Cond0r

I'm not too sure what date it was to be honest... I think it was back in april/may time. I can totally understand that it'd be much more exciting if you know one of the drivers alright

Beekay

well i'd definately recommend you give them another chance.They only have one round left at mondello on the 11th of September.
And if you want a car to support,The all black No.3 car(Kershaw Hydraulics) is a good one.He is on this board actually(Kersh).Im his Bro.

Cond0r

Beekay wrote:

well i'd definately recommend you give them another chance.They only have one round left at mondello on the 11th of September.
And if you want a car to support,The all black No.3 car(Kershaw Hydraulics) is a good one.He is on this board actually(Kersh).Im his Bro.

I might indeed go along so

Looks like there's gonna be some extra fun this weekend, just got this from here:

As in previous years one of the most popular parts of the weekend will be the Pit Walkabout where the public can meet the BTCC stars and get close to the cars in the pit garages. For fans of modified cars and the growing sport of drifting, a drift demonstration by the HKS / Rampage Drift Car will take place after the pit walkabout and this will be followed by more excitement with an aerobatic display by Irelands top stunt pilot Eddie Goggins.

The timetable for both days is there also!

CtrlSource

A stunt pilot? Sure, what more could we ask for?!

It's unlikely that anyone will want to be distracted from the racing on the ground, but a couple of barrel rolls and tailslides might be good for a few skyward glances

SouperComputer

LOL, I was up with Eddie earlier in the year. I guess he got his plane fixed as the canopy came off and hit the tail recently, during flight!

This good stuff, plane can pull 10G, only attempted a meagre 6 while I was up there

aidan_dunne

Ya lucky ba$tard, Souper!

I wonder did Mondello decide to add the stunt pilot to the line-up as a way of attracting more visitors to Mondello and away from the Red Bull Air Race down in Cashel on the same day? I put off a planned trip to Mondello this weekend in the hope of getting tickets in the draw for the Air Race instead. Needless to say, I missed out and now I won't get to go to either! And now Mondello decides to go and add a stunt pilot to the line-up anyway! Just my feckin' luck, isn't it!

Cond0r

lol jaysus aiden that's awful bad luck! I assume yer man is coming up from Cashel for the stunt flying.. or is in the vicinity for that reason..

fletch

All I can say is thank god I didn't pay the €25 admission fee (got a complimentary ticket).....racin was SO boring! Spent most of the day walking around the car parks checkin out the spectators cars (ALOT more interesting).
Highlight of the day had to be the Nissan Silvia drifting....oh and the new M5!

SouperComputer

aidan_dunne wrote:

Ya lucky ba$tard, Souper!

I wonder did Mondello decide to add the stunt pilot to the line-up as a way of attracting more visitors to Mondello and away from the Red Bull Air Race down in Cashel on the same day? I put off a planned trip to Mondello this weekend in the hope of getting tickets in the draw for the Air Race instead. Needless to say, I missed out and now I won't get to go to either! And now Mondello decides to go and add a stunt pilot to the line-up anyway! Just my feckin' luck, isn't it!

To make things worse, they didnt even check for tickets at the Red Bull event! The traffic was incredible. Ended up going to cork to get home to Dublin, faster and less stressfull.

Red Bull has their own "World" series, Eddie Goggins wasnt in it for whatever reason. Amazing though, most of the pilots in the series are 50 years old or so. That gives me 25 years of experience to catch up

Cond0r

fletch wrote:

All I can say is thank god I didn't pay the €25 admission fee (got a complimentary ticket).....racin was SO boring! Spent most of the day walking around the car parks checkin out the spectators cars (ALOT more interesting).
Highlight of the day had to be the Nissan Silvia drifting....oh and the new M5!

I thought yer man drifting in the Nissan was a pile of sh*t.. he wasn't even drifting properly, and when it started to drizzle he started arsing it up altogether.

The two M5's there were absolutely gorgeous to look at indeed.. as was the Monaro VXR and the 911 GT3 Safety car.

As for the racing, some of the races weren't great.. but the last touring car race was fantastic.. I don't know where you were watching it from!

fletch

Cond0r wrote:

I thought yer man drifting in the Nissan was a pile of sh*t.. he wasn't even drifting properly, and when it started to drizzle he started arsing it up altogether.

The two M5's there were absolutely gorgeous to look at indeed.. as was the Monaro VXR and the 911 GT3 Safety car.

As for the racing, some of the races weren't great.. but the last touring car race was fantastic.. I don't know where you were watching it from!

Was watching from the first corner....bored me to tears tbh, Monaro was summit else also.....anyone know, do Mondello own those safety cars or the BTCC association?

Kersh

btcc. Mondellos is a Rover 25.... :rolleyes:

fletch

Kersh wrote:

btcc. Mondellos is a Rover 25.... :rolleyes:

lol now there is a surprise....

aidan_dunne

fletch wrote:

Was watching from the first corner....bored me to tears tbh

That's your problem right there. You can't just sit and watch from the one spot all day, you've got to do what I do and walk around the circuit and watch from various corners.

When I go to Mondello, first thing I do is go into the paddock and spend some time looking around at all the various cars and teams' setups and get some pictures. I'll usually watch a practice session or a race or whatever then from inside the paddock at Paddock Corner (second last corner on the track, fastest on the circuit), watch one from inside the paddock at Dunlop (last corner) and maybe watch one from inside the paddock looking towards the first corner, getting pictures all the time.

Then I'll leave the paddock (usually after the pitlane walkabout if there is one) and head out to the back of the circuit and watch at Tarzan 1 and 2 (or 7a and 7b as they usually tend to rename the corners when the BTCC is in town). I think that's usually the best place to watch the racing at, to be honest. The cars come down the long straight and the fastest part of the track, through the kink at Daly's Drift, then have to break hard for the double apex Tarzan 1 and 2 corners before powering out and on up to the Birrane's Bends chicane. Usually you get to see a fair bit of overtaking into Tarzan due to the heavy breaking into the corner. Great spot for pictures, too, as you're really close to the track there. Then, just turn around and you can see the cars coming back through Paddock, rising the crest and turning into Dunlop. Best spot on the (International) track to watch by far, though it does tend to get very breezy and you'll get very wet out there if it starts raining. I often got some right soakings standing out there, unfortunately, but that's the price I'm more than willing to pay to see some good action and to get some great pics.

As I said fletch, your mistake was watching at the first corner. Despite the layout, which you would expect would lead some great overtaking (a tight hairpin after a long striaght), it doesn't seem to happen much there, especially with the BTCC boys. If you want to see some decent action you've got to go take a hike out to the back of the circuit, I'm afraid.

fletch

aidan_dunne wrote:

That's your problem right there. You can't just sit and watch from the one spot all day, .

Well I know for the next time now I suppose

CtrlSource

Agree about the need to move around to different vantage points - the BTCC cars in particular take it pretty easy around the hairpin.

On a side note, did anybody else find the race commentators a tad irritating?

Cond0r

fletch wrote:

Was watching from the first corner....bored me to tears tbh, Monaro was summit else also.....anyone know, do Mondello own those safety cars or the BTCC association?

Nope they were all brought over by the BTCC, they took the fake plates off after the racing was finished.
First corner definitely not a good place to watch for a long period of time, gets very boring indeed, as aidan_dunne described there you need to do a good ramble around the track.

aidan_dunne wrote:

Then I'll leave the paddock (usually after the pitlane walkabout if there is one) and head out to the back of the circuit and watch at Tarzan 1 and 2 (or 7a and 7b as they usually tend to rename the corners when the BTCC is in town). I think that's usually the best place to watch the racing at, to be honest. The cars come down the long straight and the fastest part of the track, through the kink at Daly's Drift, then have to break hard for the double apex Tarzan 1 and 2 corners before powering out and on up to the Birrane's Bends chicane. Usually you get to see a fair bit of overtaking into Tarzan due to the heavy breaking into the corner. Great spot for pictures, too, as you're really close to the track there. Then, just turn around and you can see the cars coming back through Paddock, rising the crest and turning into Dunlop. Best spot on the (International) track to watch by far, though it does tend to get very breezy and you'll get very wet out there if it starts raining. I often got some right soakings standing out there, unfortunately, but that's the price I'm more than willing to pay to see some good action and to get some great pics.

Thats where I watched a lot of the racing from too... has to be the best place to watch it from.. you get to see so much of the racing from there... absolutely fantastic stuff on Sunday evening - last BTCC race.

Kersh

ah, yis should have been in Kirkistown watching 9 formula vees fighting for the lead, yes the lead, for 10 laps. I was in 7th at one stage and the leader was 2 cars in front, we were 3 abreast everywhere except the chicane. awesome race. Then I got to 4th, and back to 8th, and everywhere in between, then one guy spun and I collected him... booooo