Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Customer-Customer, What's your Function?



Whew! Betcha can't guess where that comes from, eh? As is I-T just Mwah, or are Y'all growing tired of the never ending saber rattlin' over Customer Cars in Formula 1? Which ironically, having just completed the majority F1 team's Home track race has seemingly simmered down...

Having read Joe Saward's recent take upon the never ending Customer Cars debate, I came away feeling the same, as I too have prattled on before 'bout how I've seen this movie called Championship Auto Racing Teams. (CART)

When in the 1990's there were at least five individual Chassis Constructors: Eagle, Lola,  Penske, Reynard and Swift, along with four separate engine manufacturers:  Ford, Honda, Mercedes and Toyota. Yet, inevitably the field shrank 'N shrank with the continuous "Arms Race" of Customer dominance until ultimately Champ Car, the offshoot of CART was left with just Lola chassis powered by Cosworth XFE turbo's after Gerald  "WHINER" Forsythe and Kevin "Smiley face" Kalkhoven liked the company so much they bought I-T! In order to  procure  engines for their deflated Open Wheel Racing series...


And instead of Prattling on 'N on 'bout how Formula 1 bills itself as the Pinnacle of Motorsports along with differentiating itself by requiring each Constructor competing to build its own chassis, just the little blurb above about Ford selling Cosworth to individual investors should be enough to make F1 think about what happens when a major manufacturer decides to leave the sport? As how likely will there be such willing individuals to save the sport from falling on its ARSE?

Thus, slowly wading thru the No Fenders archives, as I knew I'd scribbled 'bout this nefarious subject before, I actually ended up creating a new labels  "Tag" whilst discovering I'd been writing about this subject since 2006!


While the controversy continued on in early January of 2007, when the first Customer roe  concerned Red Bull supplying chassis for its  'lil Seester' "B-Team," the little Bulls, aka Scuderia Toro Rosso.


While I won't subject Y'all to every blinkin' story, but the games continued when MAD MAX, not the awesome driver Max Papis, but that character known as ex-FIA President Max Mosley who I took to calling Sir maXXam, who attempted pushing through his version of 4-car Customer teams  'Wayback in '07...


And does anybody remember Honda and "Super Best Friends," nee Super Aguri, Honda's B-Team planning a similar tactic, while David Richards Prodrive was set to do a  customer supply deal with McLaren to enter Formula 1 before abandoning its  dreams and settling to focus upon Sports Car endurance racing, i.e.; Le Mans instead.

Alas, without revisiting how the exodus of such major automotive manufacturers decide to leave the sport at their whim, ergo Honda, Toyota and BMW's withdrawal in 2008, not to mention the might of "foMoCo," aka the Ford Motor Company, as has Cosworth ever been the same since its divestiture from Ford?

As have Y'all Seen a Ford lately in Open Wheel Racing?

Hence fast forward to earlier this year,  prior to Melbourne when this "Groundhog Day" topic once again reared its ugly head, for which I thought Felipe Massa's comments on having a racing series where its entire podium was routinely swept by a lone manufacturer, i.e.; Mercedes at the current moment resonated the most!


As fortunately, the little Minnowesqe Independent Constructors, nee Force India, Lotus, Manor Marussia and Sauber are appropriately fighting back against this latest attack, which seems to be under a never ending Full Court press...


While obviously the pressure's upon the B-I-G Teams to try to convince the "Lemmings" to fall into line and go along quietly with their Grand Designs, which naturally revolves around Dinero and economy of scales...


As when's the last time I agreed with "VJ Duh Playah;" (Vijay Mallya) CRIKEYS! As he strikes me as nothing more than a Wanna Be  Billionaire Playboy,  who's unfortunately driven his Airplane empire  into the ground! alas, I must believe that like a-L-L F1 Team Bosses, Mallya has his own agenda, but nonetheless, his points on this subject  seem pretty succinct!


Alas, with this subject having now been broached by Uncle Bernaughty and the various factions of Formula 1, i.e.; Max Mosley, Jean Todt and the Stupendous F1 Strategy Group! I've suddenly come to the realization that Customer Cars seems to be just one more of Messer Bernard Ecclestone legendous' "Wedge Issues!" Since after all, aren't' A-L-L of the current Formula 1 Constructors already legally bound by their current Concorde Agreements or whatever they're called thru 2020?