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21 Dec 2009, 00:04 (Ref:2602998) | #76 | ||||||
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Remember as well that James's two years in FR UK have been with Fortec, who always run at the front. Dean won FBMW UK in his second season of car racing, then struggled with a less fancied team in FR UK in 2006 before fighting for the title in 2007. Then it was off to the Eurocup, where I think even Fortec would admit they are not the force they are in the UK, and then he took the title with Manor. It's not as though Dean has squandered too many chances. Quote:
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One issue we do have is how much experience drivers have of the cars when they come to the test. Ideally we'd want them to have no F3 testing so they all come to it raw, but that's difficult to police and might harm drivers' chances of getting a deal sorted for the following year (teams like to start testing drivers asap). And that's the last thing we'd want. It's always a compromise and we just have to make a call on the info we have in front of us - performance weighed up with experience. |
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21 Dec 2009, 02:27 (Ref:2603029) | #77 | ||
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This has turned into an interesting debate with some helpful comments coming from krt917. It's good that he is prepared to come on here and join in the discussion in a logical and well-argued way, so thanks.
Can I just clear up one point. I think Lewis Hamilton voluntarily ruled himself out of consideration in the year when he would have been eligible on the the basis that he was a McLaren supported driver and to put himself up for an award with which McLaren is associated would have been wrong. Either that or he deliberately did the last BF3 round of the season at Brands Hatch, which had the same effect. |
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21 Dec 2009, 14:27 (Ref:2603211) | #78 | |
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My recollection is that Lewis stood down voluntarily from the Mclaren Autosport awards.
Very interesting responses from KRT, I had an interest in UK FF in 2009 and was suprised at year end to find my idea of a Rookie did not correspond to those of the reviewer in Autosport so I am not suprised at some of KRT thought processes. In my opinion if you have raced competively in high level karting and that competitiveness was genuine and not equipment related (Which does happen in Karting) you are probably going to be quick in single seaters and the experience in cars is probably over done at the National level once you have completed year 1 in general you should have sufficient expereince in FR or FF or similar classes, for me good luck to Dean Smith he is clearly a grafter and perhaps was not as fashionable as some may like but neither was Nigel Mansell and the sport desperately needs more like Nigel. |
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21 Dec 2009, 15:14 (Ref:2603233) | #79 | ||
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Lewis did, I believe, an F3 race to disqualify himself, though I don't know whether it was his idea or McLaren's.
Peter, as I was the FFord reviewer it seems only fair for me to explain my use of 'rookie'! I think of it in two ways. The first is a rookie to the series, such as Josef Newgarden was in UKFF this year. In his case, he was also new to the tracks. The other is a total rookie to car racing, as Daniel Cammish was. In fairness, there could be a third category, which is a rookie who hasn't raced or karted before, but that's pretty rare. I agree with you that top karters do tend to get up to speed in single-seaters, though of course there is no guarantee! |
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21 Dec 2009, 17:08 (Ref:2603279) | #80 | |
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Kevin, I think the circuit rookie is my point as in UK FF the top guys test a lot and the better drivers learn the circuits fast so the circuit knowledge is not a huge thing, also the car development is very limited so test days do become a bit of a pounding round session which provides circuit knowledge, Dan did 200 laps in a day of Donington club in one pre-season test and never went any quicker later in the season.
So to conclude my argument a circuit rookie with lots of single seater miles to me is not a true rookie and to some extent the use of the word rookie when set against Josef did devalue some other competitors and also in the end had the unfortunate effect of devaluing the overall champion who was a very worthy winner, I dont think it really helped Josef as he was the first to admit he was not a rookie, Anyway enough on that,after 32 years of buying Autosport I dont think it gives me a right to pressure the editorial team, actually thats an idea what about the odd guest editor there are plenty of people on this forum who might like a chance, I am sure Haymarket could stand a few libel actions!!! |
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21 Dec 2009, 17:37 (Ref:2603294) | #81 | |
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An interesting point is that Fortec got all 4 of their cars on the podium at least once during the season, indeed until the penultimate weekend they had two drivers in with a realistic chance of winning the title. At Manor everything was concentrated on Dean and the level of the other cars was significantly less.
Fortec won the teams title, and even if they had split their entry, by engineer, into Fortec A & Fortec B they would of been in the top 3 places in the teams championship. I think that says a lot for the quality and integrity of the Fortec team and their people. |
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21 Dec 2009, 17:59 (Ref:2603305) | #82 | ||
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21 Dec 2009, 18:53 (Ref:2603322) | #83 | |
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Which raises the question, why do drivers choose to sign with Team A rather than Team B?
This season Oli Webb obviously thought that Fortec would give him the best chance of winning the championship, he would not of made that decision if he wasn't confident that Fortec would give him equal equipment. until Dean signed with Manor neither Manor or CRS had been able to attract a top level driver. If a driver is serious about wanting to win a series, and he has the funding in place, he will always sign with the team most likely to give him the best chance. |
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27 Dec 2009, 11:55 (Ref:2605345) | #84 | ||||
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I agree with you that testing is very important for learning circuits. In Formula Ford the top teams will test drivers as much as possible so drivers in those squads don't have to learn circuits over a race weekend. Quote:
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27 Dec 2009, 12:59 (Ref:2605363) | #85 | ||
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29 Dec 2009, 11:47 (Ref:2605923) | #86 | |||
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Everyone is enitled to express their own opinion, as you have just done yourself! As long as it doesn't contravene forum etiquette and general accepted rules of behaviour posters can disagree with either you, runshaw or anyone else. Please everyone continue the thread in the spirit of the forum rules or I will close it! |
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