Best newcommer in the 2002 season?

[MG-ZS EX260]

Last year i was very very impressed with Gareth howell, i thought at brands indy he was absolutley amazing, hes often been mixing it with the big boys, and his DNFs were often not his fault, great great Debut in the BTCC-T i hope hes still there in 2003 and can show more of his true potential, what does anyone think?

[thommo_fan]

andy priaulx and gareth howell.
howell also did very well at mondello and he often out qualifyed the MG works cars

[MG-ZS EX260]

oh yeah, forgot about priaulx, and watching 2001 when he was at oulton, what a great job he did theyre.

[Claw]

Don'r forget the production class! Marsh, Simon, Fullalove and Blencowe all impressed me very much.

As for Touring, Priualx.

[lauz]

colin turkington was quite impressive.
in the production class tom boardman and norman simon were impressive!

[cos]

Priaulx no question, as a touring class 'rookie' he helped develop that Honda into a winning machine.

[Les]

I have to say Jim Edwards - took an old car and did really well with it. (can I class him as a newcomer - well a new car, new team - why not!!)


then there was Alan Morrison - did really well in the Honda (and don't think for a minute that only Prilaux did the development)

[King Cleland]

Priaulx, Slight, Howell

[thommo_fan]

in the production i was disappointed with fullalove.
and boardman?????
he seemingly had a spin at every meeting

[Carl Breeze fan]

Not forgetting Boardman isn't a newcomer of course...

[thommo_fan]

doh:p

[Carl Breeze fan]

Don't worry though, after looking at some of his driving you would have thought he was a newcomer!

[thommo_fan]

true, i don't think he could handle rear wheel drive,.

[Carl Breeze fan]

...or front wheel drive... or four wheel drive...

[lauz]

tom boardman can't be as bad a driver as you are making him out to be or he wouldn't have finished 6th overall in the championship!

[King Cleland]

Boardman ain't great!

Simon was good....

Fullalove was disapointing, but maybe the 306 was coming to the end of it's development?

Were they 2001's HTML cars?

[thommo_fan]

i think tech speed used the same 306's they used in 2001.

[Claw]

Originally posted by King Cleland


Fullalove was disapointing,


He was, but with a more relible car he can win the Proddie class.

[thommo_fan]

he's proved he can win in the past.
does anyone know if he will be back this year?

[Claw]

Dunno, but hopefully he will be and in a better car.

[thommo_fan]

he should try to get a drive in pug 307.

is james kaye defending his title this year?

[King Cleland]

Fullalove may be back, but James kaye will be I dare say!

he is part of the furniture :p

[John]

Originally posted by lauz
tom boardman can't be as bad a driver as you are making him out to be or he wouldn't have finished 6th overall in the championship!

Unless of course those finishing lower than 6th were even worse! ;) By the way Im not suggesting they were before any Annie Templeton fans have a go at me!! :)

[King Cleland]

:D

[lauz]

well i like tom, he is a great guy and a great driver!!!!

[King Cleland]

Well I am not a fan, but sounds as if he is back with Halfords this year in a 307!

[John]

I like Tom - and like his driving style (as it got me a souvenir of one of his BMW bumpers last year!) ;)

[King Cleland]

I'm not a fan, I have got several bumpers over the years mind!

The best being a signed Cleland bumper from Snet '94

[Ann]

Tom is a good lad with plenty of enthusiasm - give him a chance!

[John]

Totally - and there have been some good drives and good moves in the past few years. And theres always action!

[King Cleland]

Too happy with using his bumpers to get past, rather than skill!

[thommo_fan]

i was more impressed with tom in 2001 then last year, i think he'll do better in a front wheel drive car tho.

[lauz]

i agree that tom would be better in a front wheel drive car but he still was excellent in the BMW.

[King Cleland]

Nah, he didn;t do too well, did well in the Peugeot and enjoyed the Boardman Collard show! :D

[John]

Wasnt Norman Simon a Edenbridge driver in 2001? If so then he had more experience than Tom so maybe its a bit of an unfair comparison. But then again he had no experience of the circuits whereas Tom had been racing on them for at least 2 years prior to 2002.

[King Cleland]

maybe Simon was just better :p

[McKay]

Well, I would say Chilton or Priaulx, Howell did very well too.
O'Neil wasn't a real newcomer but still was a brilliant driver, he deserved that Vauxhall drive

[John]

And I expect O'Neill learnt so much from the others there - that must be every new drivers dream to be in the same team as Muller, Thompson and Neal and be able to share set up settings etc. A bit like Thompson in 95 when he had Cleland as a team mate I guess