Should Silly Season Start So Soon???

[Average Punter]

Just thinking this afternoon that a bit of magic has been taken out of the remainder of the season with the announcements that some drivers are off to "greener" pastures for 2005.
Murph, Seto and CL have all announced their plans already and we're not even at Sandown yet...

Remember the intrigue with CL at Bathurst before he went to Ford? Dear old Bazz tried valiantly to get a word from The Kid about where he was going the following year and he wouldn't budge.
Even the announcement of Rusty's move to SBR was a New Years Eve press release.

The situation this year however leaves a sour taste in my mouth. How can I go Bathurst and cheer the boys on when I know some of them are leaving their teams? How serious will FPR be about their development between now and Eastern Creek? How can they do any serious development work, and keep their best 2 drivers in the dark? How will the body language be at 888. Or PWR. Or K-Mart. Or even GRM???

When Rusty was with Larry at Bathurst in 2002, it was clear to most that perhaps he was moving on. But because we didn't know for sure what was happening we could still get a buzz out of those final laps with Rusty after LP had pranged the car.

I'm not saying that contract negotiations should left until after the season is over.

Talk the talk now. Sign the deals now.

Just don't tell us until after Christmas...

[rdmdog]

Have all the details of Murphs team change for next year been announced?

Dont you recon that its better to have a more gradual process, then the game is in the news a little more.

Christmas is way too late, but I guess Bathurst should have a big lead up anyway, so I would suggest after the 1000 would be a good time for some announcements.

[Chronicle]

My opinion!

How much development is FPR going to do this year? By the look of the last testing session they did, they are not involving Seton and Lowndes. Why would you give the oposition the benefit of all the FPR testing. . But, being serious for a moment, just imagine that FPR has some new, beaut stuff on their cars, they don't want others to know.

[STEVO]

Originally posted by Average Punter
Just thinking this afternoon that a bit of magic has been taken out of the remainder of the season with the announcements that some drivers are off to "greener" pastures for 2005.
Murph, Seto and CL have all announced their plans already and we're not even at Sandown yet...

Remember the intrigue with CL at Bathurst before he went to Ford? Dear old Bazz tried valiantly to get a word from The Kid about where he was going the following year and he wouldn't budge.
Even the announcement of Rusty's move to SBR was a New Years Eve press release.

The situation this year however leaves a sour taste in my mouth. How can I go Bathurst and cheer the boys on when I know some of them are leaving their teams? How serious will FPR be about their development between now and Eastern Creek? How can they do any serious development work, and keep their best 2 drivers in the dark? How will the body language be at 888. Or PWR. Or K-Mart. Or even GRM???

When Rusty was with Larry at Bathurst in 2002, it was clear to most that perhaps he was moving on. But because we didn't know for sure what was happening we could still get a buzz out of those final laps with Rusty after LP had pranged the car.

I'm not saying that contract negotiations should left until after the season is over.

Talk the talk now. Sign the deals now.

Just don't tell us until after Christmas...

ABSOLUTELY!

You have hit the nail on the head Average Punter. I totally agree!

I just hope this is not going to be the way of the future because you're right, it's disheartening watching your favourite driver almost drive in vein knowing he'll be with the "other" team next year.

For instance. I'm a one-eyed GLENN SETON supporter and the buzz about Bathurst and the ol' "will he win" element is a little flat this year. Why? The sooner we get him in #18 the better.

I think drivers should maybe announce they're leaving but they shouldn't name the exact team they'll be driving for. It's not very classy IMHO. Then again, testing without your full time drivers isn't classy either

[rdmdog]

Once the team knew they were being left by their driver (s) why shouldn't they concentrate their time on finding replacements?

[Chronicle]

I reckon they should keep the whole thing quiet until the end of the year.

[Gracer]

I personally don't think anything should be done until the end of the season. It must be fairly disheartening for the driver who knows he getting shafted at the end of the year. Can they still really put in the effort when they now they're not going to be there next year.
I think that teams and drivers can be in talks about future years but nothing should be made official until after the season. That way all of the drivers can just focus on each season one at a time and not be spending half of one season contemplating the next. Thats what happens in a lot of other sports and it works fine.

[jimmycourier]

It's understandable that the fans get upset about these announcements, but it's actually the fans themselves that most probably cause these.. Their is so much speculation from forums etc. that put teams, drivers, and in particular the sponsors since they have the $$$ to make the announcement. Considering Craig was under so much pressure as to why he was still at FPR it's no suprise he had to make an announcement to get the monkey off the back...

[racer69]

Whats the point of hiding something that everyone concerned with it knows it is happening?

If nothing is announced, all it leads to all that silly speculation and BS stories. I want to know where people are going, not how many different other places they have been linked too.......

[Ozfords]

I agree that it may be due to a growing speculation on Forums and more interest from the press.

But what are all these changes saying about the way teams are being managed? Are drivers being treated with less and less respect? Are the teams being built around bull sh!t promises to keep the press happy?

Is there too much bull sh!t being handed out in teams? Look at Jason Richards and what Team Dynamik are doing, thats just petty. Or how Craig Lowndes was treated in the final months with HRT. Or the way Ford Tickford Racing was the blue ovals official factory team...

...too much BS??

[Ozfords]

Plus with this amount of driver shifting, whats the use of purchasing merchandise??