Club Arnage

Well done to Signior Alonso for becoming the youngest ever world champion. A worth-while successor to Herr Schumacher. And what an accreditation to have on the CV!

I know this aint the Bernie and Max forum but credit where credits due, he deserves it - and a local lad too! (Woodstock-Oxford-Engalnd-Spain).

Maybe this might open the sport up to becoming more competitive and customer friendly?!?

While i'm on it - Well to Valentino Rossi too - another successor to Herr Schumacher perhaps?

There's been lot's a talk about Rossi-san making the jump to four wheels at some point but from everything I've read his interest is in rallying, don't expect to see him wheeling a Ferrari anytime soon, unless they build a WRC Modena ;D
Fax

Fax, you are sooo wrong.

Here he is testing for the team...

Smokie - nicely done - mind you it would probably have gone faster with him driving it like that anyway! ::)

MG Mark

Very very good ::)

Oh yesss!

Superb.

(I can claim no credit for it - stolen from another forum!)

Like we've said before, Photoshop's a wonderful thing.  Rossi jumping to F1 makes for good tabloid stuff but I'll believe it when I see it.  Personally before he calls it a day I'd like to see him return to Aprillia and take the premier class title back to the company that gave him his first championships.  THAT would be the way to round off the career of the greatest rider in history.
Fax

Unfortunately Aprilla no longer run a MotoGp team, and are unlikely to in the near future due to financial contraints.
If he was inclined to change manufactuers again, then Ducati would be the obvious choice. If he won the World Championship for them, he would be raised to heights above Godliness. However in the past Ducati has tried to get his services, but failed, and for reasons I don't understand they have just signed up Gibernau.

Rossi to Ferrari?
Well the money wouldn't be a problem, sponsers would be queueing from Modena to Rome to have their name attached to Rossi/Ferrari.
Motivation? I can't see Rossi retiring at 27 and just partying for the rest of his life.
Ralleying? Had a go on the RAC a couple of years ago, and crashed out on the first stage, since then he has been a little quieter on the subject.
Skill? Time will tell.
Do Ferrari want him? If he has the skill to be at least competitive, then they would sell their Grannies to get him.

Some of the motorcyling press seem to be convinced he can match John Surtees' achievments, if he can, in the motor sport world of the 21st century, then he would be worthy of being crowned the greatest rider /driver ever.
And that is the sort of challenge that Valentino Rossi will not be able to resist, if he thinks he can do it.   

I really think the whole Rossi-Ferrari notion is alot of fantasy stuff.  Comparing what Il Grande John did in the early sixties to what Rossi would have to pull off is pointless.  In the era that Surtees made the switch the dynamics of driving a 1.5 liter F1 car and a GP bike were quite similar, both generated no downforce and were mounted on narrow, hard tires.  GP cars had to be driven with the finesse of a bike to get the best from them.  Jumping into a contemporary, complex F1 car generating massive amounts of downforce and grip would bare little resemblance to riding a Moto GP bike.  Am I the only person who remembers when the other great Italian bike ace Giacomo Agostini tried to make the jump to F1 cars in the old Aurora series in the late seventies?  He found it a very different animal and had little success.
Fax

  Am I the only person who remembers when the other great Italian bike ace Giacomo Agostini tried to make the jump to F1 cars in the old Aurora series in the late seventies?  He found it a very different animal and had little success.
Fax
Hi Fax,
          Some of us are old enough to remember not only the great Ago but Mike "The Bike" Hailwood too. he too did not do well in F1
Canada Phil

Hey Phil,
I think there are a few old school types like you & I out there.  Good old Mike the Bike won the 1972 Euro F2 title but as you said, never really cut it in F1.  Good to hangout with you at the Petit.
Fax

Hi Fax,
          I did not know that. Sorry I missed you on the Sunday morning. What a great week end it was. Really nice to meet up with you and the Harpers and Randy and Lee and.. all the others whose names i forget.
Canada Phil

Damon Hill was another (not quite so successful !) biker who switched to four wheels.

There were press cuttings a few months back with him having a day at the Ferrari test track with Mr Shu and his red fiat.

He lapped their track within 0.2 secs of Shume, and i think thats when all the fuss started. He hasnt ever stated anything else publically on it.

IF you read his biography by Matt Oxley you will realise that he couldnt get a 125 bike around the first corner. He kept crashing, but its the lessons he learnt and self  taught that made him how good a rider he is today.

He may want to go rallying, and he will crash lots. but once he figures out why, he has the skill to change his style, learn from his mistakes ( which most drivers cant ) and win.

I'd put a good bet on with a bookies for him to win a DRIVERS title.

Geoff Duke, in some peoples eyes the greatest rider of his era also tried to cut it in cars but never made the grade, which makes surtess achivements all the more amazing.

Sheene also had a couple of outings in touring cars, but i don't think his heart was in it and it did'nt last long.

Rossi has bucket loads of talent, wether that would translate into racecraft in an F1 is to early to say, but it could be fun watching.

The one biker that Jackie Stewart always felt had the ability to cut it in top level single seaters was Bill Ivy.  He did a few F2 races against JYS and Jochen Rindt and gave them everything they could handle but sadly got killed by his Jawa before we could find out for sure.
Fax

Didn't Sheene do very well in truck racing??

I don't remmember Sheene driving a truck, I never followed truck racing closely, However Steve Parish did and was world champ I think.

One of the Aussie riders drove GT in Japan, was it Gardner?

Yes Parish created quite a career in truck racing.

I do definately remember Sheene doing it as well. I think Sheene had a stint in touring cars too!

One of the EX World Super Bikers drove in BTCC a few years back in a private run Astra. Scott SLIGHT ?? an Aussie maybe ?

1986 500cc champ Wayne Gardner drove at Le Mans a few times and had some success in the Aussie tin-tops.
Over here Eddie Lawson and Kevin Schwantz both tried a switch to four wheels without much luck.  Lawson in Indy Lights (he did manage to win a race or two) and  Kevin took a stab at the NASCAR Busch series.  I guess to moral to all this is that greatness on two wheels doesn't necessarily mean it will translate to four.
Fax

Think it was Aaron Slight, and he was an Aussie

Thanks barry, i was getting mixed up with Scott SMART, current Kwaker rider in BSB.

Wasn't it mike Hailwood who drove for Gulf (and Formula 5000) for a couple of years in the days of the GT 40, then went back to bikes.  Never made F1 but still as quick as the rest of the team

Mike Hailwood drove for the John Wyer/Gulf GT-40 and Mirage team in sportscars and for Team Surtees in F1 and F2, winning the 1972 Euro F2 championship.  Drove some fine individual F1 races with a best finish of second in the '72 Italian GP.  Was awarded some kind of bravery medal for his rescue of Clay Reggazoni from his burning BRM at Kyalami in 1973.  His GP career ended with a nasty crash in the 1974 German GP at the Ring driving a Yardley McLaren.  Crashed heavily on landing at the Flugplatz and badly broke his leg, never drove in F1 again.  Returned to the IOM in 1979 and won the Senior TT.  Was tragically killed a few years later in a traffic accident while taking the kids out for fish & chips.
And yes, this is all of the top of my head.
Fax

He also drove a Gulf 917 for John Wyer in 70 that he crashed into the Alfa T33/3 of Carlo Facetti that had spun.

When he got back to the pits, he was told by david Yorke 'don't call us, we will call you'

In the Sunday Times yesterday, there was a little article  on Mike Hailwood written by Murray Walker. Muzza and Mikes dads were pals apparently. I always felt he never had the right machinery to shine in F1, though I doubt he would ever have been World Champ, he may just have won the odd race. He was without doubt though the greatest motorcyclist ever.

My interest in motorbikes was largely influenced by Mike's comeback to the TT on the Sports Motorcycle Ducati. My Dad, never the world's biggest bike fan, thought it was fantastic. For that, I owe Mike a great debt. Mike and his daughter were killed, as has been said, going to buy fish and chips in his Rover SD1. The irony is as palpable today as it was then. The accident happened on the road that goes under Spagghetti Junction and was about half a mile away from where I bought my first house and I could never drive by without thinking about them.

If anyone is interested I am selling poster signed by Mike Hailwood (and Jackie Stewart) on ebay at the moment.

Its a bit tatty round the edges but both autographs are clear.

I am not really into this kind of thing, its just sitting in my loft at the moment.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8716064888&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

(I know arnage is spelt wrong!)