Be A Grand Prix Driver - Channel 5 TV

[racingdick]

they have licences now as they got them through the Zacspeed international racing school.

[Bostik]

I watched the three finalists drive at Donington very closely. The 'five' prog last Monday got me really confused though - and I have no idea why 'five' talked about them only doing 1.20s. Maybe they don't understand the relevance of these numbers to the racing community, and just wanted to make out it was a close thing.
Its true they were doing 1:20s in their first five lap familiarisation session. But then they came back in and had a think, and a debrief with Tiff / Martin / Tim and then went back out. One of the three - much to my absolute astonishment - did a time that would have put him on the third row of the last TGP grid at Donington - around 1:09. So please don't be too quick to write these boys off.
That morning at Donington, the senior MSA race instructor told me he thought that one of the three was another Jenson Button. He may well be right.
All is going well in Monza so far - just had the first official practise - and the 'finalist' did a best lap of 1.50 - 13th fastest of 30.

[DSM]

'don't understand the relevance of these numbers'??!!
How can anyone doing anything connected with motorsport miss the point that it is about going fast?
You have GOT to be connected to that show!!

[DSM]

....furthermore, the last time the TGPs were on the Donington National Circuit was 2000, and a 1m 09s would have been about 20th on the grid and 6 secs off pole. A good time anyway, in the circumatances, if it happened but I very much doubt it! Don't you TV people tell the truth about anything?!

[frostblade]

As I said earlier DSM, the idea of the competition was to find someone who hadn't really raced before, and put them in an F1 car. So the point is that yes, they may very well have been slaughtered by someone from a lower category.

But they have virtually no race experience, that is the point! Get it?

Formulafordster is wrong - neither of them have ever held MSA race licenses, and I have raced against Mark in the IUKC (now BUKC, I'm an organiser!).

To be fair to Jamie, the competition was sold as picking someone off the street to go racing, whereas Jamie had just let his license lapse to take part, which isn't quite the same thing. I do wish him good luck in other series though. Was Jamie the one who admitted to smoking canabis?

[Muz]

Alec or Alex? was the one who had admitted to smoking cannabis !

I would suggest that a very talented (non-experienced) driver can get into a race car and be two to three seconds off the pace within 10-15 laps, anymore and I would say that they do not have substantial natural ability! 6 seconds or more over one lap is an absolute eternity - experienced or not !

[Bostik]

Steady!
I am not "connected to the show" nor am I "TV people". I happen to know the event organiser and the Tyrrell 012 very well - so I went to Donington to see what would happen to it in the hands of a complete novice. Just thought you might like a few facts to work with, that's all.
Anybody else see what I saw?
Yes - last time was in 2000 - it was the EJ10 Jordan 10th Anniversary Celebrations 2nd September and Joaquin Folch qualified on a 1.03.621 in the Lotus 91-7 in the first session and Ratti ran around at the back of the field as usual in the McLaren M29-2 doing a best of 1:20.321.
Do I still sound like "you TV people"?

[DSM]

Yes. So how would a 1.09 have got on the third row?

[DSM]

OK Frostblade. So the point was to demonstrate that these guys would be not as good as 1000s of others with more experience. I see.That's an interesting idea.
I think I know where the 'nice woosh sounds' are coming from.....

[No 4]

Jamie's Dad here! Just for the record it was another guy (Alex I think?) who admitted to smoking canabis on camera.

Re 'the competition was sold as picking someone off the street to go racing. That's fine, but to avoid people lapsing licences why didn't the rules just say entrants must never have previously held or currently hold an MSA licence. That way the problem wouldn't have arisen. Simple!

At the end of the day, it will be interesting to see if the winnner (my view, it's got to be Mark, he's talented, young and personable) can learn fast and deliver in a competitive context. As we know, very different to just putting in laps!

Will Mark ultimately prove to be better than the two experienced guys who went out after the F3 round? I can only speak for Jamie, who incidentally has only driven some 20 competitive races, so is not mega experienced. He believes he's got the talent to go to the top. Certainly, if he ever needed additional motivation, the somewhat uncharitable comment in the Exchange & Mart, namely that the reason for his exit was him not having F1 potential (despite him winning the ZIP round by a country mile, beating an experienced, race winning Formula Renault driver to record the fastest lap in the FR round and being second fastest in the F3 round!!), this comment has provided it!! Therefore, whilst wishing the F1 Challenge every success, time will tell who is the best. Should be excitng to watch their respective progress.

[Tony_Simpson]

But then they came back in and had a think, and a debrief with Tiff / Martin / Tim and then went back out. One of the three - much to my absolute astonishment - did a time that would have put him on the third row of the last TGP grid at Donington - around 1:09. So please don't be too quick to write these boys off. [/B]

If any of the three competitors did a 1:09 at that day then why did the TV program not say that one of them did that time???

I know that the car used has done 1:03/1:04's round Donington, so a driver with some talent with them few laps (and it is so few) should have been around the 1:10's or lower. yes I know that the cars are so much more than anything than they have driven before and they know to keep the car on the black stuff, and a new circuit again, but if they do not improve very quickly then they will get blown away on Monday in the actual race. The whole competition could be made to look silly if they finish last of the runners and be along way off the pace, IMO

[No 4]

To be fair, I guess there was a bit of a conflict between telling the 3 Donnington drivers to push for quick laps and the organisers not wanting to see their very expensive car 'bent' so close to Monza.

In fact, this issue was an ever present through the earlier single seater rounds of the competition, as losing cars due to inexperience or exuberance may have meant some of the competitors not getting their laps in and hence screw up the making of the TV programme. A difficult one to balance! Especially given this is the first time the competition has been run.

I guess Tim Matthews (the competition organiser) and his team will be reviewing everything after the Monza race to establish what went well, what didn't go so well and how things can be improved for next years competition.

[Logrence]

No. 4 - I think it's probably best if your son isn't tied to what Channel 5 ultimately want him to do...

Fair enough, the winner of this comp gets a contract with a management company, but it doesn't guarantee any success...

[No 4]

Logrence. I can only say the competition has been very good for Jamie and opened up a number of opportunities. Sure it's not perfect, but I'm sure it will improve as it's fine-tuned for next year.

[No 4]

By the way, does anyone know who went through to the Monza race?

[touringlegend]

I think someone said on here said it was Mark who went through - I suppose we all find out soon enough though.

[racingdick]

It was Mark Johnson
Heard from him last night!

[frostblade]

DSM, it was to find someone who could be better than the guys with experience, when he'd got some experience under his belt. Will you try and understand?

[No 4]

frostblade - I agree that was the point of the competition. Well done to Mark. That said, he now faces the challenge of his first competitive race, a whole different ball game to timed laps and it will be fascinating to see how he makes out.

Looking to the long term, will he be better than people like Jamie Morrow and Lars Sexton? I can't speak for Lars, but I can for Jamie and all I'll say is that he was faster by a long way in the competition, and therefore Mark's going to have to go some! Will be great to watch how things develop.

[No 4]

Racing Dick - do you know where Mark qualified for tomorrow's race?

[racingdick]

no idea but ill try find out..

[No 4]

Racing dick - any joy?

[Alx]

Regarding experience:

If Channel 5 were only going to let the experienced drivers get so far and then push them out because they were experienced, why did they let them in in the first place?

I was confused when I found out Lars Sexton was in the competition. I had thought originally, not knowing much about the comp, that they weren't going to let people in with experience, which obviously wasn't the case. But then to say no, you cna't do the job because you;re faster than the guys who haven't driven anything at all, got me a little bit annoyed.

I don't know much about Jamie (haven't seen much of him race, but he seems to be doing a good job in Zip No. 4 ) but Lars is a decent driver. Sure, I wouldn;t think he was the best driver out there, but it would have been nice to see someone who has obviously run out of funding and whatever to carry on in motor sport get another crack at the big time. At least some good has come out of the show for Jamie, but Lars was understandably gutted to lose out, and it wasn't like he did anything wrong, except having raced previously! Grrrr!!

Sorry about my rant, but seriously, good luck to Mark, and I hope he does a decent job.

[Alx]

No. 4

The results for TGP at Monza can be found here:

http://www.monzanet.it/corse/03stocla.html

I think he may have had problems having only completed 2 laps in the first qualifying session, and no sign of him in the second. I'm not sure how long it will take them to put the race results up there either, we will see...

[No 4]

Alx. Thanks for that.

Re experienced drivers - all the organisers had to do was say entrants must not hold a current MSA licence or have held one previously. That way there would have been no issue. I believe the omission of the previously held stipulation was because they were not certain whether or not people with absolutely no racing experience could perform to the level required to drive an F1 car. Therefore 'experienced' drivers were a form of 'insurance'. However, when it became apparent in the F3 round that Mark, Neil and Paul were reasonably quick I think they felt they could let experienced drivers like Lars and Jamie go. Harsh on them given they were quicker, but truer to the core idea of the programme.

I think next year they should consider running two pararell competions. One for drivers with absolutely no previous experience and one for drivers with some competitive single seater drives under their belt, say a max of two seasons in categories below national FF Zetec. This way, young drivers struggling to find sponsorship and with no family money behind them, would have a chance to progress in the sport. Surely a good thing?