mclaren autosport brdc award - the shortlist

[Kicking-back]

The six McLaren Autosport BRDC Award nominees have been named.

They are Formula Renault UK champion Oliver Jarvis and frontrunner James Jakes, Formula BMW UK runner-up Sam Bird, Formula Ford Festival winner Duncan Tappy, Formula Palmer Audi champion Joe Tandy and US Formula Ford 2000 runner-up Joey Foster.

[Russfeld]

Interesting that the FPA champion was chosen when two of the judges are PalmerSport employees.

[bella]

the fpa champion has been nominated for quite a few years though, if i remember rightly. and the age criteria have been adjusted this year too...

[sceptic]

I am very disappointed by the final six:

Why does Sam Bird (who has plenty of money, and is managed by two ex-F1 drivers, meaning his route to F1 is guaranteed if he needs it) deserve the prize more than Dean Smith, who actually won the Formula BMW title, or Matt Howson who won multiple races?

And James Jakes? Has nobody noticed that he HASN'T WON A RACE.

I'll be supporting Duncan Tappy and Joey Foster (who should have won years ago)

[ensign14]

No Susie Stoddard?

[bella]

jakes is also loaded, while we're at it.

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by ensign14

No Susie Stoddard?

She's no longer eligible as she has raced in F3.

Can we also give this thread the award's correct title by inserting the words "McLaren" and "BRDC" in the appropriate places?

[bella]

we could do, but surely the discussion's more important (when i get a moment's boredom, yes, i'll sort that out).

so who *would* you nominate? surely dean smith wouldn't win the award, he seemed to be a by default winner of the fbmw title. and matt howson, i'd agree that he might have been a more... worthy choice. but surely the fact that sam bird has the proper managerial backing and financial backing in place means he's less likely to "waste" the award money and test drive, and in 2 years he'll be graduating from f3. which looks better than someone like howson who might in 2 years still be struggling for a budget?

[sceptic]

Sam lost the BMW title because he cracked under pressure, just like Phil Glew last year.

Dean is seen as an unworthy winner because he doesn't have the right image for a racing driver. I don't understand why Matt isn't there.

Giving the award to Sam just because he's already likely to make it would be a cop-out by the organisers, and would just prove that they are desperate to find a winner who actualy goes on to be successful... because they haven't had much of that recently.

The six drivers I nominated only includes two who made it to the final list: Tappy and Jarvis. I do accept that Foster is a good nominee though, someone very much in the vein of Alex Lloyd or Jamie Green, and I'm a bit disappointed that I had forgotten him.

I picked Smith and Howson from BMW, and one other Formula Ford driver, and a national class F3 driver.

[bella]

national class f3 driver... so josh fisher? i'd think he's as good a nomination as james jakes. considering how little testing he had him and the team were very competitive.

it might seem like a cop-out nominating someone like sam bird, but how can the award maintain respect if they don't continue to back drivers who at least have part of what's needed in place to become a top driver? if you back drivers who don't have the financial support at least partially in place, you're effectively backing a losing horse. not smart.

after all, di resta won last year, and he's not short of a bob or two or a bit of management in the right direction now, is he?

[sceptic]

No, but equally Paul will always be at a disadvantage because he will be compared to Dario or Marino.

And last year's six weren't particularly strong competition. I actually wanted Jonathan to win last year, although Paul would have been my second choice.

The previous year I was certain that Ben Clucas would win... and only changed my mind and picked Alex while I was sitting in the hall eating my starter.

[bella]

i don't think paul is compared to either of the franchitti brothers, it's certainly never crossed my mind to do that. in fact, i'm not sure i've ever seen it done before... and it's hardly a disadvantage that outweighs say, the advantage of being well backed.

last year's six i'd say aren't too much worse than this years. this year joey foster certainly has the experience but not the money, sam bird is perhaps the one who needs to do a lot of growing up first and shouldn't really win on that basis, i've no idea how good duncan tappy is in reality but compared to the rest of the fford field he's not bad, joe tandy, absolutely no idea, oli jarvis has definitely improved, and he beat james jakes who should really have won hands down considering the amount of money that's thrown at his racing career.

perhaps this year a politically correct winner will be chosen...

i am right in saying the age limit has gone up this year? without it doing so i can't really think of many younger drivers who are showing the promise. it's a shame ben hanley isn't eligable...

[Robin_D]

Duncan Tappy would get my vote. He has done extremely well this year.

[sceptic]

Yes the age limit has gone up - otherwise neither Foster nor Tappy would be on the list.

[Russfeld]

The intent of these awards is always to tag on to the guy most likely to make it, not the best or most deserving guy.

And I about choked on the comment that the award "could be worth as much as £250,000 in other sponsorship."

Yes, and you could get a clue; but thats unlikely.