Australian Drivers

[N.A-D.R]

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

I agree with Peno. If Will Power is now even semi-available then AJ should grab him. Would make a good team with John Martin, Power as team leader and John Martin learning off a seasoned international campaigner.

Antunes won't benefit the team any, he is even way less experienced than John Martin. Hopefully for season 4 A1GP will attract drivers with better credentials than this!

Well Nathan did happen to beat Nico Hulkenburg in the F3 germany series in 2006. (antunes only had 6 races but was faster at every round and beat him in all the races he started) Nico was almost unbeatable in a1gp so who knows untill he gets in the car. I think the TRS hasn't shown his full potential tbh, never seen tracks and new car... He was actually in the mid-field when he tested in GP2 for Super Nova. But i will be keeping an eye on him for sure.

[Xfiles]

Briscoe
Power
McFadyen
Martin
Davison

Dyk
Mawer
Ricciardo
Antunes

[Stocky]

The problem isn't who's the best open wheel drive Australia has (Courtney)

It's who's available to the A1 Team.

It's a pretty short list, even if you were paying them.

[strider]

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

I agree with Peno. If Will Power is now even semi-available then AJ should grab him. Would make a good team with John Martin, Power as team leader and John Martin learning off a seasoned international campaigner.

Unfortunately you'll have to forget about Will Power as he has signed for another IRL team. Story here.

Originally Posted by Stocky

The problem isn't who's the best open wheel drive Australia has (Courtney)

I completely agree that Courtney would be the man, Stocky, but he's got a good a regular season drive now (as has Will Davison), and with a wife and young family around he wouldn't want to spend the off-season doing A1GP.

I still think John Martin's your man for the foreseeable future. Things have definitely looked up since he arrived on the scene.

[Xfiles]

do you tink anyone, other than the driver or thier family give a dam who;s driving the auusie sledge. there is no interest because they know the real truth. alan was once an aussie hero, now people don't give a ****.

[sizzle]

So who is next to have their career destroyed?

[Pro Racer]

i'm hearing someone from Darwin, but my sixth sense is always way off.

[motofan]

umm guys why on gods given earth would will power have even thought of racing A1!!!!
bit below him i think
just quietly daniel one his first race in the f.renault not eurocup the one below and got a **** startin race 2 fell to 21st and drove a solid race to finish fith under a second off the leader
hes a good kid hahah

[motofan]

let me correct my poor english WON*

[N.A-D.R]

Yeah. Daniel is very talented. In his first race weekend in this series he grabbed both pole positions and won race 1 and probably would of won race 2 if he didn't mess up the start. and in the Eurocup testing, he was fastest in Valencia and yesterday he was fastest in Barcelona!

I was reading a interveiw with alan jones today when they tested in silverstone last september last year when Ricciardo and Martin were testing.

He said this about them:
“We had two kids test this week. Daniel Ricciado had never driven this track, never driven anything like a 500 horsepower open wheeler and he comes out and laps consistently in the 1.12’s.

"The boy’s only 18 for goodness sake.”

Ricciardo is from Perth and lives in Milan while he races Formula Renault. Jones was also impressed with 21 year-old John Martin from Blackwater in Queensland, currently Australian Formula Ford champion and racing in English Formula 3 with Alan Docking.

It's an old interveiw but i found it yesterday (It's pretty good)
news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=291688

[jackaroo]

It's obvious that that the teams doing well are mainly those who have had stable driver lineups. Drivers with several seasons in A1 not just a couple of races!! Australia should be especially focused on doing this as most of their drivers don't have the same intense highly competitive race series to gain experience as the Europeans, British and Americans. Even Oz F3 or FF which are semi competitive only get 8 race weekends a year!! and very limited testing!!

[Stocky]

If you dig a little deaper you'll find the teams that do consistentley well are engineered and run by the top F3 teams from Europe.

It has very little to do with what nation is painted on the car.

A solid performance from the driver is needed and an exceptional driver is a bonus.

Anyone who's been around racing for a while knows when the car is handling well all the time it's easy to shine as a driver.

[jackaroo]

Did not realise that Supernova was doing Formula 3!!!

[jackaroo]

Don't beleive that France, Switzerland and Britain are teams which are run by Formula 3 teams. I maybe wrong but that is the top 5 A1Gp teams!!!

[jackaroo]

Anyone that has been around racing a while will know that no matter how good your car is with out a good pilot your going no where. Its easier to get a good result with good pilot in an average car, than an average pilot and good car.. I'm sure that OZ have a good car, just need to complete the formula with a driver with enough experience. Not many of those, although I am sure that most of OZ drivers would have the Natural ability just lacking the intense experience, which drivers from the top nations have had. I am sure that Martin given a full season ( added to another full Brit F3 campaign) would be winning at the end.(As would Dyke) Rome not built over night etc..

[N.A-D.R]

I wouldn't day Dyk could be a race winner in A1GP, he struggles to be in the top 15 for some races...

[Stocky]

I'm sorry I did mean to say " F3 and GP2 Teams"

[Rachel Richards]

The problem with the 'Aussies' is that they have no proper racing car series in their country, just stupid V8 'Supercar' saloon racing.

[Lazyilluminati]

Dont be suprised if Nathan Antunes takes the wheel for Oz next year.

[Kiwi3]

Dont be suprised if Nathan Antunes takes the wheel for Oz next year.

Seriously??? Surely yet another driver change is the last thing Australia needs! John Martin has shown potential (although not at Brands), what is needed is for the team to sort itself out.

[Lazyilluminati]

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

Seriously??? Surely yet another driver change is the last thing Australia needs! John Martin has shown potential (although not at Brands), what is needed is for the team to sort itself out.

The kids (Nathan) got some skillz, what he lacks in experience he more than makes up for with enthusiam and confidence, the brands incident was totally avoidable, both drivers to blame there.

[Kiwi3]

He didn't seem to set the world alight in the Toyota Racing Series in NZ. I wasn't there though, perhaps someone from NZ can comment...?

I though John Martin was supposed to have some skills and a positive attitude?

[Stocky]

I think there is a bit more to it than simply sticking a brilliant driver in the car.

I think Brazil proved that this year.

Bruno should have smashed them straight out of the box with the experience and obvious ability he has.

[Kiwi3]

Ashley Walsh is to be Australia's rookie for Sepang and Taupo.

He came second in Australia Formula Ford before moving to the Formula Renault Western European Cup this year. A huge step up to the A1GP car then...

[strider]

Originally Posted by Rachel Richards

The problem with the 'Aussies' is that they have no proper racing car series in their country, just stupid V8 'Supercar' saloon racing.

Australian F3 is a pretty decent Championship, just not at the same level as those in Europe - see what happened when John Martin did a one-off appearance at Surfers Paradise.

The other problem is that nasty Brits like Ben Clucas and James Winslow spoil the party by joining in and winning!