Don't talk to me about Jaguar (or Ford), they are on the nose in the
Formula One world right now because of FoMoCo's decision to axe the Jaguar
team from F1 because of a downturn in the car market.
Ford has an illustrious F1 heritage but in taking this step they are
throwing it into the dustbin of history, and they've taken the Jaguar name
down with it. For the past few seasons they have cut the team's budget
dramatically and wondered why the team wasn't performing. The team
management has worked wonders this past year in spite of the lack of funds
they punched above their weight, they were just starting to turn things
around when the rug was pulled from under them.
Car companies use motorsport to sell cars (the operative word being
USE). They come into the sport because their marketing gurus say it's a
good thing to be involved in but they aren't prepared to see it through and
spend the necessary dollars to make a success of it.
But motorsport fans have longer memories than car company execs do - and we
resent the sport being used in such a cynical way, fans are the reason the
sport exists. Because of the beancounters enforcing this pullout there are
a lot of F1 fans who are NEVER going to buy a Ford product again, so if
they were worried they weren't selling enough cars now they are going to
find out that it's only going to get worse, we'll be buying their
competitor's products (the ones still supporting racing).
Obligatory OM content: Olympus is currently a sponsor of the Ferrari F1 team
http://www.olympus-racing.com/olympus_f1/olympus_f1.php?lang=uk
...and they have been involved as a sponsor of motorsport for nearly 30 years.
Andrew McPhee
At 10:31 PM 10/11/2004 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi Steve:
>
>Ouch! The new mustang has a Jaguar V8 motor, 280 plus HP and a redline it
>will reach at close to 7000, an obvious target for an upgrade to the 289.:-)
>I still prefer the Lincoln LS variant the best.
>
>Gord
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Steve Dropkin" <steve@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>Maybe it's like stuffing an old Ford 289 into a new Mustang.
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