So lets have a look at the burning issues...
CHEQUERED AND RED, MR STARTER
Sad news from Mendips, as one of the legends of the Rostrum is hanging up his flags for the final time. Andy Chant, aka Mr Starter, has called time on his starting career. A real shame as he is one of the characters of the sport, and a many time sparring partner of myself. I really think he will be missed at Bristol as he and Lively seem to be the only 2 that have a clue about F2.
FIXTURE FARCE
It's great that the World Final remains in the same date (if only so I can book the Travelodge now!)
Semi finals are on the Saturday of the August Bank Holiday. Now to the Scots it's just another weekend, but to the rest of the country -it's a bank holiday weekend and one of the busiest to head either east or west. With the world and its Jonty, Tarquin, Alice and India heading to those lovely shires of Padstein, the A303 becomes a bigger banger track than Smallfield. I remember in 2006 when Mildo had the world, we set off in reasonable time, but because of the A303, we rocked up at 10 minutes to start time, in a mild panic. Not just that, but the bank holiday weekend is traditionally a very busy weekend, with some drivers doing 2 or 3 meetings. To add the strain of the weekend to a track which is not the greatest to get to from anywhere outside of Bury St Edmunds, seems ridiculous. Why not designate a weekend in the fixture list for the World Final and Semi Finals, and do not change it. It worked perfectly this year, albeit with 2 trips to Bristol in consecutive Sundays, so why change it?
TYRED OLD ARGUMENT
The results of the tyre testing for the contract for 2014 and beyond have come in, and the drivers have to make up their minds
Potentially, this new contract could make a lot of tyres scrap if the contract is changed again. The midland tracks appear to be tyre killers, but yet you can win a St Day final with a tyre considered scrap by some.
So the results came in and the drivers will decide
Costs (inc VAT):
American Racer £66
DMack £66
Hoosier £78
Yokohama £52.50
Wear (after total of 120 laps - Birmingham)
American Racer - First 60 laps it showed a lot of wear, then seemed to level out and very little wear over the last 60 laps
DMack - Tyre wear was very good and thick sidewall
Hoosier - Tyre wear was on a par with the DMack and showed up well all day
Yokohama - Proved to last longer and still had grip even when tyre had done 100 laps with the drivers present
One
thing is clear, F2 drivers need a voice on the board of the sport.
Making a blind decision about testing is wrong. Lets have extensive
testing at EVERY track next season to give an informed decision for 2015
going forward. Whats good for Birmingham, may not be good for St Day. A selection of different drivers, with different chassis and on different surfaces. A
rushed ill informed decision will not be good for the sport, but good
for some promoters who want to see the end of F2. Let's have a sensible,
reasoned discussion this winter between active drivers to move forward
and make this sport more affordable, realistic and competitive.
But has the decision already been made as driver consultation has not been allowed to develop or be informed. Perhaps as big a decision as this one should be made with the drivers blessing, and scruitiny.
We have to ask the questions over the next couple of weekends to get a clear answer from the promoters....
Another volatile winter is on the cards folks. Batten down those hatches....
