the Masked Lapwing wrote:Wizzie wrote:How in the blue hell is Taz Douglas 8th?
Because Warren Luff/Daniel Gaunt/Cameron McConville/Nathan Pretty made LDM look worse than they really were. Douglas is actually a good driver.
Not really. I know Taz quite well and he is a great guy, but in comparison to Warren Luff he is simply not as quick. For the first few seasons LDM has had a fairly sub-standard chassis. This chassis was one of the first VE chassis to be made by Walkinshaw, and has been involved in a couple of hefty shunts in it's time- including the Paul Radisish Bathurst warm-up crash in '08. Walkinshaw has been synonymous in recent years for supplying average chassis to customer teams and this was no exception. Even when James Courtney drove it at the Winton test prior to Bathurst last year (in an effort to 'sort it out' before Walkinshaw lost their business) James was reported to be quite shocked at how bad it was when compared to his factory car.
The team now runs Triple 8 gear and has employed a number of new full-time guys in the off season. It's not so much that the level of driver has increased, it's more that the teams gear has become serious. If I were Warren Luff right now, I'd be kicking myself for walking out on them!
eurobrun wrote:the Masked Lapwing wrote:If Davison walks away from this race with just a 25 point penalty, it'll be everything that's wrong with the race officials. Lowndes has lost at least 130 points from that, and a drive through right now will cost Davison 50-100.
this
Can't agree with this. The racing line into turn four naturally moves from the left hand side of the circuit to right hand side. Thomas Mazera spoke specifically about this issue at the drivers briefing on Saturday morning- he stressed that the car in front has the right to move from the left to right, and if you're game enough to stick your nose in from behind there you will be to blame. Sorry, but Davison wasn't at fault in this one. The one thing that frustrated me the most about this incident was when Mark Skaife immediately blamed Davison for 'taking' Lowndes- Skaife's recent teammate- out of the race, whereas Neil Crompton (who was at the drivers briefing, whilst Skaife was not) was far more accepting to Davison's actions.
Rant; Over.

Full time reader, Part time responder.