Hot tips for Bathurst

[Roy]

I think the ruling was that Skaifes door was ok at first, but then after the safety car, due to the extra congestion, vehicles in close proximity it became a safety concern.

Doesnt make sense really as after 30sec of racing under green the only car he would have overtaken would have been Murphys, which i dont think he would have caught even if he wasnt black flagged.

Makes me want to sell the Skyline and start saloon car racing, emulate Doughboy in a VN (Are you reading this?)

[Guest RedLineGTR]

i rekon as soon as the door had the problem they should of made him go in....not wait like 4 laps before they decided while the safety car was out..because they thought it might hit some of the other cars etc etc...and other teams were bitching about it..

[Guest RedLineGTR]

i still say bring on the r32GTR to kick thier ass again..

[Smiley]

Bowe is a winger, Skaifes passing move was perfectly fine as was S. Richards. from what I saw JB saw he was being passed and tryed to suddenly close the door but far too late. He bitches and moans about other drivers causing inccidents but I think he should work on his own driving first.

All credit to Murph and kelly they did a fantastic job would have been a really good fight to the finsh with skaife if they hadnt pulled him in, which if they were going to do it should have been done right away instead of near the end.

Disappointing weekend from SBR, I'm a holden fan but I still like to see a good contest. Jimmy and steven's duel for 4th near the end was great! as was Larry Perkins' drive, he may not have the pace but there is no denying he knows how to make a car wide and fend people off how long was ingall behind him!

Congrats to Shuey on another F1 championship too all in all a great weekend of motorsport.

[Roy]

I dont like Ingall at all, so i loved seeing old LP holding him at bay.

What would make me really happy is Ingall putting the car into the wall over the next few rounds and SBR drop him.

Dont think its that much of a stretch as they dont tolerate poor results, only have to look at Baird, Longhurst, Besnard, Larkham, over past seasons, they have all been chopped at the drop of a hat.

Not likely to happen but as far as recent results go, Ingall makes silly mistake at Sandown, didnt show a lot of confidence in traffic in todays race, is known as a pretty poor qualifier, hasnt come to grips with the Ford as quickly as he expected....

Then they have Mark Winterbottom who with Noske was lapping well and handling the responsibilty/pressure running at the front, and SBR dont know what to do with him next season?

[Duncan]

BTW, I totally disagree with the comment about the richards v bowe incident.

JB has *always* been an overly defensive driver, he had been holding up SR for 10 minutes with half an hour of the race to go

If it was the last few laps that would be one thing, but there was ages to go at that time. The rules are quite clear that you can't block, if you do you should be shown the blue flag, if you ignore it 3 times, black flag. The flaggies need to be encouraged to use the blue flag for more than just leaders lapping traffic.

Blocking is the scrounge of racing worldwide - most categories are close enough that it only takes a little blocking to ruin the whole race

/rant

[Clint32]

The thing with skaife was that they were aware that there was a problem with the door and if it was going to be a problem with traffic they should have said something as soon as the saftey car was going out not a few laps later, i dont think its the last we will hear of the incident either.

[HSVKLR]

Roy, you make some good points RE: SBR not tolerating substandard perfromances and the brilliance that Winterbottom displayed all year and at Bathurst. I reckon they may run a 3rd car in 2004 if they can get $$ and an extra spot from TEGA.

However, Russell hasnt exactly been disappointing this year (he's running 3rd in Championship) + the Stones have outlayed big $$ to have him. Just like Lowndes, Ingall will be staying put and will more than likely finish his career at Ford (and SBR).

Add W.Gardner to your list of rejected SBR drivers too... hehe.

[Roy]

Wasnt old Waynes fault though... hell the regulatoins have been changed because of his accident last year.

Winterbottom went well, but there were times where he looked a little ragged, but christ he did a sensational job. That ragged thing could be said about Lowndes in his first bathurst when he overtook Bowe on the outside at the end of mountain straight.

As for Ingall being 3rd in the chamionship, well he has been towed along by Ambrose for some of those points/results at Sandown and Bathurst. I think you will find with the exception of QLD Raceway where he was given the lead from Ambrose most of his results have struggled to keep pace with Ambroses with 4 or 5 finishes in 8th thru 13th.

But i suppose that can be said for many teamates.

I think you will find that it was Ford that paid all the money for Ingall, Not SBR.

So it is possible Ford could throw him in another Ford franchise like they did with Lowndes. Forbes Racing is a franchise that SBR/Ford could easily pick up for another of their drivers.

[GRRR-31]

Excellent race! watched it from 6:30 in the morning to when it ended and then F1. Congrats to Murphy, kicked arse. The only downer on the race as all of you agree was the black flag decision on Skaifey, ****ING BULLSHIT.