Most successful manufacturer in motorsport
Most successful manufacturer in motorsport
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Discussion

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

9,993 posts

225 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Reading through the new GTR vs 911 thread. Someone made the comment that Porsche were the most successful manufacturer in terms of motorsport (or words to that effect). I don't really see how that can be true (they arrived at the party 40 years late for a start).
SO which manufacturer is the most successful of all time in all disciplines?

My money would be on Alfa Romeo (obviously I never win bets)

minimatt1967

17,381 posts

235 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Renault? They've had some success throughout the last century or so?

davemac250

4,499 posts

234 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Motorsport is a big area.

I'd go for Honda if the two wheeled variety is included, their cars have done pretty well to.

If it is just cars, and we are looking at global domestic competitions, then a US manufaturer must be pretty close to the Italian marques just through the number of different race competitions they have.

aeropilot

40,617 posts

256 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Hmmmmm........most successful....in all forms of motorsport....?

I'd put my money on Ford then.


Gold

1,998 posts

234 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Wikipedia states that Porsche have won 28,000 major races but can't see any reference or figures for the other companies. smile



kambites

71,465 posts

250 months

Friday 10th October 2008
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I'd say it's a meaningless statement.

Yoshiwaan

322 posts

219 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
aeropilot said:
Hmmmmm........most successful....in all forms of motorsport....?

I'd put my money on Ford then.
Yeah if Cosworth is put under Ford I'd say it would be a fair bet it'd be Ford. Having their own formula for ages and so many cheap fast cars helps.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

219 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
robemcdonald said:
Reading through the new GTR vs 911 thread. Someone made the comment that Porsche were the most successful manufacturer in terms of motorsport (or words to that effect). I don't really see how that can be true (they arrived at the party 40 years late for a start).
SO which manufacturer is the most successful of all time in all disciplines?

My money would be on Alfa Romeo (obviously I never win bets)
There is no answer to your question.

1. What is successful??

-It could mean the total number of wins or podium finishes.

-But how about success rate. A team that only entered once, but one are by definition very very successful.

-Lastly you could quantify it as diversity, such as entering the most different types of motorsport or for the longest period in time and not failing at most.


2. Motorsport, what is it?

Is pylon racing, off shore powerboating, swamp buggy racing, rally raid, trials bikes, CORR, Icelandic 4x4's, tractor pulling, etc are counted as motorsport??

wadgebeast

3,856 posts

240 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Porsche are likely to be up there due to the sheer number of cars raced by privateers.

GavinPearson

5,715 posts

280 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Ford probably is the most successful.

In F1 they had an unprecedented number of wins with the engines they commissioned Cosworth to make.

In Sportscars they had the GT40 in the 60s.

In rallying they have always been contenders, and dominated in the mid sixties until the early 80s. They still stayed in the sport as others dropped out and have had a recent resurgence.

They have had reasonable success in tin-tops up until the late 90s in Europe, but still have success in Australia.

In the USA they do very well in Funny Car drag racing.

They have been perennial NASCAR (& lower series variants) contenders / winners.

Once you look globally I think they would be very hard to beat.

sniff diesel

13,125 posts

241 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
robemcdonald said:
Someone made the comment that Porsche were the most successful manufacturer in terms of motorsport (or words to that effect).
I thought it was the 911 being the most successful car in motorsport rather than Porsche as a manufacturer.

mightymouse

1,438 posts

257 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Ferrari ?

getmecoat

Ponk

1,382 posts

221 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
sniff diesel said:
robemcdonald said:
Someone made the comment that Porsche were the most successful manufacturer in terms of motorsport (or words to that effect).
I thought it was the 911 being the most successful car in motorsport rather than Porsche as a manufacturer.
Bingo!

If you mean the most successful manufacturer team, then I think Audi have to be up there somewhere (Rallying and LeMan/ALMS etc)

Puff Puff

23,205 posts

255 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Ponk said:
sniff diesel said:
robemcdonald said:
Someone made the comment that Porsche were the most successful manufacturer in terms of motorsport (or words to that effect).
I thought it was the 911 being the most successful car in motorsport rather than Porsche as a manufacturer.
Bingo!

If you mean the most successful manufacturer team, then I think Audi have to be up there somewhere (Rallying and LeMan/ALMS etc)
I reckon you'll need to take into account some of the pre-war manufacturers. Audi was very much a latecomer on the motorsport scene - unless you consider Auto Union and Audi to be the same.

shoestring7

6,193 posts

275 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
robemcdonald said:
Reading through the new GTR vs 911 thread. Someone made the comment that Porsche were the most successful manufacturer in terms of motorsport (or words to that effect). I don't really see how that can be true (they arrived at the party 40 years late for a start).
SO which manufacturer is the most successful of all time in all disciplines?

My money would be on Alfa Romeo (obviously I never win bets)
Other than Mercedes, I can't really think of any manufacturers that have remained in the top flight since the Edwardian days. Peugeot and Fiat didn't stay the pace, all the rest have dissapeared. Alfa started in the 20's, Ferrari (like Porsche) was post war, the Brits didn't start in F1 until the 60's - the generation before havn't lasted.

However, I assume 'most successful' means across disciplins over a long period of time. On that basis my money's on Ford, Mercedes or Porsche.

SS7

FourWheelDrift

92,282 posts

313 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Has to be Porsche

Along with the usual suspects the 904, 906, 908, 917, 936, 956, 962, Dauer Porsche, Joest Porsche, current LMP2 Porsche WSC. Just about every road going Porsche has been racing, 911, 914, 944, 968, 928 and even the 959.

shoestring7

6,193 posts

275 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
FourWheelDrift said:
Has to be Porsche

Along with the usual suspects the 904, 906, 908, 917, 936, 956, 962, Dauer Porsche, Joest Porsche, current LMP2 Porsche WSC. Just about every road going Porsche has been racing, 911, 914, 944, 968, 928 and even the 959.
But a Porsche chassis has only won a single F1 race, and no FIA World Rally events since 1974 (IIR).

SS7

Derek Smith

49,748 posts

277 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Has to be Ford. Their engine has won every single Formula Ford race that has ever been run. And that's a lot.

I'm with Kambites. The statement has little meaning.

minimatt1967

17,381 posts

235 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Derek Smith said:
Has to be Ford. Their engine has won every single Formula Ford race that has ever been run. And that's a lot. I'm with Kambites. The statement has little meaning.
Not forgetting the mighty ford cosworth dfv v8 that powered nearly everything for ever in formula 1!

williamp

20,392 posts

302 months

Friday 10th October 2008
quotequote all
Ford, or maybe Mercedes Benz?

The latter were there right from the start, and have won or provided power for everything I can think about.