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

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)"

[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

[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.


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.