New Ferrari And Kimi To Meet End Of January

Ferrari finally gets it right.

Did I mention that I adore Luca?

 

Hmmm, but he is reponsible for the devaluing of the Ferrari brand IMO, thanks to things like Ferrari Disneyland (or whatever it is called), Ferrari just about everything, wanting to float the company, etc.

Pete

 

True that.

But he is also responsible for the championship titles in the seventies, the rebirth of Ferrari as a carmaker after the 348, the rebirth of the Ferrari F1 team, getting the F1 team going again after Silverstone 99, the Olympic Winter Games in Turin, forcing Schumacher to make a decision and for bringing young talent in Kimi to the team.

The merchandising aspect actually creates huge revenue for the racing team and the company overall. This car manufacturer's main goal being success in F1, you have to admit he is doing a fine job.

 

+1

 

Yes I have to agree there, but it's a shame that its come at a cost. Ferrari is now viewed as a poseur car/brand, with the exclusivity lost.

Something I would think very strongly about if I was so lucky to be able to afford a new one ... would I want to be part of that 'crowd'?, not sure I would. I guess this may have always existed?

Pete

 

I think that was always the case. If I read about Ferraris in the fifties and sixties and what kind of people were buying them and for what purpose: Some rich entrepreneur to participate in Le Mans or the Mille Miglia. Sounds a lot like bling to me. Just look at the starting grid of a F1 GP in those decades: There are more Bouillons, Foiteks, Diniz than in a modern grid.

There are a bunch of bling folks buying today's Ferraris, but looking at car meets I still think the ultra bling folks buy something else. Like a Lambo or a Pagani etc.

Actually it isn't the bling factor that concerns me in today's Ferraris. It is much more the streamlined styling and middle of the road approach the company has taken (and that goes directly back to Luca): While one can argue about the Enzo's styling, it was at least radical. F430 and Fiorano are not.

 

I don't think Luca has devalued anything....as a matter of fact, if it wasn't for him, I think Ferrari would have survived but would have been at the Lambo level...probably owned by some other car manufacturer that uses it to make a profit...oh wait, its owned by Fiat. I think its thanks to him that when we look at Ferrari, we do not see Fiat. I think he has done well considering that the Ferrari brand defies much of what a normal brand would do....and in my opinion it is as strong a brand as ever, is the most coveted popular brand out there, and they are making money.

 

Nice Ron, we agree on this one.

 

+1

 

Me too.
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+2

 

Probably that if the deal had gone through ALL Ford would be badged FERRARI by now!

 

You think?

I don't see too many Aston Martin badges on Fords these days.

The Ford company that was prepared to buy Ferrari is the same Ford company that produced the GT40, the Cobra 427, and the Shelby Mustang.

We'll never know how Ferrari would have fared under Ford ownership but it seems to me at least one of their premium brands, Aston Martin, is faring much better under Ford ownership than they were previously. They have kept the company largely autonomous and have not diluted the brand name with re-badged Fords as was done with Jaguar. So long as the same was done with Ferrari (and there is no reason to think otherwise) then Ferrari would be in just as good shape today.

 

I agree to a point. Di Montezemolo has done a fantastic job with a company that was all to content to rest on its laurels... especialy in F-1... with all the the Italian politics and difficulty getting the Italian press behind you ... he has done a remarkable job.

Because of this overwhelming success Ferrari are now approached by everybody trying to cash in on the Ferrari name... and Montezemolo is a business man 1st! and he is chasing after the $$$ cant blame him... he is now at the helm of FIAT and its starting to change... he is great at getting the right folks in the right places! you cant argue with success.

True it was a bit more classy pree Luca, but it still had about the same amount of cheese. you either like it or not.

 

So how many laps before he breaks it!

 

What a ridiculous and outdated concept that the driver of a computer-controlled-everything racecar has an influence on the reliability of a car - short of bouncing it off other cars and guardrails. Which other driver thrashed a car to its limit, from the first lap to the last lap, more than Schumacher - and nobody accused him of being a car-breaker.

If you're referring to Raikkonen's problems with McLaren, how do you blame a driver for electrical problems, heat shields catching fire, etc., etc. I read some article recently where McLaren were insinuating that Kimi broke his drive shaft while leading at Imola 2005 because he made 5 practice starts instead of 3 on the warm-up lap!! If you can even design a part and control its predicted reliability with such accuracy (probably at some exaggerated cost) then that just shows that McLaren's reliability was on a razor's edge. If there are 1 or 2 re-starts, there go your chances of finishing the race.

 

Well, Kimi supposedly had the same car as JPM and the McLaren test drivers who never seemed to have all those reliability issues...

 

At least he didn't stoop as low as building an SUV like some other so-called sports car manufacturers.

 

Does that say more about Kimi or the OTHER DRIVERS who did not push quite to the absolute limit?

 

What a stupid thing to say..

Kimi didn't finish on 6 GP's (Malysia, Monaco, USA, Hungary, Turkey, China) out of 18 GP's he participated.
JPM participated to 10 GP's and still didn't finish on 5 of them (Australia, European GP, Spain, Canada, USA).
Pedro raced in 8 GP's and retired in 2 of them (Germany, Italy).

That makes Kimi's car breaking percentage 33,3%, while JPM has 50% and Pedro 25%.

So what were you saying?

 

Michael Schumacher probably lost his 1st F1 race because of too many starts on his clutch. His team mate Andrea Decesaris ran 2nd in the Jordan as I recall and Schumacher started much further up the grid than he did (7th?). Schumacher had been warned of the fragility of a Cosworths clutch but thought he knew better - nobody is perfect.

 

Don´t forget the V12 engine based on two Ford Mondeo´s V6 blocks stick together!

 

Don´t forget the cheap 2 liter cars with 150 bhp for the Italian market! Those were the good old days...

P.S: only 150 bhp, but I´d love to own one too!