Grand Prix Rejects

Good to know Osella is still slow. I'd have to agree though, 26th is a bit low... The test at Brands should help.

1983 European Grand Prix



....de Cesaris is so getting fired.

Sure,Jacques Laffite ran away with the race to close things right back up in the championship,and sure Elio de Angelis put in a solid performance to finish second,but the real story of the race was what happened with Patrick Tambay. Running in a fine 3rd place on the last lap,giving him and his team a nice podium to boost up the standings,he came across the lapped car of de Cesaris coming out of Surtees and down Pilgrim's Drop. At first de Cesaris was acting like the kind backmarker he should be,pulling down to the inside and letting Tambay through. However,as the pair approached Hawthorn's,de Cesaris inexplicably turned left and collected the Frenchman,eliminating both from the race. Tambay was furious and started to run down de Cesaris and have a little chat. de Cesaris,however,was in no mood for Tambay's chatter and pushed the Frenchman aside. Fines,fees and penalties are scheduled to be released in the next edition of F1 Headlines. John Watson tootled past the wreck to finish third for McLaren,and Alain Prost had a terrible race by his standards,barely stealing fourth in the last three laps from Derek Daly,who incredibly scored his first points of the season, though this can be sourced to the absolutely rotten luck and injury break of his. Sixth was Niki Lauda,who spun at Paddock Hill on the final lap and nearly flipped the car over,but got it righted to cross the line.

Nigel Mansell did not have the best of afternoons,though Marc Surer was having the best of afternoons,putting in some fabulous defensive manouvers in order to take seventh away from Mansell. Abloreto was climbing through the field but got halted by the Surer-Mansell battle and constant engine misfires led him to finishing ninth.Keke Rosberg finished tenth despite a flapping rear wing endplate after an over-ambitious overtake by Derek Warwick ended with the Brit leaving the race early at Surtees.Jarier finished eleventh,while Patrese had trouble after trouble after problem after spin after trouble,in that order,that saw him battling with Boutsen,having a similar set of problems and mishaps,andBrian Hento and Mauro Baldi had an interesting duel to not finish last.

Now to the DNF range of the leaderboard:Johnny Cecotto suffered a puncture 8 laps in,damaging the suspension,Warwick's demise has been covered,Eddie Cheever slid straight on at Druids trying to scythe through the pack and Martin Brundle retired when the rear wing came loose and a pants-browning spin into the barriers followed.Brundle was okay,the Empire was not. Nelson Piquet had trouble with his TURBO,six laps later Rene Arnoux complained of similar TURBO problems.Teo Fabi made a right mess of Stirling's despite a promising position in the midst of the Surer-Mansell battle. Danny Sullivan apparantely thought the barrier at Stirling's was a good place to be and joined in the fun two laps later.Manfred Winklehock retired on lap 68 with,you guessed it,TURBO problems,and we all know what went down with de Cesaris and Tambay.

----------------------------------------------------------

Driver's Championship (Round 10/16)
1.Jacques Laffite--36 (3 wins)
2.Elio de Angelis--36 (2 wins)
3.Alain Prost--31
4.Patrick Tambay--29
5.Niki Lauda--20
6.Michele Alboreto--18
7.Eddie Cheever--15
8.Keke Rosberg--13
9.Nelson Piquet--12
10.Danny Sullivan--8
11.Marc Surer--7 (1 2nd)
12.John Watson--7 (1 3rd)
13.Andrea de Cesaris--4 (1 3rd)
14.Riccardo Patrese--4 (1 4th)
15.Nigel Mansell--3
16.Derek Warwick--2 (1 5th,3 7ths)
17.Derek Daly--2 (1 5th,1 11th)
18.Rene Arnoux--2 (1 5th,9 DNFs)
19.Thierry Boutsen--1

Constructor's Standings (Round 10/16)
1.Renault--67
2.Ferrari--65
3.Williams-Ford--28
4.McLaren-Ford--27
5.Tyrell-Ford--26
6.Brabham-BMW--16
7.Arrows-Ford--9
8.Alfa Romeo--6
9.Lotus-Renault--5
10.Toleman-Hart--1
---------------------------------------------

thank god we have a spare chassis

F1 Headlines

de Cesaris fined,banned
After taking out Patrick Tambay from 3rd place at the European Grand Prix yesterday on the last lap,Andrea de Cesaris has been fined 5000 Pounds as well as a one-race ban for "dangerous driving". Alfa Romeo have already nominated a replacement,in the form of Bruno Giacomelli. Giacomelli formerly drove for the team from 1979 to 1982,but was replaced by Arnoux and could not find a drive anywhere.

Theodore in trouble

Sure,they were not everyone's favourite team,but Theodore may be on the brink of collapse,running low with financial issues everywhere. This is getting to the point where Theodore might not even run the last couple of races on the calendar. The team have already started to take cost cutting solutions,intending to replace Brian Henton with Raul Boesel after Germany,and maybe even having to shrink down to one car. However,Teddy Yip still has plans to keep his Formula 3 team running strong.
----------------------------------------------------
Formula One Official Testing Session,Brands Hatch,July 24 1983


Four teams stayed in Brands Hatch after the European Grand Prix to carry out some tests. Michele Alboreto simply stayed on to help develop a new rear wing endplate design for Tyrell,Arrows were experimenting a new engine upgrade for Ford,though the key word is experimenting,while both Martin Brundle and Corrado Fabi were testing out new chassis developed by Empire and Osella respectively. Michele Alboreto,Marc Surer and Derek Warwick all showed an mprovement over their qualifying times,Martin Brundle had a staggering time for the teams standards and Fabi....not so much.
---------------------------------------------------------
July 24th,1983.

Thomas Travers was packing up the team truck when he saw Jackie Oliver walking directly towards the Empire truck. Mr. Travers thought Oliver might need a restroom somewhere,or he was going to talk to the Tyrell crew further down the pitlane. However,the restroom doors were quickly bypassed,and the Tyrell truck had already scampered from the pitlane. Heck,even the Arrows truck was ready to go. Despite this,Oliver still walked towards Mr. Travers. He knew Oliver wanted to talk to him. Having told the guys in the truck to wait for a few minutes,he started to walk to Oliver. The two met in the deserted,empty paddock with rubbish strewn from the Grand Prix weekend.

"Hello",said Oliver. Not exactly the most original of greetings,but good enough to get a conversation started. He continued,"I've come to talk to you about something. A deal,actually"

Mr. Travers nearly froze. Jackie Oliver,head of Arrows,quickly rising as one of the more respected people in the paddock,asking a new,upstart team owner who barely has any experience in Formula One and has a rental for a transportation truck? This could only mean two things: takeover,or a nice,working agreement. "What's the deal?" asked Mr. Travers,almost stuttering,but getting the question across matter-of-factly.

"Let's call it a working agreement," Oliver began,"You see,we are running a turbocharged car next year,though we won't disclose the engine until later. The fact is,we might struggle with the handling of a car with a turbocharged engine.Yet,somehow we seem to be up front,maybe due to how we manage to get every single horsepower from the engine onto the road."Oliver sounded doubtful,but Mr. Travers had that eager look on his face that helped Oliver continue with his proposal.

"So,I'm planning a deal. You help us get adapted to our new turbocharged engines, and we will help you in the design of your next car. What do you say?" Mr.Travers was all ready to sign,seal and deliver the agreement,but Oliver sort of winced in his voice. "But we have condition you may not agree with us on."

"What is it?" Mr. Travers questioned,finally getting his words out after a relatively one-sided conversation.

"We get Brundle."
--------------------------------------------------

ISSUE:Should Mr. Travers agree to Jackie Oliver's proposal?

a)Yes (Arrows and Empire increase in performance,Brundle moves to Arrows)
b)No (Nothing changes)

24 Hours to vote,so type in your vote now!

I think a so then we can try and get senna or Bellof for next season

I vote Yes - Brundle is good but in my opinion doesn't have what it takes to be a future world champion. There are plenty of other talented young drivers out there!

EDIT: This is based on it being from next season onwards? If they want Brundle straight away I'll change my vote to No.

If I understand that correctly, the deal will take effect for 1984, right?

I''m not quite sure how a bundle of inexperienced engineers on the course of their first formula 1 season would help Arrows, without bringing much more problems, but this is Arrows problem.
However, I'm not quite sure if they may help us that much in design (I mean they wont teach our designers all their secrets), but sure there must be an improvement.

So I see the deal like that: we lease them for some time engineers and they lease us designers. Which is a win-win situation for both.

However, I believe that Mr. Travers should ask some money (lets say 250 k) for releasing Brundle. With these money we could hire Bellof (the only fromula 1 driver of Bulgarian origin), Gerhard Berger or even Senna.


SO my vote is YES!

pycku wrote:If I understand that correctly, the deal will take effect for 1984, right?

I''m not quite sure how a bundle of inexperienced engineers on the course of their first formula 1 season would help Arrows, without bringing much more problems, but this is Arrows problem.
However, I'm not quite sure if they may help us that much in design (I mean they wont teach our designers all their secrets), but sure there must be an improvement.

So I see the deal like that: we lease them for some time engineers and they lease us designers. Which is a win-win situation for both.

However, I believe that Mr. Travers should ask some money (lets say 250 k) for releasing Brundle. With these money we could hire Bellof (the only fromula 1 driver of Bulgarian origin), Gerhard Berger or even Senna.


SO my vote is YES!

You do know Bellof is German

Arrggghhh.

Dammit, I like Brundle. I really do. And I genuinely believe that he has the ability to win Grand Prix.

But he definitely can't win for our team, at least not for the foreseeable future. Moreover, Empire can't afford to languish near the back for too much longer, especially with our conditional Guinness sponsorship for next season. A technical partnership with Arrows could prove to be very fruitful indeed.

Allow me to wish Martin all the best then, and thank him for his instrumental contributions to our team in its nascent year. It is my sincere hope that Empire Racing and Martin Brundle will look back upon this season fondly and part ways amicably.

Now let's bag Bellof. And put a clause in his contract that forbids him from racing sportscars.

Sorry for the...little bit of confusion. The Brundle switch will only take effect from next year onwards.

In my opinion we should take the deal.
Our car isn't that good at the moment so we need improvements.
Brundell isn't a bad driver but even for him it would be better to join Arrows.
So i vote yes. Than try to get Senna, Berger, Bellof or Teo Fabi and kick someones ass

Hmmm...as much as I think Brundle has potential, we need the technical guidance, and its not as if Brundle is the only decent young driver out there. I vote: Yes, accept Arrows offer

Jackie Oliver is a bastard for the Brundle clause, but we must consider the long-term survival of the team, especially with the terms of the Guinness sponsorship. So, it is a reluctant yes, and hopefully we can pick up another young gun forthwith.

If it's not until next year, then, and with the car probably mattering more than the driver anyway... yes.

if it can help the team get further up the grid then i say yes to the offer

I will say yes to the offer.

I'd give Senna a ring first before making any decisions.

Aerospeed [JerMcC] wrote:I'd give Senna a ring first before making any decisions.

Or Bellof...

takagi_for_the_win wrote:

Aerospeed [JerMcC] wrote:I'd give Senna a ring first before making any decisions.

Or Bellof...

Or both...

The driver is the most expendable part of the setup. As much as I like Brundle, it makes sense to let him jump to a higher-ranked team and pick up somebody else for 1984. Although I see Senna and Bellof are a couple of the most-touted drivers at the moment, I believe there's an Austrian driver by name of Gerhard Berger who's got the potential to hack it in F1...

roblomas52 wrote:You do know Bellof is German

Yes I do, I said of Bulgarian origin

Ataxia wrote:The driver is the most expendable part of the setup. As much as I like Brundle, it makes sense to let him jump to a higher-ranked team and pick up somebody else for 1984. Although I see Senna and Bellof are a couple of the most-touted drivers at the moment, I believe there's an Austrian driver by name of Gerhard Berger who's got the potential to hack it in F1...

I would like to see Berger in our car! Maybe he isn't as expensive as Senna or Bellof.

Hermann95 wrote:

Ataxia wrote:The driver is the most expendable part of the setup. As much as I like Brundle, it makes sense to let him jump to a higher-ranked team and pick up somebody else for 1984. Although I see Senna and Bellof are a couple of the most-touted drivers at the moment, I believe there's an Austrian driver by name of Gerhard Berger who's got the potential to hack it in F1...

I would like to see Berger in our car! Maybe he isn't as expensive as Senna or Bellof.

We may need to consider a couple of additional expenses if we opt for Berger however. Repairs for flooded hotel rooms, opportunity costs from being held up at airports due to sabotaged passports and documents, the replacement of all the carbon-fibre briefcases that would inevitably be thrown from helicopters...

Hermann95 wrote:

Ataxia wrote:The driver is the most expendable part of the setup. As much as I like Brundle, it makes sense to let him jump to a higher-ranked team and pick up somebody else for 1984. Although I see Senna and Bellof are a couple of the most-touted drivers at the moment, I believe there's an Austrian driver by name of Gerhard Berger who's got the potential to hack it in F1...

I would like to see Berger in our car! Maybe he isn't as expensive as Senna or Bellof.

Bear in mind that Senna has money from Nacional bank, Banerj jeans and wealthy dad; and I'm sure if we nabbed Bellof we could pick up a good bit of German backing

VOTES TALLY

ISSUE:Should Mr. Travers agree to Jackie Oliver's proposal?--10 Yes,0 No.
----------------------------------------

Mr. Travers hesitated before agreeing to the deal. He hesitated so long,Oliver could have built another chassis by the time it took Mr. Travers to make a decision. Finally,he said, "I'll agree.But,why Brundle?"

Oliver took no time to respond. "He has talent. Looks at that. Your original chassis fixed up in one month. You should'nt have qualified even once. Hell,I was surprised to see you even finish the Race of Champions. Not that I'm saying your car or your team is s***,but Brundle dragged that silly thing all the way up the order." Mr. Travers was almost taken aback by this,but Oliver ignored his reaction and continued. "Then again,you may be wondering why I didn't ask Toleman for advice? Or ATS? Or Lotus? Or even Spirit? That's because your team has one thing which I doubt any other team has more of than yours. Potential. You guys had just over a month to get a car ready. And you did. You guys didn't need to take part in the Race of Champions. But you did. That car should have corroded in the rain at Montreal. And you got a top 10 out of it. That's why I picked you. Given a healthy chunk of time,you guys could be the next,excuse the pun, Empire of Formula One. And you might just be the next hot name in the sport. Just give it time."

With that,Oliver departed,leaving Mr. Travers alone in the Brands Hatch paddock to ponder for a while,in almost complete silence. He then returned to his truck,started the engine,and left the paddock,smiling wider than he ever did in his life.

May I suggest to contact some young hotshots immediately and offer them a pre-contract for the next season?

Julien wrote:May I suggest to contact some young hotshots immediately and offer them a pre-contract for the next season?

I have a feeling that will be our next decision...

I think at first we should concentrate on finding a decent engine and some more sponsors for next year.

1983 German Grand Prix--Qualifying



The tree-lined fast blast at Hockenheim is always a magnificent sight to behold and hopefully one that will never die. Driving this long circuit is almost special,and so was the battle for pole today. Elio de Angelis and Nelson Piquet were playing a fantastic game of "Anything you can do,I can do better". They were constantly bettering the other's lap time every instance they crossed the line,and the crowd were loving every minute of it. The real magic came at the end. Nelson Piquet set a stunner of a time as the flag went,almost a tenth ahead of de Angelis. By then de Angelis was rounding Ostkurve. Knowing this was his last chance, he powerslided through the hairpin of the Stadium section. Few turns left. Boom. Pole. Piquet was left almost dumbfounded when he saw de Angelis' time.

In fact,he was almost as dumbfounded when he saw third and fourth-the two Alfa Romeos. Heck,the leading Alfa Romeo was driven by someone who never drove this year's car until this weekend;Bruno Giacomelli. Replacing a one-race ban for Andrea de Cesaris,Giacomelli used every bit of his Alfa power and slipstream to get third ahead of Rene Arnoux.Derek Daly edged out Riccardo Patrese for fifth,Patrick Tambay was quite a way back,just ahead of Nigel Mansell and the leading non-turbo,John Watson,who gone for broke in the chicanes. And then came the two Renaults,both suffering lower than normal boost pressures.

Now we come up to the new boys on the block...and it's not Empire. The Spirit team make their official Formula One debut this weekend,having given a sneak preview at the Race of Champions. Stefan Johansson was apparentely in high spirits when he ended up ahead of both Williams',though admittedly they were lack a turbo, and ATS and Empire,who weren't.Not a bad start,and here's hoping for them to suceed in the future.

Johansson could be a good option if Senna is unavailable...

Taking longer than normal to update this,and I barely have any time to update this as well,so expect this one to have slow updates from now,but never expect this to end soon.

1983 German Grand Prix



Ferrari had the best race possible. A one-two finish garnering maximum points for their team as well as for main championship challenger Elio de Angelis is a superbly dominant drive.

Renault had the worst race possible. Alain Prost battling with midfielders all race long and getting caught up in incidents while Jacques Laffite retires from a decent position. Nul points.

Somehow,Bruno Giacomelli can beat Renault for worst race possible. Given a chance to impress replacing the banned Andrea de Cesaris,Giacomelli replied and promptly stuck the car third. Next,he beat both de Angelis and Nelson Piquet off the line to lead even before Nordkurve.However,entering the stadium section,the Alfa engine wheezed to a halt. Turbos were to blame,and Giacomelli kicked the car in obvious anger/disgust/negative feeling. Meanwhile,Tambay was already up to third,and made short work of Piquet through the Ostkurve to support his teammate,and the two were never seen by the rest of the field again. Piquet lost another place to Arnoux before the lap was over,as Patrese,Daly,Alboreto who was the beneficiary of the heavy drafting,Laffite,Watson,Mansell,Lauda, and Alain Prost,with Teo Fabi leading the trailing pack.

A bit of classic slipstreaming followed,though Daly found extra power in his Lotus-Renault and sailed ahead of the rest of the field for the time being.Theirry Boutsen made a right mess of Clark Chicane,and ended up with a heavily damaged suspension with tyre barriers impacting the Toleman. No less than two laps after that,Jean-Pierre Jarier's left rear decided to wiggle free following a botched pitstop all around,comparable to Martin Brundle's little mishap in Belgium. Jarier parked his now-tricycle next to Boutsen's car,and was soon followed by Boutsen's teammate,Teo Fabi,though with a smokier clutch than usual. While all this madness at Clark chicane was occuring,the Ferraris were still way ahead of everyone else,Daly was being a lone ranger,which made the top three pretty much static. Piquet,Arnoux,Patrese,Laffite and Mansell were all having their own madness,with the McLarens and Alboreto getting involved by 5% horsepower,95% slipsteaming,yet they each maintained their gap over the rest of the field led by Alain Prost.Though that pack would quickly disperse.

Laffite was the first to bite the dust when he pulled into the pits when the brakes were jammed on and wouldn't let go,ending his chance of points. Then came an incident. A Big One. As TV directors were focusing on a slowing Arrows,that of Derek Warwick at Ostkurve, Rene Arnoux decided to have the great idea of overtaking Nelson Piquet going into the Stadium section on the inside.However,Riccardo Patrese decided to force the issue by attempting a move down the outside.All this with Nigel Mansell attempting to combat the three Naturally Aspirated cars who were using the power of slipstreaming. You know the result. At the exit of the first turn of the stadium section, Patrese slid from the outside to the middle,squeezing his teammate straight towards Arnoux. Arnoux was left with nowhere to go and turned Piquet heavily into the outside wall as Patrese spun into the barriers on the outside.Mansell spun as the crash happened in front of him,which may have saved his race. The three slipstreaming Nautrally Aspirated cars went straight into the wreck. Watson,leading the pack,tapped the brakes,causing Niki Lauda to impact the rear of Watson and send him flying into Piquet's still spinning car,also giving Lauda a damaged front wing. And,somehow,Michele Alboreto snuck through all the carnage to take third. Even Alain Prost,running quite a distance back, did not avoid the wreck,impacting whatever was left of Lauda's nose and sending the Frenchman into the pit lane as well. Damage report: Piquet and Watson retired immediately,with Piquet sent to the local hospital for checks,Arnoux had to retire four laps later,Mansell only suffered time lost from Alboreto,Patrese had a long pitstop to assess and repair the damage done to his car,while both Lauda and Prost pitted for new noses.

Despite the calamities,no red flag was shown,thus giving Ferrari an easier time to cruise to the chequered flag,though there was still a scary moment when de Angelis did a complete 360 exiting the final chicane,but that was probably a victory doughnut. Derek Daly would be pleased with a third place finish,Michele Alboreto even happier with fourth in a track no one expected a naturally aspirated car to score points,fifth was Nigel Mansell,marking Lotus-Renaults first double points of the season,and Niki Lauda kept Alain Prost away for sixth. Ferrari,though,were on top of the world.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Driver's Championship (5 Rounds Remaining)

1.Elio de Angelis--45
2.Jacques Laffite--36
3.Patrick Tambay--35
4.Alain Prost--31
5.Niki Lauda--21 (1 win)
6.Michele Alboreto--21 (2 2nds)
7.Eddie Cheever--15
8.Keke Rosberg--13
9.Nelson Piquet--12
10.Danny Sullivan--8
11.Marc Surer--7 (1 2nd)
12.John Watson--7( 1 3rd)
13.Derek Daly--6
14.Nigel Mansell-5
15.Andrea de Cesaris--4 (1 3rd)
16.Riccardo Patrese--4 (1 4th)
17.Derek Watwick--2 (1 5th,3 7ths)
18.Rene Arnoux--2 (1 5th,10 DNFs)
19.Thierry Boutsen--1

Constructor's Standings (5 Rounds Remaining)

1.Ferrari--80
2.Renault--67
3.Tyrell-Ford--29
4.McLaren-Ford--28 (1 win,1 2nd,2 3rds)
5.Williams-Ford--28 (1 win,1 2nd,1 3rd)
6.Brabham-BMW--16
7.Lotus-Renault--11
8.Arrows-Ford--9
9.Alfa Romeo--6
10.Toleman-Hart--1
-------------------------------------------------

Bah, Giacomelli's DNF means that we won't be using Alfas any time soon

Booo to all the people who said we'll get a point this year.

It's just not going to happen.

What, we're only two minutes behind the leader

August 9,1983.

Thomas Travers was back in his office. Looking around,he saw some workers playing a fairly lazy game of catch,while others were carrying on repairing the chassis that had crashed at Brands Hatch. It was a slow day,which Mr. Travers hates,since he wants to get himself,and other people to work quickly.Then he had an idea.

Start work on the 1984 chassis now. Why hadn't he thought of it before?The full regulations for next year were published after the European Grand Prix,yet despite that the teams had been full focus on the 1983 car up until now. If work for the future for the 1984 car starts now,there will be much more time to collaborate with Arrows,more time to think up and create new designs,prevent the rush that saw this year's car,though it was admittedly a stroke of luck with the performance that chassis had. Sure,they have yet to really secure a deal with any engine manufacturer in 1984,but this year's prize money and sponsors will surely help development. The only problem is that the 1983 car will suffer,as with such a small workforce in the Empire team that they can only concentrate on one car at a time,and starting work on 1984 means this year's car will not get any more upgrades to deal with the changing world of Formula One.Mr. Travers quickly set up three possible dates to start work on making the cars....and then came another issue.

Mr Travers looked outside. He had two chassis for this year. He liked the fact he had two cars to rotate,yet he wanted to see both race together.Side by side. Represent Empire more...officially,so to speak. Two cars may just be a bit expensive,two cars might be a stretch for the engineers and there is yet no contracted driver with Empire for 1984. However, two cars means more potential results,and maybe even a potential sponsor bonus from Guiness for twice the advertising. It sure was an interesting prospect,but first he needed to make a decision. Two of them,actually....
--------------------------------------------------------

ISSUE 1:When does Empire start working on their 1984 chassis?

a)RIGHT NOW (More time to design car with Arrows,probably faster car,1983 performances will suffer)
b)After the Italian Grand Prix (Best of Both Worlds)
c)After the season is over (1983 Performances stay updated,less time to design car,probably slower car for 1984)

ISSUE 2:Expand to two cars in 1984?

a)Yes. (Expensive,need more drivers,higher chance of good performances,potential sponsor bonus)
b)No. (Cheaper,less drivers required,lower chance of good performances,no sponsor bonus)

Vote NOW.Or a day after this post,if you really want to.

Issue 1) After the Italian GP
Issue 2) Yes

Issue 1) Design after the italian GP but i think ot would be better if we try and get an engine supply, otherwise you could be desgining a car and the engine might not even fit properly and that will lead to a redesign whick could affect the car

Issue 2) Go for 2 cars, with the sponsers points clause it gives as a better chance of scoring points especially in a race of attrition

1. Start designing now, as AustralianStig has explained. (Edited)
2. Stay at one car, since nobody is really lining up to drive for us.

1. Start now - small gains this season are not worth as much as large gains next season.
2. Yes.

1. Start now. Strike whilst the iron is hot, so to speak.
2. Yeah, if we're going to be taken seriously as a team then it's vital to make a full challenge in 1984.