http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-schjo.html
http://www.forix.com/asp/pi.asp?z=0&k=0&l=0&r=6806018&c=0

http://www.forix.com/asp/pi.asp?z=0&k=0&l=0&r=8303018&c=0

—
Sylvan Smyth
syl…@islandnet.com
Victoria, BC, Canada

news:87hnqu4sl6hijbau1ila2rh16vb48pjg3v@4ax.com…

> On Mon, 14 Oct 2002 20:48:41 GMT, "Mike P"
> <michael.pearso…@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> >McLaren dominated the season, apart from Senna being taken out by
Schlesser
> >while he was miles ahead at Monza.

> Senna tripped over Schlesser rather than the other way around. No way
> was it Jo’s fault, who was doing his best to keep out of the way.
> Basically, Senna panicked because he’d backed off and let the Ferraris
> get too close…so he tried to dive through where there wasn’t room.

Yes, sorry I didn’t make that clear David. Senna was rather too impatient
that day
No blame on JLS at all..

Mike

> >Well even though I do not disagree that the world feed is crap most of
the
> >time, racing for anythin outside top 6-8 is pretty pointless, quit
> >litterally, because of the scoring system, and therefor not really
> >interesting.

> Not sure I understand you here. Why should it matter whether a
> position scores points or not? One car is trying to get ahead of
> another guy, right. They are not doing it for ‘points’. It is called
> racing.

Should have clarified. I personnaly also like racing, even if it is for
secondlast place. However, if the same fight was for 1st place, it is
infinately more interesting to me. One of the main reasons that "we" care
about racing for the lower positions is that it’s the only racing we get.

Ok, maybe not us, as we are racing fans, but the very vast majority who
follows the drivers champions and stop watching when that’s decided and even
amost of the rest too, are very fixated on the points scoring positions.
When maybe 96% of the "fans" follows the top 6 because that are the point
scorers, and then maybe 7th and 8th too, because they have a chance to move
up into the points, of course thats were the tv directors focus there
atention. And the only reason you need the digital coverage wich follows the
midfield, is that there isn’t any racing up front, just 6 cars parading
around hoping that an engine will blow up, or that their "strategy" is
better than the oposistion.

> The important thing in my book  is to get the emphasis back on the
> individual races and away for this season long irritant of
> points-scoring.

I would love that there wasn’t any championship at all, just Grand Prixs.
But that is as unthinkable to be introduced, as driver swapping. Actually,
friover swapping has a better chance!

> Preferably, I would do away with the drivers’ championship altogether.
> Recognising that to be an impossibility, why not simply do away with
> the horrid points system? The driver who wins the most races is
> ‘champion’. If two drivers win the same number of races, use
> countback.

Is it better to win one race and crash out of the rest, than finnish every
race in number 2 spot?

> What I would really hate to see is the points system extended so that
> more positions count for points and more things over a weekend count
> for points. You eventually end up like NASCAR, where you get a point
> just for finding the circuit.

I don’t want points for fastest lap, pole most led laps etc. either. And not
points for everybody who finishes either, but the top 10 would be nice in my
opnion. Would also make more of th racing less pointless in a lot of other
more casual fans’ eyes, hopefully the producers eyes, and also more
interesting for everybody not rooring for just the top 3 teams, that run
away with what 90%+ of the points?

Joakim

> I can’t really see how you can count in ALMS here. AUDI has dominated
> the last few years in the same way Ferrari has dominated F1 – with a
> car that is both faster and more reliable than anyone else.

Yes — but (A) the car’s available to customers – Dave Maraj’s Champion
team has run the works very close this year and (B) the works team are
pulling out next season.

Also, down in the classes LMP675 is very technically diverse.

> popular. Ferrari is driving the sport towards the same direction as Le
> Mans and ALMS, where few people really care which driver wins.

I can only assume you’ve never heard one of the moderators here
cursing when a certain driver is beaten — or me cheering Duncan
Dayton in 675s.  :)

pete
—
p…@fenelon.com "there’s no room for enigmas in built-up areas" HMHB

>> Jean-Louis Schlesser, unless you’re citing Our Noige’s chickenpox as a
>> cause of Ferrari victory

> Indeed I am <G>

> If he’d been there, it’s unlikely Senna would have tripped over
> Schlesser in the Williams.

True. Nige would’ve caned the nuts off the underpowered car around
Monza, probably around 7th or 8th, and it would’ve retired with
overheating problems – Williams’ favourite cause of retirements
after they’d designed the active system out of FW12.

pete
—
p…@fenelon.com "there’s no room for enigmas in built-up areas" HMHB

> Jean-Louis Schlesser, unless you’re citing Our Noige’s chickenpox as a
> cause of Ferrari victory

Indeed I am <G>

If he’d been there, it’s unlikely Senna would have tripped over
Schlesser in the Williams.
—
Stephen M Baines

I can’t really see how you can count in ALMS here. AUDI has dominated
the last few years in the same way Ferrari has dominated F1 – with a
car that is both faster and more reliable than anyone else.

Prototype sports car racing is mainly about creating the best car and
then finding a few decent drivers who can keep it on the track. F1 has
always been very focused on drivers, which is one reason why it is so
popular. Ferrari is driving the sport towards the same direction as Le
Mans and ALMS, where few people really care which driver wins.

> Paul Harman wrote:

>> I’m not sure what the win ratio was betwen them but I believe it was evenly
>> matched. They /raced/ each other for those wins, though, unlike the Ferrari
>> situation this year.

> That was the major difference, and the thing that made it so memorable.
> It was something like my second full season of watching F1, and I was
> gripped – you had no idea which of the two was going to win out. Plus
> there was the memorable Ferrari victory courtesy of Nigel Mansell and
> Williams at Monza that year. Also, it was the year – for one year only –
> that Silverstone had a marina.

Jean-Louis Schlesser, unless you’re citing Our Noige’s chickenpox as a
cause of Ferrari victory

–
p…@fenelon.com "there’s no room for enigmas in built-up areas" HMHB

That was the major difference, and the thing that made it so memorable.
It was something like my second full season of watching F1, and I was
gripped – you had no idea which of the two was going to win out. Plus
there was the memorable Ferrari victory courtesy of Nigel Mansell and
Williams at Monza that year. Also, it was the year – for one year only –
that Silverstone had a marina.

–
Stephen

Would have encouraged Arrows to have turned up a bit more often, though

Stephen