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Honda Quits F1


CbrGirl

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http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28066396/

TOKYO - The global economic slowdown has taken an early toll on Formula One, with Honda quitting the high-cost sport to focus more on making and selling cars at the expense of racing them.

Honda CEO Takeo Fukui said Friday that the Japanese automaker was unable to continue backing a team in the high-cost F1 competition and wanted to put it up for sale.

"The automobile industry is experiencing very difficult times,'' Fukui said. "Demand started to dry up in November and we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.''

The withdrawal of one of the world's biggest car manufacturers will send shock waves through F1, which is already under mounting pressure to put the brake on spiraling costs and could start the season with only 18 cars on the grid.

“This is a wake-up call,” F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone told Sky News television. “If you and I wanted to run a Formula One team, we wouldn’t need to have to spend what they are spending at the moment — probably ($2.94 million) a year to do it.

“The trouble is the teams are basically run by technicians who should probably be at home playing with their PlayStations rather than spending fortunes to win races.”

Japanese team Super Aguri, which was backed by Honda, pulled out of F1 earlier in the 2008 season.

The 2009 season opens March 29 at the Australian Grand Prix.

The latest move reflects the huge difficulties faced by auto makers around the world, including the Big Three — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler — in the United States, where desperate automakers are seeking a $34 billion bailout to stay afloat.

That not cool! :nono:

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i just received a call about this right before i saw this thread. :nono: i do like the fact that honda knows when to stop and save their money but its still a kick in the junk to the f-1 community. and bernie needs kicked in the throat after saying what he said, terrible PR skills... i would expect the president of the most formidable racing series in the world to know better than to slam his own contenders..... man!!!

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This was not really a big surprise. Shock Yes but surprise No. Honda not only owned the team but sponsored it also. Which means they where spending upwards of 100 million a year on the program and getting NO results. Your marketing dollars only go so far. This is the best time for them to get out and save face.

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audi pulled out of ALMS.

porsche did too.

No they didn't. Almost every GT2/GT3 car on the grid is a Porsche plus they won the LMP2 class. As a matter of fact Porsche is the most successful team in the ALMS.

They pulled out of trying to win the overall at LeMans years ago after they proved that they could win it at will, plus the rules changed.

Dyson racing is no longer running Porsches though, stating that the racing has become uncompetitive.

Audi on the other hand has left, but has not discontinued racing and are trying to win LeMans again next year. It's just that their factory team won't be represented in the US but privateer teams can still buy and race their cars.

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Well just to stir the pot a little more all Porsche efforts are privateer. Now before people start throwing stones the Penske/DHL effort is/was a factory supported effort in LMP2. The Dyson effort was a privater effort. Porsche has made alot of money selling race cars, 911's especially. Audi has a new race car coming and it may or maynot race the full ALMS season, but I will bet a beer we will see it.

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Well just to stir the pot a little more all Porsche efforts are privateer. Now before people start throwing stones the Penske/DHL effort is/was a factory supported effort in LMP2. The Dyson effort was a privater effort. Porsche has made alot of money selling race cars, 911's especially. Audi has a new race car coming and it may or maynot race the full ALMS season, but I will bet a beer we will see it.

i would be happy to see the r11 in the alms series but i would be surprised to see it in the alms, but the euro le mans series on the other hand, they have a much better chance. the best chance we have would be sebring.

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It appears we will be seeing the Audi R15 TDI sports prototype at Sebring. This is the only scheduled US appearance for the car. It looks like they are aiming at LeMans again. It will be interesting to see if anyone buys the R8 LMS customer car and runs it in the GT2 class.

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It appears we will be seeing the Audi R15 TDI sports prototype at Sebring. This is the only scheduled US appearance for the car. It looks like they are aiming at LeMans again. It will be interesting to see if anyone buys the R8 LMS customer car and runs it in the GT2 class.

interesting.... sebring is on the list of invite races for LeMans and it is one hell of a place to do an initial shakedown race on a car as well so it does make sense. and the r8 lms will be pimp!!! i do hope we see it here in the states.

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