Craig Baird

superstock · 23 Jul 2016, 21:31 (Ref:3660460)

well craigs proved the Russell car is a dog.

peckstar · 23 Jul 2016, 22:51 (Ref:3660480)

Quote:

Originally Posted by superstock

well craigs proved the Russell car is a dog.

In the russell words themselves, they couldnt afford to pay for the upgrades.

and of course it had nothing to do with baird not having raced at that level for ten years

Mixer · 24 Jul 2016, 07:49 (Ref:3660550)

Quote:

Originally Posted by peckstar

and of course it had nothing to do with baird not having raced at that level for ten years

And being totally fair to Craig, what sort of position was he finishing when he ended his full time career?

BlueBlood · 24 Jul 2016, 23:18 (Ref:3660953)

Quote:

Originally Posted by superstock

well craigs proved the Russell car is a dog.

I think his mission was to get track time and avoid the fine for non attendance.

Plus he beat his team mate home in race 17.

Probably achieved the teams goal for the weekend for his car at least

peckstar · 25 Jul 2016, 00:05 (Ref:3660964)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueBlood

I think his mission was to get track time and avoid the fine for non attendance.

Plus he beat his team mate home in race 17.

Probably achieved the teams goal for the weekend for his car at least

and not smash up the car

Langers · 25 Jul 2016, 02:36 (Ref:3660981)

Quote:

Originally Posted by peckstar

and not smash up the car

This was the top priority; any sizeable shunt with greater than, say, $100k worth of damage would have defeated the purpose of trying to avoid the no show fee.

**GTRMagic** · 25 Jul 2016, 02:43 (Ref:3660982)

*COUGH* Start & Park &COUGH*

Umai Naa · 25 Jul 2016, 03:15 (Ref:3660987)

Do you think they'll resort to that though?

Perhaps they'll run it on an absolute shoestring, with results purely dependant on luck and the misfortune of others?

They've already made it clear that they're not looking for a pay driver, because it's bad for their image. The 'image' which was apparently tarnished prior to burning Plus Fitness and the Russells

Mixer · 25 Jul 2016, 03:18 (Ref:3660988)

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

*COUGH* Start & Park &COUGH*

I would think the REC conditions would preclude this.

Didn't Marcus Marshall try this at one point?

Axeman444 · 25 Jul 2016, 03:19 (Ref:3660989)

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

*COUGH* Start & Park &COUGH*

That didn't work out too well for TKR and David John though. Maybe "Start and Circulate Safely" is more apt?

peckstar · 25 Jul 2016, 03:24 (Ref:3660990)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

Do you think they'll resort to that though?

Perhaps they'll run it on an absolute shoestring, with results purely dependant on luck and the misfortune of others?

They've already made it clear that they're not looking for a pay driver, because it's bad for their image. The 'image' which was apparently tarnished prior to burning Plus Fitness and the Russells

Funny that if they burnt plus fitness that Plus fitness was still on David Reynolds car on the weekend.

maybe all isnt as you imagined

Plus Fitness continue with Erebus

yap · 25 Jul 2016, 06:08 (Ref:3661008)

Quote:

Originally Posted by peckstar

Funny that if they burnt plus fitness that Plus fitness was still on David Reynolds car on the weekend.

maybe all isnt as you imagined

Plus Fitness continue with Erebus

Unless the terms/conditions of the contract for that car/driver had not been broken so they had to continue?

FAS33 · 25 Jul 2016, 06:33 (Ref:3661013)

Craig Who?

Langers · 25 Jul 2016, 10:39 (Ref:3661042)

Quote:

Originally Posted by FAS33

Craig Who?

Thank you for your thoughtful contribution.

Umai Naa · 25 Jul 2016, 10:58 (Ref:3661047)

Don't resp-

Too late

chavez · 26 Jul 2016, 00:36 (Ref:3661207)

Quote:

Originally Posted by FAS33

Craig Who?

Was once Nigel Mansell's team mate was he not?

Probably like a lot of us never reached the heights expected through either making the wrong choices or being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Eg BTCC Ford drive and SBR.

A reliable and consistent steerer - a safe pair of hands. And a very entertaining TV presenter.

Umai Naa · 26 Jul 2016, 00:58 (Ref:3661210)

Has been quite successful in pretty much everything he's raced.

V8SC success has eluded him somewhat, as most of the cars he's driven have been dogs. AU Falcons, WPS nuggets, 3rd/4th-string WR cars, plus a few privateer gigs.

On the Mansell BTCC thing, Baird was benched for Mansell at three non-consecutive meetings. Neither driver was particularly successful in that car.

D.R.T. · 26 Jul 2016, 06:11 (Ref:3661228)

He also drove a fairly decent (but not so timely) stint at Bathurst in 1997

Mixer · 26 Jul 2016, 06:51 (Ref:3661234)

I think without a doubt this is a guy whose results in V8Supercars never tallied with his talent - wrong car/wrong time, lack of funding, lack of political savvy...

I figure he didn't put a scratch on the car and wasn't that far off Percat in the LDM machine, so not a disgrace in my book.

Umai Naa · 26 Jul 2016, 07:40 (Ref:3661237)

Quote:

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

He also drove a fairly decent (but not so timely) stint at Bathurst in 1997

Lengthy stint

He was very much BMW's hired gun at the time.

If they weren't in the process of pulling out of Super Touring globally after '98, he could've had a plum seat in STW, or eventually WTCC, DTM or somewhere over there racing their GT3 machines.

racer69 · 26 Jul 2016, 09:48 (Ref:3661259)

He had a works BMW drive in the South African Super Touring Championship for BMW in 1996, but that series was canned at the end of the year. I think the original plan from memory was for him to take Geoff Brabham's place in the Diet Coke BMW team in 1997 in the ASTC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

On the Mansell BTCC thing, Baird was benched for Mansell at three non-consecutive meetings. Neither driver was particularly successful in that car.

Very true, but all anyone remembers of Ford's 1998 BTCC campaign is Mansell getting a strategy break due to wet weather & dicing for the lead at Donington on his debut day.....teammate Will Hoy's win at the fourth race at Silverstone gets completely forgotten

Baird if I remember rightly didn't even finish out all the events he was meant to do.

peckstar · 26 Jul 2016, 10:18 (Ref:3661266)

I always think back to his win in 2000 at PI in the SBR AU

racer69 · 26 Jul 2016, 12:10 (Ref:3661282)

Quote:

Originally Posted by peckstar

I always think back to his win in 2000 at PI in the SBR AU

That was a great drive, and at the same time a big shock.

It was a shame the rest of the season nose-dived.

S griffin · 26 Jul 2016, 13:53 (Ref:3661297)

Quote:

Originally Posted by racer69

Baird if I remember rightly didn't even finish out all the events he was meant to do.

That's right, he didn't even do the penultimate round at Oulton which was sandwiched between a couple of races Mansell did

Baird himself lead at his last race at Knockhill, thanks to the team gambling on inters, which worked for a bit, but as the rain got heavier those on wets had the advantage. Had it been a sprint race rather than a feature race he might have won

Umai Naa · 27 Jul 2016, 00:15 (Ref:3661385)

The team only fronted with one car at that meeting, as Mansell virtually wrote one of them off the week before at Brands Hatch. There was too short a turn-around between events to press the spare car back into action.

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