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Post by charleselan on Nov 25, 2020 12:56:39 GMT
Last night I had a quick(ish) flick through the latest copy of Motorsport, by and large it looks to be another very good edition.
The one item I did take time to read more fully was the interview with Johnny Dumfries and it was very good indeed. Johnny came across as a very honest almost self deprecating individual who wasn't afraid of telling his own short comings and the mistakes that he made in his career.
His year in F1 with Lotus did not came across as a particular happy affair with reliability issues plaguing his car and the fact that Senna was not particularly communicative as a team mate. Also we see that Peter Warr was all seeing in Ayrton, where have we seen that trait before.
His quite short term at TWR Jaguar brought a Le Mans victory along with Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace, his partnership with Jan also brought about a life long friendship. A good article and well worth a read.
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Post by mikael on Nov 25, 2020 19:10:10 GMT
In relation to Johnny Dumfries, I came to think ... how come that Scotland has produced so many great racing drivers? Does Scotland have a good racing infrastructure - or is it rather that the first great ones (Archie Scott Brown, Jim Clark, et al.) started an "avalanche" (like, e.g., Ole Olsen did with motorcycle speedway in Denmark)?
(Sorry about my naivety.) |
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Post by Carl on Nov 25, 2020 19:38:41 GMT
In relation to Johnny Dumfries, I came to think ... how come that Scotland has produced so many great racing drivers? Does Scotland have a good racing infrastructure - or is it rather that the first great ones (Archie Scott Brown, Jim Clark, et al.) started an "avalanche" (like, e.g., Ole Olsen did with motorcycle speedway in Denmark)?
(Sorry about my naivety.) The Romans built a wall to contain the ferocity of the Scots. It could be this same fierce determination that bodes well for success on the race track.
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Post by chrisb on Nov 26, 2020 8:51:11 GMT
this months MS is very good, as I posted on Twitter and the editor actually replied saying thank you, and I meant it, the interview with Johnny is very good and worthy of developing, tragically I missed his attempts of a Scottish Goodwood in Scotland and regret he hasn't continued this, as we have also lost a similar event at Cholmondeley, but it is a good read and contains something for everyone, some good insights into Lewis, also what is like winning your home race,
Mikael, I'm not sure if you have had the pleasure of visiting Scotland but it is a beautiful country with many windy, twisty and fast curves, corners and hairpins, it is my [very narrowly] second favourite place to ride a motorbike in the world that I have visited thus far as it tests you and machine, within speed limits of course, and can only imagine what is was like in Jimmy's day [and he was a boy racer according to Ian Scott-Watson] and there is a clip of Jimmy driving to the airport in his Cortina which might support that claim...
when I look through the list of great Scottish drivers, not just Jimmy or Jackie, but Gerry Birrel, Johnny Dumfries, John Clelland, DC, Jim Crawford, Paul Di Resta, the Franchitti brothers, Ron Flockhart, Innes Ireland, David Leslie, Allan McNish, Colin and Alistair and Jimmy McRae, Anthony Reid, Ninian Sanderson, Archie and the Stewart brothers and son, which is a pretty impressive list, of which Jimmy, Jackie's older brother was one of the earliest stars, and my apologies to those I may have missed it is a pretty impressive list from a country of 6 million, and you know when I look through that list unless I am very much mistaken apart from maybe Clelland, they are all clean and extremely competitive, I think personally it was the malts that made them so great but I could be wrong on that one,
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Post by charleselan on Nov 26, 2020 16:46:10 GMT
Two tough and resilient nations in Scotland and Denmark. Those Danish Speedway riders are pretty hard and tough characters especially Nicki Pedersen who was somewhat uncompromising.
In that list of yours Chris you have left off Tom Walkinshaw, like him or not he was a formidable race driver. Another who could qualify was Peter Dumbreck and did not Gerry Birrell have a brother Graham. In rallying how about Andrew Cowan, factory Roots driver and winner of the London to Sidney Marathon.
Wasn't there a guy called Coultard who was pretty handy in F1, someone reported the other day that Tonto wanted him as the head of whatever it is called that runs F1.
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Post by chrisb on Nov 27, 2020 9:24:32 GMT
yes I would totally agree JC, Tom was formidable, I would always remember the XJS's with Tom, they were brilliant - especially against the BMW 6's and those Volvo's - a great time
I had thought of Peter and thought I'd mentioned him, apologies Peter, and of course Andrew, as he was also friends with Jimmy, that really was an oversight, as was Robbie Head another good driver,
sorry being expedient I short-ended David Coulthard to DC, shows what happens if one is not fully concentrating,
Going back to Mikael's question about Scottish drivers, it makes wonder why Wales only had a few real stars, they have beautiful roads and great spaces to flourish, and yet in rallying they have Father and Son Evans, Dai Llewellin, whom I really rated very highly, and in F1 I can only recollect Stuart Lewis Evans, Jack Lewis, Tom Pryce and Alan Rees and I am not positive Stuart was Welsh, being born in Luton, - so I'm not sure Mikael, the only thing I can think of is that most of the Scots are from the lowlands regions and maybe it is an inherited gene from their ancestors who were the original Border Reivers [raiders] forever stealing for the wee sassenach's and having to flee their vengeance>
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Post by charleselan on Nov 27, 2020 11:41:40 GMT
yes I would totally agree JC, Tom was formidable, I would always remember the XJS's with Tom, they were brilliant - especially against the BMW 6's and those Volvo's - a great time I had thought of Peter and thought I'd mentioned him, apologies Peter, and of course Andrew, as he was also friends with Jimmy, that really was an oversight, as was Robbie Head another good driver, sorry being expedient I short-ended David Coulthard to DC, shows what happens if one is not fully concentrating, Going back to Mikael's question about Scottish drivers, it makes wonder why Wales only had a few real stars, they have beautiful roads and great spaces to flourish, and yet in rallying they have Father and Son Evans, Dai Llewellin, whom I really rated very highly, and in F1 I can only recollect Stuart Lewis Evans, Jack Lewis, Tom Pryce and Alan Rees and I am not positive Stuart was Welsh, being born in Luton, - so I'm not sure Mikael, the only thing I can think of is that most of the Scots are from the lowlands regions and maybe it is an inherited gene from their ancestors who were the original Border Reivers [raiders] forever stealing for the wee sassenach's and having to flee their vengeance> Ah Chris! The TWR XJS' fabulous machines an Tom was indeed mighty in them as was Martin Brundle, and not forgetting the awesome Win Percy. Mind you I think I have a softer spot for the Rovers still, just something about those cars that struck a cord with me. I did see your reference to "DC" by the way I just wanted an excuse to put that bit in about Tonto saying he would have been a good head of F1, not too sure i agree with that as I believe that Stefano will be excellent. That is a good one about Welsh drivers, and I agree Dia Llewellin was very good and a good chap as well, typical down to earth farmer. |
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Post by chrisb on Nov 28, 2020 8:58:26 GMT
weren't they just, my Uncle had the older Rover P5B I think which really were classical cars, I think he went to Mercs after the debacles with Leyland et al, I liked the SD1's but sorry as I had one at the time, sadly with only a 2ltr engine, I was always a Capri man, but in truth what I had always wanted was a Jag, which I now have albeit not in its first flush of youth but a Jag nonetheless and it is lovely
I am intrigued by Mikael's question and am going to have a little look into this, does country of origin influence our abilities, irrespective of financial situation - actually maybe we can get MotorSport to have a look at this and maybe give them something else to research and publish....
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Post by mikael on Nov 29, 2020 8:54:21 GMT
Mikael, I'm not sure if you have had the pleasure of visiting Scotland but it is a beautiful country with many windy, twisty and fast curves, corners and hairpins, it is my [very narrowly] second favourite place to ride a motorbike in the world that I have visited thus far as it tests you and machine, within speed limits of course, and can only imagine what is was like in Jimmy's day [and he was a boy racer according to Ian Scott-Watson] and there is a clip of Jimmy driving to the airport in his Cortina which might support that claim... Chris,
thank you for an interesting response. I have never been to Scotland, but I'd love to go some day. If this could include also a trip to the Isle of Man - that would be pure bliss! Mikael
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Post by chrisb on Nov 29, 2020 10:49:50 GMT
Mikael, it would be a wonderful trip, especially if you get to the Isle of Man, for the TT? and if you do manage to get to Scotland - the NC500 is a drive worth treasuring, just make sure you have plenty of time! and patience, not like someone I know...
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Post by robmarsh on Nov 29, 2020 19:09:07 GMT
Interesting article by Mark Hughes on driver ethics in the latest MotorSport magazine. It seems that the first guy to actually force another car off the track in a championship deciding race was Alan Jones in the 1980 Canadian GP and his very cynical move on Nelson Piquet.
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Post by chrisb on Nov 30, 2020 9:32:59 GMT
yes I read that Rob, not sure that was how I saw it, but will revisit it to double check, I mean the original ruthless driver was Farina, who was also the 1st WDC, and I seem to remember Stirling saying something about Farina and taking your life in your own hands if you tried to pass him, but I don't think Farina knocked Fangio off the circuit to win his championship. And of course Lorenzo Bandini took Graham off in Mexico 1964 and ruled him out of the championship, not sure that counts though
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Post by charleselan on Dec 9, 2020 12:12:36 GMT
Last night I decided to have a look on the Motorsport web page as i haven't been there in quite some time let alone check the comments section out.
I must say that mark Hughes race report from last weekend was a bit brief and rather bland compared to what he used to write. I think this must be the first report of his I have read this year anyway. However the comment section below the report was positively mind numbing, there were a couple of old regulars commenting, not with much sense one might add but the rest..........good grief!
Having said that some other motor sport sites are way worse with little or no moderation taking place which is criminal when racist and personal abuse are rife. I am talking here about the two I have looked at recently and they are Crash.net and Motorsport.com, absolutely disgraceful and if they are examples of modern day motor sport fans then I am in the wrong interest section.
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Post by robmarsh on Dec 9, 2020 16:04:28 GMT
Mark Hughes apparently is not getting paid for the long reports anymore hence the short bland versions we have been getting all year. He has also become very pro-Hamilton this year, far more supportive than previous years. He used to be in the commentary box with MB and Croft but I don't think that happens anymore either.
As for the comments Charles on the other sites, I don't go there, I just don't need that kind of aggro in my life from people I would not pass the time of day with. Social media in many cases is the absolute pits.
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Post by charleselan on Dec 9, 2020 19:47:20 GMT
Mark Hughes apparently is not getting paid for the long reports anymore hence the short bland versions we have been getting all year. He has also become very pro-Hamilton this year, far more supportive than previous years. He used to be in the commentary box with MB and Croft but I don't think that happens anymore either. As for the comments Charles on the other sites, I don't go there, I just don't need that kind of aggro in my life from people I would not pass the time of day with. Social media in many cases is the absolute pits. I thought that Hughes was always a big fan of Hamilton, maybe I misinterpreted his words  . The current writing that he produces for MS is very lightweight, but if he ain't getting paid for the detail stuff then no surprise as everything comes at a cost these days. I think he is still around the S*YF1 thing but maybe not in the box; probably wise as can you imagine being in there with Croft.........Jeez! I don't participate on those other sites Rob, wouldn't soil myself as they are disgusting. Social media is a strict no; no here. complete mindless crap. |
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. The current writing that he produces for MS is very lightweight, but if he ain't getting paid for the detail stuff then no surprise as everything comes at a cost these days. I think he is still around the S*YF1 thing but maybe not in the box; probably wise as can you imagine being in there with Croft.........Jeez!