How important is motorsport heritage?
Discussion
Vital IMO.
It's not motorsport 'image' as such, it's more the advances that motorsport brings. If a company has proven itself at Le Mans, it will be able to balance component lightness and efficiency with durability in ways that can only be estimated by non-racing manufacturers. The toughness endured in rallying helps manufacturers build strong bodyshells and safety cages. Formula One, funnily enough, helps to make engines more efficient - minimise fuel consumption and you avoid running out of fuel during the race, and can carry less, thus making the car lighter. Those advances end up on road cars. Motorsport makes road cars better.
And yes, there are image benefits too. I've no doubt MG will kick-start sales of the 6 if Plato wins the BTCC, simply because adverts saying words to the effect of 'our car is better than all the other cars and we've got the silverware to prove it' is a more powerful statement than 'our car is rather good and we have attractive finance deals to prove it'.
I do worry though that the current obssession with SUVs is doing its best to undermine all that. There's very little you can really apply from motorsport to improve two and a half tonnes of lumpen, lumbering SUV.
It's not motorsport 'image' as such, it's more the advances that motorsport brings. If a company has proven itself at Le Mans, it will be able to balance component lightness and efficiency with durability in ways that can only be estimated by non-racing manufacturers. The toughness endured in rallying helps manufacturers build strong bodyshells and safety cages. Formula One, funnily enough, helps to make engines more efficient - minimise fuel consumption and you avoid running out of fuel during the race, and can carry less, thus making the car lighter. Those advances end up on road cars. Motorsport makes road cars better.
And yes, there are image benefits too. I've no doubt MG will kick-start sales of the 6 if Plato wins the BTCC, simply because adverts saying words to the effect of 'our car is better than all the other cars and we've got the silverware to prove it' is a more powerful statement than 'our car is rather good and we have attractive finance deals to prove it'.
I do worry though that the current obssession with SUVs is doing its best to undermine all that. There's very little you can really apply from motorsport to improve two and a half tonnes of lumpen, lumbering SUV.
I don't think motorsport heritage can elevate a bad car, but I think it is the icing on the cake for a good one.
Take the Subaru Impreza. Before a certain Mr McRae burst sideways onto the scene (albeit in a Legacy to start with) Subaru was known only to farmers in the UK. Almost overnight the blue 555 Imprezas became iconic in a way that very few Japanese performance cars have.
I'd like to think I was totally rational in my own choice of car. But the truth is there are certain things you don't strictly need, like an interesting engine note, good looks or a stylish interior, that do add to a car's appeal. I think to a certain extent there's a small part of all of us like to feel we're doing something more exciting, whether it's attacking the Col de Turini or cruising the Route Napoleon, when in fact we're drudging round the M25 or something equally dull. Driving [something that approximates to] one of your motorsport heroes can only add to that surely?
...That said, I've not owned anything that I'd consider to be particularly linked to any given competition car. The Caterham felt a bit like how I assumed a vintage, front-engined grand prix car would do, and it certainly felt very authentic on track, but that's about the closest I've come, I think.
Take the Subaru Impreza. Before a certain Mr McRae burst sideways onto the scene (albeit in a Legacy to start with) Subaru was known only to farmers in the UK. Almost overnight the blue 555 Imprezas became iconic in a way that very few Japanese performance cars have.
I'd like to think I was totally rational in my own choice of car. But the truth is there are certain things you don't strictly need, like an interesting engine note, good looks or a stylish interior, that do add to a car's appeal. I think to a certain extent there's a small part of all of us like to feel we're doing something more exciting, whether it's attacking the Col de Turini or cruising the Route Napoleon, when in fact we're drudging round the M25 or something equally dull. Driving [something that approximates to] one of your motorsport heroes can only add to that surely?
...That said, I've not owned anything that I'd consider to be particularly linked to any given competition car. The Caterham felt a bit like how I assumed a vintage, front-engined grand prix car would do, and it certainly felt very authentic on track, but that's about the closest I've come, I think.
JayTee94 said:
Tartan Pixie said:
Very much so and for good reason. Take a manufacturer like Hyundai who have no major history in motorsport and compare their coupe to similar offerings like the MX5 or Celica, there's just no contest in terms of drivability.
The best engineers in any industry are the ones who have a passion for what they do, as such any manufacturer is going to get the best out of its engineers by indulging their passion for motorsport. For an example look at Toyota's involvement in the East Africa Rally.
Through the 70's and 80's Toyota threw huge sums of money at rallying and was looking at Africa as a key market, hence they needed rugged, reliable cars. I am pretty sure that rallying expertise is a major reason why Africa is full of corollas, hi-lux's and land cruisers, not because people were buying in to a racing image (they weren't) but because the engineers had been pushed to design cars that worked well in that environment. Cars that work well sell.
( East Africa Rally. I miss you.
)
Hyundai Accent Rally Car?The best engineers in any industry are the ones who have a passion for what they do, as such any manufacturer is going to get the best out of its engineers by indulging their passion for motorsport. For an example look at Toyota's involvement in the East Africa Rally.
Through the 70's and 80's Toyota threw huge sums of money at rallying and was looking at Africa as a key market, hence they needed rugged, reliable cars. I am pretty sure that rallying expertise is a major reason why Africa is full of corollas, hi-lux's and land cruisers, not because people were buying in to a racing image (they weren't) but because the engineers had been pushed to design cars that worked well in that environment. Cars that work well sell.
( East Africa Rally. I miss you.
)I only used the Accent that Hyundai entered, but many private teams used to run them in 2002-2005 era.
Hyundai Veloster?
Hyundai Genisis Drift Spec?
Yeah, I see what you mean. Not much motorsport history is there?
Veeayt said:
Korean marques have no motorsport heritage at all, and they sell hundreds of thousands of them to people who couldn't care less about racing, just the price of the damn things.
But if they can improve the breed through motorsport, maybe they'll be bought by people like us. They'll be better cars, they'll appeal to more people and they'll be able to sell them for more money. Also, no-one will make jokes about their drivers any more.kambites said:
Not in the slightest, for me.
I buy a car based on how good it is. I couldn't care less what the company that produces it has done in the past or is doing at present.
I buy a car based on how good it is. I couldn't care less what the company that produces it has done in the past or is doing at present.
Original question was:
xRIEx said:
how important is motorsport success when considering a car?
and people seem to have answered:xRIEx said:
how important is motorsport success when marketing a car?
It's entirely possible that Lotus will sell more road cars off the back of having their name on someone else's car which placed on the podium in F1, but that won't make the road cars any better or worse. I'm sure there are also people cruising down the motorway in their A4 TDi who feel better about that because of Audi's Le Mans exploits, but it's not really a good reason to choose a car.Edited by otolith on Monday 30th April 11:44
Edited by otolith on Monday 30th April 11:44
Noger said:
CBR JGWRR said:
Noger said:
CBR JGWRR said:
Not a good idea...
Ok, your Le Mans engine then 
Look up how much one costs... (Then compare it to the normal engines)
(Well, apart from them...)
Still, a 7:50 isn't bad...
Not important to me - there are plenty of uninspiring road cars that have been made into world-beating race or rally cars, i.e, Citroen C4. Also, having owned a few well-sorted rally cars, and driven them on the road, I can report that they were all horrible to drive in normal road conditions.
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