28th April 2011, 18:09
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| BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Bengaluru
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| Car Manufacturers and their racing heritage I did a brief list of all the manufacturers from India, their racing heritage and the direct results which we are seeing in their cars here. Mods: This is my first thread. Send me a mail if something went wrong Toyota- Toyota Motorsport GmbH Toyota Motorsport GmbH - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia These guys were doing great in WRC until 1999, and then no results for the next two years. This was to allow for their switch into F1. F1 as we all know, Toyota never went anywhere. With all the money they had, they could not get any results and they quit F1 in 2009. Now, Toyota is making money lending its Wind tunnel facilities, and their cars for tyre testing. No racing for the last few years. I'm afraid: This means only one thing to me. The competition is going ahead of you 'Toyota'. Honda- Honda was the powerhouse in F1 in the 60s, 1964-68, and were engine suppliers from 1983. Their next stint was BAR-HONDA which again went nowhere. I remember BAR-HONDA was singly responsible for the downfall of the 1997 world champion Vilenueve. Honda too quit F1 in 2009. They made a small stint into WRC in 2006 but that did not last long either. Honda now, with its financial position is not involved in any big sport. They are losing ground and fast. Other car companies are matching them on the engine aspect as well. [Honda was head and shoulders above the rest in the past in the engine department] Hope they prove me wrong: I can't think of one aspect where Honda beats the rest. They need to act soon. Ford- Ford Racing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The WRC is all ford these days. The started to compete against the likes of Evo6 with the Focus in early 2000s. Now, they are one of the only 3 teams surviving in WRC. (The other 2 being Citroen and Mini) No wonder Jeremy Clarkson called the new fiesta as 'Handling has a VW feel of solidness and lotus kind of sportiness'. They entered into F1 also with their Jaguar brand. Mark Webber at the helm, they did pretty well, qualified second twice [I remember Webber pipping MSC to take pole in Brazil once, only to be beaten on the third sector], but sold Jaguar and Land rover brand to Tata in 2010. Cosworth still in F1 providing engines, is a Ford subsidiary. What could this translate to: The pull-drift EAPS is just the start probably. Hope to see a lot of their innovation into road cars and also road cars into India. This space looks good doesn't it? Hyundai- Google says: No search results found for 'Hyundai' + 'racing' Interpretation: Hyundai does not do the donkey work. They prefer to be smart. Get all that you can have in a car from around the world and then package them into a car. Nothing for the enthusiasts here. Forget this space. VW- VW dominated the Paris-Dakar rally in 2010. The Tuareg finished 1-2-3. They organize the VW cup in the UK. The same was held in India as well which was called the Polo cup. (Racing against their own cars? Eeeeeks). They are into Formula 3. What this means: We dont associate VW with speed or Fun. VW is known for solid European-ness, their ride and comfort. MSL- Suzuki + racing + car = Did you mean bike racing? Interpretation: Suzuki builds bikes, races bikes, great engines for bikes, and yes small cars. Why small cars? because, their bike engines wont be sufficient for bigger cars  . Jokes apart, MSL should invest a lot into R&D if they are to compete with the global giants. Their choice of material, suspension layouts, diesel engine department all need some makeover.Chevrolet- GM is all about the Americas. They are not in the F1 or the WRC but are active in the Indy/ Nascars. But chevrolet in India is a completely different story. The cars here in India (Spark, Beat, Optra) are all based on the Daewoo platform which they bought sometime back. They are trying to eek out every penny out from their Daewoo buyout. What this means: GM India is leftover DMIL. Their cars are all old (Read UVA/ AVEO). Their substantial technology advantage can be seen on the Cruz, but that is only at a premium. Nothing on offer at the lower price range. Nissan- Im not aware of much here. They had some alliance with Renault, which in turn was in the F1 with Benetton. Skoda- You mean VW? Tata- This is one company which disappoints me. No racing heritage. No ambitions of raing either. Their Indicar or the Mint was started way back in 1996-97 and this too was desinged in Italy IDEA. They have been churning out TATA truck load of cars on the same platform year after year. Indi-ca, go, va (never saw the light. Is this the Aria?), and where did the Safari go?. What do you expect from a TATA car? - I thought hard and I would say nothing, just a economical car. Whats in this space: Nothing until I saw the Pixel. TATA has just built the Made for India car and are trying to market in in the UK. I hope TATA will be the forerunner in bringing such India-2020 cars into India. TATA please. Don't disappoint. Probably this thread does not need a mention on the other brands in India, viz BMW, Mercedes, Audi. They have achived many things when it comes to Racing. And did I not mention Ferrari here? |
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6th June 2011, 13:26
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| BHPian  | |
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6th June 2011, 13:28
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1st December 2011, 01:04
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| Newbie  Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Birmingham UK
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