Nissan in F1 - the latest spurious rumour

[D-Angle]

And they're apparently talking to Alain Prost!
http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/30102006/1

Toyota considered badging their Williams-bound engines with Lexus, could Renault do the same with Nissan? If they rebadged the Renault team altogether, they could get some marketing mileage out of them beating Honda and Toyota.

I love the F1 off-season, pretty much everyone is rumoured to be entering at some point. I'm sure Ted will make an announcement any day now...

[LongQ]

Ghosn fishing?

Maybe they need to do something for the Nissan brand since Renault branding took over the "World Series by" as well as having the F1 team.

[FourWheelDrift]

Red Bull Renault or Red Bull Nissan.

Are Nissan powering any Red Bull sponsored cars in the USA, I heard Toyota are looking at Nascar, are Nissan doing anything still with the Infiniti engine?

[Chris944_S2]

FourWheelDrift said:

Red Bull Renault or Red Bull Nissan.

Are Nissan powering any Red Bull sponsored cars in the USA, I heard Toyota are looking at Nascar, are Nissan doing anything still with the Infiniti engine?

Toyota are doing more than just looking at Nascar, they have a Camry V8 to enter the series in 2007. They have also been in Truck series for the past year or so.

[kevin ritson]

Well Red Bull are promoting their image in the US heavily, as witnessed by their plan to get a US driver in F1 culminating in Scott Speed driving this year, since Nissan have a presence in the US would make sense...

[FourWheelDrift]

Red Bull confirm they will be running Renaults, no mention of rebranding to Nissan (yet).

GP.com said:

Red Bull has announced that Red Bull Racing will switch from Ferrari engines to Renault starting in 2007, while the Toro Rosso team will now use the supply from Ferrari.

On September 15, Red Bull GmbH announced an agreement with Renault for an engine supply for the 2007 season, and wanted Red Bull Racing to use these while switching the Ferrari engines over to Toro Rosso.

Ferrari had a contract that RBR specifically would use their engines and Ferrari boss Jean Todt is did not want the switch to happen because he did not want to face direct opposition from a Red Bull-Renault designed by Adrian Newey.

This contractional issues have now been ironed out and the switch has been finalized with Toro Rosso committed to using the Italian engines for 2007 and 2008 with an option for a third year.

Jean Todt said, "We are pleased to be embarking on a new long-term relationship with Scuderia Toro Rosso. It will allow us to strengthen our ties with the world of Italian motor sport and also to work with a team run by Gerhard Berger, our former driver and friend of Ferrari."

[LongQ]

Chris944_S2 said:

Toyota are doing more than just looking at Nascar, they have a Camry V8 to enter the series in 2007. They have also been in Truck series for the past year or so.

Dang, that looks just like, er, every other Nascar body.

[FourWheelDrift]

LongQ said:

Dang, that looks just like, er, every other Nascar body.

They have to, it's the regulations. They have a shape template that the cars must fit, roof height, boot height, everything. It's tighter than Formula One. It's one reason why they are probably the most boring form of motor racing on the planet, the only people who seem to like it are the same people who watch monster trucks and Sheriff John Bunnell programs, it's the crashes they go see.

[LongQ]

FourWheelDrift said:

It's one reason why they are probably the most boring form of motor racing on the planet, ...

I finally worked out how to enjoy the edited TV coverage - well, maybe not enjoy but at least gain some interest.

The idea is that you try to make up what happened in the 100 missing laps where the lead changed 75 times and there were 542 caution periods.
You have to make it up since the commentary won't tell you.

On the other hand the format does at least offer some variety for where the drivers finish so as a championship it has the potential to be quite involving I suppose. And when you get 200,000 people turning up for an evening race at Hick City in the middle of nowhere you have to consider that they have evolved a formula which works well in their market.

I saw a show with the Glen round earlier in the year - looked interesting and no more contact than in the BTCC on a 'collisions per number of cars in the race analysis'.

Just a shame they are all the same shape but I guess racing inches apart on an oval at 200mph may be a bit tricky if aero rules were free.

[robsinfield]

This just about sums it up....

www.itv-f1.com/PhilipsFanZoneGravelTrap.aspx

Rob