GP Masters

So if we do the maths on average he does okay ... like any average steerer.

While Gilles Villeneuve used to have crashes, etc. these were usually caused by trying to get too much out of an not so good car ... PT just does this sort of thing every now and then.

Please note being average at CART level still means you can drive, but at a level below F1 (maybe equivalent to being average in the European F3000 series) ... but miles better than me

Pete

 

I can but agree with you here. I would like to talk to Ron about this though.

CART resently has done itself a diservice with drivers like De Matta making the series look way below par. When JV and JPM moved to F1 they made CART look good because they were quick ... since De Matta most peoples opinion has been that CART is going backwards unfortunately.

I fullr realise that it takes skill and hard work but when somebody moves from one series to another and looks way below par then one does start questioning the quality of the other series. Like I said earlier De Matta AND Michael did not help the reputation of CART.

To be fair to Michael I guess I was expecting/hoping for the amazing talent his father had ... I guess that was an unrealisitic expectation.

And like I said if when you move up a series and look bad then the series you came from is obviously not at the level you first thought. Thus the fact that he was one of the fastest drivers in CART ... when he and recently De Matta made CART look very average ... well heck it does not mean much to me (ie. that he could beat the rest of the CART drivers).

But I will concede that he was one of the better CART drivers ... but when you have drivers like Paul Tracy who is amazingly irratic, well it looks like I am watching Australian V8 Supercars.

Heck who am I to talk!, Australia cannot even run a decent single seater series ... we just have the Australasian NASCAR equivalent, along with the beer drinking spectators . Saying that it is Bathurst this weekend and my couch is being prep'ed .

Pete

 

Off topic here .. Has the Bathurst circuit changed a lot from the past. I have driven it in the game Grand Prix Legends and it was stunning - it had cool twisty downhill section where I used to always slide off - also it had a cool straight with some ups and downs in it - if memory serves me right

 

Absolutely awesome track. The only major change has been to conrod straight which now has the kink in it ... due to a death there a few years ago due to a brake failure or something.

I've driven around it (it actually is a public road!!!!) a few times in my then family car and a van and even in the van it is impossible not to get the blood pumping. Going on to the back straight (conrod straight) is amazing ... it is so steep ... and well you just try and keep to the speed limit

The poor old Nissan hit something like 150km/h before I could regain control of myself ... and that probably was with the family in the car

It still is one of my ambitions to race on that track ... I guess in a real race car is now out of the question, but maybe in a historic or something ...
Pete

 

The truly great ones prove themselves almost instantaneously. Whether that be Senna in the rain his rookie year, Schumacher qualifying the Jordan 7th in his first grand prix, etc.

You sound like Mario making excuses for his favorite son. The son that himself said that he should have gone about committing to F1 with a full effort. But instead, he hopped on the Concord twice a week to go back and forth from Nazareth. That's not how Senna went about his F1 job.

 

Right on the money. In addition, Zanardi was stuck with the settings on his car given to him by Patrick Head. When he had his own new Chassis and Engineer (Frank Dernie) he was flying for the last few races but also had a lot of car trouble. I think Michael was a hell of lot better racer than Damon Hill who had the best car like JV. Michael's problem was not his speed it was his committment. In addition, at the time CART was so strong that it made Eccelstone and probably Ron Dennis glee showing that the CART Champion couldn't hack it with the Euro Snobs.

 

Your last 2 sentences hit the nail on the head I suspect.

I also was not aware that Mansell did not do well on the CART road courses. All I can remember was him walking the championship ... guess my memory is failing. I actually never was a Mansell fan ... while very fast he used to crack at the first opportunity. It took him way too long to turn in to a decent F1 driver. He was lucky the British needed a representative on the grid otherwise he would have been moved on before ever getting the completely dominant car.

What I cannot understand is why F1 was so unimportant to Michael Andretti?
Pete

 

Pete, I don't think Andretti's wife at the time made it easy for him to be quite honest. When he got divorced later he was at his best in driving in my opinion. I think had he been in a different stage in his life he would have made F1 more important.

Mansell in CART, racing Emmo and PT at Milwaukee was one of the best races I have ever seen, it was absolute finger nail biting stuff and it was truly magic. As far as Mansell he was pure entertainment in the fact that there was always some chaos in his Press Interviews. In his early years at Lotus after Colin Chapman died, Peter Warr could not stand him and wanted to get rid of him badly. When he went to Williams in 85 he started becoming a truly fine driver.

 

You sort of answer your own query in later posts; the cars they all drove were great, if not the best.

With reliability being so strong these days, it seems none of them have to put in their "dues" like in old times.

 

Watch Mansell in the FIA 1990 season and the guy is great to watch. Your right that Mario got sick of Mansell's complaining and did cut him off, but the 94 Penske was a great car as well. However, I do agree Michael would have won it as well in 93. Mansell only screwed up at Indy because he was not familiar with the Yellow Rolling starts. He should have won Indy in 93.

 

This really needs to be on TV....

 

I though Alain Prost had also signed to be in the lineup, anyone knows what happened? I was hoping that he would be dueling against Mansell again.

FYI: www.gpmasters.com

According to their TV listings, here in the US, all we get is a lousy "ESPN highlight" coverage. People at SpeedTV/Fox are such IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Alan Jones couldn't handle what these cars did to his neck and didn't race also no word on why Prost wasn't there.

Any idea when the ESPN highlights will be on ?

 

Yes, it was fun. Some fine racing at the front. Also Andrea de Cesaris and Derrek Warwick put in some smooth moves.