Australia/New Zealand motorsport thread

[Flem274*]

Anton is the biggest fizzle we've had for some time. All tip teams were interested when he was younger, and he's petered into forever midfield. He and Jack le Broq.

Will Davison was unlucky in that the field evolved and he was basically a #2 standard driver for a top team in the Whincup/SVG/Scotty Mac era. Happened to Lowndes and Courtney too. Waters and Mostert were the hot young property then.

 

[Coronis]

Oh Will is still got great pace but it feels similar to other older drivers at this point, namely Frosty and Courtney (probably Reynolds too), they definitely still have the talent, racecraft and pace but not the consistency. Obviously Will is in the best car of those guys.

 

[Coronis]

Anton is the biggest fizzle we've had for some time. All tip teams were interested when he was younger, and he's petered into forever midfield. He and Jack le Broq.

Will Davison was unlucky in that the field evolved and he was basically a #2 standard driver for a top team in the Whincup/SVG/Scotty Mac era. Happened to Lowndes and Courtney too. Waters and Mostert were the hot young property then.

I was looking at Supercars ages a little while back. Was a little shocked at Cam and Chaz. they just don’t feel that old.

We only have 4 drivers who are 25 or under atm.. the two rookies from this year and last year. (they’re all 20/21/22 though)

Cam Hill was a shocker at 27.. wtf?

****ing Macauley Jones is about to turn 30. I wonder if you can still call an unsuccessful 30 year old Macca unironically.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Symmons Plains next weekend.

Why exactly anyone thinks racing in Tasmania in winter is a good idea would baffle far greater minds than my own, but here we are I suppose

 

[Flem274*]

Symmons Plains next weekend.

Why exactly anyone thinks racing in Tasmania in winter is a good idea would baffle far greater minds than my own, but here we are I suppose

Great track tho. Goes hard on V8 supercars 3

 

[Coronis]

Symmons Plains next weekend.

Why exactly anyone thinks racing in Tasmania in winter is a good idea would baffle far greater minds than my own, but here we are I suppose

I’ve been reading Dane’s column when it comes out, he’s also mentioned this multiple times. I’m finding myself agreeing with him far more than I ever thought possible.

 

[Coronis]

Interesting return to some racing this weekend. Tassie I thought both races were fun. I always liked Percat and seeing him do well after his horrible stint with WAU is quite good to see. Absolutely awful weekend for Payne and Grove in general.

Loved seeing Frosty and Percat come thru the field in the second race and a Mustang winner! Also Brodie 3 penalties at the same time was ****ing hilarious. About the season for him I expected after all that ****.


Lotta controversy in the Indycar race but fortunately none around McLaughlin’s 2nd place. Unfortunate he lost that race off pit road.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Lotta controversy in the Indycar race but fortunately none around McLaughlin’s 2nd place. Unfortunate he lost that race off pit road.

Yeah was an eventful and controversial race was Gateway, only caught up on the highlights just today

The Power-Malukas crash was horrid to see as I am a big fan of both tbh. Probably mostly on Power blocking a bit too agressively, but the traffic they were going through didn't help

Newgarden's restart however, that did definitely look more stuttery than it should be

Yeah McLaughlin drove well, but unfortunately as you say his pit stop was just a bit off, not by a huge amount, but it didn't need to be to be costly

 

[Coronis]

Yeah was an eventful and controversial race was Gateway, only caught up on the highlights just today

The Power-Malukas crash was horrid to see as I am a big fan of both tbh. Probably mostly on Power blocking a bit too agressively, but the traffic they were going through didn't help

Newgarden's restart however, that did definitely look more stuttery than it should be

Yeah McLaughlin drove well, but unfortunately as you say his pit stop was just a bit off, not by a huge amount, but it didn't need to be to be costly

Honestly feel really bad for the bloke. The DQ, his clashes with Power and that random crash at Detroit. He’s been consistently the fastest Penske driver - should be in contention for the championship. Year of missed opportunities, despite grabbing that first oval win.

Fun fact: with Scotty taking over in qualifying, Power actually has 0 poles this year which is kinda crazy. Scotty also has a big lead in laps led for all drivers.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Honestly feel really bad for the bloke. The DQ, his clashes with Power and that random crash at Detroit. He’s been consistently the fastest Penske driver - should be in contention for the championship. Year of missed opportunities, despite grabbing that first oval win.

Fun fact: with Scotty taking over in qualifying, Power actually has 0 poles this year which is kinda crazy. Scotty also has a big lead in laps led for all drivers.

ScottyMac has always been capable of absolutely dynamite single lap speed, even back to his days in the Fujitsu/SBR Falcon in what is now Super2. Not stunned that with a bit of experience he has absolutely figured out how to be that good in qualifying in an Indycar too.

Can definitely see a championship being a possibility, not this year (Palou would have to screw up a fair bit from here, which seems unlikely) but he absolutely has both the talent and the equipment to do so

 

[Coronis]

2025 grid is really shaping up. Only the second Premiair seat to be confirmed now I believe.

But **** you Charlie. Team 18 really has some horrible PR management and their handling of both Pye and Frosty has been ****ing awful.

Would be hilarious if Frosty took the seat at Premiair that Anton turned down and smashed him next year, but at this point I’d just love to see him as a co-driver in a competitive Ford again.

 

[Flem274*]

Brodie to DJR. Interesting move, but fair given he's clearly emotionally done with Erebus.

I wish Scotty Mac was in Lawson's place. Probably the fastest one lap driver we've produced since a young Scott Dixon. Perhaps the fastest of my life.

I kinda want SVG to forget motorsport WWE and throw his hat in the ring for Indy, F1 or prototype Le Mans. He's got the talent.

Man I hate the world junior system. Generational talents like Whincup never get a crack because wrong country. But here's another mid Brit like Jolyn Palmer.

 

[Coronis]

Brodie to DJR. Interesting move, but fair given he's clearly emotionally done with Erebus.

I wish Scotty Mac was in Lawson's place. Probably the fastest one lap driver we've produced since a young Scott Dixon. Perhaps the fastest of my life.

I kinda want SVG to forget motorsport WWE and throw his hat in the ring for Indy, F1 or prototype Le Mans. He's got the talent.

Man I hate the world junior system. Generational talents like Whincup never get a crack because wrong country. But here's another mid Brit like Jolyn Palmer.

Hasn’t Dixon’s thing always been (relatively) meh qualifying but excellent racing? Like say comparing his record to Power’s. (though at least recently Penske has been better in quali in general but Ganassi seems to go better racewise, unsure how much of that has been a trend across their careers)

But yeah Scotty’s always been ridiculous over a lap. Insane stat to think about: he has 35 more Supercars poles than SVG.

 

[Flem274*]

Hasn’t Dixon’s thing always been (relatively) meh qualifying but excellent racing? Like say comparing his record to Power’s. (though at least recently Penske has been better in quali in general but Ganassi seems to go better racewise, unsure how much of that has been a trend across their careers)

But yeah Scotty’s always been ridiculous over a lap. Insane stat to think about: he has 35 more Supercars poles than SVG.

Thats certainly the case since he hit 35. In his first championship winning season he took pole 1/3 of the time in a relatively underpowered Toyota and crushed his team mate.

The standard is much higher now, and we've added road courses, but the series still had Kanaan, Helio, Kenny Brack etc.

Pretty sure Mark Webber once said Will Power was faster than him. Another guy without the cash to really push on the European ladder.

I suppose we can take comfort from the fact that it didn't matter if you were in a Penske, Ganassi or Ferrari for most of their peaks since the only cars in the F1 championship fight interchanged between the two pairs of silver and fizzy drink branded.

 

[Coronis]

Thats certainly the case since he hit 35. In his first championship winning season he took pole 1/3 of the time in a relatively underpowered Toyota and crushed his team mate.

The standard is much higher now, and we've added road courses, but the series still had Kanaan, Helio, Kenny Brack etc.

Pretty sure Mark Webber once said Will Power was faster than him. Another guy without the cash to really push on the European ladder.

I suppose we can take comfort from the fact that it didn't matter if you were in a Penske, Ganassi or Ferrari for most of their peaks since the only cars in the F1 championship fight interchanged between the two pairs of silver and fizzy drink branded.

Yeah thats fair I wasn’t really into Indycar til recently apart from seeing the GC races back in the day. I was just checking out the overall numbers which may be misleading.

 

[Coronis]

Kiwi 1-2 in the second Milwaukee race, you boys should be cheering.

**** me Power **** the bed hard though.

Penske have ****ed themselves over so many times this year its crazy.

 

[Flem274*]

And yet they're still 2 and 3 along with the 500 win.

Palou has the handy attribute of being coated in Teflon. I think all the contenders except him have been tangled in others crashes, but I swear I've watched Palou sail through the middle of several high speed incidents.

Indy can change with the wind since one off day in a spec series is disastrous but he's well on his way to ATG status. Needs to add some Le Mans and Daytona wins to the resume to underline it.

 

[Coronis]

And yet they're still 2 and 3 along with the 500 win.

Palou has the handy attribute of being coated in Teflon. I think all the contenders except him have been tangled in others crashes, but I swear I've watched Palou sail through the middle of several high speed incidents.

Indy can change with the wind since one off day in a spec series is disastrous but he's well on his way to ATG status. Needs to add some Le Mans and Daytona wins to the resume to underline it.

Its actually crazy. Almost every race when there is an incident Palou is right next to it and comes out unscathed.

 

[Coronis]

So, if we hadn’t had the P2P scandal McLaughlin would heading to the finale just 11 points behind Palou. Given Penske’s performance on ovals this year he’s the obvious candidate for pole this weekend and a top contender for the win. Trying to look at this as unobjectively as possible but I reckon he’s one of the top two favourites alongside Palou for next year imo.

Also looking forward to seeing SVG racing at Ambrose’s best circuit in NASCAR this weekend.

“I think back to Marcos Ambrose and just how dominant he was there because he could brake so much better.

“And even in a piece of crap car, he could make you look so bad.


“And so Watkins Glen is just… it is that place where if you’re just a great under the braking, if you’re a great braker, Watkins Glen is the place that you can really shine.” - Harvick

Even as an original Ambrose fan (can’t believe Murphy screwed him out of a Bathurst win) I can admit SVG is better and he defs seems to have a better car. I think NASCAR has better road racers now but I’m still looking forward to it.

Also personal sidenote for me, Supercars, Indycar, F1, WEC and a NASCAR road race in one weekend. Jam packed fun.

 

[Flem274*]

Murphy forever Ambrose never.

Two greats, both big misses for respective factory teams.

Just sat down for Sandown. Will see about half. Haven't seen a lap all weekend yet so all fresh to me.