GP Masters South Africa - post race discussion

[dtype38]

Watching the race I must admit that by half way through I was starting to think "procession". But the second half was great. Then I thought more about how long the drivers had had to get used to the cars and could well understand them not taking risks at the beginning. After a few more races they will probably go at it right from the start..... bring it on

[Splendid Cat]

Walker = racing commentator

Mansell = Racing driver

Cheers buddy!

[Spudgun]

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done Nige! Great scrap between him and Emmo.

I've noticed the comments that the first part of the race looked 'staged'. To be honest, I'm not surprised. Okay, they've had tests, practice sessions and qualifying sessions but the race would have been the first time that many of those guys had gone wheel to wheel for a few years. Once they'd settled down and found their racing feet again the second half of the race was a cracker!

If this does have a proper series in 2006 I think it really is going to be a success. The cars were able to follow each other and the drivers working the cars was a joy to watch.

[Raglanparade]

So which 45+ drivers have ever ruled out stepping into one of these cars ??

So far we have heard both Damon Hill and Gerhard Berger, who else would be unlikely ?

[dtype38]

I suspect Niki Lauda might take a bit of persuading.

[luke]

Originally Posted by Splendid Cat

Not read all posts so I may have repeated previous comments...

How utterly depressing - the whingeing eyebrow wins and that finger-nail-on-blackboard voice of murray walker.

I thought those days were a distant, dark memory.

Strictly personal mind, I'm sure the sycophantic will be screaming "off with Splendid Cat's Head"

Anybody else out there that loathes the Mansell / Walker club?

I think your the only one, so is membership free?

[Sodemo]

I thought it was great.

Need more cars though, lets get some more drivers out there!

[Boro]

Originally Posted by chunder

Gotta say fair play to Emmo who looked fit as a fiddle after the race, far fitter than eve Nigel to be honest, not bad for 58 years of age!
Was a good race, nice to see they are poushing and given a decent chance to race, the cars look tough to drive on the limit ad I think the organisers have done a better job making the racing close than A1, which is basically an Arabs dream come true and not much more than a feeder formula

with a wife i like that, i think it's hard not to be fit

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by Splendid Cat

How utterly depressing - the whingeing eyebrow wins and that finger-nail-on-blackboard voice of murray walker.

I thought those days were a distant, dark memory.

Strictly personal mind, I'm sure the sycophantic will be screaming "off with Splendid Cat's Head"

Anybody else out there that loathes the Mansell / Walker club?

I'm sure there are some but I'm not one. Why does that make me a sycophant. When I'm watching Mansell, I watch him as the great racer he is; what are you doing? As for Murray, he is still better than James Allen! Very strange post Splendid Cat.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by The Monster

I thought it was great.

Need more cars though, lets get some more drivers out there!

Yup!

Summararily it was a bit of a show to begin with, Nige was messin about but Emmo clearly wanted to get on with it!!

Warwick looked damn quick when he got in 'the groove' and was bit unlucky to get washed out during a move on Lammers and have De Crasheris get back past him, who was also very impressive!

Image of the rcae for me was that Stuck v Danner scene early on - oh boy that was tremendous stuff side by side for 3 corners and Christian getting the place back on the outside by braking massively late.

Steve Johnson looked pretty peeved at having gone out so soon..his face on the pit wall said it all: 'Please please, i wanna get back out there!!!'

There's plenty of drivers born 1960 or before...

Obviously we'd want to see Prost, Piquet, Rosberg, Lauda and Sckeckter (if they can be persuaded) along with other front runners from the past like Gerhard, Brundle, Moreno, Boutsen, Nannini, then there's the likes of Grouillard, Fabi, Cecotto, Giacomelli.

I'd love to see Mario too, but i fear he might be pushing it a bit, judging by poor Jacques, who seemed to frighten himself silly!

What a show though, Brit round will be a sell out!!!!

[JohnMiller]

Was good.

Murray is very infectious, albeit still hopelessly inaccurate.

Hopefully, in 2006 they will have real races - rather than this 'staged demo.'

[foreversideways]

Brundle would be an excellent addition to the series. Still fairly fit, has some recent racing history and still has something to prove. A few of the others mentioned would either probably not consider a comeback or are to out of shape. Jones i think underestimated how much of a challenge it would be and how out of shape he is. It's a shame Lauda is not interested as he would be a big name.

[John Turner]

Yes, indeed, Martin would be a great addition to the grid, although like so many of them now, he probably has other business commitments that might prevent him from doing it. Some of the other names, are likely to be lost causes, but as has been mentioned, Prost looks as though he's up for it next year. I'd have thought Keke might be, too. It would certainly be good to see grids of around 20 to 24, next year!

[chunterer]

Absolutely John!

This whole concept could become pretty major (so long as certain administrators don't deem it to be too popular!)

To be fair some of the guys, and this isn't meant to be ageest or anything, may not be upto this sort of duration - i think Laffite is pushing the envelope there at 60's plus, so that may also mean that Andretti and Reutemann might be bit uncomfortable, who knows?

But then again i'm sure a certain Mr Moss would dive straight into it if he thought he was fit enough!!!

I agree, there's enough decent, appropriate drivers out there to make up a big grid - i also got a visual impression that there were more than the entered 14 cars going round yesterday - maybe because they are quite big cars?

I'm trying to think of other guys who maybe never got the recognition they deserved but were more than capable pedallers in the seventies and eighties and are still well known - those who might be active in some way or another still?

The likes of Grouillard, Giacomelli (thought he did some GT couple years ago or am i getting muddled up with Gabbiani?) and Moreno wouldn't take long to get on the money, mind you Moreno would probably clear off as he's only recently not had a CART ride!

What about Mike Thackwell?!!! I'd love to see him get tempted into a go, surely he tried to do F1 over a couple of years and show everyone what he could have achieved in his pomp!!

[foreversideways]

Mike Thackwell had crossed my mind to, however i dont think he would qualify.

[SpawnyWhippet]

Some good names there, chunterer. Stirling is probably too old to do this now, I competed against him in the 2004 Tour Auto - he was smooth and obviously very talented, but just didn't push the car for any speed. Not sure how he went in the Festival of Speed though?

[chunterer]

Bet that was good Andy!

But like you say, it probably wouldn't be appropriate for him now, i mentioned him to balance my points about what is and isn't sensible for some of our more elder Masters.

But i guess we ought to leave it upto them - if they want to do it, good for them!

Can't say it enough thought it was fabuloous to see them all panning round Kyalami- mid race onwards things got more serious and we saw some pretty intentful moves!

[John Turner]

Yes, Moss, the Maestro is 76, now; I don't think he would want to do it and I wouldn't want to see him exposed to such modern powerful machinery. At best he would be pottering about at the back. I think we have to be realistic here; we cannot reasonably expect the great drivers of the distant past to participate. Probably would be best to put an upper age limit of say 65 on this. It would still give us a 'rolling' 20 year spread and the potential for new drivers most years. Mind you, on that basis, if Derek Bell wanted to do it, it would have to be next year, as would Jochen Mass! Mario would also be ineligible as he was 65 last February!

Those who have mentioned Moreno - good choice, and he would undoubtedly be competitive. What about Jean-Louis Schlessor even if he only did one GP (but will always be remembered for it!) - should still be pretty fit. Mike Thackwell was an inspired choice but he walked away from racing 17 years ago. Ah, we can but dream of who we would like to see!

[chunterer]

Amusing and bang on comment John!!

I guess we really want to limit it to the big names and champions and the organisers would probably prefer it that way too as it's bound to further their chances of a series and ticket revenues!!

But if certain superstars stay away that's where the likes of Moreno and other leading guys from a few years back like Brundle (Cecotto, Roberto Guerrero?) etc can come into play as they are still known drivers around the world...

In fact it's a bit of a dicotomy, if that's the right word - some of the 'younger' guys like Moreno and Brundle didn't win any F1 titles in their day compared to the masters, but they were top line and will in all likelihood be the pace setters ahead of the older Masters?

The organisers would have to be a bit careful....

[alesi95]

De Ceasaris, Stuck and Warwick were quite spectacular werent they.
Wish the race could have go on longer, but that would have probably hospitalised some drivers wouldnt it.

[SpawnyWhippet]

I have been scouring the satellite and terrestial channels in Oz looking for this race, but no luck. Anyone happen to know if the series will be released on DVD, or any generous soul has a copy on DVD that I might borrow or download?

[nickyf1]

Originally Posted by maximus

Such a shame that Motors TV tried to ruin it with awful commentary and odd technical problems.

whatcch it on the BBC with Murray then!

[nickyf1]

Originally Posted by touringlegend

Fantastic race! Three people made it for me, Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi and the great Murray Walker!

Even after 4 years away from a mic, he comes back, and to me, beats any other commentator hands down. I'm just sad I'm not old enough to have witnessed more of his work.

you should get his autobiography then! thats what i did.

[Suze]

getting his autobiography isn't quite the same, nicky...

[maximus]

Originally Posted by nickyf1

whatcch it on the BBC with Murray then!

I did. But I wanted to watch it live as it happened. It doesn't mean I have to enjoy the way it was presented though, the BBC did a much better job, I enjoyed the race much more for some reason.