Aston Martin in F1

[BravoV8V]

Jon39 said:

Does the Force India chief, have any connection with an airline with problems?

What, Kingfisher Airlines (which, incidentally, he named after one of his beer brands)? It lost its operating licence in 2013.

[mikey k]

Jon39 said:

I have found a much more detailed explanation about this rumour/story.

https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2015/10/31/sexing-...

Wow that makes VJ look really dodgy
This AM in F1 smacks of the sort of thing Bez would do

[RichB]

Jon39 said:

RichB said:

Who, Aston or Infiniti?

Infiniti

Ah right. Remember that the Japanese launched these brands in the US 30 years ago. The Infiniti advertising on Red Bull in recent years is to promote the brand globally.

[GingerMunky]

F1 will help the brand globally, but is it really the target demographic and an appropriate way of getting to them personally. Better to continue with the successful Endurance and GT racers as its more relevant to road cars and the connection with customers more personal.

[RichB]

mikey k said:

This AM in F1 smacks of the sort of thing Bez would do

Oh come on, it's far more interesting than a re-trimmed Toyota IQ with giant Aston Martin badges!

[mikey k]

RichB said:

mikey k said:

This AM in F1 smacks of the sort of thing Bez would do

Oh come on, it's far more interesting than a re-trimmed Toyota IQ with giant Aston Martin badges!

its a very close call but you may be right!

[Jon39]

GingerMunky said:

F1 will help the brand globally, but is it really the target demographic and an appropriate way of getting to them personally. Better to continue with the successful Endurance and GT racers as its more relevant to road cars and the connection with customers more personal.

Certainly with WEC. etc. there is a direct link with the road cars. It is testimony to the production cars, that the racers even use the standard body frame.

I agree with you, but I reluctantly suppose that it is the enormous audience for F1 that is the attraction. To watch WEC, even if I do remember an event date, it is difficult to find a website showing a live video stream of the racing.

Usually anything to do with F1 sponsorship involves very big money, but as suggested in the (above link) article, Diagio might actually want to use the AM name brand. So could it possibly be, that Aston actually receive payment for their involvement? Now that would be a magnificent deal for Dr. Palmer.

Edited by Jon39 on Sunday 1st November 16:22

[RobDown]

Jon39 said:

RichB said:

I simply said that as a vehicle to reach new audiences to promote tehir new range of cars it could be good and that Andy Palmer must believe in it.

Having see the Infiniti name on Red Bull F1 cars for many years ( at a cost of supposedly millions each year), it occurred to me, that I had never been aware of any Infiniti cars on the road.

Expensive sponsorship is supposed to be about selling, so what is going on?

Looking at the Infiniti website revealed a bland range of cars, that probably would not even be noticed on the road. Perhaps they sell by the thousand, but I had just not noticed any. A look at their brand badge showed just a nondescript squiggle.

So how many do they sell in the UK?
Answer;

September = 106
(Aston Martin = 148)

Proceed into F1 with caution.
The history of about 150 failed teams, says it all.

Edited by Jon39 on Sunday 1st November 08:48

Erm isn't infinit the brand they use in the Us to compete with Lexus. So not sure a Uk Sales figure has any relevance

[RobDown]

112k sales in The US out of a global 186k. Should have googled that before previous post

[Jon39]

RobDown said:

Erm isn't infinit the brand they use in the Us to compete with Lexus. So not sure a Uk Sales figure has any relevance

No, UK is clearly not their market.
My initial point about Infinity, was wondering why they spent so much to market their brand in F1,
when F1 is not popular in USA.
RichB has explained the background to my question.

The interesting aspect now about this topic, is the article about Diagio. A complex deal that might be very good for AML ie. not expensive.

[RichB]

Jon39 said:

The interesting aspect now about this topic, is the article about Diagio. A complex deal that might be very good for AML ie. not expensive.

Indeed, over on the AMOC forum someone made the point that Aston is an attractive logo to have on the car because of the sponsors they will bring on board looking for brand association.

[Y100]

Jon39 said:

I agree with you, but I reluctantly suppose that it is the enormous audience for F1 that is the attraction. To watch WEC, even if I do remember an event date, it is difficult to find a website showing a live video stream of the racing.

Edited by Jon39 on Sunday 1st November 16:22

If you want to watch WEC races its easy, Eurosport give full coverage. Today it was the 6 hours of Shanghai,,,you did yourself a favour by not watching,,,sadly and I hate to say this, Aston Martin this year have been way off the pace,,,embarrassingly off to be honest. The Dane Train team sponsors pulled their car from Shanghai in protest!

[W1111AM]

Y100 said:

Jon39 said:

I agree with you, but I reluctantly suppose that it is the enormous audience for F1 that is the attraction. To watch WEC, even if I do remember an event date, it is difficult to find a website showing a live video stream of the racing.

Edited by Jon39 on Sunday 1st November 16:22

If you want to watch WEC races its easy, Eurosport give full coverage. Today it was the 6 hours of Shanghai,,,you did yourself a favour by not watching,,,sadly and I hate to say this, Aston Martin this year have been way off the pace,,,embarrassingly off to be honest. The Dane Train team sponsors pulled their car from Shanghai in protest!

Bob, I bet that would have been great to watch - I don't have Sky only freeview

[Jon39]

Y100 said:

If you want to watch WEC races its easy, Eurosport give full coverage. Today it was the 6 hours of Shanghai,,,you did yourself a favour by not watching,,,sadly and I hate to say this, Aston Martin this year have been way off the pace,,,embarrassingly off to be honest. The Dane Train team sponsors pulled their car from Shanghai in protest!

Thank you Bob.
Blow, just missed it.

I am stingy about subscription TV (have to pay two licences as it is), so don't receive British Eurosport. However I can receive the German Eurosport channel. I now see that they were showing the WEC from 4am to 10am (minus 1 hour) this morning.

Pity to hear that the rivals are now getting ahead of the Aston Martins. Next year, I presume the new Ford GT will an additional rival in the class.

[W1111AM]

Jon39 said:

Y100 said:

If you want to watch WEC races its easy, Eurosport give full coverage. Today it was the 6 hours of Shanghai,,,you did yourself a favour by not watching,,,sadly and I hate to say this, Aston Martin this year have been way off the pace,,,embarrassingly off to be honest. The Dane Train team sponsors pulled their car from Shanghai in protest!

Thank you Bob.
Blow, just missed it.

I am stingy about subscription TV (have to pay two licences as it is), so don't receive British Eurosport. However I can receive the German Eurosport channel. I now see that they were showing the WEC from 4am to 10am (minus 1 hour) this morning.

Pity to hear that the rivals are now getting ahead of the Aston Martins. Next year, I presume the new Ford GT will an additional rival in the class.

I am quite excited to see the GT40's out in the field. Corvette, enjoy your winning spree

[williamp]

W1111AM said:

Y100 said:

Jon39 said:

I agree with you, but I reluctantly suppose that it is the enormous audience for F1 that is the attraction. To watch WEC, even if I do remember an event date, it is difficult to find a website showing a live video stream of the racing.

Edited by Jon39 on Sunday 1st November 16:22

If you want to watch WEC races its easy, Eurosport give full coverage. Today it was the 6 hours of Shanghai,,,you did yourself a favour by not watching,,,sadly and I hate to say this, Aston Martin this year have been way off the pace,,,embarrassingly off to be honest. The Dane Train team sponsors pulled their car from Shanghai in protest!

Bob, I bet that would have been great to watch - I don't have Sky only freeview

You should have motors tv (channel 71 or 240) which shows them live. And highlights

[W1111AM]

williamp said:

W1111AM said:

Y100 said:

Jon39 said:

I agree with you, but I reluctantly suppose that it is the enormous audience for F1 that is the attraction. To watch WEC, even if I do remember an event date, it is difficult to find a website showing a live video stream of the racing.

Edited by Jon39 on Sunday 1st November 16:22

If you want to watch WEC races its easy, Eurosport give full coverage. Today it was the 6 hours of Shanghai,,,you did yourself a favour by not watching,,,sadly and I hate to say this, Aston Martin this year have been way off the pace,,,embarrassingly off to be honest. The Dane Train team sponsors pulled their car from Shanghai in protest!

Bob, I bet that would have been great to watch - I don't have Sky only freeview

You should have motors tv (channel 71 or 240) which shows them live. And highlights

Thank you kind Sir you are quite right! I haven't really got into this channel yet, I will from now on thanks

[Y100]

Live Streaming is available here: http://www.fiawec.com/

The last race is in Bahrain in 3 weeks time, TV viewing details are available on the site above. British Europsort alone makes the Sky charges VFM IMHumbleO,,,,I do love my motorsport.

For the WEC series, at Aston Martin Racing there has to be changes for 2016. Number 1 has to be some serious performance investment. The competition, mainly Porsche and Farrari are trouncing us now. No question, we have some of the best GT drivers at the moment but for how long if they are not given a car capable of winning.

I don't see that AMR have much choice other than to find some extra money, do nothing and the damage to the brand would be catastrophic, pulling out completely, equally so.

Perhaps Andy Palmer will pursuade some of his F1 investor friends to spare a bit of cash for the WEC cars?

These are just my opinions, I have no expertise whatsoever, just sheer enthusiasm for the brand.

[Jon39]

Y100 said:

For the WEC series, at Aston Martin Racing there has to be changes for 2016. Number 1 has to be some serious performance investment.

Thank you for your information Bob.

You probably know more about the this than me, but when speaking to the teams, there is some kind performance restriction regulation. Presumably it is to try to make the class racing more equal. Whether this is something that changes each year, and if it is GT3 and GTE, I do not know.

At a Spa non-GT3 race, the race engineers told me their car would be quicker today because the normal regulations do not apply.

If there are such restrictions, how can they improve the performance?

[Y100]

Jon39 said:

Y100 said:

For the WEC series, at Aston Martin Racing there has to be changes for 2016. Number 1 has to be some serious performance investment.

Thank you for your information Bob.

You probably know more about the this than me, but when speaking to the teams, there is some kind performance restriction regulation. Presumably it is to try to make the class racing more equal. Whether this is something that changes each year, and if it is GT3 and GTE, I do not know.

At a Spa non-GT3 race, the race engineers told me their car would be quicker today because the normal regulations do not apply.

If there are such restrictions, how can they improve the performance?

As I understand it, regulations apply equally to all cars within a class. During this season, race by race AMR cars have dropped increasingly off the pace. Porsche especially have improved their lap times, most recently at Shanghai taking the top and second podium steps, beating Farrari into third place in GTE Pro. AMR managed a second in GTE AM, Farrari taking the top spot.

We all understand how lady luck plays a huge part in motorsport and AMR have not enjoyed her smiles this year BUT there is an underlying and obvious lack of pace that I'm sure is of concern to the Prodrive technicians.