Best bit of last year ?

[The Stig]

Never saw it in the flesh but the Priaulx play station type save in the feature race at Knockhill was pretty clever. As Clarkson once remarked to Tiff, ....... "several different directions at once"..............

Do you think he'd have been a titchy bit cross chucking it off on the last lap of what was about to become his maiden victory.

[John]

Think he'd have been absolutely gutted!!! Esp as he was relatively comfortable with the lead at the time!

That Honda win was pretty special. Also the last round mayhem with Thompson and Muller yo-yo-ing up and down the order in the first few laps, then the moment when James realised he was champion - that was pretty cool too! :)

[King Cleland]

:D

Was a great year....

Racing at Brands for me was the best!

[Amanda]

The best bit of last year for me was James Thompson winning the championship!

[The Stig]

Don't think I've ever been dismayed by racing at Brands. Even contracting what felt like pneumonia hanging around to the very end on the day Plato was crowned champion wasn't much of a hardship. Never been so wet and cold but thrilled at the same time. Does that make sense ??

[John]

Oh of course that was an awful day (weather wise I mean!) Theres the image from the highlights programme of the marshall trying to wave a flag but the wind is too strong!!

[Amanda]

The weather was terrible the day Jason won the championship! We were lucky enough to have paddock passes so were in the centre of the circuit for most of the day but were still very wet and cold! It was so dark that the photos of Jason with the trophy look as if they were taken at a night race!! I have never been so wet and cold but wouldn't have missed it for the world.

[John]

Wetter than Silverstone 99??

Reminds me of the quote from Charlie Cox about the terrible irony of having a fire in the car in those conditions!! ;)

[The Stig]

That October day started off quite nicely, then got worse and worse. Remember driving home for two hours with "cardboard" jeans.

[John]

And presumambly pretty soggy posters! :mad:

[The Stig]

they'd long since been chucked

[Craig Antill]

Originally posted by John
Wetter than Silverstone 99??

Oh yes, very much so! In fact it was so wet it destroyed my mobile which was in an inside pocket of my jacket... which was worn beneath proper foul weather gear. In short, it was very wet!

For me it was, predictably, the podium presentation at Mondello... :)

[John]

Probably a good job I never made it then!! Got drenched at Croft 00 by the champaign too (much to the un-amusement of the person who was giving us a lift!!) ;)

[lauz]

the best bit for me was standing watching Paul O'neill get his trophy for winning at Oulton. He looked so sweet!!!

[John]

Oh yeah - how could I have forgotten that. Agree entirely Lauz (apart from the 'sweet' bit of course!!) ;)

[Claw]

The Donington feature race where there was about 10 cars going into the hairpin at once was a wonderful site!

[King Cleland]

I remember Silverstone 99, god I was soaked, Brands was wetter though!

[King Cleland]

Originally posted by Claw
The Donington feature race where there was about 10 cars going into the hairpin at once was a wonderful site!

I have a picture of that!

[John]

And they all got round relatively undamaged!

[Les]

so many good bits last year:-

Mondello with Jim on the podium and Tom B giving me his podium hat,

O.P. with Jim's grab on the line and Paul O'Neill's win,

holding Steve's pit pole at Donington whilst various drivers came passed and waved.

watching Steve chase his car (Donington) - oops sorry mate ;)

and a few bad bits:-

the Thruxton clio carnage

the Brands crash and fire in the Clios

[Ann]

I have to be predictable & say my highlight was Dan winning the Indy Cup at Donington!

Gotta agree with the Stig as well though - Andy Priaulx's save was a stonking bit of driving (ignoring the fact that he got himself into the situation in the first place!)

Oh, and Paul O'Neill's win at OP.

Will probably think of some more in time!

[AussieV8]

Originally posted by Claw
The Donington feature race where there was about 10 cars going into the hairpin at once was a wonderful site!

Just watch that last night on Foxtel again and have to agree what a site. The aerial shots were great also. :)

[The Stig]

Can't recall seeing many, if any, aerial shots recently. That'd be a TV improvement. Replays from above of some tasty prangs that become Srapheap Challenge or nifty overtaking manouvres. You could have sponsors painting the grass or a sensible logo on the track to pay for the chopper couldn't you.

[Reynard]

My best bit of last year?

Kelvin Burt driving the GA Motorsport Alfa at Silverstone while Mr Pyper was sin-binned...

He'd never driven the car before qualifying and then sticks it on pole twice, so how good is that? Kel then gets a third in the sprint race (told me later he felt gutted throwing the win away) and later cleans up in the feature despite a bit of a run-in with James Kaye.

I can't see many other drivers doing that, so there's my favourite moment of last year.

[John]

Thats a sign of a good driver, if he can come into a new team and blow away team mates and be up there at the front.

Obviously part of it these days is to do with the lack of success ballast (eg Priaulx in the Egg Astra) or circuit knowledge (eg Shedden in the GR Focus) but to be able to do so well without time in the car impresses me.

[Claire]

There were heaps of good bits about 2002 but the best bit was Dan winning the indy championship and being near the podium to see him get the trophy and being able to be at Blackpool to see the "official" presentation.

Paul's win at Oulton

Knockhill for the weather and AP, fantastic driving.

The production class had some great battles and seeing Alan Blencowe on the podium 3 times in his first season was brillant.

But the best bit has to be all the new friends I made and all the people I met, thank you and roll on 2003. :D

[The Stig]

Can't wait for the season to start, going to be like a six year old on Christmas Eve.

[thommo_fan]

Originally posted by The Stig
Don't think I've ever been dismayed by racing at Brands.

you obviously weren't there at the second brands meeting in 1999.
it was formula one style follow the leader, no overtaking.

[thommo_fan]

my best bits were thommo's win from last on the grid at brands hatch in round 2.
when priaulx took the civic type r's first win at knockhill.
thommo's victory in the sprint at donington, which i think was his best race of the season and the feature at donington when he won the title

[John]

Originally posted by thommo_fan
you obviously weren't there at the second brands meeting in 1999.
it was formula one style follow the leader, no overtaking.

Dont remember much about that race - which proves your point I guess!

Isnt that the one when Muller rolled his race car in warm up? Or was that somewhere else

[thommo_fan]

yeah, it was the slowest roll in history tho.
i think he bounced off the curbs at surtees or something and that tipped his vectra on its side.

[The Stig]

Been missing out big time - didn't start going until a couple of years ago, though rarely missed Tourers on telly for years. Once you go (pit lane walkabouts etc) nothing else is the same. Been to more and more live meetings each year. Will probably do an Amanda before so long and take in the whole season.

[John]

I thought it was amazing first time I went - the fact you can get so close to the cars and drivers and you get free stuff (signed posters!) Theres no way you'd get anything like that in F1.

It was even better at Knockhill because there was a rubbish pit lane the cars were stationed in the paddock in the transporter awning garages - which meant that basically you could walk around whenever you wanted and look at them working on the cars.

Nearly got knocked over by Tarquini's Honda once cos they had to push the cars through the paddock past all the people to get them to the track - and of course they dont make much noise when they dont have the engine running!! Doh! :rolleyes:

[thommo_fan]

the first live meeting i went to was snetterton 1999, wow, that was an amazing day, and night.
i couldn't have picked a better meeting to go to if i tried, it fantastic from start to finish, which was 9am to 1am. well worth it tho.
another good thing about snetterton is you can walk about the back of the pits when ever you want.

[Les]

Originally posted by The Stig
Will probably do an Amanda before so long and take in the whole season.

Been there, done that and totally hooked for the last 3 years and hopefully will again this year!!

Thing is, it is a whole weekend as well - first thing Saturday to kicking out time Sunday and I LOVE it :D