What if Lowndes had lined up for Ford Tickford Racing in the first place?

[WebberForWDC]

Would Ford enthusiasts be driving around in BFII Tickford GTs due to the resounding success of the FTR brand, and the fortunes (development budget?) of the GSR team had been reversed could Lowndsie have even collected 3-4 championships by this stage and, pairing with Lowndes, a swag of Bathurst victories for Seto?

[STEVO]

Don't get me started mate. . .

[Chatters]

Well, if Lowndes HAD joined FTR in 2001, which I presume is when we're talking about, this was when FTR had passed its peak and was on the downfall, in which case I would imagine in 2002 when Seto downsized to one car, he would have run it which may have made Seto retire, but still run the team, but when he sold it to Prodrive at the end of 2003 they would have retained Lowndes, which would then be the same as it is now. Leaves in '04, goes to T8.

[MRJUCY]

If FTR was getting the money from Ford that Forbes did it would have been a more successful outfit then either of them were & wouldn't have gone to a one car team tho.

[racer69]

What if Lowndes had gone to SBR?
What if GMS had found a big-money sponsor to replace Winfield, thus keeping Skaife away from HRT?
What if Rickard Rydell's wife wasn't expecting around Sandown time in 1994?

Originally Posted by WebberForWDC

Would Ford enthusiasts be driving around in BFII Tickford GTs due to the resounding success of the FTR brand

Prodrive bought Tickford in early 2001 and a name change (to Ford Performance Vehicles) was always on the cards, there was no chance you would be able to drive a Tickford GT BF.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by racer69

What if GMS had found a big-money sponsor to replace Winfield, thus keeping Skaife away from HRT?

Then 00 Motorsport would never have existed and arguably Mr Lowndes would have had to run with a different team to move to Ford... if indeed it was still an attractive option for him without the undisputed #1 status, and buckets of free money from the blue oval...

Or would we have seen a Skaife/Lowndes Gibson Motorsport operation?

[racer69]

I was more getting towards would Lowndes have left HRT if Skaife had never arrived there.............but that just leads to another 'What If' for which there is absolutly no answer for.

[peckstar]

and the obscure ref to rydall (was he down to drive with brad at sandown in that year?)

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by peckstar

and the obscure ref to rydall (was he down to drive with brad at sandown in that year?)

Not that obscure, common knowledge I thought ?

Signed sealed and almost delivered to HRT untill his wife was due to have the baby.

Rydell was suppossed to be back for Bathurst before what Lowdnes managed to do in qualifying.

[Mark Webber]

who cares ? Lowndes is overrated anyway. would have made any difference
have we forgotten the last four years lowndes has done nothing.

[FPV GTHO]

Originally Posted by Mark Webber

who cares ? Lowndes is overrated anyway. would have made any difference
have we forgotten the last four years lowndes has done nothing.

And what has Skaife done in the last few years? What about Murphy? Steven Richards? Theyre all still highly regarded drivers.

[MRJUCY]

Originally Posted by Mark Webber

who cares ? Lowndes is overrated anyway. would have made any difference
have we forgotten the last four years lowndes has done nothing.

A win & two 2nds at Bathurst isn't too bad & that whole leading the championship thing.

[peckstar]

wow a bold comment

considering has won more championships and as many or more bathurst than the likes of Brock Johnson and skaife at the same age, thats a very big call

[peckstar]

a 12 year old reference to something that didnt happen, but might off is obscure. it may be common knowledge. but its obscure, thast why i asked?

[racer69]

Originally Posted by peckstar

a 12 year old reference to something that didnt happen, but might off is obscure. it may be common knowledge. but its obscure, thast why i asked?

I was more trying to point out the silliness of these 'What if' questions, like where would Lowndes be now if he went to FTR or SBR rather than GMS/00, or would he have felt the way he did in 2000 if Skaife had never left GMS, or where Lowndes would have ended up if no replacement for Rydell was required at Sandown in 1994....

The fact is he left Holden for Ford and went to GMS/00 Motorsport rather than the others, tried his heart out both there and at FPR, and wound up at 888 with success, anything else is just personal opinion of what one personally thought/wanted to happen.

[Pro Racer]

i don't think it would of made much of a difference of how things are at this point IMO.

[Seton Fanatic]

FTR was where Lowndes (along with Marcos, I might add), should have ended up in the first place. To this day, I have the suspicion that Lowndes was steered away from FTR by Howard Marsden and Geoff Polites, because of their dislike for Glenn Seton.

There was also the perception that Glenn was a control freak, and wouldn't allow any teammate to beat him. As we saw with Steven Richards, Alan Jones, Neil Crompton and Wayne Park, that was total nonsense. All of these teammates were slower than Glenn Seton. All of these teammates sometimes put Glenn in the shade. One suspects that Ford felt, that Craig would be disadvantaged at FTR, if Seton was driving.

I felt that notion to be nonsense, for Glenn had a quoted plan to retire in 2005 (how canny was that prediction), and run his team from then on. I suspect he would have welcomed Lowndes with open arms, and allowed to have the same shot at winning the chamionship, as he did. After all, Alan Jones was a championship contender, for the best part of 1993.

Sadly, FTR and Lowndes never happened, but I still wonder what might have been.

[Henry]

Originally Posted by Seton Fanatic

FTR was where Lowndes (along with Marcos, I might add), should have ended up in the first place. To this day, I have the suspicion that Lowndes was steered away from FTR by Howard Marsden and Geoff Polites, because of their dislike for Glenn Seton.

That's the wildest conspiracy theory I've hear since the Brock/Holden/HDT/HRT/Walkinshaw/Crennan ones post 1987...

but still, there has to be a reason they went and virtually set up a team behind their new golden boy, rather than pouring him into an existing unit...

[DAVID PATERSON]

Originally Posted by Henry

That's the wildest conspiracy theory I've hear since the Brock/Holden/HDT/HRT/Walkinshaw/Crennan ones post 1987...

but still, there has to be a reason they went and virtually set up a team behind their new golden boy, rather than pouring him into an existing unit...

Publicity? A new team created just for Lowndes is a bigger story than Lowndes changing to an existing team and will attract more attention and possibly new fans.

[dsg]

Every so often I wonder what would have happened if Neanderthal man had become the dominant species and Homo sapiens died out. I occasionally look around my fellow V8 fans and get a small glimpse of what might have been.

I think Holden would remain popular.

[WebberForWDC]

Originally Posted by dsg

Every so often I wonder what would have happened if Neanderthal man had become the dominant species and Homo sapiens died out. I occasionally look around my fellow V8 fans and get a small glimpse of what might have been.

I think Holden would remain popular.

It's a big deal because FTR were regularly in the top 5 in the championship, most of the season in the top 3 for 99 and 00 I recall. They were a good team, add the budget that went to 00M, disadvantage TWR by them not having K-Mart sponsorship, develop proper engines (they did seem to be underpowered at FTR, when even DJR were fast in lousy AUs on the back of mainly good horsepower I think)... there is no reason why the team would not have gone on to win championships and Bathursts.

Where Lowndes went is equivalent to Skaife signing with Holden for 1998 then driving Faulkner Racing with much fan fare, then swapping to GRM in 2001 when they became relatively troubled, then swapping to bold new Team Dynamik in 2003, then finally swapping to Tasman Motorsport in 2005 say and then finally starting to win a bit. Going to HRT would have been the better option all along.

[STEVO]

Originally Posted by WebberForWDC

It's a big deal because FTR were regularly in the top 5 in the championship, most of the season in the top 3 for 99 and 00 I recall. They were a good team, add the budget that went to 00M, disadvantage TWR by them not having K-Mart sponsorship, develop proper engines (they did seem to be underpowered at FTR, when even DJR were fast in lousy AUs on the back of mainly good horsepower I think)... there is no reason why the team would not have gone on to win championships and Bathursts.

Glenn Seton and FTR ran second to Skaife for a large chunk of the 2000 Season...before of course "that" crash. FTR had pole a couple of times and Glenn was set to win the Winton 00 round until he an Tander hit oil on the track.

Not to mention that FTR had the name, pressure, expectation of being a "factory" team. They were pitched as a blue HRT. When all along it was Glenn Seton Racing with a fancy colour scheme. In an 01 interview when announced he was going solo and silver in 02 he said upon reflection, running 2 cars was a mistake at FTR! 2 Cars is a stretch?!?!?! What on earth has the world come too?

When rumours about Lowndes leaving HRT became rife, AA quoted Glenn as saying "he's number #1 on my list". It was a laughable statement as Glenn couldn't afford Lowndes, not in his wildest dreams. The cars were speedy at times in 2001 for the FTR AU's in F-A-C-T, Seton was the 3rd best qualifyer for the year behind Skaife and Ambrose.

Lowndes joining FTR initially is the biggest SHOULD HAVE BEEN in Ford Motorsport. Team 00 was a joke and waste of time. It gave us a snazzy looking AU and it cripped GSR, what was overall the strongest FORD team for the decade. And that's coming from having 8 fulltime people and beating Perkins, HRT, DJR, SBR etc to win the 1997 title. No mean feat. Think about it.

I could go on for days. But Seton was jerked by FoMoCo and this is why you have lunatics like myself and SF patrolling these forums. To remind people. Until he wins Bathurst then we can all go and retire and watch the replays

[Lowndesfan6]

If Lowndes had stayed at HRT, maybe he would have 8 championships to his name.

[DAVID PATERSON]

I think M. Skaife would have something to say about that.

[Lowndesfan6]

Yep, probably, gees I wish this guy had gone to Ford.

Ha ha.