2011 British F3 off Season/Silly season news etc (merge)

[JamesRamone]

Any idea if the Oulton round will remain on its traditional bank holiday slot ?

[NaBUru38]

Peebee2, it's been posted here, which is the right thread. "Silly season" is for driver and team changes.

[NaBUru38]

2011 British Formula 3 calendar (no days!):

April - Monza (GT Endurance Series)
April - Oulton Park (British GT; bet you it's Eastern)
May - Donington Park (British GT)
June - Brands Hatch (British GT)
July - Paul Ricard (FIA GT1)
July - Spa-Francorchamps (FIA GT1, Spa 24 Hours)
August - Nürburgring (GT Endurance Series; to be confirmed)
September - Rockingham (British GT)
September - Snetterton (British GT)
October - Silverstone (GT Endurance Series, British GT)

Surprise 1: It seems that rookies would be forced into old cars. The best one would get a free ride in the min class for the next season.

Surprise 2: Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Snetterton are kept. It's Thruxton the dropped British circuit.

Surprise 3: Only two FIA GT1 dates.

Surprise 4: That GT Endurance Series... ok, wrong forum section.

[westfieldbend]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Surprise 2: Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Snetterton are kept. It's Thruxton the dropped British circuit.

Excellent - you have invalidated the post I just made in the F3 euro series thread though!!

[strider]

This is getting rather silly. There is a thread about British F3 in 2011 only here: http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124989 but people are continuing to post random stories in about 3 different threads.

[NaBUru38]

That one is called "silly season", and calendar discussion isn't. In addtion, this one is older and has more posts.

[strider]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

That one is called "silly season", and calendar discussion isn't. In addtion, this one is older and has more posts.

And most of the posts seem to be from you!

Anyway, we now know how international next year's British F3 will be, so your question has been answered.

[NaBUru38]

Not yet, since there might be some team switches from or to British F3.

The title was a subplot to attract readers/writers.

[strider]

Yes, it'll be much better than Brands. More atmosphere and better facilities.

[strider]

Here's a better laid out version of the provisional calendar:

Draft 2011 calendar

April     - Monza
April     - Oulton Park
May       - Donington Park
June      - Brands Hatch
July      - Paul Ricard
July      - Spa-Francorchamps
August    - Nurburgring
September - Rockingham
September - Snetterton
October   - Silverstone

It does seem strange to be starting at Monza, but if that's what it takes to get a meeting there, so be it. The trouble is it will probably be the best one of the year with more overtaking there than in the rest of the season put together!

I'm personally very sorry that there isn't a meeting at Thruxton, but once the decision had been taken to stay with the MSV circuits there was never going to be room. Rockingham is a truly boring circuit, but the facilities are so much better and it's much closer for most of the teams.

[bella]

unless i'm being very forgetful, i don't remember seeing anything but gp3/gp2/fbmw/porsche on this year's support package.

[strider]

Originally Posted by bella

unless i'm being very forgetful, i don't remember seeing anything but gp3/gp2/fbmw/porsche on this year's support package.

That's absolutely right, but it suddenly struck me that FBMW is no more, so in theory there should be a slot on next year's timetable, but I bet it gets taken up in some other way.

[JohnMiller]

Don't think that is quite true.

British doesn't claim to be pan-European, just International and for 2011 has six race meeting sin the UK and four in the EU.

Euroseries so far has nine dates across six countries so can't really be called "German."

European Open has eight dates across six countries so really can't be "Spanish." (Germany is added next year already).

[bella]

which is kind of the point everyone except you was trying to make in the first place...

[strider]

...and it still has nothing to do with the BRSCC!!!

[alias99]

Huertas to Carlin for 2011. Should be a strong combination and potential title challenger.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by alias99

Huertas to Carlin for 2011. Should be a strong combination and potential title challenger.

It'll be his third season next year is that right?

Good driver, but very much depends on whether they sign up a superstar in any of the other seats I guess?

[strider]

Yes, it will be his third year.

The trouble is, and it's not good for BF3, that after recent seasons drivers think they have to be with Carlin to succeed and that the VW engine is better than the Merc. To some extent it's true, but I would expect Carlinto have another Red Bull potential star, but JEV being there didn't stop James Calado and Adriano Buzaid also getting race wins this season.

This limited JEV's total to 13, which meant that he did not equal or better Jan Magnussen's long-standing record of 14, which pleases people like me.

[alias99]

Based on Red Bulls current stable of drivers only Sainz Jr and Kyvat would be heading there unless they pick up someone new which I think is unlikely. Both of those drivers did a few eurocup 2.0 races which could hint at where they will be next year.

[bella]

they're also doing the uk winter series with one of the finnish eurocup teams which would also back up that theory. (off topic - both kvyat and sainz jnr have gone well - javier tarancon has also come in from fbmw and done some eurocup and nec rounds with a fair amount of success)

press release here: http://tentenths.com/news/showentry.php?e=1432

[strider]

Don't forget that Jack Harvey signed with Carlin a while a ago with funding from the Racing Steps Foundation.

It looks as though he will be making race début with the team in Korea, which will take him out of the Rookie equation in BF3 next year.

[Richard B]

A number of drivers were testing last week at Silverstone including:

Carlin: Carlos Huertas and Jack Harvey
Raikkonen Robertson: Bart Hylkema and Pipo Derani
Sino Vision Racing: Kevin Zhu
Hitech: Pietro Fantin
Litespeed: Tom Blomqvist

Don't suppose anybody has the times?

[strider]

No, the teams would be able to give you an idea, but there would be nothing official.

[alias99]

Alex Sims tested at Silverstone for RR. Possible that he will do a full British Campaign?? Definite title contender for next 2011 if it happens.

[dave not neil]

Originally Posted by alias99

Alex Sims tested at Silverstone for RR. Possible that he will do a full British Campaign?? Definite title contender for next 2011 if it happens.

I wouldnt get to exctied. Just prepring for Macau I'd say, as he is running with RRR, as ART aren't going...