FPR to 4 cars in 2010??

[GTRMagic]

With the discussions in the motorsport press recently suggesting that FPR are allegedly working through the feasibility of expanding to 4 cars in 2010, a number of interesting questions are raised.

If you were to think about the 4 car thing, the main rivals in the Ford camp in SBR have 3 cars up (soon to be 4 ), while 888 (even though they are not Fords... ) have 5, possibly soon to be 7.

While in Holden land, Team Kelly has 4 cars, Walkinshaw Performance has had 4 cars for yonks, and supplies cars to 3 others, and engines to 2 more past that.

So we have an era of mega teams... where the big boys stay the big boys, and the smaller units fight for the crumbs from the bigger teams.

What was interesting in the AA coverage of Adelaide this week was the suggestion that Mr Lacroix examined the crashed Courtney car for DJR to help determine if it was fixable...

Anyhow, back to FPR.

Conceptually Mr Lowndes is a free agent at the end of the 2009 season. Arguably he wishes to remain loyal to Ford, and probably want to retain a Ford contract.

FPR will need 2 additional 2010 Racing Entitlement Contracts to run 2 additional cars.

Who has an additional 2009/10 Racing Entitlement Contract currently on lease elsewhere for this season I wonder?

Could a theoretical line up look like:

#5 - Orrcon - Mark Winterbottom
#6 - Castrol - Steven Richards
#25 - Fujitsu - Jason Bright
#26 - Caterpillar - Craig Lowndes

The cost of running a super team like the one above would be enormous... in drivers salaries, in spare cars, in equipment, in engineering staff...

Could it be done? Of course. Does it make sense to do it? Hmmm....

[Razor]

How long does Mr Bright have a contract with SBRE?

[Rob Bailey]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

With the discussions in the motorsport press recently suggesting that FPR are allegedly working through the feasibility of expanding to 4 cars in 2010, a number of interesting questions are raised.

If you were to think about the 4 car thing, the main rivals in the Ford camp in SBR have 3 cars up (soon to be 4 ), while 888 (even though they are not Fords... ) have 5, possibly soon to be 7.

While in Holden land, Team Kelly has 4 cars, Walkinshaw Performance has had 4 cars for yonks, and supplies cars to 3 others, and engines to 2 more past that.

So we have an era of mega teams... where the big boys stay the big boys, and the smaller units fight for the crumbs from the bigger teams.

What was interesting in the AA coverage of Adelaide this week was the suggestion that Mr Lacroix examined the crashed Courtney car for DJR to help determine if it was fixable...

Anyhow, back to FPR.

Conceptually Mr Lowndes is a free agent at the end of the 2009 season. Arguably he wishes to remain loyal to Ford, and probably want to retain a Ford contract.

FPR will need 2 additional 2010 Racing Entitlement Contracts to run 2 additional cars.

Who has an additional 2009/10 Racing Entitlement Contract currently on lease elsewhere for this season I wonder?

Could a theoretical line up look like:

#5 - Orrcon - Mark Winterbottom
#6 - Castrol - Steven Richards
#25 - Fujitsu - Jason Bright
#26 - Caterpillar - Craig Lowndes

The cost of running a super team like the one above would be enormous... in drivers salaries, in spare cars, in equipment, in engineering staff...

Could it be done? Of course. Does it make sense to do it? Hmmm....

do you see major sponsors and others wanting to tip money as the economy sinks even further.general feeling I've been getting banking areas is that the economy will stay crook well into 2011.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Rob Bailey

do you see major sponsors and others wanting to tip money as the economy sinks even further.general feeling I've been getting banking areas is that the economy will stay crook well into 2011.

What do you do if you are contractually obligated to support some of these motorsport contracts? Generally speaking, the leverage programs are the first impacted... the hospitality, the advertising..

The current economy is dreadful, while there are pockets of optimism in maintaining revenue, the issue is the quality of the revenue, as to whether sales are being bought through lower prices, and/or demand brought forward from these lower prices. Margin suffers, and the pipeline slows to a trickle.

While a marketer decries about brand values when price falls.. the issue is larger when the whole market is in freefall...

There are a lot of distressed mortgages out there in the 'burbs, one of the telltale signs will be crowd attendance at sporting events... Adelaide was down in numbers... which may not bode well for this year in the other state markets.

Caterpillar have allegedly made it known that they wanted a full car signage position in 2009. This was going to be the magical 3rd FPR car for Mr Courtney, allegedly funded as the previous Lowndes FPR car was funded, in a combination of factory (CAT) and dealer (Westrac) monies.

It helps having a network chairman (Mr Stokes) as a fan of V8Supercar, and also the beneficial owner of Westrac....

While mining has definitely slowed in the commodity price freefall of late, and some uneconomic mines are reviewed and mothballed, until prices return to profit making levels... it appears Caterpillar isnt suffering as badly in this market as may have been expected. Especially since Westrac is also the Cat agent in China...

Fujitsu is allegedly contracted to Britek until June 2010. What happens after that would be interesting. Half a budget is better than no budget... but if the deal is like the current FPR one, where the brand is shown across each of the FPR cars... the opportunity may present more favourably than not.

Peripherals may reduce however, like the sponsorship of the development series and/or participation of a Fujitsu-funded team(s) in that category.

All absolutely hypothetical of course... but it is interesting after all....

[Rob Bailey]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

What do you do if you are contractually obligated to support some of these motorsport contracts? Generally speaking, the leverage programs are the first impacted... the hospitality, the advertising..

The current economy is dreadful, while there are pockets of optimism in maintaining revenue, the issue is the quality of the revenue, as to whether sales are being bought through lower prices, and/or demand brought forward from these lower prices. Margin suffers, and the pipeline slows to a trickle.

While a marketer decries about brand values when price falls.. the issue is larger when the whole market is in freefall...

There are a lot of distressed mortgages out there in the 'burbs, one of the telltale signs will be crowd attendance at sporting events... Adelaide was down in numbers... which may not bode well for this year in the other state markets.

Caterpillar have allegedly made it known that they wanted a full car signage position in 2009. This was going to be the magical 3rd FPR car for Mr Courtney, allegedly funded as the previous Lowndes FPR car was funded, in a combination of factory (CAT) and dealer (Westrac) monies.

It helps having a network chairman (Mr Stokes) as a fan of V8Supercar, and also the beneficial owner of Westrac....

While mining has definitely slowed in the commodity price freefall of late, and some uneconomic mines are reviewed and mothballed, until prices return to profit making levels... it appears Caterpillar isnt suffering as badly in this market as may have been expected. Especially since Westrac is also the Cat agent in China...

Fujitsu is allegedly contracted to Britek until June 2010. What happens after that would be interesting. Half a budget is better than no budget... but if the deal is like the current FPR one, where the brand is shown across each of the FPR cars... the opportunity may present more favourably than not.

Peripherals may reduce however, like the sponsorship of the development series and/or participation of a Fujitsu-funded team(s) in that category.

All absolutely hypothetical of course... but it is interesting after all....

how much were the crowd numbers down?

[V8 Fireworks]

I'm quite sure that Lowndes remembers that a CAT FPR Ford is a bucket of rust, and would not be keen to drive for their second team in such colours....

They are still only competitive at some tracks, unlike 888.

A Lowndes/Seton line-up should have been front runners as the fans expected, it's not like the drivers were the problem.

[twinwebbers]

If last week's form is anything to go by FPR struggle to run 2 cars let alone 4...

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Rob Bailey

how much were the crowd numbers down?

18,000 odd out of 270,000 odd... enough to notice the difference

[Just Do It!]

SBR with 4 cars?? Interesting....

[Rob Bailey]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

18,000 odd out of 270,000 odd... enough to notice the difference

still a great number.

[dcr44S]

Originally Posted by twinwebbers

If last week's form is anything to go by FPR struggle to run 2 cars let alone 4...

Took the words right out of my mouth, some of their strategic faux pas in the past few seasons have really cost them and I think the real difference is that Frosty can't handle the pressure as well as Whincup.

[GTRMagic]

The plans out in the paddock suggest FPR could become a 3 car team by Winton time....

[Bimmerhead]

Originally Posted by Rob Bailey

still a great number.

Depends how you count attendance. I'd be prepared to bet that V8SA counts every ticket holder every time they come and go. A far more realistic number would the number of tickets actually sold.......

[EBXR8]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

The plans out in the paddock suggest FPR could become a 3 car team by Winton time....

How?? Sources???

[Holly Wood]

Funny how FPR have one bad weekend and all of a sudden everyone is saying they're useless....

If Frosty had been 2mm less hungry in his Adelaide shoot out lap, he'd have started on the front row... at a track that doesn't suit him or the FPR cars at all. Jesus, you guys are harsh.

[madman16]

Originally Posted by Holly Wood

Funny how FPR have one bad weekend and all of a sudden everyone is saying they're useless....

If Frosty had been 2mm less hungry in his Adelaide shoot out lap, he'd have started on the front row... at a track that doesn't suit him or the FPR cars at all. Jesus, you guys are harsh.

And if Holdsworth was 2mm less hungry he would've been on the front row as his time was still quicker than Frosty's. Point is they were and GRM still made something of the weekend and FPR didn't.

Have a look over the past couple of seasons and compare the results of the 2 fpr cars. It seems if someone doesn't qualify that well they just forget him for the weekend and concentrate on the lead car. How many times has Richo gotten the dodgy pitstop or stategy compared to Frosty.

888 still bring both cars towards the front even if one didn't start well. FPR will be good on occasions this year again but won't challenge for a title. And Frosty talks the talk better than he walks the walk

[TSR]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

The plans out in the paddock suggest FPR could become a 3 car team by Winton time....

Who will be the driver GTR???

[Holly Wood]

Originally Posted by madman16

And if Holdsworth was 2mm less hungry he would've been on the front row as his time was still quicker than Frosty's. Point is they were and GRM still made something of the weekend and FPR didn't.

No, I think the point is that FPR are being judged on ONE bad weekend, that's the attitude I was responding to.

Originally Posted by madman16

FPR will be good on occasions this year again but won't challenge for a title. And Frosty talks the talk better than he walks the walk

Oh really? Just for chuckles, care to write a list of drivers you think have a better chance of winning the title this year than Winterbottom? I'll even start it for you...

1. J.Whincup

Your turn...

[Muznik]

Who will be the driver GTR???


C'mon HAS to be Mark Skaife !

Oh really? Just for chuckles, care to write a list of drivers you think have a better chance of winning the title this year than Winterbottom? I'll even start it for you...

1. J.Whincup

Your turn...

2. W Davison
3. C Lowndes

[Holly Wood]

The way Winterbottom drove away from Davison today puts that into serious question Muznik, but I won't be silly enough to judge anyone's chances from one weekend alone.

Still, even if he comes fourth as you predict, I'd still call that 'challenging for the title'.

Time will tell hey...

[madman16]

Originally Posted by Holly Wood

No, I think the point is that FPR are being judged on ONE bad weekend, that's the attitude I was responding to.



Oh really? Just for chuckles, care to write a list of drivers you think have a better chance of winning the title this year than Winterbottom? I'll even start it for you...

1. J.Whincup

Your turn...

2. W. Davison
3. G. Tander
4. Even though he won't win it all either C. Lowndes
5. Now Frosty

Just my opinion. I hope for the championships sake i'm wrong and there will be more challengers but i just don't see it

[PhaseIII]

So... let me get this correct...
Your saying that Frosty is 5th in a list of those with a better chance than Frosty of winning the title ?????
What The.....????

[madman16]

Did i stutter???

[EBXR8]

Where will FPR pull the 3rd liscense from??? By Winton????

[Chris - Melb]

Originally Posted by EBXR8

Where will FPR pull the 3rd liscense from??? By Winton????

I was thinking the same thing, but then I thought that there may be a team that is about to go under and the license could be acquired from the wash-up from that.

Now let me think, which team has the most creditors knocking on its front door at the moment…

As for the driver of the third FPR Ford Falcon, this headline made my heart beat quickly for a couple of seconds!!!!

Webber defects to Ford : http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25758A000AC466