BTCC - Free Entry to Season Launch at Brands Hatch

A taste of the action from the BTCC at Brands last year!

The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship's season launch event will be held at Brands Hatch on Tuesday 23rd March.

This will double up as the official media launch and first official test of the year.

A three hour test session will start at 10 AM, followed by a one hour lunch break before further testing in the afternoon.

Now here's the really good news!

Entry to the season launch will be free of charge for spectators, who will also be able to watch the action from the "comfort" of the public grandstands.

I'll give you all three guesses who will be giving himself a day off on 23rd March!

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Brands Hatch Track Guide

Race Report BTCC 2009 Opening Rounds - Brands Hatch

F1 Pre-Season Testing - Any Conclusions?

Well to be honest, after two sessions, err, no!

During pre-season testing last year it was easy to detect early on who the front running teams would be. This time around it's proving much harder.

The latest test session at Jerez has been badly affected by rain so the cars were not always able to run to their full potential.

Secondly, it has been difficult to know whether teams have been running their cars light or with heavy fuel loads. Following a rule change, this season there will be no refuelling during races so cars will start with full tanks and (in theory) gradually get faster lap by lap.

Some of the teams are currently short on sponsors so there is a school of thought that some may be tempted to run light during testing so that they appear towards the top of time sheets putting themselves in the spotlight.

One conclusion I have drawn is that some of the cars look absolutely appalling. Yes, I'm talking about you, Sauber and Renault!

Here are some pictures of the new cars and liveries taken at Jerez by Slitzferrari...

The terrible looking Sauber devoid of sponsor logos..... Put in some fast lap times but could be a glory run rather than real pace.

The even worse looking Renault. An ugly car with an equally bad livery. Kubica at the wheel.

At last something decent to look at! Good looking car and livery. Webber and Vettel are both said to be very happy with this car and hopefully it will be able to take the fight to Ferrari and McLaren.

Williams always turn out a decent looking car. It has been going OK in testing so far. I would love to see Williams mixing it with the front runners once again.

Virgin Racing's first F1 car. Nice looking livery but shame about the performance. So far it's several seconds off the pace. VR are running on a shoe string budget. A wing failure put them out of action on the first day of the test and they had to wait for replacement parts to be flown in.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Branson's commitment to F1 will be short lived.

The Force India car has been promising in testing so far and the progress which started to be made last year could continue into this season.

The return of the Silver Arrows! The new Mercedes with Rosberg at the wheel. He is already being outpaced by Schumacher.....

Massa back at the wheel of the Ferrari.

Jenson Button in the stylish looking McLaren. Hamilton set the overall fastest time at Jerez....

What do you think of the new cars and liveries? Why not leave a comment? They are always welcome!