682 replies to this topic

[DS27]

And those who said that Colin was not a realistic option for the title before the weekend which i didn't believe one bit, and now look at him, 

 

 

I'm sorry but I wouldn't say it was realistic at all. Even after taking pole and winning the first two races, while his competitors struggled, he still wasn't in realistic contention in Race 3 as most said would be the case. It was between Gordon and Sam in the final race unless they took each other off. So Colin had as good a weekend as possible and ultimately still wasn't in with a shout.

 

And Plato lost any respect I had for him (and I have been in the minority who have stuck up for him in the past). Could have easily been contact between him and Colin at times. What on earth was he doing. Even Tim Harvey, the man who never gets off the fence, was almost speechless at what he was seeing.

 

Extremely graceless after the race and certainly not a team player until he realised he couldn't get past anyway. His ego's a little out of control, and compared to Colin's classy comments, he made himself look a little silly yesterday.

Edited by DS27, 03 October 2016 - 18:31.

[Silverstone96]

I'm sorry but I wouldn't say it was realistic at all. Even after taking pole and winning the first two races, while his competitors struggled, he still wasn't in realistic contention in Race 3 as most said would be the case. It was between Gordon and Sam in the final race unless they took each other off. So Colin had as good a weekend as possible and ultimately still wasn't in with a shout.

And Plato lost any respect I had for him (and I have been in the minority who have stuck up for him in the past). Could have easily been contact between him and Colin at times. What on earth was he doing. Even Tim Harvey, the man who never gets off the fence, was almost speechless at what he was seeing.

Extremely graceless after the race and certainly not a team player until he realised he couldn't get past anyway. His ego's a little out of control, and compared to Colin's classy comments, he made himself look a little silly yesterday.

Agree completely, Plato showed his true colours - he has been grumpy this year because he has been comfortably beaten by a frankly better driver who does his talking on the track.

For me Turkington and Shedden are just on a slightly higher level than anyone else in the series

[Xentas]

I'm sorry but I wouldn't say it was realistic at all. Even after taking pole and winning the first two races, while his competitors struggled, he still wasn't in realistic contention in Race 3 as most said would be the case. It was between Gordon and Sam in the final race unless they took each other off. So Colin had as good a weekend as possible and ultimately still wasn't in with a shout.

 

And Plato lost any respect I had for him (and I have been in the minority who have stuck up for him in the past). Could have easily been contact between him and Colin at times. What on earth was he doing. Even Tim Harvey, the man who never gets off the fence, was almost speechless at what he was seeing.

 

Extremely graceless after the race and certainly not a team player until he realised he couldn't get past anyway. His ego's a little out of control, and compared to Colin's classy comments, he made himself look a little silly yesterday.

 

And this comes off the back of Matt Neal, Robert Collard, Andrew Jordan and Mat Jackson who were in the fight as realistic contenders only to get knocked out when race 2 ended? yet Colin was in the fight to the last race. the important factor is that he was was a contender to the last round no matter how remote it was so really he was a realistic contender after all.

Edited by Xentas, 03 October 2016 - 19:16.

[superden]

And Plato lost any respect I had for him (and I have been in the minority who have stuck up for him in the past). Could have easily been contact between him and Colin at times. What on earth was he doing. Even Tim Harvey, the man who never gets off the fence, was almost speechless at what he was seeing.

Extremely graceless after the race and certainly not a team player until he realised he couldn't get past anyway. His ego's a little out of control, and compared to Colin's classy comments, he made himself look a little silly yesterday.

I'm glad it's not just me, he came across as graceless after the race and is still clearly biting down hard on that lemon over the 2015 finale.

Still. Pantomime villain and all that.

[Xentas]

I'm glad it's not just me, he came across as graceless after the race and is still clearly biting down hard on that lemon over the 2015 finale.

Still. Pantomime villain and all that.

 

Tasteless or graceless doesn't matter, Plato's baby the Subaru project almost won them the drivers title, so it has been a success story without the teammates taking each other out and i imagine behind all that growling is a happy man. If Jason wants to avoid biting into that lemon again he will need to up his own game and take it to Colin.

[Rinehart]

Bit disapointed by Sam's lack of fight this weekend and apparent satisfaction with coming second in the championship. 

[pacificquay]

It will very likely be a different car as the 2017 Honda Civic is all new, I would expect them to use that

[Xentas]

Bit disapointed by Sam's lack of fight this weekend and apparent satisfaction with coming second in the championship. 

 

Sam doesn't see the BTCC has something serious, it's a hobby to him and if he was pumped up for it, he could of held Gordon at bay and made his BMW as wide as it could be and turned the fight on it's head. It strikes me that Sam wasn't as motivated for the finale as others around him.

[Disgrace]

Really? That's bullshit. He would have kept Shedden behind if he had the car underneath him to do it. It's really simple to understand. Was his charge from the back of the grid at Rockingham the performance of someone who wasn't up for it?

[Xentas]

Really? That's bullshit. He would have kept Shedden behind if he had the car underneath him to do it. It's really simple to understand. Was his charge from the back of the grid at Rockingham the performance of someone who wasn't up for it?

 

Ifs, ands or buts don't matter as they didn't happen. You can only play the hand you are dealt and just because someone can race through the field doesn't mean they are motivated for it. if you happen to be very good at marking up paperwork as a teacher each evening and usually enjoy doing it, doesn't mean you don't get bored of it sometimes.

[Disgrace]

Something else that didn't happen: Tordoff decided to give up because he was thinking about his day job during the race.

[Rinehart]

It's clear from his post race interviews and a couple of articles on him this week, that Sam wasn't that bothered. Not as bothered as you'd expect a driver going for their 1st BTCC title would be. Even if it's only the BTCC... 

[blackhand2010]

Yeah, given the performance of all the BMW's across the weekend, I'd suggest their lack of horsepower was likely the bigger factor in Tordoff's defeat than any "hunger".

As I said earlier in the thread, hopefully they'll be allowed a boost increase for next year.

And now we just have to wait six months for the new season to start *sighs*

[JHSingo]

And Plato lost any respect I had for him (and I have been in the minority who have stuck up for him in the past). Could have easily been contact between him and Colin at times. What on earth was he doing. Even Tim Harvey, the man who never gets off the fence, was almost speechless at what he was seeing.

 

Extremely graceless after the race and certainly not a team player until he realised he couldn't get past anyway. His ego's a little out of control, and compared to Colin's classy comments, he made himself look a little silly yesterday.

 

Yeah, completely agree - although I think it was the frustrations of the season coming through as well. Only one win, soundly beaten by Turkington, been put in his place by TOCA after his mid season whinge...this year hasn't been the best from him. I do agree that interview was unprofessional though, came across as very arrogant.

What a contrast between Plato and the Honda team mates, though. More than once I can recall Neal playing the team game for Shedden, and I get the impression that he did it with no complaints and without being asked. Neal and Shedden seem to work very well together, whereas I can't remember Plato ever being that friendly with a team mate - particularly one that's regularly beating him.

 

As for whether Tordoff was "hungry" enough or not - difficult to say. Maybe the laid back approach is just the way he is, or maybe it was his way of dealing with the pressure. He was saying after Silverstone that the pressure was on everyone else to catch him. I'm sure privately he must be pretty gutted to come so close and miss out by only two points, but I also think he probably views the BTCC as a stepping stone to another series. I hope he returns, but wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't. Whereas with Shedden and co, they've spent the majority of their careers in the BTCC and don't look like moving on any time soon, so perhaps it does mean more to Gordon than Sam. We can only speculate.

[Disgrace]

Lads, it's Plato. It was obvious he wasn't going to make life too easy for Turkington.

[Xentas]

Something else that didn't happen: Tordoff decided to give up because he was thinking about his day job during the race.

 

That may or may not happen, will find out sometime next year.

[Disgrace]

That may or may not happen, will find out sometime next year.

 

No, we know the answer now.

[Xentas]

No, we know the answer now.

 

You are confusing me with your replies. is he giving up or not? and if he is, source? if not, how do you know for sure?

[Disgrace]

Of course he didn't. My source is that I watched the race and it was obvious that the BMW didn't the have the pace to keep up with the Honda. Hence Shedden finishing ahead of Tordoff. It's up to you to prove otherwise. Especially given that your explanation is that he was too busy thinking about his next bonus instead of defending from Shedden or indeed Morgan - while he was in the middle of a race. Where's your source? Are you a mind reader?

[f1paul]

After Sam got overtaken by Shedden he should've wiped Shedden and himself off at Druids (turn 2). He was too cautious and was lucky to even have a chance of the title. He just picked up the points but didn't show much aggression this season, let alone the finale.

[pacificquay]

After Sam got overtaken by Shedden he should've wiped Shedden and himself off at Druids (turn 2).

No, he shouldn't

[messy]

I did think that Tordoff didn't quite show the body language of a man on the verge of his first title either in or out of the car. I'm curious, what's this 'day job' people are alluding to? I know he's talked up a future in endurance racing, LMP2, a crack at Le Mans etc, but I wasn't aware of any other non-motorsport stuff. Do seem to remember that his family have a bit of a business empire? Anyway, he didn't really look like someone who was hungry for a first title. Although I don't think he actually did anything wrong in the races, the Honda was just quicker. 

[superden]

Doesn't he work for the family firm, JCT600?

[DS27]

Yes. I got the impression he was on the financial side as there was a comment in the build up about him looking at spreadsheets all day.

 

I agree he seemed slightly indifferent but maybe that's just his personality. It's unusual (in racing) for sure, but I don't think it really changed the result. The Honda was just better on the day. His speed and calmness would be well suited to endurance racing.

[Risil]

Tordoff, or his team, or his car, had an off day. All the BTCC frontrunners have had a few of those, it's a big reason why the championship was so close.

[JHSingo]

Tordoff, or his team, or his car, had an off day. All the BTCC frontrunners have had a few of those, it's a big reason why the championship was so close.

 

I don't think Tordoff/team/car really had an "off" day - they actually had three decent races (10th, 5th, 5th), which ordinarily would have been enough to clinch the title. It's just that Shedden had a great one. Tordoff actually had a much better weekend than he'd had at Silverstone (11th, 11th, 6th), where he still lead the points afterwards.

 

It's been a pretty bizarre season by all accounts though - the current ballast/tyres/reversed grid variables mean it's basically impossible to have one weekend without a poor result.

[pacificquay]

Well well well, it seems Sam Tordoff is considering retiring from motorsport.

[midgrid]

Andrew Jordan splits from Motorbase.

[Burtros]

I wonder where Jordan will end up this time? Might be nice to see him in one of the BMW's.

[BRG]

Andrew Jordan splits from Motorbase.

So presumably his Pirtek sponsorship clashes with a Motorbase sponsor.  Or is that just a polite fiction to cover a falling out?  Jordan needs to get into a front line car.  He is one of the best in the BTCC and has been underperforming recently.

[JHSingo]

The thing that I find intriguing about this, is that only recently one of Motorbase's sponsors put out video with a *conveniently* placed poster in the background:

Link to the website: https://www.okiprintmyride.com/

That had caused speculation that Motorbase could be running Alfa Romeos next season. But what difference (if any) Jordan's exit from the team would have on those plans, I'm not sure.

 

Edit: Jordan also alludes to something in a statement on Pirtek's website:

“Talks are ongoing about a programme that would be fantastic for both myself, as well as for Pirtek and my other sponsors. I’m certainly very confident that we will be able to build on the success that we have enjoyed this year when the new season comes around.”

http://www.pirtek.co...-2017-programme

Edited by JHSingo, 19 October 2016 - 20:24.

[Silverstone96]

Wow now that is interesting!

The new Alfa guila is a stunner, would be a great addition

[Pete_f1]

I don't know if anyone has seen this, but its a great view of the camera gantree incident, showing how lucky the cameraman and a few others were.

https://youtu.be/rGvNlddi1fY