Chris Atkinson

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Originally Posted by Stalks

Which job would that be? One of the ones for his dad's companies? Has he ever had a job?

I thought that interview didn't really do him any favours - 'Im better than Mikko, Petter in equal cars etc'

Then the 'I'm not prepared to pay for it myself'....well that'l put him behind about 10 Finns and other Europeans like Novikov that WILL pay for a drive in the short term to get noticed.

The most informative part of the story was what we all knew anyway - the dampers were absolute rubbish on those Subbies, and as much as Petter and him bleated about them, unfortunately nobody listened to them, and it probably played a large part in the demise of the SWRT.

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Of course he has had a job :) He is a graduate from a very prestigious university, Bond, on the Gold Coast (full fees is around $80000 AUD a year for a business degree). Qualified to be a stockbroker. He's used to not having to pay for drives because he hasn't really had to. In his early days in 2002, he did the full ARC, though I'm not sure who paid for it. In 2003 he was then run in the Asia Pacific Championship for 2 years by Suzuki in an Ignis. He was very fast. Did the ARC again in 2004 in a Subaru along with his APRC program. He might have had some support from Subaru Australia as he was the 3rd scoring driver for Subaru, although he was a privateer as such. So I guess he's always had drives partially funded. Problem is that no manufacturer is having a presence in rallying in Australia (other than Mazda in tarmac rallying), so its hard for Chris to get a paid drive. The financial crisis and maufacturer pull out has seen most of Australia's best being left without a drive or limited program (Neal Bates, Cody Crocker, Dean Herridge, Michael Guest, Darren Windus, Steve Glenney...)

... maybe we will see him in a Prodrive Mini in 2011...

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Originally Posted by Mitch555

Of course he has had a job :) He is a graduate from a very prestigious university, Bond, on the Gold Coast (full fees is around $80000 AUD a year for a business degree). Qualified to be a stockbroker. He's used to not having to pay for drives because he hasn't really had to. In his early days in 2002, he did the full ARC, though I'm not sure who paid for it. In 2003 he was then run in the Asia Pacific Championship for 2 years by Suzuki in an Ignis. He was very fast. Did the ARC again in 2004 in a Subaru along with his APRC program. He might have had some support from Subaru Australia as he was the 3rd scoring driver for Subaru, although he was a privateer as such. So I guess he's always had drives partially funded. Problem is that no manufacturer is having a presence in rallying in Australia (other than Mazda in tarmac rallying), so its hard for Chris to get a paid drive. The financial crisis and maufacturer pull out has seen most of Australia's best being left without a drive or limited program (Neal Bates, Cody Crocker, Dean Herridge, Michael Guest, Darren Windus, Steve Glenney...)

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Ya know all that is very nice but he seems to not WANT TO drive if he has to pay anything.
I was paid pretty good my my standards and the standards of the time to drive my moto-cross bike. 2 seasons 30+ yeras ago..

I wonder always why car prima-donnas who reached some point decide they'd rather sit on their bum or go make masturbatory You Tube vids with Kenny Blockie of himself driving an Escort round a gravel parking lot, than do liek 10s of thousands of us and just build a reasonable fast and fun car and go get sideways??

"Rally-gawd" McRae was well know to be "The highest paid driver in the WRC " for years....and did spend some money to have some INSANE cars---always over the top Hmmmmmm?) built but he felt himself too good to spend any of those piles of millions he made...Even though he famously said "I'd do this for nuthin"

I thought it was the typical arrgance that was always below the surface and showed thru so often.

But now here's another Subaru driver who is too good to spend any of his own dough, or ratchet it down a notch to a level he can afford....


Lame I say.


And it puts Petter's efforts into a much better and admirable light as a rallyman and fighter.

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Originally Posted by Stalks

I thought that interview didn't really do him any favours - 'Im better than Mikko, Petter in equal cars etc'

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He has already proven that he is better than Petter. Look to the results in 2008. I think he is better than Mikko too. What Atkinson has done with that crappy Subaru in 2008 was very impressive.

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Originally Posted by Wim_Impreza

He has already proven that he is better than Petter. Look to the results in 2008. I think he is better than Mikko too. What Atkinson has done with that crappy Subaru in 2008 was very impressive.

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WAS better in 2008.
This is 2010, and he's been pounding his pudding since, so who knows now.

Now personally i think he's a putz but that sid it is an affort to logic that a guy with a proven record cannot find a good ride while the WRC field is filled with RautenWilsonBlock types.
It is maddness.

If he was in a better car in 2008, he might have been able to win rallies.

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Originally Posted by Langdale Forest

If he was in a better car in 2008, he might have been able to win rallies.

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maybe.
you could just as well say IF he was able to win rallies he'd be in a better car.

If is always a treacherous word.

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Originally Posted by Mitch555

He's used to not having to pay for drives because he hasn't really had to.

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Well, news flash! He's going to have to now.

Every rally, every year he sits on the sidelines waiting for the golden offer is another rally, another year that someone willing to spend their own money will get a drive ahead of him.
Honestly, how many properly paid drivers are there in WRC now? 4, 5? The rest are paying themselves, or bring personal sponsors to the team. He has said he won't pay, and which personal sponsors does he have?

For the most part of his APRC Suzuki drive it was in all honesty probably financially propped up by his father, as were his ARC campaigns. Can you recall what signage/sponsors were on his Group N Impreza's?
Maybe if dad sells one or more of his personal helicopters he could fund it that way.

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Originally Posted by Stalks

Well, news flash! He's going to have to now.

Every rally, every year he sits on the sidelines waiting for the golden offer is another rally, another year that someone willing to spend their own money will get a drive ahead of him.
Honestly, how many properly paid drivers are there in WRC now? 4, 5? The rest are paying themselves, or bring personal sponsors to the team. He has said he won't pay, and which personal sponsors does he have?

For the most part of his APRC Suzuki drive it was in all honesty probably financially propped up by his father, as were his ARC campaigns. Can you recall what signage/sponsors were on his Group N Impreza's?
Maybe if dad sells one or more of his personal helicopters he could fund it that way.

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What is the background with his Father then?

I like how everyone thinks Chris can just conjure money out of the air and get back into rallying. Although Chris didn't pay for his drives, he probably wasn't paid much either. For him to raise the funds for a tilt at the WRC, PWRC or even ARC would take a really big effort considering motorsport is dominated by the V8 Supercars in Australia. So although you can get stuck into him for not driving, its not like he's a superstar like Petter, or living in a country like Finland where people are able to find people to sponsor rally drivers.

@Stalks. What is the story of John Atkinson. It is impossible to find any info on the net. Only John Atkinson I can find is the man involved in the Gore Atkinson Group (different John Atkinson though)