Appauled - Tom Boardman

[MG-ZS EX260]

Right, im sorry but prepare for a HUGE RANT!

I think he is absolutley appauling. Sorry ive kept my mouth shut before, but what he did to bentwood today was shocking. It is not at all funny or a thing to do, sit on the bumper of a car that is 7mph slower on the speed traps, the pug was obviously going to get ahead, why did he stay on bentwoods bumper, the idiot! Im am very hacked off and he should have a fine/point and in my oppinion a race ban, it was soooooo incredibly out of order. Everyone seems to support him and i know ill get a grilling for what ive said but i really think he should be punished. if o'neil got points for his little comming together with kaye then boardman should get points and/or a ban. I wont tell you what i was shouting at the TV when i saw that! In 2002 he was really pretty dismal, constantly in trouble and could never seem to understand, i bet the team kept telling him 'the Car is RWD, u know the rear wheels are the driven wheels' But he never seemed to get that in his head. He is not up to being in the BTCC in my oppinion, Im interested to see what other people think, im expecting to be flamed but as ive said, its may oppinion. the accident today could have cause Bentwood serious injury.

[Claw]

It would be decent of you to tell us people without Motor TV, what the hell your on about!?

Explain what happened in the accident!

[MG-ZS EX260]

sorry claw.
Well, boardman was leading but bentwood got past him on the corner before the straight, but the pug was close behind the BMW and boardman stayed in bentwoods slipstream until and i was saying to myself 'that pugs way way quicker in a straight line, hes gonna hit him if he didnt move'. But no boardman didnt move and the extra 4cyl pug power pulled the pug into Bentwood at 115mph and boardman tagged his rear and he went into the pug and the pit wall. Not funny, very very serious.

Whyt he hell he didnt move over, he must have known he would have been significatly quicker in a straight line.

[Le Mans]

He pushed the BMW into a spin. (He did not hit the car.... he pushed it, which seems to be premeditated.) Tom is a very quick driver with a great future but anyone who has met him will tell you that he is 'not the sharpest knife in the drawer'.

[Sim_Da_BTCC_Man]

and unfortunatly the car is a write off.

I think it would now be more cost effective for Edenbridge to not have a second driver, stick Bentwood in the second car and leave the other one as it is unless another paid driver can afford to have it repaired if they want to use it.

[touring fan]

It just seems like a silly accident, wall or no wall there, it was the type of thing that just doesn't need to happen, whoever was at fault.

[MG-ZS EX260]

yes boardman may be a fast driver, but that shunt was VERY unprofesional and he needs to be punished for what he did.

I'm glad Bentwoods ok, its a testiment to the strength of the BMW and the roll cage. I cant begin to imagine what 115mph into a wall must feel like but for him to walk away with just a saw neck is excellent.

[cos]

Just as well Edenbridge have a 2nd BMW on them, although they do have 3 weeks to try and repair the wrecked one. I'll wait till I see the incident on TV before making any sort of judgement.

[cos]

Boardman has been excluded from the 2nd race due to that incident.

[MG-ZS EX260]

thanks for that cos, im glad he has been excluded.

Also i just thought id say i love ur avatar! going to donningot this week im gong fri sat and sun! and will be cheering for priaulx.

[Nikh_mg]

Disqualification's a bit harsh. I have to admit I was cursing at Boardman when he did it but when I saw the replays it wasnt that bad.You say he could have moved out, well yes but it was a bit early, and you can very easily get sucked into a car when you get into it's slipstream, especially at 115mph, and he's oly young, every driver makes a mistake, it just happened to be at an unforgiving place

[Le Mans]

Tom knew exactly what he was doing. He had been well raced and passed by a slower car with a better driver and so he took the other car out. Thankfully there was no serious injury.

[Nikh_mg]

I dont wann start an argument but I really dont think it was 100% his fault, i'd put it donw to inexperience, you dont put someone into a concrete wall cos you are slower, if he was doing it to remove Bent wood e ould do it in the slower section

[cos]

Inexperience? This is Tom's 3rd season in the BTCC, not including his years in the National Saloon Championship and T-carsÖ Bentwood may be experienced but this is his first year with a roof over his head. Boardman should know better.

[Alan]

This was just the sort of incident I was saying last week I hoped would not happen.

This must be 100% down to Tom I am afraid, and he must accept the consequences. He isn't the new boy any more, and he should have known better.

It takes very little to unsettle a car at that corner as those of us who go to Rockingham regularly for ASCAR will be able to testify.

Several other drivers carried out good clean overtaking manoevres down the start straight so it is perfectly possible, and I am sure Tom had the speed to do it, just not the patience.

[Reynard]

I think this incident is best described in ASCARspeak as a typical Turn 4 dispute. To be honest, I was quite surprised that no one had bit the wall there all weekend before that. The fact that Mike Bentwood's car is rear-wheel-drive (like an ASCAR) may have been a contributing factor. The crash actually had a similar feel to the one in the first ASCAR race of the season where Oli Playle tagged John Mickel and tipped him into the wall.

Turn 4 on the oval is quite a deceptive corner - it is slower and narrower than it actually looks and a rear drive car is often prone to become unsettled going through there. A front-wheel-drive car will effectively be "towed" around the corner and is likely to be considerably faster.

For the record, Tom Boardman was the ONLY driver throughout the whole weekend who was remotely close to taking what is the correct line through Turn 4 and along the pit straight - testimony to this were the rubs down the bodywork and the ground-down wing mirror.

I think Tom's exclusion is a little bit harsh as racing on an oval (or part of one) is a tricky skill to master and some drivers pick it up more easily than others - Michael Bentwood was having problems through that whole section all weekend which may or may not have been a contributing factor in the incident.

What price seeing Tom in an ASCAR?

[Peter Briggs]

Sorry I cannot bother to reply to your ridiculous comments ,You obviously have more experience than all the oficials and profesional observers.

[Amanda]

Peter ~ I would like to hear your comments on that incident. I was at Turn 1 during the race so have only seen the coverage from Motors TV. I watched that with a friend who is a racing driver and qualified ARDS instructor. He was horrified by Tom's driving and felt that a race ban would be in order, he quite rightly pointed out that driving in that manner could kill someone. So in my opinion Tom got off lightly with an exclusion.

[Le Mans]

Hi Amanda, Peter has written about the incident on another forum which I probably cannot mention here.

[Le Mans]

Quote:

We saw the incident on our pit wall TV and realised we did not have to complain to the officials as it was blatanly obvious to all the profesional observers what had happened.Our car was traveling at 113 mph at the point when he was hit by Tom approx half way down the pit straight, at the end of the straight we reached 120mph so the car was not on the limiter .I have spoken to Tim Harvey and he has apologised for his mistake.The peugeot is 6mph quicker at the end of the straight so lets get it clear, Tom made a very bad driving error which the officials attended to,possibly to leniently although it is the biggest fine in 2 years. However we have lost the lead in the champioship and a bill in excess of £10000 for someone elses bad driving.
__________________
edenboy

[Cossy999]

Boardman should be well suited to Ovals......

Last year he spent mucho time going round & round.....

Good publicity tho - He was always spinning, about to spin or recovering from a spin....

Can't remember a single mention for good driving tho....

Still - When Daddies paying the bills - Who cares ??

[Amanda]

Le Mans ~ thanks for that.

After reading Peter's comments it does sound as if Tom got off lightly. There is no excuse for that sort of driving.

[The Stig]

I don't expect to change my opinion on Saturday when I watch the highlights. It ocurred nearly opposite our seats. Most alarming of all was the time it took to extricate Michael Bentwood.
Shouldn't there be a contingency fund, which all teams sign up for, for just this sort of eventuality. If it is proven that a driver has made a catastrophic error, why should a team like Edenbridge pay, literally, the consquences.
Comparing this situation to Rob Collard at Thruxton - this was so different.

[Peter]

Although this would not have affected Tom Boardman's driving, I would strongly like to suggest adding tyres to the wall at turn 4, as they do in DTM at Lausitz. Tyres would have seriously reduced the damage to the BMW.

[Amanda]

The Stig ~ I think that it took so long to get Michael out of the car because he complained of neck pain so the paramedics were being extra careful. A similar thing happened at ASCAR a few weeks ago when John Mickel hit the wall, then they had to cut the roof off the car!

I agree that there should be some sort of contingency fund to cover this sort of thing. A repair bill of that size could mean that a team can no longer continue racing.

[Jamie P-E]

After seeing the incident on the telly on Sunday night, my conclusion is that because the BMW was hitting the rev limiter alot earlier than the 307 Tom just misjudged it, went into the back of the BMW and turned Michael around into the wall.

Jamie

[Amanda]

Jamie ~ sorry! I have to disagree, Peter Briggs says that the car was not on the rev limiter. I think on the tv coverage that Tim Harvey might have said the BMW was on the limiter but he later apologised to Peter for this mistake.

[Jamie P-E]

:o Sorry I was only going on what the telly potrayed and what the commentators were saying. Amanda you were right as you were there and saw it with your own eyes!!!!!!!!!


Jamie

[The Stig]

Amanda, that was I figured was happening to Michael Bentwood.
I haven't heard since I got home how he is. Presumably, huge headache and a stiff neck.

Regarding the contingency, what ever happens to the monies accrued through the fines system imposed on errant drivers. Might this be a starting point for any contingency ? In this way any bad driving resulting in fines may indirectly benefit the wronged teams. Tom Boardmans fine would considerably reduce the costs Edenbridge now face for example.

[Amanda]

I didn't see Michael after the race but Alan and Ann saw him wandering around the paddock.

[Nikh_mg]

Ive watched the crash again and I agree that it was Boardmans fault, although all the stick people are giving him is unfair, Muller did a lot more bad things in the race at less dangerous parts... :mad:

[Stuart]

I haven't seen the incident, so can only offer the following:

In a recent drivers briefing where I was driving a car in a class somewhat slower than those at the sharp end of the grid, I was told that it is always the duty of the faster driver to find their way past the slower and that I should hold my line.

Whether this was an accident (which I sincerely hope it was) or otherwise, I would question the drivers capability of racing at this a level.

With so much space at Rockingham (or any race track for that matter), there is no excuse for causing another team such expence, and for endangering another drivers life.

[Jabe]

Just to let you know Michael is fine, got a sore neck but he was more worried about the car than he was about himself. He was well enough to drive himself home anyway.

[Le Mans]

Originally posted by Jabe
.....He was well enough to drive himself home anyway.

I bet he kept a close eye on his rear-view mirror in case Tom was driving behind him!

:p

BTW the outcome was that Tom was excluded from the race, fined £1000 and had four penalty points added to his license.