Who is this J C fellow

[engineerjim]

Did any body read JC's article in today's Sunday times.

The man is an idiot slating off our beloved race like that

 Not only that his peice about the Maza was tosh.  The ACO decalred it not able to run under any Le Mans tile on 25th.

[Paddy_NL]

Presume you mean Clarkson.

Bit hard for me to get the Sunday Times here

Shame he can only presume being funny by slagging off everything and everybody around him nowardays. He used to be the main reason I watched Top Gear. It's still a nice programme, but he's running out of jokes.

[engineerjim]

For those not able to get to the newsagents.

Heres the article on the Times website

http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,12529-1500199,00.html

[engineerjim]

oops sorry that link doesnt seem to work so here is an extract from the article

But the dullest, most excruciating sport of them all — and I’ll brook no argument on this — is the day-long motor race at Le Mans.
At four o’clock on the Saturday afternoon, a grid full of cars from companies you’ve never heard of, and drivers whose names you can’t even pronounce, set off on what in essence is a 24-hour economy run. And then it goes dark.

Now I’m sorry but how, in the name of Zeus’s butthole, can anyone with even a tiny sliver of intelligence imagine that spectators will be interested in watching a sport they can’t see? A pair of headlights is coming towards you and then, after a short, deafening roar, they are replaced by a set of red tail-lights whizzing off into the night. Was that a Courage that just went by, driven by Alfonso Percolinno? And if so, was it winning or coming last? There is no way on God’s earth of knowing.

 
 
All you do know is that the race, when it finishes at 4pm on the Sunday, will be won by the team with the most money. And that, for the past few years, has been Audi. Although, for marketing purposes, the car is not always called an Audi. Sometimes they replace the four rings with a flying B and call it a Bentley.

Frankly it would be easier, and quieter, if each team were asked to roll up with a copy of its most recent bank statement. Then the champagne could be given to the one with the most amount of noughts. That way we’d all be spared the public relations-inspired test of a car’s fuel consumption, held under the cover of darkness, half a country away from where 80% of the spectators live.

There’s talk among the sport’s fans that things will improve when the field is made up of proper road cars that everyone recognises. This, they say, is already happening with Aston Martin entering a DB9, Chevrolet a Corvette, Lamborghini a Murciélago, and Ferrari a 575.

Apparently if this new class becomes numerous and competitive enough the one-off Audi-style prototypes will be banned and it will be the basis on which all endurance racing is founded. That sounds great, but there are still two problems. First, it will still go dark, so for a third of the race we won’t see what’s going on. And second, the Italians will bend the rules so hard they are as near as dammit broken.

In fact, it’s already happening. You see, the new class is supposed to be for GT cars. That would be “grand tourers” like the Corvette, the DB9 and the 575. But what Maserati has done is go cap in hand to its sister company, Ferrari, and take away all the components from an Enzo, which is no more a GT car than my dog. From these it has made a racing car.

Of course the rules say that 25 road versions must be sold, but finding 25 people from a customer pool of 6 billion isn’t that hard. Even when the car in question costs £520,000 and doesn’t even have a back window.

If I’d been running the governing body, I’d have smiled while they explained how this car obeyed the letter of the law and then told them to get lost. But I’m not running the governing body, so even though it’s racing on wooden tyres it’s already out there winning races without breaking out of a canter.

[Paddy_NL]

Thanks a lot for that

As usual the sneer is followed by something which has actually got a point. And I don't mean the part of the missing rear window

[Kpy]

Did any body read JC's article in today's Sunday times.

The man is an idiot slating off our beloved race like that

 Not only that his peice about the Maza was tosh.  The ACO decalred it not able to run under any Le Mans tile on 25th.

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean, and I'm not getting at you for not being able to spell piece, or the fact that there's no such phrasal verb as "to slate off".
What the f@ck are you talking about?

[Abs]

Like to know if he consulted last series stig on this?? Don't mind Clarkson but he seem's to have to slate everything just to keep his profile up now a days..

[BigH]

I always had Jeremy Clarkson down as an irritating arsehole,

Me too Matt, me too. Let's all club together and send some Anusol round to the Times' motoring desk.

And I promise not to mention my problem again, either. Honest.
It's improving now, actually.

[Ron Jeremy]

perhaps its jet lag but i don't get the fatuous article who is it getting at? Masser-thingy for going to its relation for parts etc or le mans - for in his opinion being boring, both?, aston martin and others for building cars to race

anyway engineer jim,  i hope you didn't sit there typing the lot out and cut 'n' pasted it from their site, that would be boring - just like clarkson's car reviews  

[DickieAttwood]

He's fallen into the trap of thinking that people go and watch the race for twenty four hours.  I expect that  he has no friends to go with anyway, perhaps James May and Hamster go every year and don't invite him.

Our touring party are on the restrained side, I doubt he'd last five minutes even with us.


D.A.

[Nordic]

He is pretty much a one trick horse, take the piss, then throw in a couple of  loose facts based on wonky one side research.

He does have a point about the new MC12.

He was involved in Noel Edmonds Panoz effort a few years back, so at least he has been there, but I doubt he left the comfort of a suite.

[Matt Harper]

Thanks for posting this, Engineerjim. I too, find it difficult putting my hands on a copy of The Times, out here in the colonies.
As stated earlier, I find Jeremy Clarkson to be a little tiresome and as Dickie Attwood points out, there are a few inaccurate assumptions - who the hell sits and watches the entire race - not possible without telemetry, of course.
I think the Maserarri debate still has a little way to run - and he's bang-on regarding Audi/Bentley and the biggest budget wins - but this is not exactly breaking news and applies to all forms of motorsport.
The most valid point raised by this - and again, it's not a new subject, is the inability of the spectator to follow the progress of the race (without a radio commentary). Why won't the ACO adopt the marker light system used in ALMS? It's devilishly simple and highly effective in allowing the casual fan (and I consider myself to be in that category) to see who's doing what, at a glance - and catch-up with race progress, having staggered back to the campgrounds for some R&R and returning later on. The system works in the dark too, of course.
I'm annoyed with myself, because, even though I think Clarkson is a w**k*r, I can't help agreeing with a lot of what is in this piece - and it's written in a way that is easy to read and understand. What a bastard.  

[DelBoy]

He was involved in Noel Edmonds Panoz effort a few years back, so at least he has been there, but I doubt he left the comfort of a suite.

He did - I (literally) bumped into him outside the Lister pit on the Friday walkabout - he semed to be on his lonesome with no entourage or guards.  Probably doesn't need any (guards) - he's a big bloke.

DB

[Jem]

Never been happy with him since he tried to demolish a 911.  Anyone who says what he had to say about LM is clearly misguided and obvious;y has not been to the race.

In case you are reading this Mr C....no I won't be buying the Times......ever again.

Rant over.

[chrisbeatty]

...he's a big bloke.

I hate to say it about a fellow Tyke, but he's only big in stature but most definitely small in brain.  Some days he's on the verge of approaching funny, others he's enough to make me change channel.

Oh & whilst I'm at it, the Maserati thing is not helping anyone, F1 is in the doldrums & sportscar racing is there ready to gain a lot of public support, the MC12 is going to make the racing a lot less viewable.