Easter Weekend - BTCC at Mondello or Circuit Of Ireland? Which would you opt for?

aidan_dunne

Okay, I guess it's time for the first poll on the new forum.

As you probably know, the opening round of the British Touring Car Championship takes place at Mondello Park this Easter Bank Holiday Monday. Now, it has been noted on other motorsport forums and in The Star this week that the BTCC will be clashing with one of the classics in the Irish motorsport calendar, the Circuit Of Ireland rally (or, as I prefer to call it nowadays, the "Circuit of Ulster and a bit of the Republic south of the Border Rally"! Oh how I long for the days of the "old" five and six day long, round Ireland Circuits!). I've been to the BTCC rounds the past two years and enjoyed them immensely but, if you could go watch either the BTCC or the Circuit, which would you choose? Unfortunately, I probably won't get to go to either this year but I was wondering what the petrolheads here would go for.

In terms of accessibility, the BTCC would be the easier option for me but if accessibility wasn't a problem I'd probably choose the Circuit. Okay, standing around in a field or on top of a stone wall or in a ditch somewhere in the freezing cold for possibly hours waiting to get a quick glimpse of a few rally cars before running for the car to tear off to another stage and stand around again in the cold may not be as comfortable as sitting in the stand at Mondello eating overpriced, undercooked chips from the fungus wagons, but I'd still choose rallying anyday. No offense to the BTCC boys, as entertaining as they are, but there's just something about a 300+ bhp, 4-wheel drive rally car tearing along a normal, country road that does it for me. And, of course, a MKII Escort going tailhappy ape$hit at a junction!

So, what would you choose? BTCC circuit racing or Circuit rallying?

mike65

My answer is in your post Aidan, I'm too old to trapse up to NI to watch cars flash past in the wind and rain, so I'd go to Mondello.

I saw the COI back in the old days when my dad and I were up at 4 am
to get to the stage in time. God, we must have been mad!

Mike.

aidan_dunne

Of course mike65, the beauty of the old Circuit was that it really was a "Circuit Of Ireland" and no matter where you were in the country you wouldn't have to travel too far from home in order to catch a stage or two. I remember going to see a stage of it with my father and uncle somewhere up the Slieve Bloom mountains (I think! I was only about 6 at the time. ) one year during the mid 80's. Unfortunately, with costs so high nowadays the drivers and crews just can't afford to be doing five days all over Ireland so we're left with a three day "sprint" over a couple of hundred miles.

Ah well, we'll always have our memories of Billy Coleman in the Rothmans Porsche, Austin in the black, tail-happy, gravel-throwing Opel Manta, Jimmy McRae coming over from Scotland and showing the Irish lads how it's done and seriously pissing them off as he did so. Ah sure, they don't make rallies, rally drivers or rally cars like they used too!

(I'm going to shut up now as I'm beginning to sound like a 60 year old old fart! )

mike65

For a number of years the rally overnighted in Waterford (where I live),
the place was Rothmans City! and full of wannabe petrolheards too of course, you can imagine...!

http://www.impartialreporter.com/archive/2002-03-21/sport/story3269.html

Mike.

Robbo

If I was in the country at the time, it's definitely the BTCC for me. However, I'm moving over to England on placement at the start of April and I want to take in the Indycars at Brands Hatch, which happily has the BTCC as support.

Chimaera

Given the choice, it'd probably be Circuit of Ireland for me, but both events are rather far away from Limerick, so I'll just hold out a few weeks for the Killarney Rally of the Lakes on the May bank holiday weekend instead

Don1

Cicuit of Ireland. More fun tearing around the country following the stages. The cops tend to ignore speeders cos they think your involved in it in some way. Plus the BTCC championship aint as cool as it was. Real Touring Cars = DTM. Fact!

aidan_dunne

Originally posted by Chimaera
..... Killarney Rally of the Lakes on the May bank holiday weekend instead

I take it that you'll probably visit Molls Gap at some stage (pardon the pun! ) over the weekend, will you? Best place in the country to watch rally cars come flying through, in my opinion.

PH01

This is a Rally V. Roundy-roundy racing poll isn't it?

Chimaera

I take it that you'll probably visit Molls Gap at some stage

Oh God yeah Was up there at 7:00 am last year on the first day - we had a good spot and saw the cars for about a mile either side of the gap.

Dcully

Since i live close to Mondello ill probably get in for free to see the practice days and then head off to see the rally if its not too far.
You cannot beat standing in a ditch and listening to the far off turbo crackling and getting ever so close then Vroom! bang,Vroom! bang,Vroom! screech pop pop pop pop pop pop ,handbrake, tyre screech stones flying and then Vroom, bang,vroom bang , shortly followed by the same thing. Great stuff

Don 1 ,its the muppets who speed around the place thinking they are in the rally that gets rallies cancelled and worse which ive seen happen a young lad about 13 getting killed when all he was doing was cycling on his bmx
This ****ing idiot passed me and 3 other cars on a stretch of road which an F1 car would struggle to get by before corner and then horror.I personally wanted to punch his lights out right there and then.
This guy i can guarantee is now behind bars.
So sad little boyracers slow the **** down .

Kali

ahh gotta be Mondello.. the BTCC cars look bloody excellent headin into Tarzan 1 & 2, tis probably the best spot for watching them. I'll be getting a free pass anyway (and for the British Superbikes, yay!)..

been to several rallys over the years, always great fun, but pain in the arse to get too usually, and you usually have to wander about looking for a hairpin an hour or two in advance..

Dcully

Only poor thing about BTCC is they are nothing compared to DTM cars.

aidan_dunne

Originally posted by Dcully
You cannot beat standing in a ditch and listening to the far off turbo crackling and getting ever so close then Vroom! bang,Vroom! bang,Vroom! screech pop pop pop pop pop pop ,handbrake, tyre screech stones flying and then Vroom, bang,vroom bang , shortly followed by the same thing. Great stuff

Amen to that, brotha!

Originally posted by Kali
ahh gotta be Mondello.. the BTCC cars look bloody excellent headin into Tarzan 1 & 2, tis probably the best spot for watching them. I'll be getting a free pass anyway (and for the British Superbikes, yay!).

Yep, best spot on the whole circuit to watch. That's where I usually stand. You can see them coming through Daly's Drift, changing down from 6th to 2nd in the space of a few metres, braking hard, turn in right, hold it on the throttle, turn it right again, power out hard and blast past you, up to 3rd and then 4th in the blink of an eye before dropping down to 3rd again, braking into the Birrane's Bends chicane and usually seeing some guy taping the back of the car in front where he missed his braking point. Then you can turn around and just catch a glimpse of them coming through Paddock in 4th before coming up the rise, changing down into 2nd and braking hard, more bumper bashing and turning into Dunlop and back onto the start/finish straight. Fantastic! If you're one of those people who usually sits in the stand at Mondello when you're there or hangs around turn one, get up off your arses and walk out to the back of the circuit. Believe me, you won't regret it.

I'd still choose rallying, though.

And as for getting a free pass and one for the BSB round..... you lucky ba$tard! How the hell did you swing that one?

Originally posted by Dcully
Only poor thing about BTCC is they are nothing compared to DTM cars.

The BTCC cars in their current form are okay, I'd agree, but I'd give my right bollock (okay, maybe not! ) to see those V8 DTM monsters tearing around Mondello. Or even the old 500bhp Sierra RS500 BTCC cars of the late-80's. Getting the chance to get up close to Steve Soper during the pit-lane walkabout at the BTCC round in 2001 was like a dream come true for me because I've been watching him race right back to those days when he drove that gorgeous black RS500 in those unbelievable battles against Andy Rouse in the Kaliber-sponsored car. I got a good picture of him, too, signing autographs with his AA grid girl right beside him.

Pity that big crash he had at the final round at Brands Hatch that year ended his career.

Dcully

Ive seen a fair few racing classes in action.Last summer i got to see the DTM at Nurburgring[ i was on a trip to the old Nurby which ive loved ever since i played the amazing Grand Prix Legends on pc] but boy do those DTMs make a sweet sound
Ive seen a Nascar Busch race 4 years ago at Homestead 35 plus 800 bhp big block engines make some noise i can tell you but the best has to go to F1 at Silverstone ,those things scream at incredibly high decibals, i and a few friends had pains in our chests at the end of the weekend from this unreal thumping sensation we were getting in our chests from the Banging when the F1 downshifts through its7 gears to 2nd in seconds,the braking on those things is of another planet.
F1 has got to be seen to be believed as tv doesnt do it justice.