[LM24] Pescarolo Sport future plans...?!?!

[PointDSM]

Uh no? Henri is a failure, regardless of his incredible past. Let the process work and he will fall away while somebody else takes his place. I see Rebellion being the Pesci of the next 5-10 years.

Some people get too caught up in tradition to understand simple economics.

[Articus]

I would take it easy there. I think thats a large claim,

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by PointDSM

Uh no? Henri is a failure, regardless of his incredible past. Let the process work and he will fall away while somebody else takes his place. I see Rebellion being the Pesci of the next 5-10 years.

Some people get too caught up in tradition to understand simple economics.

Not true at all. Most of us have a pretty good grasp of that but believe that history and tradition shouldn't be discarded - and I'm not even French.

[nobster]

Henri belongs at le Mans, the welcome he received when stepping out of the race control car just before the start said it all!

[GT6]

Yes i would agree Henri is without doubt a hero of Le mans, but great as he was he has not proved as good as a team principle and perhaps his future roles and I am sure it will happen will allow him to shine again, but the legend should not be allowed to slip into obscurity.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by PointDSM

Uh no? Henri is a failure, regardless of his incredible past. Let the process work and he will fall away while somebody else takes his place. I see Rebellion being the Pesci of the next 5-10 years.

Some people get too caught up in tradition to understand simple economics.

Maybe you're too caught up in the economics to understand the simple humanity of the Le Mans 24 Hours which is why 250,000 fans go every year. I'm certainly not there to go to an economics convention.

[vincegail]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Maybe you're too caught up in the economics to understand the simple humanity of the Le Mans 24 Hours which is why 250,000 fans go every year. I'm certainly not there to go to an economics convention.

If I would look at Le Mans the economic way, I'd put a gazebo in my yard and hook up my tv in there instead of making the pelgrimage to La Sarthe to watch it in the flesh.

[GT6]

Originally Posted by vincegail

If I would look at Le Mans the economic way, I'd put a gazebo in my yard and hook up my tv in there instead of making the pelgrimage to La Sarthe to watch it in the flesh.

But you have to think of those living close by you, the constant BBQ smoke and RLM might upset people, better to make the trip down so as not to annoy them.

[vincegail]

Henri has to think of himself and others too. Better not do it on a shoestring budget. 4 million is probably Audi's catering budget, so no hope to achieve anything worth remembering if he goes that way.

[CTD]

Originally Posted by vincegail

If I would look at Le Mans the economic way, I'd put a gazebo in my yard and hook up my tv in there instead of making the pelgrimage to La Sarthe to watch it in the flesh.

If I was forced to look at Le Mans in a economical way, I wouldn't have written an email to my coming Education Counselor telling him NOT to schedule ANYTHING in the Le Mans week. And instead study and work it all away! (Luckily he agreed, and will keep it in mind)

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by GT6

But you have to think of those living close by you, the constant BBQ smoke and RLM might upset people, better to make the trip down so as not to annoy them.

Caring about other has never been 'the economic way'.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by PointDSM

Uh no? Henri is a failure, regardless of his incredible past. Let the process work and he will fall away while somebody else takes his place. I see Rebellion being the Pesci of the next 5-10 years.

Some people get too caught up in tradition to understand simple economics.

Not sure I see failure as an absolute. Henri has had businesses fail, if he can raise the finance to have another go then his state of failure changes.

If he's got a valid proposition and can describe a return on investment then, as you say, it's a case of simple economics, and when you're dealing with something as utterly amorphous as sportscar racing sponsorship tradition and mystique is probably pretty core to the argument.

[Mal]

Anyone who has won Le Mans 4 times; competed there 33 times and then gone on to own and run his own team which was easily the best of the privateers for numerous years, is no failure. If I had had a 10th on his success I would be a proud man.... 'PointDsm' I presume you must be Jacky Ickx or TK in disguise if you think that is a failure? Yes he has made some poor business decisions in recent times but that does not wipe out what the man has achieved

[GT3.14]

Originally Posted by Mal

Yes he has made some poor business decisions in recent times but that does not wipe out what the man has achieved

One could argue everybody in motorsport has made a poor business decision.

[Beetle]

Henri will be welcome at Le Mans for as long as he lives (and remembered for years after, surely). I personally admire his "never say die" attitude, even if he has made many business mistakes. He is one of the sole remaining bastions of the "good old days" of European motor racing. People moan about this and that in the modern sportscar racing world, but Henri has bridged the old to the new. I would like to see that continue - I hope his future plans succeed.

[Aysedasi]

Exactly.

[GT6]

I think we would all like Henri to succeed and I have several shirts, caps etc bought to show my support, but if I had to invest my own money in a privateer team at the moment Rebellion would be a safer bet.

[Accident]

I think it would be good for him to go to P2. He could/should actually be able to run something competitive there, and it would give him a place to build the team up and grow and prove themselves again as well as getting funding from gentleman drivers and therefore being less reliant on sponsorships (or charity). It seems like it would be a more long term strategy, rebuilding for a return into P1 at a later date after all the pieces are in place.

Makes more sense to me than throwing all of the money into a cobbled together effort to run at the back of the P1 grid for half a season before sponsors pull their backing or something.

I'd rather see him building the team and working on something long term and stable, even if it means running in a boring class like P2, than spending it all on a forgettable effort that fizzles out like the Pescarolo 03 did.

[Aysedasi]

It does seem a pretty strong argument to me.......

[Maelochs]

What I notice here is that even Pescarolo supporters (myself included) don't seem to think Henri can pull this off.

Just as a thought experiment ... Imagine if he does get a budget, buys a good car and engine, competes for a season (chasing Rebellion and Straka) and comes back in 2015 to do it again?

Why assume he will make more shady business deals and get shaky sponsors? Maybe he will get his 4 or 5 million Euros and make it work.

In the past it seemed he rushed into things, couldn't make the money work, and was so desperate to get to Le Mans that he cut whatever deals he could regardless of whether they were risky.

What about considering that he finds a few backers who feel as we do and actually gets the support he deserves?

I agree, a more measured approach might have been to start in P2, but on the other hand, the guy knows what to do, he just hasn't known how to raise the money to do it. Let him get a few solid backers and a real car and motor and maybe we will all be pleasantly surprised.

[CTD]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

What I notice here is that even Pescarolo supporters (myself included) don't seem to think Henri can pull this off.

Just as a thought experiment ... Imagine if he does get a budget, buys a good car and engine, competes for a season (chasing Rebellion and Straka) and comes back in 2015 to do it again?

Why assume he will make more shady business deals and get shaky sponsors? Maybe he will get his 4 or 5 million Euros and make it work.

In the past it seemed he rushed into things, couldn't make the money work, and was so desperate to get to Le Mans that he cut whatever deals he could regardless of whether they were risky.

What about considering that he finds a few backers who feel as we do and actually gets the support he deserves?

I agree, a more measured approach might have been to start in P2, but on the other hand, the guy knows what to do, he just hasn't known how to raise the money to do it. Let him get a few solid backers and a real car and motor and maybe we will all be pleasantly surprised.

There is doubt that Pescarolo's most successful years was the years of stabile and massive supports like Playstation/Gran Turismo.
So to see a successful Henri Pescarolo back, requires this kind of Support, but again, Henri Pescarolo is a name which can lure these massive supports away from more secure teams like Rebellion.

But mentioning Playstation/Gran Turismo, has Microsoft/Xbox/Forza Motorsport any sponsorship at Le Mans currentley? The only car carrying Xbox sponsoring I can think of, off the top of my head, is the first years of the Peugeot 908.
With Gran Turismo's massive involvement together with Nissan in Motorsport, Forza Motorsport could be interested in getting involved again/more?
(They did sponsor one of the chicanes in 2012 and set up a Game Tent. Source)

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

In the past it seemed he rushed into things, couldn't make the money work, and was so desperate to get to Le Mans that he cut whatever deals he could regardless of whether they were risky.

Digging into this, how many deals were rushed into? The 2012 experience springs to mind fairly obviously, but I'm not sure that any of the other years as a team owner qualify for this. The Sora engagement turned sour at the end, but at the outset there was a lot of optimism, it paid for the 2009 ILMC, and it was only at the tail end of things that Py pulled the plug in fairly acrimonious circumstances.

I recall there being comment that his Courage Peugeots weren't as quick as they should have been, given the amount of testing and finance behind them, but I'm not sure this was a case of not being able to make the finance work - and in any case their lack of success was relative - they were perfectly competitive against Lammers' Dome, just not really there against an Audi R8.

[avvelenamento]

If am I not wrong, peugeot was sponsored by microsoft xbox360 in 2008 and 2009. In 2010 and 2011 by playstation and gran turismo. Anyway I can't expect big sponsors will knock henri's door.

[Simmi]

Forza have (had?) a link up with SRT on the non-Pennzoil Viper.

[avvelenamento]

team risi's 430 (can't remember the year) had forza 2 sponsorship



can't remember peugeot.