Paffett goes to Germany

[Sarah_I]

just read on british-f3.com that garry paffet is off to germen f3 for the season. He will be driving for Keke Rosberg's F3 team out there

[pv27uk]

I'm glad to see he's finally got a drive, but I think it is ridiculous that he has had to settle for one outside Britain, however good it is.

The idea of promoting the Scholarship Class and the big cash prize was to forward a driver through into a top seat in the main class. But for whatever reasons nobody signed him, which left me gobsmacked.

So now he has to learn all of the tracks in Germany, as I'm pretty sure he hasn't raced on any before.

So much for giving him the cash to help him develop, and make people follow his career, he's now racing in a series which gets no British coverage. I used to get it on DSF last year, but can't get that anymore.

Let's hope the car is better than the one Irishman Ken Grandon ended up with last year, with the naff Fiat engine.

[ManWith NoName]

I am sorry but I have to say that Paffet going to Germany is a good thing if you really want to see if he is a good driver. I personally don't believe his is any good.

This is because he has had many years in karts and therefore should have had loads of experience. But when he came to start in cars, he chickened out of starting his career in a proper series. Instead, no doubt with much consultation with a manager who knows what the score was, he raced in a B series in Formula Vauxhall for a year which gave him a whole year to learn a car and the circuits. He won the B title because there was no competition! Then the next year when he moved up to the A class, he nearly didn't win that title despite a whole year's experience. Then last year he again did the same as before and instead of going straight into battle against the likes of Sato and Pizzonia, chickened out of real competition and raced against drivers who have never raced in this country before so he had a big advantage over all of them by knowing the tracks. And he was in a far superior car which was virtually the same as the front running senior class drivers at the start of the year (didn't Manor still run old bodywork etc. for a while at the start of the year?)

So by saying it's a shame he has to go to Germany and learn tracks to compete against the other drivers is utter rubbish. The drivers that Paffett supposedly thrashed last year all had to do that in the Junior F3 series so let's see what Paffet is really made off by putting him against some proper competition for once.

It's not a great shame at all - if he was a really driver he wouldn't care less what he had to race he would be just happy that he was racing at all. And real drivers like competition as well and he he can't hack the competition then he may as well not be a racing driver.

[Craig]

I'm looking forward to seeing if he can prove himself too. I've never been a fan of our Gary but that's more because I he seemed to me to be a little arrogant in his days in karts than anything else. If he can prove himself in Germany, i'll maybe be forced to reconsider my views...

[pv27uk]

OK, we'll agree to disagree, and wait and see how he does in Germany. If he craps out, then I'll change my view to match yours. If he wins races, and the German F3 series has produced some very talented drivers before, then I hope his doubters will be given food for thought.

Each man to his own, let's just wait and see now.

[pv27uk]

To add to the comments about Paffett's arrogance, I met him at the Autosport show in January, had a decent conversation with him, and he seemed a totally pleasant guy.

[Craig]

Hey, people change, i'm just not yet convinced. I'd love to be though...

[jiggly_puff]

excellent!!! finally someone else that doesn't think the sun shines out of paffets a**e. he is ****! and if people really thought he was all that then he would have got the jaguar seat or whatever else he has been offered

[pv27uk]

I'm not trying to stick up for Paffett with this, but he was almost told by Jag he had the seat at one stage if certain people are to be believed.

I just find it nice and fitting that James Courtney, with his supposed backing from Ford Australia and being the reigning Formula Ford champion, and Andre Lotterer, being some kind of test driver with Jaguar F1, get the two Jaguar F3 seats.

Not to say they don't deserve it, or Paffett would do better, but it just seems kind of a nice coincidence to me.

[cool_runnings8]

Having had the argument about Paffett before, I reckon that him going to Germany should settle it once and for all.

Whatever the outcome, remember this Man With No Name - I know who you are so you know what to do!! ;-)

[Marshal]

I'm glad he's got a seat for this year but I do agree with that nameless fella's points about Gary. But, like Craig, I'm happy to be proved wrong. Its just a shame that he will flop or fly in Germany, where I can't see it first hand.

[f1mech]

Hi there,

as pv27uk mentioned above, I also spoke to Gary on the Zip kart stand at the Autosport show. We spoke a little about how he didn't get the Jag F3 drive, and how he was hoping to drive with Duma Racing or Avanti. Pity none of these came through. Most of the time he was showing me his helmet (err...his crash helmet) as I was wanting to get a visor like he uses for my helmet. He's a good salesmen by the way.....!!

Glad to see that he went well in his run at jerez with mclaren. I hope he will show some good speed in Germany, at least he's got the experience of a years F3 running, but he didn't really have a huge amount of competition in the Scholy class did he...

Andy