Daniel
19th June 2008, 08:10
The amazing thing for me is that those who are critical of the Ford tactics accept that they played within the rules yet are referring to them as 'cheats'.
You're either one or the other, you can't be both. So let's stop calling them cheats.
I agree. Ford have done nothing strictly against the rules. Though I do feel it's wrong that they should use another team which is supposed to be independent. To me that stinks a bit. I think the FIA should definitely look at moving against that for sure. Lets not put our heads in the sand and ignore the fact that Malcolm tried to use the Stobart guys to sweep the road. I think that's the real issue here. If you're a 2 person team and you're behind Loeb you can have a maximum of 1 car inbetween yourself and Loeb sweeping the road. I think that's fair. I mean we're not going to grade the roads inbetween cars now are we? But to try and put 2 other drivers from another team inbetween you and the leader has a whiff of sweaty old blue vein/stilton cheese about it IMHO. If Ford want to run a 4 car team then they can do that. But you can't have your cake and eat it. They're either part of the M1 team or they're an M2 team. Not both.
I may be hallucinating but I seem to remember at Rally Australia one year they had a regroup in the middle of each day and the cars were reseeded according to their order overall in the rally. Or I could have imagined that. I think that would be a better idea. Much less opportunity for a driver hang back on day 1 and build up a huge lead on day2 and then merely cruise to the end of day 3. At the end of the day it's gravel and someone has to sweep. But if it has to be the leader of the championship/rally then why not try and equalise things a bit? Someone has to sweep the road so why not make it half a day's disadvantage rather than a whole day? If you did that then it really wouldn't be as easy to do what Ford did.
You're either one or the other, you can't be both. So let's stop calling them cheats.
I agree. Ford have done nothing strictly against the rules. Though I do feel it's wrong that they should use another team which is supposed to be independent. To me that stinks a bit. I think the FIA should definitely look at moving against that for sure. Lets not put our heads in the sand and ignore the fact that Malcolm tried to use the Stobart guys to sweep the road. I think that's the real issue here. If you're a 2 person team and you're behind Loeb you can have a maximum of 1 car inbetween yourself and Loeb sweeping the road. I think that's fair. I mean we're not going to grade the roads inbetween cars now are we? But to try and put 2 other drivers from another team inbetween you and the leader has a whiff of sweaty old blue vein/stilton cheese about it IMHO. If Ford want to run a 4 car team then they can do that. But you can't have your cake and eat it. They're either part of the M1 team or they're an M2 team. Not both.
I may be hallucinating but I seem to remember at Rally Australia one year they had a regroup in the middle of each day and the cars were reseeded according to their order overall in the rally. Or I could have imagined that. I think that would be a better idea. Much less opportunity for a driver hang back on day 1 and build up a huge lead on day2 and then merely cruise to the end of day 3. At the end of the day it's gravel and someone has to sweep. But if it has to be the leader of the championship/rally then why not try and equalise things a bit? Someone has to sweep the road so why not make it half a day's disadvantage rather than a whole day? If you did that then it really wouldn't be as easy to do what Ford did.