SPEAKER_01 0:00

Time email is good to catch up with the beginning of the season. You're smiling, Donington Park.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Yeah, very much so. It's uh it's been a very, very long winter for everyone involved in the championship. It has been particularly challenging, but um that is part of the job and we all do enjoy it. But there is yet a really great feeling when we get here. The sun has been shining, um, the crowd is absolutely massive, and the racing has now started. So it's over those guys on the track to to entertain us now. So we're yeah, looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

And entertaining it has been. We'll talk about where that entertainment has come from in a moment. I suspect everybody's talking about the new qualifying format. Uh, but also we should just touch on the Wingfoot Award for this year.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Yeah, absolutely, a complete change. Um, Goodyear have been doing this anyway with their with their other championships across Europe, and then ironically, because we've changed our qualifying system, uh, where it used to be going go down to the best qualifier of each weekend, and now we're doing a qualifying race, so the whole process has been changed, and we're handing it over to the fans. So it is effectively a driver of the weekend award. Um, we have put a panel together of so-called experts. I'm not sure I can call us experts because I'm on that panel, so that immediately rules that word out. But um, yeah, myself from BCC, um, Mickey Butler from Goodyear, Matt James from Motorsport News, and David Addison from ITV. Um, we are discussing who the four candidates will be for the each weekend. Um, and of course, at the moment we we haven't decided yet because we're in the middle of a of a race day. But then at the end of race three on a Sunday, we will be posting across our social media channels that um how you can vote, and that's via the BTC website, and the fans will determine who wins the uh Wingfoot Award each weekend, which is great.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

And it'll be interesting to see whether or not the fans agree with the uh the judgment of these four esteemed judges.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Yes, I must admit that was part of our conversation, is that of course I'm meant to be completely unbiased uh in my role, which I always am, of course, but um knowing our drivers, I'm likely to get a tap on the shoulder from one week to another to ask why they weren't in the um original shortlist. But at least we're just doing the short list um and then it's over to the fans to decide who the true winner is. So I'm sure each weekend we will get to the right result.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

It will be balanced out, and if anybody doesn't agree, I'm sure they'll find your social media channel and let you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

They will let us know on socials, yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

And lots of changes uh in the offseason. We've got new cars, new marks coming into new drivers. Um I mean it's it's been a real shake-up, hasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah, absolutely. I mean I think it's probably the it's probably the biggest and I wouldn't even call it an overhaul, it wasn't a planned overhaul because obviously the championship's in fine fettle, but to have three teams decide that they wanted to build three new cars, that's fantastic. We haven't had three new cars on a grid at the same time for um must be best part of a decade. And interestingly, when you speak to me at this precise moment, incredibly we've had a qualifying race and two races, and um all three of the new cars have won a race already, which is um absolutely mind-blowing to be honest. So, yeah, we've had three new cars, of course, a certain new team who you may have heard of, a very quiet bunch led by Mr. Jason Plato, who um is kept their heads down, haven't they? They have, and um, whilst it's fantastic for the championship, and I do love the man dearly, it's um it's been a a huge effort by them. But of course, everyone in our team as well at TOCA, we are not a huge team, and um yeah, it's been a big operation to get that going, and um yeah, so that's the new teams and drivers, and then to throw into the mix, we decided to change qualifying completely with the um qualifying race, which the teams were the guys that that came to us incidentally to say that they wanted to to try it, um, and we're more than happy as as has been proven. You know, often I think we're we're told that um you know we run an iron fist, but actually we have that meeting at the end of each season with the teams, and um we come up with new ideas, and I think so far you can say it's been a roaring success. The crowd was huge for a Saturday, the racing was absolutely fantastic. So we've now added an extra 10 races, an extra hundred points. So, yeah, it just provides a completely new dynamic to the championship.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Absolutely, and uh, not all the drivers know all of the new regulations on the qualifying, so that's caused some disquiet, hasn't it? So if you've read Tom Chiltern read them from front to back, so he knows them inside out, I think. But uh a lot of other people say, Well, I don't realise why I didn't get the full boost, I don't realise why this was happening, but it's shaken everything up, and we've had some incredible racing, some new names at the front. I mean it it it's it's served its purpose from the first weekend, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Yeah, it certainly has. I'm not sure all of our drivers um read, to be honest. I think they that's a it's a um um problem with their job because quite often that we we send all of these documents out and obviously have lots of meetings, but as as always, with a bunch of young uh men and women, we kind of turn up to the first event, and of course there are there are questions, and um but actually it went really smoothly. I mean, I think people were asking whether it's this going to be a uh a mundane race because you know people don't want to risk it on a Saturday. Well, um our two most successful drivers on the grid, Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram, six titles between them, had contact at the end of uh race one, and uh now I'm not saying that's what we want to see, but at the same time, if there was any question as to whether there was going to be entertainment, well that the arguably the two most successful guys have proven that it's gonna be important, and because as well, it isn't just the grid position, a hundred extra points on offer across the season, that is a huge, significant dynamic shift. So, drivers, let's face it, we've had championships come down to one or two points, so all of a sudden that's now going to be an important part of the weekend.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Absolutely, and it's created a buzz on social media, the social media traffic from the fans. It's maybe we could say it's divided opinion, and there are those who are uh keen to see it continue, and others who are saying it's a complete waste of time. You know, you can go and read those. But overall, it's created talkability, hasn't it? Everybody's talking about this new uh qualifying format.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Yeah, absolutely. And look, I think we we sent a post out on on Friday about uh our community being a fantastically passionate one, and and opinion is is the best part of sport. I'm all for you know, I don't want everyone to be in agreement, I want people to have their favourite driver, their favourite team, or they don't like this rule, they do like that rule. And that's that's part of it, is engaging the fan base, but we do listen to the feedback as well. You know, I know we can't sit there and respond to everyone, but we do keep a close eye on what people like and dislike, and and of course, you've seen some people say, I'm not sure whether you should have messed with qualifying, but I must admit I also looked at quite a lot of comments after the first the first qualifying race, and and even some of the some of our fans have replied to say maybe I was wrong, and it was very entertaining. So let's watch this space, but we're we're always here to listen, and the championship keeps evolving with with our fan base, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Uh you used the phrase we watch all of this, it's not just you, there is a media team who deals with this and lots of other things in a very busy media centre for um for the British Touring Car Championship.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Yeah, absolutely. I am very fortunate. I mean, this role has changed. Uh you know, I've spoken to you over the years, Steve, and I think I come from now from the era of writing a press release at the end of uh each weekend, not quite typewriter age, but you know, it was the computer age when I started. But it was it was not a basic role, but of course it was it was driver liaison and management and kind of writing the odd press release, and and um that's probably belittling what we used to do. But now when you look at the amount of content that we have to produce, we obviously have to look about after our relationship with ITV as well. And we've got a social team, a videography team, and um, but at the same time, I use the word team and I make it sound like it's a lot of people, it actually isn't. You know, there is still a real handful when I say of us grafting, and our teams are tired. I mean, it sounds incredible to people probably listening because it's day one of the season, but um we've been working around the clock for a for probably a good a good month or two in terms of trying to get ready for this moment, and um yeah, they do a fantastic job. We really are trying. I know people have always again we we hear the opinions of people and what they would like us to do. We try to bring this championship as close to everyone as we possibly can, and um we'll continue to strive to do so. We can't uh reach everyone and everything, but um you know we we won't ever we won't ever stop and we'll keep trying to improve.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

It's interesting with the development of the technology and the fact that people can video things, watch things, read things on their phones, comment instantaneously. That digital media is content hungry, isn't it? I mean you've got to be producing stuff all of the time, which takes up an amount of time in itself.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Yeah, it's true, and it does add a layer of pressure because you you you're very you're old news very quickly. So maybe in back in the day where you could be a bit more strategic, and you know, I guess we are I am still able to be strategic in the off-season when we're announcing drivers or launching cars. We work closely with the teams to ensure that there's no there's no point for us to be clashing with big stories. So we're so we are very organised in that respect. But but yeah, you're right, of course, on a race weekend, fans now, it's it's modern society, it's not just fans, you know, that's the society we live in. They demand that information immediately. Um and they tell us if we're um if we're not, I mean, we've had it today with uh the nature of the sport, we would love to be immediate, but we have things like um incidents being reviewed. You know, we've had an uh a moment today with this overboost issue where Tom Ingram was disqualified from the race, and of course we would love to bring that information immediately, and we do as soon as it goes through, but some of these things take time. Um and yeah, it it it's brought about different pressures, but it is great fun, and we are very lucky, as you say. The fact that we can be videoing on a grid and and and and bring that to the public within a matter of moments is is fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Cracking start to the season here at Donington Park. It hasn't rained, there's been some great racing, everybody's still smiling. How long can we keep this up for?

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Yeah, it's been quite bizarre, hasn't it? I mean, I I guess we have to go back to season launch, where first of all, again, I want to thank everybody for I mean, I've never seen such a crowd for a midweek event. I mean, ultimately it's it's a test day, and um I think we had around 10,000, and that was capped, of course, by MSV. So we've had a huge crowd here. It's been dry, it was hot at brands. Um let's be honest, we won't keep it up. Well, we'll keep the fan base up, there's no doubt about that. But in terms of the weather, um that's all part of the fun of the PTCT though, isn't it? And and and Mickey at Goodyear gets sad if we don't use some of his wet tires, so I'm sure I'm sure at some point the rain will come. But um for now it's it's lovely, because I I have to admit, it's lovely to see the people enjoying themselves, and whilst the racing can be a lot of fun in the rain, it can be a hard slog, can't it, when you're at a racetrack for eight hours and and and the and the heavens open. But I uh I can't promise it's gonna be sunny all season. But it's been a great start. Good to chat, have a good season. Cheers, mate. Bye bye.