British F3 Donington

Race1

1 7 Marko Asmer 30'33.25
2 1 Stephen Jelley 30'33.800 0.545
3 50 Greg Mansell 30'36.441 3.186
4 5 S.Hohenthal 30'38.978 5.723
5 2 Jonathan Kennard 30'39.815 6.560
6 14 E.Guerrieri 30'53.460 20.205
7 23 Maro Engel 30'53.784 20.529
8 4 Mário Moraes 30'53.924 20.669
9 26 Atte Mustonen 30'54.049 20.794
10 3 Sam Bird 30'54.916 21.661
11 22 Alberto Valério 30'56.778 23.523
12 9 Rodolfo Gonzalez 30'57.011 23.756
13 55 Michael Meadows 31'10.229 36.974
14 6 W.Grubmüller 31'10.574 37.319
15 31 Sergio Pérez 31'12.518 39.263
16 10 Ricardo Teixeira 31'15.693 42.438
17 35 Ali Jackson 31'30.645 57.390
18 39 Cheng Cong Fu 31'31.258 58.003
19 34 Alex Waters 31'31.775 58.520
20 61 Max Chilton 31'32.213 58.958
21 38 Hamed Al Fardan 31'33.184 59.929
22 8 F.Castellacci 31'38.880 1'05.625
23 77 S.Al-Khalifa 30'34.952 1 Lap
24 36 Alberto Costa 30'45.875 1 Lap
25 37 Viktor Jensen 31'29.810 1 Lap
26 15 Michael Devaney 31'37.675 2 Laps
27 33 Juan P.Garcia 30'46.651 6 Laps
-- 21 Niall Breen 24'30.885 Retirement
-- 32 Sean Petterson Retirement
-- 24 John Martin Retirement
-- 44 Leo Mansell Retirement


Good performance for Guerreri

Race2:

1. Marko Asmer Hitech Racing Dallara-Mercedes 27mins 55.340secs 26 laps
2. Niall Breen Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes +4.416s
3. Jonathan Kennard Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara-Mercedes +4.832s
4. Maro Engel Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes +8.710secs
5. Alberto Valerio Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes +11.184secs
6. Rodolfo Gonzalez T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda +12.413secs
7. Michael Devaney Ultimate Motorsport Mygale-Mercedes +20.735secs
8. Atte Mustonen Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara-Mercedes +21.290secs
9. Sam Bird Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes +21.716secs
10. Sergio Perez T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda +47.438secs N
11. Michael Meadows Master Motorsport Dallara-Mugen Honda +47.868secs N
12. Frankie Cheng Performance Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda +48.301secs N
13. Greg Mansell Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes +56.195secs
14. Sean Petterson Fluid Motorsport Lola Dome-Mugen Honda +1m 01.355N
15. Ricardo Teixeira Performance Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda +1m 02.302secs
16. Salman Al Khalifa Promatecme Dallara-Mugen Honda +1 lap N
17. Max Chilton Arena Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes +1 lap I
18. John Martin Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda +1 lap
19. Alistair Jackson Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda +1 lap N
20. Viktor Jensen Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda +1 lap N
21. Albert Costa Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda +1 lap N
22. Esteban Guerrieri Ultimate Motorsport Mygale-Mercedes +1 lap
23. Sebastien Hohenthal Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes +1 lap
24. Hamad Al Fardan Performance Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda +1 lap N
25. Stephen Jelley Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara-Mercedes +2 laps

DNF. Mario Moraes Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes 17 laps completed
DNF. Juan Pablo Garcia Samano Fluid Motorsport Lola Dome-Mugen Honda 6 laps completed N
DNF. Leo Mansell Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes 6 laps completed
DNF. Francesco Castellacci Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen Honda 4 laps completed
DNF. Walter Grubmuller Hitech Racing Dallara-Mercedes 3 laps completed
DNS. Alex Waters Promatecme Dallara-Mugen Honda Did not start N

2-1-1-1 for Marko, nice. :cool:

Mygale cars scored points!!! :) :) :)
Four for Guerrieri, three for Devaney.

Surprised to see Greg Mansell up there in race one.

Surely shome mistake?

What happened to Morgado? Qualified but didn't race...

Was there contact or something between Hohenthal and Jelley?

Surprised to see Greg Mansell up there in race one.

Surely shome mistake?

Qualified 3rd and stayed there....

:)

Surprised to see Greg Mansell up there in race one.

Surely shome mistake?

Surprised?? Greg's the one that may have some talent. Had Leo been 3rd, then i would be more than surprised, as he is totally talentless!

What happened to Morgado? Qualified but didn't race...The car was withdrawn for techical reasons, but I don't know what they were. Probably a smart move in view of the unexpected improvement by the Mygales.

Much better racing than Oulton and it came down to mainly one thing - backmarkers. The fact that there are so many cars currently competing and that they are racing on a relatively small circuit meant that come 2 thirds distance the leaders were having to lap traffic - this led to some excellent action, Valerio's pass one Gonzalez at Schwantz Curve in the 2nd race was awesome and it was all down to the fact that Gonzalez was held up behind a backmarker. Now I'm not condoning backmarkers holding people up and on the whole they didn't purposefully but it certainly spiced things up! Without that I'm sure we would have been dealt 2 encounters as snoozeworthy as Oulton's.

Asmer was excellent all weekend and didn't put a foot wrong - dominating like he did this weekend is the only way he can boost his profile in my view as if he's anything special with his experience in F3 it's whats expected now.

I didn't see the initial incident in the 2nd race but there was a big sort out down the Craners and into the Old Hairpin which shuffled the order a great deal. Jelley went backwards and was fighting with Grubmuller but the two touched wheels going down the Craners and Grubmuller hit the tyre wall hard whilst Jelley spun across the infield was was mercifully lucky not to get collected when he spun back onto the circuit exiting Old Hairpin. Not to sure who to blame on that one but just before the contact Jelley had cut over the grass in his attempts to pass Grubmuller and clearly the red mist was down.

Greg Mansell was very impressive in the first race, Leo just seems to move from one accident to the other - it was similar stuff in BMW and surely it can't be long before Nigel takes stock of the situation and considers whether it's better backing one cause rather than two.

i just wonder whether both mansell brothers get equal amounts of assistance from daddy mansell. of course one is going to be better than the other, but leo should have improved by now, even if he is rubbish.

The car was withdrawn for techical reasons, but I don't know what they were. Probably a smart move in view of the unexpected improvement by the Mygales.

He shoud expect that with Fluid, IMO he should change the team. I have nothing against Lindsay and the guys, but it is not a place to be in Morgado's position. Time to change, because he's already four races down.

It's interesting you guys knock Leo do you think you could jump in and do better? I think all these guys are good drivers those F3's are very fast and hard to drive. Greg in 3rd is great tho.

No, none of us could go quicker, but neither do we pretend to be racing drivers. Open your eyes and face the facts, he is useless.

It's interesting you guys knock Leo do you think you could jump in and do better? I think all these guys are good drivers those F3's are very fast and hard to drive. Greg in 3rd is great tho.

Either you have some connection to those guys or you're just taking things way too badly dude.

Saying someone is out of their league is not by any means saying their bad, and that fact should be patently obvious to everyone.

I don't claim to be able to go quicker than Leo but it doesn't mean we can't comment on his performance. If your view was the way of the world there would be a lot of journalists out of a job!

I think useless is a bit harsh but when you look at his performances against his brother given the same experience and equipment it's clear to see he is struggling and doesn't have the same natural talent as Greg. Greg on the other hand has a lot of potential - ok he has a decent package underneath him but given his experience to finish 3rd in only your 3rd F3 race is a terrific achievement - I bet Murray is getting excited!

Minor point, fifth F3 race, but still a very good result.

Good point - forgot about Thruxton!

Surprised?? Greg's the one that may have some talent. Had Leo been 3rd, then i would be more than surprised, as he is totally talentless!

Agree with you on all counts, but I didn't expect Greg up on a podium so soon that's all.

Leo is pants.

. If your view was the way of the world there would be a lot of journalists out of a job!
well you know what they say, if you can't do it, write about it.
why do you think mills and boon took off so well? ;)

er, back on topic, i think it's worth waving the hohenthal (sp) flag a bit at this point in the trumpeting of the mansells. didn't get half as much testing in, and he's ahead on points in the series table so far.

nuff sed.

OK, how did Teixeira get 16th and 15th then? These results are confusing in some ways.

I will just have to tune in on MotorsTV when they show it and figure it all out!

not wanting to start a fight, but thanks to some decent driver coaching and a sound engineer, he's not actually that bad any more...

No, not wanting to start a fight. Just it's a big difference to what I remember from a rather ignominious 2006 campaign!

His improvement can only be a good thing.

Hohenthal has made an excellent start to the season and I rate him highly but comparing him with the Mansell's is not entirely fair - although they both drive with the same package and undoubtedly in a Mansell orientated team it must be quite tough he has still a massive experience advantage over them in car racing terms.

sound engineer

So he's got the best exhaust note of the field then? :rofl:

:p

Sorry for the OT.. I just had to

i see your point about the racing experience thing (well, in amongst the ronspeak i think that's what you were trying to say), but i still think hohenthal has shown the might of the mansells up. if they wanted to learn on their own terms, they should have done national class.

I'd hardly say he's shown Greg up - yeh he's shown Leo up but so has Ricardo Texeira! Greg outperformed Sebastian during the first race yesterday and both fell foul in the second race to the incident on the opening lap. Sebastian's points advantage is down to his Oulton performance which was fantastic and he did easily outform Greg then but it's far to early to be comparing the pair - lets see at the end of the season where we're at.

I'm struggling to see your point about the Mansell's racing in the National Class - Greg has clearly shown he has the ability to perform in the main class and along with Hohenthal has been the most impressive rookie so far. Leo is a completely different case however.

Gee! some harsh feedback :-)

Leo is not *useless* he stayed in the pack and looked ok taking the 120mph corners.

Anyway was a good days racing ha ha.

I suspect there were some understandable team orders in place in race 1 to stop Hohenthal trying to steal Greg's thunder, but I agree with bella that he looks like the class act in that team. Leading rookie by some way, with two fastest laps from four races to underline his speed.

Overall, I thought it was a strange weekend. Asmer's the only one to have got his act together properly so far and at this rate he can comfortably afford to miss Bucharest. Despite the race results, Carlin didn't seem to have as good a set-up for the circuit as usual - see qualifying - and the tyres were taking forever to reach best operating temperature. Asmer set pole for race 1 on lap 21 and fastest race lap after another 17 laps.

If the Mansells wanted to learn, they probably should have stayed in FBMW until they were competitive.

Greg IS competitive though - I wondered if it was a step to soon but he's proved in testing and over the Donington weekend that he's more than good enough for F3. Hohenthal is the most impressive rookie right now but beyond that Greg has proven a real talent and capable of running in the top 6 ahead of guys with far more experience and guys with much bigger reputations.

I agree with regards Leo though Russfeld. He didn't show any potential in BMW last year whereas Greg occasionally did and the step up is doing him no favours at all. I had to laugh when I watched the Motors TV coverage on Saturday and Greg was saying how there was a healthy rivalry as sometimes he was ahead and sometimes Leo was - since when has Leo ever been ahead of Greg other than maybe at the start of a qualy session when Greg hasn't been out!

Interesting point you make Strider - do you think team orders really exist at Fortec? There was much talk of the Mansell role there pre-season and how it would affect and outside team mate - do you think Hohenthal would risk his own career to help the Mansell's when clearly he is a very talented guy? I'm just interested to know on that one as obviously I don't have inside knowledge as some do.

By the way I think Hohenthal is an outstanding driver, certainly not making him out to be shoddy - his outright speed has been tremendous thus far and he's always exciting to watch out on track - Ronnie Peterson-esque!

I'm not saying there were pro-Mansell team orders, just that with Greg ahead and overtaking being being a chancy business it made sense for them to hold station.

I think Greg is doing much better than his previous record and experience would suggest, whereas Leo's doing about what you would expect and maybe making it look worse through trying to keep up with his brother. They're both supposed to be useful golfers as well; maybe Leo's the better one at that and he should give it a try instead, but that's a tricky choice for Dad to make.

I agree with everything you say Gaz, greg is competitive and showing bundles of raw talent. He wasn't just been on the pace in pre-season testing, he was occasionally the pace setter in a few sessions. 5 points scoring positions in 6 F3 races is great. You also have to remember the Mansells have probably been learning more than you think as well, whilst racing in FBMW last year they were also testing for Fortec in F3 on numerous occasions, culminating in racing in the season finale at Thruxton. So in fact as well as learning how to race in bmw, they have also had months of F3 testing already, and it looks like this intensive preparation at a higher level is paying off for Greg at least anyway. Leo should have stayed in FBMW though.

Could the Mansell situation back up the theory that F3 cars are too difficult to drive and that only those with proper funding for an extensive test programme are in with a chance of success?

I dunno, in some ways they are making driving an F3 car look kinda easy.

Greg is driving like a veteran, his drive back up through the field in race 2 to get a point was impressive to say the least. As for Leo, he has only made it to the finish once...in 20th place, he is making it look like bloody hard work!

Greg is driving like a veteran, his drive back up through the field in race 2 to get a point was impressive to say the least. As for Leo, he has only made it to the finish once...in 20th place, he is making it look like bloody hard work!

i noticed that Bird was clipped by Moraes, spun and went down to about 20th or even lower, and drove back through the field, also in race 2, to finish 9th. i would say that is quite impressive, too.

But Bird's ability has never been in doubt :P

Aside question: Do the Mansell's have any depth of karting experience, or are they learning it from single-seaters up like Bruno Senna did?

If so, if Greg manages to perform better this year than Bruno did in his first year...

i'm gonna start giving negative feedback and banning points to people who manage to name drop their sibling/spawn/close associate. at least be subtle about it!! ;)

Aside question: Do the Mansell's have any depth of karting experience, or are they learning it from single-seaters up like Bruno Senna did?

I think the Mansells did a year of karting, rotax max possibly. Apparently Greg got into it seriously and Leo did it for a bit of fun. But no serious karting background whatsoever, most of the drivers on the grid have raced karts for about 10 years before they did single-seaters. Bruno only had about half a year in karts before he did 6 FBMW races at the end of 04.

hmm, so if leo's still racing for fun, and he's having it paid for... who's the fool?

Leo does seem to get involved in a lot of accidents trying to move up from poor qualifying positions. It can't be a comfortable position for him that Greg is clearly the better of the two as shown by his strong performance at Donington.

Also, I thought the racing was better than Oulton, that it was good to see the Mygales solidly in the top ten, and that Rodolfo Gonzalez is doing a good job in the Mugen-Honda. But Asmer is going to pull away if the rest keep taking points off each other.

Yeah the racing was much better than at Oulton, there were quite a few drives through the field such as Mansell and Bird in race 2. Gonzalez also made up a fair few places to finish 6th in race 2 and Niall Breen did a great job to come home second after starting 5th on the grid. Also Valerio in race 1 started 32nd and finished 14th, not bad.

OK, how did Teixeira get 16th and 15th then? These results are confusing in some ways.

He did a good job in the races and was in some good battles which he came out on top of. After 2 years in British F3 these results aren't really unexpected, a few people did drop off at the start in both races and you would expext to be ahead of some of the inexperienced National class runners, after all he is in championship class car powered by Mercedes. What surprised me most is him being passed by Moraes and then re-passing him on the next lap and stayed ahead in front of about 6 cars. Jelley passed a lot of people in lap 2 after he spun to the back, but couldn't get passed Teixeira for the last 4 laps or so!

Minor point (or possibly major, depending on your point of view), but Teixeira has a Mugen-Honda engine. Also, not wanting to start a fight, but thanks to some decent driver coaching and a sound engineer, he's not actually that bad any more...

oops, my bad! I've read what Bella said already, were you supposed to say something about it?

Thanks for the details runshaw.

Oh well, don't we all look ridiculous then! Noisy was right all along. ;)

Minor point (or possibly major, depending on your point of view), but Teixeira has a Mugen-Honda engine. Also,

A certain Mr Joey Foster driver coaching, can't be bad!

Before this thread comes to a natural conclusion, it should be mentioned that Max Chilton did indeed make his F3 debut at Donington. 16 on the Saturday for qualifying and the youngest ever F3 race driver on Sunday. It even made the pages of BBC Ceefax as a new world record!

He didn't set the world on fire, but he kept his nose clean and it was a good, steady debut with two upgrade signatures in the book.

On the subject, could anyone please give me a decent reason why Max Chilton is on the F3 grid? True, it's a grand achievement, and he's doing excellently considering the circumstances....

However, I can't see how being in F3 would be more beneficial to his career than a year in FBMW/FR. Struggling at the back will prevent him learning as much, cost him more money, and give him a worse record/reputation.

I just don't get it.

Before this thread comes to a natural conclusion, it should be mentioned that Max Chilton did indeed make his F3 debut at Donington. 16 on the Saturday for qualifying and the youngest ever F3 race driver on Sunday. It even made the pages of BBC Ceefax as a new world record!

He didn't set the world on fire, but he kept his nose clean and it was a good, steady debut with two upgrade signatures in the book.


How does he have the correct licence for F3? its surely even Nat A posabably int C for the national class. Is he ex T car or something so upgraded his licneces already, did'nt think you would be able to upgrade while still doing childrens racing.

Re. Chilton, as far as I can see it's red tape stupidity of which Joseph Heller would be proud. He is ineligible to score points while gaining the signatures to upgrade, yet can still compete in the same races and race against the same drivers as if he already had the upgrade. And it's not until he gets the upgrade that he can score points...

Fair enough to not score points if he was doing extra testing or had a car that didn't comply with the regulations, but what possible benefit can he have being just 16 years and one day old and driving a fully legal car?

Beats me!

How does he have the correct licence for F3? its surely even Nat A posabably int C for the national class. Is he ex T car or something so upgraded his licneces already, did'nt think you would be able to upgrade while still doing childrens racing.

He is ex T-Car....to add to strider's comments he's also one of the main videos on the BBC news website.

How does he have the correct licence for F3? its surely even Nat A posabably int C for the national class. Is he ex T car or something so upgraded his licneces already, did'nt think you would be able to upgrade while still doing childrens racing.
It is International C for the National Class and International B for the Championship Class. However, as Chilton is in the Invitational Class for the time being, I am unsure what the licence requirements are. Apparently, he qualifies due to the signatures that he gained in T Cars. I do seem to remember reading somewhere that this was some dispute between Chilton and the MSA regarding whether or not these signatures counted with regard to upgrading a licence.

However, I can't see how being in F3 would be more beneficial to his career than a year in FBMW/FR. Struggling at the back will prevent him learning as much, cost him more money, and give him a worse record/reputation.
easy. reverse your first statement - a year in fbmw/frenault wouldn't be as beneficial as a year in f3. fbmw and frenault are absolutely appauling cars to learn about engineering a race car with. i personally think he could have done with a year in ffords to learn a bit of racecraft and controlled hooliganism, but there you go. if he can't handle f3, he may as well not be there. and he was involved in some top class handbagging in the second race, so he did do well to keep out of it and keep his nose clean.

once he's done the relevant amount of behaving himself, it'll be interesting to see whether he can be aggressive enough on track.

the only people he has judging him are people like us who say you can only do 3 years in f3 before you start to look like a complete muppet ;) ;)

Invitational Class is Int C.

once he's done the relevant amount of behaving himself, it'll be interesting to see whether he can be aggressive enough on track.Snetterton will be interesting, because that's where's he's done most of his testing and was 6th fastest on the last afternoon of the pre-season test. But he will still have to behave himself there.

the only people he has judging him are people like us who say you can only do 3 years in f3 before you start to look like a complete muppet ;) ;)So that means we'll be having an Alvaro Parente-type debate if Asmer wins the title then? :laugh: Interesting WSR test times today...

Funny thing is that Max could drive in F3 some ten years before we say that he's too old. Isn't Jelley some 25 right now?

From what I've now seen he is racing on an Int C which is why he's in the Invitation class - he now has two sigs from last weekend, he needs a further four and then he can race in the Championship class.

As previously said, he gained his other sigs through T-cars.

To be honest... seeing 16 year old children in F3 is a sorry sight, what happened too the *real* racing drivers that we looked up to as kids? it's getting silly and the amount of crashes just goes to show it's wrong....

But still those kids are charged for damages, AFAIK it's Ł1.5k/every crash. This is junior formulae, you need get used to it, people want to move upthe ladder asap. I don't see anything wrong i it.

To be honest... seeing 16 year old children in F3 is a sorry sight, what happened too the *real* racing drivers that we looked up to as kids? it's getting silly and the amount of crashes just goes to show it's wrong....

AFAIK Max is the only 16 yo in F3...and from two races so far he hasn't caused any crashes.

I don't see anything wrong with it either.

To be honest... seeing 16 year old children in F3 is a sorry sight, what happened too the *real* racing drivers that we looked up to as kids? it's getting silly and the amount of crashes just goes to show it's wrong....

What? There has always been young drivers in F3, Chilton isn't the ONLY 16 year old in British F3 this year you know. Every year in F3 there is always 17/18 year olds, always has been. Last year Kudzak was 16 and racing in F3, nothing has changed. Look no further than Spain and Brazil, drivers step out of karts and into F3 at 16 and do an awesome job. And we are talking about Chilton here...you are going on about the amount of crashes that goes on...so far Chilton has not even spun (unlike Jelley who is in his 8th year of racing) and finished his first 2 races in front of 5 or 6 cars. There isn't more crashes now. As i have said before, if it's possible for 19 year olds to race in F1 (Alonso) then it is certainly possible for drivers to race in F3 at 16.

easy. reverse your first statement - a year in fbmw/frenault wouldn't be as beneficial as a year in f3. fbmw and frenault are absolutely appauling cars to learn about engineering a race car with. i personally think he could have done with a year in ffords to learn a bit of racecraft and controlled hooliganism, but there you go.

I agree with all of that. Drivers prepare themselves for F3 in lower formulas, but if you have the budget the best way to prepare yourself is racing in it! He is 2 seconds off the pace in his first roundat 16, imagine where he can be this time next year. He will already be better prepared for a step up at 18, while most other drivers his age will only just be contemplating stepping into F3.

Just to confirm the licence situation.
Championship Class - International B
National Class - International C
Therefore Max Chilton has to run Invitation Class in his Championship Spec Dallara F307 Mercedes HWA until he upgrades his newly gained International C to a B.
Max is one of two drivers who are 16 in the 2007 series, the other is Albert Costa , though Albert will turn 17 next week (2nd May). Atte Mustonen and Sergio Perez are 17. Mario Moraes, Walter Grubmuller and Ali Jackson are 18. Francesco Castellacci, Greg Mansell, Juan Pablo Garcia Samano, Alex Waters, Viktor Jensen, Hamad Al Fardan and Mike Meadows are all 19.
So 14 of the current 32 drivers are under 20, just thought I add that fact to the debate. ;)
Jeff
Jeff Carter
Press & PR Manager
Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series

Max is one of two drivers who are 16 in the 2007 series, the other is Albert Costa , though Albert will turn 17 next week (2nd May). Atte Mustonen and Sergio Perez are 17. Mario Moraes, Walter Grubmuller and Ali Jackson are 18. Francesco Castellacci, Greg Mansell, Juan Pablo Garcia Samano, Alex Waters, Viktor Jensen, Hamad Al Fardan and Mike Meadows are all 19.

So 14 of the current 32 drivers are under 20, just thought I add that fact to the debate. ;)

Additional information on the issue of age - the oldest driver is Cristiano Morgado at 26 and the average age of the drivers in BF3 is 20.3 years (20.7 for Championship and 19.5 for National Class)

fbmw and frenault are absolutely appauling cars to learn about engineering a race car with.
;) ;)

Why's that then?

Additional information on the issue of age - the oldest driver is Cristiano Morgado at 26 and the average age of the drivers in BF3 is 20.3 years (20.7 for Championship and 19.5 for National Class)
Actually Salman Al Khalifa is 26 and slightly older than Morgado - sorry Cris!

Oh man I'm old.

When did the days of "I'm still young. I can be there one day" pass me by :(

And I'm only 20 :O

Oh man I'm old.

When did the days of "I'm still young. I can be there one day" pass me by :(

And I'm only 20 :O

Mate, I'll see you in the British GT series then. You can never become too old for that!

Credit to Chilton. Watching the TV coverage he kept out of trouble and raced well. As always, it seems that whenever I moved to a different viewing point on the day the action all took place wherever I'd just been. :rotate:

did you catch the tv coverage as well? the donington programme was a good watch, lots of action, and it was a really very good advert for bf3 (if not for the driving standards ;)).

I'd agree with that. I thought the coverage was good, Haven and Burt on form, some great battles, Mansell doing a pretty good job talking about the car and Oli Jarvis speaking eloquently on the grid. Asmer's response to winning the second race was certainly a lengthy review of his race...;)

Asmer's response to winning the second race was certainly a lengthy review of his race...;)

:D .

On a different note, I was expecting Rodolfo Gonzalez to be at the sharp end of the grid this season (going on his performances last year in the scholarship class) but it looks like he/the car/team aren't quite at the front of the grid...yet. Any particular reasons?

Any particular reasons?

The Mugen-Honda engined teams are dwarfed by teams running Mercedes engines this year (Hitech, Carlin, Double R, Fortec- which are really the teams to be in). I would say that is a big reason. Plus T-Sport have dominated the National Class in recent years, but they have yet to establish themselves as an overall race winning team. I think their best result is second with Ryan Lewis. Also, Gonzalez was unbeatable last year but look at the competition he was up against. He has actually not won an overall race in his career yet, best result of 3rd in Formula Renault. He's getting there though, no doubt about it. Time will tell anyway.

If you've ever seen the data for both the Mugen and Mercedes engines, you will see that they are not a million miles apart, and the Mugen is definately not as bad as everyone makes out.

And I believe at Macau last year, a Mugen runner was in the top 10 for straightline speed.

That's exactly right and to reinforce the point, Sebastien Buemi finished 4th overall, ahead of street circuit expert, Romain Grosjean.

In the view of many, T-Sport is a top team, too. In the Ryan Lewis year he set a couple of F3 lap records, but was woefully inconsistent. If they had a properly funded, genuinely fast driver, the results would be much better. Rodolfo is a great guy. but inclined to let his head drop. He probably thought he could just step up to the Championship Class and carry on from where he left off last year, but that was never going to happen without proper financial funding being put in place over the winter.

There's nothing much wrong with the power of the NBE Mugen, as proven by Carlin/Jarvis last year.

And I believe at Macau last year, a Mugen runner was in the top 10 for straightline speed.

Just one?

No idea, 1 what that I know of for sure.