Who Will Win In 2004?

[Falchoon]

I reckon Murphy will be a big threat.

Don't think FPR will have the consistency, the new Prodrive motors were rumoured to have reliability problems in testing.

SBR should continue to be the leading Ford team and hopefully they will continue to give it to HRT this year (on the track please Russell!).

HRT will be licking their wounds and refocusing and will be trying to reclaim the title with a vengence.

[BarraGT]

Although I tend to think FPR are not our best shot, I really think Lowndes will have a big chance this year.

Plus, Tripple Eight cannot be ruled out...

[Guest Lowndes Crazy]

Yeah I hope Craig does well. Finally he has found himself in a stable team that is quite capable of winning. Hopefully, there is no blow outs with one lap remaining :(

[BarraGT]

LOL! Don't you just hate them?

I really think we're going to see great performances from:

Ambrose

Ingall

Lowndes

Seton

Radisich

Bowe

...this year.

[Guest Butzy]

I wonder how well Mr. Skaife and Mr. Ingall will handle them selfs at the AGP?

Wouldn't it be great to see them side by side on the grid? :D

It would be one of the best things since sliced bread lol, and it would be all in the papers lol. Man I hope it happens lol. :lol:

[BarraGT]

They'll be side by side...in 3rd and 4th position!

Ambrose will be in first, and Lowndes in 2nd...

[Guest Turbocat]

Firstly let me say, "Roar on Blue Oval".

My idea of a dream season –

For Ford – we would have 42 podiums all being filled Blue Oval boys. An even spread results between Ambrose, Ingall, Lowndes, Bowe, Seaton, Steve Johnson, Ellery and Mad Max Wilson. Ambrose because he's a winner, Ingall because it would be waste of SBR car if it wasn’t up there, Lowndes because he would be the ultimate in marketing for Ford, Bowe because he's a real Ford guy who's still quick, Seaton and Johnson because they and their teams have been Ford Loyal for ages a deserve a bit of luck, Ellery to represent the little guys and Mad Max because if he's driving quick and is out front, he's less likely to take another Ford car out!! How fantastic would it be to go to the last round of the year at EC and 3 or 4 Ford guys all capable of winning the Championship!! Lick those lips

For the dark side - HRT has crap speed and is back with the panel beaters each round, Murphy to have at least 5 engines expire while in the lead consequently he quits mid year with a crook back, Toddster jumps ship into the much quicker 51 car to join the Rickster and is replaced by Besnard at HRT(more panel damage for them), Bright to gripe about no help from HoldenMotorSport, Richards start to grumble about the lack of service he's getting due to a 4 car team and HoldenMS to start winging about parity. OHH baby !!!!

Alarm bell goes its wake up time

In the real world , Ambrose's form from the tail of 02 season sort of indicated a pretty good 03. The comparison 03-04 would have to be Murphy. Forget the last round , with more testing he's going to finish in top 5.If anybody really thinks HRT isn’t going to up there with 2 in top 10 again please tell me the drugs your on. With more testing and a more settled of season and burning desire thanks to "Dick for Brains" Ingall, Skaife will be much better this year. Bright, Richards and the Kelly T and R will all have much better cars thus more consistent results. Lets face it Ford had is first winning season for years but still only had 4 cars in the top 10

My best guess for the year is

1. Murphy

2. Skaife

3. Ambrose

4. Lowndes

5. Richards

6. T. Kelly

7. Ingall

8. Bowe

9. Radisich

10. Seton

But I sure hope I'm wrong!!!!

TC

[BarraGT]

But, all you're saying is that the desire to beat Ingall from HRT is enough to beat Ambrose?

What about the desire to retain the Championship for Ambrose? By the same reasoning that would be enough for Ambrose to win in 2004.

I don't think Murphy will beat Ambrose...my only worry is Skaife.

[Guest Butzy]

Of course Murphy will be up the top and so will HRT but Marcos wont just fall off the Top 5 just like that! SBR will be in the Top 5 nearly every round most likely and every race will hopfuly finish with the Top 5 only behind eachother by a few seconds. And I would not rule out Ellery this year for a top ten finish, he showed great speed at the end of last year and will carry it to this year.

[Guest Turbocat]

BarraGT

Mate , my point on Skaife/HRT was just that they will be better than last year, for several reasons The incident just topped off a crap year for them, that had ownership worries ,limited testing and an incomplete race package Remember, we are talking about a team that thinks coming 2nd is a bad year and after years of a dream run from the umps , the got a couple rough calls and then along comes Ingall. To me their mind set will be retuned to put in harder, longer hours and if they start to ease off in any way, then a reminder of the Ingall Incident will re-stoke the fires.

Like it or not this makes it harder for Ambrose and every other car on the track. What we don’t know is how winning will effect SBR, are they still razor sharp or will they more inclined to sit back and say they have succeded? We are only talking very small amounts, the difference between qualifying 1st and 5th is stuff all.

As to whether Murphy or Skaife will be the main threat, only time will tell. As you can see from above I agree that MS will be a threat. My logic about Murphy is that he's proved that he an elite driver and given the Kmart team also had the same restriction on it as HRT , I think they will also improve their cars. I think he's due to crack it so we will see.

TC