Goodbye ford? (V8Supercars)

[Roverload]

Just read this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2786706/Th...

Really hoping it's just a marketing ploy or something but could it really all be over? I know there's other manufacturers in v8 supercars but the Holden ford rivalry is THE battle. Surely not?!

I'm a Holden fan anyway but this makes me really sad! Especially after this weekends events!

[Jader1973]

I get the impression they are still negotiating with the factory teams and someone has said something to a journo who put 2 and 2 together and got 6 and 3/4.

I hope they stay - if they don't I'm worried the whole series could collapse.

Not sure what they'd run after Falcon stops though. In theory they could drop a Mundaneo body over the COTF chassis.

[Coatesy351]

Well there was no Ford factory team in Aus from 1978 till the early 2000's so i cant see it been that big of a deal. People can still race fords if they want.
I suspect a rule change may come along allowing 2 door coupes to race, letting in the Mustang & Camaro.
The mustang was the first ever V8 powered winner of the ATCC so it could be back to where it all started for Ford.

[DanielSan]

Not a big issue, there aren't that many Falcons in the series now with the arrival of Merc, Volvo and Nissan. I think there's 8, compared to 12-13 Holdens.

[Roverload]

hmm, it's not just ford it seems, looks like the whole series could be heading for a name change, I have no doubt it would still probably be the best touring car series going due to the heritage and expectations of the people that follow it, but I can't help but feel a little sad. This explains more

http://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/is-this-the-e...

I suppose it's inevitable because all of motorsport is leaning toward hybrid/efficiency.

[Alex Langheck]

Coatesy351 said:

Well there was no Ford factory team in Aus from 1978 till the early 2000's so i cant see it been that big of a deal. People can still race fords if they want.
I suspect a rule change may come along allowing 2 door coupes to race, letting in the Mustang & Camaro.
The mustang was the first ever V8 powered winner of the ATCC so it could be back to where it all started for Ford.

Similar to the WRC: no 'official' Ford team, but lots of Fiestas of various spec; be it WRC, R5, S2000, RRC, R2, etc plus the
M-Sport 'works' team.

Ford don't seem to have a coherent Motorsport programme worldwide. None of the main FiA World Series has any proper Ford factory team?

[DiscoColin]

This really is something of a non-story given that only 2 cars on the grid are actually factory backed anyway (and even then only financially). Unless the story were that the company wanted to sue teams to remove Ford branding (which, frankly isn't terribly likely) then there really isn't anything to stop someone from running a Ford body to cash in on the local support for the brand. All of the primary structure and components of the cars are standardised anyway and off the shelf engines are available.

Basically the story is the end of a sponsorship deal, that is all.

[AMD87]

DiscoColin said:

This really is something of a non-story given that only 2 cars on the grid are actually factory backed anyway (and even then only financially). Unless the story were that the company wanted to sue teams to remove Ford branding (which, frankly isn't terribly likely) then there really isn't anything to stop someone from running a Ford body to cash in on the local support for the brand. All of the primary structure and components of the cars are standardised anyway and off the shelf engines are available.

Basically the story is the end of a sponsorship deal, that is all.

The opposite did happen though, DJR and 888 lost ford money for not having enough blue on the car and too much red.

[zac510]

Yes, non story.. I thought the switch to COTF chassis was (amongst many other things) a way to mitigate the impact of Falcon and Commodore demise from the Aus market.