SILLY SEASON pt.7 ?!?!

[f1manoz]

Since the season now starts in April, there is far more times for teams to get completely ready...

I expect 18-20 cars if things fall into place.

[zerO]

Justin Wilson & Rahal ?!

Looks like Justin Wilson has burned all his bridges in F1 by openly stating that he was "scared to push harder" and the only choice he has is Champ Cars = http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns12315.html

According to close sources he has less that $2mil to play with - don't think it will be enough for a seat at Rahal's second entry, but we'll see...

zerO

[power&glory]

Originally posted by f1manoz
I expect 18-20 cars if things fall into place.

That's probably the "worst case scenario", if almost none of the current teams expand. I honestly think that we'll have 23 cars minimum and if you look at things with extreme optimism, we could have 26(!). Why? I think that for sure we'll get 2 cars from:
Forsythe (same),
Newman/Haas (same),
Rahal (+Wilson(he's got money-remember 1 year ago he bought an F1 ride),
Fernandez (+Diaz(Telcel/Sun Micro)),
Herdez (+Gonzalez(Nextel)),
Rocketsports (+Ryan),
PKR (+that S.A. guy(S.A. sponsor)),
Conquest (+2nd car/crew from remnants of ASTJ(Mi-Jack)),
Coyne (pay drivers Enge and Sperafico),
Fittipaldi (+2nd car, Patrick deal or not)

and one car from:
RuSport (AJ(sponsor?)),
Mo Nunn (Jimmy(Hollywood)),

at least one car but probably 2 from Walker (Lavin(Corona)and Valiante(Dean's Knight and some others hopefully)

and if Emmo runs two cars without buying Patrick, and Jim McGee keeps the team together and finds sufficient funding, there could be a 1 car McGee effort.

And let us not forget of course the possibility of that infamous 3rd car at Newman/Haas

[BootsOntheSide]

Wilson's money was to pay for an F1 ride, and was a one-off share issue - he doesn't have that amount of moeny this year. He'd be relying on the benevolance of other sponsors in order to get a ride, which is a shame.

2 cars from PK and Rocketsports are fairly definate, and Jimmy supposedly has a signed ride somewhere (which I doubt would be with a small team - Patrick/Emmo/McGee one way or another seems likely).

I doubt Conquest will expand, they've struggled for money throughout the season and have obviously lost the Pookfare.

Mo Nunn is a pure rumour at this stage - it could be that he doesn't have funding to run anyone, anywhere, as Toyota could take Takagi to Foyt (great alliteration huh?). RuSport seems more concrete.

Enge and Sperafico might start the season with Dale, but who knows how many guys might pass through as the season goes on. Boss' funding appears to be dry.

Walker was very reliant on Pookfare last year, and Lavin may be taking his funding elsewhere. I hope he can get some cars up and running, but two cars seems optimistic.

I don't personally expect more than 20, for the reasons above.

[carsten66]

Confirmed or lets say "strong" are the 2 cars/drivers from NH, FR and Herdez, 1 car from Rahal, PKR, Rocketsports, RuSport, FDR, Fernandez and Walker = 13 – adding Lavin with Corona funding = 14 – so we need 4 more cars...

Hope: a second car from Rocketsports and PKR...

What we don't know is the Patrick situation... one, two or zero !? Possible: Patrick passes the whole operation on to a consortium led by Jim McGee and Nick Hunter-Reay will invest in the new operation... so if all goes to plan the drivers would be Ryan Hunter-Rey and Bjorn Wirdheim...

In jeopardy: Conquest and Coyne

[Snrub]

Of the 1 car teams we know who the drivers are for all but Walker. We know RHR has a ride, sounds like Rocketsports #2. I have a tendancy to think Coyne will put a car on the grid. I find it hard to believe Patrick will just disappear, it seems to make sense that the team will carry on (Patrick himself appears to be gone). That's 17. Throw one more in and we get the "guarenteed 18". I have no idea where the 18th comes from, but it's not wild to suggest it would happen.

As for more, I don't think it's particularly likely. The OWRS guys don't want to spend any more money than they have to. Keep in mind that very few teams had enough sponsorship last year. Herdez x2, Fernandez, Players x2 was it. Everyone else needed Pookfare. Despite CART being bankrupt the mood seems more positive this year. CART beat the nay-sayers last year so there seems to be a more positive outlook for 2004. Maybe they'll be some more sponsors, but keep in mind that Players is gone, Visteon is gone. It seems that a lot of the 'major' sponsors are not willing to pony up for the traditional portion major sponsors have accounted for. You could probably stick 'major' sponsorship on all cars that don't already have it and end up with less total money than Players alone contributed.

[zerO]

Two little add-ons:

1. PK Racing is scheduled to test two drivers sometime in late January (hopefully): Alan van der Merwe (son of a sportscars legend) from South Africa and KK's beloved Aussie Christian Murchison.

2. Another hopeful is expecting to test a Champ Car (with whom ? - have no idea - maybe Coyne): Robert Dahlgren of Sweden. Check out his website = http://www.robertdahlgren.com/ - last year he finished 9th in British F3.

Let's not go too crazy with it - those are just rumors...

zerO

[Ac.]

This article confirms that SpeedTV will not carry CART in 2004. Interesting that Liberatore indicates that SpeedTV reaches 60 million US households, far more than has been reported by many on this forum. At that level Speed seems like a good choice for the future of OWRS. Maybe in 2005.

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/autoindustry/9287/

[Fogelhund]

Though suprisingly, Spike TV reachs more households then SpeedTV, which of course is a good thing.

[GP Racer]

Spike TV, Spike TV, hhhmmmmmm...

Still can't find it!

Its gotta be here!

[brightline]

GP Racer: try the channel formerly known as TNN: The National Network, formerly known as TNN: The Nashville Network which used to suck for men and women alike, but now just sucks for women...ummm what was I saying? Oh yeah, Spike TV was also was sued by Spike Lee for use of the name Spike!?!?! Right, don't you think about Spike Lee everytime you hear the word Spike, now hopefully I'll think Champcar.

[GP Racer]

I know where it is brightline, although I only recently found it!

That was my lame attempt at humor you just expierienced!

[zerO]

Here's an updated 2004 Line-up picture:

1. NEWMAN/HAAS - Sebastien Bourdais
2. NEWMAN/HAAS - Bruno Junqueira ?
3. FORSYTHE - Paul Tracy
4. FORSYTHE - Patrick Crapentier
5. WALKER - Michael Valiante
6. WALKER - Jonathan Macri or Ryan Dalziel ?
7. HERDEZ - Mario Dominguez
8. HERDEZ - Roberto Gonzalez or David Martinez ?
9. FERNANDEZ - Adrian Fernandez
10. FERNANDEZ - Luis Diaz
11. RAHAL - Michael Jourdain
12. POLLOCK - Mika Salo
13. FITTIPALDI - Tiago Monteiro
14. FITTIPALDI - Rodolfo Lavin ?
15. GENTILOZZI - Alex Tagliani
16. GENTILOZZI - Ryan Hunter-Reay
17. COYNE - Tomas Enge or Joel Camathias ?
18. RUSSO - A.J.Allmendinger

Those are the 18 promised... now, here are other possibilities:

19. RAHAL - Justin Wilson or Andre Lotterer ?
20. POLLOCK - Christian Murchison or Bjorn Wirdheim ?
21. BACHELART - Mario Haberfeld or Giorgio Pantano ?
22. COYNE - Alex Yoong or Alex Sperafico ?
23. McGHEE - Jimmy Vasser or Oriol Servia ?
24. NUNN - Felipe Giaffone or Hoover Orsi ?

Worth noting: Guy Smith has just signed-up to drive in LeMans and it's European series - so, he's not coming to Champ Cars... and Memo Gidley hasn't found a ride in LeMans or ALMS - so, he's still looking for a ride somewhere ?!

Here's my personal 2004 Line-up ?!
zerO

[Alex K]

AFAIC Walker is still in doubt, the same with second Fernandez, who knows what is going on with Fittipaldi.

[zerO]

Originally posted by Alex K
AFAIC Walker is still in doubt, the same with second Fernandez, who knows what is going on with Fittipaldi.

Luis Diaz for Fernandez is a done deal as of last year's race at Mexico City !!! - friend of mine talked with Diaz at Mexico City race last year.

Walker may be a little doubtful, but should he need an extra boost he'll get it from OWRS - no need to worry about whether there will be two cars or not ?!

zerO

[carsten66]

News & rumors: Arden Motorsports today have confirmed Vitantonio Liuzzi (IT) and Robert Doornbos (NL) as their 2004 Drivers for the FIA F3000 Championship which was announced at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham... that means Wirdheim and Bell have no job... or somewhere else...?!

[GP Racer]

Bell might have gotten the test driver job at Jaguar.

[power&glory]

Originally posted by zerO
Luis Diaz for Fernandez is a done deal as of last year's race at Mexico City !!! - friend of mine talked with Diaz at Mexico City race last year.

Awesome!!

Originally posted by zerO
Walker may be a little doubtful, but should he need an extra boost he'll get it from OWRS - no need to worry about whether there will be two cars or not ?! zerO

I think that Walker and RuSport will be the only 2 teams recieving subsidies from OWRS next year, which would be a huge improvement over '03. PG would be glad to fund them, since funding only 2 teams fits right in with his idea of cutting back on subsidies. And by the way, can we all stop saying "pookfare" around here? If it wasn't for the "pookfare" '03 would've never happened, so don't call it some stupid ass name and be ungrateful for how he saved the series and act like the subsidies were a bad thing and it would've been better to have 12 cars on the grid, okay?

zerO, just so that you can update your page, Bruno has signed to drive a Champ Car for Newman/Haas next year, so he needs not a "?"

[GP Racer]

Pook fits right in there with the rest of those genious CEO's out there today.

Lose 100 million dollars, put the company into bankruptcy, leave with a golden parachute, and be looked at like some sort of hero. Sorry if I sound ungrateful...

How does PG decide that only RuSport and Walker get subsidised anyway? On what basis? Kind of sounds like last year when Gentilzzi, Forsythe, and Kalkoven, pocketed some 7 million dollars from CART, that still hasn't been explained. But I guess there the boss now, so no need to explain to anyone...

[Dov]

Hey GP,
I don't like it anymore then you do, but OWRS might have to subsidise a few teams in order to have the required 18 car minumum on the grid!? Is CART supposed to have at least 18 cars at every track (all the races) or only at a select few?

[GP Racer]

But how do they decide who gets the money?

Is it because Russo played ball, and decided not to make any problems for OWRS's buyout plans, which could have been a sticking point.

Just a question, not getting smart...

[Dov]

Originally posted by GP Racer
But how do they decide who gets the money?

Is it because Russo played ball, and decided not to make any problems for OWRS's buyout plans, which could have been a sticking point.

Just a question, not getting smart...

They are good questions which I have no answer to. Where's Flatspot & Fogelhund when you need them! Those suits (gentlemen) no what their talking about when it comes to the business side of motorsports.

[GP Racer]

I hear that Dov!

[Alex K]

Originally posted by zerO
Luis Diaz for Fernandez is a done deal as of last year's race at Mexico City !!! - friend of mine talked with Diaz at Mexico City race last year.

Walker may be a little doubtful, but should he need an extra boost he'll get it from OWRS - no need to worry about whether there will be two cars or not ?!

zerO

Luis Diaz is talking to Kurt Mollekens' KTR* team, so it looks like it's not done deal (with Fernandez Racing).
Diaz wasn't even driving for Fernandez in Mexico City, he was in Walker Racing Reynard.

* Superfund World Series by Nissan participant

[zerO]

Originally posted by Alex K
Luis Diaz is talking to Kurt Mollekens' KTR* team, so it looks like it's not done deal (with Fernandez Racing).
Diaz wasn't even driving for Fernandez in Mexico City, he was in Walker Racing Reynard.

* Superfund World Series by Nissan participant

Yeah, I reported it yesterday on few sites, sorry I couldn't get here...

If it won't be Lus Diaz at Fernandez in the second car - then David Martinez is Adrian's second choice... and it looks like there will be a second car since Adrian is pizzed at Aguri Suzuki for his directing shenaniongas in the IRL - rumor is that after this season Adrian Fernandez will disassociate his name from that IRL enedeavour...

btw, Luis Diaz has been Fernandez' "pet" for two years now - the reason he drove in a Walker car at Mexico City is because Adrian wasn't physically (ie: $$$) able to run a second car then...

btw #2, the reason why I still stick a question mark next to Junky is because I do not trust Carl Haas - I know that Junky is signed and all that, but Haas still might give Newman the finger and take Junky to IRL full-time... we'll see... there is also a rumor that Sebastien Bourdais might join Junky at Indy in a second NHR car...

That's why they call it the silly season ?! - check my updated page = http://www.planet.nl/~f1/cart2k4.htm - in black is "confirmed" or "99% certain", in grey is "most likely" ?!

zerO