Doesn’t it make you wonder?

March 15th, 2007
Formula Renault sensation Alexander Sims and Japan's Sho Hawana who finished 12th and DNF respectively in last weekends UK Formula Vee race were back in action the following Monday for the official Formula Renault test at Brands Hatch. During this test, Sims finished 2nd fastest with a 44.152 whilst Hawana was 9th fastest, 3 tenths slower.
Pos No. Name Nat Class Team Best Tm In Lap Diff Gap Best Spd
1 4 Riki CHRISTODOULOU GBR G Fortec Motorsport 44.009 82 - - 99.143
2 22 Alexander SIMS GBR G Manor Competition 44.152 45 +0.143 +0.143 98.822
3 23 Duncan TAPPY GBR Fortec Motorsport 44.312 27 +0.303 +0.160 98.465
4 94 Richard KEEN GBR C Hi Tech Racing 44.325 55 +0.316 +0.013 98.437
5 2 Dean SMITH GBR Fortec Motorsport 44.339 20 +0.330 +0.014 98.405
6 5 Adam CHRISTODOULOU GBR G AKA Cobra 44.367 57 +0.358 +0.028 98.343
7 11 Alex MORGAN GBR Manor Competition 44.388 42 +0.379 +0.021 98.297
8 7 Chris HOLMES GBR AKA Cobra 44.432 81 +0.423 +0.044 98.199
9 26 Sho HANAWA JPN G Mark Burdett Motorsport 44.433 36 +0.424 +0.001 98.197
10 9 Jordan OAKES GBR G Eurotek Motorsport 44.496 56 +0.487 +0.063 98.058
The previous week at Snetterton (07/03/06), Sims finished 5th fastest for Manor Motorsport with a 1:05.123, four tenths of a second off the ultimate pace. Hanawa finished 16th just over half a second off the best Sims could acheive.
Pos No. Name Nat Class Team Best Tm In Lap Diff Gap Best Spd
1 2 Dean SMITH GBR Fortec Motorsport 1:04.656 55 - - 108.686
2 5 Adam CHRISTODOULOU GBR G AKA Cobra 1:04.800 46 +0.144 +0.144 108.444
3 4 Riki CHRISTODOULOU GBR G Fortec Motorsport 1:04.929 46 +0.273 +0.129 108.229
4 23 Duncan TAPPY GBR Fortec Motorsport 1:05.053 36 +0.397 +0.124 108.023
5 22 Alexander SIMS GBR G Manor Competition 1:05.123 54 +0.467 +0.070 107.907
6 6 Jeremy METCALFE GBR AKA Cobra 1:05.208 54 +0.552 +0.085 107.766
7 34 Adriano BUZAID BRA Eucatex Premier Pet Shoptour 1:05.220 42 +0.564 +0.012 107.746
8 20 Will BRATT GBR Apotex Scorpio Motorsport 1:05.296 41 +0.640 +0.076 107.621
9 35 Kris LOANE GBR G Manor Competition 1:05.301 47 +0.645 +0.005 107.612
10 7 Chris HOLMES GBR AKA Cobra 1:05.315 54 +0.659 +0.014 107.589
...
14 3 Richard SINGLETON GBR G Manor Competition 1:05.540 42 +0.884 +0.064 107.220
15 90 Andrew MEYRICK GBR Apotex Scorpio Motorsport 1:05.684 55 +1.028 +0.144 106.985
16 26 Sho HANAWA JPN G Mark Burdett Motorsport 1:05.708 29 +1.052 +0.024 106.946
It makes me wonder if by normalising their performances, in each series, could you conclude anything about the quality at the front of UK Formula Vee? After all, last weekends top six were all drivers of equivalent youth. What do you think? Source: http://www.formula3.cc/content/view/14917/259/

Comments

Ben

March 15th, 2007

I do see you point but how much testing did those 2 guys have before they raced at Mallory (they certainly were not out in the 750 test day the week before)? The young front runners in Vee have all got at least a years experience to utlise to their benefit. I do think that many of the front runners in Vee are very good drivers but doubt you can get a good comparison until you put one from each series in a similar car that they both have equal experince in.

Flavio Galtieri

March 15th, 2007

This is a difficult question but worth airing What it boils down to is how can you judge junior drivers in different series against one another? I think Martin has a point and it does make you wonder, but then so does Ben who questions the fairness of judging on one performance alone.

During the war, as Uncle Albert used to say, it was fairly easy to see Jim Clark racing a Lotus Cortina or Graham Hill racing a 250 GTO in between F1 Events and gain the distinct impression that if it had wheels they would drive it and probably win. Latterly FF1600 was the only game in town whether you moved up to more powerful single-seaters, the BTTC or Sports Cars.

Nowadays, motor racing for a young driver with professional ambitions has become like boxing.
On the way up the ladder it’s not who you beat so much as who you don’t lose to that counts.
With FFORD UK, FBMW, FRENAULT, and now FPALMER-AUDI all offering a “route” to F3 it’s a matter of tactics as much as anything else for the well funded young driver. Sims will be racing in both FPA and FR this year. That’s called hedging your bets.

What is needed is for the governing body to get a grip and organise a proper end of year shoot out between the top 6 drivers in the top 5 single seater classes. (I’ve included FVEE here). Each driver drives each of the cars (including their own) in 5 separate races on the same day. A day earlier each will have a seat fitting and 20 minute test in the cars. Then on to race day with no excuses, the best points scorer wins a fully MSA funded drive in a National Class F3 car for the next season.

I don’t know about you but I for one would buy a ticket for that meeting, and sell the sponsorship to boot! Why isn’t it happening?

Sideways Sam

March 15th, 2007

the kids in these trendy junior series FBMW/FRen etc.. learn very little about developing the car something you have to learn in FVEE.

Also due the silly money spent in those series the driver line ups are limited to wealthy ex karters so its not a very good cross section. Its like only looking for talented people at snobby boarding schools. Whereas the real talent is to be found in the state schools.

If Martin and his like had the funding the deserve to run in the trendy series they would certainly be a match for the rich kids.

I do think that there should be national points system where the most promising drivers get picked for a MSA funded season in Brit F3

Martin

March 15th, 2007

Interesting conversation…

Ben: Yes, I think you have to get some kind of context, but you also need to remember Formula Vee is essentially a step-down from Formula Renault or similar. The learning process should be relatively small.

All this has inspired me. Expect something on the subject within the week…

dune

March 15th, 2007

Come on Flavio, Nobody involved in motorsport for a living is going to support a level playing field shoot out like you suggest. Neither will the MSA. How many Formula Vee drivers in the top 20 of the so called MSA “Elite”?
I think your boxing analogy is good though, didn’t even Senna wait until Tommy Byrne was out of the picture before moving up?
Motor racing teams make their money from selling dreams, whether in FBMW, FRenault, UKFFord or FPA. They’re not going to support a stupid idea like “Let’s find out who’s the hottest driver regardless of budget” because it will damage their trade.
Martin, keep up the good work.

churchill

March 15th, 2007

I can see where Martins coming from there are some better drivers in Fvee than some of the so called elite series admitally they don’t have the budget to do them but in my opinion, a good Fvee driver is better than a good Frenault/Fbmw driver. I Know of a driver who had a Frenault test in 2005 with only Fvee experience and ended the day quicker than a FBmw driver in the same car by some margin, then had another test with another Frenault team who had a driver who was constantly in the top ten of Frenault UK series (not BARC) and was quicker than him by about 1/2 a second. I know his budget could not put him in a Frenault but I think he proved Martins point.
He ran last year in a sports car series and had some bad luck but mixed it with some professional drivers and proved he could race with the best thanks to his year in FVee.

Martin

March 15th, 2007

A good story, churchill :-)

Comments