Herta stays in for Malaysian round, Speed won't be back

[Kicking-back]

Scott Speed suffers from colitis - a serious intestinal illness - and his management have decided he needs to spend the winter working on his fitness ahead of doing what will be a physically demanding F1 season next year.


Bryan Herta remains in the Team USA car for the race in Malaysia on Sunday week.

[MCWB]

Cool, always liked Mr Herta. He'll be a bit hard done by if he doesn't get a run at Laguna Seca too.

[chunterer]

That's tough on Speed - i sincerely hope that this is the case and not a smokescreen to protect him before he makes his F1 debut next year..

Reason i say this is because someone i know has recently suffered from a particular strain of Ulcerative Colitis. It was brought on by high stress and some diestary issues won't go into details but bowel movements were extremely uunpleasant, and there can be acute pain from the bowel/stomach area. The antibiotics that are prescribed are pretty severe, a combo of steroids and suppositories.

I suspect that Scott will need to have an operation failry quickly to get round all this, as the medicine taking goes on for ages otherwise and could compromise his pre- season testing - the vibrations coming from the car and the likelihood of stresses will not make life easy for him.

I hope he gets what he needs soon as i'm looking forward to seeing him in the STR next year!

[Roninho]

Chunterer,

The disease has been diagnosed +- 2-3 years ago, when scott was racing in british f3. He ended the season early to get medical attention and got back on track quite fast. I assume his condition has not gotten worse since then, but that it indeed is a decision to get rest in the winter period (no (race)-stress, traveling, etc. which all have a bad influence on your body) and physically prepare for the next season.

So it's not that he has just been diagnosed with the disease.

[Kicking-back]

Roninho is absolutely correct

By doing GP2-A1-F1 Speed would have had no break from racing at all

[chunterer]

Thanks for the info Roninho, it's unfortunate that he's been suffering from it for some time and i apologise if my initial comment came across in any malicious fashion

It's just that i've got pretty gooD understanding of how intesne the illness can be - and i think Scott's a fine driver and hope he isn't prevented from serious competition next year!!!

My partner was close to having an op, but the GPs' finally cracked the level of medication required to contain the symptoms- the particualr strain is called Proctitis.

Scott, indeeed may have a different from of the illness, and therefore, i guess not necessarily need to be admitted to hospital?

[Kicking-back]

http://www.scottspeed.com/about/diary.html

That is his story

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by MCWB

Cool, always liked Mr Herta. He'll be a bit hard done by if he doesn't get a run at Laguna Seca too.

Herta could be the man to beat if he gets to drive at Laguna Seca as well, considering how well he knows the track and the fact that it seems to be somewhat of a favorite of his

[chunterer]

Thanks for the link K-B,

He certainly has fought back strongly from this and that is pretty good progress, judging by what i have come across with my partner- i will mention this to her as i'm sure she will be glad to know that someone from the sport i love so much has experienced the same symptoms as her.

I guess Scott's drive to succeed as a top line driver will have focused his mind at times when he really must have been feeling low, poor chap.

I am pretty sure my partner will be following Scott's exploits from now on!!!

[spider]

The statement from Red Bull also suggested Scott wasn't delighted with the way Team USA was being run, and the team have been struggling getting that car on the pace. Who runs their entry?

[Kicking-back]

Dave Price Racing

[Hazza]

Originally Posted by rustyfan

Herta could be the man to beat if he gets to drive at Laguna Seca as well, considering how well he knows the track and the fact that it seems to be somewhat of a favorite of his

[spider]

I'm thinking back to Brands when Scott was pretty much the pace-setter on Friday, and Saturday morning, and I remember when he flashed across the line in qualifying, to set the 14th fastest time, and since then hasn't been quite on the pace everyone expected. I personally would like to see Herta get on it in Sepang, as when meeting up with my dad to watch the race the other day, we both commented it's almost embarrassing seeing him struggle around at the back, as clearly it's not the driver. That's the thing with A1GP, it's such a risk to take part in it, as if you were a Lewis Hamilton for example, is it worth risking your impeccable and growing reputation by jumping into a car and, for whatever reason, you're struggling in the midfield. I mean, look at Enge also, as well as Schekter - they were really struggling for pace. It's a great series, but it's one hell of a risk for emerging talents to jump into, as it can make you out to be a bit of a plonker. For the likes of Mr Lloyd, and Mr Kerr, it's a fantastic series to be apart of - an International, high-performance car, well-promoted series, which keeps their name out there, and they don't need a budget to compete in it - can't be bad that! Not to mention the $300k dollars for winning a feature race!

[strider]

For some reason it seems easier to move up, e.g. from F3 and FRenault, or across, e.g. from GP2, than it does to step down, e.g. from Champ Cars or IRL. Tomas Scheckter wasn't very impressive either and Enge has not been as quick as one would expect.

It's a sensible move by Scott Speed and I hope he is able to perform at his best next season. He's a decent guy and a quick driver.

[Fiorentina 1]

I hope team USA give some other guys a chance. 10 years ago, Herta would be a wise choice, but now? Give Colin Fleming a chance, AJ Almendinger, RHR, Fogarty, Jeff Simmons, anyone of these young lions a chance!

[kipper]

Originally Posted by Fiorentina 1

I hope team USA give some other guys a chance. 10 years ago, Herta would be a wise choice, but now? Give Colin Fleming a chance, AJ Almendinger, RHR, Fogarty, Jeff Simmons, anyone of these young lions a chance!

It would be good if it could be seen to give Jeff Gordon a go.

[Fiorentina 1]

Originally Posted by kipper

It would be good if it could be seen to give Jeff Gordon a go.

Ya, that would be fun. I don't think he'll do anything special, as he has very limited formula car experience.

[bocster]

has anyone thought that the driving standards are actaully pretty good in A1. besides some of the newer countries you have the best countries in the world competing. think their is 6 or 7 gp2 drivers , 4 or 5 who have driven f1's(racing or testing) and some other drivers who are excellent but never had the cash to go to the top. look at the NZ'ers , both quality drivers but with no cash. Brian herta was in the car for the first time,ofcourse it was also to do with driver quality, not that brian is a bad driver but he hadnt been in the car before. i think the quality of the field is excellent especailly 4 races in to a brand new series.

[MCWB]

Originally Posted by bocster

has anyone thought that the driving standards are actaully pretty good in A1.

On paper yeah, but people are still pulling bonehead moves far too often IMO. Standing at EC turn 2 last weekend just reinforced my view.

A1 feature race graveyard!

[bocster]

hehe yeh...i think the problem was that their wasnt to many passing places at the creek for the faster A1's.i was their on friday first practice and you could see straight away that that's where the action was going to be.24 cars going around that corner was always gonna be action..but its pretty much like that for every category isnt it. before the weekend i was told that the smash and bash would be at turn two