Turbo Cars Likely To Be Pegged Back
After two rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch and Donington Park it looks likely that Alan Gow will adjust the performance of the turbo cars to regain parity between the three sets of regulations on show.
Currently this season we have the S2000 regulations racing alongside the S2000 with NGTC engine, which was introduced last year, as well as the new full NGTC specification cars.
The performance of the turbo cars has sparked controversy up and down the pit lane with many of the S2000 drivers calling for parity to be regained. Turbo cars such as the Honda Civic of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden have been able to put in speeds which are almost 7mph faster through the speed traps than the S2000 Chevrolet Cruze’s of Jason Plato and Alex MacDowall for much of the race weekends.
After Donington Park, Alex MacDowall spoke up by saying, “It’s impossible to keep ahead of the turbo cars, the advantage they have is massive. We definitely need more equalisation between the normally aspirated cars and the turbos but that will take time.”
However changes might becoming sooner rather than later after speaking on the official BTCC.net forum, Championship Director, Alan Gow said, “In very simple terms; the performance of the fastest/best of each type should be comparable for 2011 and 2012 – of course given that they are of a comparable level of quality of driver/team/car/preparation and that, at times, each car will have their own strengths and weaknesses at differing circuits.”
Gow went on to say, “Obviously we need to analyze the data thoroughly but, as a guess, I would say it’s likely there will be an adjustment before Thruxton. I fully expect more tweaks will be made throughout the season as teams continue to refine their cars all of which makes for a fascinating championship, as we are already seeing.”
Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)
James Mappin
