Slow Exit?

[Kingair]

Speedcafe reporting that Ford are pulling safety car and advertising support from supercars at the end of 2023.

Just wondering whether this is the start of Ford, giving supercars the middle finger and moving out of the series?

[Adam43]

A slow exit could be the result of a smaller throttle body.

[Adam43]

PS. The parity review stuff can be discussed here.
https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158096

[GTRMagic]

If you believe the dealers, they are selling every Ranger, Raptor and Mustang they can get their hands on… so brand advertising may be superfluous in the market ting groups eyes…

Time for GWM to bring its best range to the track!

[Sandgroper]

Originally Posted by Kingair

Speedcafe reporting that Ford are pulling safety car and advertising support from supercars at the end of 2023.

Just wondering whether this is the start of Ford, giving supercars the middle finger and moving out of the series?

Thought exactly the same thing.

Take my bat and ball and going home.

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by Sandgroper

Thought exactly the same thing.

Take my bat and ball and going home.

Supercars' ability to anger their only manufacturer is quite amazing!

You'd think racing series would want to keep their manufacturers? Supercars not caring, despite urgent Rushbrook calls for parity action since before the season even started, is quite remarkable...

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

Supercars' ability to anger their only manufacturer is quite amazing!

You'd think racing series would want to keep their manufacturers? Supercars not caring, despite urgent Rushbrook calls for parity action since before the season even started, is quite remarkable...

May have nothing at all to do with "anger" - but then maybe it does, who knows? Supercars has had cars in the official car program from Holden, Ford, Chrysler, Audi and Porsche before now (there may be others that I don't currently recall) so their "seller fellers" have some work to do on finding another supplier.

There's been plenty of parity action but the one thing that Rushbrook has been keenest on (transient dyno) wasn't do-able before the season (only 1 in Oz not suitable at that stage from the POV of the Supercar crew) but there is now a plan to get the engines on a transient dyno.

Ultimately, whether one or more brands in the series has a manufacturer behind them huffing and puffing (or not) the key stakeholders are the teams and it is the teams that supercars focus on keeping. Supercars has a long, long history of keeping manufacturers at arm's length due to the long history in motorsport world wide of manufacturers coming, then going and leaving a series in the lurch.

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Supercars has a long, long history of keeping manufacturers at arm's length due to the long history in motorsport world wide of manufacturers coming, then going and leaving a series in the lurch.

The formulation of Group 3A regulations specifically around the Group A Commodore suggests otherwise!

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

The formulation of Group 3A regulations specifically around the Group A Commodore suggests otherwise!

Of course it doesn't - plus that WAS 30 years ago - plenty of long history since then. Manufacturers have always been kept at arms length - not ignored, not frozen out, not treated badly but the focus has always been the strength of the teams. Supercars does of course require manufacturer consent to use their IP (car design) so they're not completely removed from the picture but they are also not right in the middle of the series either.

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by Tourer

not treated badly

LoGaMo racing and BMW Motorsport were so thrilled at their great treatment they started their own series!

Even if the current Ford SC teams are contractually obliged to stay in the SC series running Camaros, Ford Performance could certainly tip budget in so that they also run Mustang GT3s in the Fanatac GT Championship.

The Bathurst 12 hour being promoted by Supercars does however create a conflict of interest, with that being the premiere GT3 race in the country when it would also be the crown jewel race for the DJR, Grove & WAU Mustang GT3s.

Originally Posted by Tourer

not frozen out

If not frozen out, Nismo were certainly not frozen in!

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Of course it doesn't - plus that WAS 30 years ago

Don't forget this gem 20 years ago:

"Mitsubishi not welcome"

Our view is that it is a nice little game and why would you let anyone else play. At the end of the day, the punter pays to see people race V8 rear-wheel drive cars that they can buy and that they can relate to. They (Mitsubishi) do not have one of those.

- Geoff Polites, Ford Australia

We have built this sport to where it is today. We have created the value in this sport by contributing millions and millions of dollars and I am stuffed if I am going to have some freeloader come along and benefit from all the work that we have done and give them a free ride.

- Ross McKenzie, General Motors Holden

https://www.goauto.com.au/future-mod...-24/14324.html

Funny how there was no such consideration for Nissan's support of touring car racing, such as the Nissan Mobil Wellington 500, in the late 1980's. Nor the Mitsubishi Starions for that matter.

Organisers now seem to now overlook the Chevrolet Camaro not being available for purchase for some reason too...

Originally Posted by Tourer

Supercars does of course require manufacturer consent to use their IP (car design) so they're not completely removed from the picture but they are also not right in the middle of the series either.

If the Chevrolet Camaro is the only vehicle with ATCC IP permission for 2024 onwards, is this a non-issue (even though the Camaro is both not for sale in Australia and not in production either)?

If Ford Performance win the same number of ATCC races whether they are out there or not -- zero -- you can see why FP would be inclined to not bother! Cricket sponsorship likely produces far superior ROI, or indeed KIA's Australian Open tennis sponsorship having replaced Ford Australia as the event sponsor.

[mite5255]

How many times has Ford pulled the pin over the years

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by mite5255

How many times has Ford pulled the pin over the years

Three or four times IIRC.

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

Don't forget this gem 20 years ago:

"Mitsubishi not welcome"


- Geoff Polites, Ford Australia


- Ross McKenzie, General Motors Holden

https://www.goauto.com.au/future-mod...-24/14324.html

Funny how there was no such consideration for Nissan's support of touring car racing, such as the Nissan Mobil Wellington 500, in the late 1980's. Nor the Mitsubishi Starions for that matter.

Those of course are comments made by manufacturers already represented in the series (at arm's length) and as a result (as we see today) are somewhat biased, one-sided and include hyperbole. They are not comments made by Supercars (or AVESCO as it was back then).

FYI the Nissan Mobil Wellington 500 was in New Zealand, not Australia and the reference to "building the sport" from McKenzie probably refers more to the 5.0 litre category - although McKenzie was a hyper-aggressive, pit-bull type and may well have taken the view that all touring car racing in Australia was built by Holden with other makes only playing bit parts.

Let's not forget that Nissan and Volvo did choose to support teams and provide their products in Supercars and Mercedes-Benz approved use of it's IP - by that time the two aggressive manufacturer people quoted above weren't around but Supercars approach generally clearly wasn't an issue for them at that stage.

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

If the Chevrolet Camaro is the only vehicle with ATCC IP permission for 2024 onwards, is this a non-issue (even though the Camaro is both not for sale in Australia and not in production either)?

If Ford Performance win the same number of ATCC races whether they are out there or not -- zero -- you can see why FP would be inclined to not bother! Cricket sponsorship likely produces far superior ROI, or indeed KIA's Australian Open tennis sponsorship having replaced Ford Australia as the event sponsor.

Remains to be seen - generally speaking, Supercars or teams over the years has done deals on IP that are longer than than sponsorship, so that if a manufacturer decides to withdraw sponsorship (because manufacturers come and go) then the team(s) concerned can still compete.

[bluesport]

I think it's too late for ford to exit as the cars have already been built and will continue to trundle around the various tracks as canon fodder for the camaros, ford should have done due diligence and looked at the other manufacturers that left the series after spending big dollars for virtually no result. Ford simply needed to focus on GT3, GT4 and production cars......the GT3 mustang is awesome.

[mite5255]

Could all of this be the fault of the homologation team

[PVDA]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

If you believe the dealers, they are selling every Ranger, Raptor and Mustang they can get their hands on…

Toyota not being able to supply enough vehicles to meet demand here but Ford being able to is helping Ford sales somewhat.