The credit crunch hit F1:

Hey guys I heard The Porshe ALMS cars are gone from Penske just don't think they have made an announcement.
 
I really hate to see racing hurting. But you know it is not just these big series. Do any of you guy's remember when they stopped running the GTP cars and switched to world sports cars (I Think). Change can be good but racing is always going to cost cubic money. I just hope we don't end up with a spec hybrid series.
 
I really hate to see racing hurting. But you know it is not just these big series. Do any of you guy's remember when they stopped running the GTP cars and switched to world sports cars (I Think). Change can be good but racing is always going to cost cubic money. I just hope we don't end up with a spec hybrid series.
Hi Dave,
Me too, I am old enough to remember when we raced in the 70s when the 1st oil price shock happened and we were looking at the possibility of NO racing, it was spooky!
Lets hope it gets nowhere near that this time, eh?
Paul
 
well,
news are not getting better because there exists already a
Bioracing sportscar Series in Europe
4 liter engines V6 350hp fired with E85 ethanol :cry:

and the new Audi and Peugeot cars for Le Mans will be Diesel Hybrid
 

Pete McCluskey.

Lifetime Supporter
Well it's not all doom and gloom, Red Bull Racing announced today that they had a new sponsor. A company called Trust has joined them. Trust is involved in computer technology (I think).
 

Mike Pass

Supporter
If the manufacturers leave will it really spoil "motorsport". There is too much money and politics at the moment and it's an industry not a sport. The technology and excessive aero development has killed real racing. The best racing is where the guys who build stuff themselves go racing for fun. That's where we got the Colin Chapman's, Frank Williams's, John Cooper's, Jim Hall's, Eric Broadley's et al. We even had a grids of cars which actually looked and sounded different. Even in the GT40 era you could tell one car from another. F1 cars look and sound so similar that it's a good thing that we have paint to tell which is which. There are also too many "one make " series used by manufacturers to advertise their cars. This is probably why there is a lot of interest now building in Historics which at least look and sound different although the cancer of mega money is steadily eating it's way in. Even in our local NW Formula Ford championship we have corporately dressed teams with huge transporters and a dozen people to run one car.
In the sixties and seventies people in the paddock would talk to you and even help out when someone had problems. What we need are the "garagistes" (thanks Enzo for the word) back in F1 with cars like souped up formula fords which can slipstream each other with lots of mechanical grip, huge power for the spectacle and minimal aero grip. We might even see the best drivers really doing their stuff - locked brakes, wheelspin, oversteer, understeer, slipstreaming, missed gears, overrevved engines, OVERTAKING even - remember this stuff?
Cheers
Mike
 
Is not the essence of racing trying to be the fastest. 307 million in a year to run a team. 500 employees in the racing shop. 21 million for a season in a stock car.
I remember a big pay out night at my local track for me in 1996 mechanical trouble finished last I was paid $286.00 It was $12.00 a point. I had one sponser $200.00 for the year. I used to go qualify my old Howe chassis car in and many times my boss at the time who had the best that money could buy and a brand new car would be on the outsde of me where he qualified. Racing used to be about the fastest car and the best driver passing in a place that seemed impossible. Now it is about being marketable and how much soap, or viagra you can sell.
Maybe it is actually television that has caused the demise because without television no soap sales and no big budgets.
Now I am hearing talk of an F-1 spec engine. I have seen so many of these spec race car series fail. :thumbsdown: I am sure Ferrari wants to run a spec engine in their car
 

Keith

Moderator
If the manufacturers leave will it really spoil "motorsport". There is too much money and politics at the moment and it's an industry not a sport. The technology and excessive aero development has killed real racing. The best racing is where the guys who build stuff themselves go racing for fun. That's where we got the Colin Chapman's, Frank Williams's, John Cooper's, Jim Hall's, Eric Broadley's et al. We even had a grids of cars which actually looked and sounded different. Even in the GT40 era you could tell one car from another. F1 cars look and sound so similar that it's a good thing that we have paint to tell which is which. There are also too many "one make " series used by manufacturers to advertise their cars. This is probably why there is a lot of interest now building in Historics which at least look and sound different although the cancer of mega money is steadily eating it's way in. Even in our local NW Formula Ford championship we have corporately dressed teams with huge transporters and a dozen people to run one car.
In the sixties and seventies people in the paddock would talk to you and even help out when someone had problems. What we need are the "garagistes" (thanks Enzo for the word) back in F1 with cars like souped up formula fords which can slipstream each other with lots of mechanical grip, huge power for the spectacle and minimal aero grip. We might even see the best drivers really doing their stuff - locked brakes, wheelspin, oversteer, understeer, slipstreaming, missed gears, overrevved engines, OVERTAKING even - remember this stuff?
Cheers
Mike

Good thrust Mike, and in connection with your Enzo quote regarding "garagistes", it is my recollection that he (Enzo) used this word as a term of abuse for the likes of Cooper, Chapman, Wlliams, Costin et al.. forgetting of course, his own humble roots as a mechanic and that they occasionally (nay often) kicked his ass! Bring back the Garagistes! I echo these sentiments wholeheartedly. :)

The market for duct tape, baling wire and string has never been the same since... :drunk:
 
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