THE GREAT DRIVER PLAYOFFS GROUP STAGE 4 OF 33

Group four consists of these four Grand Prix Greats, which of these is your man to win?

1.Maurince Trintignant
2.Nino Vaccarella
3.Rubens Barrichello
4.Rene Arnoux

This is a tough group too, as always comment below, explaining your decision, please. Can any of these beat Alberto Ascari's record of 75% of the vote?

I vote Maurice Trintignant since he had sucha long and brave career ... and he's a real gentleman too (I met him 7 years ago).

Was he also the oldest ever GP winner or participant?

I vaccilated over Vaccarella... but had to go with Maurice in the end... there will be harder choices than this.

He must have been pretty old when you met him, Nige!

Rene Arnoux, 18 poles.

Trintignant ? 14 years of F1 in some great machinery with little result isnt my idea of a "Great Driver" regardless of how nice he was.

I dont get this drivers list, Nino was a nothing in F1 and if we are going on events like the Targa, I hope Walter Rorhl's name comes up because a Monte Carlo rally in his day (which he won 4 of) was every bit the equal of a Targa Florio in the 60's as well as his sports cars and IMSA drives.

Well, winning twice in Monaco is not exactly what I'd call "a little result". And Maurice career did not begin with the F1 world championship ! He was an extremely ecclectic driver and he used to win in a lot of different series.

Maurice will turn 85 next month. He lives in south of France.

Originally posted by King Nigel
Well, winning twice in Monaco is not exactly what I'd call "a little result". And Maurice career did not begin with the F1 world championship ! He was an extremely ecclectic driver and he used to win in a lot of different series.

Maurice will turn 85 next month. He lives in south of France.

You of course mean the ONLY 2 GP's he won both at Monaco, firstly in 1955 after Fangio, Moss, Ascari retired and Farina, Castellotti and Behra had to stop for repairs and in 1958 he won under the same curcumstance just change the names with Hawthorn, Moss, Brabham, Brookes, Behra and Salvadori.

He was the Johhny Herbert of the 50's and lucked into 2 race wins only because all the front runners fell aside and there is no comparison to both Arnoux and Barrichello who have both been on pole multiple times, have fastest race lap times and have won GP's based purely on their skills as Drivers.

I thought we were looking for the Greatest, not the nicest.

Again I ask how narrow is this field of vote going to be, F1 or all 4 wheeled sports ? are Steve Kinser and Richard Petty going to included ? or are you only a "Great" Driver if you have competed in European based motor sports ?

To clarify on the entry for this tournament. All these drivers have at one time or another competed in one or more World Championship Grand Prix. Nino Vaccarella is a case in point, his Grand Prix career was confined to token appearences but he competed none the less. However few would argue with his reputation as an excellent driver. If this tournament included every race driver ever, we would be here for eternity for the first round alone. I would be forced to vote for myself for heavens sake (and pray for a group which didn't include Clark, Fangio and Senna).

I have merely selected drivers who competed in WDC events and who are interesting in their own right. Hence Vaccarella, also for example Bobby Rahal is also in the drawer. The question really posed is, who is the better driver out of the four listed in your opinion, you can draw on any source, from Formula One, through Sports Cars, Indy results, USAC championships, Nascar races, Targa Florio triumphs, the whole bloody lot, the only provision is that to qualify for entry you MUST have competed in a WDC Grand Prix, after that, no hold barred. Hope this clears up matters. I will post this again later today in group 5 and 6, just in case any of you miss this one.

Trintignant hey? And here was I thinking Arnoux or Barrichello would run away with this group. Well, let the fates decide. . .

The fact that Rubens is at the moment with Ferrari, has made me doubt. However, I voted for him in the attempt to highlight his achievments, long time stay and consistency. I don't know that much about Vacarella. My second pick would be Arnoux...

Arnoux gets my vote. Now, we will probably all have to put fake beards and moustaches while visiting Sicily if Nino goes out in first round... No vendetta, please!

Originally posted by Redliner
To clarify on the entry for this tournament. All these drivers have at one time or another competed in one or more World Championship Grand Prix. Nino Vaccarella is a case in point, his Grand Prix career was confined to token appearences but he competed none the less. However few would argue with his reputation as an excellent driver. If this tournament included every race driver ever, we would be here for eternity for the first round alone. I would be forced to vote for myself for heavens sake (and pray for a group which didn't include Clark, Fangio and Senna).

I have merely selected drivers who competed in WDC events and who are interesting in their own right. Hence Vaccarella, also for example Bobby Rahal is also in the drawer. The question really posed is, who is the better driver out of the four listed in your opinion, you can draw on any source, from Formula One, through Sports Cars, Indy results, USAC championships, Nascar races, Targa Florio triumphs, the whole bloody lot, the only provision is that to qualify for entry you MUST have competed in a WDC Grand Prix, after that, no hold barred. Hope this clears up matters. I will post this again later today in group 5 and 6, just in case any of you miss this one.

Trintignant hey? And here was I thinking Arnoux or Barrichello would run away with this group. Well, let the fates decide. . .

So great Drivers such as Rick Mears who won at everything he ran dont even get a mention but Drivers such as Nino in this case get the nod even though he was **** in his whole 5 F1 races.

And Maurice Trignant who was crap in his time (relative) looks like he will win this round and Hannu Mikkola doesnt get mentioned even though he knocked back an F1 offer.

I find your criteria not only stupid but offensive and of course I dont have to participate which I wont.

Well Mr Beckman that is of course your perogative.

However I will point this out to you, the fact that Vaccarella didn't have outstanding results in F1 is neither here nor there, the fact is he qualifies because he competed in F1, and his Sports Car record makes him a driver of note. Mears would have made the cut, if he had ever set foot in a Formula One car comptetitvly, however, for the sake of keeping this tournament in the realms of managability I made some proviso's on entry requirements. I am sure you can understand this, otherwise where do we draw the line? At the land speed record? I chose the World Drivers Championship because it is generally beleived to be a forum for the Worlds Greatest drivers. If you wish to disagree with this, that is of course your own decision. However I do have a problem with you being offensive just because I made some entry requirements not to your liking. Perhaps you would like to take your ball and go play with the other kids?