Hill testing GP Masters car today...

[Down F0rce]

Damon Hill is supposed to test a GP Masters car at Silverstone today. If all goes well he should take part in the race this weekend.

Feel free to post any photos and news!

[luke]

This will be awesome if we have Nigel, Derick and now Damon.

I love grand prix masters..

[Rushy]

will be great to have damon race aswell. Good smooth driving style

[Down F0rce]

I really hope the give him a car painted in the Rothmans colours and car number 0...

[luke]

Yeah it would be nice if they raced in their favourite liveries...

[SALEEN S7R]

Will be interesting to see how fast the GP Masters cars are compared to the this years GP2 machines, will be very close but I think the GP2 cars should have a edge.

[Down F0rce]

Well today's practise sessions ended about 15 minutes ago. Any word on times, etc?

[Grandslammer]

According to Autosport today,Hill hadn't any intentions of 'racing' on the weekend,merely demonstration laps

[kipper]

Originally Posted by Grandslammer

According to Autosport today,Hill hadn't any intentions of 'racing' on the weekend,merely demonstration laps

I'd have thought the chances of Hill racing were slim - ultimately, if Hill racing had a significant chance of happening then I'd have thought this would have been confirmed a while back in order to maximise ticket sales. That said, the fact that he is in the car may help change his mind.

[Down F0rce]

Hill has said he's had second thoughts about hanging up his helmet, and the purposes of his test today was to help make his mind up.

Plus, Fittipaldi only decided to race the day before the event. Maybe Hill will too.

Autosport subscribers can see a few photos. Sadly non-subscribers can only see the thumbnails.

[Rushy]

I cant find the test times anywhere??

[Down F0rce]

He definitaly won't be racing.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=37017

[peckadj]

Originally Posted by Rushy

I cant find the test times anywhere??

[graeme]

Is Hill old enough to be eligible - IIRC you have to be 45??

[Down F0rce]

Hill is 45. To be eligable to also have to be retired from all froms of open wheel racing, yet they still let Eddie Cheever race.

[SALEEN S7R]

Interesting, so far the GP masters are 9.6 seconds off the pace of the GP2 pole time. Of course I expect they will go faster than this in qualifying tommorow but the question is by how much? I know there were a few engine issues in todays practise session but I didnt expect the gap to the top GP2 cars to be almost 10 seconds.

[zac510]

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Interesting, so far the GP masters are 9.6 seconds off the pace of the GP2 pole time. Of course I expect they will go faster than this in qualifying tommorow but the question is by how much? I know there were a few engine issues in todays practise session but I didnt expect the gap to the top GP2 cars to be almost 10 seconds.

Did you expect it to be less?

It is probably a function of the chassis/tyres/regulations rather than the driver themselves.

I don't really think that making them faster will enhance the spectacle anyway.

[SALEEN S7R]

I expected it to be less yes, ok the cars arent the newest but the chassis are still pretty good they did ok in Champcar up until the end of 2002 season I think it was when it won a couple of races. The car also has 650bhp, a GP2 car has just over 600bhp, not sure how differnt the tyres are however.

I would be slightly dissapointed if they weren't doing 1:33's-1:34's in qualifying tommorow.

[peckadj]

the most interresting to me would be some results from test and practice sessions

[mini1400]

don't forget the GPM are using the Historic layout, which is shorter & faster...

[Rushy]

so there nine seconds slower on a faster track proves the drivers are old

[SALEEN S7R]

How slow exactly are these cars then? Will be interesting to see how fast the British F3 cars are in comparissan to the GP Masters machines, anyone think the F3 pole time could be faster than the GP Masters pole?

[SALEEN S7R]

Just checked the F3 pole time and it was a 1:42.722 which would be fast enough for 6th in the GP masters practise session out of 7 drivers. The GP masters quickest time was a 1:38.741 Im pretty dissapointed at the speed of the GP Masters cars, 4 seconds differnce to a F3 car isnt very much, still they should go faster in qualifying tommorow...

[Andrew Kitson]

It will be interesting to see how big the crowd is too. I fear that GPM may be a bit optimistic. I guess it will not hurt Silverstone if there is a small crowd as their circuit is hired out to GPM, they therefore have their money. I heard talk last night that 5000 grandstand tickets have been sold, hope they have far more than that, especially the cheaper general admission ticket sales.

Yet again a far too crowded calendar diluting things with the BTCC (Snett) and British GT (Rockingham) on the same day as the GPM, all at seperate venues less than 2 hours drive apart.

[SALEEN S7R]

It would make sense really to have British GT running alongside British F3 as normal, rather than having British GT racing on their own this weekend. As you say it would benefit both GP masters and British GT if they were racing at the same venue this weekend, it is strange to me that they arent as British F3 and British GT are normally together. But then that would be too easy, woudnt it, and it would make too much sense.