My Random F1 thoughts

[millencolin]

during my time at school, i usually think about motor racing (mainly f1 and champcars) instead of listening to what bollocks the teacher is blabbing on about.

during maths (most useless subject ever) last wednesday, i was thinking about the tobacco laws and circuits demise. then i started thinking about the law in 2006, no more tobacco sponsorship. thought about the teams that would be affected (ferrari, mclaren, jordan, bar, renault). then i thought

"Bar is owned by british american tobacco, what will happen to them in 2006. will they stop racing, just remove the lucky strike logos or PERHAPS, sell the team to HONDA and finally they will have their own team."

what do you guys reakon??????


plus if you have a random thought like that, post them theyre interesting

 

[GilesGuthrie]

It will cause a bit of a problem for BAT, certainly. Trouble is, would they be able to get a buyer who would pay what they think the team is worth?

Unless Toyota have a couple of REALLY good seasons, I can't see Honda wanting to go into it full time. Remember they did actually build and extensively test an F1 chassis before going down the engine-supply route.

 

[Race Idiot]

Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
It will cause a bit of a problem for BAT, certainly. Trouble is, would they be able to get a buyer who would pay what they think the team is worth?

I don't know if it's related, but there was a news story on BAR considering moving from England to Japan. I'm not sure if it was due to tobbaco sponsorship. Mind you they mentioned that other British based teams were thinking of doing the same thing.

 

[daan]

Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
Trouble is, would they be able to get a buyer who would pay what they think the team is worth?

Trouble is, is the team actually worth what the team thinks it's worth?

It's an object lesson on how to underachieve. Spend most of the budget on an average driver, leaving no money for the important bits.

The Tobacco sponsorship ban is just in the EU, so teams may relocate to a location outwith the EU so they can keep the sponsorship money. Most of the F1 teams are based in the UK so the infrastructure is there to supply high quality bits/materials at short notice etc. That will have to built up again in the new location (if all teams move to the same place.)

 

[wee_man]

Though in theoru the teams which have their main sponsors as tobaco companies are going to really feal the pinch and i think that F1 will struggle initially. My dad actually reckons that when this ban is implaced that F1 will implode, but I don't think anything that catastrophic will happen

 

[Roo]

Random thought: tobacco advertising is being banned on health grounds, but how much crap does an F1 car chuck out of its exhausts? Can't be healthy for people who work on them or regularly attend the races.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

The tobacco ban only applies to actually running the cars. It doesn't matter who owns the team.

daan: The thing is that there are two vacant slots on the team sheet now, so teams aren't worth what they were. And the FIA has dropped the $38m bond required to enter a new team. So the barriers to entry are coming down, which is of course negatively affecting the value of the incumbents.

Roo: F1 engines are hyper efficient. I don't think their emissions are anything to worry about - especially now they've banned the use of beryllium in engine manufacture.

 

[TsLeng]

I think maths is the most important subject.

Ok, back on topic, Lets just wait and see what happens.

 

[Bedhead]

"I don't know if it's related, but there was a news story on BAR considering moving from England to Japan."

That's because of the new EU regulations, that can charge team any member of F1 after a driver dies on track. It's why Mosley just moved the FIA offices and his staff to Monaco.

Tobacco isn't a problem. They'll just move to a new vice, like Jaguar with Beck's beer. Just as long as F1 cars don't start to resemble NASCAR...I don't want to see Schumi's Ferrari stickered up like a telephone pole.

Bedhead

 

[Party for GT4]

The rumour bout them moving is unlikely, only the manager will change his official residence.