Chris Atkinson

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Originally Posted by Barreis

I agree.. :)

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It might also mean he/she is not very good..

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Originally Posted by grugsticles

The idea of Chris in Makinen's team is fantastic, but I thought Tomi's organisation was purely Group N cars?

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Mäkinen shall be doing an S2000 team or such and such...

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Originally Posted by Daniel

He only went through one co-driver and that was the (IMHO) useless Glen Macneal.

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Hey Daniel, just checking how you are at co driving. Glen is still one of the top co drivers around. He spends a lot of time in coaching new co drivers, helping out to develop the sport and is an all round nice guy.

There were many reasons why he split with Chris, but none of them were for being a crap codriver.

Don't judge people until you have sat in their seat and tried to do the job.

Ray

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Originally Posted by raybak

Hey Daniel, just checking how you are at co driving. Glen is still one of the top co drivers around. He spends a lot of time in coaching new co drivers, helping out to develop the sport and is an all round nice guy.

There were many reasons why he split with Chris, but none of them were for being a crap codriver.

Don't judge people until you have sat in their seat and tried to do the job.

Ray

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What a silly argument. So I can't criticise George Dubya because I've never sat in the oval office making stupid decisions?

Glen has no rhythm to his notes and we all saw how Chris improved when Prevot came along and you'd have thought Prevot's accent would have made it worse for Chris.

I never said Glen was a bad person or anything, just that he's not a great co-driver.

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Originally Posted by macksrallye

No offense intended Daniel but Glenn Macneall is not a useless co-driver. He has enjoyed alot of success in the Asia Pacific region & on a World level with Toshi Arai. The problem was very simular to that of Duval & Prevot in the Citroen, they stopped trusting each other & when that happens it gets very painful. IMHO Chris' ego grew a little to much & he thought he deserved better than a "local" (ie: Australian) co-driver and the issues grew from their.

After saying all of that I do believe Chris is a serious talent & with a little guidance could be very successful.

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Asia pacific region? I'm sorry but I don't rate the championship.

Have a listen to Glen co-driving and compare it to Grist or Reid or any other successful english speaking co-driver and you'll see that Glenn's notes aren't very flowing. I could listen to Reid or Grist for a whole stage because there's a flow to their notes that matches the stage and sets the tempo for the driver, Glenn doesn't have that.

McNeal wasn't the sole issue for Chris' inability to finish an event or not cut corner clearly marked as such. That Sub was a dog and over driving it meant they never got the results that reflected the natural talent on Chris.

The Duval - Prevot comparison is a fair one...once the trust went there was no option but to split. That's the strength of Loeb too...he completely and utterly trusts Elena and the work they do together setting the notes translates into the stage times they can produce.

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Originally Posted by I am evil Homer

McNeal wasn't the sole issue for Chris' inability to finish an event or not cut corner clearly marked as such. That Sub was a dog and over driving it meant they never got the results that reflected the natural talent on Chris.

The Duval - Prevot comparison is a fair one...once the trust went there was no option but to split. That's the strength of Loeb too...he completely and utterly trusts Elena and the work they do together setting the notes translates into the stage times they can produce.

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I agree Glen wasn't the only problem with Chris' career but I think a good codriver can make a big difference.

The way Duval was going Prevot was worried he was going to be dead, can't blame him for jumping ship.

Atkinson tested the Proton yesterday: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81590

Don't know if he has a serious chance there or whether they are looking for $$$ though.

It is a good chance that he could drive the Proton, as they wanted a two car program in the Asia Pacific Championship where Atkinson impressed in 2003 and 2004 (winner of S1600, and challenged slower N4s), and two cars in IRC. source aprclive.com

Makes sense for Proton as well as they are in the Australian market, but are really struggling due to the build quality of their car and they need to enhance the brand a bit. Definitely worked with Subaru and Toyota over here.

Chris talks nice and open about the Subaru's damper issue on Autosport's Q&A.

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When Petter and I do stage times within a second and we both knew how hard we were pushing, flat-out everywhere, to get those results and then, all of a sudden, we were a minute slower than everybody. I mean, f***ing hell, it's not like you've forgotten how to drive.

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