Writeup and photo set from the britcar 24 hours.

The 2012 britcar was a mixed bag this year, an event I feel has been struggling for afew years now this year was no different. The list of cars was apparently doctored and in reality there were 33 cars at the start of the race.

Britcar tends to boast a wide range of cars and in it's prime had many of the top cars from ferrari, porsche, mosler etc entered. This made for entertaining racing, with the different noises (more on this later) and a genuine racing environment between many cars. I suppose the top gear episode had boosted the event for spectators and race entries, it has slowly tailed off since then, with the race becoming more expensive and people more reluctant to pay the money to run a top level car over 24 hours.

Compared to other 24 hour race, the nurburgring 24, barcelona 24,dubai 24 and the spa 24 hours, it has neither the competitor numbers or the incentives,these event's draw in large numbers of spectators the consumable required to be bought from the organisers can be obtained for a fair price and  no noise limits.

The barcelona 24 hours includes free fuel and six free tyres and a lower entry fee to get the numbers in.

The biggest problem this year was the noise limits, this isn't directly britcar's fault as they can only go on what silverstone is telling them but this really hampered the fun. In previous years it was a real joy to listen to the mjc ferrari 430 popping,crackling and flaming round the circuit and the roar of the mosler's chasing it down. The supercharged whine of the exige and the weird jet/scream emitted from the seat supercopa's.

This year harsh noise limit's where put in place. This was odd to hear as I listened to the Ferrari xx programme last weekend, which was very close to the sound levels of the Formula 1 programme. Alot of car's went into the qualifying heavily silenced but still flagged problem, the strangest thing was car's that had run for 6 or so hours trouble free then all of a sudden were over the limit. The honda Jazz (which I think add's some real character to the lineup) withdrew after constant problems, the screaming supercopa again wasn't anywhere to be seen after noise problems, alot of car's spent long periods of time in the pit with the mechanic's creating more and more elaborate silencers, the Aston Martin Vantage sported a very ugly silencer in the end. Most of the top teams just let off on the straight or short shifted to drop the db, this doesn't seem much like racing to me and this really does need to be addressed before next years britcar 24.

The positives, it's still a very unique event and the only 24 hour race of this type in the uk. It still manages to create a good atmosphere. Has good access for racing fans inc the pitlane access. Great to see car's in the flesh racing in the darkness and watching the visible beam for the drivers.

I hope the problems can be resolved for next year because this event deserves to succeed for British motorsport. It is unique in the country and if the entry price is lowered and more appealing to teams it could work.

Full set of photo's is located here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80146624@N02/sets/72157631675868561/