Audi would have been much better off making road cars that did not look so dull.
AUDI makes dull looking cars ? That's a matter of opinion ... I prefer them to the latest BMWs I find garish.
as a life long bmw fan and customer I agree with you. The cars they currently produce have nothing that made me fall in love with BMW's before anymore.
Vertically when they used to be smaller(up to the bumper). Now they go all the way down the front lip. Then horizontally on the 7 series of the 90's.
Probably not, because they are full of electronics which are the causes of most recalls and failures these days.
REPEAT AFTER ME. W-E-C!!! Lemans coverage starts on MAX june 11. see the lemans thread in other racing for times.
Too bad they are stopping production of the best (selling) car they ever made. Idiots. They are ALL 'death traps'. When you look at how much Honda - and especially Toyota spent in F1 15-20 years ago, I'm doubting Porsche does well. UNLESS they change the rules. AGAIN. Didn't Ferrari decide to concentrate on F1? At the time far more eyes were on F1 back then. And EVERY time someone 'figures it out', they change the rules to neuter whoever the dominanat team is. They did it to Porsche, Jaguar, Audi, who next? Dave Wolin has a helluva Motorsports Library in California - 'Racing History Project' in Bakersfield, and there is also a Motorsports library in Watkins Glen NY, IMRRC - 'Racing Archives' [email protected] Not to worry - as soon as someone becomes dominant, the rules will change. UNLESS it is a French team - then the rules will be untouched.
Maybe, but I have always been more interested in sportscars and GTs than F1. Ferrari leaving endurance I lost interest in them.
Well, that's just you. I think the Ferrari endurance cars were among the most beautiful I have even seen, the P333, the 512 Donohue drove, but I think Ferrari made the better choice. I missed it when Matra pulled out of racing, especially endurance racing.
Between their last participation in1973 to and the return in 2023, Ferrari didn't participate officially to endurance; something like a 50 years gap !!! If you were a Ferrari follower, like I was, that's a lifetime !!! No wonder I became a keen Porsche supporter during all these years ...
Yes the last official Factory WEC - Sports Car Championship for Makes in 73, was a mediocre year for Ferrari... the rules were so cloudy, and Matra had tons of government support..... In the mean time I always watched any Ferrari powered cars ... and usually they broke - Like the Lancia LC3 .... but It is very nice to see them back - and Winning - in endurance racing, it is as much the spiritual home of Ferrari as much as F-1.
During the last 3 years, Ferrari was good only in the short races where they entered up to 3 cars. They never managed to win Le Mans on their faster, but unreliable 312PB with its flat-12 like the F1, I think. One year, Ferrari even abstained at the last minute because of engine breakage during rehearsal. Much has been said about the French governement help to Matra; it was lost when they withdrew from F1. Forfeiting the endurance championship, Matra concentrated on Le Mans: they won the race 3 years in succession. The financial effort almost bankrupted them, and Lagardère closed the racing department soon after the last win. Matra closed its doors a few years later, abandonned by Renault.
According to a story in Motorsport Reports, Las Vegas isn't that hot for F1 either. Seems that Liberty is frowning at the financials of the race.
Good on you ! For me at least, it's very difficult to support a marque in a series when it didn't participate during 50 years ! I have been a Porsche enthusiast since 1970, and became a customer later.
Didn't Porsche pull out of factory efforts in endurance racing for a few years? They let privateers have at it? Even privateers come and go... Don't they ALL come and go? Mercedes, Jaguar, Ford, Toyota, Audi, Peugeot, Ferrari?
Yes, the Porsche factory stopped racing for a few years at time, but often supplied cars to privaters. That's what I like with Porsche, they sell the cars they race and support private teams, more than any other constructor. I would say they are, over the years, the most constant participant in endurance, with GT, protos, Group C, LMP, Hypercars, etc ... The others you mention, only "pick and choose" when then want to race and do not support endurance in the long term.
Nothing wrong with that logic at all, I can agree with you, but Porsche DID try F1 a few times (this IS an 'F1' thread), but you have to admire Ferrari and McLaren, and even Williams, who have never wavered in their support of F1. I would list Lotus, Brabham and Tyrrell - of which the Mercedes AMG team is supposed to be a descendent from. It's just a shame that you (us) have not been able to invent and build a car in our garage and go compete at ANY level today - or for the last 35 years, really, on a blue collar worker budget. If I was a billionaire I'd start a new series for the fun of it, I've discussed it here a zillion times, I would have a spec TUB (for safety reasons) and spec motors, but anything else goes, body-wise, suspension-wise, some tweaks to the motor (cam, injectors, etc.) but the block, pistons, crank, has to be 'stock', and anything you bolt onto it has to be available for ANY team to buy (except for the bodywork) at a reasonable price. Nothing computerized (meaning nothing you need to plug a laptop into on the starting grid), no telemetry, none of that crap that will cost a ton of $$ or require you to hire 'specialists'. But that's a different discussion.
F1 glory absolutely helps Ferrari in both image and sales. Sad part now is that Ferrari are coasting on past glory....now nearly 2 DECADES since having a driver WDC. Just like before Schumacher helped return Ferrari to WDC glory in 2000, by which time it had been more than 2 decades.... One has to patient to be a Ferrari motorsport fan....
