McLaren Autosport Award - Your personal choices

[Paul Rayner]

Originally posted by kartingdad
It's chicken and egg here - unless you get noticed, how do you get into Zetecs?

With money. It's a sad fact that without it you won't get anywhere, I've got to agree with bella that £50,000 is peanuts for a driver heading to F1 - it wouldn't even buy you a top seat in Renault or Ford, when the person who wins it is expected to be going to F3, where it costs several times that.

As for FF1600 - there's some damn good racecraft there - I've been watching the NW series for a couple of races now, and they can fight without incident a lot more than the National Zetecs do (although a lot of them have been racing a lot longer). Well done to Stuart Gough on the win at the weekend.

I don't think you'll see a driver with no money getting the award, because they couldn't do what the judges want them to do with it. The award goes to a driver who can hopefully use the cash, prestige and publicity to move up towards F1. It's not just about the driver who's got the most talent, it's about the driver who's most likely to make it.

[kartingdad]

Well I know your'e probably correct, but it's worth a shot innit?

[Fred]

Originally posted by JustinDawkins
Again slightly off topic, does anyone know how Clucas got in that national supersports race?

Don't know for sure but my guess is that he was in the right place at the right time when a drive was available.He seems to have impressed theSupersports people though...

[bella]

Originally posted by Fred
I think you reveal a lot about your own, obviously enviable personal finances. If £50,000 is peanuts to you?

shows you how little you know about me and my financial circumstances really.
i talk in relative terms of course. £50,000 is a very small amount in motorsport. hell, i can think of someone who's done that damage in renaults this year.

[Jamie P-E]

I would vote for Susie Stoddart as she has done a fabulous job in Formula Renault this year and she has proved that women can cut it motorsport.

[Fred]

Originally posted by bella
shows you how little you know about me and my financial circumstances really.
i talk in relative terms of course. £50,000 is a very small amount in motorsport. hell, i can think of someone who's done that damage in renaults this year.

Without wishing to initiate a personal arguement here, and tryin to keep it OT.

It would be interestingto know just how Kimi Raikonnen managed to go from Karting in Finland to Renault UK to F1 when by all accounts his parents come from very humble backgrounds ( father a fork lift truck driver I heard ? )

I know the Autosport Awards are supposed to promote UK talent and have been succesful in some respects. However it seems strange that a country the size of Finland, with a population the size of the UK Home counties can produce the motorsport luminaries that it does when it has relatively little in the way of motorsport Infrastructure.

The UK is often heralded as the home of world motorsport and yet appears not to have an infrastructure that would allow people with the ability but not the finances to achieve what they are capable of. The lack of financial support at the very basic level ( addressed elsewhere in this thread ) and an incoherent structure that allows multiple championships to flare up, whither and die are perhaps part of the picture ?

If the top three of a junior category were supported into the next higher category for the following year and success was rewarded in a more structured way maybe the country at large would achieve the individual success you would expect from the level of Industry it sustains?

Who knows, one of your own personal favourites, Darwin Smith ( posts passim ) might have been racing this year if such a scheme was in place?

[Master Yoda]

No doubt about it.

Hamilton should win it.

[Nina]

well, he should if he were in it!

[O'Schumacher]

Hamilton's bound to be off the list as he's doing the final F3 races at Brands, so here's my 6:

Tom Kimber-Smith
James Walker
James Rossiter
Alex Lloyd
Ryan Sharp
Oliver Smith (Marcus Pye always goes for an obscure one)

[No 4]

J R Ewing - Just seen you're comment about drivers with no money getting nominated. Jamie Morrow won against Mike Spencer in ZIP and was only 1.4 seconds off the pace in his first ever Formula Renault outing with a back marker car + blew away the opposition in the Be a grand prix driver competition, posting the fastest times in all the single seater rounds. In short, he has the speed/talent, but not the money. By contrast many of the drivers mentioned above have pots of cash. Therefore, how about nominating someone like Jamie who really needs a helping hand??

[Mr Jinxx]

As I understand the situation, No4, the winner's prize is supposed to top up the cash fund for a driver, to help him/her achieve their potential. It is not meant to be the main or sole form of funding.

The problem that this would give is that these are junior formulae, and drivers have got a long way to go to get noticed. If a poorly-funded driver is awarded the prize money, there is every chance that the prize money would be spent and run out before they have had a chance to realise their potential as it is insufficient in itself to compete in even part of a year in a competitive car, and therefore the money will have been wasted.

It is just one of those sad facts about motorsport - you need money and talent. One without the other is no good, and if you want to try and compete at the top, or try and reach the upper echelons, you have to have the money first, then the talent, otherwise you have to do something else. No emotion - those are the rules, and you play if you can afford it. There are loads of deserving cases, and I haven't met a driver yet who couldn't use an extra few bob, but to progress from Zip or FF or FR to a place where a driver can be measured and recognised for his talent will take hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds. This award, as I understand it, is designed to help one of the many deserving cases who already have a significant chunk of those hundreds of thousands of pounds, without which they will not succeed.

If you are in the Nevada desert and need 50 gallons of fuel to get you to a watering hole, and there is a gift of 10 gallons up for grabs, you give it to the guy who already has 40 gallons in his tank, so he at least stands a sporting chance of making it, not to the guy whose tank is empty, and who will therefore fail anyway. Harsh but true. It's a cruel sport!

[No 4]

Mr Jinx - A sobering dose of (unarguable) Friday afternoon reality!! However, very, very sad that it's money and talent, rather than just talent, that determines who wins through. Sadly,we live in a cynical, money dominated world!!

[Tom Horley]

Raikonnen did the european karting championships and came second in the european Formula Super A champs i believe. S he didnt just go from karting in Finland, he competed at the top level

[Gaz]

My six would be :

1. James Walker
2. Tom Kimber-Smith
3. Oliver Smith
4. Lewis Hamilton
5. James Rossiter
6. Susie Stoddart

[Mackmot]

Is that the same Oliver Smith that was terrible in formula ford in 99

[Mr Jinxx]

My six would possibly be:

1. Alex Lloyd
2. James Rossiter
3. Ryan Sharp
4. Susie Stoddart
5. Tom Kimber-Smith
6. Joey Foster

I say possibly, because I have slight reservations about stuff. Firstly Susie, although I love her more than life itself, I'm not sure that one podium for 3rd place should be enough in this company. Girl Power for sure, but I think she is possibly next year's serious candidate.

James Rossiter has done enough to merit consideration. He was up against Mike Conway (who I have always said is a good quick driver, but needs to get his head in gear ... the moment Rossiter started to be quicker than him, then (as exclusively predicted by Jinxxy) MC faded away ... he doesn't need to do this!) and beat him. Plus they are nice folk, both of them.

Tom Kimber-Smith, because he won - I don't know him.

Joey Foster because he is doing well for Continental, who are a great team

Alex because I try not to be biased, and I know I am, but I genuinely think he deserves the award ... well, I actually think Lewis deserves the award if all other things were equal, but things aren't equal, and if Lewis is not in the running, then Alex is next for king

Ryan Sharp as the "outsider". He's quick, doing great in Germany, but I'm not totally sure how marketable a product he is. But his results this year merit his inclusion, without doubt.

Those are my provisional 6, and I reserve the right to change them on a whim

[Mr Jinxx]

Actually, I withdraw Susie from my nominations this year, with huge regret. Susie will, God willing, be around in FRen next year, and I do believe she will be a genuine front runner all year. Mike Conway is reputed to be staying, and Paul Di Resta will be quick, as will many others, so competition will be good at the pointy end. If Susie can prove herself a consistent front-runner next year, then she must be a prime candidate for this award. But not on the strength of one 3rd place this year. If so, it would just be because she is a girl, and I don't believe Susie herself would thank you for that.

So who have I missed out?? I need one more nominee...

[JR Ewing]

Originally posted by Mackmot
Is that the same Oliver Smith that was terrible in formula ford in 99

No I think it's the 'new' one sticking to them in Historic FF1600..

[Stevespurr]

After Susie Stoddarts race yesterday she should get it fastest on track lap after lap.

[Mr Jinxx]

Actually, Alex was fastest throughout the beginning of the race, and Paul Di Resta got fastest lap, but Susie drove a super race on Sunday for sure. That's why I think she should stay with Motaworld and I'd be betting she will win at least one race next year, and then she will surely be the absolute prime candidate for this award.

[Nina]

BBC Radio 5 LiveF1 had a women in racing programme a little while ago, was impressed by her then and since have been increasingly impressed, but I agree with you, Mr Jinxx on this one

[105octane]

Jinxy i agree with your words about Susie on this one two. Lets see how she goes next year.

[Mr Jinxx]

I heard that programme as well Nina - it was good, and Susie speaks really well. I hope she continues to get the backing she deserves.

I shouldn't really say this, but this glass of Sancerre is going down really well ... Alex partnered Katherine Legge at Falcon in FR, and this year has partnered Susie. My personal view only, but there is no comparison. Katherine was lovely, etc, but Susie is a professional. She's quicker and she's focussed. She is also learning. And the good bit (one of the good bits) is that she knows she's learning. Too many people pretend they are there already. Pretend they are It already. Susie is learning, absorbing, growing in ability and confidence, and because she knows this, it makes her stronger. I do think she's the embodiment of a girl racer, and she should be The One who can be a girlie but mix it with the Big Boys.

I think she has had a great year, and has learned a lot, especially since changing the car's fundamental set up to what we believe is a quicker one, which she discovers that she can drive really well. What a great confidence boost that must be, to find that the setup that suits you is actually the quickest one. To find that your driving style might just be good enough to take you to the top step of the podium.

I think it will next year. If she stays with Motaworld, then they need to get this new setup really sorted through the winter, and then we will see Ms Stoddart on the top step in 2004, and what a day that would be, eh?

[Nina]

Indeed!

[paymaster]

joey is your boy, more points per £ than ANYONE, even Clucas