davies and smith

[donny]

   good luck to jamie davies and guy smith at le mans this year, if you were to go back say 5-7 years ago you would have bet ur life you would be seeing these names in f1 today , especially davies.i can only imagine its down to lack of money,well good luck to them both i hope they can achieve an all brittish victoty for the first time in 47 years.

[Fax]

I do agree that both of them have deserved a shot at F1 but sadly the F3 landscape is littered with the careers of guys who shoulda, coulda, woulda had the talent to cut it in F1 but not the bankroll to get them in the door.  Quite how Oliver Gavin managed to get passed over by F1 remains one of the great mysteries of the universe, same with Tom Kristenson.
John

[Matt Harper]

A bit of a thorny issue this. There is an awful lot of politics involved in this and your face just has to fit. I have a close friend who happens to race cars. His name is Andrew Kirkaldy and his career started off spectacularly (Autosport Driver of the Year, PSR star driver and Veloqx 360 driver in NGT)
At the Spa 24 Hours last year he was 3 seconds per lap faster than team mate Guy Smith in an identical car. This season, he can't get a drive. What's all that about, then?

[jpchenet]

Maybe if we sponsor the Morgan we could put him forward as a driver??  

[donny]

i totally agree, although i would say that davies  has to be the biggest mistery, like gavin  he is a mclaren autosport award winner , but look at 1994 in formula vauxhall juniour, 4 wins,5 poles, 7 lap records, if he had had the right equipment he wud have won the f3 title over firman or gavin in either 1st or seconed season, then theres the f1 tests davies had, posting very quick times with mclaren and when testing with franchitti and firman at jerez being the quickest of all 3 drivers.look at him with dams in f3000, he really should have won that title over zonta. my favourites are olly gavin and davies but just feel davies deserves it more. as for ralph firman i dont rate the rich little mummys boy at all.

[Fax]

If the car would start?  If he had the right equipment? Engine changes?...yadda, yadda, yadda.  At the end of the day you've got to be with the right team in the right place at the right time.  And you have to bleed commitment and killer instincts of a World Champion.  If you've made it as far as a national F3 championship and still haven't made to F1, don't point fingers.  By that point you have to beg, borrow and steal your way into F1.  If not...go sportscar racing or take your chances in Indy Cars.
John

[pretzel]

Even if you bleed commitment like Fax says AND you are in the right place at the right time, even then the outcome can be unpredictable (LM 2003 for example).

Take a look at the book Flat Out, Flat Broke by Perry McCarthy to see just how difficult it can be.

[Fax]

Pretzel,
I think you hit it on the screws by bringing up McCarthy.  Speaking of beg, borrow..and beg some more.  I have nothing but the highest regard for the "Stig"  He should have won the highest medal of bravery that Engalnd has for trying to qualify the Andra Moda at Spa of all places.  If memory serves me correct he did it with a lose steering rack (as well as a screw lose upstairs!)  Perry epitomizes everything that a true racer will go through to get into F1 and the Andrea Moda fiasco is the poster-child for everything that is wrong with contemporary motor racing.  As I mentioned some time ago, racing should be done by racers, not by idiots who happen to fall into a big chunck of wedge like that Italian shoe huckster (the Andrea Moda owner) who thought he was a F1 team owner only to get thrown in the clink for passing bad checks.   As much as people may dislike Frank Williams and Ron Dennis, they've been there, put in their time as struggling mechanics and starving blokes and earned the rewards that F1 has brought them.
John

[donny]

i know exacltly what u r saying , but i was just relating to who deserves it the most, i spoke to a very realible source the ova day at an event in london, he told me that davies and olly gavin should have made f1, and that people dont understand the situations they were in, i.e. money.

[Ruptured Duck Motorsport]

Flat Out, Flat Broke was my read of the year - fantastic from page 1 to the very end!