Prodrive: onwards and upwards
Why Prodrive's Mini blip won't stop its quest for motorsport glory
The story of British motorsport stalwart Prodrive is well known (for the record, you can check out our timeline below to refresh your memory) but with shaky economic times, even the biggest names can find themselves on unstable ground.
Partnership over but relations still strong
The outcome of the talks saw Prodrive downgraded from the official factory outfit to a "works-supported private team" for 2012.
With individual WRC events having to secure their own TV rights deals, sponsors are reluctant to dole out the funding needed for a season in top-flight international rallying - and you can see their point when they potentially stand to gain zero coverage. But what does it mean for Prodrive?
It's a small company so it isn't immune to fluctuations, but the firm's flexibility means it's getting on with plans and putting the recent WRC debacle behind it.
WRC Minis will still be developed by Prodrive
"That means there's plenty of stability for the team and we can secure confidence in our customers."
This is a big issue for Prodrive. Although the team no longer wears the full-on corporate Mini T-shirt, instead now just a lapel pin hinting at the tie-up with Mini, Prodrive will still construct and support customer vehicles as well as work alongside BMW to develop the car.
Wider issues with WRC impact on Prodrive
The customer side of things is a continuous learning process, too. For your £400,000 (actually just under) you get a Mini Countryman WRC as well as Prodrive's support package consisting of an engineer that goes out to every team, gleaning feedback and knowledge to take back to the Banbury HQ.
And it's here that Prodrive is proving its resilience, while recognising the challenging situation regarding coverage. "Why would any manufacturer want to enter a championship without TV promotion?" asks Wilcox. Competition in the WRC has never been so good, with tenths of seconds covering a sack full of cars over 30km or more. But if the money isn't there from the television coverage then manufacturers are bound to feel unsure about lavishing millions on a season's competition with low exposure in return. However, even though full factory funding has been rescinded, building cars for privateers keeps the cash coming in.
Iconic partnership with Subaru lasted 20 years
It's what Prodrive will have to do again. It's no secret funding is thin on the ground, hence the dropping of Kris Meeke for the second car. "BMW is subsidising our championship this year but additional income is needed, hence the second paying driver," states Wilcox. "With our goals for a two-car team next year, we'd love to have Kris back in the car."
LMP1 Aston Martins got off to shaky start
This year it will be launching a full factory effort on the newly formed World Endurance Championship with a brace of Aston Martin Vantage GTEs. "It relates directly to the road cars better than the prototypes, which is highly important in terms of funding," according to Aston Martin Racing's Operations Director, Paul Diggins.
"We've got customer programmes from GTE to GT3 and GT4 with the Vantage," he says. Again, it's this that keeps the team in rubber and fuel for the season and is a savvy move in pushing the business on.
Vantage GTE at the heart of track plans
It knows how to win. Although a hobby for many, motorsport is Prodrive's business and fans have to remember that. It's galling to see Meeke sidelined, but Prodrive has stood by him, retaining him as test driver and showing faith.
Given the firm's success in the past, a few recent blips in rallying and circuit racing isn't about to derail the Prodrive train. The BMW-Mini issue looks to have resolved itself - for the time being, at least - with Prodrive in a much more stable position now things have been confirmed.
Its GT racing campaign looks positive, too. There's plenty of interest from gentlemen racers and professionals alike with the GT4 and GT3 series, and the new Vantage GTE has been developed from the old GT2 car - taking on board lessons learnt through the highly successful DBR9 GT1 programme.
Even with the murmurings of budget issues, there's a massive air of optimism about the Banbury factory for the season ahead. And rightly so.
Prodrive's racing history lives on
1984
Prodrive is founded by David Richards and Ian Parry, wins on its debut with the Rothmans Porsche 911 SC RS
1986
Dips its toe in the water of Group B rallying with Metro 6R4, starts association with McRae senior (Jimmy)
1987
Begins partnership with BMW in rallying and touring cars; wins first WRC and BTCC events with E30 M3 rally and touring cars respectively
1988-1989
Wins British Touring Car Championship in first full year of competition, retains BTCC crown a year later
1990
Begins now legendary alliance with Subaru, debuting new Legacy RS rally car
1991-1992
Colin McRae wins British Rally title, repeats feat the year after graduating to WRC
1993
Prodrive-prepared Subaru Impreza makes WRC debut, Richard Burns makes Prodrive debut in Legacy RS
1995
McRae wins Driver's and Subaru the Manufacturer's World Rally Championships in Prodrive Impreza
2000
Prodrive wins fifth BTCC title with Ford Mondeo, one-two for Alain Menu and Anthony Reid
2001
Richard Burns becomes first Englishman to win WRC driver's title
2003
Prodrive takes sixth WRC title with Petter Solberg; Prodrive Ferrari 550 GTS wins GTS class at Le Mans
2004
McRae turns his hand to endurance racing competing at Le Mans in a Ferrari 550 GTS
2007
Aston Martin DBR9 wins GT1 class at Le Mans
2008
Aston Martin DBR9 wins GT1 class at Le Mans again, Subaru pulls out of WRC ending 20-year relationship with Prodrive
2009
Prodrive-developed Aston Martin LMP1 finishes fourth overall - the highest placed petrol car - at Le Mans in Prodrive's 25th anniversary year; wins Drivers' and Manufacturers' LMS titles; work starts on development of Mini Countryman WRC car
2010
New Aston Martin AMR-One LMP1 car announced
2011
Mini returns to WRC with Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke - Sordo achieves a third place finish, the first podium for the team in the Mini's debut year; Aston Martin AMR-One hits heavy technical problems - both cars complete a total of only six laps at Le Mans.
2012
Prodrive downgraded to factory-supported works Mini team but confirms two-car factory effort for Le Mans with V8 GTE
Surely it'd be better to converge the rules and combine the two? Rallying seemed more competitive when there were loads of manufacturers. With only four lining up next year, rising from just two a couple of years ago, the notion of 'competition' has become a joke. OK, so maybe there are lots of entries, but when you see a field full of Citroens and you know the factory-backed car with Loeb behind the wheel will inevitably be a faster, better-handling car than any of the others, the notion of competition is reduced.
All those drivers in different manufacturers' first-team cars, all with comparable power output and spec, all vying with each other for the title - now that'd be worth watching.
Like IRC, for example...
Then the disasterous AMR-One LMP1 car.....quickly dumped....
Now the BMW-Mini 'fiasco'...
While I hope the new GT1 Aston will be a success in the new FiA WEC - their best days seem behind them.
Then the disasterous AMR-One LMP1 car.....quickly dumped....
Now the BMW-Mini 'fiasco'...
While I hope the new GT1 Aston will be a success in the new FiA WEC - their best days seem behind them.
Still life in them yet.
Still life in them yet.
The S12b Impreza at least looked on the pace at times, but I don't think anyone can argue that the S14 Impreza WRC looked anything but out of its depth throughout its brief competition use in the World Rally Championship.
The Countryman has looked competitive from the word go though, and if Prodrive continue to be behind the wheel of the development programme I'm sure the results will continue to trickle in. Just a pity that the Sordo/Meeke line up didn't happen this year, as I feel sure the trickle of results could have been turned into a flow.
As for WRC in general I think its at a turning point, though the various publicity disasters haven't helped matters at all. 2011 was actually a very good season (the best for a number of years I would say) and with VW on the way for next year I hope it will continue to improve. Great to hear that Prodrive are planning to field a "proper" two car team for next year as well!
If i'd had a 28 year career in motorsport and personally achieved a fraction of what this company have, then i'd be considered a racing legend surely!
Prodrive will come back to the fore im certain of it, and when they do they'll do it in a way that will show everyone just how good they are at what they do.
Sounds silly, but i reckon if a brand like Kia got behind them, we'd see some damn impressive stuff happen.
Remember, Subaru were not really a household name until Prodrive got to work.
The S12b Impreza at least looked on the pace at times, but I don't think anyone can argue that the S14 Impreza WRC looked anything but out of its depth throughout its brief competition use in the World Rally Championship.
The Countryman has looked competitive from the word go though, and if Prodrive continue to be behind the wheel of the development programme I'm sure the results will continue to trickle in. Just a pity that the Sordo/Meeke line up didn't happen this year, as I feel sure the trickle of results could have been turned into a flow.
As for WRC in general I think its at a turning point, though the various publicity disasters haven't helped matters at all. 2011 was actually a very good season (the best for a number of years I would say) and with VW on the way for next year I hope it will continue to improve. Great to hear that Prodrive are planning to field a "proper" two car team for next year as well!
no comparison at all, and he also would have been able to sell his older car buy the newer one and have change left over.... that kinda says it all there !! having said that, we all know that it wasn't a prodrive decision to change the Impreza to the hatchback. I was really hoping Mini would get their ass in gear, such a shame.
Last time i watched, which was the Monte Carlo coverage, after only the first stage the top ten were covered by minutes, not tenths of a second.
The WRC is not competitive!!!! There is one great driver, a couple of also-rans, and then a whole load of 'space fillers'.
This will remain the case until the cars are simplified, more equivalent to what you can buy in the showroom, cheaper to run and decent TV coverage is restored. If this doesnt happen soon, WRC may well disapear completely.
Agree with you that past the top 5 the WRC is not competitive but this year so far has been the best in a long time. Ironically the TV coverage has improved dramatically since they lost the offical company!
no comparison at all, and he also would have been able to sell his older car buy the newer one and have change left over.... that kinda says it all there !! having said that, we all know that it wasn't a prodrive decision to change the Impreza to the hatchback. I was really hoping Mini would get their ass in gear, such a shame.
Prodrive have their fingers in so many car industry pies, that their Motorsport programmes are now only a small part of their business.
There is so much to Prodrive that most people have no idea about.
They have the automotive technology department which develops all the clever systems and trickery you find on modern cars and sells the technology to manufacturers (remember the p2 on top gear that they built to show what they can do? That was pretty impressive stuff, and things have moved on a lot since then!) This area accounts for a massive amount of Prodrives current business and it's expanding into the East and their rapidly growing car markets.
Also their composite department is doing exceptionally well and provides carbon parts for not only their race cars and all the customer cars but also OEM parts for some very big names, as well as moving into aerospace and other areas. This is also growing rapidly and looking into international markets.
They also have their branding business which deals with the designing and branding and manufacturing for almost every race teams clothing, etc.
Then there's the test track which is used be manufacturers and 'driving experience days' when not in proper use.
Ford Performance Racing in Australia which is doing very well also.
Finally they have their special vehicle section which builds special edition cars for a large number of manufacturers but sadly they don't get any recognition for it as they're all badged under the manufacturers name!
Ok so the AMR LMP project was a bit of a disaster but it has a very very good basis and only a few areas that needed fettling to turn it into a brilliant car, but money and time wasn't available (remember the AMR was built from scratch in a matter of months and had only a tiny amount of testing before lemans, most teams have 1 year+ and many many testing sessions before racing) and in the end Aston gets better value for money from the GT stuff as the cars actually look like their road cars and general public can relate to them.
Now there's this Mini issue which is a real shame because the car has already proved it is potential with a number of podiums in what was only meant to be a development season, all with very little funding. If BMW actually put up the money required rather than blowing it in DTM or Prodrive could find a sponsor then we could really see what the Mini is capable of and get some real competition in the WRC, but with the farce that is the TV coverage who is going to plough money in and sponsor a team with hardly any coverage? Lets just hope it all gets sorted soon and we can all watch some proper racing.
Anyway, Prodrive have every reason to be optimistic. They're a great British success story and by the looks of things that success is only going to continue.
PH factory tour at Prodrive anyone?
factory tours - £22 ~ £27
Has anyone ever constructed a list of all the rally cars Prodrive have actually made ?
ie not just those 'branded' as Prodrive - eg Skoda Octavia,Fabia/Seat Cordoba, etc etc
A cynic might suggest that DR had the same problems as Frank Williams did over the level of control BMW might have wanted on the project...or maybe he just mentioned the war?
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