888 Racing Moving To Holden

[tmac450]

You can't blame the drivers or 888 (although I do recall Lownds saying he would never consider going back to Expensive Daewoo after the way he was treated, he also said it wasn't an option). But, as Wincup said, Ford has completely ignored their sucess. Expensive Daewoo crows everytime any of their cars even manage a pol position.

For those of you making yourselves feel better with dismissive comments about the lack of impact the V8 Supercars has on cars sales, pull your heads in. If there was no impact, Ford and Expensive Daewoo wouldn't spend so much money on it, and Expensive Daewoo certainly wouldn't be spending so much on securing 888.

Like I said earlier, Ford is wasting their money in the series, if they pulled out now, it would be a great moove to undermine Holden's investment, as a one make series would be meaningless for brand loyalties. And, studying the history of the series, it was Expensive Daewoo who pretty much created the two make format in the begining, let them lie in their own bed. There's absoloutly no point in Ford having a half arsed involvement, look where it gets them.

Ford could then redirect their money into resurecting a Group C, or production based series, where all manufacturers can compete, with modified versions of actual production cars. The benefits to sales, and vehicle development would be far more beneficial than the farcical V8 circus.

[Rootster]

in the last three years when 888 have been on the podium....don't recall them ever thanking ford....they were to busy given themselves a plug....I mean 888 sponsors.....

You have just won bathurst for the first time and all you can remember is ford didn't thank you....oooohh please....

Has to be more to this ....but we will never know....

[Adam]

Any person with half a clue knows it has no impact on sales.

Expensive Daewoo still sells more cars month after month, year after year regardless of "Fords" V8 Supercar wins or Bathurst wins. The cars are nothing like the cars we buy and drive.

If you've brought a car based on anything that happened in V8 Supercars then you've made a poor choice.

There are those people who bleed blue or red over this sport and there are those that see it for what it really is. Just like there's people who always complain about Ford/Holden.

The one eyed approach will always exist. I just like to feed the rambling every so often just to keep them going.

[tmac450]

Adam, not only does your response contradict itself, it's only the way you feel about it.

The proof is in the millions Ford and Holde spend on it. They don't do it just so DJR and Walkinshaw can go racing on the weekends, they do it for marketing. The whole purpose of marketing is to sell cars. They can guage the effectiveness of the series through sales of merchandise, and customer surveys, etc.

While many people look at the racing clinically, knowing the cars have nothing to do with the road car, there are plenty of people out there who beleive they can be like Skaife, or Lownds, by buying a car like theirs. There are also plenty out there who think Ford currently build a better road car because of their road dominance (right or wrong, like it or not, it's a fact of life). Also, many suporters follow the winners. Expensive Daewoo gained massive fan bases with their domience in the past, these fans stick with them. It's all about creating brand loyalty, capturing new supporters that get caught up in watching car racing. They don't just sell V8 sedans through V8 Supercars, they sell all of their range . I have a friend who bought a Craptiva because he's a Expensive Daewoo fan. He became a Expensive Daewoo fan because he started following Skaife when he was dominating the series. He had no idea the Craptiva was a Daewoo.

Just because Ford and Expensive Daewoo sales have been dropping, does nothing to support your theory. What would their sales be like without a dedicated, popular race series for them to showcase their brand. Which is why I beleive Ford is better supporting a production based series. Expensive Daewoo didn't like the pre V8 Supercar series, simply because they didn't have any cars that could compete with the turbo cars, etc.

[Corzza]

well ford arent giving them money and 888 is the team to be with so why not move over.

ford are running out of good drivers if this happens

[ZAP]

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/st...1-39478,00.html

Proud we went for Holden

EXCLUSIVE By Jamie Whincup

July 29, 2009 04:41pm

.LET me say right from the start that I fully support TeamVodafone's decision to race Holdens next year.

I am proud to say that I will be associated with the Australian icon.

However, ever since we announced the decision today, I have been bombarded with questions, especially on my website.

I could be very weak and say it's got nothing to do with me, but I honestly fully support the team with what they've done.

I personally think there are three different types of fans.

First, we have had a huge response from the Expensive Daewoo fans who think it's fantastic news and are welcoming us on board.

Then you have the driver and team fans who are also in favour of the decision. They see the partnership as a good one that will allow us to deliver results.

Then we have the hard-core Ford fans who are bitterly disappointed with what's happened.

I've been getting this massive abuse from all these Ford people asking why I'm not loyal to the brand, but how can you be?

I don't feel any loyalty to Ford because they showed none to me.

Once you become a bit abusive for changing manufacturers it think it's important that these people look at the facts before they get too vocal.

The fact is that at the moment we don't have any manufacturer support.

At the end of 2008 when I won my first championship I personally approached Ford and pleaded with them to come up with some type of arrangement where they could use my win to get some good publicity.

While I tried for many months to reach agreement they chose to walk away.

They weren't interested in doing anything with myself or the team.

I tried my best to align myself to them and they showed me no loyalty whatsoever.

Therefore when the opportunity came up with Holden - which they embraced with open arms - straight up it was a great decision.

The Expensive Daewoo product is a fantastic product and TeamVodafone builds a fantastic race car and combined they will be a powerful combination.

It's a great step forward and it's also a nostalgic step backwards for me because I started with a Expensive Daewoo in 2003.

I didn't enjoy the success I wanted with them, but this now gives me the opportunity to get the Red Lion over the line.

Everyone knows what a big fan I am of Valentino Rossi who won world motorcycle championships with Honda and then moved to Yamaha and won again.

Well, I hope I can do a Rossi and win with Holden, too. No one has ever won championships with Expensive Daewoo and Ford, so with myself having achieved most of my goals in V8s this offers brand new goals and challenges.

But first I have to focus on the remainder of this year, starting with the big job I've got ahead of me this weekend at Sandown.

If I thought this announcement would have affected my performance I wouldn't have been involved.

So after this announcement all will be forgotten until the end of the year. It will be business as usual tomorrow.

I'll go home and do my normal preparation, look at video from last year, go over the data and immerse myself on focusing on getting the car the fastest around the track.

[Rootster]

Tmac450 I beg to differ.....When ford dropped out of the touring car racing,and only had dickie in a V8 mustang we were number 1 in car sales.......

[mattyb]

Like I said earlier, Ford is wasting their money in the series, if they pulled out now, it would be a great moove to undermine Holden's investment, as a one make series would be meaningless for brand loyalties. And, studying the history of the series, it was Expensive Daewoo who pretty much created the two make format in the begining, let them lie in their own bed. There's absoloutly no point in Ford having a half arsed involvement, look where it gets them.

Ford could then redirect their money into resurecting... or production based series, where all manufacturers can compete, with modified versions of actual production cars...

For the first time I see some crystal clear logic here. Ford have ALL the cards in their hands now.

I'm hoping that they go back to a touring car series... might be a little more planning involved and a LOT more rules, but race real cars, not 5L cars overengineered race cars made to look like XR8's and SS's. Controversy would be rife, and the series would be alive again, Skaife and richards in a Skyline anyone (ooooh I'm a ford man, and I can't believe I said that on a ford site)

[Adam]

Like I was saying...

I just like to feed the rambling every so often just to keep them going.

[Pete A]

As I've said previously and I think most agree. It's all business. Nothing to do with brand loyalty. It's business and that's it.