Grand Prix Rejects

So Simona was 14th, 2 laps down, the winner of the lapped class. Was this entirely expected, or could she have done better?

dr-baker wrote:So Simona was 14th, 2 laps down, the winner of the lapped class. Was this entirely expected, or could she have done better?

I'm not sure she could have done much better, the car may not have been that great and she's only run at Bathurst once before, and Renee Gracie is also not a particularly excellent driver.

simonracer wrote:

dr-baker wrote:So Simona was 14th, 2 laps down, the winner of the lapped class. Was this entirely expected, or could she have done better?

I'm not sure she could have done much better, the car may not have been that great and she's only run at Bathurst once before, and Renee Gracie is also not a particularly excellent driver.

So a result to be fairly happy about then!

Its official: Simona de Silvestro will be full time for Nissan next year

Hopefully I can get to meet her when the Clipsal 500 rolls around

RonDenisDeletraz wrote:Its official: Simona de Silvestro will be full time for Nissan next year

Hopefully I can get to meet her when the Clipsal 500 rolls around

With thanks to Barbazza for the photo, I've beaten you to it!!!

Clipsal 500 this weekend. I've decided to make a point of watching this season, 1. To see how Simona gets on and 2. Lucas Dumbrell's team have descended to almost Andrea Moda levels of incompetence.

Looking at qualifying, the top 20 or so are within 1 second as is usual with the series, Simona is 24th about 1.5 back and then you have the two LDMs well over 2 seconds back with poor 16 year old Alex Rullo having been rushed into the main game despite showing no real promise in Super 2 last season over 3 seconds down. And then there was the whole ordeal with their other car when Matt Chahda (Australia's answer to Alex Martin) was refused a license to compete in the main series (even though Rullo was accepted with similar results). After having Chahda and Aaren Russell share the #3 in the official test they went and announced Taz Douglas for what looks like a one off drive, most likely because having an unfunded but free driver is less expensive than the fine for not running the car at all. In any case LDM will be fun to watch this season.

I kind of wish Chahda had gotten to drive though just to see how badly he would have fared. Taz is competent at least but nothing special, kind of in the same league as Dale Wood or Tim Blanchard, just dull mediocrity.

Scotty Mac got a penalty for warming his tyres up behind the safety car. Erm, what?

Meanwhile, ALFA ROMEO ARE CONSIDERING ENTERING SUPERCARS WHAT IS THIS.

East Londoner wrote:Scotty Mac got a penalty for warming his tyres up behind the safety car. Erm, what?

Meanwhile, ALFA ROMEO ARE CONSIDERING ENTERING SUPERCARS WHAT IS THIS.

Yeah when did that become an infraction?

Bit of a processional opening race sadly, especially once Gis got out in front. And Rullo didn't even do anything rejectful. Well apart from being two laps down by the end. Simona had a solid solo debut considering she is the only driver in the field that hasn't raced at Adelaide before. Was snapping at the heels of Blanchard and Bright for quite alot of the race, and of course she had the LDMs beat.

Van Gisbergen has had a good start to the year so far, having gotten pole position and first on both of the races. DJR seem to be having a resurgence as well so I'm happy about that.

Meanwhile, in the Super2 Series, the starting lights had a failure of some sorf and caused some chaos at the start of the final race ( https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu--CEa5iks ).

TheFlyingCaterham wrote:Van Gisbergen has had a good start to the year so far, having gotten pole position and first on both of the races. DJR seem to be having a resurgence as well so I'm happy about that.

Meanwhile, in the Super2 Series, the starting lights had a failure of some sorf and caused some chaos at the start of the final race ( https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu--CEa5iks ).

Really stoked that Hazelwood won the second Super2 race. He was my driving instructor when I did a track day experience at Mallala and he was super friendly and gave some brilliant tips. He also complimented me on my lines so I was pretty happy with that

TheFlyingCaterham wrote:Meanwhile, in the Super2 Series, the starting lights had a failure of some sorf and caused some chaos at the start of the final race ( https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu--CEa5iks ).

Yeah that happened pretty much right in front of me. The impact knocked the concrete wall back about a metre.

As for Simona, I think she did a respectable job for most of the weekend. It took good car control to keep her car off the wall getting bumped off by James Courtney at pit entry.

Race 1 at Symmons Plains saw probably the biggest crash in touring car racing in Australia for nearly 50 years, Rick Kelly and Coulthard tangled at turn 3, and everyone backed up behind them. Tander then got turned in front of the field and basically the entire back half of the field got caught up. Davison ploughed into the passenger's side of Rick's car at high speed and has been taken to the hospital. In total, 12 cars were in it, all three BJR cars (after two of their cars had been wiped out in a lap 1 pileup in the Dunlop race early in the day), and both GRM, Walkinshaw and LDM cars. Simona de Silvestro was the other casualty, bringing Nissan's total up of cars involved up to 2.

Cam Waters....



On the plus side for everyone involved, they've declared Race 3 a non-championship race now, no points to be awarded. Though scant consolation for those guys whose cars are so torn up they can't be fixed for tomorrow I suppose...

DemocalypseNow wrote:Cam Waters....

On the plus side for everyone involved, they've declared Race 3 a non-championship race now, no points to be awarded. Though scant consolation for those guys whose cars are so torn up they can't be fixed for tomorrow I suppose...

We might see more of that as more rain is forecast with a chance of thunder

I was up in Newcastle this weekend so I thought I might post some of the things I noticed while my family was doing a drive on what currently exists of the layout.

-the circuit is, unsurprisingly kind of narrow, especially the corners that lead onto and off Scott Street
-the circuit actually has a decent amount of elevation (~25m of it if Google Maps is accurate. with the lowest and highest points on the same straight.
-the straight on Watt St felt particularly bumpy, and that was only driving at 40-50kph, if not less. the combination of this bumpiness with the elevation of the straight (rising 25m from start to end) lead to my dad making the obversation that the cars could possibly make the cars airborne, if it was raced on its current state
-I assume work has already begun on the circuit, with there being roadwork at the start of the Church St esses, making it unpassable

Just gonna make a note that I wasn't up there for the event they did on Saturday, although I did see one of the replica Triple Eight cars pull out a couple of cars ahead of me while we were driving on what's going to be the main "straight".

EDIT: Can't believe I managed to forget to mention this, but yes I will be going race in Newcastle. Only 7 months away...

Can't believe no-one has posted on this thread for months. The last time I watched a V8 race I saw the accident mentioned in the previous posts.

I just happened to come across the Newcastle race on the FreeSports channel which is on Sky and shows all sorts of random stuff. What an amazing race. McLaughlin didn't deserve to win after shoving me and drbaker's mate Simona off the track and then squeezing Lowndes at the end. And how amazing is it that the stewards made the decision on that second incident within a couple of minutes so there was no uncertainty after the drivers had stopped the cars. Are you watching, F1?

Scotty's Choke job is basically the Racing version of the Warriors choking a 3-1 lead

Season kicked off with a good Sunday race

Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race today has to go to AustralianStig’s mate Todd Hazelwood, committed shootout lap followed up by his best race result in 10th while keeping Whincup behind in the first stint.

Reject of the Race obviously goes to that pit lane incident, what the hell was that?!

(By the way can we name this thread after Alex Yoong who had a short Supercar career?)

Tim Edwards is still a grade a bellend, trying to blame Kelly was quite frankly pathetic, The incedent happened pretty much right in front of where I was sitting, Tickford made a complete horses arse out of that one.

You would be a fool to bet against McLaughlin for the title, Especially considering the Mustang is fast straight out the box. Can't say I am that surprised tbh.

Would also like to back up what has been said about Hazelwood, a quality weekend for him, good to see what he can do in better equipment