Future drivers

Kiwi3 · 5 Jul 2008, 02:56 (Ref:2244354)

Just watching F. BMW from Sepang on TV and there is a British driver called Kazeem Manzur. After checking on Wikipedia it seems he did well in karting, so seems to have a lot of potential. While he is British his background is Pakistani, so perhaps Pakistan will have a good driver available in a couple of years and Adam Khan will have to fight him off.

I wonder what other potential drivers are out there for the developing motorsport nations in A1GP. Anyone know any to keep an eye on?

nkfan · 5 Jul 2008, 23:00 (Ref:2244821)

Jazeman Jaafar for malaysia maybe !!

He was the youngest to win FBMW Asia as a 15 year old..
currently in FBMW Europe..

ss_collins · 6 Jul 2008, 02:27 (Ref:2244891)

I think the trick is to work out the no.1 driver from a non motorsport nation (ie look left <---). Then you can gauge what potential a nation has, and look at the money they have to throw at it.

So take a look at at say Niger, who is the top driver? oh no drivers at all. - No team. And it may be worth looking at 'european' drivers with dual heritage, like khan or Lewis Hamilton...

diabloA1 · 8 Jul 2008, 07:49 (Ref:2246886)

Quote:

Originally Posted by nkfan

Jazeman Jaafar for malaysia maybe !!

He was the youngest to win FBMW Asia as a 15 year old..
currently in FBMW Europe..

Yeah, he's got potential. Good kid and surprisingly very mature for his age. Because of his age he should have a few more seasons before driving in a proper race for Team Malaysia.

He is now experiencing how tough it is to race in Europe. He is struggling but the experience is very important for him.

He was invited last year to the WilliamsF1 HQ.

Lam Pak · 8 Jul 2008, 10:13 (Ref:2246992)

for asian teams i should say you should keep an eye on

malaysia: jazeman jaafar (petronas is lifting him up)

china: zhu da wei (formula asia 2.0 revelation)

indonesia: rio haryanto (15 years old and quick now)

korea: recardo bruins (he was quick in german and he is haf truism)

pakistan: nobody. kazum is british national.

lebanon: nobody.

Kiwi3 · 8 Jul 2008, 14:55 (Ref:2247193)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lam Pak

pakistan: nobody. kazum is british national.

That does not matter, he has Pakistani heritige so would be eligable.

If David Zhu is all China has coming up then they must be hoping Frankie Cheng will keep will be driving for many more years to come.

kipper · 8 Jul 2008, 17:45 (Ref:2247329)

Probably one for the longer term, but the Indian team is providing some financial support for Coventry based kart racer Rossano Bhandal.

JamesRamone · 8 Jul 2008, 18:46 (Ref:2247375)

David Coulthard for A1GP Britain in season 4

JOWT Blog · 8 Jul 2008, 19:58 (Ref:2247446)

Kazeem Manzur has been very impressive in karts and cars. It's been fun watching his progress in Formula BMW. The former Zanardi Kart hotshoe has a bright future.

nkfan · 8 Jul 2008, 23:30 (Ref:2247606)

wow ..never heard about some of those drivers....will be keeping an eye on Rossano !!

JOWT Blog · 8 Jul 2008, 23:56 (Ref:2247616)

Quote:

Originally Posted by nkfan

wow ..never heard about some of those drivers....will be keeping an eye on Rossano !!

Rossano actually picked up his A1GP backing from India after running out of funding. He sent a letter to the team requesting support...must have been a good letter.

Let's hope he doesn't rush his development as that seems to be a growing trend.

Kiwi3 · 9 Jul 2008, 03:17 (Ref:2247649)

Quote:

Originally Posted by kipper

Probably one for the longer term, but the Indian team is providing some financial support for Coventry based kart racer Rossano Bhandal.

Is he from India and has moved the the UK early or is he British of Indian origin? If the former it is a good idea to move to a developed motorsport nation earlier rather than later.

eveningladies · 9 Jul 2008, 12:49 (Ref:2247944)

Personally, I think it's a great shame that Craig Dolby has so far not been let loose in the GB car.

Lam Pak · 9 Jul 2008, 13:16 (Ref:2247963)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

If David Zhu is all China has coming up then they must be hoping Frankie Cheng will keep will be driving for many more years to come.

im chinese and im most offended i've ever been. dont huck the chinese drivers.zhu is showing he is very quick in asia. cheng is better now but he needed many time in europe to get quick. china hasnt been a country for sports cars and now that we are coming to conquer the world there is always someone trying to tear us apart. zhu is the perfect driver to be second to cheng and dont see other chinese upcoming driver to overshadow him.

kfsracer · 9 Jul 2008, 17:09 (Ref:2248096)

No offense Lam, but David Zhu is nowhere near Frankie's level... I agree that it took a long time of european racing for Frankie to get where he is...but still, even before going there if was at completely another level than Zhu...

I'm not saying chinese can't have good driver, sure they will, but I can't say I agree on Zhu being the next hope or being able to partner Frankie in an A1 car.. At this moment Chinese officials should try to implement a better ladder system in China with promotion and discovery of real talent, without the whole politics in the middle as is the case at he moment.

Kiwi3 · 10 Jul 2008, 01:36 (Ref:2248358)

Quote:

Originally Posted by kfsracer

No offense Lam, but David Zhu is nowhere near Frankie's level... I agree that it took a long time of european racing for Frankie to get where he is...but still, even before going there if was at completely another level than Zhu...

I'm not saying chinese can't have good driver, sure they will, but I can't say I agree on Zhu being the next hope or being able to partner Frankie in an A1 car.. At this moment Chinese officials should try to implement a better ladder system in China with promotion and discovery of real talent, without the whole politics in the middle as is the case at he moment.

Well said. I hope more better drivers emerge from China in the next few years. But sadly without a proper racing ladder in place I can't see it.

Valker · 10 Jul 2008, 08:21 (Ref:2248486)

What about 15-year-old AFR racer Cao Hong Wei? His currently 2nd in the series behind his team mate - and ahead of Jim Ka To. For sure the level of Asian FR isn't great right now because of the split, but I still believe he may become a good racer in couple of years...

Lam Pak · 10 Jul 2008, 12:42 (Ref:2248592)

you have reason when you say the fasc doesnt promote young drivers but you are wrong when you say zhu dai wei isnt in congfu level. congfu was nothing when he left china. he spent 4 years in england doing damages in fr2.0 uk. your empirical think confirms a number of equilibrium relationships implied by a1 team china.

any way do you have any other chinese to second congfu? i see 3: zhu dai wei, michael ho & hanss lin

cao hong wei? cao is 2 cause the afr level is amateurship and he races with a factory car (pekka=frd=organisation of championship=extra hp). dont compare him to zhu dai wei pls. open your eyes pls.

kfsracer · 10 Jul 2008, 13:39 (Ref:2248629)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lam Pak

you have reason when you say the fasc doesnt promote young drivers but you are wrong when you say zhu dai wei isnt in congfu level. congfu was nothing when he left china. he spent 4 years in england doing damages in fr2.0 uk. your empirical think confirms a number of equilibrium relationships implied by a1 team china.

any way do you have any other chinese to second congfu? i see 3: zhu dai wei, michael ho & hanss lin

cao hong wei? cao is 2 cause the afr level is amateurship and he races with a factory car (pekka=frd=organisation of championship=extra hp). dont compare him to zhu dai wei pls. open your eyes pls.

Frankie was not bad went he left China. He had won the AFR and while he was not at the greatest level I believe he was better than David Zhu now is. I'm telling this having talked about it in the past with Frankie's instructor at the time (who also had David Zhu for a few sessions)...

Regarding Cao Hong Wei, can't tell as I am not closely following FRD championship.

Forget Michael Ho... Hans Lin isn't great but would be the best out of the three you mentionned...

META4 · 10 Jul 2008, 16:17 (Ref:2248715)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lam Pak

you have reason when you say the fasc doesnt promote young drivers but you are wrong when you say zhu dai wei isnt in congfu level. congfu was nothing when he left china. he spent 4 years in england doing damages in fr2.0 uk. your empirical think confirms a number of equilibrium relationships implied by a1 team china.

any way do you have any other chinese to second congfu? i see 3: zhu dai wei, michael ho & hanss lin

cao hong wei? cao is 2 cause the afr level is amateurship and he races with a factory car (pekka=frd=organisation of championship=extra hp). dont compare him to zhu dai wei pls. open your eyes pls.

Sorry to make this thread a bit political but AFAIK Hans Lin is Taiwanese and NOT Chinese, even if China would love to see Taiwan part of the chinese Empire...

Regarding Michael Ho... well why not Jo Merszei... no seriously i guess the only one who could be able to drive this new A1GP car would be Chinese Hong Kong driver Marchy LEE, who is a decent driver

Kiwi3 · 11 Jul 2008, 04:46 (Ref:2248973)

Please keep politics out of it, this is a motorsport forum. Also please stay on topic, there are separate threads to debate the merits of the various Asian region championships.

In my opinion none of these drivers are or will in the future be near Cheng Congfu's level. Cheng was good in Formula Renault before he went to the UK, although as he now states it was in years in the UK that made him into the driver he is now.

META4 · 11 Jul 2008, 06:33 (Ref:2248992)

if for you "Kiwi3" none of this drivers are at the Level of Cheng Congfu, then it tells all the story of China Motorsport level...

Cheng Congfu was part of the McLaren ,if i am not wrong, a well as Mr Lewis Hamilton. Cheng Congfu is the most experienced that the Formula Renault UK has ever had , 63 starts, and no win in the main championship.

I am sorry i still rate Marchy Lee for much better than Cheng Congfu, even if he is not anymore a "Future Driver"

What about Jiang Tengyi , Ma Qinghua ?

Lam Pak · 11 Jul 2008, 13:06 (Ref:2249178)

kiwi3 i'm bored out of my mind of your sometimes mummy speech therapist and social trainer. people knows what he want to talk. a chinese-tainese guy like hanss lin is not politics. he has been also called by a1 team china for testing last year. on the other hand, stop blaming the chinese driver series on high pitch than normal voice with a sharpening of vowels. good results in good championships makes us understand who is good and who is not. isnt that about the future drivers? gotta?

2nd driver for cheng needs to be young. zhu is healthy and young. marchy lee had his period but gotta **** on a1 team china cause they didnt let him race in zhuhai last year. he went mad and no longer can race for china. hanss lin is a celebrity in taiwan and dont want spend time beeing just rookie. he is proud of his skills. cao hei, zheng dong, jim ka to are not prepared yet. jiang tengyi and ma qing hua are no longer racing. i don't know when I
we will see them again.

kfsracer · 12 Jul 2008, 04:36 (Ref:2249532)

For what it's worth, Jim Kato would be better prepared than David Zhu for a A1 rookie... by a mile...

META4 · 12 Jul 2008, 06:21 (Ref:2249554)

AFAIK Jim Kato never drove anything faster than a Formula Renault 2000, maybe did some testing in Formula3 but nothing else than that

no the best way to get in a A1GP car , even more now with the new car with a lot of HP

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