Do we miss Marcos Ambrose???

peckstar · 1 Jul 2006, 23:55 (Ref:1645933)

Is it just me a ford fan or is the v8 championship missing something this year.

Suddenly skaife gets his confidence back and stops making stupid mistakes.

On a side note Marcos finished 3rd last night in Kansas (unofficial), his highest finish for the year and the highest rookie finish for the year. he also led a lap

kmsport · 2 Jul 2006, 00:08 (Ref:1645935)

I don't

MPA · 2 Jul 2006, 00:28 (Ref:1645942)

I dont miss him, but I do wish him luck and want to support him in the same way that all Aussies support and cheer for any Aussie sportsman/woman/team competing O/S.

To suggest Skaife is relaxed, confident no longer under pressure because one driver has moved on suggests the depth of talent is shallow.

Conrod Kieron · 2 Jul 2006, 01:01 (Ref:1645948)

Absolutely, not only did he pull the Fords fans back in, he also added to the show as he wasn't always the goodie two shoes + Murfs got know one to hit with his handbag now

An excellent talent, well and truly up there with the best and a great loss to the series and its also becoming increasingly clear that he was a huge loss to SBR, as much as I like Ingall he isn't in the same class driver wise as MA.

Skaife not being under pressure now is an interesting one, to a degree I can see where peckstar is coming from, there was the mind games going on between MA and Skaife but Skaifes new found 'confidence' couldn't be attributed soley to this.

observer · 2 Jul 2006, 01:19 (Ref:1645952)

Yep, I miss him
I've now got no one to hate

Dazz · 2 Jul 2006, 02:03 (Ref:1645965)

I do miss him because of a few reasons.

He was intense, single minded, focused, and did not want to accept second bast. He also was vullnerable under pressure and unpredictable and fired up when he thought things had not gone his way.

These are very much the same reasons I admire Skaife and in years gone by Moffat as competitors. None of these drivers were/are happy when things are not going their way, and they do not expect to be anywhere except the pointy end of the field. I believe these are some of the reasons why these types of drivers suceed.

Are these necessarily personality traits I like, maybe not, but as a racing driver, absolutely.

Also to say that Skaife is having a good year because Marcos is gone is a fairly hard call to make. If anything I would say that this year their is better performance from a few more teams making this years racing harder than when Marcos was there.

Marcos came in at a time where the Stone Brothers cars were at the peak of their powers. Even last year we saw a less than dominant performance from both cars, and I really think that if Marcos was still hear we would possibly not see the dominance we saw two and three years ago.

That would be my biggest reason for wanting Marcos back, to see how he and Stone Brothers would be able to combat the obviously better performing HRT/Toll/888/Jack Danials/FPR teams in particular. I think we would have seen an Ambrose under more pressure than ever before and only then could we really rate him as a complete driver who can handle winning as well as losing on a more regular basis.

I do wish him all the sucess in the world over there in the States though, and would dearly love to see how he would go in a few Nascar road circuits. Hopefully we will get to see this in the not too distant future.

Raglanparade · 2 Jul 2006, 02:11 (Ref:1645967)

I never liked him and i dont miss him.

xrystl · 2 Jul 2006, 02:23 (Ref:1645969)

IMHO , he was way too good a driver for our V8 series- he made the other drivers seem second rate - the series is now back to its boring self .

Sparklehorse · 2 Jul 2006, 02:59 (Ref:1645970)

Personally people seem to dislike the man.

But the skill he had and displayed in the series has made his departure a sad one.

Grimace · 2 Jul 2006, 03:54 (Ref:1645978)

Yep i miss him simply as the strongest FALCON driver for 2005, he could apply pressure to Skaife - Consistently

NOW we lose Bright to Fujitsu where he will make up the numbers on the grid, simply shattering ! for him to leave FPR now they are strong frontrunners! a crazy move!

Imagine Marcos driving the Cat car!!!!!!!!

Where the heck did FPR get an engine that can outqualify SBR engines at Darwin?

The 2006 SteamrollerHRT/HSV have car speed and handling and it shows! Tander commented he would have been right at the front except for a botched pit stop!

davester · 2 Jul 2006, 05:15 (Ref:1645987)

I sure miss that calibre of quality disappearing off the grid.
I love my motorsport, and respect quality at all levels, Red, Blue, or other.

For those happy to see him go, well I guess it makes it a little easier for your guy to win now. For those upset about his rare shows of attitude, well there's far worse going on further down the grid, but you wont see the Ten guys down there too often.

Marcos has played a major part in raising the bar for the sport. He's had some indiscetions along the way, but when you're the champ, there's always gonna be some guy in your face with a camera looking for a story. Lowndes is probably the only recent era champ who's kept his cool in front of the camera at all times. Ingall, Skaife haven't.

He's also helped keep one manufacturer interested in staying in the sport when all they were getting was a belting each year. Without a balanced sport, the sport will disappear up its own .....

So yes Marcos' going wasn't great, but in the scheme of things is merely a ripple in the pond. His replacement is yet to hit his straps, but JC has also walked in well after the team has peaked.

I'd rather watch champs race than also rans.

Buckshot · 2 Jul 2006, 05:38 (Ref:1645992)

No.

TSR · 2 Jul 2006, 05:52 (Ref:1645995)

As a FORD man I do miss Marcos, not my fav FORD driver but is up there. But the thing I miss the most about Marcos is that he is not blowing away Mr Potato Head each weekend on the track.

Gaz170 · 2 Jul 2006, 07:37 (Ref:1646031)

I miss him. But SBR aren't as strong as they once were either.

Pirtek_Falcon-1 · 2 Jul 2006, 08:56 (Ref:1646064)

Miss him big time. But hes moved onto bigger and BETTER things.

Conrod Kieron · 2 Jul 2006, 09:02 (Ref:1646065)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TSR

As a FORD man I do miss Marcos, not my fav FORD driver but is up there. But the thing I miss the most about Marcos is that he is not blowing away Mr Potato Head each weekend on the track.

No, but now MA's rookie replacement is

I firmly believe SBR are missing MA's car development/setup abilities this year, hence them on a downfall, nothing else within the team has changed.

Also, MA didn't come along when SBR were at there peak, HE bought them to there peak and I have no doubt at all that if he were still racing here, he would be well and truly up at the sharp end.

TSR · 2 Jul 2006, 09:28 (Ref:1646078)

I would like to congraulate Marcos on his 3rd place in the truck series on the weekend. The highest place rookie.Well done Marcos Well done.

FORDSTAR1 · 2 Jul 2006, 10:44 (Ref:1646120)

The series is definetly not the same without him. Stevie Wonder could see that the crowd figures have been down this year and MA's departure is a contributing factor.Marcos came to the series when Ford fans needed a saviour and was the underdog for 01, 02 & most of 03. Marcos was (and still is IMHO) the Benchmark. If the Benchmark was a 10, everyone else was an 8 or lower. We watched the series unfold with the knowlwdge that MA would deliver the goods and make life a misery for anyone on the red side. The series is missing an underdog again. At the moment, Frosty looks like the man to take on the role.

deeks6 · 2 Jul 2006, 10:57 (Ref:1646130)

Bias declared up front - Ford fan!

I don't miss MA at all but I do wish him all the best _ I have a sneaking suspicion that he will win a Nextel Cup within 3-5 years. He is an awesome driving talent - no question about that. As an all round driver (Setup, qualifying, race craft, hunger etc) he rates with Skaife as the best ever...maybe even more natural talent by a whisker.

Why don't I like him?

... almost the same reason I don't like Skaife ... he thinks his sh.. does not stink. I respect Skaife (for his driving) but I lost respect for him as a person when he fresh aired my mates 7 year old for an autograph about 6 years ago. My mate is the biggest Holden fan of all time but would rather a Ford win than Skaife since then. Now, I have'nt seen Ambrose do that but his whole attitude since he won his first Title was "like, I'm the No 1 man, you need to get out of my way and respect me ..." Not a down to earth guy, for mine but maybe thats what you need at the pointy end of the field.

Anyway...it's LOWNDESEY's turn this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A9X05 · 2 Jul 2006, 10:57 (Ref:1646131)

Marcos who?

stmorri · 2 Jul 2006, 11:32 (Ref:1646154)

Quote:

Originally Posted by A9X05

Marcos who?

Marcos the bloke who had pole position in his first ever race.

The Hrt Kid · 2 Jul 2006, 12:14 (Ref:1646168)

deeks6 i have seen ambrose do exactly that of what skaife did to your friends son to one of my friends, he is nothing but an arrogant pig. And before all you ford fans jump up and down on me i have seen skaife do the same thing as well. I follow the Holden Racing Team and not necessarly the driver. I respect both drivers as drivers but thats it.

Rombles1 · 2 Jul 2006, 12:21 (Ref:1646170)

As a Holden fan, I hated Ambrose for his ability to beat my chosen side. His personality as presented in the media made him easy to hate.

But as an Australian, I will support Ambrose against the yanks (until I follow NASCAR closely enough to pick a favourite Chevy!)

Mind you I don't hate Lowndes, but I think that is because of him, not the car - he could do well in a Toyota and I still wouldn't hate him. Come back, Craig!

retro · 2 Jul 2006, 13:09 (Ref:1646190)

Don't make this a love/hate thread.....the bloke is overseas busting his ring to get into Nextel Cup.

I have personal experience that drivers read this forum, so Marcus if you read this keep going we don't miss you at all......next year Busch and then your dream.

sizzle · 2 Jul 2006, 14:08 (Ref:1646231)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grimace

Where the heck did FPR get an engine that can outqualify SBR engines at Darwin?

The 2006 SteamrollerHRT/HSV have car speed and handling and it shows! Tander commented he would have been right at the front except for a botched pit stop!

Give up Grimace, if this weekend showed anything it was that the two makes have pretty equal speed and it is up to the human factor or the unpredictable to make a diff.

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