I've got some news for you guys wanting GM to get into F1.......forget it....not a freakin' chance!

It costs about $250 MILLION per year to field a decent F1 team. Maybe $300 MILLION per year if you plan on winning. Anyone think GM will commit a quarter of a Billion (with a "B") dollars per year.....year after year...to compete in F1? I sure don't.

A WRC team costs a fraction of that per year. Maybe 15-20% of that, to field an absolutely world class team.


So, for 15-20% of the cost ...a WRC team will earn , maybe, 50% of the exposure and glory of an F1 effort.

 

I'd like to see Saab in WRC before Chevy. It might give Saab the shot in the arm it so desperately needs.

 

Opel...trust me. It will make more of an impact if Opel enters. More Europeans are in love with WRC then Americans. Saab is just too...expensive to be in WRC. Not to mention they already have one car in...the 9-2x

 

Then I hope they dont plan on selling any $100k+ XLRv's to guys with gray hair in Eurpoe. GM will have to come up with the money if they want to push Caddy any higher than it is in its current pre-Mercedes funk. WRC might only be 1/5th of the cost but they're only getting 1/5th the exposure on cars that cost 1/5th the price of what they'd be making off high-end Cadillacs.

 

Caddy is getting a lot of press staying right behind the RS6's in Speeds GT Class. Not to mention they sound killer, and GMPD's head, Mark Reuss drives one

 

Perhaps we are expecting too much of Chevy. Like butter scraped over too much bread. Let them get started in SOME sort of performance. If it's 2DR RWD V8 coupe, great. Anything else is a bonus at this point.

We are talking on this board about one of the problems with GM is that it's sort of everywhere, but nowhere at the same time. It tries to fill in every market segment, but does not come out a leader in most any of them. Applying it from the more broad to the more specific, could it be that Chevy getting everywhere, sort of, in terms of competitive performance will kill it? It might be alright in RWD coupes, AWD rally, bland passenger cars, but not great at anything in particular.

If necessary, let some other division worry about it. Usually the world benefits from specialization. The "Jack of All Trades" has its uses, but plumbers are much better at plumbing and electricians are much better at electrical than the jack of all trades. Perhaps creating a vehicle to fill every possible need/void/want is not the way to go.

 

Another thought. WRC presence will do for Chevy what NASCAR does to Taurus. Absolutely nothing. It's just bragging rights, IMO.

 

Not to mention Ferrari's stronghold on F1. They've been so dominant, beating them would be no easy task.

On another note, whatever happened to Caddi's LMP900 car? GM invested tons of money into that program, but the cars haven't been able to do much. GM on the other hand has had much more exposure and success with the lesser C5R and the GTS class.

 

yes but wrc cars are production cars whereas nascar is a fiberglass lookalike and nothing at all like the roadgoing car.

 

Well its a hell of a lot more popular than nascar. (at least among young people... probably the exact opposite in the 40+ year old category) There were some really die-hard WRC fans at my HS. I also think almost the entire school would agree that nascar is the sorryiest excuse for a form of entertainment ever.

 

I think it's kinda sad that the largest auto maker in the WORLD can't field an F1 team.

BTW, Caddy's LMP program was scrapped a couple of years ago, right when they started to compete, sadly.

 

WRC more popular than NASCAR in the US???

ARE YOU FREAKIN' NUTS????

GM could give a ratsass what a few high school tuners think about racing. NASCAR is where the big money is merchandising. And alot of 20 and 30 somethings will disagree with your suggestion that only the 40+ crowd is into NASCAR.

Sorry excuse for a form of entertainment? Its the most popular sport in the entire country in terms of merchandising dollars and fans!!

You have completely gone off the deep end my friend.

 

I do believe it is losing steam however. especially since they are no longer anything close to a production car. how can some fiberglass molds help increase car sales? I could understand when they were using the real cars to race, but they have long abandoned that.

WRC is popular with younger people because you can own the cars that the racers use. Just like NASCAR used to do.

They are going to lose their youger audience I believe. So there.

 

oh and just to poke fun (I can do this, I used to be a fan) how much fun is it to see them make four left turns?

 

WRC may not have anywhere the sheer following of Nascar here in the states, but i do believe it is more popular and highly regarded among the younger generation and newer wave of enthusiasts. In Europe and the rest of the world it is the complete opposite with WRC being king.

Why should chevy care about some HS kids? Because they're future buyers. Obviously, GM does care or they wouldn't be giving us hotrodded compacts like the Ion Redline and Cobalt SS. This is a HUGE market. On a larger note, it could do wonders in promoting chevy's compacts and racing heritage on the world market since Rally races take place in every continent from N/A (mexico), to Africa, Ausi, Europe, and Middle east. The exposure isn't as limited as Nascar.

Way i see it, Ford's got a Rally program, and they see fit to spend $$$ on this form of racing (some site said Ford's WRC budget is just as big as their Nascar program), and they've been doing this for over 50 some years. Maybe this has somewhat helped in establishing Ford (as a brand) in the european market.

Whether it is through Chevy, Opel, Saab, or even Daewoo, GM does need a Rally program.