Flat Chat 36:
A couple of days ago an American News program, shown on cable TV, ran an expose of kart racing for kids. "You will not believe what you are about to see" exclaimed the self righteous presenter, "kids driving at speeds of up to 40mph!". The gist of the piece was that no parent in their right mind would put their children in such danger. One of the karting officials attempted to explain their side, that the racing was very strictly controlled, that statistics proved that you had a greater chance of injury playing a stick and ball sport but the program kept harking back to the same footage of kids having karting accidents. They were obviously struggling to find film of the apparently normal horrendous accidents having to show the same footage over and over again. An interview with a kid nursing a bruised hand after a shunt saw the child and his father state it was no problem and he would be out racing next week and that he had suffered worse falling off his bike. The program then hit below the belt by showing a photo of a youngster who had been killed in a karting accident a few years ago. This was tragic, to say the least, but should it put parents off allowing their kids to join a sport that gives kids a real sense of purpose, that is an activity that the whole family can be involved in, an activity that keeps kids away from drugs and other nefarious activities the self righteous presenter would probably get on an even higher horse about. Sad to say I am sure many more children have been killed horse riding, boating, bike riding, playing sports like American football than they have racing karts. This may sound callous but unfortunately it's a fact of life.
My brother's daughters all compete in horse jumping, they have all broken bones and sadly it's a sport in which some pay the ultimate penalty. In fact in the UK statistically the most dangerous sport a few years ago was fishing, believe it or not. Main cause of death was fishing rods snagging electricity lines. My point really is that almost any sport is dangerous, from soccer to golf, fishing to horse racing. Karting would be extremely dangerous for kids if it was not properly sanctioned, if the latest safety equipment was not worn, if the tracks did not meet minimum safety requirements. Our American presenter is a reflection of a change in society generally. In the West in particular safety is everything, no one should do anything remotely dangerous and the "nanny state" legislates against just about anything that could put you in peril. It's only a matter of time, in my opinion, before sports like boxing are banned in many Countries and motor sport will no doubt be high on the hit list.
Society's attitude to danger has changed beyond measure in the past fifty years or so and motor sport reflects this change. In the sixties drivers in F1 had an almost as much chance of meeting their end behind the wheel as they did living to tell the tale. At the time this was seen as normal, in fact it added to the glamour of the sport and its heroes. However, thankfully, it got to a stage where it became unacceptable and safety became a real factor. Jackie Stewart was one the pioneers and he was slated by many at the time. Countless race drivers, myself included, owe their lives to guys like Jackie Stewart. The sport has changed for the better, no one in their right minds wants to see anyone injured or killed. However now that drivers need not fear injury what is regarded as acceptable as far as driving etiquette is concerned has changed for the worse. When crashing meant injury or death drivers did their best not to put themselves or their competitors in a life threatening situation. Weaving, banging wheels, brake testing was just not done. If someone out-braked you into a corner you gave them room, now the reaction is to push your rival off the track.
I met a guy called Ian Ashley at Silverstone a few years ago. Ashley was a F1 driver before a huge leg breaking shunt put him out of the sport. Where he made his name was in a class called Formula 5000. These tubular space frame chassis cars had huge V8 engines and for a while where extremely popular in the States and Europe. They were not much slower than F1, in fact Peter Gethin at a non-championship pre-season F1 race at Brands Hatch famously beat all the F1 cars in his grid filling F5000 car. They were very fast cars and as a result many drivers were killed when they crashed. Ashley recalled regularly throwing up in his hotel the night before the race as he was pretty sure the following day was going to be his last. "At the time it still seemed normal, no way would I even think of doing that now" was his parting remark.
Around the same time as Ashley was racing I was a spectator at an end of season non-championship race at Brands Hatch in 1971 when Jo Siffert crashed at the back of the circuit, out of the sight of the main grandstands, and perished in the fiery wreck. I will never forget the sight of the drivers walking back past us to the paddock and seeing most of them in tears. Poor Ronnie Peterson, in particular, was inconsolable and was being propped up by two of the other drivers. Siffert had crashed due his suspension being damaged after a first lap clash with Peterson. A week later the drivers would all be back in their cars having been to yet another funeral of a comrade. They knew the dangers only too well and yet they still thought it was worth the risk. Real heroes. I will also never the forget the sight of the crowd running towards the cloud of thick black smoke trying to get a closer look, as an impressionable youngster it showed me first hand the dark side of the sport. A decade later I remember sitting in my Formula Ford before a race thinking it had been some time since I had broken a bone in an accident and that surely my luck was going to run out in this race. At that time it was not unusual for drivers to break bones in the junior Formula, it was normal and we just accepted the fact. Now, no way would I race if I thought I had a very good chance of hurting myself! A decade earlier it was normal for drivers to be killed, by my time in Formula Ford the odd injury was 'acceptable' whilst today injury is almost unheard of.
The improvement in safety is fantastic and it allows many more people to participate in this great sport. Young drivers never had it so good and I hope governments and supercilious American TV programs will leave us alone to get on with a sport which gives young people such a great state in life.
FLAT CHAT 38:
Clay Regazzoni, who will forever be remembered as a Ferrari driver and also the man who won the first Grand Prix for the Williams team, was recently killed in a road accident. Regazzoni's driving career came to an abrupt end when he was behind the wheel of an Ensign, I think, at the Long Beach Grand Prix in 1980. The brakes failed and he careered head on into the wall paralyzing himself from the waist down.
I actually remember where I was that fateful day, driving home from a Formula Ford race in the UK. I had stumbled across the American Services radio station and they were broadcasting the race live. The American commentator gave a graphic and emotional description of the accident and his conclusion was that no way could the driver have survived. I was mortified as he was a little bit of a hero to me and the following day when the news was that he was alive but paralysed relief was tinged by sadness at the thought he would never race again.
The only driver in the past decade to whom I could compare Clay Regazzoni is Jean Alesi. Both raced for the love it, both raced for Ferrari and both were loved by the tifosi, the Italian Ferrari supporters. On their day both were sublime drivers with uncanny car control and both let their hearts rule their heads which resulted in one two many accidents and them moving to teams for the wrong reasons. Really Alesi was born too late, he would have fitted into seventies F1 much better than the more clinical Formula we have today. Regazzoni was really the epitomy of an F1 driver of his time. His name sounded just right for a race driver and his dashing looks meant he was never short of a female admirer. He was also a hard but fair driver, just like Alesi, and I am sure he abhorred the tactics of some of the current day racers.
I do wonder however, if he had been born later, if he would have adopted the Schumacher rules of combat. In Regazzoni's day Michael Schumacher would not have lived too long, crash a seventies F1 car and you had a good chance of not living to tell the tale. The modern F1 car is so strong and the circuits so safe a driver injuring a finger is now big news. It allows drivers to be far more aggressive and the only sure way to put a stop to questionable driving is to make the cars more dangerous and that would be crazy! But if drivers were penalized, not thorough losing life or limb, but through firm penalties the result would be better racing. If you knew you would be excluded from the results by purposely knocking someone off the track you would race the guy not try to run him off the track.
The first round of the new Asian F3 Pacific Series was held at Zhuhai and Team Goddard's Henri Karjalainen dominated the event. He qualified on pole, won the first two races before he was rudely crashed out by McLaren Autosport award winner, Oliver Turvey. The latter was given a 30 second penalty for his tactics dropping him from first to third place. It was scant compensation for Henri, who scored no points, but I am sure Oliver will think twice about his Schumacher tactics next time. We were all robbed of a good race by Oliver's misdemeanor, and the spectators and TV viewers were the real losers. I am sure just one year ago Turvey would have got away with it, but finally I think a Schumacher backlash is happening and hopefully better racing will be the result.
Turvey is a star of tomorrow. Any driver who wins the Mclaren Autosport award must be incredibly talented and most go on to race in F1. However he is going to have an uphill struggle unless he is picked up by a manufacturer as his family is not rich by any means. They really struggle to find the budget to go racing, last year he missed the first part of the Formula BMW season due to lack of funding and he now faces a financial mountain to climb to find the money for British F3. US$900,000 is what is needed for a top British F3 team. This makes Asian F3 and its US$180,000 budget incredible value for money. Its not British F3 but it is incredibly competitive, witness the fact that Turvey did not win in Zhuhai! It demonstrates that AF3 is a credible series for a driver to demonstrate and develop their talents. It also confirms that Karjalainen is a developing talent. Henri also struggles for money and it will be that, not lack of talent and determination, that would have prevented him from getting to F1. Hopefully he can attract the backing to be the next Raikkenon!
FLAT CHAT 38
Clay Regazzoni, who will forever be remembered as a Ferrari driver and also the man who won the first Grand Prix for the Williams team, was recently killed in a road accident. Regazzoni's driving career came to an abrupt end when he was behind the wheel of an Ensign, I think, at the Long Beach Grand Prix in 1980. The brakes failed and he careered head on into the wall paralyzing himself from the waist down.
I actually remember where I was that fateful day, driving home from a Formula Ford race in the UK. I had stumbled across the American Services radio station and they were broadcasting the race live. The American commentator gave a graphic and emotional description of the accident and his conclusion was that no way could the driver have survived. I was mortified as he was a little bit of a hero to me and the following day when the news was that he was alive but paralysed relief was tinged by sadness at the thought he would never race again.
The only driver in the past decade to whom I could compare Clay Regazzoni is Jean Alesi. Both raced for the love it, both raced for Ferrari and both were loved by the tifosi, the Italian Ferrari supporters. On their day both were sublime drivers with uncanny car control and both let their hearts rule their heads which resulted in one two many accidents and them moving to teams for the wrong reasons. Really Alesi was born too late, he would have fitted into seventies F1 much better than the more clinical Formula we have today. Regazzoni was really the epitomy of an F1 driver of his time. His name sounded just right for a race driver and his dashing looks meant he was never short of a female admirer. He was also a hard but fair driver, just like Alesi, and I am sure he abhorred the tactics of some of the current day racers.
I do wonder however, if he had been born later, if he would have adopted the Schumacher rules of combat. In Regazzoni's day Michael Schumacher would not have lived too long, crash a seventies F1 car and you had a good chance of not living to tell the tale. The modern F1 car is so strong and the circuits so safe a driver injuring a finger is now big news. It allows drivers to be far more aggressive and the only sure way to put a stop to questionable driving is to make the cars more dangerous and that would be crazy! But if drivers were penalized, not thorough losing life or limb, but through firm penalties the result would be better racing. If you knew you would be excluded from the results by purposely knocking someone off the track you would race the guy not try to run him off the track.
The first round of the new Asian F3 Pacific Series was held at Zhuhai and Team Goddard's Henri Karjalainen dominated the event. He qualified on pole, won the first two races before he was rudely crashed out by McLaren Autosport award winner, Oliver Turvey. The latter was given a 30 second penalty for his tactics dropping him from first to third place. It was scant compensation for Henri, who scored no points, but I am sure Oliver will think twice about his Schumacher tactics next time. We were all robbed of a good race by Oliver's misdemeanor, and the spectators and TV viewers were the real losers. I am sure just one year ago Turvey would have got away with it, but finally I think a Schumacher backlash is happening and hopefully better racing will be the result.
Turvey is a star of tomorrow. Any driver who wins the Mclaren Autosport award must be incredibly talented and most go on to race in F1. However he is going to have an uphill struggle unless he is picked up by a manufacturer as his family is not rich by any means. They really struggle to find the budget to go racing, last year he missed the first part of the Formula BMW season due to lack of funding and he now faces a financial mountain to climb to find the money for British F3. US$900,000 is what is needed for a top British F3 team. This makes Asian F3 and its US$180,000 budget incredible value for money. Its not British F3 but it is incredibly competitive, witness the fact that Turvey did not win in Zhuhai! It demonstrates that AF3 is a credible series for a driver to demonstrate and develop their talents. It also confirms that Karjalainen is a developing talent. Henri also struggles for money and it will be that, not lack of talent and determination, that would have prevented him from getting to F1. Hopefully he can attract the backing to be the next Raikkenon!
FLAT CHAT 39:
Its an old subject that keeps cropping up in Asian Motor Sport but it was brought to mind again the other day when I was surfing channels on the TV in the South of the Philippines. The local cable company offers 78 channels one of which is an Indian station which happened to be broadcasting their weekly Motor Sports program as I trawled the channels looking for something worthwhile to watch.
We were treated to half an hour of close, exciting racing in a very well produced, entertaining show. The races were held at one of the only two circuits in India, Chennai near Madras, and featured three different classes. Formula Swift is for 1300cc Suzuki engined space frame Formula cars devoid of wings as is Formula Hyundai which uses 1400cc engines from the Korean manufacturer. They both look similar to Formula Vee cars from the States and Europe and they are both made in India using over 90% Indian made parts. Its cheap and the racing itself was entertaining with lots of slipping and sliding and, hush hush don't tell Formula One, lots of overtaking. Budgets are reputedly around US$800 for a four day event which represents excellent value.
The main race was for Formula Rolon Chevrolet which also use a space frame chassis but they have wings and slicks and they look pretty good to me. The racing was again very close and they reckon a season of six events costs around $20,000 which is incredible value for money.
India is filling the gap between karting and the first rung on the International motor sport ladder, Formula BMW Asia in this region. The budget for the latter is at least US$130,000 for a season and it's a huge commitment to make for a driver straight out of karting. Many drivers simply cannot afford it and they cannot attract sponsors without results to show in Formula cars. It's a problem almost all Asian countries are experiencing, there are no cheap entry level series. Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia all lack them. China has seen some new Formula spring up this year, Formula Geely and Formula West being similar to Formula Swift and Hyundai but as of now they seem to be driven by touring car drivers of a certain age who definitely would not qualify for Formula BMW!
Whilst Asian Karting gives a good grounding to drivers it simply doesn't give a racer a good enough grounding to jump straight into an International Formula, like F.BMW Asia, and immediately do well. Despite the low tech nature of the entry Formula in India they do allow the driver to learn how to drive a CAR rather than a kart and at a relatively low cost. Filipino, Malaysians and Indonesians, to name a few, simply do not have this luxury and they can find their motor sport finished almost before they begin for lack of opportunity.
It's a simple formula to produce low cost single seater racing cars. Space frame chassis, made locally, using an engine which is supplied locally. In other words the local content must be as high as possible in order to keep costs in check. There is no reason why a car cannot be made in Asia to the same high standards as Europe but without the high labour costs, the cost of freighting the car around the World and import duties and taxes.
There are some who would look on a Formula Rolon with distain. If it isn't carbon fibre and high tech they feel its beneath them to be seen in one. Also there is a belief that space frame chassis are dangerous, that they will disintegrate in an accident. Formula Ford regularly features some of the most spectacular accidents you will see and yet the drivers almost always walk away - the modern space frame chassis is incredibly strong. The bottom line is that India is producing quite a few new racing stars and they are rapidly becoming a force to be reckoned with simply because their young karters can now afford to graduate to cars. It also allows the hobby driver to get into National Formula Racing rather being forced to stay in karts for their whole racing life.
Hopefully we will see more low cost series sprouting up around the region which will be good for us all involved in the sport. Here in the Philippines Formula Renault has just been launched with a view to racing in 2008. I wish it luck but I believe it would have a greater chance of success if we had a pool of drivers already schooled in a low cost Formula.
Flat-CHAT 40:
You get a call. One of your Countrymen has dislocated his shoulder and cannot compete in the upcoming GP2 race supporting the Turkish Grand Prix. Would you like to take his place whilst his shoulder heals? Naturally your first reaction is yes, absolutely yes. Then you get to thinking. Your only experience to date is two half seasons of Formula BMW, a season of Formula Renault in Asia and the four event Asian F3 Pacific Series. The most powerful car you have raced is the 240hp F3 car whilst the GP2 has over 600 horses and is only just over six seconds off a front row F1 time and three seconds slower than a Spyker lap. It's going to be a huge jump in performance. You know you can handle it, you have great belief in your abilities but there will be no pre-race testing so you will have just one thirty minute session in Turkey before qualifying and the two races. Turkey is regarded as one of the most challenging circuits on the F1 calendar and of course you have never set foot in Turkey before let alone seen the track.
Realistically if you can get within six seconds of the pace in your first session it would mean you have done a great job and to get within two seconds of the pace by the end of the weekend should mark you out as a potential star of tomorrow. Or will it? You are aware how influential certain motor sport magazines are on the careers of up and coming drivers and you are also aware of the lack of understanding some, but not all, of the journalists who write for these magazines have of what it takes to be competitive in a series like GP2. Many motor sport scribes will just look at the result sheets and write a driver off without delving into the circumstances. You can just see the race report suggesting you are out of your depth and don't belong at this level of the sport. Decision makers within motor sport, who should know better but don't have the time and/or inclination to check the facts, read this and your career could be over after just one GP2 race.
The other side of the coin is that it could help open doors in your own Country, you know no matter how the race goes you are going to get a great deal of media mileage at home and that in turn could lead to more sponsorship dollars to further your career. Your family is not wealthy so you rely on sponsorship to fuel your career. Your personal backers are very excited at the thought of seeing their man in a GP2 race and you know if they are happy with your performance they will help you on the next step up the motor sports ladder.
It's a dilemma many drivers face, the desire to move to bigger and better series as quickly as possible tempered by the need not to damage your career by stepping up too quickly without the required experience and possibly irreparably damaging your reputation. Over the past few season we have seen several Asian Formula BMW drivers move on to race in Europe after just one year of racing and disappear into obscurity. They left F.BMW Asia just as they were gaining enough experience to become competitive but without the experience to step up to more powerful series in Europe. No one gets to the top of any sport without years of experience, so why should Motor Sport be any different?
If your name is Henri Karjalainen, the same man who raced in the Asian F3 Pacific Series with Team Goddard, then you decide to take that leap of faith and replace fellow Finn, Markus Niemela, at BCN Competition along side Ho Pin Tung. I have a very high opinion of Henri's abilities and whilst I feared for the reaction of the press if it did not go well I believe he was correct to grab the opportunity when it came. It can only make him a better driver, even if he ends up competing in the 2007-8 Asian F3 Series. Selfishly I hope he does to return to Team Goddard and AF3 as we want to win the championship and he is just the man to do it. However it would give also give me great pleasure if the GP2 opportunity opens up the door to bigger and better things in Europe. Either way it demonstrates that AF3 is doing its job of creating the stars of tomorrow. Henri got the opportunity because of his results in AF3 and it demonstrates how cost effective our series is. No other driver in the GP2 grid in Turkey will have spent less on their career to that point, by a huge factor I would think.
For the record Henri was 5.7 seconds off the fastest in practice, 4.1 seconds slower than pole in qualifying and was less than three seconds off fastest lap in the first of the two races. He retired after spinning out of 18th place. In race two 2006 British and Macau F3 Champion, Mike Conway, ran into the back of him at the first turn on lap one and both were out on the spot. Not bad at all considering his experience, I just hope those motor sport journalists look at the facts before giving their opinion.
Flat-CHAT 41:
Back in 2003 the future looked bright for the new generation of young karters from the Philippines. Drivers like Dado Pena, Tyson Sy and Don Pastor were graduating to the then new Formula BMW Asia Series and the dizzy heights of Formula One seemed to be almost within reach. Fast forward to 2007 and all three of these drivers have lost any realistic chance of achieving their dream.
Don Pastor ran out of money long before his compatriots and has been forced to ply his trade in Touring Cars. Tyson Sy went on to win the 2004 Promotions Class Championship with Team Goddard in Asian Formula Three and went on to win several AF3 races overall before chasing his dream in the USA, competing in the Star Mazda Championship. Two huge and costly accidents, both not his fault, have put paid to that adventure. Meanwhile Dado Pena also became a race winner in Asian Formula Three, again with Team Goddard, but is currently back completing his studies after an aborted attempt to put together a Philippine A1GP Team. All three drivers are still under twenty years old yet are already viewed to be too old to 'make it' in Formula racing.
Lewis Hamilton has a lot to answer for here. Along with drivers like Sebastian Vettel he has been catapulted into the highest echelons of the sport at a very young age. They seemed to have appeared from nowhere and it reflects badly on our local drivers who are the same age and yet they have got no further up the motorsport ladder than Asian Formula Three. However when you delve deeper you will discover that both Hamilton and Vettel have been racing since a very young age, around 7 in Cadet Karting, and that they were groomed from that tender age to become F1 stars. Hamilton learnt his trade in the ultra competitive British Karting championships and of course he was helped by having the support of the McLaren F1 team. They built a structured path for this career. After karting he graduated to Formula Renault, which was planned to be a two year campaign, learn in the first year win in the second which he duly did taking the British Formula Renault Championship by storm. Another two year stint in European Formula Three followed and again he won the Championship in the second year. A planned two year GP2 campaign went wrong when he won in the first year and the rest as they say is history.
If you look at the careers of Tyson and Dado, they both started quite young in karts but still when they were four yours older than Hamilton. They also raced in Philippine and latterly Asian championships. In common with most series in the region the races are tough at the top but there is not the depth of competition Hamilton faced in Europe. Also European karters compete almost on a weekly basis whereas in Asia it's more like a race a month. The result is that by the time Hamilton graduated from karts he would have completed many more racing laps than Dado and Tyson had at the same stage of their careers, by a factor of tens of thousands I would think. So when our local boys arrived in F.BMW they had no realistic chance of making the sort of impression Hamilton made on his graduation to cars. I would think in his first year in Formula Renault Hamilton completed more laps in a race car than Dado or Tyson have after four seasons of racing.
Years ago when I was Formula One wannabe in British Formula Ford many of us would look enviously at drivers from Countries like Brazil who seemed to have the full support of their government and corporate Brazil. It helped that drivers like Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet were from wealthy backgrounds which allowed them to race in their homeland before venturing to Europe but they still had the full support of their Countrymen.
I remain amazed that Corporate Philippines does not support drivers like Dado and Tyson. Their families have supported them financially for their racing to date and both drivers have given it 100 percent yet their efforts are largely ignored. Supporting a race driver is not a charity, sponsors use motor sport for branding, image building, business to business, corporate entertainment - all designed to increase sales. A Filipino who is successful on the World stage helps the Country to build its reputation, especially in a sport like motor racing with its modern, high tech image. Dado and Tyson have missed the Formula One boat but it doesn't mean they cannot perform in World Series like A1GP and Champ Car.
India is beginning to produce many good young drivers. Narain Karthikeyan has already made it to F1, with support of corporate India, and Karun Chandook is making waves in GP2 and has already tested an F1 car. There are several young Indians hot on their footsteps, Akhil Khushlani being one of them. Akhil drives for Eurasia Motorsport in Formula BMW Asia with the same sponsors as Narain and Karun. Corporate India is helping young drivers achieve their dream and at the same time benefiting from their success. India will have several drivers in F1, A1GP and Champ Cars in the not too distant future, Philippines will not. Unless the government and corporate Philippines can be persuaded to do something about it…..
Flat-CHAT 42:
After over one year without an event in the Philippines, Asian F3 returned to Batangas this January. A great deal has changed since the last visit to Batangas in November 2006. The championship is now a winter series, starting in November 2007 and ending April this year. The 2007-8 season began at Sepang in Malaysia, supporting A1GP and then moved to Zhuhai again with A1GP. BRC then played host to the third event in January.
The cars are all powered by TOM'S Toyota FIA specification engines and competitors run with the same map in the ECU. This helps provide close, cost effective racing. The majority now run the Dallara 304 chassis. AF3 is a series that is cost effective, compared to other Formula Three Series, runs at some great circuits like Sepang and Zhuhai and supports major events, such as A1GP. To cap it all the 2007-8 Champion will receive a test drive in a Force India Formula One car.
It is frustrating to report that whilst the racing so far this season has been extremely competitive the size of the starting grid has failed to get into double figures. V6 Asia, the next step up from F3 in the region, also struggles to produce grids of over ten cars. What is the reason? There are many factors at play here, such as a limited number of Asian drivers with the experience, talent and budget to compete at this level. All Formula racing in the region relies on Europeans, South Americans, Australians and New Zealanders to provide a good percentage of their starters. In 2006 F.BMW Asia struggled to put over ten cars on the grid, in 2007 the average was over 15 cars which is quite acceptable. The reason for the growth I believe underlies the problems suffered by the likes of AF3 and V6 Asia. Young talented drivers believe that succeeding in F.BMW really will help their careers and that BMW could help them become F1 drivers, like Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica. The credibility of having a major manufacturer and F1 player does count for a lot.
However 2006 proved the might of BMW alone is not enough to provide a healthy starting grid. What happened in 2007 to improve matters? Quite simply the number of teams increased. Holzer joined with Petronas backing with three cars and Engstler with a further two. TaraDTM came along with a one car team and suddenly the ten had become sixteen. In the meantime AF3 and V6Asia boast a handful of professional teams between them. AF3 in particular has suffered due to the lack of professional teams. The word professional is the crux of the matter. Professional teams understand they have to work to attract drivers and sponsors. They have to work and invest in the championship to ensure the product is attractive for drivers. Several teams have fallen by the wayside and whilst short term this is not good, for the long term good this cull was needed. A new breed of Asian team is emerging with professional being their byword. Hopefully series like V6 Asia and AF3 will reap the rewards and we will see large starting grids very soon.
The Castrol Philippine Asian F3 Grand Prix held at Batangas was a successful event despite some torrential rain over the weekend. The races were full of close, exciting racing and the lap record was pulverized, Rafael Suzuki of Team Goddard qualifying in 1m 26.902. All four races were hotly contested between bitter championship rivals, Frederic Vervisch of Team Goddard and Hamad Al Fardan of Team GFH. Vervisch won three times on the road, was disqualified from one for reversing on the grid, a decision which is under appeal, whilst Hamad won the first race on the road. Matt Howson of PTRS, Niall Quinn of Aran Racing and Rafael Suzuki all raced for the remaining podium positions. This has been the pattern of the whole AF3 season and it is becoming an enthralling battle between Hamad and Frederic.
It was good to see Castrol back in Formula Three. They have been involved in motor sport for over a century. Castrol Team Goddard has won several championships and countless races in Asian F3 so the return of the famous name to the series was highly welcomed. What was also welcomed was the post race party at the Lima Hotel near Lipa City which featured the AF3 Bikini contest. British F3, Euro F3 and Japanese F3 may be considered the premier league of Formula Three but I can guarantee they cannot put on a party like the Philippines can!
Flat-CHAT 43:
There is a lot going on in Asian Motor Sport right now. The number of championships on offer is growing and there is a buzz around with new championships and of course the first Singapore Grand Prix coming in September.
The pity is that organizers still seem unable to work together and as a result it's the competitors and spectators who suffer. In the Philippines right now we have two touring car series, PNTC and Philippine GT. A couple of years ago it looked like touring cars was finally growing into the prestigious championship it deserves to be. One championship jointly promoted by both "groups" involved in running touring cars. Unfortunately it was not be, for reasons are that are beyond my comprehension, and we are stuck with two good series instead of one magnificent championship.
Good news in Asia is that the Super Car Club Series has joined forces with the China Formula Open (CFO) organizer and Asian Festival of Speed (AFOS) to promote their series. Bad news is that FRD and Zhuhai Circuit are promoting their own Super Car Series. Please do not misunderstand me, its not bad that FRD and Zhuhai are promoting their series, what is bad is that we have two organizers going after the same piece of pie again.
Good news is that CFO and AFOS are promoting Formula Asia 2.0, which is for Formula Renault cars. Bad news is that this conflicts with the incumbent Asian and China Formula Renault Series promoted by FRD and Zhuhai.
Good news is that F.BWW Pacific, as the Asian Series is now called, looks like it will be stronger than ever and no one is looking to promote a rival series using the same chassis! Bad news is that the budget is creeping ever higher which looks like it will affect the number of starters this year. The grid will still be good but not as good as it could be.
The next step up the Formula car ladder in the region is Asian F3 which is struggling for numbers. The budget is similar to Formula BMW, which is amazing value for an F3 series, and the champion driver wins a Force India F1 test, so all concerned are mystified as to why the grid is so small. The quality of racing has been fantastic, probably the best since the series inception, but its let down by the numbers.
The highest step on the Formula Car ladder in the region is the V6 Asia Series and like Asian F3 it is also struggling for numbers. Good value racing just does not seem to cut it in Asia. Undoubtedly AF3 and V6 take drivers away from each other and it again reflects the biggest single problem in Asian motor sport - organizers working against each other rather than with each other. In my opinion the only way we can solve this matter is for the FIA to step in with a consolidated plan for Asian motor sport. However I am not sure if this is realistic so it really is down to the various groups within the sport to at least try and work together. It will be interesting to see how the CFO, AFOS and Super Car Club group joint venture works out. Hopefully it will prove that working together produces much better results than conflict does.
Flat-CHAT 44:
I feel insanely jealous right now. A very old friend of mine, Bill Coombs, who happens to be Director of the Thruxton Circuit Race School in the UK, took part in the recent 40th anniversary event at that circuit. The main race was for Formula Two and Formula Atlantic cars from the seventies. Bill was good enough to be an F1 driver in his younger days but as with so many he did not have the financial backing to make it to the top. Once he stopped racing he forged a great career building up the Thruxton Race School. He was able to win one of the two races, beating a large grid of the thirty year old machines.
When I was much younger I would cajole my parents into taking me to spectate at Thruxton. It was watching races at the fastest track in the UK that convinced me that racing cars was what I wanted to do. I probably saw the car that Bill drove race when it was the latest model, often in the hands of a Formula One driver. The beauty of Formula Two in the early seventies was that many F1 drivers would take part in several other championships, driving in F2 or sports cars or very often anything with four wheels. Formula Two, like GP2 today, was the breeding ground for F1 drivers but unlike GP2 the young chargers could race against, and sometimes beat, the Grand Prix stars. Can you imagine Raikkonen and Hamilton racing in GP2 on their weekends off now! As the seventies drew to a close F1 was becoming more time consuming and the practice faded away. In 1972 at Thruxton current F1 star, Ronnie Peterson, won the race from fellow Grand Prix driver Francois Cevert. World Champion Graham Hill failed to start his heat due to engine failure in qualifying. The team had about an hour to change engine if they were to make the second heat.
In those days it was easy to get into the paddock and I was enthralled watching the team struggling to change engines, Graham Hill himself under the car helping the mechanics fit the engine. Hill caught my eye and marched over barking an order. "Don't just stand there pick up that rag and polish the car". That car never looked cleaner and as an impressionable young teenager it further cemented my love for the sport. My car failed to finish, Hill retiring with overheating problems. I am not sure who was more disappointed, Hill or I.
This gets me back to why I am so jealous of Bill Coombs. He actually got to race, and even better win, in a car that I dreamt of racing those many years ago. Historic racing in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the USA is really big right now. The grids are larger than most current series and events like the Goodwood Revival Meeting attract Grand Prix sized crowds. Many of the competitors would have sat in grandstands in their youth dreaming of racing the cars themselves. Most were unable to satisfy that dream but a few decades later they have made enough money to finance their own racing and what better than to drive a car from their formative years. Its really is living a dream. Historic racing is not popular in Asia, mainly I would think because persons of a more advanced age simply had little or no racing to watch in their younger days. There is no racing culture and therefore few fifty-something's who want to re-live the youth of their dreams. Perhaps in twenty years time aged drivers in Asia will drool over Dallara and Tatuus F3 and F. Renault cars and go racing like their childhood heroes of the early century?
Another thought, can you imagine a Double F1 World Champion helping to fit an engine to a GP2 car nowadays. Even if he did, can you imagine getting a pass to be able to watch the scene. Times have changed. Motorsport is definitely now a sport for TV. What worries me is whether TV is good enough to generate the passion young spectators felt when they were able to literally touch the real thing. By the way if anyone knows where any of the Formula Pacific cars which raced in Asia during the seventies are now kept, please let me know. I have a feeling they may have ended up as a chicken shed on a farm somewhere.
FLAT CHAT 45:
A journalist from an International Motor Sport publication contacted me the other day asking if I could give him the low down on what championships Asian graduates of our regional F3 series are now competing on the International stage. If the question had been just about graduates of Asian F3, rather than for drivers born and bred in this region, the answer would have easy. Many of them are successfully competing throughout the World. Dillon Battistini is winning in the Indy Lights Series, including winning the Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis 500 event, whilst Henri Karjalainen is also in the States running in Champ Car Atlantic. James Winslow currently leads the Australian F3 Championship whilst Christian Jones is winning races in the Porsche Carrera Cup. Sometime AF3 racers, Oliver Turvey and Walter Grubmuller, are both racing in British F3 whilst Frederic Vervisch and Rafael Suzuki are competing in the German Series. Vervisch is winning races whilst Suzuki qualified on pole position for the last round.
But what of the Asian drivers? Luminaries such as Tyson Sy, Moreno Soeprapto and Dado Pena are currently not competing. Ananda Mikola has just raced in Speedcar and Satrio Hermanto in A1GP whilst Michele Bumgarner is doing selected Star Mazda races. That's just about it for Asian F3 graduates. Why I wonder has AF3 resurrected the careers of the likes of Winslow and Battistini and allowed them to go on to forge a life as a professional driver yet it seems most Asian drivers have hit a professional brick wall. Really only Mikola and Hermanto have successfully used AF3 to kick start their careers.
Is it due to lack of personal drive from the drivers concerned or perhaps it's solely due to lack of finance? Possibly it's a mixture of the two. The Philippines is a prime example. We had two World Class drivers in the form of Tyson Sy and Dado Pena and yet they were unable to attract much in the way of support from corporate Philippines. I wonder why Pertamina and Petronas are able to give realistic amounts of support to Indonesian and Malaysian drivers yet the "National" oil company here makes use of the fame of the local drivers by having them endorse their products yet seemingly contributes little to help them with their careers. Rising fuel prices make it harder for oil companies to justify their advertising spend, but a professionally run motor sports marketing campaign really can increase market share. This is why F1 still attracts so many sponsors. Most foreign observers are amazed that Philippine drivers get little or not support from the Country's most famous brand, a well known beer company. Actually most Europeans I know who have not been to Asia believe it's a Mexican company!
Part of the problem is possibly due to the manner in which these blue chip companies conduct their sports marketing campaigns. To give a worthwhile return on the investment requires hard work from both sides, the driver and the sponsor. A well run marketing campaign requires a huge investment in time and effort from the sponsor. Many sponsorships right now seem to be a case of giving some money and in return getting a little media coverage and some stickers on the car. Little effort is required from either side. It's almost akin to non-commercial support and the marketing professionals in the companies concerned probably see little value in the involvement.
Who is to blame? The drivers? To an extent this may be so but also the system must take much of the blame. The problem with sports marketing is a reflection of the much broader affliction suffered by many Asian Countries and until the politicians can get their house in order it is going to remain difficult for Filipino drivers to attract real support. However lack of support is not the only reason for the dearth of International Asian racers. It has not stopped Winslow, Battistini, Vervisch, Suzuki, Jones and Karjalainen. I don't think any of these have families as wealthy as many of the Asian drivers. What they do have is the dedication, passion and drive to further their careers and a willingness to travel anywhere to get themselves in a car. I really hope that more local Asian F3 graduates can demonstrate that they also have what it takes and that we will see them winning races on the International stage. A kick start from corporate Philippines would certainly help.
FLAT CHAT 46:
Just received a press release from an organizer of an Asian Race Series stating that they "deplore the attempts by other race organizers to disrupt our series, using nasty and sleazy methods for their own commercial gains, and also to prohibit the drivers the right to make their own choices. Hmm..so much for détente in Asian Motor Sport. However, the party they are complaining about has managed to upset just about every series and event organizer in the region and they may be unwittingly bringing the other organizers together in their disgust of their treatment.
On a brighter note Philippine's own Marlon Stockinger is proving to be extremely competitive in his first year of car racing. He was able to finish second with his Eurasia Motorsport car in round two of the Formula BMW Pacific at the Sepang F1 Circuit. This was hugely impressive particularly as he has had no car racing experience at all. Marlon is using Asian Motor Sport as a springboard to the top and there is no doubt after winning in Asia he will graduate to F3 in Europe and then why not to GP2 and Formula One? He certainly has a very good chance of fulfilling his dream. Formula BMW Pacific will support the Singapore and Shanghai F1 Grand Prix this year and will end the season at the Macau F3 GP. Marlon, who is a BMW Scholarship driver, which is a big achievement itself, has a very good chance of doing well in Macau. It's a big ask for him to win but he does a good chance of being the first Filipino to win there since Dodjie Lauriel.
Formula BMW seems to have become the most prestigious International entry level formula and it really is producing some of the stars of today as well as tomorrow. Its hard to believe that Sebastian Vettel was competing in F.BMW just four years ago and that he was able to graduate to F1 within three years of his year in BMW. Its a great motivation for a young driver, F1 becoming a realistic goal rather than an impossible dream.
Eurasia Motorsport has seen several really talented drivers pass through its ranks in the past few seasons and its sad to see some of them fall by the wayside for various reasons. Lack of finance being the most common factor although some have been guilty of not following their career plan and some have just lost the desire and commitment required to succeed. Hopefully Marlon and his team mate this year, Aditya Patel, will join Sebastian Vettel in F1 in the not too distant future.
Supporting F1 races is really good however one gripe we have is the trend for hotels to hike their prices for the GP week. It happened at the first Malaysian GP back in 1999 and many hotels caught a cold because their prices were so high many spectators just stayed away. Hotels there still charge more for GP week but the increase is no longer stratospheric. Anyone thinking of attending the Singapore GP better look at either buying a tent or selling off the family heirlooms to pay the outrageous room prices the hotels are charging. Personally I think it gives the wrong impression to tourists and is extremely counter-productive.
FLAT CHAT/SINGAPORE F.BMW:
Singapore was the host to rounds 12 and 13 of the Formula BMW Pacific Series. What a great event it turned out to be, establishing Singapore as one of the signature races of the F1 calendar. The lights worked, the atmosphere was fantastic, as only a capacity crowd can produce, and it was a fantastic advert for Singapore and the region as a whole. Pity the event was tarnished a little by the greed of the local hoteliers who predictably hiked their room rates to stratospheric levels. Strange there seemed little sympathy to their complaints that room occupancy was down on race week. We have seen the same occur at the first Grand Prix in Malaysia and China and at both events hotel rates have dropped from stratospheric to merely mile high for subsequent events. It still leaves a bad impression on visitors to those Grand Prix, no one likes to feel they are being taken for a ride.
Eurasia Team Goddard entered two cars for the Formula BMW Pacific race, one for Indian Aditya Patel and the other for Filipino Marlon Stockinger. Both are rookies and both are progressing quite well. Formula BMW is usually a two year campaign, unless the driver already has car racing experience, so we have been reasonably happy with Marlon's progress this year. He managed a great second place at Sepang in round 7 but was scuppered in rounds 8-11 by a severe bout of food poisoning. Image our dismay to find on his first night in Singapore dinner had produced another round of the dreaded Montezuma's revenge.
Singapore has built a fantastic race track with 24 turns and it would take a lot of learning. The first line of attack is to walk the circuit as many times as possible, something all the team's engineers and drivers were doing from Tuesday of race week, except Marlon who was otherwise engaged. Fortunately by Thursday he was well enough to walk the track but it was not the best preparation for a race weekend. Practice was on Friday afternoon, the Formula BMW cars being the first race cars to venture out onto a very "green" circuit. Qualifying was a mere one and a half hours later and after a mad scramble to look at the data and change gear ratios it was Mahara Racing's Doru Sechelariu on pole with Championship leader Ross Jamison second and Ollie Millroy third. Marlon was a disappointed eleventh on the grid whilst team mate, Aditya, would start 17th and last after crashing on the first lap of qualifying giving him the dubious record of being the first driver to crash on the Singapore Circuit.
Race one was held on Saturday afternoon and Sechelariu made a good start to take the lead from Millroy and Jamison. Jamison was soon by into second and that's how it stayed to the flag, the championship leader content to take full points as both his podium colleagues were guest drivers and therefore scored no points. They were also F.BMW Euro runners from this year, both having had a roller coaster season. Sechelariu had qualified second on the grid at the Spa round so he possessed speed but not on a consistent basis. This first win will no doubt add to his confidence and expect him to be a consistent front runner in Europe next year. Jamison did the Pacific Series proud and we were all left wondering where he would have finished had points not been a consideration.
The TV cameras paid little attention to the front runners as they followed the progress of a tremendous race between Marlon, Haryanto, Chaves, Pepper, Moh and Ang which was joined by Patel as he charged through the field from the back. Marlon did a great job to haul himself up to seventh place. Sixth looked on when he got off line into turn 17, defending from Chaves, and spun into the wall with one lap to go. Aditya took advantage and finished seventh. It was a brave effort from Marlon who had been in hospital an hour before the start on a drip getting re-hydrated in an attempt to offset the effects of the food poisoning.
Round 13 was much the same up from with Sechelariu winning from Jamison. However Millroy retired on lap one with an electrical failure leaving a delighted Gabriel Chaves in third place. Once again all the action involved Aditya battling his way to the front and Marlon who was in the thick of a four car battle for fifth place. He eventually finished seventh after another brave run, which saw him fade over the last couple of laps due to his physical condition. Incredibly hot and humid conditions did not help. Meanwhile Aditya was up to 8th place when he was harpooned on the last lap at the chicane by Simon Moss and spun down to 13th place.
The next round is at the Shanghai F1 GP and we hope that Marlon will be fully fit and that Aditya has lost his affinity to walls during qualifying. Jamison now leads the championship with 192 points to Sean McDonagh's 136 and barring disaster he will be this year's champion. He was beaten to the Rookie Championship last year by Eurasia- Team Goddard's Kyle Mitchell and Marlon is now driving at a similar level to Kyle this time last season. Marlon has every chance of winning races and the championship in a second season of F.BMW