Can we all have a whip-round for Adam Carroll?

[Mathias]

There are, reputedly, 16,792 registered users on ten-tenths. If we all gave Adam Carroll a cheque for about £25, I reckon he might make it to the end of the season.

I'll get me coat.

[Kicking-back]

Doesn't Adam come up with the "I'm struggling for budget" line every year?

And it always gets sorted out...

[Kidzer]

If BAR are supporting him, how can he possibly struggle for funds - or is it a purley driver coaching sort of help from them?

[bella]

bar aren't funding this year.
you'd have thought they would...

[Kidzer]

agreed, if they wan't him to keep racing, it would make sense to invest in him.

[flexible-flyer]

i remember at the start of the year- when it looked like carroll wasnt gonna get a seat at all due to his lack of sufficient funds he said that bar played a part in getting the super nova drive. what other than funding could that help have been? strange that they are not able to fund his season from now. im sure some of those wages button gets would suffice! but then, van der merwe was part of the YDP and he was still elft without a decent drive this year so i guess they leave the funding to the drivers in which case i wouldnt hold out much hope for adam. if he struggled in f3, gp2 wont be easy at all.

annoying thing is that the likes of can artam can spend a whole season looking like s**t and not have to worry about money whereas adam carroll can outperform past f1 driver teammates and still not have enough to finish the year...

ah well nobody said life was fair. maybe BAR could sympathise and grant him a full testing roll instead. just like when opel bailed him out in 2003 by sticking him in their second KMS car where he immediatly brought results the car hadnt seen all year....

[bella]

see, in bar's eyes maybe what they're looking for is someone who can flirt with companies and find their own sponsorship...

regarding your example though, can artam is one of like, 2 drivers from turkey that i can think of on the british/european racing scene?

[Fan]

Originally Posted by flexible-flyer

i remember at the start of the year- when it looked like carroll wasnt gonna get a seat at all due to his lack of sufficient funds he said that bar played a part in getting the super nova drive. what other than funding could that help have been? strange that they are not able to fund his season from now. im sure some of those wages button gets would suffice! but then, van der merwe was part of the YDP and he was still elft without a decent drive this year so i guess they leave the funding to the drivers in which case i wouldnt hold out much hope for adam. if he struggled in f3, gp2 wont be easy at all.

annoying thing is that the likes of can artam can spend a whole season looking like s**t and not have to worry about money whereas adam carroll can outperform past f1 driver teammates and still not have enough to finish the year...

ah well nobody said life was fair. maybe BAR could sympathise and grant him a full testing roll instead. just like when opel bailed him out in 2003 by sticking him in their second KMS car where he immediatly brought results the car hadnt seen all year....

How do you know that Artam doesn't struggle for money?

[Mathias]

Ignorant entry deleted. Can Artam ain't as bad, historically, as his recent form suggests...

[flexible-flyer]

as far as i know artam has as much his own money aswell as sponsorship to go racing. he wouldnt be in gp2 if he wasnt either super rich or had super rich backers. furthermore he wouldnt be touted as minardis next f1 driver if it wasnt for some sort of backing.

i dont blame drivers who are able to raise a racing budget. fair play to them. but when superior drivers have to give up racing due to lack of budget it does make lesser drivers look not only bloody slow and crap at what they do but but a little bit shameless aswell. loads of drivers cant even race atall let alone get to the halfway point of a season. thats part of motorsport unfortunatly. if youre a footballer, the costs are much less meaning the proffesional level really is choc full of talent but the top level of motor racing will always throw up the odd alex yoong.

[fantasytoca]

I have every sympathy for Adam but if all the members of ten-tenths were to contribute to his sponsorship next week there would be another equally worthy driver (Danny Watts, Alex Lloyd etc etc) asking for the same.

Sorry but its a tough old world out there and as others have said it would be hoped that BAR would chuck a bit of money in his direction to keep him going.

Also bear in mind that there are lots of Non UK members of Ten-tenths who probably would have very little interest in supporting any UK driver financially

[sceptic]

Oh, and if every member put in £25, I think Adam would still be short.

[cds_uk]

It would be a shame if Carroll doesn`t keep the ride till the end of the season, i find it hard to believe something wont happen for him, as kicking-back said, it normally does. On the subject of him outperforming past F1 driver team mates, start of the year maybe but Giorgio has definately turned this around over the past 2 or 3 rounds, what with the sponsorship problems aswell Adam has got to keep his head up or his good start to the season is in danger of petering out.

[flexible-flyer]

giorgio hasnt turned anything around. carrolls reliablity has deteriorated. he has had car brakages in all 3 weekends from silverstone to hungary despite managing to outqualify giorgio at silvertone and the hock. i reckon he would have outqualified him again in hungary had he not spun but thats a what if and if i were to base everything on what ifs i could have carroll leading the championship. what if adam didnt brake the pitlane speed limit at san marino. what if piquet dindt take him out at barca, what if garcia didnt take him out at nurburbring, what if his steering wasnt banjexed in france, what if his car didnt get punctured and violated on the grid at silverstone, what if his engine had survivied in hockenheim, what if his gearbox and engine worked properly in hungary........they all dont really matter as they are in the past!

granted giorgio has had some reliablity problems but not nearly as bad or severe as adams....ah well thats racing...

[Conrod]

Originally Posted by flexible-flyer

granted giorgio has had some reliablity problems but not nearly as bad or severe as adams...

Apart from losing his brakes in the fiasco that was the first race at Imola, when he was leading by a country mile, or the engine cooking itself on the grid at Monaco when he was in a good starting position.
All the GP2 cars have been suffering severe reliabilty problems over the season. At the start of the year it was Giorgio who seemed to have all the problems, now it looks like Adam is having all the bad luck in the Super Nova camp. Hopefully AC can keep the seat, it would be great to see him and Pantano racing head to head!

[runshaw]

I really hope Carroll gets to the end of the season, but he always seems to have sponsorship difficulties mid-season and always seems to pull through them, so he just might be able to make it this year as well. It would of course be a great shame if he had to pull out, but if every member puts in £25 to help him, I don't reckon he'd accept! There was a case a couple of seasons ago in F1 when Minardi feared they would have to liquidise and an internet group asked people to pledge some money so they could stay afloat!! Minardi were angered by this and told people not to pledge and I think the site was closed!! But seriously, as a few people have already said, I find it strange with all the millions BAR have they can't come up with a few hundred thousand for Adam to see out the GP2 season, considering everyoe knows he's a major talent and has already showed his worth.

[flexible-flyer]

Originally Posted by Conrod

Apart from losing his brakes in the fiasco that was the first race at Imola, when he was leading by a country mile, or the engine cooking itself on the grid at Monaco when he was in a good starting position.
All the GP2 cars have been suffering severe reliabilty problems over the season. At the start of the year it was Giorgio who seemed to have all the problems, now it looks like Adam is having all the bad luck in the Super Nova camp. Hopefully AC can keep the seat, it would be great to see him and Pantano racing head to head!

cant help but thinking that super nova have 1 decent car and one rather rubbish car and theym have just swapped it! whatever the case i think carroll has done enough this year to say he has beaten giorgio. he has outqualified him 5 times to 3 and had 2 race wins. he might have had a couple more aswell whereas giorgio hasnt looked like winning at all.

it would be great to see them racing head to head more often although they did have a nice battle at the nurburgring in race 2. they ran line astern for much time then carroll pulled off a terrific overtaking move on giorgio for what was 5th place at the time and soon to be 2nd.

but i have said from before carroll and pantano where even confirmed at super nova that if they were, they would be my choice for strongest driver line up. rosberg-premat and kovalainen-lapierre are strong but i think carroll-pantano is the best combination out there. its a shame the car has to settle for being 3rd or 4th best.

[Mathias]

Just to be clear on this, I wasn't being serious about the whip-round!

[Conrod]

Originally Posted by flexible-flyer

whereas giorgio hasnt looked like winning at all.

I refer the gentleman again to race 1 at Imola :-) Giorgio was winning by miles until he ran out of the original, sub standard brakes, that were fitted to the GP2 cars at the time. If he'd have won, he would have been leading the series, and full of confidence. Instead, he came away with nothing, and has struggled with a variety of problems since. It's very difficult for teams to get the best out of drivers if they (the drivers), are unhappy with the equipment that is being supplied to them, just look at the Ryan Sharp thread(s).
Adam's form (and luck!) seems to have tailed off slightly since his last F1 test, and recent budget problems. Hopefully he will be back at the front in Turkey.

[flexible-flyer]

when both pitstops were over the rightful leader in imola was actually carroll with kovalainen 2nd. pantano looked like he was running away with it but carroll and kovalainen had made their pitstops earlier and came out ahead of pantano. he retired with brake problems but his lap times were consistent up until just before he actually went off the track.

[Kicking-back]

The rightful leader wasn't Adam Carroll - he sped in the pits!

[flexible-flyer]

he would still have came out ahead of heikki as almost no time was gained. so 'rightful' may not be the word but he was certainly ahead of pantano in that race due to pitting early.

[Kidzer]

perhaps you mean morally he was the victor flex?

[flexible-flyer]

well i wouldnt deny heikki the win as heikki didnt speed in the pitlane. actually because carroll got off the pitlane speed limit a couple of yards early he didnt deserve the win. but the fact is that he still would have came out as leader if he didnt make that mistake and pantano didnt have his brake problems. carroll and kovalainen jumped pantano and lopez as they made their stops early in the race and it was a better strategy. and kovalainen said after the race there was no way he would have been able to overtake carroll if he didnt have his penalty to serve. anyway this is not the point. point is- pantano would not have won san marino race 1 even if he did not have to retire as carroll and kova had beter strategies and jumped him when he made his second stop.

[karting legend]

great pr stunt maybe some £25 to other worthy drivers with no f1 prospects