Lola into administration!

[Japanese Samurai]

Minoru Hayashi (president of Dome) always says that the business which sells prototype to privator is not realistic in sportscar market.
He says that one-make car business or business from automotive manufacturer is realistic.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by Japanese Samurai

Minoru Hayashi (president of Dome) always says that the business which sells prototype to privator is not realistic in sportscar market

So , Hugh de Chaunac has it all wrong ?

[alexkiller8]

Originally Posted by Japanese Samurai

Minoru Hayashi (president of Dome) always says that the business which sells prototype to privator is not realistic in sportscar market.
He says that one-make car business or business from automotive manufacturer is realistic.

a sentence like that makes me think more like The Fox and the Grapes fable... lola first and oreca currently have built a good market supplying cars for private teams.

[ubrben]

Originally Posted by alexkiller8

a sentence like that makes me think more like The Fox and the Grapes fable... lola first and oreca currently have built a good market supplying cars for private teams.

You think Oreca's profit comes from selling 03s???? They are a massive business that does all sorts of other motorsport activities.

Lola went into administration before the current owners bailed it out.

Dallara makes money, but has much, much higher volumes of single-seaters.

HPD sell a tiny volume and most of the infrstructure was presumably paid for by HPD when they developed the factory cars.

Ben

[alexkiller8]

Originally Posted by ubrben

You think Oreca's profit comes from selling 03s????

i don't work as accountant technician for oreca, but i guess that oreca doesn't build and sell their oreca 03 (and spare parts) for fun or for hobby...

[The Badger]

Or the LMPC either .....

[ubrben]

Originally Posted by alexkiller8

i don't work as accountant technician for oreca, but i guess that oreca doesn't build and sell their oreca 03 (and spare parts) for fun or for hobby...

It's probably closer to hobby (passion might be a better word) than you would believe.

But all I'm saying is that I find it unlikely that Oreca would produce the car it does without the rest of it's supporting business.

Lets not forget that the tub for the 03 and the LMPC car is based on the Courage LMP tub, so it came designed and with tooling from the remnants of another company that, you guessed it, went bust.

Ben

[alexkiller8]

oreca started to be a manufacter after they BOUGHT the courage company... we all know that oreca01, oreca03 and FLM09 are built using LC chassis as base. This is not a mistery. But i disagree about your opinion that oreca successfully works in private supplier market just for passion.

[gwyllion]

@alexkiller8: You need to be realistic. With the cost cap it is hardly possible to make money selling LMP2 cars. Last year, we had the whole cost cap vs non-cost cap mess because some manufacturers could not make their cars cheap enough. In 2011 Oreca did not run with a fin because designing the fin would increase the cost of the car above the cost cap.

[alexkiller8]

hardly they gain A LOT of money, this is true, but isn't true that oreca doesn't earn profit selling their cars.
I "realisticly" think that oreca sells the oreca 03 (cost capped) with a higher price than the cost of production, so this generates a profit. More cars are sold and the more profit they reach (and if you just watch the LM entry list, they sell a lot of cars). For sure enter in this niche market requires a lot of passion, but can' be denied the economic matter of all this.

Talking about passion, maybe teams like JLOC, the proton #63 or sebastian loeb team can be said that run just for passion.

[Joe Taylor]

Originally Posted by Japanese Samurai

Minoru Hayashi (president of Dome) always says that the business which sells prototype to privator is not realistic in sportscar market.
He says that one-make car business or business from automotive manufacturer is realistic.

I heard exactly that from Dallara last week - they won't be making an LMP any time soon because there's no money to be made.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by ubrben

It's probably closer to hobby (passion might be a better word) than you would believe.

But all I'm saying is that I find it unlikely that Oreca would produce the car it does without the rest of it's supporting business.

Lets not forget that the tub for the 03 and the LMPC car is based on the Courage LMP tub, so it came designed and with tooling from the remnants of another company that, you guessed it, went bust.

Ben

It doesnt matter when or who designed it , its being commisioned by Oreca , and tooled up by Oreca , and he makes money from it . They also made money from the Acura chassis ..... or did they do that for fun too ?

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

@alexkiller8: You need to be realistic

Hugh de Chaunac owns a buisness called Oreca . Oreca opperate to make a profit , right or wrong . Oreca are a pretty big company within the motorsports industry , doing many things in many arena's .

Whats wrong with the idea that Oreca makes money from their P2 and LMPC chassis builds ..... some people here seem to think Oreca are doing this for fun , passion or other reasons .

Fun & passion doesnt put bread on the table , or am I wrong ?

I fully agree , some people need to be realistic .

[alexkiller8]

Originally Posted by Joe Taylor

I heard exactly that from Dallara last week - they won't be making an LMP any time soon because there's no money to be made.

Dallara is currently involved in a lot of open wheel competition, no surprise that they are not intersted in lmp or other competition. I think that they will change their mind if a manufacter knocks to their door for a lmp project...

[The Badger]

I was under the impression Dallara do the layup for Audi ?

[alexkiller8]

dallara was involved in the r8 project and development; while for the r10 built the tub and other components.

[Joe Taylor]

Dallara do work with Audi on the development of their cars, but the point I intended to make was that they wouldn't consider making an LMP customer car.

[R4z3rw33n]

Originally Posted by Joe Taylor

Dallara do work with Audi on the development of their cars, but the point I intended to make was that they wouldn't consider making an LMP customer car.

Exactly - there's no real reasoning for Dallara to attempt this. They're enjoying all the benefits of a monopoly, being supplier to a spec series.
Designing an LMP customer car means they'd have to compete with other constructors and, for a far lesser profit margin (by the sounds of it).

[CTD]

Well no Bombshell yet...
Was it all smoke with no fire? (well the smoke wasn't really there, only the word that it was)

[MitchZ06]

Toyota lunching an engine at MotorLand? That's a bit of smoke...

[The Badger]

I have it on excellant authority that there is no issue with Lola , so dont ask .

Glad that rumour has been put to bed , and shame on the stirrers .

[frenchyben]

Badger, hope you're right but not so sure... very reliable source as well.
time will tell...
all the best.

[gwyllion]

Recent tweets regarding the potential bad news from Lola.

Originally Posted by @stephen_wills

@dsceditor @GUYSMITH16 I've heard on several grapevines that Lola Cars have gone out of business. True?

Originally Posted by @dsceditor

@sbeuse @johndagys No news isn't bad news - yet!

[Joe Taylor]

Originally Posted by R4z3rw33n

Exactly - there's no real reasoning for Dallara to attempt this. They're enjoying all the benefits of a monopoly, being supplier to a spec series.
Designing an LMP customer car means they'd have to compete with other constructors and, for a far lesser profit margin (by the sounds of it).

Interestingly, I was also told that they would prefer to compete against others than supply a spec series. You can't have it both ways...

[Henri vitex]

Originally Posted by The Badger

I have it on excellant authority that there is no issue with Lola , so dont ask .

Glad that rumour has been put to bed , and shame on the stirrers .

I would question your "excellent authority" Badger. Keep your eyes on the press!

I think you will find that us French know our stuff.