" Honda exit shocks F1 world "

[Don]

Source: AutoWeek Dec 5th:

" The Formula One world has been turned upside down by Honda's decision to pull out of the sport effective immediately.

Efforts are being made to find an outside buyer for the team as a going concern. In effect, Honda is willing to give it away--as Ford did with the Jaguar team in 2004--as long as the new owner has blue-chip backing and can guarantee that it can cover future operating costs. "


http://www.autoweek.com/article/20081205/FREE/812059997

[Ron61]

Don,

I read that and just wonder how long it will be until we start seeing more sponsors and car makers cutting back or pulling out of racing completely? I also saw a piece that said FOX was talking to NASCAR about making some cuts in their coverage. Bill France finally said on a TV interview that NASCAR may have trouble in the next year or so getting 43 cars to fill a field and they will just lower the amount of cars needed. He also made a statement that NASCAR really doesn't need Ford or GM to survive. Do you think the reality of the economy has finally reached into his billionaire world?

Ron

[Don]

Ron....Audi below

It has also been speculated that to fill the 43 car field, there will be more regional Teams that cannot afford to travel and participate in each race and Teams that otherwise might not have the capability to qualify against the fully funded Teams. I believe in F1, the slowest qualifier has to be within X percent of the pole speed, but NASCAR currently does not have such a rule. It wasn't that long ago with the two open wheel series that there was a challenge to have 33 Indy cars start the Indy 500

In what can best be described as a surprise, Audi said on Friday that it will not be represented by its factory team, Audi Sport North America, in the 2009 American Le Mans Series. The company said it has decided instead to concentrate its motorsports efforts on the new R15 TDI sport prototype for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Also, Audi has reworked the racing A4 to compete in the German Touring Car series (DTM), and the company will focus its efforts on the newly developed R8 LMS for customer use in the GT3 class

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20081205/FREE/812059995

[Ron61]

Don,

I hate to see that as I really enjoy the LeMans series and other road racing. I wish they would bring back the Trans Am series and use real cars like they did before. But with the economy like it is, the cost of traveling and moving the cars alone is staggering. I saw Richard Petty on a TV show the other day and he said that Petty Enterprises is looking for a partnership with someone or they may have to withdraw soon. He said it is just getting to expensive for them to field the teams and the sponsors are getting harder to find. I wonder if French was referring to what would happen if Ford and GM do go bankrupt.

Ron

[Ron61]

Don,

Just read this on the NASCAR site. I know that last season Richard Petty was talking about the fact that Petty Enterprises couldn't afford to go it alone any more. Also France has written to congress urging them to bailout the Auto Industry. Kind of a back step from his statement of sometime ago that NASCAR could do quite well without Ford, GM, and the others.

http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/head...tty/index.html

Ron

[Tommy]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Don,

I hate to see that as I really enjoy the LeMans series and other road racing. I wish they would bring back the Trans Am series and use real cars like they did before. But with the economy like it is, the cost of traveling and moving the cars alone is staggering. I saw Richard Petty on a TV show the other day and he said that Petty Enterprises is looking for a partnership with someone or they may have to withdraw soon. He said it is just getting to expensive for them to field the teams and the sponsors are getting harder to find. I wonder if French was referring to what would happen if Ford and GM do go bankrupt.

Ron

I saw a TV show last night about a race series that is using factory modified spec Mustangs. They said the cars cost $75K each and they expect it to cost about $200K per car to race the entire eight race series. There appeared to be about 25 cars involved. It's not Trans Am but it's one example of what can be done.

[Ron61]

Tommy.

I saw that on TV also but haven't been able to find anything else about it. Not even the name of the series or if they will be carried on TV. But that sounded good to me and in this day of high priced race cars that price seemed reasonable to me also. That would let a lot of people that don't have millions to pour into a car and team of specialists get into racing and I would like to see it happen a lot more.

Ron

[Joe Wicked]

That does sound like a good start to an affordable race series. Roll in the Challenger, New Camaro, and maybe some imports as well, and I think that it could be a very good racing series. Kinda like a do over, get away from the specially built race cars, and back to the roots. I had read where there was a proposal for a series of Street Legal cars. All cars had to pass a smog test and be equiped with all proper equipment to be legally registered in a state (I can't remember which one, but I do know it was not Cali). All cars had to have a roll cage and a list of safety equipment added as well. I think there was a class for just about any kind of car. The idea was to allow anyone to be able to afford to race. Just pick the car/amount you wish to spend. I would love to see something like that take off.

[VRM]

I'm a big fan of the 24 Hours of LeMons. Perhaps more manufacturers should explore this for endurance racing as it would provide them with a great metric for how well their models hold up. It also has the added benefit of being something of a vintage race.

And with the economy in the state it is in there will probably be more entries than ever!

Steve

[Ron61]

I too am a big fan of the 24 hours of Le Mans but that is very expensive racing. I would like to see more of the type talked about in the previous posts where people that don't have huge amounts of money could go race. At one time they did have a series here that you could run a stock street car in as long as you added a roll bar and some safety equipment, but that has long since vanished. But with NASCAR pricing themselves out of business and the economy taking a big toll, maybe we will see more of the stock car type racing. I don't care about the 200+ MPH speeds, I would rather see good racing at 100 MPH on road tracks and day.

Ron

[VRM]

No, no Ron - 24 Hours of LeMons. Completely different event than that quintessential British race conveniently held in neighbouring France.



And it may be just the type of racing you are talking about. Think Cannonball Run meets Junkyard Wars.

Entering is on my bucket list. I'm hoping to end up with my friends Barney purple Jag XJS after he is done using it as a daily driver.

Steve

[Ron61]

Sorry Steve,

I just misread your post. Now that does sound interesting and I hope that you get to try it. I wish they would revive the old series e had around here 20 years ago where you could buy a junker, put in some safety equipment and then they would have race days over the mountains. They didn't go very fast but we had a lot of fun and sure learned the tricks of getting around each other on the curves in these narrow roads.

Ron

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Sorry Steve,

I just misread your post. Now that does sound interesting and I hope that you get to try it. I wish they would revive the old series e had around here 20 years ago where you could buy a junker, put in some safety equipment and then they would have race days over the mountains. They didn't go very fast but we had a lot of fun and sure learned the tricks of getting around each other on the curves in these narrow roads.

Ron

You mean like this?????????

http://24hoursoflemons.com/

David

[PANAVIA]

F1 has been going to the dogs for 10+ years; engines , tires, restrictions.

it has gone from "what you CAN do" to "what you CAN'T do" .

If F1 folds up - no great loss, --however I would miss LeMans.

[Ron61]

David,

Thanks for posting that. I live just a 35 minute drive from Thunder hill and had never seen anything about it when I go down there to watch my friends race. They used to have several old Datsun 240Z cars that you could rent but I think they have long since been gone. Depending on the weather I may run down and watch some of these races.

Ron

[Ron61]

Just saw this while browsing the NASCAR site. Kyle Petty No Longer part of Petty enterprises. The changes in NASCAR are going to be staggering before they are finished.

http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/head...ses/index.html

Ron