Quote:
Originally Posted by mayhem
Honest question: What does a manufacturer bring these days outside of dollars? Aren't they little more than a large sponsor to the sport these days?
And if not, surely this is the wake up call Supercars needs to run the sport without any manufacturer involvement.
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It's not that easy, I'm afraid, because cars are not like most other products.
People have emotionally charged relationships to their cars in a way that they don't have for dishwashers, energy drinks or gas stations. And thus, the involvement of car manufacturers gives people an easy entry point into the series, as they can root for "their" manufacturer, i.e. the one that made the car in their driveway. Without a team to follow it really is just 'guys going in circles', but if you have manufacturers involved, you give people an easy thing to latch onto and if "their guys" are doing well, it actually validates their purchasing decisions, which - let's face it - is one of the biggest investments people usually make in their lives, so it's something they naturally want to feel good about.
Now, in non-motorsports people separate themselves into 'tribes' according to geographic proximity, i.e. they tend to follow the team from their hometown or their country's national team, but all attempts to establish something like that in motorsports like A1 GP or that formula series where teams linked up with soccer clubs have fallen flat.
Then, there's also the aspect of credibility that manufacturer involvement lends to a series, because billion dollar companies racing - and spending - in a series is seen as a sign that the series is important - and not just 'guys going in circles' again.
The only other product that people are as emotionally invested in and lends itself as well to tribalism as cars are probably mobile phones with the whole Samsung/Android vs Apple thing, but good luck getting those brands involved involved in racing as sponsors, let alone in a more significant way as owners or designers.
Series like Formula 2 or ELMS actually give us a pretty good glimpse at what "manufacturer free" racing is like - and guess what? - there just aren't a whole lot of people following that, even though the racing is as good or better than in F1, the WEC or IMSA. But without manufacturers involved they just lack a certain "je ne sais quoi".
So all in all, car manufacturers actually
do bring a lot to racing that other sponsors don't.