2006 CCWS Silly Season - Page 15

Marcel ten Caat · 29 Mar 2006, 22:48 (Ref:1564595)

1 seat left at DCR, 1 at Rocketsports.

Ranger will start the season at Conquest, Pizzonia at Rocketsports

nabz · 30 Mar 2006, 00:55 (Ref:1564682)

Has Anything happened with Ryan Briscoe or are his chances finished for 2006?? If so what a shame as he would probably be up there as a top 5 in regards to talent.

SALEEN S7R · 30 Mar 2006, 01:30 (Ref:1564704)

Quote:

Originally Posted by nabz

If so what a shame as he would probably be up there as a top 5 in regards to talent.

On what do you base this opinion? In 2002 he raced in FIA Int F3000 with Champion team Nordic Racing where he had a few points finishes but nothing more, in 2003 he won the Euro F3 championship and was a official Toyota test driver up until the end of 2004. In 2005 he had a mediocre season in the IRL with a best finish of 8th place. He has had a lot of hype in his career so far and has not had much in the way of results to back up the hype, his career highlights at the moment IMO being him winning the Euro F3 championship, hardly credentials for being one of the top 5 drivers in Champcar when you have guys like Wilson, Bourdais, Da Matta, Junqeria, Bernoldi, Tracy etc all in the series. IMO.

mac · 30 Mar 2006, 01:42 (Ref:1564711)

Everytime Ryan went near a road course in IRL, he blew the likes of Dixon, Franchitti, Castroneves, Kanaan and Wheldon away - none of them shabby drivers.

At his last Toyota F1 test, he went quicker than Trulli, Ralf and Zonta could manage over a whole week of testing - despite not having driven an F1 car for over a year.

He won his first ever championship in cars in Formula Renault, and smoked Klien and Rosberg in EuroF3.

I firmly believe the only guys that could consistently stay with him in Champ Cars are Bourdais and maybe Wilson.

But alas, Briscoe won't be there this year for us to find out.

coyote9999 · 30 Mar 2006, 03:05 (Ref:1564754)

In the Champ Car web site they have updated the driver list taking away many of the drivers who simply tested away. Funny that RHR is still on the list. So is Nicky Pastorelli. What I predict is that RHR will go with the DCR team and Pastorelli will land the Rocketsports ride.

coyote9999 · 30 Mar 2006, 03:07 (Ref:1564755)

That would make it 19 for Long Beach. Another rumor in Montreal (radio station) has RHR doing the American cities for Conquest while Ranger would do Long Beach and the Canadian cities.

nabz · 30 Mar 2006, 03:34 (Ref:1564764)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mac

I firmly believe the only guys that could consistently stay with him in Champ Cars are Bourdais and maybe Wilson.

But alas, Briscoe won't be there this year for us to find out.

Exactly my thought. He was way better than the rest when on a road course in the IRL

StickShift · 30 Mar 2006, 03:47 (Ref:1564772)

Autosport.com reports that Antonio Pizzonia has been confirmed at Rocketsports for Long Beach at least.. The 'Team Brazil' moniker and whoever the second driver will be are still up in the air however.

luke · 30 Mar 2006, 12:11 (Ref:1565137)

Now the official website is reporting Antinio will race at Long Beach for Rocketsports.

SALEEN S7R · 30 Mar 2006, 12:46 (Ref:1565160)

Interesting to see so many recent ex F1 drivers in Champcar this year, could this be the highest number of recent ex F1 drivers to race in Champcars date? (I mean recent as in within the last 2 or 3 years.) As far as I know we have so far, Wilson, Da Matta, Pizzonia, and Bernoldi that have all competed in F1 within the last 2 or 3 years. Don't misunderstand me, Im not having a dig at Champcar here, all the drivers listed above are very good drivers and are capable of good results in any series, I was just wondering if having 4 recent former F1 drivers in Champcar is a first or not? Either way this years Champcar drivers list is the strongest it has been for 3 or 4 years. IMO.

luke · 30 Mar 2006, 17:14 (Ref:1565324)

I think it would have been the mid '90s with Mansell, both Andretti's, Teo Fabi, Gugelmin, Stefan Johanson..

StickShift · 30 Mar 2006, 17:29 (Ref:1565332)

Hmm, probably 1994. Off the top of my head:

Nigel Mansell
Mario Andretti
Michael Andretti
Emmerson Fittipaldi
Christian Fittipaldi
Eddie Cheever
Mauricio Gugelmin
Stefan Johansson
Raul Boesel
Bobby Rahal
Roberto Guerrero
Roberto Moreno

Certainly a more accomplished group of drivers. Let's face it. The guys that Champ Car has now are F1 Rejects.

SALEEN S7R · 30 Mar 2006, 19:00 (Ref:1565399)

Ah ok, dont mind me I havent followed Champcars that long thats all, only since around the start of the 2002 season. As for the ex F1 guys who are in Champcar this year being a bunch of rejects though I would only partly agree. Justin Wilson and Antonio Pizzonia were both pretty good drivers in F1 and both got some good results, especially when you consider the cars each driver had at their disposal. Pizzonia went into F1 too early in his career and made quite a few mistakes but later on in his career got a few good points finishes with what was a relatively uncompetive Williams. Justin Wilson was just unlucky IMO, his height really didnt help him and he got a bad deal at Jaguar.

The rest of the drivers though I would tend to agree were F1 backmarkers and just basically making up the numbers, its a shame because I thought Da Matta had potential to do a good job, still differnt courses for differnt horses and all that. Bernoldi never really did much either IMO, he didnt make any majorly bad errors that I remember but he just wasnt very fast either, the few points finishes he did get though were deserved. IMO. I just hope his Champcar career goes better than his F1 career.

StickShift · 30 Mar 2006, 19:30 (Ref:1565422)

Oh, by no means do I mean that being an 'F1 reject' is a bad thing. It's just the nature of the sport. To even be among the top twenty open-wheel drivers at one time is a great herald. None of the 'F1 rejects' that Champ Car is bound to have this season lost their Formula 1 rides because they were not talented enough for the job. It's just that they did not have the political or economical sway in the paddock to make a difference. These days, if you don't have a famous Daddy, are of the opposite sex, or aren't backed by an auto or a fizzy-pop manufacturer, you're virtually dead in the water once you reach the upper echelon in Europe.

SALEEN S7R · 30 Mar 2006, 19:31 (Ref:1565425)

Ah ok sorry StickShift, I misunderstood your post. I was thinking that you was suggesting that the drivers in Champcar today arent as good as the guys that came from F1 say 10 years ago.

luke · 30 Mar 2006, 20:07 (Ref:1565451)

Well it looks as though we have 18 cars for Long Beach.... http://www.champcarworldseries.com/D...sp?SortIndex=2

SALEEN S7R · 30 Mar 2006, 20:13 (Ref:1565460)

Looks like a strong entry, IMO. A shame there is only 1 Rocketsports car on the entry list though.

StickShift · 30 Mar 2006, 22:04 (Ref:1565549)

Quote:

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Ah ok sorry StickShift, I misunderstood your post. I was thinking that you was suggesting that the drivers in Champcar today arent as good as the guys that came from F1 say 10 years ago.

Well, that last bit is simply not the case. The drivers that have come from F1 to Champ Car in the past have been better than the level of talent this year. We don't have any champions or even race winners like Nigel Mansell, Mario Andretti, or Emmerson Fittipaldi. The Pizzonia's and Wilson's are probably comparable to the Mauricio Gugelmin's and Christian Fittipaldi's that came over.

To be the as good as the guys that were in Champ Car ten years ago. I'd be expecting Alonso, Villeneuve, Schumacher... etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Looks like a strong entry, IMO. A shame there is only 1 Rocketsports car on the entry list though.

It's interesting that Champ Car have not found a ride for Ryan Hunter-Reay, considering that he is on the series payroll...

rustyfan · 31 Mar 2006, 07:59 (Ref:1565849)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mac

Everytime Ryan went near a road course in IRL, he blew the likes of Dixon, Franchitti, Castroneves, Kanaan and Wheldon away - none of them shabby drivers.

He was very fast, no question about that, but he was also right on the edge most of the time, which resulted in quite a few wrecked cars (including those of Patrick and Castroneves after his banzai-move at Infineon).

Don't get me wrong though - I think Briscoe is very interesting to watch, especially given his raw, unpolished talent which he has yet to fully master in a high-pressure race situation, and I think it's a shame he most likely won't be racing full-time in either Champ Car or IndyCar this year.

Hopefully he'll find a part-time deal somewhere, perhaps for Infineon and the 'Glen later this year.

enemy-ace · 31 Mar 2006, 11:57 (Ref:1566033)

Quote:

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Looks like a strong entry, IMO. A shame there is only 1 Rocketsports car on the entry list though.

A shame for the car count but not for Rocketsports IMO. They have shown an inability to provide support for their second car. I think they'll be stronger as a 1 car team for now.

SALEEN S7R · 31 Mar 2006, 12:28 (Ref:1566064)

Oh yeah for sure, I was just thinking about things from the car count point of view.

enemy-ace · 31 Mar 2006, 14:39 (Ref:1566152)

I think it is better to have quality over quantity however. Prefer to have one strong car vs. two mediocre ones.

Snrub · 31 Mar 2006, 20:29 (Ref:1566444)

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/22824/
So apparently Bremer will not be with HVM this year. I guess the contract had an ability to afford clause written into it. Poor guy. These sort of events can be career killers for any driver, much less an inexperienced one.

luke · 31 Mar 2006, 20:32 (Ref:1566448)

A shame, Bremer was a good top ten driver, a good rookie. He had a non spectacular but solid 2005.

icemachine · 2 Apr 2006, 19:27 (Ref:1568331)

Anyone know whats up with this? Are they ride sharing?

Nø Driver Country Tires/Engine/Chassis Team
11 Jan Heylen Belgium Bridgestone/Ford-Cosworth/Lola Dale Coyne Racing
11 Nicky Pastorelli Netherlands Bridgestone/Ford-Cosworth/Lola Dale Coyne Racing

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