Ferrari only directly funds one sports car series ( atleast I do not believe they fund the ALMS team), and that is F1. They pour all their racing budget into F-1, and have all the best people and drivers there are. It would takes years for GM to even come close to being competitive if they put alot of money into it. Ford tried F-1 through Jaguar, and look how successful they've been. Let's face it, GM sees the most bang for their buck in NASCAR ALMS, and touring car series is the cheapest way to get the namettag out there along with easy success.

 

You will see CTS in roadracing very soon.

 

$160,000 is base price for the 360 series. Then you get into the 456GTS and the 575 that push $200,000 easily all the way up to $300,000. Throw in a few half-mil F50s and now Enzos and BOOM! More money!

 

Im sure one of the largest companies in the world could come up with the funding to make a decent team and match it with a good driver if they really wanted to.

 

OK, since everyone took my tongue-in-cheek Ferrari comment way too seriously, then how about Honda, Toyota, Ford, Mercedes, BMW, and Renault? If all of those companies can afford F1, then why can't GM? I mean, come on - Renault competes, guys (and has some history of doing very well, just not in the past few years). And look at the payoff that's come in the form of production-viable technology (especially Honda, who's learned and applied a huge amount from their F1 experience).

 

Typical of GM's factory racing efforts over the years. I am so glad they've stuck with the current Corvette endurance racing program and been a great success.

Caddys have had racing success almost by accident over the years--the Pan American races, the Allards with Caddy engines. I think if Caddy is serious about losing it's old, octogenerian barge image, and selling cars overseas, it needs to race.

F1 is too expensive and not really the image I think they need. They need to stick with ALMS/LeMans--they were so close--and also put the CTS or CTS-V in a good touring car series; and in both cases, stick around as long as it takes for them to win the series and use the racing as a big marketing tool during and after the process. Once they've won, they can pull out for a while if they want and save some dollars, but to pull out before they've won may be worse than doing nothing. Knowledgable customers want to see a commitment to winning, just like they want to see a commitment to customer service and quality. You can't do that overnight, by definition.

 

Renault, Manardi, Honda, jaguar and many of the other players in F1 are struggling because it is soo damn expensive to maintain a team of drivers, crew, engines and the cars. F1 has many rules and regulations that cost the team lots of money. It costs a team about $20mill a season for the engines alone. If a lot of these teams dont start winning. They will not be around for long. Many changes are currently taking place with F1, in effort to minimize costs to allow independent companies a chance to survive as the manufacturers come and go.