The Robin sings of the death of Toyota's IRL program

[pchall]

Miller at Speed (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/indycar/20863/)

[NismoZ]

Gosh, we should all just be totally SHOCKED by this! Who saw THIS coming? (So what does it mean if the Honda agreement with Ilmor is for only one more year? Penske supplies engines from then on?)

[pchall]

Gosh, we should all just be totally SHOCKED by this! Who saw THIS coming? (So what does it mean if the Honda agreement with Ilmor is for only one more year? Penske supplies engines from then on?)

I think it suggests that Robert Clarke's visit to the paddock at Las Vegas involved more than a suggestion that Champ Car adopt whatever the Honda "IRL 2007" speculative engine formula project had produced. He must have know this was coming and was begging for a life preserver.

[NismoZ]

NO doubt! (meeting didn't last long though, did it? :) ) So, IF the Ilmor deal IS for only one more season, could that affect the Honda '09 deal? I can't imagine Honda agreeing to run against themselves for four years without provision for an early out! Maybe Penske/Ilmor gets a NEW badge and Cosworth does the Hondas and voila, competition! Or Penske and KK have formed a secret alliance to simply render manufacturers AND FTG superfluous! My head hurts.

[oddlycalm]

Or Penske and KK have formed a secret alliance to simply render manufacturers AND FTG superfluous! My head hurts. My guess is that it's TG's head that hurts. The future of the EARL is largely hostage to decisions made by others according to their own interests. Should be amusing to see how they spin this little nugget now that it's official.... :D

oc

[KLang]

Should be amusing to see how they spin this little nugget now that it's official.... :D


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ALL IS WELL!

[trish]

Honda will probably supply everyone. They don't seem to have any problem throwing away tons of money.

[FTG]

Honda will probably supply everyone. They don't seem to have any problem throwing away tons of money.

Yep. For a year. This could be the best possible thing. First, Honda supports 100% of the field. Then Honda pulls out next year.

[NismoZ]

Thats the way I see it! :)

[TRDfan]

Woohoo...

[nrc]

Should be amusing to see how they spin this little nugget now that it's official.... :D

oc

Is it official? I haven't seen an actual news item.

[SurfaceUnits]

Tuesday, 22 Nov. 2005 - Fred Nation: Tony George's plan to save AOWR is right on schedule.

p0wn3d and all your shizzle are belong to us comes to mind :eek: :D :laugh: :rofl:

[coolhand]

Hond would not sign on till 2009 without an out. That being major mfc. competition.

and toyota has pulled out a year early(Honda saw this comming) so they probably will stay on for next season and exercise their option next season

[NismoZ]

OK, spin beginning...Autoweak says Toyota didn't quit, the HRL FIRED 'em! Honda's plan is to have EVERYbody pay leases, so they can charge less (down from 1.5 mil. to 900k.) Thing is, guesses say only 18 can afford to do that, looks like 15 as of now. Some rumors are putting MICHAEL back in a car! Maybe Marco in a 5th if they can't get daMatta. :rolleyes:

[Warlock!]

Yep. For a year. This could be the best possible thing. First, Honda supports 100% of the field. Then Honda pulls out next year.It'd be nice, but I doubt it'll happen like that. If Honda basically just needs to keep cranking out widgets, makes a profit, and doesn't have to put any money in for R&D, why would they pull out? Kinda like Ford in Champcar.

The way I see this hurting the Earl is that with Honduh supplying the whole field, they don't need to pay driver retainers and the like. I mean, how much do you think Whinedretti is getting from 'Duh? Rahole? Honda paid big money to get big drivers on big teams... no need for that big money to keep flowing now that they're the only widget-maker around.

[TKGAngel]

OK, spin beginning...Autoweak says Toyota didn't quit, the HRL FIRED 'em! Honda's plan is to have EVERYbody pay leases, so they can charge less (down from 1.5 mil. to 900k.) Thing is, guesses say only 18 can afford to do that, looks like 15 as of now. Some rumors are putting MICHAEL back in a car! Maybe Marco in a 5th if they can't get daMatta. :rolleyes:

So AGR would be supplying 1/3'rd the field (assuming an 15 car series)? What kind of cockamamie racing series is this? They should just hand the championship off to Franchitti (its his turn to get the call) and be done with it.

[Wally]

Probably not as much money, but never the less the direction Toyota is going.

http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=8491

[Don Quixote]

Some rumors are putting MICHAEL back in a car!
Which brings us to the question "if the track announcer says that Andretti is slowing on the backstretch, and nobody is there to hear it, does he still make a sound?"

[G.]

Which brings us to the question "if the track announcer says that Andretti is slowing on the backstretch, and nobody is there to hear it, does he still make a sound?"Of course! Kind of a "whiney" sound.

[NismoZ]

All perhaps true, but I bet he'd be instantly one of the favorites to win. Probably a better shot in '06 than at any time in the future.

[Jervis Tetch 1]

:laugh:

[NismoZ]

I KNOW it's silly, but it's true! Would you say Mikey would have an easier shot at a place like Long Beach or Portland, or Mexico City? UNH, uh. You know 500 mile oval races have made instant lucky heroes out of many drivers over the years. The reason I mentioned '06 as being the prime yr. to pull off this feat is I assume SOMEthing will happen to fix things and make it tougher in succeeding years. And by "favorite" I also meant of the press and League fans. Those guys need some kind of boost. You think the date might be changed the following year so Stewart or Jr. can bring popular excitement to the event? After all, Memorial Day is JUST a holiday!

[Methanolandbrats]

At what point will FTG wake up and

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/images/smilies/punchballs.gif

[NismoZ]

I think he has certain "habits" where he already does that.

[SurfaceUnits]

http://64.255.242.145/ibjdaily/assets/images/DailyStoryHead.jpg
Toyota to pull out of IRL
By Anthony Schoettle
Indinnaplus Bidnuss Jernel Reporter

The Indy Racing League is set to become a one-engine series, team and series sources confirmed yesterday, as Toyota Motor Corp. prepares to announce its departure from the open-wheel circuit a year earlier than planned.

Jim Aust, president of Toyota Racing Development, told Speed TV he could not confirm Toyota was pulling out of the IRL, but said an official announcement is expected before month's end.

IRL spokesman John Griffin would only say nothing is yet official.

If Toyota departs, that will leave Honda Motor Corp. as the series' sole engine supplier. The Toyota departure has left IRL officials nervous about the availability of enough Honda engines to field 33 cars for the Indianapolis 500 in May, an IRL team executive said.

Honda Performance Development President Robert Clarke told IRL officials the Japanese company would do everything it could to supply all IRL teams with enough engines to be competitive. Last year, the series had about 22 cars in most starting grids, but the number of cars that attempt to qualify at Indianapolis is substantially higher.

The departure of Toyota also likely means Honda will cut down on supplying free engines to some of its teams and trim the amount of sponsorship dollars it pours into its teams' budgets, team sources said.

[stroker]

So AGR would be supplying 1/3'rd the field (assuming an 15 car series)? What kind of cockamamie racing series is this? They should just hand the championship off to Franchitti (its his turn to get the call) and be done with it.

What makes you think they can afford to pay Franchitti? Talent don't mean dick in this equation any more... Now it's a question of who can bring enough outside sponsorship + minimum Tonybucks = a car on the grid.

:)

(You heard it hear first. Buy that crapwagon now, because after this year they'll be so rare it'll make the Edsel look like the Beetle.)

[NismoZ]

Yeah, but...isn't that the way it's supposed to be? The so called level playing field? Buy your car and pay your driver with the sponsorship you hustle up and pay the same as everyone else for the engines? Who is getting free engine leases in CC, and aren't "KK bucks" being put to work as well? I can see what they are attempting to do...spread out the costs to lower engine leases, but do you think the "rich" guys will like the subsidizing (that'll be their spin) of the little teams? By making everyone pay, Honda and the HRL think they can save teams about .75mil $ on a lease. For each 3/4 of a mil saved, Honda has to get the same amount from someone else. (Maybe a little less if they are going to freeze now unnecessary engine development.) Meanwhile those reduced leases may still be about a quarter mil more than the CC Cosworth engine leases. Don't you think the idea is to keep teams from looking at a bottom line and saying "I think we'll go run over there"? All this is just speculation on my part, but doesn't it also now show just how critical the Cosworth purchase was for ChampCar?

[NismoZ]

PS-Cosworth lost the Chevy dollars for the Indy engine costs, but, in a sense, the HRL could still BUY Cosworths to run in the series. I suppose without badging that would be cost prohibitive for both sides and just not good business, but how desparate are they? I wonder how many of those "Chevy" engines (or Toyotas for that matter) are sitting around wrapped in plastic needing to be used next May?

[Lux Interior]

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ALL IS WELL!

"Those ARE NOT american tanks driving through Baghdad, they are actually driving on the Moon" "Toyota and Cosworth are joining Honda for a 30 car grid next year" "The American Infidels are running away as I speak"