View Single Post
Old 24 Feb 2012, 16:16 (Ref:3030451)   #457
AGD
Veteran
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 2,261
AGD should be qualifying in the top 10 on the gridAGD should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
Quote:
Originally Posted by Salamus View Post
NASCAR and Indy are very much different from sports car racing. NASCAR listens to suggestions made by manufacturers (example: trying to make the cars more road relevant) but NASCAR decides the size of the engines, what fuel is used, what tires, etc. Indycar is basically a spec series, and once again, the manufacturers only care about the engine regs.
Although this is more or less true, even Indycar/USAC/CART in the past dictated the terms and not the manufacturers in most cases. Of course, things were a bit more confined even in CART than in sports cars in terms of engine type and fuels, but there were still different engine designs and technologies. Manufacturers were involved with the chassis as well. Ferrari built their own Indycar chassis (but never ran it), Porsche had March build them a bespoke chassis, and I believe Alfa's Marches were bespoke as well. Manufacturers generally did not get involved in chassis construction in CART/USAC, but they always could have if they wanted to.

I think the difference is the source of money. In American racing, money is primarily funneled from private sponsors to private teams. Manufacturers are involved in the mix as well, but it's a real "team" effort so to speak. In European racing, it seems to be more of a manufacturer-only focus. I'm not so sure if that's the right way. Manufacturers do dominate in sports car racing on both sides of the pond, but I'm not so sure if that's the way things should be. The new regs are supposed to be quite wide open. Why all the fuss? That is assuming there is a fuss that is. Perhaps a few cheapskate manufacturers are wanting cost controls and others do not?
AGD is offline  
Quote