A British Aussie V8 Driver?

[Clyde P. Puffer]

With Ben Clucas moving to Australia to compete in the F3 Championship, does anyone think he could ever make it in the V8 leagues?

[GTRMagic]

We have never seen him race here... he would need to be outstandingly good, and attract the right sort of attention to get on in the sport... same as everyone else.

[Clyde P. Puffer]

If he could fight with the big boys would he be excepted? There might be a link with the new TWG (Tom Walkinshaw Group) and the Holden now being imported here in the UK! It might also bring the series to the British public...

[GTRMagic]

If he put his car on pole and dominated the events (in what is the best car in the field) he may get noticed.

There have been quite a few Poms wander down this way to run in endurance races...

[carbontub]

The kids not a bad steerer actually he will worry a few in f3 thats for sure.

[GTRMagic]

He is quickest in private practice at Wakefield this weekend.... again, with the equipment, should be at least a second quicker than the rest...

[carbontub]

I would actually tip him to win it GTR with ease

[peckstar]

we already have a british v8 driver and very competitive he is too

[Craner Curves]

Ah you mean The Enforcer?

[stmookeyj033]

And rumours that Tom Chilton is in the frame for an enduro ride, and with Adam Sharpe in the Tubby Taylor AirCon Series, I'm a bit worried that the invasion is coming well before November.

[tiko]

I think what a few of the UK guys dont quite get about our F3 series is that its not very competitive. Again, this weekend is the first round of this years series and 10 cars have shown up for practice. There are also only four F304 cars in the field. If Ben Clucas has talent at a euro race winning level, he'd be wanting to pole by at least a second and win races by over 5 seconds to attract any notice from V8Supercar teams. Whats not in his favour is that Formula 3 isnt a support catergory for the V8's and the series isnt televised on the major channels here in Aus, so a V8 team owner or driver scouter would have to looking out for him.

[Craner Curves]

Clucas hasn't had a regular season in the UK since 2002 and was dropped by the Toyota driver development programme, so I guess he is glad to take a full season in anything he can get.

[kmsport]

I'm not sure that the profile of the Aussie F3 Championship is big enough to raise too much interest from V8SC team hierachy.

[D.R.T.]

Tiko maybe do a little research before posting such outlandish and incorrect statements.

Originally Posted by tiko

Again, this weekend is the first round of this years series and 10 cars have shown up for practice. There are also only four F304 cars in the field.

Tiko, firstly Friday for this years Camas National series which F3 is a part of, is only Private Practice, many teams have sufficient data not to run on the Friday and dont see it as neccessary. Look at Saturday qualification for the proper indication of the field.

Also as an indicator of the competitiveness of this years field, have a look at the Press releases around the place and have a look at the drivers and teams in this years championship. Its going to be good.

Originally Posted by tiko

Whats not in his favour is that Formula 3 isnt a support catergory for the V8's and the series isnt televised on the major channels here in Aus

Except that in 2006 Australian F3 Championship will be shown on the 9 network, SBS and Foxtel. If they arent major television channels, maybe you could explain to me what is ???

[GTRMagic]

Interesting qualifying Here but not as quick as you might think, certainly slower than first practice

Not sure why Leanne Tander is so far down either...

[rdmdog]

Well it sorta gets you wondering why he headed alkl this way, arent there a plethora of openwheel classes closer to (his) home to choose from?

Seems most people were a little slower in the second session, I wouldn't call 5th too bad for Leanne in her second ever outing in the car. pretty competitive in the midfield, Ill be going for a look tomorrow

[tiko]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Tiko maybe do a little research before posting such outlandish and incorrect statements.



Tiko, firstly Friday for this years Camas National series which F3 is a part of, is only Private Practice, many teams have sufficient data not to run on the Friday and dont see it as neccessary. Look at Saturday qualification for the proper indication of the field.

Also as an indicator of the competitiveness of this years field, have a look at the Press releases around the place and have a look at the drivers and teams in this years championship. Its going to be good.



Except that in 2006 Australian F3 Championship will be shown on the 9 network, SBS and Foxtel. If they arent major television channels, maybe you could explain to me what is ???

My apologies DRT, 2 more cars showed up for qualifying. So again 12 cars in the so called premier open wheel catergory in Australia? Pretty pathetic. So why did half the field, 5-6 cars, hire the track mid week for a day? Also appears most of them ran friday, so it looks to me like the teams are still gathering data not using their "bank of data".

Competitiveness? 12 cars seperated by 6 seconds? 3 seconds covering the top 9? Press releases are typically used to keep a sponsors or the media informed, generally not used as a measure of competitiveness for a catergory.

On the other hand I am pleased they have TV coverage on 9, midday on a saturday? I'm sure every v8 team owner and driver scouter will be tuning in to that.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by tiko

My apologies DRT, 2 more cars showed up for qualifying. So again 12 cars in the so called premier open wheel catergory in Australia? Pretty pathetic. So why did half the field, 5-6 cars, hire the track mid week for a day?

Apologies for that Tiko. I did believe that there would be more cars out for Qualifying and racing, but I was wrong.

Originally Posted by tiko

Competitiveness? 12 cars seperated by 6 seconds? 3 seconds covering the top 9? Press releases are typically used to keep a sponsors or the media informed, generally not used as a measure of competitiveness for a catergory.

I was more using the Press release as a means of confirming entries of names and teams with helps with assessing the competition.

I wouldn't give up on F3 tiko, come F1 GP or A1 GP time there should be 20-25 cars as there were last year fighting it out.

Originally Posted by tiko

On the other hand I am pleased they have TV coverage on 9, midday on a saturday? I'm sure every v8 team owner and driver scouter will be tuning in to that.

9 on Saturday and SBS on Sunday and Foxtel showing the coverage a multitude of times.

This is one of the best deals for a National category in years (apart from v8's), way better than what TRackside gave other categories. So I am sure talent scouts not only from v8's will have any trouble viewing the action. Lets remember that not eveyone if F3 wants to drive in the v8s aswell.

[mike_slh]

Well Ben Clucas seemed to do a good job today , winning by 5 and 10 seconds respectively.

http://www.formula3.com.au/results2.asp?id=061wake

[rdmdog]

His car certainly seemed to be acting the part a lot differently to the rest, must have a good team on his side.

Will be interesting when they go to some smoother tracks though I would suspect.

[karting legend]

Well done Richard Lyons pity is he has so much talent and no F1 tests.Well done to 888 for giveing him the chance its a pity F1 should do like wise but then again it is money not talent.

[kmsport]

Originally Posted by rdmdog

His car certainly seemed to be acting the part a lot differently to the rest, must have a good team on his side.

Will be interesting when they go to some smoother tracks though I would suspect.

has anyone clued to the fact that 1) The driver is an experienced British F3 driver
supported by...
2) Experienced British F3 Engineer
...?
The gap could even have been larger!