'Formula One' World Cup

[palexander]

Anyone hear this on the news today? Some guy is trying to get a new open-wheel racing series up and running. Plan is to hold races round the world in same-spec cars (Toyota engines I think) with the cars decked out in colours of countries. Be a great idea if it takes off. A grid so far could be:-

Germany = Michael Schumacher
England = Darren Manning
Scotland = Dario Franchitti
France = Sebastian Bourdais
Brazil = Ruebens Barrichello
Australia = Mark Webber
Colombia = Juan-Pablo Montoya
New Zealand = Scott Dixon
Italy = Giancarlo Fisichella
Canada = Jacques Villeneuve
USA = Sam Hornish jr
Spain = Fernando Alonso
Mexico = Michel Jourdain jr
South Africa = Thomas Schekter
Finland = Kimi Raikkinen

I enjoy Formula One and love the American CART series, but I'd gladly do away with both if something like that came off! If everyone was in the same-spec car - give or take - then what a way to prove how good Schumacher really is against someone like Montoya, Dixon, Franchitti or Hornish.

Anyone else into motorsport - or add someone to the World Cup list?...

 

[Mad Cyril]

Who is going to drive for Burkina Faso or Micronesia?

 

[palexander]

Good question MC - one that needs to be addressed asap

 

[Vange Shrimper]

Couldnt Jenson Button drive for England?!!

Good to see Villeneuve back in Motor Sport. Shame he couldnt get a decent drive at a better team, compared to BAR......

 

[Vange Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (pboreham @ Mar. 30 2004,12:39)]South Africa = Thomas Schekter

Is that Jody Schekter's son?

 

[McScriven]

Quote[/b] (Vange Shrimper @ Mar. 30 2004,13:09)]Couldnt Jenson Button drive for England?!!

Because we'd want someone with ability rather than wealthy parents that made him able to persue F1.

 

[Vange Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (McScriven @ Mar. 30 2004,13:13)]

Quote[/b] (Vange Shrimper @ Mar. 30 2004,13:09)]Couldnt Jenson Button drive for England?!!

Because we'd want someone with ability rather than wealthy parents that made him able to persue F1.

I know that, but i just thought he was an obvious choice as he drives in F1 now.

 

[palexander]

Darren Manning should be in F1 in a few years time...

 

[Fat Bastid]

Quote[/b] (pboreham @ Mar. 30 2004,12:39)]Germany = Michael Schumacher
England = Darren Manning
Scotland = Dario Franchitti
France = Sebastian Bourdais
Brazil = Ruebens Barrichello
Australia = Mark Webber
Colombia = Juan-Pablo Montoya
New Zealand = Scott Dixon
Italy = Giancarlo Fisichella
Canada = Jacques Villeneuve
USA = Sam Hornish jr
Spain = Fernando Alonso
Mexico = Michel Jourdain jr
South Africa = Thomas Schekter
Finland = Kimi Raikkinen

Anyone else into motorsport - or add someone to the World Cup list?...

You forgot Hungary!

What has poor old Baumgartner ever done to you?

Personally, I would like to see Schuey drive a race in the Minardi!

Then we would see just how good he really is!

Interesting race coming up this weekend though... Lot's of sun, brand new track, lots of sand = chaos! Schuey will not win the Bahrain GP!

 

[Vange Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (Prophet of Doom! @ Mar. 30 2004,13:27)]

Quote[/b] (pboreham @ Mar. 30 2004,12:39)]Germany = Michael Schumacher
England = Darren Manning
Scotland = Dario Franchitti
France = Sebastian Bourdais
Brazil = Ruebens Barrichello
Australia = Mark Webber
Colombia = Juan-Pablo Montoya
New Zealand = Scott Dixon
Italy = Giancarlo Fisichella
Canada = Jacques Villeneuve
USA = Sam Hornish jr
Spain = Fernando Alonso
Mexico = Michel Jourdain jr
South Africa = Thomas Schekter
Finland = Kimi Raikkinen

Anyone else into motorsport - or add someone to the World Cup list?...

You forgot Hungary!

What has poor old Baumgartner ever done to you?

Personally, I would like to see Schuey drive a race in the Minardi!

Then we would see just how good he really is!

Interesting race coming up this weekend though... Lot's of sun, brand new track, lots of sand = chaos!  Schuey will not win the Bahrain GP!

To make it even more interesting, do what they do in the Paris-Dakar race, drive on the sand.....

And i bet Schumacher will win the race. Starting to get boring now, yawn......

 

[* ORM *]

Formula One is like rugby. A game for poofs but for richer ones. But hey, I'm open minded and wrestling, Formula One and Rugby seem to be exciting for a lot of people.

Don't forget Rugby started with someone cheating at football and ended as a sport for those that didn't have any ball control with their feet.

Hmmmmmmm, maybe SZFC should become SZRFC, though I think gloves aren't permitted Kev.

 

[Vange Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (* ORM * @ Mar. 30 2004,13:46)]Formula One is like rugby. A game for poofs but for richer ones.  But hey, I'm open minded and wrestling, Formula One and Rugby seem to be exciting for a lot of people.

Don't forget Rugby started with someone cheating at football and ended as a sport for those that didn't have any ball control with their feet.

Hmmmmmmm, maybe SZFC should become SZRFC, though I think gloves aren't permitted Kev.

 

 

You can wear gloves in rugby - they use them for better grip on the ball

 

[palexander]

Quote[/b] (Vange Shrimper @ Mar. 30 2004,13:10)]

Quote[/b] (pboreham @ Mar. 30 2004,12:39)]South Africa = Thomas Schekter

Is that Jody Schekter's son?

Yea, he drives in the IRL Series (Ovals only) in America... Nutter as well...

He moved to a new team last year and his boss was also driving for the team. In the first race, Jody smashed his boss into a concrete wall! Suffice to say it didnt go down to well and the two fair came to blows in the pits. To say the team spirit went downhill is an understatement.

He didnt finish the season with the team and was touted for an F1 ride this year, infact I think he tested for Williams in the winter.

 

[palexander]

Quote[/b] (Vange Shrimper @ Mar. 30 2004,13:30)]

Quote[/b] (Prophet of Doom! @ Mar. 30 2004,13:27)]

Quote[/b] (pboreham @ Mar. 30 2004,12:39)]
Anyone else into motorsport - or add someone to the World Cup list?...

You forgot Hungary!

What has poor old Baumgartner ever done to you?

Personally, I would like to see Schuey drive a race in the Minardi!

Then we would see just how good he really is!

Interesting race coming up this weekend though... Lot's of sun, brand new track, lots of sand = chaos!  Schuey will not win the Bahrain GP!

To make it even more interesting, do what they do in the Paris-Dakar race, drive on the sand.....  

And i bet Schumacher will win the race. Starting to get boring now, yawn......

I reckon Schuey will do the business as well this weekend. Should be very interesting though as I guess until now, nobody has driven on the track.

My wildcard is Button to either get 1st or 2nd - he is on a roll and the BAR is a ton better this year...

Oh, and PoD - Baumgartner would be in, no question! I've just heard the report again on Radio1 and it sounds like the drivers will be relatively 'unknowns' so may not take off...

 

[Guest]

Rather than race in equal cars I reckon a handicap based on driver ability would be a much better idea and make for a much more entertaining spectacle.

Michael Schumacher would have to drop a couple of acids and do two cans of special Brew before a race.

Montoya would have to do a couple of bongs and a few pints of Stella.

Jenson Button would have to do a sniff of lighter gas and two liquer chocolates.

You get the idea.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (* ORM * @ Mar. 30 2004,13:46)]Don't forget rugby... ended as a sport for those that didn't have any ball control with their feet.

Yep, that Wilkinson fella... he can barely walk, after all, let alone kick an oddly shaped object with great accuracy over considerable distances...

Matt

P.S. Yes, I am a rugby fan, and proud of it... can't see us winning anything in football (on a national level) for a LOONNNNGGG time. Whereas England are the World Champions in rugby. That's something to savour, in my book...

 

[McScriven]

Quote[/b] (Matt the Shrimp @ Mar. 31 2004,12:58)]

Quote[/b] (* ORM * @ Mar. 30 2004,13:46)]Don't forget rugby... ended as a sport for those that didn't have any ball control with their feet.

Yep, that Wilkinson fella... he can barely walk, after all, let alone kick an oddly shaped object with great accuracy over considerable distances...

Matt

P.S. Yes, I am a rugby fan, and proud of it... can't see us winning anything in football (on a national level) for a LOONNNNGGG time.  Whereas England are the World Champions in rugby.  That's something to savour, in my book...

England are a one trick pony when it comes to Rugby highlighted by the lack of Wilkinson in the 6 nations.

They have been able to build up leads through Jonny's kicking that has allowed them to push for trys without that they've struggled a lot.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (McScriven @ Mar. 31 2004,13:41)]England are a one trick pony when it comes to Rugby highlighted by the lack of Wilkinson in the 6 nations.

They have been able to build up leads through Jonny's kicking that has allowed them to push for trys without that they've struggled a lot.

And your point is...?  

Argentina in 1986 without Diego Maradona would have been a solid, but unspectacular team.  With him, they won the World Cup.  Does that mean their achievements are devalued simply because he played for them?

Don't be daft.  They got to lift the World Cup, and history will record that Maradona was one of the finest footballers ever to have set foot on turf.

Same goes for Johnny.  We got to lift the World Cup, and history will look back and see that Johnny is one of the finest rugby players ever to have followed in William Webb Ellis's tradition.

We're World Champions because, amongst other reasons, we have the finest kicker in the world.  So what?  I don't care.  We won the World Cup.  End of argument, really.

In any event, the squad has also suffered a lot more than people have grasped because of Martin Johnson's retirement.  His captaincy combined with Johnny's kicking is the reason we're World Champions, not either element alone.

After all, you're almost saying "England only won the World Cup...". Is that not the daftest sentence in the world?

We won the World Cup, and we're England.  Wake me up when Sven and his boys do anything even remotely as good as that...

Matt

 

[McScriven]

World Champions are normally the best sides around and the sides who should win all there games at least for some period after being crowned it. Losing Johnny has proved that England have no strength in depth and aren't as good as everyone suggests.

Take Football for instance. France won the World Cup in 98 and then the Euro's in 2000 because they had good players throughout the side instead of mainly relying on the ability of one person.

It's all about opinions and mine is that given the same squad minus Wilkinson England wouldn't have won the World Cup.

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Quote[/b] (McScriven @ Mar. 31 2004,14:53)]World Champions are normally the best sides around and the sides who should win all there games at least for some period after being crowned it. Losing Johnny has proved that England have no strength in depth and aren't as good as everyone suggests.

Take Football for instance. France won the World Cup in 98 and then the Euro's in 2000 because they had good players throughout the side instead of mainly relying on the ability of one person.

It's all about opinions and mine is that given the same squad minus Wilkinson England wouldn't have won the World Cup.

Well, you can come up with France; I can come up with Argentina - who were brilliant with Maradona (in 1986 particularly, and they didn't do too badly in 1990 either) and have been pretty ordinary ever since.

Sometimes, World Cups are won by an amazing team; and sometimes they're won by an amazing player or two.

I don't really get your point. England won the World Cup. Does it really matter that we were led to that victory by having the best player and the best captain in the world? Why should it be England minus Wilkinson? He's still English...

After all, it wasn't Argentina minus Maradona, was it? Even if the cheating fcuker punched his first goal against us, his second goal is probably the greatest goal I've ever seen. He was the one man that turned a good side into the best side in the world, in the same way that Jonny & Jonno did that for the English rugby side.

It should also be said that the World Cup victory was engineered by Sir Clive Woodward so that that team peaked at exactly the right moment. They were unbeaten from mid-way through 2002 onwards, won a Grand Slam, beat the All Blacks in Wellington with 13 men, thrashed the Aussies in Melbourne in a friendly, and then went and won the World Cup.

Point is, that team peaked at the right moment; and since then has come off from that peak - perhaps a tad more sharply than any of us would have hoped. But England will be back, no fear - because in Sir Clive Woodward, they have a perfectionist as a coach... and in Sydney on 22 November 2003, he achieved perfection. He won the World Cup.

Try telling the All Blacks that it doesn't matter if you have two brilliant players (Jonno & Jonny) who respectively through sheer force of will, or metronomic reliability, can win you a World Cup.

The All Blacks have some brilliant players, and over the last decade they've probably been, more often than not, the best side in the world. And how many World Cups have they won in that time? None. And that, ultimately, is what the history books will show.

Finally, lest you forget, England have an honourable tradition of losing big games after World Cups... their next "big" game following the World Cup win was a 3-2 defeat to Scotland at Wembley...

Matt

P.S. "Everyone" doesn't "suggest" that England are a good side; the Webb Ellis Trophy combined with a No. 1 World ranking proves that during 2002 & 2003 at the very least, England was the best rugby team in the world.