Ferrari chassis + engine rumour

[ss_collins]

New A1GP car will be based on 2007 Ferrari F1

well maybe - it will have a Ferrari engine and the chassis will have Ferrari involvement - the stuff about being based on the F2007 I'm so so convinced of certainly thats not what I've heard from A1.

Incidentally - theres very little news beyond the Ferrari engine deal - A2 was sort of announced by Tony T in an interview I did with him last year (which appeared in the paddock magazine) in a later interview he revealed his F1 aspirations.


A1 has a good business model and its here to stay - I for one really like it.

And Ferrari involvement will certainly help the credbilty - though will it put up the cost too much?

[Asa]

Ferrari has dealerships all over the world, too. This will certainly help when it comes to merchandising and promotion.

[NAC]

Originally Posted by ss_collins

well maybe - it will have a Ferrari engine and the chassis will have Ferrari involvement - the stuff about being based on the F2007 I'm so so convinced of certainly thats not what I've heard from A1.

Agree with you on that.

I wonder how much Bernie and Max will be leaning on Ferrari to make sure F1's image is not compromised.

This deal is just the kick up the arse A1GP needed

[spider]

1+1 does equal 2 after all

Great news for A1 this. Top job Texeira.

[Koulle]

Huge news!!!

I'm sure this will be a big step forward for the series.

[Kebab]

Stupidly I'm already more interested in next year than I am this year!

[gttouring]

CRipes!?
this rumor now solid crazy?!
What will become of A1GP now?

[chemhead1]

All I can say is...."well I'll be damned." Interesting move by both parties involved IMO. I remember talk about how these current A1 cars would be replaced by something much more faster and the old A1 cars would be used for regional. Wonder how this will play out...

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

Lola - Former ChampCar, F3000, F3 I think ...

And a profile on F1 rejects!

Actually, they've got Formula Nippon as well. It's SOMETHING.

[SALEEN S7R]

Indeed and the LMP's Lola produce are far more sophisticated than F3,WSR, IRL and GP2 cars. The only reason they are slower than a GP2 car is the extra weight the rules state the cars must be. A top LMP1 is 1-2 secs a lap faster than a top WSR car, as for IRL I dont really know but the cars in the ALMS are only 1-2 secs a lap slower than the Champcars which in turn are signicantly faster than IRL cars.

Anyway sorry mods, back to topic.

[JohnMiller]

Originally Posted by chemhead1

Actually, they've got Formula Nippon as well. It's SOMETHING.

I thought Swift USA had it now?

Don't misunderstand my original post though, I've got a lot of time for Lola.

[NAC]

Originally Posted by spider

Here’s a little theory. GP2 Asia seems to have been rather hurriedly put together. 4 days of testing and the race within a week kind of gives that impression.

Then Ferrari’s Sporting Director was seen at Silverstone at the first A1 test, McLaren are hit with a huge fine to appease Ferrari and Texeira mentioned in his Autosport interview they had some truly astounding news to break to the motorsport world.

Ok, this is purely my 1+1 = 987,000 view on things, but what if:

* Ferrari and A1GP have struck an agreement from 2008/09 season onwards to supply engine/chassis.
* Bernie, Flavio and Bruno get wind of this development and hurriedly assemble GP2 Asia to counteract A1 and get the series established before the new Ferrari A1GP cars get underway.
* To keep Ferrari onside, their appeal is successful and McLaren are punished severely.

Or…it’s all a coincidence.

spider I just thought someone should give you a nice big pat on the back for your 1+1 assessment.

[nkfan]

so these will be the only open wheel ferrari's other than the f1 right !!

[Kiwi3]

Well done Spider.

Here's a thought: It seems TT is about to buy Toro Rosso, who happen to have a racing car manufacturing facility lying around doing not much since they are using Red Bull chassis. If TT does buy them the common thinking is that they'll be a Ferrari F1 customer team and using Ferrari F1 chassis, so this facility will still be available.

Minardi produced a fleet of two seater F1 cars so I wonder if the capacity is enough to build the A1GP cars (or were the two seater F1 cars built in Ledbury - if so is that part of what Toro Rosso own?).

TT could therefore be earning a nice little sum building the cars for the series he runs...

[climb]

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Indeed and the LMP's Lola produce are far more sophisticated than F3,WSR, IRL and GP2 cars. The only reason they are slower than a GP2 car is the extra weight the rules state the cars must be. A top LMP1 is 1-2 secs a lap faster than a top WSR car, as for IRL I dont really know but the cars in the ALMS are only 1-2 secs a lap slower than the Champcars which in turn are signicantly faster than IRL cars.

Anyway sorry mods, back to topic.

Saleen,

a racing car of a certain series is not better than one racing in the others because is faster: everyone knows that each series have their own rulebooks stating the HP limits.

What makes a big difference between Dallara and Lola is that in the last 10 yrs Dallara have won every challenge they undertook, whereas Lola lost them mostly: just consider that, if nothing new intervenes, at the end of 2008 Lola will be out of OW racing, having lost both A1 and FNippon.

And about LMP racing, ok , i'm not a fan of it, but I cannot remember of astonishing wins by Lola in the last few years.

Memories of a glorious past must be refreshed from time to time by current achievements, if you want to talk about prestige.

Otherwise it's just nostalgia.

[spider]

Originally Posted by NAC

spider I just thought someone should give you a nice big pat on the back for your 1+1 assessment.

Cheers pal.

This is a truly massive development for A1...

[spider]

i wonder how much Mr Weber had to do with it too. Schueys' appearance at the end-of-season awards was a bit of a coup and perhaps got the ball rolling...

[NikkiM]

Lola has won the LMP2 class Le Mans 24 for the last 4 years!

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by nkfan

so these will be the only open wheel ferrari's other than the f1 right !!

From what I've seen in the press releases the chassis will be developed 'with' Ferrari and the cars will be badged as 'powered by Ferrari' so the cars won't actually be Ferraris (no idea who will do the construction though?) but the engine will be pure Ferrari (with a 'boost' button?).

I hope the car is designed from a blank sheet - aero needs to be carefully monitored to make sure the cars can still follow each other so if they use the F2007 as a basis then it'll need all the wafty winglets etc etc removing otherwise A1 will become just as processional as F1. Any news on tyres? A move to Bridgestone?

To be honest I'd rather have seen A1 continue with an independent chassis firm like Lola or Dallara or at least hook up with a manufacturer that isn't in F1.

[F.O.F.]

great new's
here's hoping they stick V12s in them....

[Valker]

"The new engine will still be a V8, but it is not known if there will be an increase in engine capacity yet."
http://www.a1gp.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?newsId=39209

[duke_toaster]

Hmmm ... what about the F1 engine rev limited a lot but increased in capacity. Get the F1 cars, but remove all the winglets and give 'em slicks ...

[gttouring]

now ferrari is going to support and build champcars
a turbo ferrari !
does any one believe this?

[NAC]

Dallara rumored to be building the chassis plus licensing agreement deal that all merchandise to use the Ferrari name and phrase "Powered by Ferrari"

[Valker]

Some updates from Italiaracing (not confirmed):

- Car will be designed by Rory Byrne and John Travis
- Gianmaria Bruni and Jaime Melo will do the desting
- Engine is a "custom build" (not based on any existing Ferrari engine?) 650hp V8
- ATR Group is selected to manufacture the car

[NAC]

Interesting, Valker how reliable is that??

(not questioning you, just want to know how solid the info may be)