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Silverstone

The free practice this morning had the top six F3000 cars within 1 second. Minardi boys showing well. Intersesting that the lap times compare with the GP Master cars.
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Comments

  • Looks like we could see more of Minardi in he UK next year - Quote from Euroseries-The interest for the Euro 3000 Series showed by the local motor racing people and fans resulted to be so high that Enzo Coloni will evaluate the chance to schedule more events in UK next year.

    Report on qualifying-F3000 Qualifying
  • Congrats to Minardi - First win in 25 years Fantastic!!

    Report Success at Last
  • Good man with the reporting Ger, just got back and sat down with a good glass of vino rosso, the second race was great, the team were overjoyed, big celebrations beneath the podium and silverghost (+Jr & Sr) & I passed on congratulations to the team in the garage.

    Photo's etc to follow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


    FORZA MINARDI
  • Victory! Crushing, Dominant, Sweet Victory! Haha!
  • Wooo hoooo! Congrats to the Team - we knew it would happen this year. it was just a matter of time.

    Thanks to Dan for the phone calls and both Dan and 'ghost for showing up and putting showing their true Minardi spirit!

    FORZA MINARDI!
  • Now, time to vent.

    What the hell is going on in this place. Minardi WINS and gets a second and it appears that nobody gives a crap.

    Two of us show up at the event.

    Two.

    I can understand that but there is not even a report on the front page and other than the few comments here from the people who went ....

    Shameful.
  • What the hell is going on in this place. Minardi WINS and gets a second and it appears that nobody gives a crap.
    Honestly, I don't give a crap about this F3000 team. I could act as if I cared. But it's still a team without a soul. And F3000 gets no TV coverage here so I can't really get myself to watch / be interested anyway.

    I think RJ just hasn't had the time to put a report up.
  • Originally posted by Stan
    [quote]What the hell is going on in this place. Minardi WINS and gets a second and it appears that nobody gives a crap.
    But it's still a team without a soul.
    [/quote]

    You couldn't be more wrong Stan, and I'm sure silverghost will back me up on this, the feeling in the garage yesterday and the guys are very much the same as the crew in Faenza.

    This team has whole heartedly become Minardi and it is very much a family operation.
  • Considering I can't get any tv coverage there isn't much for me to comment on besides congratulations to the team, I'm happy to hear this news. Once Minardi gets into GP2 I'm sure things will change around here since that gets wider tv coverage.

    If I could get tv coverage of the F3000 team I would be a much bigger fan than now just being able to read about their accomplishments. Since they are using the original colors and logo I consider the F3000 team to be a real Minardi team.
  • People are showing there real colours now. Question - should this website change it's name? Forza Minardi?????? I quote" Honestly, I don't give a crap about this F3000 team. I could act as if I cared. But it's still a team without a soul." How very little you know Stan. If you took the time to look into the team you'd see, then again you would have to read about it. You younger guys would have been lost supporters in the 70's the days we used to wait for the weekly motorsport news mags for our info. Call yourself Minardi Supporters - Bullshit! Dan, Silver, Quig, Murph,Simon, Bouch, Petrol and a few others they are True Fans.
  • Ger you forgot me! I try and Follow Minardi as much as I can. To be honest I follow them more now than a few years ago. Keep up to date on the MCSF website. This website is a bit dissapointing as far as being a Minardi Fan base is concerned. Being in the USA it's hard to get European Motorsport news but if you look you will find. I hope Forza Minardi will support the team if not maybe a name change to www.websitethatusedtofollowminardibutnowcantbebothered.com
    might be more suitable.
  • This isn't the same team as the F1 team. I liked the F1 team, not the F3000 team. I don't know enough about them to care, and I'll admit that if I can't watch the races, I'm not all that interested. If they move to a series I can watch on TV, I'll figure out which team I like. If it's Minardi, it's Minardi, if not, oh well. I don't like them just because of a name and GCM involvement.

    You can split people into "true fans" and "not true fans" if you want Ger, it's all bullshit anyway. We all liked the F1 team, there's no requirement to like every spinoff of the F1 team. I'm glad for GCM that a team related to him is finally winning, but other than that, it doesn't really matter.

    In addition to waiting for those news mags, you also had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to get to school, right Ger?

    [Edited on 14-8-0606 by Rekart]
  • Rekart as a fellow American I ask are you that dependant on TV to follow sport? I think Ger has opened a good discussion. Minardi is gone from F1 - and wont be back. Minardi fans are a special breed. Those who have met Gian Carlo cannot help but be captivated by him ( I was). You either are a "Minardista" or not. I am proud to say am,but only wish I lived in Europe to enjoy the experience. The Brit guys are lucky to have had the meeting with the team last weekend. Maybe Minardirule will make contact with me and I could do something in press over here. Oh MCSF if it is ok with you I would like to do something on the San Fran Club. NGM may be interested. You have my email right?
  • Hey spark, I'm happy to help you in any way I can just don't expect too much in the way of pics, I'm not up to murph's standard. Are you a journo?

    email me at dsDOTminardiATtiscali.co.uk
  • Hi Minardirule yep for my sins I am a feature editor with National Geographic. I just sent you an email. Who knows just maybe we can get an article together if not with NGM maybe one of our sister publications.
  • Minardi fans AREN'T a special breed though, they're just real fans. The difference between Minardi fans and fans of some other teams is that there are no bandwagoners here. Ferrari has fans that love their team just as much as we do (or did, whatever the case,) but there are just more who wouldn't care at all if they weren't doing good.

    As for being dependant on TV, I get my news from websites, but when it comes to races, I can't get that interested if I don't watch them. A list of the finishing results isn't interesting. And for doing something in the press over here, there's just not enough interested parties to get it done as well as it should be. There's not enough F1 press over here, much less some small feeder series. If the possibility of getting something done on either front arose, I'd be more than interested in being involved in it.

    The new Minardi team isn't the old Minardi team, that's all there is to it. The only connection is GCM, and he doesn't even own the team. Like I said, it's good for him that a team with his name is finally having some great success, but the connection between the new team and the old one isn't strong enough to make me go out of my way to care. I do hope they do well, though.

    [Edited on 14-8-0606 by Rekart]

  • In addition to waiting for those news mags, you also had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to get to school, right Ger?
    You forgot to mention I was also barefoot.
  • Oh yeah, how could I forget that.
  • Call yourself Minardi Supporters
    I never did. The minardi team I liked was the team that was ran by Paul Stoddart. You might as well call me a Stoddart supporter. I just hang around here because strangely enough I like the people and the atmosphere on these forums.

    I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who couldn't care less about the F3000 team. I think Rekart is completely right.
  • Having such a large Australian fan base, one can assume that there will be quite a few ‘Stoddart’ supporters rather than Minardi fans. Hopefully this won’t get into another Stoddart v GCM argument!

    As far as supporting Minardi goes, I am a motor racing fan first, and a Formula 1 fan second (probably 5th actually.) While I do thoroughly enjoy hearing of Minardi’s latest successes, you can’t help but feel a little ‘empty’. Minardi was always the underdog – battling for points at the rear of the grid, against the giants of the Formula 1 superpowers. Now, we’re a competitive team in a middle of the road championship. The GP Racing crew might be the Minardi ‘team’, but a Lola F3000 is not a Minardi ‘car’. Whatever the case, it’s great to see some success, after 25 odd years of hard work. Forza Minardi!
  • Where do I start? Look, motor racing, it's like this:

    You want some fun. You buy or build a car. You put an engine on it. You slam some rubber on. You get a few other guys who want to play as much as you do. You find some nutcase or playboy to drive it. You pays your entry fee. You attempt to beat whoever decides to challenge you. If you are good, and lucky, you win.

    In the meantime, you attempt to pull off the whole damn thing with as much superfluous style and chutzpah as you can manage without looking like a bunch of fools. This involves judicious use of champagne, quality coffee, good food of a non healthy but wholesome variety, some cool paintjobs, shades, laughs, cigarettes (not near the benzina), and a dash of integrity (for those of you who are at this point going WTF?? that means it is better to finish second having had a cool time than win and earn the contempt of your rivals and the fickle Gods of Racing).

    Having now passed through the too drunk to think-sleep-too sober to think-oh great just drunk enough to think straight again cycle, I return to this humble home of motor racing fandom, and find statement along the lines of "Minardi fans AREN'T a special breed" and "I can't give a crap about...". Now this is just not acceptable. Shape up!

    Now I shall probably get round to knocking out a few photos at some point, but I'm not that techno when it comes to the old computers. My idea of fun is standing next to a racing engine in the garage while some mechanic type revs it so loud it makes my head feel like it is disintegrating and the smile just appears like magic. In the meantime, let me tell you about FUN.

    Now, back to the point. There is obviously something genetically flawed with anyone who is not fully and totally committed to the ultimate triumph of Minardi. The 3000 team is quite clearly the true home of this enterprise at this point. Toro Rosso is quite clearly, as has been demonstrated by many in the past few months, an unfortunate excuse for an endeavour, populated with fantastic ex Minardi staff. B Team? F**k that! Other F1 teams? Anyone who hangs out any colours than that of the sadly doomed Williams team is unfortunately in thrall to a false God. And those who do support Williams, I know how you must feel, and you have my sincerest sympathy.

    What was the point? Ah YES! Victory, that is the point! We sat there in the dismal rain and withering Silverstone wind, watching the Minardi boys go backwards in the first race. They clearly could do nothing about it, they'd not driven in the wet all weekend, it was a punt in the dark on setup, but they were out there, risking their health and wellbeing for the sheer sodding buzz of doing it - losing, it's true, but losing in a totally grass roots kind of way. And we cheered, though we felt that particularly Minardi kind of despair, when fate snatches any hope of triumph from you and hands it to those less deserving (in this case the Euronova team - I'll take back the undeserving bit). But that was but race 1. Our feet may have been wet, but our spirit was not destroyed. (and at least we didn't have to put up with a nasty sewage problem, like the FMS team - oh, dear Silverstone!).

    Quick coffee, and the whole thing looks kind of different. Sun even comes out, kinda. We watch poor old Piero skitter round in the Masters event, in treacherous conditions, from the back, to finish a lowly 7th - but I bet he had a smile on his face! Those old guys, they really are not just messing about, when you see the back end get out of shape the moment they hit the gas out of Woodcote, you can see it's for real. At the front, Cheever plays it steady, cool and consistent, with nearly man Van Der Poele palying the crazy firebrand - ahead, behind, in the gravel, back ahead, side by side through the turns, full on stuff, but he has to give second best. Behind these two, a lot of similar stuff - ahead! Off! Behind! Ahead again!

    Anyway, that cleared the decks for the main event. Which would be revenge. Cold, necessary revenge. It's still a touch damp, so disaster remains a distinct possibility. Lights are Green.

    Nocera gets a whole bundle of wheelspin off the start, but Tuka has it well under control, and has him into copse. He sets off into the distance. Cool.

    Behind, the other boys suffer mixed fortunes. Roldan has on balance been the teams fastest driver, but slips back from 5th, and then gets tangled up with someone (Gattuso? I dunno, no feed even for us). He's out. Tough luck, and undeserved.

    Cacares, meanwhile, has pulled off a miracle, and leapt from 9th to 4th. Then he takes Bonanomi - so much for the FMS team's myth of invulnerability. Then Nocera (clearly struggling) succumbs too. That leaves a Minardi 1-2.

    Now we're nervous. Good stuff just don't happen in Minardiland this millennium. But Tuka has been pulling away at a second a lap, and has it wrapped up. Cacares has a bit of trouble with backmarkers (where's the blue flags, FFS?), but Martini in 3rd can't take advantage. The dream becomes reality (and if you can't have a Minardi podium lockout, who better to have up there than a Martini?).

    Podium ceremony is just fantastic - just compare the photos from race 1 an race 2 on the Euroseries website to see the difference the Minardi factor makes.

    Back to the garage! Hey, we're fans, we just bask in reflected glory, but that's cool. The team don't let us leave without sending out Tuka and the trophy for a quick photo op with us.

    The curse is lifted. The fightback starts here, guys. You hate that corporate rubbish? You shudder when Schumi cynically attempts to drive another off the road, You shake your head in despair at Ron Dennis's obsession with his headquarters building, or the R*d B**l Motorhome? Join us! Join us or lose your souls!

    "Minardi fans aren't a special breed" - RJ, delete that post, it's offensive!
  • I deleted the post I had originally made in this place. Here are the good, yet not argumentative, parts:

    "1) The reason it seems to you that Minardi fans are different is exactly what I said earlier. You don't have your fair-weather fans or your bandwagoners, because most non-fans would say there was no fair-weather in their 20 year F1 history. There are only "real" Minardi fans. Some of us only care about the F1 side, some of us follow the team name to other series, but that's irrelevant. We're here because we liked the F1 team, and it's rather sad that some are arguing about anyone here not being a real fan. We all were real fans of Minardi F1, and there's nothing wrong with that stopping after the F1 operation is no more. None of us have said we aren't happy for GCM or said anything negative about the team, we're just indifferent. When someone makes disparaging comments towards the team, I'll be right with you, but I see no problem with indifference.

    2) STR is an abomination, yes, no one said it wasn't. The only team I have ever supported and will ever support is Minardi, I don't care about teams outside of that. Drivers are the important part, they are who matters, not team principals or whoever else."

    And now for the new part. Look, whether Minardi fans are special or not (you already know what I think,) whether you think the new team should be followed like the old one, it doesn't matter. We're here because we believed in the F1 team in one way or another. Some of us liked them being underdogs, some are Italian and support them for that, some just liked Stoddart, and some were fans of their drivers throughout the years. Whatever the case, we're here because of the F1 team, and we all have the same feelings on that. So why are we arguing among other Minardi fans about the new team? If people here don't want to pay attention to it, that's their choice, it doesn't make them any less of a fan. We're making up rifts between the Minardi fans that don't need to be there. I've said some things that were bound to make others mad, but so have multiple others. This argument ain't going anywhere.
  • silverghost, nice write up about the race, way better and more interesting than the 2 paragraph write up on the Euroseries site. Since tv coverage is out of the question here, thats the next best thing.
  • Well said Rekart!
  • Fabulous, Forza Minardi!

    Wish I could have been there but it simply wasn't possible.

    Only on this website could a Minardi victory turn into a slanging match so quickly!

    Can I be in your gang, pleeeaaaasssseeeeee ...?
  • "If people don't want to pay attention, it doesn't make them any less of a fan?!" You sure are right Rekart, with that sort of logic this argument really ain't going to go anywhere. In the words of Arthur, King of the Britons, "You make me sad."

    Viges, you missed a good one, but next time it will be even better.
  • I not particularly fussed, i'm sorry.

    It aint the real Minardi team, it's an F3000 team with GCM's name above the garage. A tenous link to the past Minardi glory.

    I came here in the Stoddart era, i'll naturally get more satisfaction with a Stoddart team doing well.

    You need to calm down and stop slanging off everyone who isn't so emotional about it, Ger.
  • image

    our winning driver being pusshed out of the paddock for the second race by Sporting Director Giovanni Minardi.

    Without wanting to get too far into this argument it looks like a real Minardi team to me.
  • just scrambled some time together to get a report of the weekend up then got here and saw hell had broken loose already... oi give an old man a break...

    minarditeam.com doesn't mention a single word of the silverstone race (neither in italian nor in english) and the official blog hasn't got much more than a few lines in italian which need to be translated first so I don't see how anyone could expect a 24 hour newscast
  • You're quite right, no aspersions cast your way whatsoever by anyone, I'm sure. Maybe the team are too busy sleeping off the effects of the party to write a press release.

    At least things have livened up a bit.
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