tom chilton

[burfield17]

I seem to be the only person, who is a fan of Tom Chilton. I have heard people havin a go about him, but lets face it, he is only 17 (maybe 18 now) and he did a damn good job against some other drivers:D

[speedy king]

YEYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! someone agrees with me!! I am a big fan of his too, last year i spent over an hour on one post about him, and then i got slagged off. He's full of potential and he showed a lot of it last year

[John]

If you owned a race team and money was no object which driver would be top of your shopping list? Going out on a limb here but if this was a poll I dont think Chilton would come top in it.

The only reason he was there last year was that he brought a lot of sponsorship to Barwell, without which they wouldn't have been able to run in touring. There were some good drives, but considering he was in an Astra which was by far the car of 2001 you would have expected him to win the Indy championship. Slight in the sister car nearly did, but Chilton was outclassed by the Peugeots. How many times was an Astra outclassed by a Peugeot in 2001?

Im not saying he doesnt deserve to be there but I really think he should have started off in Production (which is one of the advantages of that class - discovering new talent) and then once he had some experience at racing at that level and had proved himself then graduated to a touring drive.

I never understood why he was constantly referred to as 'the wonder kid' on ITV, but after about two rounds Ben Edwards stopped saying that.

Also, he got a podium at Brands but that was after half the field had problems and after he took out Harvey.

Not getting at people who think he's good, just saying that there are a lot more people out there that I would have in my team first and I dont think the results achieved were that brilliant. If you watch the 1st round they interview him and he says he'd like to finish in the top 6. Well he actually finished 15 with only Bennett (who had 25points deducted for engine changes) and Breeze (who did half a season in the third 406) behind him.

Interested to hear others views on this...

[burfield17]

you hav 2 remember people, if ur gona slag of tom, just think about the fact that other drivers were not up there all of the time like rydell in his 1st year or so, and he went onto great things, as with yvan muller

[John]

But isnt that because Rydell, Muller et al. didnt have rich parents who could fund a drive in a top touring car team. They had to work through the ranks of the lower formulae before they got their top drives. And their talent is reflected in their pay cheques. People are willing to pay large amounts of money to let Rydell, Menu, Reid, Muller, etc drive their cars.

[burfield17]

so, john, are u a fan of tom or not? i think dat he has potential, as he showed throughout the year, of course at brands hatch. He did better than Tim Harvey last year, and you know how experienced tim is.

[Les]

to me there is only one reason the teams are out there - to get publicity and if it helps that a 17-18 year old is one of your drivers then so be it.

If Tom was to win a race then it is more likely that a few column inches or a minute on the sports news will be devoted to it than if Thompson or Muller wins his 8th race on the trot.

and it's sad...

[burfield17]

yeh, but if a 17 year old was to win a race, that would be special, whereas if muller or thompson woz 2 win 8 wins on da trot, that wouldnt be so amazin! I sure that thompson got the same treatment when he won his first race for vauxhall in 1995

[Claw]

Originally posted by burfield17
so, john, are u a fan of tom or not? i think dat he has potential, as he showed throughout the year, of course at brands hatch. He did better than Tim Harvey last year, and you know how experienced tim is.


Disagree!


Harvey came 3rd in the Indies with about 5 indies cup wins, (but alot of mechanical trouble.) Chilton came second from bottom with 0 indie wins. Plus Chilton was in the car that was all concering in 2001 and Harvey was in the car that got beaten by the Astra in 2001.
Chilton did a better job, I don't think so.

[Le Mans]

All touring drivers' points at end of 2002:

James THOMPSON 183
Yvan MULLER 163
Matt NEAL 145
Anthony REID 136
Andy PRIAULX 116
Warren HUGHES 110
David LESLIE 79
Paul O'NEILL 77
Alan MORRISON 68
Dan EAVES 43
Tim HARVEY 43
Gareth HOWELL 32
Aaron SLIGHT 32
Colin TURKINGTON 29
Tom CHILTON 14
Phil BENNETT 9

[burfield17]

tom did win an indie race at knockhill, he is only young and in his 1st year of proper motorsport, teams wouldnt of signed him if he didnt have potential!!!

[John]

Course a team would sign a driver without potential. It happens all the time. Sign a driver with cash to fund the team and then you can run a driver with potential in the other car. It happens in F1 all the time, especially with Minardi.

[speedy king]

Originally posted by John
But isnt that because Rydell, Muller et al. didnt have rich parents who could fund a drive in a top touring car team. They had to work through the ranks of the lower formulae before they got their top drives. And their talent is reflected in their pay cheques. People are willing to pay large amounts of money to let Rydell, Menu, Reid, Muller, etc drive their cars.

Sounds like your just gelous, face it, Tom's parents have money, so why not use it!!!! And your comment about how many Vauxhalls were past by Peugeots, right everyone, here we go! Muller was passed by harvey at Brands in 2002, Eaves passed Muller at Brands in 2001, Soper passed Bennett at Brands in 2001, Soper passed Plato and Thompson at Oulton park in 2001, i would keep going but i cant be assed.

[speedy king]

Originally posted by Claw
Disagree!


Harvey came 3rd in the Indies with about 5 indies cup wins, (but alot of mechanical trouble.) Chilton came second from bottom with 0 indie wins. Plus Chilton was in the car that was all concering in 2001 and Harvey was in the car that got beaten by the Astra in 2001.
Chilton did a better job, I don't think so.

Chilton did have Indy wins, he beat Harvey at Knockhill and won the indie race, he also had a lot of bad luck, he was taken out at Donington, forced off track when he was 5th in the sprint race, mechanical problems at croft, steering braking at Mondello, cought out in round two at Brands, mechanical problem at Silverstone

[John]

Originally posted by speedy king
Sounds like your just gelous, face it, Tom's parents have money, so why not use it!!!! And your comment about how many Vauxhalls were past by Peugeots, right everyone, here we go! Muller was passed by harvey at Brands in 2002, Eaves passed Muller at Brands in 2001, Soper passed Bennett at Brands in 2001, Soper passed Plato and Thompson at Oulton park in 2001, i would keep going but i cant be assed.


Obviously I wouldnt say no to a touring car drive but that doesnt mean Im JEALOUS of Tom Chilton. This is somewhere to post views on various topics as we have with Muller, Radermecker and a few other drivers. This is my view on this topic.

As for the Pug/Vauxhall thing I am referring to 2001 season (ie the season that the independent cars are based on). My point was that there were very few occasions when the works Pugs got infront of the Astras on merit. Therefore one would assume that the 2002 independent cars would be the same - ie there would be very few times when a 406 would get infront of an independent Astra (ie a Barwell car) on merit. This was not however the case. Therefore either VLR did a much better job developing the 406 in the off season that Barwell did with the Astra or its down to the drivers - or a combination of both.

If you believe that Tom Chilton is the best driver on the grid then fair enough. But somehow I dont think thats the case and thats all I am trying to say here!!!

Thank you!!

[Reynard]

I don't know what to make of Tom Chilton to be honest, but I think he's way out of his depth. Added to the fact that he had picked up a very dodgy reputation in T-Cars (as a photographer I hear quite a lot of stuff) I'm not sure he's level-headed enough to be in top line motor racing at this moment in time.

In the future - well, who knows. All I'm saying is that he needs a little bit more experience and to calm down a little. Maybe in a few years from now he will be the driver that the BTCC can be proud of, but a bottomless wallet does not guarantee anything - it never has done.

[speedy king]

Originally posted by John
Obviously I wouldnt say no to a touring car drive but that doesnt mean Im JEALOUS of Tom Chilton. This is somewhere to post views on various topics as we have with Muller, Radermecker and a few other drivers. This is my view on this topic.

As for the Pug/Vauxhall thing I am referring to 2001 season (ie the season that the independent cars are based on). My point was that there were very few occasions when the works Pugs got infront of the Astras on merit. Therefore one would assume that the 2002 independent cars would be the same - ie there would be very few times when a 406 would get infront of an independent Astra (ie a Barwell car) on merit. This was not however the case. Therefore either VLR did a much better job developing the 406 in the off season that Barwell did with the Astra or its down to the drivers - or a combination of both.

If you believe that Tom Chilton is the best driver on the grid then fair enough. But somehow I dont think thats the case and thats all I am trying to say here!!!

Thank you!!

In no way am i saying Tom is the best guy on the grid, last year was his first year, the fastest he had ever driven before last year was 100mph, he didn't even have a road lisence, give him a chance! As others have said before people like Thompson strugled in their first year, and before you say it, Thompson did have financial backing!

And as for the independant cars, at the end of 2001 the pegeouts were almost as good as Vauxhall, just cos there independant dosent mean they cant develop the cars!

[John]

That is exactly the point I made origionally - it was his first year racing and he should have started off gradually with a production drive to gain experience before having a touring drive.

Even if it was for a season like O'Neill did. He has come straight from T-Cars to a touring car drive.

I think he would have a lot more respect if he had proved himself capable at a lower level before graduating to the top class. Which is in a way exactly what Reynard has said here as well.

[Reynard]

Originally posted by speedy king
As others have said before people like Thompson stugled in their first year, and before you say it, Thompson did have financial backing!

True, but Thommo came up through the tin-top ranks (production saloons, I believe) before he entered the BTCC - first as a privateer in an older car and then with the full works Vauxhall drive. There's the big difference.

Tom's jumped straight into a full-blown racing car straight from T-cars which is perhaps not ideal. It would be like someone who's been driving Kent County Formula Ford getting an F1 drive.

James has proved he has what it takes time and again, but Tom Chilton hasn't shown very much IMHO.

[John]

and....

That touring drive should have gone to Kaye and / or Graves following their performances in the Barwell Hondas in 2001 but they were overlooked for Chilton. Think how Graves and Kaye would have performed in the cars.

[Reynard]

Originally posted by John
and....
Think how Graves and Kaye would have performed in the cars.

I certainly agree about James Kaye - he's been there, done that and got the t-shirt: production saloons, honda crx, btcc works and privateer etc. James is one hell of an underrated driver (so is his brother Richard) and it's about time he got the drive his ability deserved.

His problem has always been money, although earlier in his career he was backed by Derek Warwick, Roland Dane et al. Now he's struck out on his own and is stil proving that he's a driver to be reckoned with.

Watching James bang doors with Kelvin Burt at Silverstone was a right pleasure - Kelvin's one of the best and I take my hat off to anyone who can keep up with him! :)

[John]

I think Kaye is just unfortunate to not have been in the right place at the right time. If he'd had a Honda works drive in any of the following years he would have been snapped up by another team. He was outperformed by Leslie at Honda but I am assuming there was some behind the scenes stuff going on (eg 2nd to get upgrades etc?) because as Reynard has said he was able to keep up with Burt (and just about everyone else in the production ranks).

Hopefully he will get that Civic Touring deal and show us what he can do. :)

On the backing thing he has been a Honda driver for years and years - is there some tie there or just coincidence? Also I noticed until recently his cars always had 'Enny' (sp?) logos on which asumes some sort of sponsorship ties.

[speedy king]

Kaye might be good but wow was he shown up in a works car in 1996 and 1995 by Leslie and everyone else on the grid!

[John]

As we've said before - you cant comment on things if you dont have the full story.

Radermacker in 2000 appears **** compared to Muller and Plato but he was always the last to get new parts, had to give way to them on the track and even had to give Muller his car at Snetterton. Looking at the results you would conclude that Vince wasnt as good as the others - but thats not necessarily the case.

Its not uncommon for a new team to concentrate on one car - or go different directions with each car in terms of set up and parts.

[Reynard]

Originally posted by speedy king
Kaye might be good but wow was he shown up in a works car in 1996 and 1995 by Leslie and everyone else on the grid!

One thing you've got to understand is that it is not just the car that is the deciding factor in the performance of a driver. A lot of it is down to the working environment, attitude of the team members, sponsor interferrence etc. You'd be surprised how much of a difference it can make.

Take Kelvin Burt for example:

Yoy don't get to be a British F3 champion without being good, but his time at Volvo in the BTCC was a shambles. And the reason?

The whole team was geared towards Rickard Rydell, from the boss to the sponsors, the engineers and the mechanics. In 1997, Kel spent pretty well much the whole season without a race engineer because Rickard wanted the man that Kel had. Therefore, you can't say that his performances were representative, because they weren't. When the environment for a driver is WRONG, you can't expect him to perform.

On the other hand, look at what Kelvin has achieved when he's been in the RIGHT environment: 1991 British Vauxhall Lotus champion, 1993 British F3 champion, 2001 British GTO champion and runner-up in the 2002 ASCAR series.

Therefore you can't say that a driver was shown up by a team mate without being able to justify it. Unless you KNOW that they are both getting the same support, there is always an underlying reason, particularly if that driver has preformed well elsewhere.

[lauz]

Originally posted by burfield17
I seem to be the only person, who is a fan of Tom Chilton. I have heard people havin a go about him, but lets face it, he is only 17 (maybe 18 now) and he did a damn good job against some other drivers:D

i think that tom is a great guy and he is a good driver. i mean you have to consider the fact that he couldn't even drive on the road when he entered the championship! this year he will be better, im sure. he is still only 17 just now though. his birthday is at the end of march i think.

[Peter]

Tom Chilton was very much the Felipe Massa of touring cars- He probably has a great future in front of him, but made the jump too early.

I do not blame Barwell for taking him last season, as they ran on a limited budget. Hence, they could only run whoever was willing to pay.

That reasoning does not apply with Honda, who are a full blown works team. Matt Neal may be expensive, but I doubt Morrison costs much. I am sure they could have been able to afford a more proven and reliable driver than Chilton. What happened to the talk about Rickard Rydell driving for them?

I would like to see it made mandatory that all touring class drivers have experience in either a series, such as Formula Ford or Formula Renault, F3 or experience in another touring car series.

The BTCC should become a home for the likes of Marc Hynes, Jamie Davies, Johnny Kane etc.

[Peter]

Originally posted by lauz
i think that tom is a great guy and he is a good driver. i mean you have to consider the fact that he couldn't even drive on the road when he entered the championship! this year he will be better, im sure. he is still only 17 just now though. his birthday is at the end of march i think.

Does the BTCC really want drivers who cannot drive on the road?:D

[speedy king]

Lets face it, Tom Boardman came out of T Cars and has done two years in the production class now, and i would say that Chilton is ALOT more mature than him. I can't wait to see how Tom ( Chilton ) does this year. Then you can comment on him now he will have done two years and will have been in a works car with people like Alan Morrison and Matt Neal for team mates. Another thing that may have been against Tom last year was the fact that his team Mate, Slight, was also learning, so Tom nor Aaron really had a team mate to get advise off, only their team manager, Mark Lemmer. Even Mark commented at Donington how impressed he was with both of them. As someone pointed out earlier, alot more goes on in the team that people see. I have personally met, Aaron, Tom, and Mark due to connections i have with the sponsorship at Barwell.

Perhaps Tom having two experienced team mates will help him this year.

[lauz]

you can't compare tom boardman and tom chilton. firstly tom boardman is really entertaining when he is driving! chilton and boardman have completely different driving styles and you can't fault either of them but also tom boardman is so enthusiastic about his racing and drives the race to win. however tom chilton does show enthusiasm and drives well but i think he will be better with the advice he will get from matt and alan.

[Sim_Da_BTCC_Man]

Originally posted by lauz
you can't compare tom boardman and tom chilton.

Thats like the question "daddy or chips?" ;)
(those of u not from the UK won't get it.):D

[John]

Boardman was in the NSC in 2000 so thats more than 2 years experience in production specification cars.


By the way - its always daddy over chips! (Daddy can make chips but chips cant make daddy!!) ;)

[The Stig]

Sincerely hope my son and daughter say Daddy not chips ! Anyway, we're digressing, this thread certainly seems to have polarised opinion. Me, personally, I tend to side with John and others, no doubt the fellas ability, but the finance has certainly given Tom Chilton a leg up where others would have taken far longer. He should have cut his teeth in the production class acquired some experience and then moved up. If he has the speed and talent some opinion would have you believe, this ability wouldn't be diminished, but simply enhanced by learning his craft at a lower level. Would love to be pleasantly surprised this year, but anticipate this could be a tough season mixing it at the front with some hard competitors and probably being out-qualified and out-finished by both team-mates. If I'm wrong in my honestly held views, would be the first to congratulate the bloke. Future champion ? The Stig's jury is out !!

[burfield17]

i have a feeling that tom will do well this year, as he is in a very good team, in the shape of honda, who did very well towards the end of last year

[John]

Well put Stig.

And as you say if we are proved wrong then burfield17 and speedy king are welcome to say 'I told you so' if the 2003 champion happens to be a Honda Driver with the initials TC!

:)

[The Stig]

No axe to grind with TC whatsoever. Genuinely believe he's some way from the finished article. And, at risk of opening another can of worms, arguably some better qualified and more experienced drivers who won't re-appear this season, do deserve to be at the Honda factory for their seat fitting!!!!

[John]

Originally posted by The Stig
at risk of opening another can of worms, arguably some better qualified and more experienced drivers who won't re-appear this season, do deserve to be at the Honda factory for their seat fitting!!!!

Wasn't there debate fairly recently about Honda having Rydell or Tarquini in the BTCC? Now there's something I'd like to see - Neal, Rydell and Tarquini!! :) Oh I'm dreaming again aren't I?! :rolleyes:

[thommo_fan]

i have to agree with the comments made by john and the stig.
but at the end of the day it comes down to money in motorsport.

look at justin wilson, he had to sell shares in himself to raise the 2million he needed for his minardi seat.

i to would have loved to see rydell in a honda this year but he maybe couldn't bring the sponsorship to the team that chilton and neal have.

[Reynard]

It's unlikely Rydell would be seen in a Honda as he's backed by Volvo - even when he was driving for Ford in the BTCC, he was "on loan" from Volvo rather than contracted to Ford proper.

Going back to Tom Chilton, Barwell commercial director Chris Needell (younger brother of former F1 Cp C & BTCC driver Tiff) was quoted as saying that the sole reason they've stepped down to Production from Touring was Tom moving to Honda as they would be unlikely to afford anyone with more experience and still stay in Touring.

Chris also mentioned the cost of spares and accident damage - an area of the budget that was eaten into quite heavily at barwell last year.

[John]

Originally posted by Reynard
Chris also mentioned the cost of spares and accident damage - an area of the budget that was eaten into quite heavily at barwell last year.

Not a great formula as many things can happen - but in general you would expect a more experience driver to have fewer accidents than a rooky (before everyone starts quoting examples of experience drivers' accidents its just a very rough generalisation - eg Sato vs Fisichella last year).

[thommo_fan]

Originally posted by John
Not a great formula as many things can happen - but in general you would expect a more experience driver to have fewer accidents than a rooky (before everyone starts quoting examples of experience drivers' accidents its just a very rough generalisation - eg Sato vs Fisichella last year).

very true, look at thommo last year, he's an experienced btcc driver and had no accidents apart from when muller took him off at brands and even then there was no visable damage.
but when he went rallying, at which he is a rookie he crashed quite a lot.

[The Stig]

Admire the rallying boys immensely. Of all the motorsport disciplines, I reckon rallying takes the most driving skills.

[John]

I never know which is more difficult.

A rally driver rarely covers the same piece of road twice (although there is a lot more repitition nowadays than in the past) but he does have the advantage of someone reading out pace notes. I remember an incar clip once where it was really foggy and dark and the spot lights were just causing glare and dazzle so the driver switched them off and drove blind with just the pace notes - that was amazing.

A circuit racer has to read the road themselves but has only got to learn 12 or so corners at each circuit, so I guess that is easier in reality - especially as rally drivers tend to do better at circuit racing than circuit racers do at rallying. (Although forget about Richard Burns' roll in the Porsche at Silverstone when you're reading that last comment!!) ;)

[The Stig]

Taking the BTCC versus the WRC, circuits have run off areas, catch fencing, first class marshalling and medical assistance where necessary. Public roads are unforgiving, a small mistake and you could easily throw it into trees or over a steep drop. Takes huge nads to drive a car on the limit in those conditions. Always amuses me when TV presenters or pundits ride shotgun in a rally car with a top line driver. The TV type almost always gets out of the car white and shaking. Sure the rally drivers try even harder for those drives. Think you're spot John in your observation that rally drivers often do better round circuits than racing drivers do over stages.

[thommo_fan]

i've always considered the WRC drivers to be the best drivers in the world, better then F1 drivers for sure.
back in the 60's and 70's i think F1 drivers were on a par with rally drivers but its hard to rate modern F1 drivers that highly because they have so many driver aids.

when certain F1 drivers like jonthan palmer and derick warick came to the btcc from F1 i think they thought it would be easy compared to driving F1 cars but they found it difficult.



Originally posted by The Stig
Think you're spot John in your observation that rally drivers often do better round circuits than racing drivers do over stages.


i'd agree with that statement for a lot of drivers but look at thommo, he's doing really well with his rallying.
i reckon thommo's got a real chance of winning the british rally championship this year.
i think that a top driver can drive pretty much anything.

[Amanda]

I think it is very hard to compare racing and rallying but there is no reason why a driver can't do both. A friend of mine has both his rally and race licences.

We went to the Rallye Sunseeker in and around Bournemouth yesterday and had a great day out. It is hard work spectating on a rally as you are constantly on the move, we followed the top 20 cars from stage to stage.

[speedy king]

Personally, when i race on a circuit for a first time i pick up the technique very quickly, and that is often the same for most racing drivers, i'm not saying it's exactly easy, but compared to rallying when you never know whats comming, i would say circuit racing is easyer.

Any way, what has this got to do with Tom Chilton

[Reynard]

The really top drivers can drive ANYTHING quickly, even if it's significantly different to their usual mount:

You only need to look at Kelvin Burt last year in both the BTC Production and in the Porsche Cup. Withougt having driven the cars prior to qualifying, he sticks them straight on pole and turns previously midfield cars into race winners.

Another example is Colin McRae, who put in a cracking performance in the Bintcliffe Sport Pontiac while Darren Manning was on CART duty last year. Colin is a rally driver, yet he took to oval racing amazingly well - he's a brilliant driver BUT his attitude towards the fans and the team personnel needs a lot of improvement.

As for the former F1 drivers who came into the BTCC and found it difficult... Put it this way, comparing an 800 bhp rear-wheel-drive single-seater to a 2-litre (invariably) front-wheel-drive 250 bhp touring car is like comparing a pizza to a cat ! :)

Like many forms of motor racing, driving a tourer quickly is a very specialised technique - and the best exponents of that generally tend to be those drivers who have been competing in saloons all their lives. There are exceptions to that rule and there always will be - look at Yvan Muller, who is a former British F2 (F3000) champion.

However, the bottom line is that some drivers are far more adaptable to driving different types of car than others - it depends largely on their inherrent driving style and their technical and tactical awareness. That is why a driver like Kelvin Burt is among the very best we have ever produced, but also why someone like Tom Chilton could never hope to ever have that degree of ability or versatility.

[Claw]

I saw that race on TV with Colin in, and I have to say he brought it to life and it was action all the way.

The man's a born showman. And yesterday I read that he's bought himself a Monastry!

[John]

Yeah I saw that Colin McRae race by pure fluke and was very impressed - not usually a fan of oval racing but that got my attention!!

Reynard - u do talk a lot of sense I have to say I agree with those comments (PS well done for mentioning TC! - should keep Speedy King happy!) ;)

[The Stig]

Agree John, again. Sometimes however hard you try these threads go off at a slight tangent. You need to have been racing some years to acq

[The Stig]

Whoops, bit trigger happy with the previous thread. Will continue thus, you need to have been racing some years to acquire the experience and skills to compete for titles and score points consistently. Presently TC has much to learn and many laps mixing it at the front before being spoken of in the same breath as such men as, Thommo, Plato, Neal, Muller etc.
Only exceptional talents, (Schumacher senior, Ayrton Senna), etc
financially assisted or otherwise have the ability from day one. The trick is when you have that much talent to get noticed and force yourself in to whatever formula. Any motorsport is so fickle, when the chances come for whoever, don't under any circumstances waste them.

[BTCCNEWS]

Not sure who is making comments about Tom Chilton. Are you talking about drivers or others on forums? Last year was Tom's first year in BTCC, this year will see him judged more closely as he is in a works car.

[smithers71]

:confused:
It doesnt matter what anyones opinion of him is. He gets to drive a TOURING CAR and we dont. Git.

[speedy king]

I can tell you that from Thruxton the other day Tom was just as impressive in the Honda as Morrison was.

[John]

Originally posted by Reynard
I certainly agree about James Kaye - he's been there, done that and got the t-shirt: production saloons, honda crx, btcc works and privateer etc. James is one hell of an underrated driver (so is his brother Richard) and it's about time he got the drive his ability deserved.

Well now Kaye has confirmed the plans to run a Civic in Touring with Synchro I for one hope that he is the second highest Honda driver in the standings (behind Matt!!) :)

[lauz]

Originally posted by speedy king
I can tell you that from Thruxton the other day Tom was just as impressive in the Honda as Morrison was.


well said. tom deserves a chance to prove himself

[SSC]

Some of you guys should be ashamed with yourselves. I know Tom very well, he is one of my best friends and reading some comments talking about him like he can just be slated with no regard for him.

Sure hes young and his parents have supported him but at the end of the day you cant simply buy your way into a TOCA team, he has to have some talent. Imagine if he logged onto this and read some of these comments, it would shatter him, he LOVES to drive, thats all he lives for. Ive seen him race so many times and I know he will suprise alot of people this season.

So all you Chilton haters, give the guy a chance!

[lauz]

i agree tom chilton deserves a chance to prove that he is able to race and compete with the best. last season was his first season so you couldn't expect him to go out and win but you can't say he didn't try. i hope that tom ends up on the podium this year and ends up at the top end of the championship table. now that he is in a better car than he was last year im sure that he will be in with a chance of winning.

good luck to tom.

[The Stig]

I'm not a Chilton hater - far from it. Motor racing is a hard game, you won't please all of the fans all of the time. Forums like this will be character building for racers like TC. The vast majority of participants in this forum are well informed and articulate and know their stuff. TC should read these threads and learn. The thrust of most of them, certainly mine, is that TC seems young and relatively inexperienced for the level at which he is performing. Everybody, has to start somewhere. If you have the talent to start with, you can do far worse than learn your craft at a lower lever and build. I would be delighted, if in years to come, TC, in whatever discipline, is held in the same affection as people like Plato and Matt Neal. People contributing here show drivers enormous respect and are only ever offering opinions.

[John]

Originally posted by The Stig
The vast majority of participants in this forum are well informed and articulate and know their stuff. TC should read these threads and learn. The thrust of most of them, certainly mine, is that TC seems young and relatively inexperienced for the level at which he is performing. Everybody, has to start somewhere. If you have the talent to start with, you can do far worse than learn your craft at a lower lever and build.

Well put, I was trying to think of a way to put that so that I didnt get us into even more trouble for expressing that view but couldn't think how to phrase it - but thats spot on! This isn't the sort of forum where you would get away with blatently slagging someone off for no reason, so the fact that the views expressed have been backed up with sufficient detail, example and reasoning, and has more than a handful of people agreeing with them must mean something.

As the Stig says we are not TC haters, and thats not the view that comes across if the comments are read carefully.

[Les]

come this season and Tom won't be the new boy - there will be others to watch such as Luke Hines. We watched him today testing and he'll be ok with more laps in the car.
It's like anybody - you need to practice, practice and practice - experience can't be bought.

Any way - Luke's car very smart...

[Reynard]

Originally posted by SSC
Some of you guys should be ashamed with yourselves. I know Tom very well, he is one of my best friends and reading some comments talking about him like he can just be slated with no regard for him.

Imagine if he logged onto this and read some of these comments, it would shatter him, he LOVES to drive, thats all he lives for.

SSC - we are not slating Tom in any way, just putting forward our opinions, particularly with regards to his inexperience and the effect it has on his participation in a top level championship.

Tom's driving ability isn't the real issue here - his inexperience is, particularly since drivers in the BTCC have many years' worth of competition behind them before they join the series. Tom is still at the beginning of his career as as I've said before, given a few more years experience - even perhaps stepping down to a lower level for a while so that the learning process is a little more forgiving, he may well end up being a driver that the BTCC will be proud of - in the vein of a John Cleland or a Matt Neal.

And a driver would well benefit from being aware of the public opinion about him - the complete driver at the top level always is and often makes use of public opinion to his benefit. If Tom were to come in here and read what we have said, we hope that he might find our input informative and also potentially useful. As The Stig says, motor racing is a hard game and the truth is not always what you want to hear.

Before you have a go at me, let me just say that Kelvin Burt is a friend of mine and I've followed him through thick and thin from his Formula Ford and FVL days. I know what it means to see a driver get abuse from people who don't have a clue, and compared to what I've seen, the posts on this thread can in no way be described as that...

To be honest with you, our arguments about Tom are based on fact and general observation - as a photographer, I get plenty of that.

Since this is a discussion forum, we are entitled to our views and most of us here have many years experience in motorsport - as a spectator or otherwise - and we believe that this allows us to take an objective view of the situation. Of course, some of our opinions differ, but that's what discussion is all about. Our intention in this thread was not to give Tom stick in any way, only to share our opinions about him.

[The Stig]

Read it and weep SSC. People taking part in this forum are not tabloid newspapers and wouldn't know where to start with character assassination, before moving on to the next flavour of the month. Please ask your friend TC to read these sensible and honestly offered opinions. Every single participant here would be thrilled, if, in years to come, TC went all they way and did rather well for himself. This forum users are, first and foremost fans. Excellent British drivers who try hard, improve and prosper will never not have a huge fan base.

[John]

Tom's birthday today (Saturday) by the way, if anyone's interested.

[lauz]

yeah i know. happy 18th to tom. he is now legal age to collect the champagne when he ends up on the podium.

[John]

Originally posted by lauz
yeah i know. happy 18th to tom. he is now legal age to collect the champagne when he ends up on the podium.

I'll not comment on that incase I get in trouble from the TC fans!! I'll just say there's gonna be a lot of competition for the champagne this year!! ;)

[lauz]

im sure tom will end up with champagne and i hope he enjoy's drinking it!

[Les]

Happy birthday Tom.

[John]

Originally posted by Les
Happy birthday Tom.

You think he'll get as far as page 5 of this thread if he started reading it?!? ;) Sorry just stiring it now! :)

Yeah I'll say happy birthday Tom as well :)