Do manufacturers break motorsport?

[mikuni]

This is being partially covered in a number of threads, but I wanted to discuss it in broader terms, so thought I would bring it here.

Are manufacturers destroying motorsport?

Examples;
Super Touring in the 90's - It was a boom and bust era that saw the ultimate demise of Super Touring, and took several years for touring cars to rebuild. Some would even say touring cars has never fully rebuilt.

WTCC in recent years - I'm going to blame Chevrolet on this one, as it seems as though their dominance when there was a general lack of other manufacturers seems to have prompted the organisers to do anything to get someone else in. Unfortunately this someone else is Citroen, who has destroyed what WTCC was and is.

Current F1 - Ok, putting the blame for this one on Mercedes for throwing money at F1 and walking away with the new development. But it's bigger than that, I have heard that manufacturers would have turned their backs on F1 if it didn't get "more relevant" by going to hybrid turbos. This has now taken place, but is it for the better?

DTM - I don't follow DTM, but it was mentioned by another poster that the manufacturers have too great a say in what happens, and judging by what I have seen, it seems quite a stagnated series.

WRC - Same goes really, VW are walking away with it year after year now, after total domination by Citroen.


Now I have never really seen manufacturers involvement as a negative, quite the opposite in fact, as over the years my favourite forms of motorsport have had massive works backing, but the fact is, when the manufacturers turn their backs on it, or throw too much money at it, the series in question seems to collapse.

[Paradise City]

Manufacturers destroying categories is the fault of the governing body failing to assert itself. Manufacturers can bring riches that bewitch governing authorities and unless they stay firm and sober manufacturers can riot.

[VIVA GT]

My take on this, certainly as far as the Supertourers were concerned is that a team would approach a manufacturer and say "If you give us a stupid amount of money, we'll win the BTCC for you".
Then, at the end of the first year, and that manufacturer didn't win, the conversation would be something like: "OK, give us twice as much as last year, and we WILL win next year"
End of year two, and it's a similar scenario and a similar outcome.
This spiral continues until the manufacturer thinks "this is a stupid amount of money we're spending every year and still not winning, we'll give up.
Unfortunately, by now, the manufacturers involvement and money (not all spent on the cars) has pushed the costs of competing away from mere mortals, and the series crashes...

[chunder]

Yes they do, they always have done.

They destroyed WSPC, then FIA GT racing.

They destroyed DTM ITC, Super touring.

Brought about their own destruction in WRC.

Seat brought ther the mess that is now WTCC and Citroen are just taking over. Seat had a huge budget, the vision to see TDI to the end, did it and then ran away with no money. Chevy again ahve a huge budget, but it pales to nothing compared to Citroen.

They will not come unless theya re allowed to manipulate things to thier end and the organisers always want them, so will bend things.

F1 was at its most pure in the late 60's withthe DFV era, all about chassis, drivers. Never been the same since.

WRC was destroyed really by Peugeot inthe earlt 2000's. They outspent everyone, brought in tar drivers, snow drivers, gravel drivers. None could compete and if it wasnt for Ford Citroen woudl have been unopposed for a decade, they deserve no credit for those titles in my eyes.

As for other series, you can see the writing on the wall for WEC, Toyota, Audi now Porsche spending hundreds of millions, but it can be sustained throgh the class system.

It just so happened that in the old days there wre only two classes and when mercedes, Peugeot, Toyota came in and made everyone looked silly that was too much and it collapsed and turned into GT racing, then Toyota, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Nissan did exactly the same again.

[NaBUru38]

Spending wars by manufacturers have damaged several motorsport championships.

Some recent championships have decided to tackle the issue with spec chassis or engines (IndyCar, Nascar, DTM, BTCC, V8 Supercars) or drastic ballast of performance (GTLM, GT3).

But motorsport crisis is more related to the loss of tobacco / alcohol sponsorship and poor leadership / management.

[one five five]

Do manufacturers 'break' motorsport? Or is motorsport just like the rest of the world, it moves and changes and you just have to live with the ups and downs.

Without manufacturers directly involved in the series (as opposed to sponsoring effective 'spec' cars), you just wind up with the same things year on year on year

[DS"]

Manufacturers do make auto racing expensive, but without manufacturers, there wouldn't be auto racing at all. That's not meant to downplay the involvement of privateers, but even they have a certain degree of manufacturer support, even if its just the car they're racing.

The key is of course for a governing body to establish an enviroment, where both privateers and manufacturers can engage in a fair competition. Unfortunately, many governing bodies relied and still rely on the short-term solution, which is basically to attract as many manufacturers as possible. Of course they're creating a huge bubble that bursts after a couple of years.

While the DTM gets (sometimes rightfully) bashed for the extent of the manufacturers involvement, the manufacturers actually have a gentleman's agreement, whereas one manufacturer can't really outspend the others. Not a budget cap, but more like restrictions on the development of the cars. Then again, the relationship between the series and the manufacturers isn't the most ideal one, since Hans-Werner Aufrecht doesn't only run his series, but also his own team and thus has connections to Mercedes.

[Knowlesy]

They make it and break it.

Can't live with them. Can't live without them.