Conquest not folding

[stradlin21]

but the last couple of lines of this article are very interesting


everything is not as brilliant as people say it is by the looks of things

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/35152/

[Snrub]

Was I living under a rock, I didn't realize that Mi-Jack wasn't sponsoring Conquest anymore?!?

What about the Cleveland and Houston races, is Lanigan (the Mi-Jack guy) still committed to do those long term?

I wonder if Graham Rahal's sponsorship that hasn't seemed to developed may turn out to be Mi-Jack? (Miller refers to Lanigan as "helping" with Rahal's NH debut.)

I find it odd how the little teams (eg. DCR) seem to frequently say they have sponsorship, but they claim they can't announce who it is. That seems to be the exact opposite of what you would want to do. I wonder if it isn't the driver they've signed on.

[carsten66]

The good thing is that the team will be back on the grid, also it sounds that we will see Conquest Racing only as a one car team... and with Ranger and Zwolsman out – probably Alexandre Premat get the seat...

[luke]

Originally Posted by stradlin21

everything is not as brilliant as people say it is by the looks of things

Maybe not, if there is 17 cars on the grid at Las Vegas, that would be a massive disapointment IMHO. I think there will be around 20 though IMHO, Forysthe will field 2 cars and Minardi will field 3. Maybe a few more down to sponsorship.

We'll see what happens.

[stradlin21]

I am an IRL fan as most of you will know

but I want to see CC do well, i really do

but sometimes it seems that Champ Car's worst enemy can sometimes be itself

i hear of bad words between Kalkhoven and Forsythe and other issues between team managers and officials

will GF run two cars?? will Minardi run three? Gelles Racing have cancelled their Panoz order and question marks remain about other teams and how many cars they will run

all is not rosy at all, not even close

[luke]

Originally Posted by stradlin21

I am an IRL fan as most of you will know

but I want to see CC do well, i really do

but sometimes it seems that Champ Car's worst enemy can sometimes be itself

i hear of bad words between Kalkhoven and Forsythe and other issues between team managers and officials

will GF run two cars?? will Minardi run three? Gelles Racing have cancelled their Panoz order and question marks remain about other teams and how many cars they will run

all is not rosy at all, not even close

Its interesting what has happened, what happened to polestar, and Gelles? Even Dreyer & Reinbold were at Road America and one of their old drivers, can't remember his name.
There was alot of interest at first with the DP 01, I did personally believe there would be over 20 cars next season, not 26 but around 20, 21ish, for the first time at every race since 2001, but for some reason only Minardi USA has come on and they joined cte/hvm, so...not that much of an impact as was hoped.
Maybe it was the Europe swing? 17 races, too expensive then the 14 races in North America what's it been lately, anyway are the two European races paying for the teams to come over, the costs etc? If not that maybe one of the draw backs, just my guess though more then anything.

[stradlin21]

Gelles Racing have apparently shut down their operation, they have definatley cancelled their Panoz order

Polestar, i'm not sure

Dreyer and Reinbold were seriously considering a CC move but after a long, long, long time they eventually decided to stick with the IRL and not only that but expand their team to two cars

It's a shame because there was such high hopes for this season

[luke]

I forgot to mention PCM has joined...but anyway yeah there was high hopes, and yeah its a shame. But lets see what happens. I want a merge more then ever. Its a shame that its now unlikley for a while as both CC and IRL are going their own ways...

[Snrub]

Every year we hear about teams who would like to race. I suspect that they really do want to race, heck I'd like to have a CC team if someone would give me $10M to do it.

I guess its time to announce that, yes the rumours are true, my Ten-Tenths fanasty 2005 team The Unique and Special Snowflakes is back after a year long sabatical and taking the next step up up the ladder to enter the non-virtual Champ Car World Series for 2007! We will be running at least two cars and up to seven cars when the proper funding is found! If you see Richard Branson tell him that I haven't received my cheque in the mail and I'm starting to get worried.

I think that these semi-startup teams put out feelers, announcements and rumours so that they seem legitimate when they go hunting for funding. "We're for real, we even have an order put in for a new chasis!"

I'm having a brain fade moment - Remember that team that ran Del Monte in Long Beach with Konica sponsorship. Everyone thought they were the real deal, people with the series (eg. I spoke to one official who was really psyched about them and about how they were different from all these other half baked near-entries), media, etc. If you recall they were four seconds off the pace because they were so out of their depth and the series had to step in to given them technical assistance in setting up the car. We never heard from them again.

BTW: We still don't know who is paying for PCM to run. It strikes me as odd that Forsythe has no sponsors and is running one car, yet PCM has two.

[luke]

Originally Posted by Snrub

I'm having a brain fade moment - Remember that team that ran Del Monte in Long Beach with Konica sponsorship. Everyone thought they were the real deal, people with the series (eg. I spoke to one official who was really psyched about them and about how they were different from all these other half baked near-entries), media, etc. If you recall they were four seconds off the pace because they were so out of their depth and the series had to step in to given them technical assistance in setting up the car. We never heard from them again.

BTW: We still don't know who is paying for PCM to run. It strikes me as odd that Forsythe has no sponsors and is running one car, yet PCM has two.

PCM were a Grand-Am team so....

It was Jensen who were the team from Atlantics who did Long Beach 2005, we thought they would do a full 2006 season, then we all thought it was possible to do all of 2005 instead, they did just the one race I think. Stepped right in a the deep end. Poor de monte
The thing is though, Champ Car teams need sponsors, to run and field more then more then one or two cars. to get sponsors they ideally need to be at the Indy 500. It should be a bit easier as they are on ESPN again, I believe that is the top U.S. sports network, or one of the best.
IMHO both CC and IRL need each other, two open wheel series fighting it out (not litrally) is not good for either, imagine two F1s, F1 and that other GP series that was a threat for a while. That would kill F1.
Both CC and IRL have some good race teams, drivers and races, they both have their backbones, but if they want to thrive they need to be together.
Could some of the CC teams run the Indy 500 this year? Wasn't that a plan. If only all the CC teams could take part in the Indy 500 this year.

Anyway steering back on topic, a shame Conquest racing is no longer a 2 car effort I guess, that means one less young driver.

[paul-collins]

PCM is largely funded on the back of Tom Figge. They've always had the luxury of developing sponsorship for an existing program, rather than relying on it out of the gate. Makes the sell a little easier...

[Snrub]

That definately would make attracting sponsors more likely. Where does Tom Figge get all of his money from?

If that's the case does he have any particular reason for paying for Dalziel? Did PCM exist before 2003?

[paul-collins]

No, PCM was founded in 2003 as a showcase for Alex. Prior to that, Tadevic had managed World Speed Motorsport in Atlantics, for whom Alex had driven in 2002.

In 2004 they expanded to two cars, with Fogarty winning them the championship, and in 2005 they moved to the ALMS, picking up Ryan Dalziel at that time. I guess Ryan has proven to be a good counterpoint / yardstick for Alex Figge.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by carsten66

The good thing is that the team will be back on the grid, also it sounds that we will see Conquest Racing only as a one car team... – probably Alexandre Premat get the seat...

The latest suggestion is that Premat will drive with Audi in DTM. I'm not sure if that is official yet though.

[Snrub]

Read this article: http://winnipegsun.com/Sports/Racing...48974-sun.html

Originally Posted by from the article

...Ranger should be returning to MiJack Conquest Racing.

Maybe Wallmart and/or Proctor and Gamble stepping up further this year. ...But it's wierd because Conquest claims to have a sponsor, but not a driver nailed down.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by Snrub

Read this article: http://winnipegsun.com/Sports/Racing...48974-sun.html


Maybe Wallmart and/or Proctor and Gamble stepping up further this year. ...But it's wierd because Conquest claims to have a sponsor, but not a driver nailed down.

Elsewhere I've seen a report suggesting the sponsor Conquest has picked up is based in New York and new to racing.

How accurate that report is remains to be seen.

[Snrub]

Apparently Philipee is driving for Conquest at the Houston test. This really surprises me given the acrimonious manner in which he left the team during his rookie season.

The article on SpeedTV mentioned a new paint scheme, but nothing about a new sponsor. I'm guessing that we now know where Conquest's new "sponsorship" is coming from. ...then again, if that was true where is the announcement?

[icemachine]

New Conquest logo, doesn't give any hints as to sponsorship

[Snrub]

See the logo/writing on the engine cover? Who is this sponsor?

[Fogelhund]

It is a ChampCar Sponsor. It is an advert for one of their races... it says "Grand Prix" in the large writing, with ChampCar logo above.

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/c...0213P_0022.jpg

[Snrub]

Ah. Since we're on the topic, what is the "Vernon" name towards the rear of the car? If you can't tell I'm really curious to find out who Conquest's sponsor is.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by Snrub

Ah. Since we're on the topic, what is the "Vernon" name towards the rear of the car? If you can't tell I'm really curious to find out who Conquest's sponsor is.

http://www.vernonandmaz.com/

They were one of their sponsors last year. Whether they provide financing, or do the graphics in exchange for signage would be purely speculative.

http://www.greyhouse.com/pdf/smp_pgs.pdf

[Snrub]

Realistically if they do provide funding it would be minimal, both relative to the size of their signage and the size of the company. Interesting though, on their website they tout that "Mi-Jack Products" uses their signs.

[Tenoch]

Looks like The DEA (The drug Enforcement Agency of the USA) found out where zwolsman's funding came form last season .

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/champcar/auto/35396/

[carsten66]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

It is a ChampCar Sponsor. It is an advert for one of their races... it says "Grand Prix" in the large writing, with ChampCar logo above.

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/c...0213P_0022.jpg

It's the official logo of the race in Zolder... kind of home race for Bachelart - he is Belgian...