Comments on: Answer me this: Which manufacturers will quit?

By: chunter

chunter — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 20:40:09 +0000

I started writing this response to a comment and almost forgot to answer the question.

“Pet” teams like Toro Rosso and Super Aguri are most likely to drop out, for the obvious reason. I would like to hope other manufacturers that have stayed out of F1 would enter in so we can see how their motors would measure up in such an environment (Hyundai, Subaru or Suzuki, Nissan, some General Motors branding… I’m sure you can think of some exotic others…) I doubt the companies I named would want the expense right now, or they’d already be in, however.

I think I agree about the danger of having major auto companies be the sole controllers of major motorsport, and while I think F1 is still above NASCAR (do not think for an instant that any series that spends more time in the USA than elsewhere is a world championship) I wonder if it is merely ‘a’ pinnacle and not ‘the’ pinnacle; take FIA Rally, or Le Mans branded endurance racing, for starters.

The real question is, what is this a championship -of-? What I like about F1, and what offends me in IRL and ChampCar, is that in Formula 1 there are motors made by more than one source. IRL and ChampCar clearly don’t test which is the best engine or the best chassis, because they’re all identical. Formula 1 is not simply a driver’s championship, however.

Motorsport used to be about innovation, and even in innovation’s absence we can still use it to prove one manufacturer’s car’s mettle above another, so the real question here is, what do we want our racing series to test? How well a driver can drive? How long a motor will last? How long a suspension will hold up? How fast a team can change a tyre?

The “questions answered” by an F1 season are what make it worth watching, so we’ll have to see how those questions change over the coming years.

Best wishes

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 08:50:39 +0000

I definitely like the idea of whether F1 is the pinnacle of motor sport being a talking point!

But whether you agree it’s the pinnacle or not, F1 today is vulnerable to the whims of major car manufacturers in a way it never has been before – and that’s very worrying.

As an aside, I’m not old enough to remember six-wheelers and the like – but I do know a little of the history of exotic innovation in F1, and it’s fascinating…

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/03/01/banned-six-wheelers/

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/02/22/banned-brabham-alfa-romeo-bt46b-fan-car/

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/02/01/banned-lotus-cosworth-88-88b/

By: Number 38

Number 38 — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 23:00:11 +0000

Hi Keith,
I’m new to your site and find it refreshing that most commenters are reasonably civil. Concerning this query about “Which manufacturers will be next to quit F1? I have to take issue with this line from the first paragraph:
“all the teams are now run by a major car manufacturer, or dependant upon them for an engine supply.
In some respects this is great: it proves that Formula One is the pinnacle of motor racing and is the best showcase for modern car technology.”
Pinnacle of Motorsport? Madman Mosley has made a schambles of F1, Bernie is blackmailing the older F1 circuits and the word SPORT just doesn’t exist any longer. The ‘sport’ is now big business and drivers are reduced to mere employees. The fact that major manufacturers are introducing ‘showcase technology’ ….. maybe you’re not old enough to remember how many privateers introduced real technology, the monocoque body, the six wheeler, ground effects, and even the WING all came from private teams, not from major manufacturers.
What we really need is MORE privateers and less manufacturers, a pipe dream I admit, there’s no turning back now just too much money involved! But Pinnacle of Motorsport……you’d better re-consider the definition.
In the news this week South Africa wants to build a 75,000 seat $140 million circuit; on the other side of the earth NASCAR (ouch, that hurts my fingers to type) NASCAR wants to build a 200,000 seat $368 million complex in Washington state. I know, I know, the stinking money got involved but NASCAR is SPORT they’ve had driver/crew radios for the fans for years and years and Bernie is just now catching up. NASCAR drivers have autograph sessions before each race, our F1 boys are shielded from the public and wisked away in helicopters as soon as possible. Really “Pinnacle” is a motto
not supported by fact. Well there’s a little something to arouse some chat! Number 38 Halifax, VA