Minardi - Minardi Works...

[Gt_R]

An article in autosports reported that Minardi, while preferring the use of a year 2001 Ferrari or Cosworth engine, could be in a healthy position to produce their own engine in house!!!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!!! Sauber tried but gave up...Arrows tried by financially involved with HART...cocked up too...and the tiniest team Minardi is going to do it? The engine is well under developement and according to Paul, capable of 800bhp... *gasp*

I dont doubt Paul, but i think its hard for them to get off the back of the grid with their own engine. Toyota, with full testings, 3 year developement and huge budget had difficulty matching the mid field teams... Does Minardi have a secret? Moreover, Minardi has limited testing times due to small budget...they cannot even develope their car consistently...so isnt the engine project going to overtax the team?

I'm just concerned...yeah...i love to see a Minardi Works...but i'd prefer to see them higher up the midfields first!

GOOD LUCK PAUL!

[Minardi fan]

Woweeeeeeeee!!! A Minardi works team can only be a good thing - not having to rely on an engine supplier anymore. If no-one wants to supply them, then why not make their own and screw the opposition?!

This would explain why they were able to design the 2002 chassis so early... hmmm...

[Airhead]

Well GT_R,

I like you don't get it.

Every man and his dog is after a major car manufacturer to supply an engine and Minardi are going it alone?

[Ferrari Girl]

Good luck to 'em I say!

[Bononi]

That can be interesting to see...

From where they'll begin ?

[Total-F1]

They already make their own engines - Ford were only forced by Bernie Ecclestone to give Minardi the blueprints to the engines as far as I know - with Gabriele Rumi's Fondmetal company, and now European, Minardi have been building all their own engines with a little fine-tuning from these people...designing their own engine is merely the next step...

Their cars have been acknowledged as some of the best in recent years - they don't have the money to invest in new parts, though...

If they can get 800hp fair enough, but the real question for them is how light can they get the engine??:confused:

[Bononi]

Thanks Total-F1, it clarifies all.

[Tristan]

Ohhhh lodie lordie.

I don't know WHAT to think. On the one hand I would LOVE to see a Minardi - Minardi on the grid and I wish them all the very best should they go that way.

However, we ALL know what pathetic money they've got. HOW ON HELLS EARTH ARE THEY GOING TO PRODUCE AN ENGINE THAT HAS A HOPE IN HELL!!!???? Ohhhhhh Minardi Minardi Minardi, You do like to make me worry.....

[Maxmil]

Originally posted by Total-F1
They already make their own engines - Ford were only forced by Bernie Ecclestone to give Minardi the blueprints to the engines as far as I know - with Gabriele Rumi's Fondmetal company, and now European, Minardi have been building all their own engines with a little fine-tuning from these people...designing their own engine is merely the next step...

Total-F1: Are you saying that Minardi are now building the 1998 Cosworths under license?? Minardi actually built their own engines before. This was back in the 80's if I remember correctly. Somewhere back there Giancarlo Menardi started an engine fabricating company called Motori Moderni, Spa. They built their own engines for several years but they were never really very good. Do you think they will try again?? I will try to find out if Stoddard bought Motori Moderni along with the racing team, but it sounds like he did.

[Alan Jones]

Amazing, truly amazing. Maybe Paul has some major sponsorship to announce which will give him the neccessary funds to manufacture a half decent powerplant. Maybe he has a new, state of the art design which is gonna set the world on fire Maybe he has had one to many camparis and is loosing the plot. Whatever, I hope Paul is a little smarter than he looks at the moment.

[BBKing]

Originally posted by Minardi fan
Woweeeeeeeee!!! A Minardi works team can only be a good thing - not having to rely on an engine supplier anymore. If no-one wants to supply them, then why not make their own and screw the opposition?!

This would explain why they were able to design the 2002 chassis so early... hmmm...

That is the right spirit. LOL

Good luck

[Maxmil]

Further to the post above:

I cannot determine whether or not Motori Moderni is still in existance or not. Probably not, but the Fondmetal Group clearly seem to have the resources and people to design and build a whole F1 car, complete with engine. At one - early nineties - point, Fondmetal controlled and managed the Minardi team, built the cars, and built the motors under license from Cosworth. In sum, I can see no reason why they could not design a motor for the present Minardi team and build it.

Historically however, these non OEM motors have not been terribly succesful. For example, the Motori Moderni motor was a 1,5L, Turbocharged V6 which Team Minardi used for most of 1985 and all of 1986 and 1987. They managed 68 retirements in 46 events, most of which appear to relate to the engine. Don't hold your breath fans.

[Bononi]

Wait, wait, waaaiiittt....

I thought about fondmetal at first... but then Total-F1 explained about Ford giving their blueprints... wich is damn good, now Maxmill said that they were always terrible (what I can remember well), so hey, what's the point ? Building their own engines as before is a step back... :confused:

[Maxmil]

Originally posted by Bononi
Wait, wait, waaaiiittt.... I thought about fondmetal at first... but then Total-F1 explained about Ford giving their blueprints... wich is damn good, now Maxmill said that they were always terrible (what I can remember well), so hey, what's the point ? Building their own engines as before is a step back... :confused:

Hold on there for a second, I just wanted to check that Fondmetal had the equipment and people to DESIGN and build an engine, which they do seem to have. Up until now, they have not DESIGNED an engine, only tweaked and currently are building (Under a license.) various Cosworths. The reference to Motori Moderni is to a company - also owned by Giancarlo Minardi - which DESIGNED and built a very unsuccesful engine for the racing team Minardi in the 80's. Based on that and other experiences with engines NOT designed by the big car builders (Ford, GM, Daimler, etc., or "OEM's".), my own conclusion - just like yours - is that this new effort by Fondmetal will also fail. It is indeed, "a step back" exactly as you say.

[Minardi fan]

At Hockenheim, the Minardis were running with the Magnum logo on the nose-cone for the first time. Seems like the $$$$ is starting to roll in from the Yoong deal already...

[Bononi]

Originally posted by Maxmil

Hold on there for a second, I just wanted to check that Fondmetal had the equipment and people to DESIGN and build an engine, which they do seem to have. Up until now, they have not DESIGNED an engine, only tweaked and currently are building (Under a license.) various Cosworths. The reference to Motori Moderni is to a company - also owned by Giancarlo Minardi - which DESIGNED and built a very unsuccesful engine for the racing team Minardi in the 80's. Based on that and other experiences with engines NOT designed by the big car builders (Ford, GM, Daimler, etc., or "OEM's".), my own conclusion - just like yours - is that this new effort by Fondmetal will also fail. It is indeed, "a step back" exactly as you say.

[Tristan]

OK, thinking with my HEAD and NOT my heart, I have to say the sooner they put a Ferrari in there the better. An in-house engine is NOT going to do the job. They just cannot even BEGIN to afford the development costs of building a competitive (that is the buzz word people may be likely to forget - COMPETITIVE) engine.

Put a Ferrari in their for now, get some points, get some results, get some sponsors, get some money, get some drivers and THEN think about an in-house engine (if they MUST!!).

If they do it now then Minardi could be in REAL trouble by the end of next year.

Ohhhhh I WORRY!!!

[Minardi fan]

That's cos you are a big girlie T.

[Tristan]

Right, this is WAR, Mr Fan.

USE YOUR HEAD!!! A Minardi-Minardi at this stage in time will FAIL!! PUT A FLIPPIN FERRARI IN IT!!! LOOK AT SAUBER (conveniantly ignore Prost. They're rubbish)

[LucaBadoer]

Don't do it Paul, just get a few of 'em prancing horses to shove in the back of the cars...

[Minardi fan]

I would say that Minardi would be better off to use the Ferrari engines next season, and introduce their works engine in 2003. They can get a lot of development done throughout 2002, even pinch a few ideas from Ferrari , and make sure they get it done right.

Whatever happens, I'd say that genuinely, the future for Minardi is looking much brighter.

Good luck to them.

[Bononi]

Oh my... GOOD LUCK MINARDI !!!!!

[Victor Broccoli]

Note that Stoddart is looking at engine companies outside of F1. And Minardi is on a 5-year plan to move up to midfield.

So, could the Minardi plan go a bit like this? They design their own engines for next year. Then, they approach a non-F1 company (GM group company or a VAG company) and say: here's the start to our engine. You take the reigns and put your expertise towards it.

Could this just be a plan to reel in GM or Audi?

It'll be a lot better than the Life engine, but not nearly as good at the Ferrari. But a tad worse than the Toyota (whom, like BMW, have been snitching expertise off of Mecachrome)

[SL]

I've been following this topic with interest, maybe the answer is above.

Could Bernie have made Ferrari (or ANother) give Minardi an engine as he seems to have done before. After all it will increase the price of the team and thus F1. If that supplier did not want their name on the engine at first in case it failed, then perhaps they would agree to a re-engineer with the Minardi name having given them the blueprints and support. If it came good then 2003would have 'new' factory support?

Anyway best of luck, they will need it !

SL

[badoer fan]

Apparently (according to RJ the owner of www.forzaminardi.com) Tyrrell were considering building their own engine at the end, so when PS bought their equipment, he also purchased an entire engine dept. But I still ask - where is the money coming from for this? Get a Ferrari for next year, and then attract a works engine (which is, suspiciously, what PS said he already had ready to announce in Canada. Can you say sponsor attraction?).