Quote:
Originally Posted by Silver E90
I agree, I think that it is ridiculous that they never came out and issued a press release explaining the decision to not participate in Le Mans. I hope that Jens Marquardt is at Mid-Ohio for the ALMS race, because I'd love to ask him why they couldn't support Rahal. But I'm sure that he will be to best with DTM to be there.  I think the thing that burns me the most is that this was the last year for the M3 GT to compete and they couldn't let it have a chance to go out on top.
Does anybody have a email address or number for BMW Motorsport that you can contact? I find it interesting that you can't even contact them and they are not very interactive with their fans. That may be why there is very little talk and support on here for the motorsport programs. |
First, Rahal never competed in Le Mans even with Dr. T at the helm so why is it Jens issue? The ILMC is an entire different race series that happens to have some ALMS races and the 24hr LM race included- the reason for not entering besides the cost is that they had a very successful year last year and still could not win bc they are only two cars competing with fleets of Porsches and Ferraris- not an even balance and little chance of success. They didn't need a press release because they never said they were racing it, last year they announced they would compete for 2011.
It is very cost prohibitive to ship people and equipment overseas to race at Le Mans- competing in Le Mans (just the entry fees and "greasing") costs more than the entire ALMS season without even getting into shipping stuff.
The ALMS program is financed by BMWNA not BMW AG- the entire M3 GT2/GT program started as a "customer car" program with BMWNA as the BMW Motorsport customer- no different than Schubertt. BMW is getting out of the "works" team business and developing customer products- this is what Ferrari does and Porsche does for the most part- sure they have works drivers and supply engineers but they are not operating the day to day- (RLL does this in the US).
BMW AG stopped racing the M3 LAST year because even with the success the car had, it had run its course as "GT" cars are dated, cost prohibitive and slower (in many cases) than GT3 cars. They performed an "update" to the Z4 GT3 (invested significant resources), built a DTM program from the ground up (6 cars at over 2.5 million each in development- new haulers and equipment for the 6 teams) and are continuing to build customer cars. Is it a posturing statement to the ACO that BMW is not racing in GTE- sure, but they are making their point as are the other brands- MB wants the SLS in, Audi the R8, Astin etc.
BMW does not have the money of VAG nor the engine contract in F1 like Mercedes (they only one 60% of the team and that is financed in part by engine sales). Audi and MB are also already invested in DTM- actually they are not saving money than in the past.
BMW AG also decreased it's investment in racing after F1 by investing in the future- they have almost $200 million invested in joint ventures- one of which is in carbon fiber and is the one other brands now are trying to catch up to and will shape the next generation cars significantly.
People tend to think racing brings innovation- it does in some areas like P1, but in GT racing no innovation is gained, the street car contributes more to the race car than vice versa.
Manufacturers in F1 are saying that now and are working on ways to curb spending because costs are too high and winning is solely on trickery and spending money, P1 is similar.
If Bernie is convicted of anything, Mercedes will be pulling out of F1 in all capacity as there is a statute in their organization that they cannot and will not have any dealings with criminals or organizations that are corrupt (statute was written post WWII)- it is also a clause in all the contracts they have parties sign. Up until recently Audi did not even race in the US, and MB still doesn't.
If BMW takes a break from ALMS it would not be the first time... there is always the Jag or Grand Am/ Continental/ Rolex (whatever it is called).