Comments on: Weigl Group is latest Super Aguri saviour

By: alan

alan — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:22:18 +0000

It’s good in these days of negative reports of f1 to hear some positive news especially for one of the lower teams – well done the Weigl group and good luck

By: chunter

chunter — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:10:00 +0000

It appears that Weigl do for large-scale manufacturing what the company I work for does for internet commerce.

That is, they offer a list of services to companies that are expected to need them but do not want to handle themselves.

More simply put, they are an industrial outsourcing company.

For the record, I live in the USA.

I can see Weigl backing (or being) an F1 team, if they can come up with the money. I can also see them evolving into a parts supplier, think Magnetti Morelli, or the brake makers whose names are escaping me.

By: Rabi

Rabi — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:07:32 +0000

one can only hope. and it would be so much more awesome if they were able to find a backer and then blow Honda out of the water next year!

Like I said one can only hope.

By: Chalky

Chalky — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:10:57 +0000

I just clicked on the Weigl group link too. It seems they help out with processes and quality in Engineering and Manufacturing. Maybe someone on the board had dreams of building his \ her own F1 car when they were younger?

By: Journeyer

Journeyer — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:07:55 +0000

Brendan is right on the money. But Weigl is buying Aguri the most important thing right now: time. With it, they’re giving themselves a chance to find a bigger backer.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:31:44 +0000

Even if Super Aguri find a backer for this year, what will next year bring? Using their current car (SA108) won’t be an option, and I have serious doubts that Honda will be willing to give them anything more than frozen engines.

Honda is working hard on their 2009 car now–a quote from Fry launched the whole “frozen season”/limited development idea. What if the RA109 ends up being a dark horse, 3rd-4th rank car like the BMW is now? There’s no way that Honda would want a repeat of last year, when Super Aguri had a car that was equal or more competitive. Besides, if SA had a 4th-ranked car given to them, Williams would start howling in protest.

I guess what I’m saying is that 6.5m GBP would be great, but they need way more, or this will be the last season.

By: chunter

chunter — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:43:32 +0000

I agree with "the limit" as well.

What happened to all those teams wanting to enter F1 alongside Prodrive? Super Aguri and Torro Rosso are providing that chance now! Or, must the Concorde Agreement change to make it cheap enough for these investors to want to play?

By: Sush

Sush — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:55:20 +0000

I haven’t read your article yet Keith, apart to click on the Weigl link.

I’m sure your article is top notch and kudos for linking to the sponsors, hopefully it works out for them since I love Aguri’s plucky little team.

I shall click on Weigl links as much as possible from now on, to keep Aguri alive! (every little helps!)

By: Rabi

Rabi — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:37:31 +0000

I won’t slay you for that in fact I’d agree with you.

The other thing is let’s face it, any company that comes into "save" Super Aguri will get such huge positive PR from it is a fantastic investment in it’s own right.

And in reality the ONLY thing that can save Super Aguri is the customer car saga – and Max strikes again!

By: the limit

the limit — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:15:12 +0000

I have to say, I find the situation Super Aguri find themselves in highly suspicious. Last year, they very successfully exceeded everybody expectations with their performances, and on more than one occasion upstaged their parent company, Team Honda.
This, I believe, is the penalty they are paying now. Team Honda, after suffering their worst season in 2007, are now focusing their efforts on the A team, whilst not being overly supportive to the B team. In other words, they didn’t like being made to look stupid by a team with only 150 people in it and on a fraction of Honda’s budget.
That is my view anyway, you can begin to ‘slay’ me now if you want?