Report: all-British entry to run Rockingham

[Jay]

From tsn.ca:

(Jul 31) tsn.ca - Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell are reportedly part of an effort to field an all-British entry for the upcoming CART race at Rockingham in England.

Race officials admit they are talking about the one race deal and testing could take place at the 2.41 kilometre oval as early as next week.

The BBC sports website reports that Herbert and Blundell are at the top of the list of drivers being considered and that the drive will likely go to whomever is faster in testing.

Blundell would seem to have a slight edge, having raced on the CART series for four years from 1996-2000.

Herbert, who left Formula One two years ago, has never raced competitively on an oval circuit. He failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 earlier this year. He has attempted to land a ride in the CART series since leaving Formula One.

Other names being mentioned are BAR test driver Darren Manning and German Touring Car driver Darren Turner.

Organizers met with CART officials last weekend in Vancouver to discuss their proposal. The team would field a Cosworth powered Lola.

The Rockingham event will be the only European stop for the CART series this year after the German 500 was cancelled due to bankruptcy proceedings. Rockingham organizers say they plan to offer a ticket exchange program for fans who were planning to attend the German race.

Interesting... Although I don't think it will sell anymore tickets if that's the goal it would still be good to see either one of those guys in a Champ Car. Don't bet the bank they'd win though...

[macdaddy]

I think the goal is to get 20 starters!

[Speedworx]

Probably, but it good that David Grace is trying to get more cars into the field.

[f1manoz]

Good to hear there'll be some British representation on the grid for the only European round.

[Lee Janotta]

Forget Blundell, get Justin Wilson in the second car!!!

[marcus]

yeah sounds good to me , the more the merrier , and I'd love to see herbert or wilson in the seat.

[DNQ]

Yeah, bloody good idea I reckon, hope it works out, it'd be great to see either of those drivers taking part.

[macdaddy]

They say they've got the chassis and engines lined up, it's just a matter of getting all the right people together. Testing could start as early as next week.

http://sports.yahoo.com/m/sm/news/re...ockingham.html

I found this part interesting, too:

"Rockingham and the German circuit would have shared the considerable financial overheads involved in bringing the CART championship to Europe and the burden now falls on the British venue.

Grace said CART organisers were helping out and actively seeking another European venue for 2003 to make the European leg worthwhile with two successive races."

[BootsOntheSide]

I'd love to see this team happen. Blundell has probably had his day though, and he's said in the ITV-F1 coverage that Zanardi's crash scared him away from thinking about ovals. Herbert and Wilson could be a good team, but I suppose they don't want 2 rookies. What about Davidson though? Maybe they can get a temporary release from the Honda test deal?

[mac]

Wilson and Davidson. Now wouldn't that be a fantastic place to establish a British super-team!!!

[rustyfan]

Take that report for what it is though, at least when it comes to the possible particpation by either Herbert or Blundell. This is what an article over at AutoSport.com says:

"When asked about the plan by AUTOSPORT in recent weeks, both Blundell and Herbert said that they had not been formally approached by anyone."

Read the full article here: http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.asp?id=20097&s=7

Personally I would love to see Herbert do the race

[macdaddy]

Y'know, the more I think about this, the less I understand it. They're talking of buying a brand-new chassis directly from Lola, and leasing an engine from Cosworth. Then there's the massive task of quickly assembling not only a driver, but an engineering group, mechanics, over-the-wall guys, and a guy to sweep the floor. Then they've got to pay everybody. They have to get all of the tools that they're gonna need, from the pitwall fuel tank down to the tiniest cotterpin. Tires, computers, radios...

Sounds like alot of money to be spending for a one-off race. And I've heard nothing yet concerning sponsors.

And, what are the CART rules concerning mid-season testing? Will they be allowed to run a few laps on the car before the race, other than for driver testing? I would imagine that there shouldn't be a problem, as the team is not partaking in the full schedule, but didn't CART try cutting costs by cutting testing?

[rustyfan]

I guess the most likely thing, if it becomes a reality, is for an existing team to field an additional car (sorta like Toyota and CART talked Ganassi into fielding a third entry for Dixon after PWR went down), funded by Rockingham and the eventual sponsors they have lined up.

[macdaddy]

Your idea seems logical enough, rustyfan, but there's been no talk of that. And I can't imagine any team that is in a championship battle wanting to spread its resources out to accomodate another car. Of course, I believe that Pook has more than a little bit to do with this, and that (most) of the owners are behind Pook 100%, but the sponsors wouldn't be too happy. If I were sponsoring Rahal's team, for example, I wouldn't take too kindly to my driver's engineer and two of the over-the-wall guys shifting over to a third car for a one-off.

[macdaddy]

Off-topic, but still related to Rockingham...

http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.asp?id=20109&s=7

This September's Rockingham 500 will become, and remain, Britain's fastest ever race, with average lap speeds around the 220mph mark, according to CART star Christian Fittipaldi.

Fittipaldi visited the 1.5-mile oval in Northamptonshire this week and came away impressed. "Last year, we raced here with almost no testing and the fastest lap in practice was 24.7 seconds, 215mph" said Team Newman-Haas driver. "We've got better wing set-ups and aerodynamics this year so we'll be way quicker than that, maybe 218, even 220mph.

"During Friday qualifying, with a perfect set-up, we may be able to do the whole lap wide-open, on full throttle," said the 31 year-old Brazilian. "That would be awesome".

According to Fittipaldi, with upcoming rule changes these speeds may never be repeated. "For 2003 we'll have lower turbo boost," he said, "and maybe changes to the wings, so whoever sets a track record this year, may have the record for all time."

[kmchow]

Perhaps Richard Branson could step up with sponsorship from the Virgin empire?? Hey, if this is gonna be your first time racing in CART, why not tell everyone you're a Virgin??

Shameless Virgin plug...

[macdaddy]

"Virgin plug".
Now that's kinda funny.

[El_Gibleto]

With the fall in numbers in the series there must be a pool of "resting" engineers mechanics etc who would be avalable to run a car for a one off race.

However i doubt if any team/driver doing a one off race would be fully competitive.