Honda Pulls Out of Formula One Racing

[Coventina]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/sports/othersports/06grandprix.html?_r=1&_r

HONG KONG — Honda announced on Friday that it would withdraw from Formula One, a startling pullout that has its origins in the dismal state of the auto industry and which could have serious repercussions on the high-profile racing circuit.

A glum Takeo Fukui, the chief executive officer of Honda, made the announcement at a news conference in Tokyo.

He called the company’s withdrawal from the series “a difficult decision” caused by the worldwide economic gloom and “the quickly deteriorating operating environment facing the global auto industry.”

(snip)

The governing body for Formula One racing said in a statement Friday that the sport’s finances were in “an already critical situation.”

**********************

I could be really mean and say something like:

"Really? I thought Honda pulled out of F1 racing two seasons ago!"
*rim shot*

[amdezurik]

1. See!!! We'uns told yas Obama hates NASCAR!

Wait for that to turn up on freeperville LOL!

[Coventina]

3. I rather doubt that there are many F1 fans in Freeperville

After all, it's a sport followed by few Americans & few Americans are involved in it.

[Romulox]

2. Why can't Honda make F1 cars that people want??? nt

[phantom power]

4. I'm kind of surprised.

I had assumed that the publicity was well worth the expense.

[Blue_Tires]

7. it isn't when the car is a competitive joke -- see Jaguar

[hoplophile]

5. That's a shame. A lot of innovative new car tech starts in racing.

Real bummer.

[Blue_Tires]

6. yeah, Honda this time around has been a dog in F1

and the cost is significant, especially with season budgets well over $100 million for most teams...

I'm surprised the big 3 haven't pulled out of NECKcar yet...At least it can be argued that competing in F1 can help develop trickle-down technologies for their commercial products -- NASCAR produces nothing tangible other than visibility

[Ikonoklast]

10. Dodge has already said they were done, GM is next

NASCAR is in a very precarious state right now; a lot of the heavy hitters in advertising have already either scaled back, pulled out completely, or are re-negotiating sponsorship deals.

[Blue_Tires]

16. it became a spec series a long time ago, anyways....

[Ikonoklast]

17. I remember the manufacturer wars

Those were the days.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. One F1 team costs $100 million to field.

NASCAR budgets are not too far off from that. One little 12x8 decal on a quarter panel on a NASCAR costs, at times, $100K. Per race.

I got those numbers from a well-known figure in Motorsports Marketing.

The F1 numbers do not include engine development costs by the manufacturers.

It's a hella expensive sport.

On edit: Sponsorship of an NHRA pro team is around $2.5 Million a year. Might be a little more in Pro Stock.

[Coventina]

9. Ferrari's budget is around $700 million IIRC

It's a ridiculously expensive sport. But they are at the cutting edge of automotive science & technology. I'm not saying that justifies it, but I'm told there are a lot of "real life" applications for the things they develop.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

11. Yes, but...

It's damned hard to justify those numbers in these times.

I was wondering the other day: There is still a lot of money out there. Where is it? I figure it is being hoarded by a few.

[Coventina]

13. No, I agree completely. And in the case of a sport like F1,

I really think the "invisible hand of the market" will indeed "correct" the sport to a large extent. I predict big changes, if the sport survives at all.

For one thing, I expect drivers' salaries to take a hit. How can they keep affording to pay losing drivers sums like $25 million a year?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

15. You cannot.

And thinking that you can is pretty nuts.

I know the NHRA financial metrics fairly well. I have just heard stories from informed others. I find numbers like the above rather breath-taking.

[gogoplata]

12. God, I wish they could bring back CART.

[Coventina]

14. Yeah, I was probably one of the few people unhappy about that merger.

But, from what I was told, they were about to go bankrupt, so they didn't have much of a choice.

[StreetKnowledge]

25. More like CART's buyer didn't have the gutrs to continue.

Kevin Kalkhoven is a slimebag, pure and simple.

As for the merger, I didn't like it either, but at least I got to see Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson smoke the Indycar guys. :woohoo: That helped ease the pain a bit.

[Coventina]

27. Another Justin Wilson fan!

Right on!

:pals:

[MarkInCA]

18. I wish they'd go back to slicks in F1

Also traction control. It was more entertaining when the were going a million MPH on corners.

[bullwinkle428]

20. They are going to slick treads in '09, for the same reason that

traction control was eliminated - they want to make it more of "true driver's championship", where the driver's skill is paramount.

[MarkInCA]

22. That's good news

I find that F1 is so much more entertaining, but at the same time I wonder how they can maintain the massive cost of producing/testing those electronic marvels.

[bullwinkle428]

24. There's now some talk about Cosworth supplying a "spec engine"

for the series in 2010 as another way of containing costs:

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_4591276,00.html

I agree on the level of entertainment - I've been following F1 very closely for over 30 years, and the last two seasons have been absolutely magnificent in terms of spectator value!

[Lugnut]

19. I'm a NASCAR fan but

I liked to watch CART. I'm still a huge Alex Zanardi fan.

[MarkInCA]

23. His crash was painful to watch

He was one of my favorites. I didn't expect him to live. If it wasn't for the great safety teams he wouldn't have.

[Lugnut]

29. He almost didn't make it.

If you haven't already done so you might want to read his book, My Sweetest Victory. It was a very good read for a Zanardi fan.

[bullwinkle428]

21. "Three interested buyers (for team Honda) already!"

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_4591228,00.html

[T_i_B]

26. there was a discussion about this at work today

The feeling being that if Lotus have the funds it could be well worth them having a pop and getting back into F1.

The big problem here is having the funds. F1 is hugely expensive.

[Blue_Tires]

28. also related: 9X Champion Audi pulls out of ALMS

http://www.leftlanenews.com/audi-to-exit-alms-in-2009.html