Motorsport Entries/Rumours that never came to be

If you're going off people who simply missed out on drives, there's the famous story of Jason Plato strong-arming his way into Williams and begging Frank to give him a drive for 1997.

Through Renault, Williams already had Jean-Christophe Boullion lined up but Plato beat him in a testing shootout. Boullion went on to partner Plato in Renault's final year in 1999 when Menu left for Ford.
 
Liquid
If you're going off people who simply missed out on drives, there's the famous story of Jason Plato strong-arming his way into Williams and begging Frank to give him a drive for 1997.

Through Renault, Williams already had Jean-Christophe Boullion lined up but Plato beat him in a testing shootout. Boullion went on to partner Plato in Renault's final year in 1999 when Menu left for Ford.
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Gianni Morbidelli was also part of that shootout for a 1997 Renault seat. He ended up replacing Kelvin Burt at Volvo for 1998.

This thread also applies to entries that didn't materialize like Team Clyde Valley Racing intending to enter a pair of bio-ethanol powered Chevrolet Lacettis in 2007. Drivers would have been Dan Eaves and Colin Neill. Of course, they did eventually turn up in 2009 with SEAT Leons, Eaves in one car and Phiroze Bilimoria intended for the other but Adam Jones ended up driving it.

Non-starters, tests, missing out on drives, wild rumours and entries that didn't materialize, this thread applies to all of the above.
 
MagpieRacer
NGTC spec Meganes we’re commission and built ahead of the 2014 season but never ran. The car itself was interesting in being a 5 door version not the 3 door that the Renault Sport Megane was at the time.

Could this Megane be the next star of the BTCC? | Daily Mirror

www.mjpmedia.com www.mjpmedia.com
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Yes, that was masterminded by the father of Clio Cup Racer Alex Morgan.

1991

James Weaver was intended to share the #44 Prodrive BMW with Steve Soper and Christian Danner. The team also intended to run a 3rd car for Jimmy McRae.

Trackstar originally intended to run a trio of Audi 80s for Robb Gravett, Mike Smith and Jonathan Palmer. The team then intended to run Smith and Sean Walker in Ford Sapphires alongside Gravett's entry.

Frank Sytner joined another BMW team and was rumoured to be partnering Finnish driver Heikki Salmenautio (Though, to some reason, Motorsport Magazine misspelled his name as Hakki Salamentio).

There was a rumour regarding a Honda Concerto making an appearance, either with James Kaye graduating from the CRX Series or Ray Armes, given he had recent BTCC experience with a Civic.

A Renault and a Lancia were rumoured among the privateer entrants.
 
Valentino Rossi was incredibly close to signing a race seat in F1 circa 2006/2007. With the simple obstacle of not wanting to driver for Sauber being one of the reason he ultimately declined for the 2007 season. He had done many tests for Ferrari and finished 9th out of 15 runners in an F1 test at Valencia ahead of the 2006 season.


And in 2009, Sebastian Loeb actually put pen to paper on a deal with Toro Rosso that would have seen him replace Algesuari (who himself had already replaced Bourdais halfway through the year) for the final race at Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately the FIA refused the super license. Even though Loeb had finished 8th out of 17 drivers in an official F1 test at Barcelona in 2008 providing some evidence to his potential pace.
 
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MagpieRacer
Valentino Rossi was incredibly close to signing a race seat in F1 circa 2006/2007. With the simple obstacle of not wanting to driver for Sauber being one of the reason he ultimately declined for the 2007 season. He had done many tests for Ferrari and finished 9th out of 15 runners in an F1 test at Valencia ahead of the 2006 season.
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You mean BMW? I can understand Rossi signing for Sauber when they were a Ferrari customer but not really when they had BMW or turned into BMW.
 
Liquid
You mean BMW? I can understand Rossi signing for Sauber when they were a Ferrari customer but not really when they had BMW or turned into BMW.
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All the interviews and things that came out afterwards were all pointing at a Sauber seat for either 2006 or 2007. Ferrari wanted to run 3 cars but weren't allowed. The Sauber stuff came straight from Di Montezemolo.

www.motorsport.com

Ferrari considered giving Valentino Rossi full-time Sauber drive

www.motorsport.com www.motorsport.com
 
Danica Patrick and the late Dan Wheldon were subject to numerous rumours, particularly ones linking them to BAR/Honda, for 2006 after their performances in the 2005 Indy 500.
 
Liquid
1990s

DAMS (1995 with Erik Comas signed to drive) and DOME (1996) built complete cars, DOME even tested theirs, but never entered their own teams.

Lola built a car for 1995 (Allan McNish tested it) but declined to submit an entry until 1997 and we all know how that turned out.

Honda had two aborted efforts to enter F1; the effort in 1999 was closest and tested competitively but the death of technical director Harvey Postlethwaite saw Honda cancel its entry and focused on returning as a works engine supplier.

Edit: Lotus actually built a car for 1995 but, apart from the team closing down anyway, it had already failed the mandatory crash test.
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I'm sure I have read/heard somewhere that Lola actually wanted to enter in 1998, but were pushed to start a year earlier by sponsors...
 
MasterCard forced them to enter a year early then withdrew funding when they saw how terrible the car was. Extremely unfair on the team.
 
I still can't fathom why MasterCard would do such a thing. Being a major financial institution, I would have thought they'd have a basic idea about the cost of an F1 program and the relationship between championship performance and commercial success.
 
AbsoluteBarstool
I still can't fathom why MasterCard would do such a thing. Being a major financial institution, I would have thought they'd have a basic idea about the cost of an F1 program and the relationship between championship performance and commercial success.
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Sponsors do a lot of weird things. I was on the coaching staff of a football club that was given a $50k per year sponsorship deal, provided they played at a certain ground. On top of this, the sponsor themselves would pay for all renovations to the home ground.
By the end of the season, the deal was cut off because of relationships in the board crossing historical boundaries of the club with this sponsor.
 
WiisardNic
I'm sure I have read/heard somewhere that Lola actually wanted to enter in 1998, but were pushed to start a year earlier by sponsors...
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Har1MAS1415
Lola did originally intend to enter in 1998 with their own V10 engine but MasterCard pressured them to enter in 1997.
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Liquid
MasterCard forced them to enter a year early then withdrew funding when they saw how terrible the car was. Extremely unfair on the team.
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AbsoluteBarstool
I still can't fathom why MasterCard would do such a thing. Being a major financial institution, I would have thought they'd have a basic idea about the cost of an F1 program and the relationship between championship performance and commercial success.
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The MasterCard Lola was featured on a The Race Bring Back V10s podcast episode. It's worth a listen if you're interested in that car, as it covers not only Lola's side but how MasterCard intended to fund it with a plan that was never going to work.
 
Ah yes, the "membership points" system. Huge own goal from MasterCard and it's unfortunate that they simply went to Jordan with convential sponsorship (on the airbox and nose of the 198, I believe) yet Lola disappeared and crumbled into ruin.
 
Alan Mann Ford P69

Gardner in Ford jacket, Alan Mann a couple of blokes away to his left. Wings added clear, Brands Hatch (unattributed)

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1957 Chevrolet Corvette SS race car
1957 Corvette XP 64 lead

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Roo
A fairly well-known car that never happened was Thorney Motorsport's BTCC Evoque from 2013:

BTCC-Range-Rover-plan-Thorney.jpg


Jaguar Land Rover got involved and said that whilst they couldn't stop Thorney building the car, they could make Thorney's lives very difficult, so it never got past the design stage.

Also, yes, not a GT car.
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John Thorne
I thought it would be nice to share a few ideas we had in the process, some hair brained some less so. One idea we had was to run a Range Rover Evoque, with a monocoque chassis, composite boot and bonnet, common roofline for 2 door and 4 door it was the perfect donor car for the NGTC rules (remember the suspension mounting points are all located on the common subframes) and we thought it looked stunning but sadly was not to be.

Sponsors were keen and had the budget but JLR said no – it would interfere with their feminine lead marketing strategy so the idea is destined to stay a mock up. They couldn’t stop us as such but made it very clear that we shouldn’t pursue the idea and I’m not about to pick a fight with JLR!
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"Feminine led marketing"

Yeah, what a disaster if women accidentally like cars and get involved in motorsports.
 
Jordan came close to a deal to run Mercedes engines badged as SMART for 2004 with Gary Paffett being one of the drivers as part of the deal.
 
If rumours are to be believed, McLaren almost signed Rubens Barrichello twice:

In 1994 for 1995 with backing from Marlboro and the potential for further investment from Ford Brasil. McLaren went with Mercedes-Benz over Ford but this wasn't a factor in not signing Barrichello; politics basically forced McLaren to sign Nigel Mansell instead.

After Mercedes-Benz bought Brawn in late 2009 Barrichello was approached by McLaren for 2010 but having already verbally agreed to sign for Williams, Barrichello, not wanting to break a promise, turned them down and McLaren signed his teammate Jenson Button instead.
 

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