Sportscar/GT (and Le Mans) Rumours and Repetition

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by rdjones

It appears that Max Chilton has offered a lot of money for a P1 drive for next year:-

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/27...his-own-future

Fixed that for you Rob

[rdjones]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

Fixed that for you Rob

Well yes, we know he is well funded (as is his brother) but if there is truth in this then it will be interesting to see where he appears.

I remember seeing him race the Zytek with Tom back in 2007 when he was only about 16/17 and he impressed me and a lot of other people.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by Acid09

Wow, he couldn't sound less excited if he tried, huh?

I don't get these drivers, they rather spent another wasted season at a F1 back marker team than driving for a manufacturer at Le Mans? Really?

F1 drivers seem to be as brainwashed about their series as F1 fans are, it's absolutely amazing to see the weird priorities of some people.

You wonder what kind of advice surrounds these drivers. I'm sure Anthony Davidson at the same age would have had a similar attitude, and his latest Autosport interview he openly regrets that.

I am in no way comparing Chilton and Davidson's abilities as drivers, mind!

[CTD]

We must remember that the status of World Championship is still very new to modern endurance racing, and that all driver coming up now, and near future, had only that one top series (F1) to aim for when they began.
I think it is hard to give up a goal which you had from when you where 3-4 years old, and realise that the game has changed and that there are other good options, when you feel that you are that close to the goal.

It takes time for motorsport to switch from a single top-tier series, to multiple, and that is what we current see.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

Fixed that for you Rob

You make it sound as such negative thing... even if our side of the pond is full of pay drivers as well. I don't think you'd be fixing anything if some LMP2 silver driver was "offered" a seat in P1

Anyway. As the recent Caterham crowdfunding versus Brabham (&Perrinn) shows, even the backfield of F1 gets infinitely more attention than sportscar circles simply because of the mass following. Even if he were to return to Marussia or wherever he'd get more press (no matter how crap results) than driving Audi in LMP1

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

I am in no way comparing Chilton and Davidson's abilities as drivers, mind!

Maybe this isn't as silly as it sounds? Trundling around in a back marker F1 car isn't the best indication of how good a driver is, and as others have said he did himself no harm at a very young age the last time he was in a prototype.

As for him wanting to stay in F1, it's lamentable but understandable. He's a young man who wants the fame and recognition that only F1 can offer (hint: "casual"), and he and the people around him think that he is deserving of it. That attitude will change, but it will be a slow process.

[bella]

Originally Posted by J Jay

Maybe this isn't as silly as it sounds? Trundling around in a back marker F1 car isn't the best indication of how good a driver is, and as others have said he did himself no harm at a very young age the last time he was in a prototype.

have to disagree with the sentiment here.

chilton's like will stevens - undoubtably has a decent amount of natural talent but has been polished and refined to within an inch of their lives to make the absolute most of it. absolutely nothing wrong with that, but guys like that don't have a great deal of potential imo - they're already the best they can be, which is great. but there's plenty of real rough diamond potential talents around - chatin, derani, berthon for example, maybe oli rowland and norman nato in a year or so - and surely they're more exciting prospects?

i could understand why a lmp1 team might take his money and it's fine but this is the kind of thing the sport needs to be a little wary of doing too often right at the top. just bringing cash is different to say, representing an important market for a manufacturer or being a successful product of their training scheme.

clearly this is my version of chiana's bop rant

[Deleted]

Has Chilton been particularly worse against Bianchi than Davidson was against Sato in Super Aguri...

You can't really make judgements from those backmarkers, remember Bruni at Minardi? Freaking Zsolt Baumgartner outscored him

[isynge]

Originally Posted by bella

have to disagree with the sentiment here.

chilton's like will stevens - undoubtably has a decent amount of natural talent but has been polished and refined to within an inch of their lives to make the absolute most of it. absolutely nothing wrong with that, but guys like that don't have a great deal of potential imo - they're already the best they can be, which is great. but there's plenty of real rough diamond potential talents around - chatin, derani, berthon for example, maybe oli rowland and norman nato in a year or so - and surely they're more exciting prospects?

i could understand why a lmp1 team might take his money and it's fine but this is the kind of thing the sport needs to be a little wary of doing too often right at the top. just bringing cash is different to say, representing an important market for a manufacturer or being a successful product of their training scheme.

clearly this is my version of chiana's bop rant

I think you're right - thinking back to when I first got interested in sportscars in the early 80s the arrival of exciting new talents in sportscars, coming from the ungoverned wilds of F2 etc, were somehow more exciting than F1 journeymen doing a stint - often because it was a chance for them to really shine and, perhaps selfishly (I was young at them time) to be able to smugly claim I'd spotted them first.

That said, don't underestimate how big Chilton's pot of cash is. While I've got my doubts that it's of the scale to fund a third Toyota, it might well get a Rebellion very excited indeed.

[rdjones]

Originally Posted by isynge

That said, don't underestimate how big Chilton's pot of cash is. While I've got my doubts that it's of the scale to fund a third Toyota, it might well get a Rebellion very excited indeed.

When I read this earlier the first team that popped into my head was Rebellion because I can't see any of the works teams wanting a pay driver.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by rdjones

When I read this earlier the first team that popped into my head was Rebellion because I can't see any of the works teams wanting a pay driver.

And even there it's really the #13

Or Project Kolles...

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Chiana

And even there it's really the #13

Or Project Kolles...

Or indeed a vapourware team that if the stars are in a very particular alignment then things might come off. If it's something like that then Chilton's relative lack of enthusiasm might be a bit more understandable.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Has Chilton been particularly worse against Bianchi than Davidson was against Sato in Super Aguri...

You can't really make judgements from those backmarkers, remember Bruni at Minardi? Freaking Zsolt Baumgartner outscored him

those of us blessed with being fangirls and fanboys of non-f1 single seater series are remarkably familiar with drivers and their abilities, to be fair . but i agree, the backmarker teams are impossible to use as solid evidence.

chilton made very few mistakes in f1 race scenarios, even if he wasn't mindbendingly quick. so i guess that's the kind of thing that makes him quite an attractive prospect for endurance racing. he didn't have that many totally "off" weekends either.

but yeah, like isynge says, the chilton pot of gold is pretty massive. for someone like rebellion i imagine it'd be very helpful? if he and his old boy knows what was going on at caterham they might have a better opinion of the kolles project than we'd think too. there's far worse people a team could sign but equally... there's some far greater potential out there.

i wouldn't say i'm against the guys who have well furnished wallets per se, but i'm far keener to champion the cause of those who haven't had every single brilliant opportunity that has been offered to them.

[Coach Ep]

Agreed, if Chilton's substantial sponsorship will help the likes of Rebellion, CLM/Lotus or perhaps even Perin(n), Brabham or another privateer P1/P2 effort make substantial progressive, I'm all for it.

He might not be the ultimate F1 driver but neither were McNish or Kristensen - and they both become sportscar legends. Not saying Chilton is the same caliber as those two but he's already proven to be a decent sportscar driver - at an age when most of us were still playing with Lego instead of having it as a sponsor on a blindingly fast racecar!

What is his older brother Tom up to nowadays btw?

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

Not saying Chilton is the same caliber as those two but he's already proven to be a decent sportscar driver - at an age when most of us were still playing with Lego instead of having it as a sponsor on a blindingly fast racecar!

Hey - I'll have you know I'm very much looking forward to the 2015 Technic 1H flagship set even at my age!

A factory car would be a better/more relevant showcase for him but I can't see any of them taking on someone who would jump back into a back-of-the-grid F1 seat at the first opportunity. If he is going to make this sort of commitment it would need to be long-term and it would require his full attention.

This would still be an issue for the privateer teams, but perhaps the sack is too full for the likes of Rebellion to refuse a 1-year deal.

[Simmi]

I wouldn't mind seeing Chilton at Rebellion next year. Not sure if he'd get found out in a works P1 with the lap times so scrutinised.

Agree with Coach Ep. Just because you're not at the sharp end in F1 doesn't mean you can't have a prosperous sportscar career.

[bella]

Originally Posted by J Jay

2015 Technic 1H flagship set

*runs off to check piggy bank*

[Beryl]

Rebellion already employs pay drivers (Kraihamer is one), so he'd fit right in.

Not sure Chilton would have to be a pay driver in sportscars though. Good to use cash to get a foot in the door, but he may have just enough talent to have a paid career in sportscars. This isn't F1, there's many more seats available and the talent requirement (to be paid to drive) is much lower. For example, Nakajima only got into F1 because of his Toyota ties and Kazuki was thoroughly outperformed by Rosberg during his F1 career. After dropping into sportscars, Kazuki started to quickly make Wurz, Sarrazin and Lapierre look slow. Not saying Chilton will be as good as Kazuki (he won't be), but he could end up being a solid sportscar driver.

[jasonjessica09]

Next couple weekends are kinda interesting. The Thunderhill 25 this week, then the Maxi 32 the next.

[Hawkwood]

3 Hours of Killarney tomorrow as well I think.

Assuming it's still going ahead?
I think Zoo Racing's Pilbeam was meant to be making it's debut there.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Hawkwood

3 Hours of Killarney tomorrow as well I think.

Assuming it's still going ahead?
I think Zoo Racing's Pilbeam was meant to be making it's debut there.

The organizers aren't doing **** to promote or update info of their own event, but Killarney circuit itself is more helpful. And yeah the Pilbeam is there (seen it)

FINAL ROUND OF THE 2014 POWER SERIES AND THE AFRICAN 3 HOUR

Sat 6 December is the final round in 2014 of the Killarney Power Series sponsored by Wingfield Motors. Being the championship decider for all the Power Series categories, we can expect some really exciting racing.

The event also includes a round of the African endurance series, with the 3 hour race starting at 4:15pm. Entries for this event from all the main centres around South Africa include cars not often seen at Killarney such as the menacing 8.4-litre V10 Dodge Viper, a debuting Pillbeam LMP 100 turbo that is destined for next year’s Le Mans 24-Hour race and Gary Formato in a turbocharged Ford Focus ST EcoBoost and others

[Deleted]

On Wednesday's WMSC decisions article there was an article regarding WEC and other than calendar it only said A series of changes were made to the sporting and technical regulations for 2015, which are available on fia.com.

I checked both the FIA regs page as well as endurance committee decisions and found nothing, anyone else have anything? Or are they just slow on updating as usual

[schmidder]

I'll post some thunderhill photos tomorrow

[Simmi]

Interesting to hear that Joey Hand is moving away from BMW Motorsport next year.

Anyone care to speculate where he might end up?

[seanyb505]

Nissan?