A1gp Rnd 1 (inc spoiler)

[TwoSeven]

Brazil, France, NZ, Aus in the sprint race.
Brazil, Aussie, Mexico, NZ in the main race.

Rankings are now Brazil 21 points, Aus 16 points, NZ 15 points, Mexico 13 points.

Pretty good bit of racing, lots of mishaps, and overtaking - pits seem to make a big difference to the race which is good. Wonder what the brazillian did to the car to get such a gap towards the end of the race.


Thought the kiwi driver drove pretty well, but I'd like to see the team mate race the next one. I thought he didnt race agressively enough and just went defensive (he did have a couple of stabs but seemed to just give up) - pretty much threw away 2nd in the sprints and 3rd postion in the main race - just didnt seem to want to pass anyone. Managed to go from last on the grid to 4th thru the pits. So gave up $100k price money that the team could have used. Still, 3rd in the championship after one round is pretty good.

Perhaps he is the defensive driver for the team and the other one is the competitive driver - who knows. Maybe he should go to F1 - they dont pass anyone there either. :)

Think its worth watching tho. 3.5 hours long and I can say I enjoyed it :)

[James Deuce]

Jeebus, could you be any more critical? Matt Halliday had never raced at Brands before. HIs qualifying performance was astounding, and unlike bikes an ill-judged pass can have you flying into the weeds at Brands in a wing car. Heaps of high speed off camber corners. As for being more aggressive, it's a long season. Why chuck away third place in the series for no points?

He drove bloody well and used strategy to his advantage. I think you'll find that Bob McMurray is a quite happy with Matt.

[Postie]

i watched the sprint race, loved it but had to work so i recorded the rest..... i think... anyway, good racing and well impressive for someone who is not known that well internationally to do so well on a track he hes never been too.
One thing that pissed me off was the 3 guys doing a Haka in front of the car, its motor sport............WTF. it just looked stupid

[James Deuce]

(snip)
One thing that pissed me off was the 3 guys doing a Haka in front of the car, its motor sport............WTF. it just looked stupid

Hallelujah! That was a touch ridiculous alright.

[k14]

Yeah halliday did alot better than anyone thought he would. The first race was nearly as boring as f1, but that 2nd race was one of the best car races I have ever seen. It had everything. Halliday couldnt quite get past that mexican guy, was a pretty hard track to pass on though, specially since all of the cars are identical.

Can't wait till the next round.

[TwoSeven]

Normally I would agree, but then almost half the field were new drivers and I think he had just come from some other series, a few of the drivers had never even been in that type of car before. Noticed they were all trying to pass and take it to em. No doubt about it, he drove well, finished 3rd and 4th - considering only 3 people did better, thats pretty good. But in a race where everyone has the same equipment it does come down to the aggressiveness of the driver at the end of the day. It was really annoying to see him get in behind the car, make half a move and then drop back for another half a dozen laps - kept doing it in both races. Even the two lapped drivers in front were giving it wellie.

[k14]

Yeah well if he did that then he wouldn't have come 4th, he would have crashed out because the guy in front would have taken him out before he was able to make a clean pass.

You will get your wish for the next race though, halliday is driving at bathurst so reid will be doing the driving at germany.

Also, we pocketed $110000 USD from that performance, not too bad for an afternoons work me thinks. Bring on the next race.

[TwoSeven]

I hope they dont start playing the money game - driving just to get income for their sponsers. It really will turn in to F1.

[Brian d marge]

As per usual we dont see that here in Japan ,,,and possibly wont ...cos A the Japanese guy is last ,,,B Honda aint making the engines ...and C NHK are a bunch of arses

Still I was surprised to see the result ..I mean all weekend I didnt see the Australians ,,,NZ was second ....and was looking good ...then wham ,,,,woke up ...and been shafted by the aussies ...AGAIN ...

( hey we could use all those old Rugby excuses :dodge:

This A1 ,,,is shaping up to be better than F1 ..I really hope so , bout time ...those F1 boys had a reality check ....

USA aint watching F1 .... Japan the interest has wained as Takuma is now sacked ...

So the time is right ,,to go back to grass roots racing ,,,,where driver skill is the key ...bring back the Fangios of the world !!!

Stephen

[Lou Girardin]

What is it with a haka for everything including the opening of an envelope.
A bunch of grimacing, posturing 'warriors' with rolls of fat trembling with every move is not a very good look.
The upside is that no one expects a car from the home of these people to do well, but we showed 'em.
Didn't we.
Well done to all.

[Krayy]

What is it with a haka for everything including the opening of an envelope.
A bunch of grimacing, posturing 'warriors' with rolls of fat trembling with every move is not a very good look.....
More to the point, where do they find them? Do kapa haka groups go on their OEs with the view of getting work at any NZ related function?

The ads might read "Persons required to frighten opposition. Must have long tongues, be able to make an angry face and must be at least 1/20th Maori (or a good tan). Chubbiness preferred. Oh, and know how to do the Kamate Haka (depending on royalty negotiations)" :msn-wink:

[Pixie]

One thing that pissed me off was the 3 guys doing a Haka in front of the car, its motor sport............WTF. it just looked stupid
I AM SO SICK OF MONKEY DANCES :Oi:

[roogazza]

[QUOTE=Lou Girardin]What is it with a haka for everything including the opening of an envelope.
A bunch of grimacing, posturing 'warriors' with rolls of fat trembling with every move is not a very good look.


:yeah: :clap: :clap: :clap: Thankfully most people overseas don't know what they are or where they come from.
I don't know about you but my dinners nearly ready, I feel a haka coming on !!!!!!! G.

[Motu]

Just watched the sprint race - with F1 on Sky next year this will be my international 4 wheel motorsport to watch.It might grow on me,but I was a little bored....hey,I don't know nothing about it yet,we will all learn together,then it'll become more interesting.I think Matt did a good job,proud of him and the team.Racing against identical machinery is freaking hard work!!!!,you pull out all the stops to stay level with the other guy because he's doing exactly the same thing,finding an advantage is very difficult.

Oh my god,that Haka was embarassing,I hope the International audience was looking the other way....

[Lou Girardin]

Why didn't Halliday use the 'power boost' (probably just an increased rev limit) at all?
When he was attacking Duran, the graphics showed that it hadn't been triggered. Piquet had used his 7 times.

[k14]

Why didn't Halliday use the 'power boost' (probably just an increased rev limit) at all?
When he was attacking Duran, the graphics showed that it hadn't been triggered. Piquet had used his 7 times.
lol, you're reading it the wrong way round. That is how many power boosts the driver has left. Halliday used all his up trying to pass the mexican with about 10 laps or so left, but he still couldn't get past. Brands isn't really the track for passing I'd have to say. I think they get 10 power boosts per race, although im not 100% sure on that.

Oh yeah motu, first race was nearly as boring as F1. Watch the 2nd race and then you'll see what all the hype is about.

[Motu]

I heard he had used all his boost shots early in the long race,maybe the garaphics were wrong,maybe someone was telling bullshit - ah,it's almost like F1 already.what I hope is we avoid the fanboy bullshit.The pro/con Schumacher battles were tiresome - I reckon he's a shit driver and a cheat,half his titles should be stripped from him,a total wanker with a big chin.

[Lou Girardin]

lol, you're reading it the wrong way round. That is how many power boosts the driver has left. Halliday used all his up trying to pass the mexican with about 10 laps or so left, but he still couldn't get past. Brands isn't really the track for passing I'd have to say. I think they get 10 power boosts per race, although im not 100% sure on that.

Oh yeah motu, first race was nearly as boring as F1. Watch the 2nd race and then you'll see what all the hype is about.

They get 4 per race. And I'm reasonably sure that they said it was used boosts.
Can't trust commentators i gues.

[k14]

They get 4 per race. And I'm reasonably sure that they said it was used boosts.
Can't trust commentators i gues.
Nope, watching the same coverage as you and they explained it before one of the races. Said that the little display is how many power boosts the drivers have left. Makes sense when you think about it, brazil were creaming the field and didn't need to use many so had heaps left. Whereas we used them up trying to get past mexico and had 0 for the last 5 or 6 laps.

Where did you hear they get 4 per race? Maybe get 4 in the sprint race and then 10 in the long race. Definately more than 4 though. I will re watch the races I taped and see if i can hear what they say again.

[TwoSeven]

Its 8 in the long race (gives 30bhp), and I think the graphic that is being referred to is the one the commentators used occaisionally, which showed the number left, not used. He had heaps left up until the last part of the race (perhaps they were misreading it as well).

One of the moves where people were using the boost was to get the drive out of the corner on the main straight, it would allow them to get alongside which forced the pass (remember, the driver can only block once). On all the video footage I saw, he never did this (there are other corners too).

His problem to me, seemed that his passing attempts were being made to late. To pass you needed to dive one way to force the car in front to use up its block, then switch to the other (unless they didnt block). He was getting really close, diving to the side, getting blocked and then being forced to back off - he'd then drop back a few car lengths as the next corner appeared. I was watching some other drivers, and they were hitting the boost while still mid corner which gave them room to make the doubel maneuver.

I wonder if he was under team orders just to get the finish rather than to actually race, put that way is 'safe' driving seems to make sense. Being the first race of the year, I think that would be a sound decision for the team to make.

[k14]

Its 8 in the long race (gives 30bhp), and I think the graphic that is being referred to is the one the commentators used occaisionally, which showed the number left, not used. He had heaps left up until the last part of the race (perhaps they were misreading it as well).

One of the moves where people were using the boost was to get the drive out of the corner on the main straight, it would allow them to get alongside which forced the pass (remember, the driver can only block once). On all the video footage I saw, he never did this (there are other corners too).

His problem to me, seemed that his passing attempts were being made to late. To pass you needed to dive one way to force the car in front to use up its block, then switch to the other (unless they didnt block). He was getting really close, diving to the side, getting blocked and then being forced to back off - he'd then drop back a few car lengths as the next corner appeared. I was watching some other drivers, and they were hitting the boost while still mid corner which gave them room to make the doubel maneuver.

I wonder if he was under team orders just to get the finish rather than to actually race, put that way is 'safe' driving seems to make sense. Being the first race of the year, I think that would be a sound decision for the team to make.
To me it looked as though it was very difficult to pass down into the first corner unless you had alot more speed than the car infront. On multiple laps he went to go down the inside, after the mexican guy had gone down the left side of the straight and then as soon as he went down the inside the mexican guy blocked him leaving the only option to go round the outside. I don't think it was possible to go round the outside on that corner so he was stuffed. It stemmed from the fact that the front "straight" isn't actually a straight, its curved thus a block is a fairly grey area, as opposed to some of the circuits they will race on in the future where they will have long straight straights. Those races will be interesting, the power boost will come into play alot for those ones. It will be down to who can manage to conserve their own power boosts untill the other teams have used all of theirs up.

[Motu]

He come from practicaly last to 4th,if he did that without using any boost I reckon he's a fucking good driver,if he used all his boost doing it...ah,like...that's a problem?

[James Deuce]

He come from practicaly last to 4th,if he did that without using any boost I reckon he's a fucking good driver,if he used all his boost doing it...ah,like...that's a problem?

:clap:

Damn right Mr Motu, Matt Halliday is bloody good.

[Mooch]

i watched the sprint race, loved it but had to work so i recorded the rest..... i think... anyway, good racing and well impressive for someone who is not known that well internationally to do so well on a track he hes never been too.
One thing that pissed me off was the 3 guys doing a Haka in front of the car, its motor sport............WTF. it just looked stupid

Probably didn't look that great on TV , but it went down well trackside. Was done just by the main grandstand and was part of the international theme. They had all the drivers go past in Taxi's. Halliday and a few others made an effort by sitting out of the passengers window so the 50,000 crowd could see then , unlkike some drivers that were too busy doing cellphone interviews to be bothered to wave to the crowd. Thought about giving the haka boys a bit of a hand , but being similar in size and only 16th thought I'd best not to.
Will done NZ team !.

[Mooch]

:clap:

Damn right Mr Motu, Matt Halliday is bloody good.

Halliday was the talk of the trackside commentators , saying he'd be the one to watch. Was interesting to watch Halliday with PK jr chasing , JR wasn't gaining anything which was probably just as well , would have put us a lap down. Show's that halliday is more than up to it. Brilliant team tatics in making the pit stop straight away , would out well with the saftey car. Pitty about that driver 3 laps down holding up everybody else , could have made a real exciting finish , reackon they would have caught the aussie in second place going by the sprint race.
Was a great day apart from taking 2 1/2 hours to get out of the carpark after. Brands hatch must have some of the worst traffic management in the world !.

[Brian d marge]

[QUOTE=Mooch
Was a great day apart from taking 2 1/2 hours to get out of the carpark after. Brands hatch must have some of the worst traffic management in the world !.[/QUOTE]

Try 6 hours from Motegi at a grand speed of ....20 km ....well actually we sat around 9 km with bursts up to 20 .......

The problem with live ..is u cant see all the track as you can on tv ...We tried to watch the TV in the car at motegi ,,but no could see ..and the big screen tv ( for oldies like me ) was hard to see,,, What would have been good ..would be something like what has been aired on motogp ..Semi live as in a few sec delay ...downloadable to a lap top
As in I could watch tv like comentary , streaming video while sitting in the stands ...and every few min look up to see them go past ...oh well dreams eh ,,,,

Talking to one or two people here ,,,still dont know about A1 ...whats that they said ,,,,,,

Stephen

[TwoSeven]

He come from practicaly last to 4th,if he did that without using any boost I reckon he's a fucking good driver,if he used all his boost doing it...ah,like...that's a problem?

Umm.. its wasnt last to 4th by good driving. Its was a few places from last by 1) many people in front crashing out 2) performing a shorter pitstop than everyone else.

The commentators point this out when he suddenly appears in 4th. Its why I said in an earlier post that he basically didnt try to pass anyone which was a bit disapointing given that the rest of the field were giving it everything.

If he had done a mika hakkenen and driven up thru the field, then I would have been impressed.

[Motu]

When Mika did that Murray Walker never said a peep,if Schumacher does it he's a God.No one else passed as many cars in the race as Haliday,I don't care how he did it,it was a masterful drive.There are a hell a hell of a lot of drivers in that race who deserve a roasting,even Nelson PK for being so obviously out of class,why are you picking on the guy who was by ALL accounts the most outstanding performer of the whole weekend.....were you run over by a Halidig as a child?

[Mooch]

Umm.. its wasnt last to 4th by good driving. Its was a few places from last by 1) many people in front crashing out 2) performing a shorter pitstop than everyone else.

The commentators point this out when he suddenly appears in 4th. Its why I said in an earlier post that he basically didnt try to pass anyone which was a bit disapointing given that the rest of the field were giving it everything.

If he had done a mika hakkenen and driven up thru the field, then I would have been impressed.

I also think his style of driving is smoother than most , so doesn't look as he's trying as hard . I think he was hoping the two cars further up which were one or more laps down would pull aside. Didn't happen. One think you notice more trackside is how steep the track is in places , the corners also change from positive to negitive camber making it hard enough to hold a racing line yet alone pass someone . I guess in the end they choose to take the points instead of risking crash and bust.

[Lou Girardin]

even Nelson PK for being so obviously out of class,

How do you mean?

[TwoSeven]

I also think his style of driving is smoother than most , so doesn't look as he's trying as hard . I think he was hoping the two cars further up which were one or more laps down would pull aside. Didn't happen. One think you notice more trackside is how steep the track is in places , the corners also change from positive to negitive camber making it hard enough to hold a racing line yet alone pass someone . I guess in the end they choose to take the points instead of risking crash and bust.

That sums it up nicely.