[Rules] Simtek 2.0, Epsilon Euskadi, Ray Mallock and Campos planning 2010?

[duke_toaster]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75440

This is interesting, as Epsilon Euskadi were speculated as being the European satellite of USF1. RML in F1 could be interesting, but do they have experience of building single seaters? Campos are even more doubtful unless they get someone like Dallara to build the cars. Perhaps Nick Wirth could bring things over his Acura LMP project? Would be interesting to have the Simtek name back in F1.

[ECW Dan Selby]

MTV Simtek, please!!! What beautiful cars, they were..

And also I really hope this thing doesn't get dragged out. It's incredibly frustrating seeing these teams throw their dummies out simply to keep the new teams out (not purely..). I'd rather new teams replace the current crop who see fit to continue this political war, tbh. It's so, so tiresome.

Selby

[duke_toaster]

It's not so much of an issue of keeping teams out, more one of a bizzare 2 teams system that no-one wants. No-one wants to have a system where the lower cost teams have a ridiculous technical advantage.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Absolutely, but even if that's abolished arn't Ferrari still opposing the actual budget cap? that's my point. Anyone who isn't interesting in reducing costs/allowing the sport to grow again needs to leave, imo. Regardless of what history they have in the sport etc, if they arn't happy with today's climate, they should go. It's not fair putting the show on hold just because they arn't content. While I agree that a 2 tier system would be unfair, I can't help but feel this budget cap is what we need.

Selby

[johntt]

Hmm 8 teams of two cars each = 16 cars
+ Brawn and Williams with 2 cars each = 20 cars.

Enough for one championship that can run the government cheque races that Bernie loves so much, meanwhile the manufacturers can break away, buy out A1GP and pick up all the good tracks like Monaco, Spa et al (and without having to service CVC's debt the tracks would be able to make a profit).

Sounds good to me

[Fogelhund]

Epsilon Euskadi, the team who bailed on Sportscars this season, due to a lack of funds... is going to run an F1 team? Hmmmm

[nycuk]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Epsilon Euskadi, the team who bailed on Sportscars this season, due to a lack of funds... is going to run an F1 team? Hmmmm

It's probably easier to raise funding for F1 than for sportscars.

[Sodemo]

I dont understand fully what the teams are moaning about. The 40 million figure is simply for developing the car - correct? So that means then that with driver salaries, hospitality and all the rest of the costs, "big" teams are still going to be chewing through close to 100 Million...

[jab]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I dont understand fully what the teams are moaning about. The 40 million figure is simply for developing the car - correct? So that means then that with driver salaries, hospitality and all the rest of the costs, "big" teams are still going to be chewing through close to 100 Million...

It's because it's got nothing to do with the cap really

This whole "we can't downsize" argument is just an excuse - they're more than prepared to just shut their teams down, which would waste a hell of a lot more. Even Honda saw it as less costly to sell than to shut down

[Gingers4Justice]

This is Epsilon Euskadi's LMP. With a limited budget, they produced a quick car with advanced aerodynamics. While it was never a top 15 car, I was impressed.

This team I feel would do very well with a budget cap. They have quite an advanced facillity - the issue would be sponsorship. Look at that car - no sponsors on it at all - it couldn't even find any for Le Mans 24 hours.

[jab]

As mentioned earlier, it'll be easier to attract sponsorship and investment for something more high profile like F1, especially if it brands itself as the "Spanish national team"

They've got sponsorship in WSR, as well as a handy line-up in Valles and van der Drift

[Félix]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I dont understand fully what the teams are moaning about. The 40 million figure is simply for developing the car - correct? So that means then that with driver salaries, hospitality and all the rest of the costs, "big" teams are still going to be chewing through close to 100 Million...

...And race according to rules even more ridiculous than what we've been seeing in the last few years. That's the issue, with the rich teams left with the slower rules and still no way to differenciate the cars when they're not painted.

They're gonna go elsewhere, where they have a bit more freedom; in fact where the supposed new teams are supposedly going to be coming from.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by jab

As mentioned earlier, it'll be easier to attract sponsorship and investment for something more high profile like F1, especially if it brands itself as the "Spanish national team"

They've got sponsorship in WSR, as well as a handy line-up in Valles and van der Drift

the Le Mans 24 hours is every bit as high profile, with 250,000 fans of all nationalities - thats on Indy 500 levels. If you can't find one-off sponsorship for that event, you're going to struggle.

[jab]

It's a one-off event not many people actually watch outside of the hardcore fans that actually go there. And Indy isn't far off that these days as well

It might be high profile in a motor racing sense but in the grand scheme of things, it's nowhere near as popular as F1, which is pretty much the most watched sport in the world (or something like that). Millions watch it

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by jab

It's a one-off event not many people actually watch outside of the hardcore fans that actually go there. And Indy isn't far off that these days as well

It might be high profile in a motor racing sense but in the grand scheme of things, it's nowhere near as popular as F1, which is pretty much the most watched sport in the world (or something like that). Millions watch it

Perhaps not in the UK, but Le Mans gets something like 25 millions viewers world wide.

But yes, I agree, Formula One is generally more popular. The other issue with Le Mans is that there are 55 cars spread out on an 8 mile circuit - far less exposure!

[JAG]

Originally Posted by jab

It's a one-off event not many people actually watch outside of the hardcore fans that actually go there. And Indy isn't far off that these days as well

It might be high profile in a motor racing sense but in the grand scheme of things, it's nowhere near as popular as F1, which is pretty much the most watched sport in the world (or something like that). Millions watch it

Millions watch it, few actually take much notice of events other than their favourite driver, hence F1's popularity in Spain when Alonso came to the fore.

[jab]

Originally Posted by JAG

Millions watch it, few actually take much notice of events other than their favourite driver, hence F1's popularity in Spain when Alonso came to the fore.

But that's still far more than Le Mans. There's no way more people watch Le Mans than F1 given that one is live on free-to-air TV in Britain whilst the other is tucked away on a satellite channel. That is the same for most countries. Plus I should think prospective sponsors would relate to F1 more than Le Mans, which although is reasonably well known for a racing event isn't known nationwide

Meanwhile, Addax have denied they're entering, so I take it that the Campos thing is Adrian on his own...

[Teretonga]

Television viewing figures are not representative of the value or real publicity value of a sport when taken in isolation except for marketing guru's wanting to extract more money from advertisers.

LeMans attendance is still huge over the 48 hours leading up to the event and it would be a very simple step from the present to go an hours live coverage of the first and last hour of the event with half hour live updates every three or four hours during the event.

If you added BMW, Ferrari, Renault and Toyota to the present mix it would easily grab the imaginations of half a billion people quite quickly as did the Ford-Ferrari battles in the mid sixties and become significantly more important inn Europe than the Indy 500, and the Daytona 500 are in North America, and far more important internationally than any single motorport event in the world.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

Television viewing figures are not representative of the value or real publicity value of a sport when taken in isolation except for marketing guru's wanting to extract more money from advertisers.

LeMans attendance is still huge over the 48 hours leading up to the event and it would be a very simple step from the present to go an hours live coverage of the first and last hour of the event with half hour live updates every three or four hours during the event.

If you added BMW, Ferrari, Renault and Toyota to the present mix it would easily grab the imaginations of half a billion people quite quickly as did the Ford-Ferrari battles in the mid sixties and become significantly more important inn Europe than the Indy 500, and the Daytona 500 are in North America, and far more important internationally than any single motorport event in the world.

I can't believe how much the British media ignore Le Mans, nearly 100,000 Brits go there now (second biggest pilgrimage only to the World Cup). And they're not all "die hard" fans. I know some who just go there to party and soak up the atmosphere!

[jab]

The world has changed a lot since the 1960s. Everything has to be instant to serve audiences with a short attention span. I don't think a modern audience would take to Le Mans and endurance racing these days because they wouldn't have the patience to sit through a 6 or 12 or 24 hour race. Why do you think the 24 hour coverage of Le Mans is on Eurosport whilst the don't even have any on terrestrial, and before that only had the end on ITV? People generally just tune in to watch the start and end

Endurance racing isn't as popular as it was not because we don't have a Ford vs Ferrari battle - we have Audi vs Peugeot right now, with Aston joining. It's not as popular because the world has changed and people have changed. I don't believe that if Ferrari and co went over that it would become far more popular overnight. It's very much a niche genre - you either like it a lot or you don't. It's a bit underground. It would gain some fans but I think the majority of tifosi and the like would lose interest because it doesn't have the action F1 has (or is perceived to have)

I watch Le Mans every year and I follow endurance racing but that won't change just because there are more or less manufacturers in it. I think the majority of people would be the same. Endurance racing will never hit the heights it has hit (or allegedly hit, in Group C's case) again. It's the motorsport equivalent of test cricket - it's too specialised, and we're moving in an opposite direction in the sporting world in general. The only way I see it become more popular is if it removes the one factor that makes it stand out - endurance. And I doubt the purists would be happy if the 24 Hours of Le Mans became the 24 Minutes of Le Mans

[RaiseYourFist]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

This is Epsilon Euskadi's LMP. With a limited budget, they produced a quick car with advanced aerodynamics. While it was never a top 15 car, I was impressed.

This team I feel would do very well with a budget cap. They have quite an advanced facillity - the issue would be sponsorship. Look at that car - no sponsors on it at all - it couldn't even find any for Le Mans 24 hours.

?

[kipper]

Originally Posted by jab

Meanwhile, Addax have denied they're entering, so I take it that the Campos thing is Adrian on his own...

I'd assumed that the entry was made by Adrian Campos only, for his former team has dropped his name from their title.

With regards to other team the fact that Epsilon Euskadi features is no great surprise given that Joan Villadelprat has long been quoted as being keen to run a Spanish F1 team. Ray Mallock Ltd are a surprise, however, they do have a tradition of constructing their own cars, although perhaps not on the scale of a F1 car.

Nick Wirth's concern entering is a surprise given that the last time he ran was Simtek back in '95. I do wonder whether this entry (and Mark Preston's Formtech, which is rumoured to have entered) will seek to join up with another prospective team in that they would design and build the cars, whilst the partner team races them.

[jab]

Formtech were rumoured to be going in with Colin Kolles. So usual Kolles candidates for drivers - Albers, Karthikeyan, Mondini, Bakkerud etc

It really does sound like an early 90s backmarker. I see a black, white and red livery not unlike that of Fondmetal...

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by RaiseYourFist

?

Le Mans has 55 cars not 20, so a top 15 car in its first season on a limited budget is impressive, especially when you've made your own car rather than race a customer car

[RaiseYourFist]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Le Mans has 55 cars not 20, so a top 15 car in its first season on a limited budget is impressive, especially when you've made your own car rather than race a customer car

55 cars but only around 20-25 are LMP1