Formula Superfund cancels first round - Page 3

bradrive · 19 Jan 2005, 13:25 (Ref:1204680)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Jinxx

******. It was a **** weekend.

Jinxx, 4 questions: 1: Are you never sleeping? 2 (seriously): What is YOUR information of the current state of Formula Superfund 2005? 3: Where is the
prototype car currently, in Austria? 4: Was the first batch of 10 cars started?

Kicking-back · 19 Jan 2005, 14:44 (Ref:1204747)

Force 10 is no longer involved, I know that much.

DEADDUCK · 19 Jan 2005, 14:52 (Ref:1204757)

Who is Force 10?

Kicking-back · 19 Jan 2005, 14:57 (Ref:1204763)

The company (run by Paul Cherry) who were going to make the cars.

DEADDUCK · 19 Jan 2005, 15:05 (Ref:1204772)

So if they are not involved then I take it there will be no cars, hence no championship.

Kicking-back · 19 Jan 2005, 15:08 (Ref:1204775)

Production of the cars has supposedly been taken on by a Superfund partner in Austria - but I am sceptical...

DEADDUCK · 19 Jan 2005, 15:13 (Ref:1204780)

With good reason to be. Are there any teams who have said they are doing this series?

bradrive · 19 Jan 2005, 15:46 (Ref:1204799)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

Production of the cars has supposedly been taken on by a Superfund partner in Austria - but I am sceptical...

Zele?

sceptic · 19 Jan 2005, 16:31 (Ref:1204829)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradrive

Zele?

No, Zele have pulled out - they are going to do 3000 ProSeries instead.

I think their reason for not taking part was something to do with them not getting the contract to supply the wheels.

cybersdorf · 19 Jan 2005, 16:55 (Ref:1204851)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

Production of the cars has supposedly been taken on by a Superfund partner in Austria - but I am sceptical...

And what company are they talking about?

Kicking-back · 19 Jan 2005, 17:00 (Ref:1204857)

Do you know of any constructors in Austria who would make high-power single seater race cars?

cybersdorf · 19 Jan 2005, 17:11 (Ref:1204881)

...that's what I am getting at, I'd really like to know if there are any. I certainly don't know of any.

Mr Jinxx · 19 Jan 2005, 17:22 (Ref:1204899)

Problems with sleeping at the moment! Must be an age thing.

My information as to the Formula Superfund car is the same as everyone else's, I think. There has only been the one chassis built, as far as I'm aware. From the moment Superfund put that comment on their website that they were looking for a series backer, I started to doubt it would go ahead this year. For Superfund to say they won't do the first round in May but will make an announcement in May, means that it won't go ahead this year. As far as I'm aware, no teams have signed up, and I can't see how anyone could do so, if there is not to be an announcement before May.

I hope Superfund will get everything together to enable the series to go forward next year, properly funded, properly sorted, car fully tested, etc, etc. I would personally live without any qualifying gimmicks or the 5 second boost switch etc, which seems to me to dilute how serious a class it wants to be, and I suspect the teams may agree. At the end of the day, you can say what you like about it being appealing to the public, but if you can't appeal to the teams first, to get the cars bought and then the drivers to spend that sort of money, then the championship won't happen anyway.

We were looking at Formula Superfund, as well as GP2 and WS, and it was a bit of a setback when Superfund just stalled. Difficult to sell the product when there isn't a product. www.crash.net has a recent article on it, I see this morning.

cybersdorf · 19 Jan 2005, 17:30 (Ref:1204905)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Jinxx

I hope Superfund will get everything together to enable the series to go forward next year, properly funded, properly sorted, car fully tested, etc, etc.

What for? There are too many of them already.

bradrive · 19 Jan 2005, 19:38 (Ref:1204986)

Quote:

Originally Posted by sceptic

No, Zele have pulled out - they are going to do 3000 ProSeries instead.

I think their reason for not taking part was something to do with them not getting the contract to supply the wheels.

Zele's 3000Proseries involvment does not depend on the Superfund championship taking place or no. Wheel manufacturer Aez was initially going to transfer their sponsorship from 2004 FiaF3000 team "Durango 2" to Zele to do the 2005 Superfund championship involving M.Lauda, but they got impatient with the Superfund series organizer and will now increase their DTM sponsorship. I still believe the SF1 hardware being at this very moment at Zele.

bradrive · 19 Jan 2005, 19:41 (Ref:1204990)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

Do you know of any constructors in Austria who would make high-power single seater race cars?

Pankl, Sergio Rinland is there, they COULD do it theoretically

sceptic · 19 Jan 2005, 19:59 (Ref:1205009)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradrive

Zele's 3000Proseries involvment does not depend on the Superfund championship taking place or no. Wheel manufacturer Aez was initially going to transfer their sponsorship from 2004 FiaF3000 team "Durango 2" to Zele to do the 2005 Superfund championship involving M.Lauda, but they got impatient with the Superfund series organizer and will now increase their DTM sponsorship. I still believe the SF1 hardware being at this very moment at Zele.

Well that explains a few things.
It always bothered me that when the car was launched at the Nürburgring last October, there was a Zele Racing transporter in the paddock, even though they weren't racing that weekend.

So my theory is that Force 10 built the car, did the initial shakedown tests in the UK, then took the car to Germany for the launch - that would explain the Arena truck that was in the paddock.

Then after the launch, Zele took the car back to Austria in their truck, and later drove it around Europe for the Spain and Portugal tests, while the Arena truck went back to the UK empty.

Now at some point since then, Force 10 have made a decision to stop building cars. Maybe because Superfund hadn't paid them for the first one, which they no longer had as security? (my lawyer would like to point out that this is just speculation).

To go a step further, when the car was damaged in the Lemarie crash, perhaps only Force 10 had the ability to fix it, but were unwilling to do so? So the testing programme came to a halt, and with no sign of it resuming that would be why AEZ pulled out?

littleman · 19 Jan 2005, 20:25 (Ref:1205039)

This series is dead in the water,forget it, move on.

cybersdorf · 19 Jan 2005, 20:26 (Ref:1205041)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradrive

Pankl, Sergio Rinland is there, they COULD do it theoretically

They develop & build engine & drivetrain components, but not whole cars.
http://www.pankl.com

PCR builds racecars but nothing as sophisticated as Superfund wants.
http://www.prc.at

bradrive · 20 Jan 2005, 15:42 (Ref:1205725)

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybersdorf

They develop & build engine & drivetrain components, but not whole cars.
http://www.pankl.com

PCR builds racecars but nothing as sophisticated as Superfund wants.
http://www.prc.at

I have used parts from Pankl since 1989, they CAN do the WHOLE car if they want, whether they want is a different question. Btw, their new F3 gearbox is a very nice little compact piece of engineering indeed.
Pcr is a honest small company specializing in hillclimb sportscars and that is all they really do.

cybersdorf · 20 Jan 2005, 17:48 (Ref:1205810)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradrive

I have used parts from Pankl since 1989, they CAN do the WHOLE car if they want, whether they want is a different question. Btw, their new F3 gearbox is a very nice little compact piece of engineering indeed.

But, building the whole car would be taking this to another level - and someone would have to pay for it. Wouldn't this make the cars even more expensive? And, as you say - somehow I don't think Pankl wants to be in the racecar building business. I doubt they can make this effort pay by themselves (e.g. by becoming a full-blown constructor and building other cars as well) - aren't they better off developing components for customers? (And I certainly doubt they would want to start with an uncertain project such as this.)

Quote:

Pcr is a honest small company specializing in hillclimb sportscars and that is all they really do.

...and apart from these two, no other company in Austria comes close to matching Superfund's description.

Roninho · 20 Jan 2005, 22:16 (Ref:1205939)

Never heard of these companies. Are there many companies in europe capable of building a Superfund-type of car?

cybersdorf · 20 Jan 2005, 22:42 (Ref:1205944)

Yes there are a couple, most of them in Britain.

sceptic · 20 Jan 2005, 22:48 (Ref:1205950)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roninho

Never heard of these companies. Are there many companies in europe capable of building a Superfund-type of car?

Force 10 excepted, there's not many.

Lola, Dallara, Tatuus are the three which immediately sprint to mind.
Less likely are Penske, Apollo (do they still exist?), Ascari, Van Diemen?

Maybe one of the smaller F1 teams would do it - Minardi or Sauber?

That's probably it.

Mr Jinxx · 20 Jan 2005, 23:53 (Ref:1206000)

I watched the Force 10 operation, and was there when it was assembled for the first time. It was impressive, the car is impressive, and I hope it works for them all, Superfund, Force 10, all of them. There is a niche for a championship, if they can get it sorted and get it right. Watch A1GP too - they've found a perfect niche

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