VW in F1??

[goodfella]

Looks like VW may consider entry into F1 if costs lower...

vw-to-eye-f1-only-if-costs-are-lower--official

They say it may run under Audi or Porsche branding.... but didnt Ferdinand snub his nose to F1 saying he didn't need to prove his cars in the Formula 1 arena.... how things change.

[VW Convert]

Looks like VW may consider entry into F1 if costs lower...

vw-to-eye-f1-only-if-costs-are-lower--official

They say it may run under Audi or Porsche branding.... but didnt Ferdinand snub his nose to F1 saying he didn't need to prove his cars in the Formula 1 arena.... how things change.

The quote is from the MD of Audi Singapore, doesn't really say VAG is considering it and I doubt that he would be involved in the decision making process.

An official of the German luxury car brand Audi has hinted that parent group Volkswagen might enter formula one if the costs continue to come down.

Reinhold Carl, managing director of Audi Singapore, is quoted by the Straits Times newspaper as musing that while budgets are dropping, teams still need to fork out "well over a hundred million euros" for an annual F1 programme.

"If the cost is lower, it will be more manageable," he told reporters.

However, after car marques including Jaguar, Honda and BMW pulled out, amid rumours that Toyota and Renault might soon follow, Carl admitted that the gains from being on the grand prix grid remain vague.

He reckons that if VW was to decide to field a team, it would be branded either Porsche or Audi "or even Volkswagen".

I doubt VAG would do this unless they were certain of performing well and there were more than vague gains to be had. The value of F1 to manufacturers of bread and butter cars has to be questioned.

Cheers

George

[Arctra]

I doubt VAG would do this unless they were certain of performing well and there were more than vague gains to be had. The value of F1 to manufacturers of bread and butter cars has to be questioned.

As I recall Murray Walker saying a while ago, it's been a long time since car manufacturers have been able to say that F1 has benefited the development of mass market cars with a straight face. I know Renault and Toyota have tagged "f1 inspired" and such on some of their advertising campaigns, but it's hardly been significant claims.

Things like KERS could possibly see mass market cars benefiting from the technology, but it's introduction in F1 has yielded pretty poor results really. With stopping refueling at pit stops, it's going to be necessary to improve the efficiency of the engines which might trickle through to mass market cars. But car manufacturers would probably get better bang-for-buck developing the tech for cars straight away rather than for F1 first.

Maybe if the Concorde Agreement was amended to encourage Diesel we'll see VW coming to the sport to do for F1 what they did for Le Manns!

[static1800]

I can imagine Audi doing a diesel F1 car, imagine how much that would annoy people

Porsche have already had some F1 experience supplying engines. VW/Audi/Porsche would make a pretty formidable partnership in F1 if they got it right.

[schoona]

We can only hope.....

Wuld certainly be interesting seeing what combination the ycome up with?

[gareth_oau]

Toyota have tagged "f1 inspired" and such on some of their advertising campaigns, but it's hardly been significant claims.

LOL I'm rushing out now to buy a camry or tarago - imagine how these beasts will perform?

It might work for the general masses tho, they havent got a clue what real performance is, so they buy cars like the 'sportivo' which "quite clearly is a true monster"!! LOL

[Mr Messy]

I'd honestly rather they stayed in sportscar racing, its heaps more relevant. Today's Porsche GT3 uses the same engine (sans snails) that won le mans in 1998.


The Audi R8 debuted FSI technology which the new GTI features.


The Mazda 787 et al helped the cause of high performance rotaries like the RX8.


Porsche's 962 with twin clutch PDK was the grandfather to DSG.