Honda engine lease price cut, engines to be randomly assigned to teams

drdisque · 16 Dec 2005, 00:16 (Ref:1485071)

Honda engine lease price cut, engines to be randomly assigned to teams

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/indycar/21268/

Bluewolf · 16 Dec 2005, 02:40 (Ref:1485109)

Thanks for the thread drdisque -- very interesting

rustyfan · 16 Dec 2005, 07:47 (Ref:1485157)

Thanks for the heads up - a very good move by Honda and the IRL if you ask me, and a price cut of almost one million over two years has to be considered quite good if you ask me.

That all teams will be treated equally is another extremely good thing, as is the aim to have the engines last over two weekends.

rustyfan · 16 Dec 2005, 07:54 (Ref:1485159)

Come to think of it, I hope these changes will encourage people like Greg Ray to try and get his team back on its feet again - would be nice to have him back

D.R.T. · 16 Dec 2005, 12:49 (Ref:1485258)

Seems so obvious. Cut prices and youll have more guys interested. Its amazing that it has taken CC and IRL this long to realise it.

rustyfan · 16 Dec 2005, 15:34 (Ref:1485368)

Quote:

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Seems so obvious. Cut prices and youll have more guys interested. Its amazing that it has taken CC and IRL this long to realise it.

Agreed. I think a lesson has been learned on both sides tho.

Snrub · 16 Dec 2005, 19:12 (Ref:1485474)

Don't let anyone kid themselves. Both the IRL and CC didn't boot manufacturers out to cut costs. Lower costs are the benefit of manufacturers leaving and taking their cash injections with them.

rustyfan · 16 Dec 2005, 22:25 (Ref:1485568)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snrub

Don't let anyone kid themselves. Both the IRL and CC didn't boot manufacturers out to cut costs. Lower costs are the benefit of manufacturers leaving and taking their cash injections with them.

Exactly, and my point about the lesson being learned is that they won't put themselves in the same position again (being reliant of manufacturer money to the same extent as they were).

JohnSSC · 17 Dec 2005, 12:39 (Ref:1485738)

This is a big step in the right direction. However we may have ended up at this juncture, seeing costs moving downward is a good thing. I agree that this should (hopefully) encourage some of the smaller operations to return to the series or add to their current effort.

Ac. · 22 Dec 2005, 00:12 (Ref:1488444)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snrub

Don't let anyone kid themselves. Both the IRL and CC didn't boot manufacturers out to cut costs. Lower costs are the benefit of manufacturers leaving and taking their cash injections with them.

It will be interesting to see how some of the bigger teams fare without their "cash injections". While Honda may be charging less for an engine lease, they are surely offsetting that lost revenue by handing out a great deal less to their teams. A lot was made out of the money that Honda supposedly offered to Rahal, Fernandez, etc. to join the League. Now that those funds are drying up these teams will have to find their funding the old fashioned way.

Tim Northcutt · 22 Dec 2005, 12:16 (Ref:1488646)

Well...AGR will still run four cars, plus a fifth at Indy....

Since Scott Sharp was featured in the IRL's series of profiles recently on their site, and talked specifically about spending next season with Fernandez, I don't see him going away, and the super Aguri side of that action seems solid as well...

Rahal looks to be running two instead of three cars, but they made it clear that they lost money on the program with Meira before this whole Honda is the only engine info came about....Argent is sponsoring both Buddy and Danica....and she has become a marketing machine over the past year....so I don't see any $$$ issues with that team, either....

So let's see how things shake out after the first of the year...

Ac. · 22 Dec 2005, 12:36 (Ref:1488663)

Do you really thing Aguri will be back considering his move into F1? That seems highly unlikely.

rustyfan · 22 Dec 2005, 13:30 (Ref:1488695)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ac.

Do you really thing Aguri will be back considering his move into F1? That seems highly unlikely.

The IndyCar is a completely separate project - I don't see why he would fold it just because he has gotten involved in F-1.

Ac. · 22 Dec 2005, 19:29 (Ref:1488868)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustyfan

The IndyCar is a completely separate project - I don't see why he would fold it just because he has gotten involved in F-1.

How about the fact that he is having to put up a $48 millon bond to get into F1. We'll have to put this one under "wait and see", but I'd say the odds at best are 1 in 5 that Aguri will be back in the IRL.

Kicking-back · 22 Dec 2005, 22:37 (Ref:1488980)

He's not putting up any money to get into F1 - Honda are.

The IRL project continues, as do his Nippon, Japanese F3 and GT teams.

drdisque · 22 Dec 2005, 23:58 (Ref:1489025)

I'm also under the impression that Aguri has a REALLY good deal with Panasonic to run the #55, so good that he probably can't lose money.

climb · 3 Jan 2006, 12:54 (Ref:1494083)

Ditto KB.
Just look what outfits like Carlin, ASM/ART etc are doing...

rustyfan · 24 Jan 2006, 12:25 (Ref:1507987)

A few days old by now, but more detailed information about the new engine prices have been released. The Indianapolis Star has a good article about it.

drdisque · 24 Jan 2006, 20:23 (Ref:1508344)

Also, Matsuura has been confirmed as returning to the #55 for 2006

rustyfan · 24 Jan 2006, 20:24 (Ref:1508345)

Quote:

Originally Posted by drdisque

Also, Matsuura has been confirmed as returning to the #55 for 2006

Yeah, as I posted in this thread earlier today (along with some other announcements from yesterday)

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