Discussion
very much so...
running into financial difficulties ATM
i got this the otherday from Super Aguri (having registered on their forum last year)
running into financial difficulties ATM
i got this the otherday from Super Aguri (having registered on their forum last year)
SAF1 said:
Hi all,
As you read this, Aguri Suzuki is in Tokyo trying to negotiate a future for SAF1.
I know a lot of you have already seen our campaign, and helped, thank you. For those who have not though:
"Calling all SAF1, Taku and Anthony fans ..."
It is time to get vocal and let Honda, and others, know just how much SAF1 means to us all. If we all email Honda, maybe, just maybe, they will listen. It was the public reaction to BAR dropping Taku that led to SAF1 being formed so quickly. So perhaps if enough of us write, we might get a reprise.
We, and the sport, need little teams like SAF1 to keep things exciting. We all love to cheer the teams that have the most spirit but least resources. Taku's fighting spririt is similar to the way that early days of F1 ran - incredible efforts against the odds, to put a car on the track and race.
Racing is the loser if SAF1 are not on the grid. We fans lose if Taku isn't there to push the car faster than it should go. Honda and sponsors are the losers if we become brand-averse. Just this week I found myself buying Paul Smith eau de cologne simply because I know his brand from Taku's sponsorship deals. I have three pairs of Ray Bans for the same reason. Two expensive Seiko watches.
I might be a consumer idiot, easily influenced - but it is the very fact that I am influenced, that makes me useful - or dangerous to a brand.
So let's get vocal and tell Honda that we care, we have long memories, and we have the spending power that can matter, and we are the tiny tip of the mountain that follows SAF1.
Email Honda senior management direct at and ask them (be polite) to provide support to the best little team there is!
Ellie, one of our Japanese friends, and fan, tells us how: email them at customer@spirit.honda.co.jp
Thank you ... it MIGHT make a difference.
As you read this, Aguri Suzuki is in Tokyo trying to negotiate a future for SAF1.
I know a lot of you have already seen our campaign, and helped, thank you. For those who have not though:
"Calling all SAF1, Taku and Anthony fans ..."
It is time to get vocal and let Honda, and others, know just how much SAF1 means to us all. If we all email Honda, maybe, just maybe, they will listen. It was the public reaction to BAR dropping Taku that led to SAF1 being formed so quickly. So perhaps if enough of us write, we might get a reprise.
We, and the sport, need little teams like SAF1 to keep things exciting. We all love to cheer the teams that have the most spirit but least resources. Taku's fighting spririt is similar to the way that early days of F1 ran - incredible efforts against the odds, to put a car on the track and race.
Racing is the loser if SAF1 are not on the grid. We fans lose if Taku isn't there to push the car faster than it should go. Honda and sponsors are the losers if we become brand-averse. Just this week I found myself buying Paul Smith eau de cologne simply because I know his brand from Taku's sponsorship deals. I have three pairs of Ray Bans for the same reason. Two expensive Seiko watches.
I might be a consumer idiot, easily influenced - but it is the very fact that I am influenced, that makes me useful - or dangerous to a brand.
So let's get vocal and tell Honda that we care, we have long memories, and we have the spending power that can matter, and we are the tiny tip of the mountain that follows SAF1.
Email Honda senior management direct at and ask them (be polite) to provide support to the best little team there is!
Ellie, one of our Japanese friends, and fan, tells us how: email them at customer@spirit.honda.co.jp
Thank you ... it MIGHT make a difference.
sniff petrol said:
Anyone else think Honda don't want their B team beating the factory team? got mighty close last year.
No...after all, Honda set the team upto keep Sato in the game.By all accounts, Honda have offered them a rescue package in return for some changes to the structure of the team; perhaps that might work better for SA, since they pay Menard a lot of money for the facility and any engineering work done there. H
onda's offical line on SA is that currently Honda do not supply any components directly...which intimates that SA produce them themselves...perhaps the rescue package makes it easier for Honda to work with SA and thus reduce their own funding contribution?
The problem is the FIA have ruled that the teams have to be independant within 2 years, they arnt allowed to share chassis for example after that, which was the original plan. This is highly likely to kill SA off if not now, in a couple of years unless they can land a major sponsor other than Honda.
johnfelstead said:
The problem is the FIA have ruled that the teams have to be independant within 2 years, they arnt allowed to share chassis for example after that, which was the original plan. This is highly likely to kill SA off if not now, in a couple of years unless they can land a major sponsor other than Honda.
Aye, there's the rub. No matter what SA do this year, it's just a stay of execution, despite what Honda tell us...which is indeed that they do not support SA from a technical standpoint....What I want to know is do they really have to ramp up in a massive way to become a bona fide constructor. After all, they can buy engines and gearboxes off the shelf, electronics and hydraulic systems too and teams also subcontract carbon fibre components, which leaves the tub....I bet that could be contracted out too...effectively the team simply assembles the components...isn't that the model that Red Bull Technologies works under?
Although for the moment the teams are bound by the old CA, it need not be that way for ever.
Mosley is fond of asserting that the fans are not interested in the details of an engine's max rpm, an ecu or a gearbox, and therefore these things should be artificially capped or standardised for the sake of expense reduction.
Apart from the likes of us anoraks on this forum, I doubt that the general public cares whether SA, Williams or Ferrari make their basic chassis themselves or buy them from somewhere else, yet on this single point entire racing programmes are being put out of business.
Mosley is fond of asserting that the fans are not interested in the details of an engine's max rpm, an ecu or a gearbox, and therefore these things should be artificially capped or standardised for the sake of expense reduction.
Apart from the likes of us anoraks on this forum, I doubt that the general public cares whether SA, Williams or Ferrari make their basic chassis themselves or buy them from somewhere else, yet on this single point entire racing programmes are being put out of business.
Forums | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff