|
Wearing my optimistic hat, I figure the more viable designs we have out there the more feasible it is that some of them will see the light of day, if for no other reason that it makes the pitch to backers more persuasive.
At the moment, let's say you want to go LMP1 racing next year, you've got a bit of cash to get the ball rolling, but you need backers. Right now an obvious question would be, "okay, so what chassis / engine lineup are you looking at?", to which up until now all you could say would be "Lotus, or maybe some other vapourware projects", which doesn't sound all that thought through.
Now you could be in a position where you can say "We've talked to Lotus and run some numbers, but right now we're keen to go down the Perrin route, because we feel it's a less compromised package by being focused on LMP1 and benefits from looking at some of the lessons learned of 2013", which straight away is a lot more persuasive.
Will we see a Perrin on the grid next year? Perhaps we won't, but if nothing else the exercise of someone getting out there and doing the design studies is another good vote of confidence in the WEC, and a sign that people are moving beyond the overall tooth sucking about how the 2014 regs are absolutely impossible for a privateer that you hear in some bits of the media.
|