all their stuff was auctioned off a few weeks ago
looking at the listing of things they had for sale you could tell there was NO WAY they could've made the grid this year
I saw that too. Despite being a massive NASCAR fan, I really wanted USF1 to make it. I'm always for America taking to the world at anything, especially racing.
If some people had enough money and know how... they could make history with an entry to a single race...
(06-16-2010 02:46 PM)VR4Drive92 Wrote: [ -> ]If some people had enough money and know how... they could make history with an entry to a single race...
Let's go steal one of those chassis out of the SAE shop, install a turbo hayabusa engine and some bigger wheels and give it a shot xD
(06-16-2010 02:46 PM)VR4Drive92 Wrote: [ -> ]If some people had enough money and know how... they could make history with an entry to a single race...
The problem is that there were people with know how and money, lots of it. Just apparently not quite enough time for R&D, and probably still needed more money lol...
What scares me from an investor/managerial viewpoint... you are Peter or Ken...you know the score and where you are. You got your own money and financial future hanging in there. at some point you see, "this is going south." What do you do? Forget ethics and morals... think about taking care of yourself. Wouldn't you jump ship and shut it down long before you lost everything? Nope... they continued on when they knew it was going under and pretended that all was well in hopes they could sucker in some investor to save the day. I bet that aged them both ten years sweating that out and putting on a happy face every day.
In truth, their failure will make it harder for anyone else to try it and succeed. But someday, I still think it will happen... maybe the same year US wins the World Cup.
^ If thats the case Ted we aren't going to see a F1 entry for YEARS!
Scorke
We just need to figure out how to make an F1 team seem "green". I think venture capitalists invested something north of a 100 billion in renewable energy and resource research this year...not to mention the guys on capital hill were basically giving away millions for wind and solar research! (thankfully Clemson was able to grab some of that cash!)
I know KERS is a step forward but the big bucks won't be coming into F1 until the R&D that is used goes towards making a car go the entire race on one tank instead of finding another way to eek out more HP or a few more RPMs...
Oh, wait, F1 banned mid-race refueling. Nevermind............
Well said JB. Frustrating ...isn't it?
The day of inventions brought about from NASCAR or F1 coming into mainstream cars being made and sold in the US... to make them better, more comfortable, more efficient... it's not happening. It used to... but not anymore. The focus now is making more units, more parts to sell after the sale of the car... money. All about the Benjamins.
If you think about it... any new invention they come up with has a problem...
Make it stronger? Does that value equal dollars for car manufacturer? No.
Make it faster? Does that value equal dollars for car manufacturer? No.
Make it more efficient? Does that value equal dollars for car manufacturer? No.
Make it more comfortable? Does that value equal dollars for car manufacturer? No.
Make it make more money for us through cheaper parts, materials or off shore sources with cheaper labor... or maybe a really peachy neaty keeno kewl marketing campaign that shows all the "in people" have one? Oh HAYL yessssss.
There's no driver for modern car manufacturer to improve in areas that are important as long as their drive is all based around making money. Make it cheaper... sell it for more and sell more of them. Marketing gets priority over manufacturing quality products. Nothing wrong with making money... our country was built by entrepreneurs. But there is a point where that drive taking too big importance and it creates short term thinking that chokes the pleasure out of the product and the life out of the brand.
Sorry if I seem so skeptical. I know there are minor exceptions. I'm just sick of reading "exciting news on new offerings" shown at car expos that consist of lighted cup holders, mirrors with heating elements, paint that changes colors with outside temperature, heated steering wheels and "flashy cargo nets" on the roof of the trunk and copying everyone else...and when you run out of new ideas...let's go retro. Back to when people LOVED cars... like charger, camaro, firebird, challenger, yada yada... the Pinto remake can't be far behind.
Just my opinion...I could be wrong.
I disagree with a couple of those points Ted.
Making cars faster, stronger, mroe efficient, more comfortable, and cheaper are all things that trickle down from F1.
Whether it be from manufacturing techniques, materials science, aerodynamic advancements, progress in regenerative breaking, etc, all these things eventually find their way back to road cars, it might only come on the exotic and or expensive cars but it all makes it back to the cars the manufacturers sell otherwise they would be very unlikely to compete.
I agree that the emphasis has come on making cars cheaper but I think that is a realization that we all have to come to accept. Unless you have enough money to not worry about how much you spend cost is always going to be at the top of the list of criteria that must be met before a car is even looked at as a potential candidate for purchase. Without competitive pricing you have to compete on other levels, which not co-incidentally makes them more expensive, whether it be performance, styling, comfort, etc.
Each time I see a new V6 mustang I am in awe that an American company has found a way to make 300hp, 30 mpg, in a rear wheel drive sports car look good again. I know it's one drop in the pond but I think America has finally had its wake up call when it comes to the automotive world over these past couple years. We have realized that fuel price concerns and concerns about fuel economy are very real, and not just something that Europe or Asia has to worry about, and the sooner consumers realize this, the offerings in the USA will start to look a lot like those selling abroad!
How many years did it take for Ford to bring the Fiesta out over here? How many have been sold? (12 MILLION)
Ted unfortunately the main driver for modern domestic car manufacturers is MAKING MONEY, not because they want it to be but because they have done a poor job of it recently( save ford). Not every country is able to do a bail out on the scale that America just did, and even if they were I don't think the would let these struggling companies survive, because without natural selection the weak keep on ticking!
Scorke
