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13 Jul 2005, 13:12 (Ref:1354628) | #26 | ||
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What about him moggie? He didn't race at Monza!
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13 Jul 2005, 13:17 (Ref:1354631) | #27 | |||
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btw,Danny will come back to Porsche Cerrera Cup Asia again this weekend i am misunderstand why he can't drive for ADR in rest of the season |
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13 Jul 2005, 14:20 (Ref:1354671) | #28 | ||
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No budget presumably and Karl Reindler has already taken up the seat at ADR. Think Danny was just out to prove a point for Alan Docking at Combe in much the same way that Rob Austin did last year for Menu and he did a mighty fine job!
Real shame it seems his future lies in driver coaching rather than a full blown racing career tho...another one of those wasted talents, but thats motor racing so they say! |
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13 Jul 2005, 16:02 (Ref:1354748) | #29 | |||
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btw I'm too warm to argue so let's leave it there... There, I've said my part. See you all in Silverstone then. |
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13 Jul 2005, 18:15 (Ref:1354853) | #30 | ||||
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The time gaps were just about okay, but BF3 was first on the track at 09:00 and pretty much last off it at 18:40. Then the cars had to be prepped for the Sunday morning... Quote:
And no, I wouldn't bet against him for the title now, although there are still 9 races to go... |
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13 Jul 2005, 19:25 (Ref:1354902) | #31 | |
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really? there's only 9 races to go? it's only mid-july!
i wouldn't have expected kimball to be where he is in the championship. on the one hand it backs up the theory that carlin have completely got it right this year. bit disappointed that asmer's slipped back a bit, but also quite impressed with christian bakkerud. again. out of interest, wasn't parente's car loaned from someone else, and weren't they due to want it back? what happened with that? |
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13 Jul 2005, 20:41 (Ref:1354961) | #32 | ||
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Parente's car was loaned from some Italian F3 team that wanted it back Bella. Apparently TC has said that he'll just buy another chassis for Parente.
I think your right about Carlin but Ive always rated Charlie and now I think he's found his feet and he's really proving himself...very impressed I am....and that takes alot as you know!! |
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13 Jul 2005, 20:56 (Ref:1354971) | #33 | ||
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Yes, only 9 races to go from 4 meetings. The calendar was front-end heavy, you might say. Still, that's 189 points on offer.
Carlin certainly seem to have the best car at the moment. To be fair, Asmer wouldn't have dropped back so much if a certain driver had not hit his car twice over the course of the weekend. Monza was big, being a triple header, and Silverstone will be the same. Don't miss it! Kimball is headed for Rookie of the Year honours, I'd say, but again you're right, Bakkerud did a great job too. He had quite a big off in free practice on Friday morning, but recovered well in the races. The podium he took on Sunday was despite feeling (and looking) unwell. Yes, Parente's car was borrowed from Ombra, an Italian team, and I think they are due to take it back to compete in the last few rounds of that other F3 series that some people like to watch... But I don't see why Carlin shouldn't be able to build up another that's just as good. Small piece of trivia: Parente's engineer this year is Andy Thorby, who designed the Mygale F3 car. He's obviously a bit of an ace engineer, so what happened to the Mygale? Go figure. |
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13 Jul 2005, 21:42 (Ref:1355012) | #34 | |
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bakkerud had a couple of enormous offs at castle combe too, didn't he? i'm all for someone finding their limits, but at the right time..
reason why i was asking about parente's car is in a desperate attempt to find a reason for him wobbling and maybe letting kimball in for the title. but i think it'd be better for the championship if parente won (i cba to elaborate on that), so you're right, there's no reason why carlin can't get a car sorted out in time. the mygale car's got nothing to do with the bag of worn socks that carbone's trying to drive has it? |
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13 Jul 2005, 22:12 (Ref:1355036) | #35 | ||
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Please, someone can explain me if invitational class car are handicapped?
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13 Jul 2005, 23:01 (Ref:1355063) | #36 | ||
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I reckon Carbones doing a good job with that car, but as far as I know it's Signature's own effort. They decided the split their resources between that and the Dallaras, which may not have been the smartest move in hindsight.
I have a vague memory of Fortec testing the Mygale, but they decided to stick with the Dallara, so draw your own conclusion... Have a look here for more info. There's also supposed to be a Ligier/Martini around somewhere, but I don't think that's been seen in competition either. The only car that's sometimes on a par with the Dallara is the Lola, and it was good to see Dirani get a pair of podiums at Monza. The Invitation Class cars are not eligible for points, SFonseca, but they are not handicapped at all apart from having to get used to the Avon tyres. It's the same problem, in reverse, that the BF3 drivers had with the Kumhos at Zandvoort. |
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14 Jul 2005, 01:37 (Ref:1355134) | #37 | |
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carbone's doing a fantastic job with that car, i've seen him perform outstanding acts of bravery round spa in it, and iirc he was on the pace with signatures dallaras at oschersleben, but that was an odd weekend. they were absolute muppets to put so much faith in that... rollerskate, and if they can't see that now then that's just daft. credit to carbone for actually even considering driving it and trying to do a danny watts with it. i was having issues trying to remember just how many hideously ugly pseudo-dallaras there were around. more than i'd hoped for, clearly...
aaaaanyhow... i think the lola would have been on a par with the dallara if the situation continued from last year driver-wise at least. it seems pretty clear to me that the car was on the pace at the beginning of the year but seems to have tailed off. go figure... have manor confirmed their entries yet for silverstone, does anyone know? they sounded pretty certain about it, but words are words... |
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14 Jul 2005, 08:39 (Ref:1355239) | #38 | |
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what's happenend to mr conway....? has fortec lost thier way or has conways head drop. All that pre-season testing seems to be a waste of time and a whole wad of cash.
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14 Jul 2005, 09:59 (Ref:1355276) | #39 | |
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you see, that was what i was thinking too, until i checked the points table, and he appears to be 3rd, which give or take more or less is where rossiter was last year. i know it's a completely different context and everything, but numbers wise, he's not stinking the house down *that* badly...
(hence i didn't want to mock, because technically he's not doing that badly) |
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14 Jul 2005, 10:45 (Ref:1355297) | #40 | ||
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Conway did a pretty solid job at Monza if you read his report on his website. He would have won the third race but someone crashed into him. The results dont't really portray how well he drove unfortunately.
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14 Jul 2005, 10:48 (Ref:1355301) | #41 | |
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the thing with racing, see, is there's like, 20-odd other guys in the race, and how good a driver is championship wise is *always* going to be relative, it doesn't matter "how well he drove".
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14 Jul 2005, 11:29 (Ref:1355323) | #42 | ||
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Conway did a pretty good job at Monza with a couple of 4th places, but I don't see that he would have won the third race. He was battling with Dirani and Ekkerud when he was taken out, so a podium was about the best he could have hoped for.
As an aside, I don't think the Opel Spiess engine is quite a match for the Mugen-Honda this year, which may explain why all that testing at the end of last year hasn't brough the expected results. He's not another Rossiter, but he has been very consistent. |
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14 Jul 2005, 11:47 (Ref:1355331) | #43 | |
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the opel engine in the euroseries is completely pants, so i can see how it wouldn't be too shiny in comparison to the mugen honda in the british series. i'm not sure how it compares to last years british one, for example, but it would certainly provide an excuse...
conway is probably in about the right place in terms of ability. i'd not rate him higher than someone like bakkerud though, who i think could really be very decent next year if he hangs around. |
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14 Jul 2005, 12:00 (Ref:1355339) | #44 | ||
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Bakkerud is only 5 points behind Conway at the moment so there's every opportunity for him to move up. He and Charlie Kimball have been the real surprises of the Series so far. Although they are rookies, they're now driving at a level above that. You wonder how much having Parente as team leader and being able to see all his data has helped them raise their game.
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14 Jul 2005, 12:59 (Ref:1355385) | #45 | |
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good point, parente does have a good 3 years (1 euroseries, 2 british?) of experience to use. another point of thought is that bakkerud's from fbmw and kimballs from fford - which has prepared the driver better for f3?
they are both rookies, but i dare say they have been flattered to a point with the lack of decent second year drivers. asmer's been inconsistent, lewis hasn't quite managed to rattle many cages (would he have done better with carlin?), stephen jelley's... performed as expected. i'm not quite sure what to say about dirani. |
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14 Jul 2005, 13:13 (Ref:1355399) | #46 | ||
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I think a lot of the female element around here are quite harsh on Mike Conway because he doesn't have the personality and looks that some of you desire! I have been slightly disappointed with him but in fairness looking at it now, he is at a disadvantage using that Opel engine and yet he still sits 3rd in the standings...best of the rest behind the Carlin boys.
I've said earlier in the thread that Ive believed Kimball could be a star and he's certainly proving it, Bakkerud I'm not so sure on. He's clearly a quickish driver but he did nothing in BMW last year so I'm wondering just how much is to do with the car and team. You only have to look at a driver such as Adrian Sutil in F3 Euroseries to see just how much a good car can flatter an average driver. I think Dan Clarke's done well as well. Unfortunately some of the old erraticism seems to have re-appeard but he has been pretty solid everywhere and he's done more than Bakkerud thus far in the fact that he's actually won a race! Stephen Jelley's pants...but I always said he would be and I just can't make my mind up on Ryan Lewis. He's cleary and aggresive go get um driver but he doesn't seem to have those extra couple of tenths in him thats needed. Danilio Dirani, does anyone think it could be psychological? I dunno just something I thought about before, the only two meetings he's dominated in his two seasons over here are Croft - The anniversary of Ayrtons death when he was desperate to win and then Donny where everyone would have wanted to get off to a good start. Does anyone think somehow psychologically he can't pump himself up quite the same for other meetings? I don't know, it was just interesting to me. Asmer has been pretty pants to be honest. I havn't been impressed at all, he's a second year driver - he should have won by now...certainly during the first half of this season whilst all the rookies were learning. Tim Bridgman's been the biggest disappointment. Regardless of the black flag situation he has been awful since round 1....even when he has proved quick enough to run at the front his racecraft has proved appalling and time and time again he has run into somebody or just run off the road himself. He's not been a good advert for Formula BMW thus far in my opinion.... |
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14 Jul 2005, 13:30 (Ref:1355408) | #47 | |
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I don't know why everyone is saying the Opel engine is worse than the Mugens. Just look at Marlboro Masters and how Team Rosberg, Signature etc were blowing off all the boys from the British series. And don't tell me that Hirate and van der Garde are miles quicker than Parente, Kimball etc. They should at least be on a par. I think it's either Conway or Fortec who aren't getting their acts together – unless of course they run a different spec engine to the teams in the Euroseries.
Oh and by the way, this is Parente's FOURTH year in F3 – he did a year in the Spanish championship in 2002. On the subject of Bridgman, clearly a very fast driver but equally clearly not mature enough. Maybe a year in Formula Ford/Renault or even B-class F3 would have been better at that stage of his career. It doesn't look like Formula BMW is very good grounding on its own for F3 – look at how Sebastian Vettel (12 zillion wins in German FBMW last year) is struggling in Euro F3. I must admit Christian Bakkerud has got me stumped, though maybe he's proof that FBMW is a rubbish barometer of talent. |
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14 Jul 2005, 13:43 (Ref:1355416) | #48 | |
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thanks for the correction on parente's career, he really does need to win it this year if he's going to have a semi-decent career. then again, i said that about adam carroll...
the opel engine in the euroseries is iirc about half a second slower on an average lap (that doesn't sound enough though, so maybe it's more) than the mercedes, and loses out considerably on the longers straights on the euroseries tracks. i'm not sure that matters so much here, and looking at the thruxton results as an example, conway was 6th and 4th. i think they do run a different spec in the euroseries? i think the problem with fbmw is that it doesn't teach racecraft too well because of the slight lack of overtaking, especially at the front. don't bother saying "ah, but..." and providing specific races as an excuse. the german fbmw especially has some of the worst driving standards i've ever seen, nothing but mistakes and misbehaviour. it makes gp2 look like a nun's day out. the british one is definitely better, but i'd still argue that it doesn't promote clean overtaking, especially to those who haven't spent 10 years in karting. |
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14 Jul 2005, 13:49 (Ref:1355420) | #49 | ||
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i do think the opel engine thing isn't nearly as much of an issue over here compared to the mercedes issue in the euroseries. more than likely i don't think fortec and conway have managed to develop the car to the same level of potential that rossiter and the same team managed last year, and on that i agree with jj jet plane. |
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14 Jul 2005, 14:58 (Ref:1355463) | #50 | ||
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Folk say that F3 has too much grip but not enough power, so where does that leave FBMW? It's a great show and the cars are very safe, but for training drivers I'd rate FFord much higher. It's just a shame that Ford don't really apear to be interested, despite fine words from time to time.
Dirani thinks that Conway is a very clean driver to race with, btw, if we are supposed to say something nice about him. I don't think there's much to choose between the Mugen-Honda engines and the Opel Spiess ones in the UK; it's just an edge. |
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