F1 Fanatic round-up: 24/2/2010

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The final F1 test session of the year gets started tomorrow. I should be heading out for at part of the test – I’ll have full details of my plans up later. For now, here’s the Wednesday round-up:

Links

New Cosworth F1 website

A new website for returning engine supplier Cosworth is coming soon at this address.

US F1 insider: Hurley can save team (Autosport)

“In a meeting between the employees, Windsor and Anderson, Windsor put the question up to the employees: ‘Who here doesn’t think we’ll make Bahrain?’ I think Windsor might have meant it somewhat rhetorically, but he was answered nonetheless, and 100 per cent of the staff raised their hands. He was visibly shocked.”

Caption Contest: #102 (BlogF1)

Ollie’s caption contests are always a laugh but he’s really outdone himself with this one.

Comment of the day

Here’s Prisoner Monkeys’ interpretation of that notorious Ferrari tirade:

Ferrari are hurting, and it shows. They’ve just come off the back of their worst season in fifteen years, and they’ve seen the balance of power shift from two teams to four. And some believe there could be as many as six who are fighting at the front. Ferrari are in their most vulnerable position since the pre-Schumacher years, and it’s not really their fault – the F60 might not have been the best, but even if it was, the other teams would have still caught up.

Ferrari’s comments have nothing to do with the state of play in sport and everything to do with Ferrari and their pride. They blame the FIA for accepting teams Ferrari considers undeserving, and given their precarious position, they feel threatened by those teams.
Prisoner Monkeys

Happy birthday!

No F1 Fanatic birthdays today. If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

It’s Pedro de la Rosa’s birthday topday. The Spanish driver turns 39 today as he prepares to make his F1 comeback with BMW Sauber.

Like his more illustrious fellow F1 returnee Michael Schumacher, de la Rosa’s last Grand Prix start was at Interlagos in 2006. He finished eighth, Schumacher fourth.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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97 comments on “F1 Fanatic round-up: 24/2/2010”

  1. go Pedro!

  2. Would have loved to see Windsors face when he saw all those hands go up.

    Must have been priceless

    1. yes, those kind of faces are priceless. Like the one dennis put on the chinese gp 2007 when hamilton got stuck. Remember he was pushing the car with his hands in front of his monitor. Like i said priceless.

    2. Or like the one Massa’s Father had when he saw that Felipe didn’t win the championship at interlagos in 2008

    3. Well of corse 100% of staff raised their hands there only is about 3 staff in USF1! :D

  3. Prisoner Monkeys
    24th February 2010, 0:29

    I do believe I’ve become the first person to get Post of the Day twice. Awesome!

    1. Plink Plonk Plunk
      24th February 2010, 2:09

      You should win a prize or something. Good thing you noticed.

      1. You’re still on for one per month.

    2. Is that right? Nice job!

    3. Don’t be so happy.

      Taking in consideration you are one of the most active commentators (226 comments in the last 30 days).

      Your ratio “Post of the day” / Nr of comments should be higher!!!!

      :-)

      1. As the current most prolific poster (almost entirely due to testing and downed forum)i’m slightly worried about the quality of my posts.

        None of which have made comment of the day, alas.

        Ah well, happy to read those better than mine.

        1. Yeah I’m on 152, and I’ve not got COTD yet… but then at least 150 of my comments (including this one) have been rambling nonsense…

          Anyway, it’s not the winning, it’s taking part that counts! At least that’s what I tell myself…

          1. I just cracked 300 man. I don’t know how it got so high. I think because about 10% of my posts have grammar and thought out responses and the rest is trying to distract from this Geography essay i’m managing not to write.

            Don’t worry one day we’ll have epithanies of the highest order, take the time to write something close to F1 gospel and we might just make it.

    4. Sorry I think a few people have had comment of the day twice, me included, and I think some may have even had it three times so far.

  4. Jarred Walmsley
    24th February 2010, 0:58

    topday? I think it’s today Keith, sorry for the nitpicking you can blame my english teacher!

    1. keith do you type really quickly? :D

  5. This season we have a grid drivers of old,middle age, & young you can’t ask anything more than that.

    1. How about some female drivers?

      1. Prisoner Monkeys
        24th February 2010, 6:17

        There aren’t any who are good enough.

        1. True, but I would qualify that by saying that there aren’t any raw female talents who’ve had the same encouragement as their male counterparts (who don’t have to deal with automatically skeptical opinions) to persevere in motor sports from a young age – ergo, their road into motor sports is far, far more uphill.

          1. Jarred Walmsley
            24th February 2010, 8:43

            Danica Patrick?

          2. Danica still haven’t tested F1 car, & I doubt she will be fast.

          3. Jarred Walmsley
            24th February 2010, 8:54

            While that is true, she is still the best female driver out there and as such would be the best bet for a female F1 seat. And lets face it she can’t be any worse then Luca Badoer :)

          4. Apparently….so I’m reliably informed anyway..at the early stages in Karting the girls are far too polite and lack aggression
            when it comes down to fighting off agressive competition on track…..mmmmm….

            Not my experience of a brother/sister relationship I can tell you !

        2. Prisoner Monkeys

          There aren’t any who are good enough.

          Yeah because Jose Maria Lopez, Ralf Firman, Alex Yoong, Zsolt Baumgartner, Yuji Ide, Giorgio Pantano, Markus Winkelhock and a hole host of other forgettables are that much better than Danica Patrick.

      2. Did I hear something about another female driver heading to Indy Car – Bia Figueiredo?

        In which case, assuming Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno are still racing this year, does that make four female drivers in Indy Car this year?

        1. The times have an article about a 17 yr old Brit called Alice Powell whose trying to make it to F1.

          Best of luck to her but I dont know how good her results are

          http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7028380.ece

        2. I thought Patrick was moving to NASCAR?

          1. She’s running in the second highest Nascar division. When the IRL season starts she will take a break from Nascar until off weekends.

          2. I see, pretty cool. That’s something that F1 drivers used to do: drive in other series. A shame they don’t any more.

        3. Keith, she is brazilian (like me) and she won some races in indy lights in 2009. She may not be a superb driver, but she hás a respectable career, have won some races in various categories (from brazilian karts to south american f3 races) she is one of the female drivers that conquered a lot of respect from everybody, she also raced in Felipe massa’s kart star challenge last year and did reasonably well, finishing in front of Liuzzi and former f1 pilot Ricardo Zonta

        4. Keith, Danica is the only 100% full time female in the Indycar Series this moment. Sarah Fisher will run nearly all of the races. Milka Duno doesn’t have a contract yet, but she’ll probably get a contract will Dale Coyne Racing in a few days and be a second full time female in the series. Ana Beatriz so far only has a contract to run the season opener in Sao Paulo with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Right now she isn’t signed for any races after that, but DRR has said they are working on getting more races for her. Simona de Silvestro has tested with HVM Racing in December and it is expected that she will run some races with HVM this year. However, the Indycar Series wants her to do more tests on ovals before she can race the full series though. The Fazzt Race team signed Maryeve Dufault as a developmental driver. She won’t drive this year, but probably will in the future. So, there will most likely be five female drivers who start this year, with at least two running every race. Next year there is a chance for six female drivers. Pippa Mann is racing in the feeder series, Firestone Indy Lights.

          1. Thanks for the info Stephen!

  6. José Baudaier
    24th February 2010, 1:58

    I must be watching too much Lost. When I read “Hurley can save team” I thought it was a Lost viral ad :p

      1. Hurley is going to be the one to save them all though, you can just see it coming, he’s poping up in everyone’s flashback/forward/sideways.

        No idea about USF1 though, thats far more lost than Lost will ever be.

  7. That anecdote about Windsor is hilarious although anonymously sourced articles have to be treated with a bit of caution, going by what Anderson said it’s too wide of the mark though.

    Looks like Prisoner Monkeys is clutching at more than a few straws there. There’s a flaws in almost every sentence but maybe this is my favourite:

    They blame the FIA for accepting teams Ferrari considers undeserving…

    Let’s not let evidence get in the way of our opinions, I mean it’s not like any of the new teams look like they’re going to fail to get to the grid in Bahrain, Prodrive and Lola what do they know about racing?

    1. God, imagine the uproar if USF1 HADN’T been given a spot though.

      And Campos are a racing team first and foremost, and were hooked up with Dallara. Lola by comparison are only a manufacturer with no current experience of running teams, and Prodrive were never going to get in, they’ve been given a couple of shots and never gotten onto the grid.

      Its easy in hindsight to say “oh so and so should have been given a spot”, but you don’t know.

      1. HounslowBusGarage
        24th February 2010, 12:06

        Yes, absolutely. If they hadn’t been give a spot, there would have been screams of fury based around the idea that evil Europeans were preventing the courageous US team from competing – because the vile Europeans knew the plucky US team would be too good for them and win everything . . .

      2. (that should have read “not too wide of the mark”)

        It is easy to say things in hindsight. It’s also easy to say them at the time as I did.

        I would have thought Lola being a manufacturer might be a good start, I mean at least they would be able to build a car in time for the first race.

        Prodrive have not had “a couple of shots”. They’ve never been granted an entry.

        As for the Campos entry it’s increasingly looking like an overly optimistic punt on behalf of the FIA. I wonder if you told Adrian Campos a year ago that by the time we got to March 2010 he would have to sell off his share of his own team and step down from running it just to ensure it’s continuation would he have felt it was worth it?

  8. Plink Plonk Plunk
    24th February 2010, 2:08

    Thats the second or third article I’ve read about USF1 that doesn’t paint Ken Anderson in a very good light, and this one came from a, presumably, high ranking insider.

    He flat out said that Anderson is/was the cause for the delays and that he lied to the [future] employees about having three years funding.

    It’s interesting to hear the point of view from this perticular individual. I get the feeling Windsor, although perhaps not completly innocent, is trying to do a lot of ground work that is being undermined by Anderson actions or lack there of. But it’s Windsor whos gotten the stick in the media/blogs/forums of late. Guess it goes with the teritory.

  9. Having read the full comment and seen your reply I’m really surprised Keith. I mean look at how much traffic one web page worth of Ferrari musings has bought you. Surely you of all people should see the value of this especially as you are trying to go full-time.

    If it were me I’d love Ferrari, I’d have a brand new Ferrari team shirt every year, I’d have a Ferrari bed-spread and Ferrari cutlery with matching red plates, I’d call my first born son Enzo and I’d have a small shrine in a special place in my house resplendent with pictures of the glory days, and it would have candles that were never allowed to go out, that flatteringly illuminated a pristine figurine of a prancing horse crafted masterly out of jet, and at meal times as we sit in front of our scarlet plates having told little Enzo to put down his equine embossed cutlery my family and I would say grace and offer thanks to those that giveth so generously so that others may partake because the last thing any F1 journalist should want or endorse is for Ferrari to “shut up and race”.

    1. I’d call my first born son Enzo

      James Allen alredy beaten Keith on this one…

      1. I think you will find that here in Italy many people are called Enzo or Vincenzo. Ferrari is a common name in central and northern Italy. The guy who fixes my bikes here is called Dino Ferrari and is 70(and still going). He has always said Enzo copied him, even though the dates don’t work out it’s still a bot of fun.

        1. I think you will find that here in Italy many people are called Enzo or Vincenzo. Ferrari is a common name in central and northern Italy.

          I ´m sure you´re right, Rampante. My own nephew here in Brazil was named Enzo, but I bet that “Enzo” is not a common name among sons of english journalists…

      2. Enzo Allen definitely isn’t going to get bullied at school for his name… And to go off on a non F1 related tangent, here are a few other ridiculous names I’ve heard of before:

        Sexfruit
        Violence
        Metallica
        Google
        Fish and Chips (twins)
        Number 16 bus shelter
        Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii
        Benson and Hedges (twins)
        Fat boy

        Sorry, I know this is an F1 site, but I thought perhaps some people might find these funny

        1. lol Isn’t “Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii” Terry Tibbs? Or is that Hoolahanoola?

          What about Paula Yates’ children?

          1. Haha Bob Geldof’s children. These are their full names according to Wikipedia:

            o Fifi Trixibelle Geldof
            o Peaches Honeyblossom Michelle Charlotte Angel Vanessa Geldof
            o Little Pixie Geldof
            o Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof

            ?!?!
            Plus Chris Martin’s children are called Apple and Moses…

          2. lol Those names add some serious backing to the one child per family argument.

        2. “Number 16 bus shelter”

          Is that Hounslow’s son, then ?

          (Sorry, I can resist anything but temptation. LOL)

          1. HounslowBusGarage
            24th February 2010, 17:28

            Thank you Dsob: I maintain I never met the young lady!

    2. I think you’re taking it a bit too seriously K. Besides I often pick comments of the day purely because they are good comments, not necessarily because I agree with them.

      1. So you just like Prisoner Monkeys prose then? ;)

        If Force India had made this statement would it have had even half the attention?

        If I’m taking it too seriously then what about all the indignant posters getting in a state over “Ferrari pushing an agenda that is good for them”. I could question whether they expect Ferrari to push an agenda that is bad for them but that would be beside the point. Ferrari’s statement is a deliberately provocative piece of satire that should be taken with a pinch of salt. All this talk of “White Knights” and a “holy war”, you can’t take it too seriously even if there are serious underlying points. People should see the funny side, I’m sure Ecclestone and di Montezemolo do. It’s published under the alias of The Horse Whisperer for heavens sake, if that’s not a joke then clearly I don’t take things seriously enough.

        Personally I found the Vulture analogy very amusing and a rather astute observation and I’m in favour of Stefan GP being given a shot. I don’t think it’s a slight against all Serbs as some seem to.

        1. I wonder if Ferrari are having a feeling of deja vu with the arrival of new, brighter, smaller, funkier teams and the sudden rise of Mercedes nee Brawn and Red Bull? A drinks company running an F1 team? Go on, pull the other one…..!
          They must be looking back to the days when Lotus and Cooper appeared from nowhere in tiny cars and thrashed them, and to the rise of McLaren and Williams (teams run by ex-drivers and mechanics, not real sportsmen at all – and Bruce McLaren drove his own cars and went off to other series too, not the right sort at all!)
          All I can say is good, its nice to see the top dogs fearing the worst before the season has even started, it means there might be some real racing and less politics….. :-)

  10. New R30b looks awesome. . . You will see it tomorrow. . . Get ready for big revolution hehehe

  11. And here is the complete Alonso interview in The Guardian:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/feb/23/fernando-alonso-interview-ferrari-formula-one

    I liked his take on Schumacher returning: “And it’s true that since Michael left I haven’t won any championships. So hopefully this is a good sign for me.”

  12. i think it’s time for either ecclestone, or todt to explain to the public what is going on. We deserve to know, the season starts in 20 days or so.
    Why are this politicians mute.

  13. The key problem with the 4 new teams would appear to be them all entering the sport with the promise from max that it would be “cheap”. Virgin and Lotus have at least turned up to test which if nothing else is a start. Campos and USF1 even with the possible support of the worlds largest ecomomy have chickened out of the party and provided nothing more than hot air.The people I feel sorry for are Senna and Lopez.

    1. Rampante, no offence, but geez you’re on a roll and increasingly veering off into extremes.

      How can you say that Campos and USF1 have “chickened out”? How does that even make sense? They’re incapable of making the grid – if you want to make some substantiated comment on that go ahead, but c’mon.

      The “possible support of the world’s largest economy” – well anything is possible, but obviously they haven’t gotten an adequate amount, if any, of that “possible” support, so what’s your point there?

      And as for Max promising that F1 would be cheap – well it could have been cheaper if not for the stubbornness of some teams; indeed, maybe the same ones who wanted to keep on with astronomical finances, but then lay blame elsewhere for manufacturers leaving the sport (without mentioning that they left because costs were too high) – self-contradictory much?

      And I’m still genuinely curious to know what you meant, in yesterday’s thread, by: “This sport was based on people who risked their lives for speed and passion and none of the new teams offer any of this.” Seriously?

      1. They(Campos and USF1) have been going on about building a car to compete with the big boys and as yet with 4 testing days to go not yet fired up an engine in anger.
        How many times does it need stated that F1 is not cheap. Top level sport never has been and never will. Are you really trying to get into F1 for the price of 5 or 6 top footballers salaries? How many more people need reminding that this is not banger racing. I can think of at least a dozen US companies that spend over $1 billion a year on advertising and none want to get on board with an American F1 team?
        The post from yesterday was in reference with earning a place in the sport with commitment and determination not crawling under the door as our North American teams are trying to do.

      2. “And as for Max promising that F1 would be cheap – well it could have been cheaper if not for the stubbornness of some teams”

        Every team agreed with the principle of reducing costs. It was how it was handled by Mosley that was the problem.

        1. How can F1 be cheap or cheaper. Is it the Lack of a budget cap that is making it impossible for USF1 and Campos to have their cars ready?

          1. True enough, true enough.

      3. @Maciek
        It costs a few million dollars to design and build an F1 car. Budget cap or not, that cost doesn’t change. The low cost F1 was for operating the team an entire season.

        If the big teams had to throw away a good proportion of their labour force, you don’t think they’d have to pay them off, which might even cost them more?

        1. I should also add that the teams have been given cheap engines, what more do they want?

          1. very cheap. There was a time when Cosworth was the engine to beat. Now Lada and Kia could produce more grunt even at 18000rpm.

      4. Are you really trying to get into F1 for the price of 5 or 6 top footballers salaries?

        I can think of at least a dozen US companies that spend over $1 billion a year on advertising and none want to get on board with an American F1 team?

        I think those are pretty good points.

        We’re talking about a sport that markets itself as “the pinnacle of world motorsport”, that has the audacity to claim that on average a quarter of a billion people watch every race, that revels in it’s reputation for glamour and glitz and panders to some of the richest people on earth, wallowing in their wealth, and yet people think that teams should operate on less than the price of a top footballer.

        Do you seriously think a company like Toyota that has annual pre tax profits that go in hundreds of millions of pounds left F1 because it was too expensive?

        The Formula One Group makes a staggering amount of money most of which is siphoned off to illusive debt ridden subsidiaries where the money goes straight out of the sport and into the pockets of bankers and Ecclestones. When people rail against break a away series I don’t think they consider how bad FOG are for the sport, people just think that rich manufacturers want to be free to gratuitously spend money as they please without considering how damaging FOG are to the smaller team and motorsport as a whole.

        1. HounslowBusGarage
          24th February 2010, 17:37

          “Do you seriously think a company like Toyota that has annual pre tax profits that go in hundreds of millions of pounds left F1 because it was too expensive?”

          Toyota projected loss for the year to March 2010 is Yen 200 billion. Not as big a loss as had been expected, but still a loss.
          Source is The Guardian, November 5th 2009.
          http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/05/toyota-profit-unexpected

          1. I was going to say! I was under the impression that the manufacturers had left because they could no longer justify an F1 budget on top of their unprecedented losses!

            Even now there is uproar among Mercedes employees as to why the company can afford an F1 team and yet still have workers on ‘short time’.

          2. That’s old news. New profit forecast £570m in the black but that’s not taking into account all the recalls and possible law suits. Last financial year was anomalous in Toyota’s history.

            http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-04/toyota-forecasts-profit-as-government-incentives-boost-sales.html

  14. Crash.net is hardly the most reliable source but they are suggesting that Lopez might be signing for Campos within the next 24. Which will pay for Dallara and truly sink USf1. Personally I’d like to see a well run USf1 team at some point in the future but this branch went from one of the more viable entries to a total shambles rather too quickly to think it would have ever been more than a popular underdog. However the article also talks about the possibility of a merger between Campos and USf1 with Hurley and Carabante the main instigators.

    Hopefully the Dallara gives Lopez and Senna a chance to challenge Lotus and Virgin
    http://www.crash.net/f1/news/157120/1/lopezs_campos_switch_to_herald_usf1_merger.html

    1. Another major sponser has left USF1.
      It looks increasingly like Chad Hurley and Lopez will up sticks to Campos Meta.

      1. Yeah, the sponsor was Locstein.

        http://www.locstein.com/press-centre.php

        I’ve never heard of them.

    2. Do you really want to see a USF1 team or a team from the US?

      1. team from the US. Basing in Charlotte was a great idea because it one of the few places on earth with the expertise to be competative.

  15. What I don’t understand is that obne phonecall from Stefan GP to USF1 could solve all their issues.
    They could race the Stefan 1 for USGP? No more worries about entries or tyres or cars to be built.

    1. Stefan wants to be a Serbian team I believe.

  16. Seems like Windsor/Anderson lied to their employees about funding to get them to move.

    Shame on them.

    1. He should have done that 6 months ago.

      1. Likley hood is it’ll get shut down. This looks very much like the FIA and Bernie conspring to shut them out somehow.

        Whiting will decalare them unfit to race. Their entry could be recinded an they can do what they like with Campos. Stefan will be entered.

  17. HounslowBusGarage
    24th February 2010, 19:29

    @ K
    That loss forecast might be old news being November 2009, but it was in November 2009 that Toyota made the decision to withdraw from Formula 1. At the time, they knew they could not present a loss to their shareholders and defend the spending of 2 or £300 million on an unsuccessful race team.

    1. Maybe. Daimler seem to be managing it. I’d be surprised if Toyota actually made the decision as late as November though.

      1. “Daimler seem to be managing it.”

        They’ve got themselves into an awful lot of debt to be able to remain in F1. The factory workers unions were dead against it, but I guess the management know what they are doing.

        An interesting quote:

        “Mercedes in particular is a company for which sportiness is not a selling-point but rather security and quality,” automobile industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer of the University of Duisburg-Essen in western Germany told the Bayerische Rundfunk radio station. “Why should a driver decide to buy a Mercedes because of Formula 1? Every car will have to be sold for €200 to €300 more for Mercedes to finance Formula 1.”

        1. From what I can see it’s not that much debt for a company that’s used to the kind of profits they usually achieve. Last years debt can easily be covered by this years projected profits or next years and I imagine the big banks quite like the look of that.

          If you can afford a €40,000 car what’s €300 more?

          Surely Ferdinand Dudenhöffer would recognise that F1 has a strong link with luxury car brands.

          I can’t read the name Duisberg without thinking of Herr Lipp from The League of Gentlemen:

          “Enjoy the rest of your evening, sleep tight. And remember, dont let the bugger bite you”.

  18. http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/cars/443868/team-lotus-to-enter-indy-500.html

    Lotus is planning to run in the US Indycar Series. I really am confused on the whole Lotus operation. Lotus F1 Team is not really Lotus, but the 1Malaysia company. What is this Lotus? There is a group called Lotus Team USA mentioned in the article. I just don’t understand where all this Lotus stuff comes from. Can someone from the UK fill me in on how much of a company rather than a name Lotus is today?

    1. HounslowBusGarage
      24th February 2010, 22:26

      I’m struggling to remember the name of the bloke . . .
      Who was the fat, bearded, Quebecois ‘rubbish-picker’ for Ferrari? You know, the one who always turned up centre stage in TV shots.
      Didn’t he leave Ferrari to join Lotus to head up their Indycar and Le Mans efforts? No one knew they even had such efforts at the time, but maybe now they do.

        1. lol Slightly bitter little rant from Mr Saward that. Literally translating another outsiders opinion is a bit misleading though no? I thought starting at the bottom and working your way up was supposed to be an amiable thing. He did seem to “piggy-back” quite a bit but then maybe he was more noticeable than others. Anyway….

    2. OK Stephan from what I understand the Indycar team, the Le Mans team and the F1 team are all part of the same crazy scheme and are owned/run by 1Malaysia which is a Malaysian government campaign to “emphasize ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient governance” in Malaysia. If that sounds absolutely insane it’s probably because it is.

      Now 1Malaysia own the Malaysian car company Proton who in turn own Lotus Cars. Apparently Proton also helped in part to fund the F1 venture.

      So at the 2010 Indy 500 Lotus Racing, a company owned by a Malaysian government campaign and partly funded by a car company who own the Lotus car brand, will race a car made by Dallara and powered by Honda with the aim to “emphasize ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient governance” in Malaysia!!!

      1. lol Stephen, sorry for mis-spelling but I’m still grappling with the logic of this Lotus business.

  19. “So at the 2010 Indy 500 Lotus Racing, a company owned by a Malaysian government campaign and partly funded by a car company who own the Lotus car brand, will race a car made by Dallara and powered by Honda with the aim to “emphasize ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient governance” in Malaysia!!!”

    I’m desperately trying to find the logic, but I’m failing to understand why Lotus is doing this. I guess the Proton company is using the name Lotus (which they own the intellectual property rights to I assume?) in order to create interest. Otherwise, who would give a hoot about a Malaysian car company named Proton? R

    1. Proton own Lotus Cars (makers of the Elise etc).

      1Malaysia own Proton.

      1Malaysia own Lotus Racing (F1 etc) but do not fund it.

      Proton in partially fund Lotus Racing.

      1Malaysia partially fund Proton.

      This will bring “ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient governance” to Malaysia!

  20. I agree with Prisoner Monkeys quoted comments…

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