MSport Talk: Frank Motorsport Opinions & Debate

The BTCC returned this weekend just gone and, subject to "news" broken on this very blog did not race anti clockwise - who knew! What we did witness however was two of the sports more elder statesmen involved in two separate start line incidents, now, without wanting to cause too much controversy I am beginning to wonder: Is It Time For The "Old Guard" To Call It A Day? Don't get me wrong, Neal and Plato have been fantastic ambassadors to the sport and to Touring Car racing in general but, two, fairly similar, start line incidents while all those around them - many young enough to be their sons get through a weekend relatively unscathed one wonder if it is time for the two of them to take a back seat and let the younger blood through.  Neither driver has won a title since 2011, and while both have gone into the final weekend with an outside chance of glory on most occasions since one would argue that plenty of other drivers would have too. To ...

Rumors began circulating last night that, the BTCC opener, happening this weekend *may* see the cars take to the Indy loop at Brands Hatch in the opposite direction to normal. Initial leaks suggest that 32 cars all jostling for position on the series shortest laps creates too many incidents in the early part of the lap.  By reversing the lap it would give te drivers a better chance to settle down before taking the - now right hand turn into Graham Hill Bend before the short uphill dash to the Druids hairpin and t he downhill towards Paddock Hill Bend and the end of the lap. Msporttalk belive that the day's opening practice session *may* see the cars run in the opposite direction to normal before race direction make a decision on the race direction.  I'd like to thank my mole within the series who gets me these stories and snippets as they break. She is always number one with the news and, to protect her identity I call her April The First! Thank-you. 

As many of you may have no doubt seen, last weekend saw the 75th annual Members Meeting at Goodwood Circuit and, featured many races & demonstrations from many different type and class of race car, many driven by enthusiasts and current owners, some by the drivers who raced the machinery at the time and, some drivers competing in various disciplines currently taking time out to try something different, and this got me thinking. 1978 saw the 25th anniversary of the Macau GP, an event that still takes place to this day but, to commemorate the silver jubilee if you like, a race was held and, saw many famous names from the world of motorsports compete against one another in identical MkII 1.6 Litre Ford Escorts. Yes you read that correctly. Among the drivers turning out for this event were:  Prince Bira Baron Toulo de Graffenried Phil Hill Mike Hailwood Stirling Moss Jack Brabham Dan Gurney  Bobby Unser Denny Hulme Jacky Ickx Teddy Yip, the then o...

This winter a friend and I decided to attempt to predict who would be driving and in what in the 2017 BTCC series. I'm not proud to say we were very very wrong, some of obvious choices aside we were in some places so far away we were on a different grid. However. This very evening I laid down another challenge. How many race winners in the 2017 season and how many races do they win? In the interest of fairplay and transparency I'm posting mine here, tonight, a few days before "Media Day", before the last driver has even been announced. Hopefully, come October it'll give me some better results to look back on. My BTCC prdictions for 2016: Champion: Colin Turkington Indy Champion: Mat Jackson Team Champions: WSR Manufacturers Champions: Honda Jack Sears Rookie: Luke Davenport There will be 12 race winners as follows: Colin Turkington: 5 Matt Neal: 4 Gordon Shedden: 3 Andrew Jordan: 3 Mat Jackson: 3 Jason Plato: 2 Rob Collard: 2 Jack Goff: 2 Tom I...

The F1 pre season testing has been and gone, cars have been launched, tested and speculation has begun about who will be on top come November (Mercedes). It'll come as no surprise to regular readers (if I have any) that I am fast falling out of love with F1, the series still needs a huge shakeup, costs need to be reduced to enable and encourage new squads and manufacturers to join. The sport and it's stars need to be more accessible and affordable to the fans and, more importantly the spectacle and excitment needs to return. But back to now, unfortunately I cannot see anyone other than one of the Mercedes drivers winning the title this year. Red Bull and Ferrari will be there or thereabouts but, I don't think they'll have the consistency to keep with the "Silver Arrows" for the whole season.  The Williams and Force India cars should be along next (Mercedes engines) with Reanult, Haas, Toro Rosso, Mclaren and Sauber battling for the low points places. B...

Friday the 10th of March and, around tea time like many others I heard the sad news that the multiple 500cc, 350cc, Isle of Man TT Winner and 1964 Formula 1 World Champion, John Surtees had passed in hospital in London. Known to many as the only man to win world championships on both two and four wheels, but he achieved so much more than that both on the track and in the garage. Surtees won only one F1 title but early in his career took multiple 2 wheeled titles including the 350cc and 500cc (MotoGP / Moto2 equivalents) titles in the same season for three years running between 1958 and 1960 (he also took the 1957 500cc title), and seemed to make the switch to 4 wheels pretty easily.  Joining the F1 circus as reining 500cc champion in 1960, Surtees competed in four rounds for Team Lotus in the Lotus 18 Climax scoring a second place in his second ever start. Seasons in Coopers and Lolas followed before he was signed by Ferrari for the 1963 campaign, winning the German Gran...

Many of you may not be aware but, the upcoming WEC opener at Silverstone will not be the only chance to see prototype racing in this country this year. No, I’m not talking about the Silverstone Classic, or the Festival of Speed but, having already run a single event last October at Snetterton the Henderson Insurance Brokers LMP3 Cup to give it it’s full name will be running its first full season this year, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Donington (both layouts), Snetterton and Spa in Belgium host the 6 event championship for LMP3 machinery. Expect a high level of competition from this series considering the pedigree of some of the teams already signed up, a few of which you may recognise from other series. RML, Speedworks, Team Parker Racing, United Autosports and Redline Racing to name but a few, all of whom know how to build and prepare a quick, fast racecar. For those of you unfamiliar with the LMP3 category, LMP3 cars often race in the ELMS and Asian LMS series as a second...