Are MG running turkinton as a third driver???

[Ed- the MG fan]

On ther information site with the blue background it say that MG are expected to announce a three-car squad soon for Anthony Reid, Warren Hughes and Colin Turkington, although they are known to be in talks with a potential fourth driver.

I always prefered Colin to Gareth though. He did make a few costly mistakes, but he seemed much faster then Howell. And even Howell has a coming together with Ried too.

[thommo_fan]

just read that myself.

its seems very likely seeing as vauxhall and honda are both running three cars each.

i'm very hopeful that vauxhall and mg will both field a forth car too.

[John]

MG really need to have a 3rd car if they want to compete with Vauxhall and Honda (esp for the manufacturers' cup). On the other hand there is the other school of thought (adopted by Subaru in the WRC) whereby its better to try and develop two cars and have them reliable than to try and run three cars and spread resources more thinly.

I think they need a 3rd car though. Would be nice to see someone more experienced than Howell or Turkington in it - eg Harrison or a 'big name' from the old school, but doubt we'd see that at this late stage.

[Claw]

I would pick Howell over Turkington.

Well, I think you all know why I'm not to keen on Turkington! ;)

[John]

I have to agree, given the choice I'd go for Howell as well. Don't ask me to elaborate on that though! ;)

[mark]

Can't see Vaux and Honda fielding 4 cars each. I think 3's it for them, personally. :)

[Claire]

Both Colin and Gareth are talented drivers but I think it will come down to the same thing, who has the money and sponsorship behind them. I'm sure we will see them both racing this season.
Good thing there can never be enough good looking drivers about!! ;)

[speedy king]

Honda may be fielding a fourth car for James Kaye if he can find the funds

[speedy king]

It will be good if Kaye does get in a fourth Honda, and with Pyper likely to be in a GA Vauxhall, i cna see it now, the dices between Kaye and Pyper in the tourers!!!

[Joanna]

[i]
Good thing there can never be enough good looking drivers about!! ;) [/B]

True Claire!!

[cos]

Autosport today said that 888 are 'unlikely' to run a 4th works car, the stumbling block being lack of money (nothing new there!)

[John]

Thats not very surprising is it? They needed Eggs ££s to run 4 cars last year and in 01 so without a similar sponsorship deal they wouldn't be able to run 4. Unless the fourth driver was a pay driver or someone who brought sponsorship with them.

[lauz]

i hope they do announce colin as a third driver. he is good and deserves the chance in the works team!

[Cleland Fan]

Originally posted by speedy king
Honda may be fielding a fourth car for James Kaye if he can find the funds

Synchro aren't anything to do with Honda Racing though. If the deal comes off, it would see Kaye race as an Independant.

[speedy king]

It would be run like in 2000. In 2000 Honda was made up of two teams, WSR and JAS, Kaye's car would still be works

[McKay]

Or like a second works team. BMW did that in 1992 i recall. 3 green cars for Harvey Soper and Bellm (what happened to him?) and 2 white cars for menu sugden and nissen as reserve,

[Cleland Fan]

The Synchro car would be works, in that it would be run from the Honda factory at Swindon, but it wouldn't be backed by Honda Racing or nominated for manufacturers points.

[Ed- the MG fan]

I was under the impression that it the Kaye deal was pulled off it would be a Honda Civic form last year- would be much cheapere wouldn't it

In 2000 I always thought that JAS built the accords, like Lola did with the first MG ZSs, and that WSR ran and prepared them in the actual races.

[John]

Prior to 2000 WSR ran the UK cars and JAS ran the European (Italian?) cars. In 1999 there were 2 cars in UK (WSR) with Thommo and Kox and 2 in Europe (JAS) with Kristensen and Tarquini. Tarquinis 99 Knockhill car was one of the JAS cars (as his trucks were Italian registered).

In 2000 with Ford and Vauxhall having 3 cars, Honda had 3 cars too in the UK. They also had one in the ETCC. The same 4 drivers were driving but this time Kox was in Europe and Thommo, Tarquini and Kristensen were in UK.

Thommo and Kristensens cars were WSR run and Tarquinis and Koxs ETCC car were JAS run.

I dont know who built them but they were definately run in the UK by two separate teams.

[Cleland Fan]

Originally posted by John
Prior to 2000 WSR ran the UK cars and JAS ran the European (Italian?) cars. In 1999 there were 2 cars in UK (WSR) with Thommo and Kox and 2 in Europe (JAS) with Kristensen and Tarquini. Tarquinis 99 Knockhill car was one of the JAS cars (as his trucks were Italian registered).

In 2000 with Ford and Vauxhall having 3 cars, Honda had 3 cars too in the UK. They also had one in the ETCC. The same 4 drivers were driving but this time Kox was in Europe and Thommo, Tarquini and Kristensen were in UK.

Thommo and Kristensens cars were WSR run and Tarquinis and Koxs ETCC car were JAS run.

I dont know who built them but they were definately run in the UK by two separate teams.

They were built by Fosstech, which is a company run by James Thompson's father, David. They had a bit of a falling out with WSR and Honda UK if i remember correctly and it all ended on a bad note.

[John]

Yeah - now you mention it I remember that. Well done!!

Was that in the run up to 2000 season?

[MGmad]

I hope that they are planning. I feel that the 3 car rule regarding points in the contructors standings is a good rule. It worked for Team Halfords last seaon. They may not have won the title, but they did well in the contructors standings I feel that with a good car CT can be a good driver.

It is also a good idea from the point of view that a constructor who has more than 1 team, like MG or Peugeot, but who have only 1 that do well in the championship (so they only get points from the 2 cars in the one sucessful team they run), it is a nice boost.

I say to MG, go for it. You have nothing to loose this coming campaign. You can only get better.

[Claw]

Originally posted by MGmad
I hope that they are planning. I feel that the 3 car rule regarding points in the contructors standings is a good rule. It worked for Team Halfords last seaon. They may not have won the title, but they did well in the contructors standings


Peugeot weren't eligble for constructors points as it wasn't a works team. I think you mean the teams championship.
Team Halfords did ok, with 3 cars, and if MG have 3 they could do very well. But with Howell not Turkington! :p

[Moderator 3]

Originally posted by Ed- the MG fan
even Howell has a coming together with Ried too.

It was actually CT who took Reid out at Thruxton, despite being a lap down!

[speedy king]

I put read at fault in that incident, he closed in on Neal turned him self across and hit Turkington.

[John]

Turkington was a lap down and was trying to race REID which he shouldnt have been doing, especially as he was in an indy MG and Reid was in a factory car (its a good idea to keep the factory team happy usually!)

Even though Reid could have left more room Turkington shouldnt really have been there anyway, in my opinion.

[speedy king]

The point is though, Reid turned in on Neal, Turkington was simply driving with them, Reid spun him self across and hit Turkington, so i dont see why people say "Turkington took Reid out" cos that wasn't the case atall, Reid took himself out, and if Turkington hadn't have been there then Reid would have gone head on in to the pit wall

[Claw]

Even though Reid was turning on Neal, they would have carried on if Turkingon wasn't there. Plus CT was holding up Priaulx who was gunning for 3rd place. With Colin in the way he couldn't get passed CT. The whole point is, Reid and Neal were on the same lap, battling for position as you do. Driver squeeze other drivers out all the time. Drivers who are a lap down should move out of the way and let them battle. But cos he wanted to look big, he took out the 4th placed car!


It as that clown Turkington's fault.

[Ed- the MG fan]

It was actually CT who took Reid out at Thruxton, despite being a lap down!

I meant the season finale at Donington!!! When a he tried to pass Ried on the outside of a corner, and ended up spining himself around into the gravel trap

I was under the impression it was Howell.

[Insider]

I think if you watch the Tv replays you will see that on both incidents it was Reid who did the hitting. At Thruxton, Colin was where he was because he was told to be there to protect Reid from Priaulx. He didn't know that Wood was going to go through the chicane at 20 mph and cause Neal and Reid to back-off.

I don't think that you can blame Gareth either. 10 secs before the incident, Reid had used his MG as a bumper car to pass Neal and Howell was clearly past him when he turned in. Reid should have lifted, especially as all 4 had a pre-race agreement and Howell would have let him through at the next corner.

[thommo_fan]

so if the 4 MG drivers had a pre race agreement then howell shouldn't have been trying to pass reid in the first place, thats what i got from the last post.

[Insider]

I take it that you haven't seen the race. Howell sat behind him on his bumper for two laps, Reid then lunged at Neal, hitting him just behind the door. The 2 lost momentum and howell passed Reid. He was past him and turning in when Reid hit him behind his rear wheel arch. The agreement was that there would be no contact between them and they would only pass if it could be done cleanly.

[thommo_fan]

when you said in your previous post that howell would have let him through at the next corner it sounded like they had an agreement that howell would stay behind reid.

and yes, i've seen that incident many times and reid should have given howell more room but i think howell turned in early too, so just a racing incient really.

[GarethHowell]

In hindsight maybe i should have left Reidy some more room, but he had no revs out of Macleans after firing into the side of Matt, and I think it was the old red mist that caused him to sling it up the inside at Coppice.

Obviously the great Mr. Reid can't be seen to be getting past by 'a kid!'

[John]

Originally posted by GarethHowell
Obviously the great Mr. Reid can't be seen to be getting past by 'a kid!'

Do I detect a note of sarcasm?! ;)

Any news on plans for this season that we are allowed to hear about yet? :)

[GarethHowell]

Usual no can tell silly season rubbish, but am working on a late deal as we speak!!

[speedy king]

Hope the deal works out for ya, it'll be great to see you back in touring cars this year

[John]

Originally posted by GarethHowell
Usual no can tell silly season rubbish, but am working on a late deal as we speak!!

Cool, hope you get something sorted - proved with GR and TAK that you deserve to be there so keep us all posted with news!

Good luck.

[lauz]

it would be great to see gareth back next year.

[Les]

Yes it would be good to see Gareth out there again and in something good so best of luck Gareth.

[MG-ZS EX260]

yeah good luck gareth, you were f**kin wicked at brands, looked like a true pro, and i hope ur late deal is for an MG drive!

[Sim_Da_BTCC_Man]

Good Luck,

Would that deal be with GA by any chance? ;)