Quote:
Originally Posted by Akrapovic
I don't understand the problem that has been brought up here? Just because it's open source, doesn't mean they don't know who made what. If Akra Engineering makes a radiator and it turns out that radiator is crap, everybody knows it, and Akra will have to make a new one. But since the parts are open source, anyone can have a look at the design specs, so the team could go down the road to CTD Engineering and ask them to make a far superior part off of the same design specs.
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That's a very good analogy. With normal suppliers you cannot take every detail of the spec that Company A (say, Akrapovic engineering) built to and have company B (say CTD engineering) analyze and improve it. Why wouldn't anybody pay for
that? The customer in both the proprietary as well as in the open-source model pays the bills, but in the latter case, they actually have the freedom to do something with the intellectual property. Additionally, there's professional experts in car design available to be contracted to continue improving the design. This is a service Perrinn can live off (if we assume Nicholas isn't set for life yet, heh). He/They know the intricacies and have been peer-reviewed so far, and will continue to do so.
Just like CTD, I'm earning my living in the open source IT ecosphere as well. At least in IT, open-source development is easily outperforming "the proprietary market" on the technical end. A bored volunteer could always find a teeny problem in the product and improve it, just for their personal pride. Why wouldn't anyone buy a product like this? Perrinn does the real world test of fire with this LMP1, and the development model in itself is a source of PR for the category and the series. The ACO should thank the gods for it.
On a final note, something like with Joest and the '17 Audi (the phantom car that should've been up there but wasn't allowed to run) will never happen with a development model like the Perrinn's. You think you got plans to a great car? Nobody can stop you building it on your own.