So here goes
Knockhill circuit always proves a tough circuit for drivers and car especially if its wet.
FP1 Jason and Alex had a few laps in this run trying different things to find the best performance from the car, Jason did appear to be struggling in comparison with previous wet races keeping on pace with the S2000 NGTC engine hondas /fords and other NGTC Machines. Although a few Red Flags didn’t help with Mr Neate did love that first corner and the gravel, felt like giving him a bucket and spade.
FP2 was really along the same lines didn’t appear to be on the pace of the main front-runners, seen a lot of issues with understeer on both cars with Jason seeming to struggling for pace in relation to Alex at times who looked racy, more red flags during this one causing delays in flying laps for drivers pretty sure Mr Neate was behind a few of these as well.
Quali was very difficult for both Chevy drivers although it was on a dry track which I thought would benefit us after wet weather running, didn’t work out this way unfortunately, Chevrolet qualified 5th for JP and 8th for Alex Respectively down clearly to the torque and straight line pull of the front running Turbo cars. I know when you look at the times you think ahhh there aint much difference in that Alan But at knockhill the real Radio hairpin goes uphill to the straight, now the Chevrolet aint a slow car but if you have a turbo in a car it boasts torque and BHP, meaning it would have a much greater pull out that corner and up the hill, that’s where I feel we were loosing out. So based on that I thought maybe on race day this will change as in previous races. Jason did appear to have an engine change before race day as well due to performance issues so we had high hopes.
Race Day am afraid to say however was as feared the day before in the first two races don’t get me wrong it was action packed but I hate seeing my team struggle for performance, we can race Rob collard no probs that’s always exciting with the BMW driver, only really loosing out to him towards the end of the race where his rear wheel drive advantage really shows. But you could still see the pull out the hairpin corner of the turbos compared to the Chevrolet, then on the straights they pulled out further leads with the Chevrolet’s only closing on them under breaking. Race 1 Jason finished 7th, Alex dropped back to 12th although did have a few incidents, Race 2 Jason finished 7th in this race Alex failed to finish race 3 and had to retire issues with oil cooler leaking onto rear tyres and loosing grip.
Onto Race 3 High hopes on this JP got the break of reverse grid and got Pole, with Tom Boardman in his Seat Leon NGTC engine behind in second. So Race got under way Jason got a great start and kept the lead into the first corner Tom Right behind, now after first Lap Tom was rite behind jason based on the fact he has the dreaded Turbo, he gave jason a tap purely I feel because of the sheer speed he was gaining on the straight, second lap exactly the same although this time a lot more obv what Tom was trying to do, third lap he took a lot more speed into the first corner on Jason gave him a much harder tap knocked the back of the Chevrolet Cruze round and off into the barrier went JP. Now not only was it upsetting that Jason Was out for Chevrolet but also the way Tom took him out was totally unnesacary in my view he could have overtaken in time safely and kept a potential title winner on the track which he aint am afraid lets face it people, although he was keen to win first race.
On plus side Alex fought his way through from the back of the grid up to tenth with a superb drive, you have to commend his commitment at times on this race, pace he was taking through first 3 corners was imense at times real gutsy drive from him.
Now Last thing ill say at the start of the season Mr Gow said there will be parity between turbo and N/A now i know he has made strives but after knockhill it still apparent there is a clear dis advantage for the N/A cars running in the field.
Now before everyone says and im tired of hearing this Chevrolet had the chance to put a turbo in the car, as stated before in my article on here before to enter BTCC Chevrolet use WTCC cars and engine packages, the funding believe it or not isn’t as much as you think for a works team based on this, so going turbo this year really and I mean Really wasnt an option as far as I am aware, but if it was a fairer championship as Chevrolet were assured it would be we wouldn’t be discussing this would we?
Now I’m speaking purely as a fan, I feel this is spoiling the BTCC we need people like Jason up at the front in the mix with Neal and Shedden its all part of what makes BTCC what it is and we the fans are missing out on this due to what in my mind is a stupied decsion on the rules by TOCA.
As you can see from the picture left, the Malibu is final pre production stage, and was caught out testing with very little camouflage. The familiar Bowtie badge and trademark grille are clearly visible , also as with many new Chevrolet’s you can see the front lights merge into the wing and follow the high waist line all the way to the rear of the car.
Chevrolet are only expected to offer Four cylinder engines in the New Malibu, with Normally aspirated 2.4L and 2.0L turbo charged ECOTEC units being mentioned. Other rumours of features such as Four wheel drive and possibility of a hybrid joining the Malibu range have also been mentioned.
