spa bf3 : when we get the races from spa, we'll discuss them. in the mean time..

[flexible-flyer]

senna is getting more coverage down to the fact he is battling at the sharp end which is comendable for someone who only started racing at the same time stoddart was in formula renault. susie meanwhile was fighting a losing battle against year old cars.

[littleman]

Motor racing is the only major 'sport' I can think of which allows women to compete head-to-head,eye-ball to eye-ball,with men.It's a huge business driven by money,money & money - the more the better!Ecclestone created the mould 30 years ago and it survives to this day.Susie Stoddart is an average driver, but a great commercial asset, in an environment that craves money more than talent.She may even make it to F1 for this reason alone,but only in something like a Minardi or Jordan.Doesn't the stark reality of this familiar scenario make you wonder how F1 can be billed as the 'Best Drivers in the World' when half of them shouldn't be there and are lapping 6 seconds off the pace in rubbish cars.Ecclestone has made billions by brilliantly selling something which 'Does nothing like it says on the tin' - just like Susie Stoddart.

[Zurich]

Originally Posted by Gaz

Autosport/Motorsportnews have a voice, yet it appears they don't use it in anything like the correct manner.

Tell that to Jay Howard and Joey Foster.

[Zurich]

Originally Posted by Mathias

By the way, can anyone tell me what Bruno Senna has done to justify the attention he's getting?

He's been fast, almost everywhere.

[Russfeld]

Originally Posted by Mackmot

how do you know its not the most important 50,000 people in the world that read autosport

Because he proof is in the pudding.

[RSportRacer]

did anyone pick up on the story that Susie is considering a move to P1 from ADR??

[JJ Jet Plane]

Gaz you are totally wrong about Autosport and Motorsport News not giving Robbie Kerr the coverage he deserved. I remember they both gave him totally fair coverage and failed to fall for that bull**** about Courtney losing the title because of his Monza F1 test crash. But you also have to take into account the personalities not helping themselves. I know from talking to people in the press that Robbie is not one of the more helpful drivers when communicating with the media. On the other hand, Anthony Davidson is. That makes a big difference not necessarily in rating a particular driver's talents - I think the press always talked up Robbie in that respect - but in getting good material for a story. If a driver doesn't want to play ball then the media don't get such a good story. Perhaps this has also come across in Robbie's dealings with sponsors and teams?

In contrast look at Adam Carroll. He has operated on less money than Robbie to this level of his career (Robbie's budget to win British F3 in 2002 was at least £300k and Adam's never had that amount for a season), but people fall over themselves to help him because he's such a good bloke. And here he is signing a last-second deal with Super Nova (and where is the money going to come from for that?) and winning GP2 at Imola.

[JohnMiller]

I think the Autosport readership is more like 20,000. it is a trade paper no more, no less. Whoever got major funding through it?

[Ian Sowman]

The latest ABC figure is 44.5k copies total average net circulation, of which 37.5k are UK & Ireland. MN by comparison is 30.0k copies, with 99% being UK & Ireland.

[Mathias]

Originally Posted by Gaz

Might be something to do with the fact hes clearly shown speed and potential to be a real star!

My point being that Bruno Senna hasn't, to my knowledge, won a single-seater race yet, and is just one of many potential front-running drivers in British F3 this year, but he's been grabbing more headlines than, say, Alvaro Parente or Steven Kane who both *did* claim pole at Spa. The only reason Bruno gets the level of coverage he does is because of his surname. It's his USP, and he needs it to grab our attention. Blah blah blah.

[Super Tourer]

Adam is part of the young driver program at BAR-Honda, I would imagine they have 'placed' him in GP2 with Super Nova for more experience and evaluation - in which case he's off to a very good start!

[Russfeld]

The weird thing about the BAR program is they never announced it or talk about it. You get a tiny little sticker on the car somewhere and thats about it. I only just noticed Dirani's.

[Daisy]

I saw Rossiter wearing a BAR HANS system in Hockenheim, after his win their.

[bella]

they all were wearing hans at hockenheim, iirc. has there been a stealth rule change that no-one told us about?

i thought with the bar thing that the first lot of drivers they tested weren't rejected as such, but sort of kept on so they could be monitored and pestered by bar training people (and to keep the reasonable-ish talent within bar's reach if they got any better, i assume). they were intending to have one driver to support, but i assume no-one's been chosen and they're just going to back everyone?

edit : i'd be surprised if bar had done any "placing" - surely they'd have put rossiter in a mugen honda team or something, rather than an opel one?

[Suze]

Originally Posted by RSportRacer

Names spring to mind..
Marc Hynes wins the F3 in 99.. where is he now?

Believe he's doing some LMES, Le Mans and driver training again for Manor in FRen.

[strider]

This year's F3 cars are the first ones to provide enough room for a driver to wear a HANS device. There are very firm recommendations about how it's to be fitted - see the FIA website for more info. Otherwise I think some drivers would have worn them last year.

[Craner Curves]

HANs seems to be cropping up everywhere now. F1, WRC and this year F3 and the BTCC. Good to see something helping safety becoming so widespread.

[flexible-flyer]

Originally Posted by Russfeld

The weird thing about the BAR program is they never announced it or talk about it. You get a tiny little sticker on the car somewhere and thats about it. I only just noticed Dirani's.

well when it was announced it got a hefty amount of press and the BAR website has an article regarding carroll's gp2 win. i also noticed rossiter and carroll with the YDP logo on their helmets and adam carroll was also photographed hugging jock clear, chatting to jock clear, and joking with other BAR personel over the weekend. carroll and david sears have also confirmed that BAR played a part in getting carroll the super nova drive, so 'never announced' and 'never talk about it' isnt in any way the case. besides, dirani wasnt one of the 3 guys who tested, unless of course he will do so in the future.

so anyway back to topic, british f3 at spa, boy that was a weekend of edge of seat racing, that was!!!

[Russfeld]

Well, it was never announced and its never really been talked about. They mentioned it briefly when they tested Rossiter Carroll and Van Der Merwe, but would we know anything about Dirani but for a decal on his rollhoop?

[bella]

yeah, from the original press release that said that him, piquet, the other 3 and rosberg (?) were all tested for suitability?

[strider]

I'd forgotten about Dirani, tbh, but there about 10 originally although it was strange because some of them were already lined up elsewhere. Rosberg was certainly one, but he's now done a deal with Williams. Nice thread re-christen, btw.

[flexible-flyer]

Originally Posted by Russfeld

Well, it was never announced and its never really been talked about. They mentioned it briefly when they tested Rossiter Carroll and Van Der Merwe, but would we know anything about Dirani but for a decal on his rollhoop?

what more is there to announce or talk about?

dirani was one of the original ten or so drivers in the first stage of the programme but as far as i know, only AC, JR and AVDM were selected to test the car. the piquet test was nothin to do with the YDP as far as im aware.

[Super Tourer]

Originally Posted by bella

edit : i'd be surprised if bar had done any "placing" - surely they'd have put rossiter in a mugen honda team or something, rather than an opel one?

There are no Mugen Honda engines used in the Euro F3 series, so that is not an option. Honda are not prevelant in the career ladder formulae, if you are going to test new talent in race conditions, it's inevitable they will be sitting in a car that is not Honda powered.

I think it's clear that BAR are pretty much funding Adam at Super Nova, he has always struggled for an F3 budget, let alone being able to find 3 or 4 times that for GP2.

[bella]

erm, i think adam carroll's been "struggling" - he's always managed to find the budget when it mattered. i dare say there's the same budget issues as always, it's just not smart to talk about them.

mugen-honda have a number of teams in british f3, albeit not factory supported. putting my cynical hat on for a second, mercedes are a direct rival, and opel aren't. but if they end up withdrawing at the end of the year, i can't see development going at the same pace all year. or maybe they want to go out with a bang...

[fantasytoca]

On the points about Autosport/MN they do not have a duty to promote ANY driver, British or otherwise.

Let us not forget that they are commercial magazines, therefore their sole interest is to sell as many copies as possible, that boosts their circulation which in turn boosts the amount they can charge their advertisers.

As the readership of Autosport is predominantly male, including photos and a feature on a female driver may encourage more males to buy the magazine, and probably gets more females to buy that issue too for inspiration - so commercially its a good deal.

Also bear in mind that a couple of years ago when there was to be more than one female racer in Formula Renault that year, one of the motorsport magazines offered those female drivers a not insubstantial sum to appear on their front cover wearing next to nothing - the drivers turned it down as the article would not have concentrated at all on their driving ability, but for the magazine concerned it would have undoubtedly have been a good deal as their readership that week would no doubt have shot up.