Biggest Downgrades in Motorsport history

[Alextrax52]

This could literally be anything from a driver change to a car model or even a change of personnel.

I’ll start with the example that came to mind the most when I think of massive downgrades: BTCC 2010, WSR replaced Colin Turkington who’d just won the 2009 title with everyone’s favorite punching bag Andy Neate who went and scored a grand total of 6 points and never finished higher than 9th on his way to 18th in the championship

[Loadsamoney]

Niels bathplug Koolen replacing Taylor Barnard. I was pissed until I remember Dürksen is still good, absolutely carrying this bloody team.

They did it last year too to a slightly lesser degree and for other reasons, Benevides -> Mason. Problem there is Benevides already wasn’t great and that was because they were out of money.

I suppose that’s why they signed Koolen too, but at this point PHM had AIX backing, y’know, a DUBAI BASED INVESTMENT GROUP who should already have infinite money. And even then, even if they need a pay driver for some reason, bring back Nissany! He’s right there sign him, we’d all laugh and I’d still probably be a bit angry but i would be glad the Nissany legacy continues.

What is Koolen’s legacy, that he’s slow? He hasn’t done anything other than be slow, he’s no Raghunathan, he’s just the boring sort of bad. Are AIX not bothering with their good stash, is that what’s going on? WHY KOOLEN???

Thank the lord for the Paraguayan Messiah

[mario]

This could literally be anything from a driver change to a car model or even a change of personnel.

I’ll start with the example that came to mind the most when I think of massive downgrades: BTCC 2010, WSR replaced Colin Turkington who’d just won the 2009 title with everyone’s favorite punching bag Andy Neate who went and scored a grand total of 6 points and never finished higher than 9th on his way to 18th in the championship.

The 1979 Lotus 80 comes to mind for me - the intended successor to the championship winning Lotus 79 that had such atrocious handling that it was only raced three times before Lotus had to abandon it and revert back to the 79.

[Har1MAS1415]

First thing that springs to mind:

Tom Onslow-Cole leaving the Team Aon Ford Focus outfit, with whom he'd scored 4 wins, finished 4th overall and been in contention for both the outright and Independent's titles in 2010, for AMD Racing to drive their Super 2000 VW Golf in 2011.

The car had finished no higher than 13th in 2010 with Shaun Hollamby at the wheel and finished only half the races. TO-C at least managed to score the team and car's first outright points, peaking with a pair of 7th places, but mustered only 9 points in the first 12 races. From Croft onwards, he returned to Team Aon but he never won again in the BTCC, the AMD VW's fortunes also only got worse from there apart from a reverse grid pole and a trio of 8th places for Ollie Jackson in 2012.

[Har1MAS1415]

This could literally be anything from a driver change to a car model or even a change of personnel.

I’ll start with the example that came to mind the most when I think of massive downgrades: BTCC 2010, WSR replaced Colin Turkington who’d just won the 2009 title with everyone’s favorite punching bag Andy Neate who went and scored a grand total of 6 points and never finished higher than 9th on his way to 18th in the championship

To a lesser extent:

Motorbase replaced Steven Kane, who had finished 6th overall in 2010 and won a race, with Liam Griffin for 2011. The guy only scored one 9th place all season while Mat Jackson scored 4 wins, finished 4th overall, and was leading the championship with 4 meetings to go.

[James1978]

Pastor Maldonado replacing Kimi at Lotus for 2014

[Har1MAS1415]

Roberto Moreno from Benetton to Jordan to Minardi to Andrea Moda in a matter of months in 1991/92.

[Yannick]

After success in ChampCar, AJ Allmendinger left Team Forsythe for his sponsor Red Bull's new NASCAR Cup team. His career went through a major trough there. When he wins a race now, he is always celebrating exuberantly as he knows how special winning actually is. And when I get to watch him celebrate, I cannot help but feel happy for him. He's a great driver. One of the best who "got away" in the long wake of The Split.

The mention of which leads us to a major candidate for winning the category: The Split

1995 Indianapolis 500 --> 1996 Indianapolis 500 & 1996 US 500

[Har1MAS1415]

Chip Ganassi Racing in the 2001 CART Season:

Although 2000 hadn't exactly been their finest hour (Switching from Reynard-Honda to Lola-Toyota resulting in just 4 wins and their drivers 6th and 9th overall after 4 straight titles from 1996-99), 2001 was much worse. With Juan Pablo Montoya off to F1 with Williams and Jimmy Vasser switching to Patrick Racing, the team took two rookies, specifically the Top 2 drivers from International F3000 the previous year, Champion Bruno Junqueira and Runner-Up Nicolas Minassian. The latter mustered 7 points in his first two races but he only got worse from there and was replaced by Memo Gidley after Detroit. Gidley managed as many points finishes as Minassian managed points, including 3 podiums. As for Junqueira, his maiden win at Road America was his only podium all season and the only win for CGR. He managed 9 points finishes in all, exactly the same as Minassian and Gidley put together in a 20 race season (after the cancellations of Rio and Texas). He only outscored Gidley by 3 points and only ranked 16th overall. Between them, the CGR drivers mustered 140 points, the same as 5th placed Cristiano da Matta, who would go on to win the title the following year with Junqueira as his nearest rival.

[Har1MAS1415]

Can't believe no one has mentioned Emerson Fittipaldi moving from McLaren to his brother Wilson's team in 1976.

100 points in 2 years at McLaren, 37 in 5 years at his brother's team, speaks for itself.

[Har1MAS1415]

Phil Hill going from Ferrari to the Italian ATS.

From World Champion to not even scoring a Top 10 all season in the space of 2 years.

[mario]

Can't believe no one has mentioned Emerson Fittipaldi moving from McLaren to his brother Wilson's team in 1976.

100 points in 2 years at McLaren, 37 in 5 years at his brother's team, speaks for itself.

I guess it is because, whilst 1976 was a good year for McLaren, with Hunt winning the WDC and the team coming 2nd in the WCC, the years afterwards marked the start of a significant decline in McLaren's fortunes.

The M26 was supposed to have come out in 1976, but after unfavourable results, the team had to postpone it's introduction into 1977. When teams began moving to copy the Lotus 79, McLaren really floundered quite badly - the M28 was atrocious and the M29 mediocre, with the period from 1978 to 1980 seeing the extended run of bad form in the WCC (8th, 7th and 9th) that saw Philip Morris broker the takeover of the team by Ron Dennis.

To underline how bad that period was for McLaren, in 1978 and 1980, the Fittipaldi team finished ahead of McLaren in the WCC (Fittipaldi were 7th in 1978 and 8th in 1980) - and in 1978, that was despite the fact that the Fittipaldi team only had one driver, whereas McLaren had a two car line up. It was a downgrade for 1976 and 1977, but it could be said to have been a sideways move, or perhaps even a slight upgrade, for 1978 to 1980.

[Har1MAS1415]

Can't believe no one has mentioned Emerson Fittipaldi moving from McLaren to his brother Wilson's team in 1976.

100 points in 2 years at McLaren, 37 in 5 years at his brother's team, speaks for itself.

I guess it is because, whilst 1976 was a good year for McLaren, with Hunt winning the WDC and the team coming 2nd in the WCC, the years afterwards marked the start of a significant decline in McLaren's fortunes.

The M26 was supposed to have come out in 1976, but after unfavourable results, the team had to postpone it's introduction into 1977. When teams began moving to copy the Lotus 79, McLaren really floundered quite badly - the M28 was atrocious and the M29 mediocre, with the period from 1978 to 1980 seeing the extended run of bad form in the WCC (8th, 7th and 9th) that saw Philip Morris broker the takeover of the team by Ron Dennis.

To underline how bad that period was for McLaren, in 1978 and 1980, the Fittipaldi team finished ahead of McLaren in the WCC (Fittipaldi were 7th in 1978 and 8th in 1980) - and in 1978, that was despite the fact that the Fittipaldi team only had one driver, whereas McLaren had a two car line up. It was a downgrade for 1976 and 1977, but it could be said to have been a sideways move, or perhaps even a slight upgrade, for 1978 to 1980.

True.