http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7169309.stm

lol

from c4 site

"The first time Jeremy got behind the wheel of a go-kart, at the tender age of eight, he broke the track record on his first lap and since then his life has revolved around karting and latterly racing driving. In 2006 Jeremy was nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year and in 2007 he was named as the British Racing Drivers Club Rising Star classing him in the top six or so best young drivers in the UK. Following in Lewis Hamilton's footsteps, Jeremy won the British Cadet Kart Championship in 2000 and has won several Formula Renault UK races."

broke the lap record on his first lap... hmm.... was it a car park

Oh, that Jeremy Metcalfe.



The stars get bigger and brighter with every series.

Well the stars are going to 'run' the show... and the house mates are supposed to be 'talented'.

He's a great driver BUT is it the best career move?

Unless he utterly breaks down, it can't do too much harm.

I follow motorsport closer than most people but I'd never heard of him so I doubt the general public have a clue who he is, no change there then.

he won the young up and coming driver award at the autosport show (should have been someone like Jack Harvey IMO who has DOMINATED the European Karting Scene in Juniors this year)

He won the British Cadet Championship in 2000, and had some half decent success in karts. He's had a few years in F Renault.

Are you sure you follow motorsport that closely

Quote from Intrepid :

Are you sure you follow motorsport that closely

I really couldn't give a crap about the latest karting/junior formulae sensation whose able to beat a field of largely talentless wanabes with ease. I'm more interested in the technology in modern motorsport, unfortunately it's rather taken the skill of the drivers away.

Quote from Intrepid :

broke the lap record on his first lap.

Surely he must be related to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to be able to pull a stunt like that.

Quote from ajp71 :

I really couldn't give a crap about the latest karting/junior formulae sensation whose able to beat a field of largely talentless wanabes with ease. I'm more interested in the technology in modern motorsport, unfortunately it's rather taken the skill of the drivers away.

so you don't follow motorsport closer than most then?

I've heard his name, probably from watching FRenault on TV. Just one of a number of up and coming youngsters, I can't say he's left me with any lasting impression. Looking at his wikipedia page, he hasn't exactly set the world on fire with his FRenault results either, competitive though the series may be. Do they keep the £50,000 or is it for "charidee"?

It is an odd award. To get that position he has obviously spent maybe £500k-1m so i am not sure what the prize money is for. lol

Haha! thanks for that little childish dispute Intrepid and ajp .

To be honest, I agree with the idea that it could affect his career. I mean, there can be many bad outcomes if he did Big Brother. One of them might be a dispute between him and another celebrity and what does that say to the sponsors? "No, thanks" and then aside from that, he'll have to be very cautious as a person in general because if he does anything silly, people won't take him seriously in racing and honestly, just the fact that he IS doing it makes him look silly.

I can just imagine it now two F1 fans chattering to each other.

"Oh yeah, see that new guy Jeremy Metalfe" "Yeah, he seems alright but wasn't he the lad who was on Celebrity Big Brother?" "Yep, bloody idiot thinks because he's a celebrity that he can race in F1"

5th in UK Formula Renault in his third season and testing for British GT, hardly impressive stuff. God knows where the moneys coming from (Daddy?) but I very much doubt he's going to go professional. He may be talented, it may not be his fault that he hasn't performed well enough or for other reasons been favoured by team scouts through his karting and Formula Renault performance but if you're not sitting in a serious single seater or in a works Le Mans car after 3 years you're never going to get to the top in todays world.

A quick comparison:

Kimi Raikkonen: 23 races (before F1), won 13 of them.
Jeremy Metcalfe: 49 races, has won 2.
...and as much as I may dislike him... Lewis Hamilton: won 15/20 F3 Euroseries, won GP2 in his first season.

Quote from Leprekaun :

To be honest, I agree with the idea that it could affect his career. I mean, there can be many bad outcomes if he did Big Brother. One of them might be a dispute between him and another celebrity and what does that say to the sponsors? "No, thanks" and then aside from that, he'll have to be very cautious as a person in general because if he does anything silly, people won't take him seriously in racing and honestly, just the fact that he IS doing it makes him look silly.

Given his performance (admittedly I have no idea what he's like as a person but numbers talk) I suspect he's looking for another route to fame. Some people will do anything to become famous at huge expense, no up coming sports person who had a future would consider doing something that's almost certain to destroy any credibility they have. Did you watch Richard Hammond's interview with Evel Knievel? Seems rather similar to me.

Well, the issue is not whether he's good enough or not but I believe that if he works hard, maybe he can get somewhere serious. Raikkonen and Hamilton are quite talented drivers so to them but for other drivers, sometimes it takes a lot more work to get ahead.

Thats another discussion, perhaps you're right Intrepid, maybe he's getting the money from Daddy but you know, the fact that he got the track record at a kart track in his first race, thats impressive but I suppose, there is the possibility to consider that that track record was nothing special.

I wish Jeremy the best of luck in his racing career, I remember someone told me when we were having that intense discussion about drivers sprouting up a bit later than others so maybe he is one of them, and maybe he isn't but I do hope he is.

Quote from ajp71 :

Given his performance (admittedly I have no idea what he's like as a person but numbers talk) I suspect he's looking for another route to fame. Some people will do anything to become famous at huge expense, no up coming sports person who had a future would consider doing something that's almost certain to destroy any credibility they have. Did you watch Richard Hammond's interview with Evel Knievel? Seems rather similar to me.

Thats very true, some drivers care about fame waay more than being the best.

I haven't actually, no Top Gear in Egypt!!!

Quote from Leprekaun :

I haven't actually, no Top Gear in Egypt!!!

Check your PMs

Quote from Leprekaun :

Well, the issue is not whether he's good enough or not but I believe that if he works hard, maybe he can get somewhere serious. Raikkonen and Hamilton are quite talented drivers so to them but for other drivers, sometimes it takes a lot more work to get ahead.

Quote :

Thats another discussion, perhaps you're right Intrepid, maybe he's getting the money from Daddy but you know, the fact that he got the track record at a kart track in his first race, thats impressive but I suppose, there is the possibility to consider that that track record was nothing special.

A track record doesn't mean much in the real world. Take into account it was in his first race, there's nothing to stop him having done thousands of practice laps on the track before hand. In the real world karts/cars aren't all identical the best prepared ones are often faster with a worse driver and critically the conditions make huge differences to lap times, my local (indoor) rental kart track has an easy 1 second variation to the whole grids times depending on temperature, and a good kart can also make the difference of a second. Not to mention when it's wet it gets about 4 seconds slower

Quote from ajp71 :

A track record doesn't mean much in the real world. Take into account it was in his first race, there's nothing to stop him having done thousands of practice laps on the track before hand. In the real world karts/cars aren't all identical the best prepared ones are often faster with a worse driver and critically the conditions make huge differences to lap times, my local (indoor) rental kart track has an easy 1 second variation to the whole grids times depending on temperature, and a good kart can also make the difference of a second. Not to mention when it's wet it gets about 4 seconds slower

That's hire karting not proper karting though. Proper karting is a whole new ball game all together. That lap record thing though is one of these 'facts' that get exagerated... obviosuly written by a TV person. For example if I was on there they would take this fact about me ' I raced Hamilton a few times in cadets' to 'he used to race Hamilton and beat him on a regular basis' You gotta love TV peeps! lol

BTW Leprekaun I didn't suggest he got his money from his dad...
that was someone else

I am not sure what it will do for his career though. Surely time would be better spent in a kart/car over the next couple of weeks.

However it's never been done before so who knows?

Quote from Intrepid :

BTW Leprekaun I didn't suggest he got his money from his dad...
that was someone else

I know you didn't. I was just stating that it was a possibility. I'm well aware that ajp said that

lol

he seemed quite proud of his Cadet Championship I would be because it is ROCK hard!

O'Leary on metcalfe

"winner of the british cadet karting championship in 2000...whatever that is... sounds complicated"" lol all publicity is good publicity

Quote from Intrepid :

That's hire karting not proper karting though. Proper karting is a whole new ball game all together. That lap record thing though is one of these 'facts' that get exagerated...

The facts may well be right, there's the conditions that make a big difference like I said earlier, admittedly they may affect proper karts less because they can be set up to accommodate for the conditions. There's still the issue of how quick the kart was, whether it was better prepared than the others or in such a competitive arena whether it was down right bent.

Quote :

BTW Leprekaun I didn't suggest he got his money from his dad...
that was someone else

I doubt he's being paid to drive. Winning a kart title doesn't mean anything, yes it shows potential but if you can't manage a win a season in a real car then it rather pales into insignificance

hahaha, my mate was in a team with jeremy metcalf called 'millenium motorsport' and yea, jeremy's dad is MINTED. i think hes about 19 now coz he left karting very early at the age of like 16.

hardly a celebrity ATALL, jus a very rich fella with a little bit of talent (a little bit)

Quote from ayrton senna 87 :

hahaha, my mate was in a team with jeremy metcalf called 'millenium motorsport' and yea, jeremy's dad is MINTED. i think hes about 19 now coz he left karting very early at the age of like 16.

hardly a celebrity ATALL, jus a very rich fella with a little bit of talent (a little bit)

I wonder if his father his father is also called Jeremy