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Les dejo la nota completa, esta muy buena la categoria! se ve que se dan con tuti!!! 
Founded in 2010, the Irish Touring Car Championship has just entered its second year of competition. Founded by veteran racers Philip Burdock, Barry Rabbitt and Brian Sexton, the series was created to help get Irish saloon car racing back on its feet. Since its inception, the series has become hugely popular with those looking to get involved in motor racing on a budget.
The series is split into two main classes : Touring and Super Touring. Rather than divide the classes by power / weight / engine capacity, the classes are decided by driver skill level. This is enforced by a minimum lap time which if you exceed it by a certain margin, you can be either bumped up to the next class or penalised.
The regulations are pretty open with the main points being two wheel drive only and a maximum tyre width depending on the weight of your vehicle. For example, that is a competition ready rear wheel drive Impreza pictured above.
The series is obviously still quite young but even though it is only in its second season, everyone is taking things very, very seriously.
The amount of different marques competing is something else. You can have everything from Peugeots to Hondas, Subarus to Nissans, Minis to BMWs and Fords to Volkswagens battling it out in each race.
Although it has to be said that the most predominant make present it that of the big H.
Some of you may recognise this car as the former J's Racing Honda CRX. It's great to see the car is still getting used even its retirement from Japan.
The day is divided up with separate qualifying sessions and two races for either class during the same day. Rocking the prestigious number one for 2011 is 2010 champion Martin Treacy in his fabulous Westward Engineering prepared Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500.
I know some of you guys are big Corrado fans so you might appreciate Keith Campbell's example cocking a wheel entering Mazda corner.
The four exhausts might be a clue to what is hiding underneath the hood of this E36 compact. Engine swaps are allowed in ITCC so this E36 is running an E46 M3 engine.
The much over looked Peugeot 306 GTi-6 is a popular car amongst competitors.
Unfortunately for this car, it retired from race one in the Touring class in a pretty spectacular fashion. By apexing too aggressively / deep, the car clipped the high kerb and was flipped over onto its roof before sliding to a stop on its side. Thankfully the driver was unhurt and I'm sure he'll be back to fight another day.
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMBAooK8nEU&feature=youtu.be&hd=1[/YT]
Brian Fitzpatrick captured the 306's tumble on his in-car camera, mounted on-board his rather rapid EF Honda Civic.
Quite a few of the EK chassis Civic are running 1.8 litre engines from what I can only speculate as being the B18C engine from the DC2 Integra Type R. Quite a potent package for not a lot of money.
An Integra leads from an S14 Silvia with the Honda taking eventual victory in the first Touring class race.
But the real moment of the morning's races came from the Super Touring class.
Having qualified second, Treacy fluffed the start of race one and was relegated to the back of the pack. From the moment he first passed my position I knew he was on an all or nothing pace.
Cutting through the grid he eventually got passed third placed Stephen Maher's E46 M3 engined compact ...
... before moving up to second place by overtaking the K20 powered EK Civic of Philip Burdock.
That was as far as the Cosworth would get in race one as the former J's Racing CRX of Barry Rabbitt was long gone into the distance. The afternoon races however would contain even bigger battles, more surprises and another unfortunate off. Check back later for part two of our ITCC opening round coverage
Back with part two of our ITCC coverage, we're going to take a run through of the highlights of the afternoon races. The second races of the day were billed as the second rounds of the 2011 championship, so you can imagine just how seriously these guys were taking it.
The start of race two in the Touring class was marred by a red flag (I believe someone jumped the start / didn't get off the line)
The race eventually got underway ...
... with a pretty action packed, three-a-*** into the tight hairpin first corner.
However it wasn't long before Mondello Park got to deploy their rather splendid E92 M3 Safety Car.
Back to the racing once more, this time with some Corrado loving especially for Speedhunters regular reader NuggetG60YorkshireUK.
Turn one at Mondello is a proper overtaking corner where the last man to brake can often emerge with the advantage.
Mark Nangle had a huge moment however at turn one. Chasing a pack of three cars into the hairpin, his throttle stuck wide open at the top of fourth gear.
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A1SlftJWUg&feature=youtu.be[/YT]
The incident was caught on camera here, the second part of the video footage is on-board with with Brian Fitzpatrick's EF Civic and shows just how close they were to a very, very serious accident. Thankfully Mark's skills as a rally driver came to the fore in helping him to avoid the other competitors and the car escaped with only a broken alloy and some minor bodywork damage.
The DC2 Integra Type R of Robert Savage would eventually take the race two win in the Touring class.
Start of race two in the Super Touring class involved a bit of BMW shaped rubbing in the sprint to turn one. As we all know, rubbin' is racing.
The E46 M3 engined E36 compact of Stephen Maher led the pack coming out of turn one.
It wasn't long however before the Honda CRX and Sierra Cosworth of Rabbitt and Treacy respectively were out front battling for the win.
There was another epic battle behind them however between the DC2 Integra DC2 of Ciaran Timmons and the E36 M3 of Philip Brennan as the Honda battled to hold off the M3.
Eventually after two / three laps of battling and with the crowd on their feet, the BMW made it past. Timmons in the Integra didn't go down without a fight and I'm sure I seen a little bit of yellow paint on the M3 at the end of the day.
Back out front, the incredibly rapid CRX was beginning to pull away from the Sierra Cosworth and Rabbitt was looking good for two wins on the opening day of the 2011 ITCC season ...
... but it was not to be. Nearing the last lap of the race the CRX was forced to retire with a suspected broken driveshaft leaving Treacy's Cosworth to take the win in the second Super Touring race of the day.
The win for Treacy and the DNF for Rabbitt in the CRX puts Treacy on top of the championship standings after rounds one and two.
Even after a disasterous start in race one, Treacy is back on course to retain his 2010 championship title.
I'll be back shortly with a desktop and a spotlight on Philip Burdock's Super Touring EK chassis Civic
Founded in 2010, the Irish Touring Car Championship has just entered its second year of competition. Founded by veteran racers Philip Burdock, Barry Rabbitt and Brian Sexton, the series was created to help get Irish saloon car racing back on its feet. Since its inception, the series has become hugely popular with those looking to get involved in motor racing on a budget.
The series is split into two main classes : Touring and Super Touring. Rather than divide the classes by power / weight / engine capacity, the classes are decided by driver skill level. This is enforced by a minimum lap time which if you exceed it by a certain margin, you can be either bumped up to the next class or penalised.
The regulations are pretty open with the main points being two wheel drive only and a maximum tyre width depending on the weight of your vehicle. For example, that is a competition ready rear wheel drive Impreza pictured above.
The series is obviously still quite young but even though it is only in its second season, everyone is taking things very, very seriously.
The amount of different marques competing is something else. You can have everything from Peugeots to Hondas, Subarus to Nissans, Minis to BMWs and Fords to Volkswagens battling it out in each race.
Although it has to be said that the most predominant make present it that of the big H.
Some of you may recognise this car as the former J's Racing Honda CRX. It's great to see the car is still getting used even its retirement from Japan.
The day is divided up with separate qualifying sessions and two races for either class during the same day. Rocking the prestigious number one for 2011 is 2010 champion Martin Treacy in his fabulous Westward Engineering prepared Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500.
I know some of you guys are big Corrado fans so you might appreciate Keith Campbell's example cocking a wheel entering Mazda corner.
The four exhausts might be a clue to what is hiding underneath the hood of this E36 compact. Engine swaps are allowed in ITCC so this E36 is running an E46 M3 engine.
The much over looked Peugeot 306 GTi-6 is a popular car amongst competitors.
Unfortunately for this car, it retired from race one in the Touring class in a pretty spectacular fashion. By apexing too aggressively / deep, the car clipped the high kerb and was flipped over onto its roof before sliding to a stop on its side. Thankfully the driver was unhurt and I'm sure he'll be back to fight another day.
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMBAooK8nEU&feature=youtu.be&hd=1[/YT]
Brian Fitzpatrick captured the 306's tumble on his in-car camera, mounted on-board his rather rapid EF Honda Civic.
Quite a few of the EK chassis Civic are running 1.8 litre engines from what I can only speculate as being the B18C engine from the DC2 Integra Type R. Quite a potent package for not a lot of money.
An Integra leads from an S14 Silvia with the Honda taking eventual victory in the first Touring class race.
But the real moment of the morning's races came from the Super Touring class.
Having qualified second, Treacy fluffed the start of race one and was relegated to the back of the pack. From the moment he first passed my position I knew he was on an all or nothing pace.
Cutting through the grid he eventually got passed third placed Stephen Maher's E46 M3 engined compact ...
... before moving up to second place by overtaking the K20 powered EK Civic of Philip Burdock.
That was as far as the Cosworth would get in race one as the former J's Racing CRX of Barry Rabbitt was long gone into the distance. The afternoon races however would contain even bigger battles, more surprises and another unfortunate off. Check back later for part two of our ITCC opening round coverage
Back with part two of our ITCC coverage, we're going to take a run through of the highlights of the afternoon races. The second races of the day were billed as the second rounds of the 2011 championship, so you can imagine just how seriously these guys were taking it.
The start of race two in the Touring class was marred by a red flag (I believe someone jumped the start / didn't get off the line)
The race eventually got underway ...
... with a pretty action packed, three-a-*** into the tight hairpin first corner.
However it wasn't long before Mondello Park got to deploy their rather splendid E92 M3 Safety Car.
Back to the racing once more, this time with some Corrado loving especially for Speedhunters regular reader NuggetG60YorkshireUK.
Turn one at Mondello is a proper overtaking corner where the last man to brake can often emerge with the advantage.
Mark Nangle had a huge moment however at turn one. Chasing a pack of three cars into the hairpin, his throttle stuck wide open at the top of fourth gear.
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A1SlftJWUg&feature=youtu.be[/YT]
The incident was caught on camera here, the second part of the video footage is on-board with with Brian Fitzpatrick's EF Civic and shows just how close they were to a very, very serious accident. Thankfully Mark's skills as a rally driver came to the fore in helping him to avoid the other competitors and the car escaped with only a broken alloy and some minor bodywork damage.
The DC2 Integra Type R of Robert Savage would eventually take the race two win in the Touring class.
Start of race two in the Super Touring class involved a bit of BMW shaped rubbing in the sprint to turn one. As we all know, rubbin' is racing.
The E46 M3 engined E36 compact of Stephen Maher led the pack coming out of turn one.
It wasn't long however before the Honda CRX and Sierra Cosworth of Rabbitt and Treacy respectively were out front battling for the win.
There was another epic battle behind them however between the DC2 Integra DC2 of Ciaran Timmons and the E36 M3 of Philip Brennan as the Honda battled to hold off the M3.
Eventually after two / three laps of battling and with the crowd on their feet, the BMW made it past. Timmons in the Integra didn't go down without a fight and I'm sure I seen a little bit of yellow paint on the M3 at the end of the day.
Back out front, the incredibly rapid CRX was beginning to pull away from the Sierra Cosworth and Rabbitt was looking good for two wins on the opening day of the 2011 ITCC season ...
... but it was not to be. Nearing the last lap of the race the CRX was forced to retire with a suspected broken driveshaft leaving Treacy's Cosworth to take the win in the second Super Touring race of the day.
The win for Treacy and the DNF for Rabbitt in the CRX puts Treacy on top of the championship standings after rounds one and two.
Even after a disasterous start in race one, Treacy is back on course to retain his 2010 championship title.
I'll be back shortly with a desktop and a spotlight on Philip Burdock's Super Touring EK chassis Civic
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