Sorry if this is a repeat:
BHA - Honda?
DRR - Chevy?
IndyStar article: http://www.indystar.com/article/2012...107/120423034/
-w
Sorry if this is a repeat:
BHA - Honda?
DRR - Chevy?
IndyStar article: http://www.indystar.com/article/2012...107/120423034/
-w
Maybe they asked that they stop...
"Ride The Barrel & Get Pitted... So Pitted."
Wonder if they show at Indy at all.
"The track will choose who's going to win."
Tony Kanaan
Geezus.
...---...
Lotus should either get their sh1t together, or pull out! I hope D&R and Herta can snatch some engines for indy!
"when you no longer go for the gap, you are no longer a racing driver" Ayrton Senna
From the article (although hardly definitive): Team officials could not be reached for comment, but it’s expected they will sign deals with Chevrolet and Honda in preparation for next month’s Indianapolis 500.Originally Posted by jp
I'd imagine they wouldn't sever ties with Lotus until they got the other side of the coin sorted out first.
I imagine Servia will race with a Lotus in Brazil... But who knows.
-w
If Herta goes with Honda, might that open the door to align with Sam Schmidt again for Indy? That worked out pretty well last year...
I'm so happy for Herta that they were able to break free!
Wasn't Lotus providing money to DRR ?
Big news. So, did they get what they asked for?
Holy cow! Oriol Servia and Alex Tagliani must be passed out in a bar somewhere with blissful grins on their faces.
BHA. What a shocker.
Last year they just borrowed a chassis from Schmidt, they don't need to do that this year. The engineering team that put that car to the front last year were part of BHA and they are still part of BHA this year, I believe with either engine option (Chevy or Honda) they are now contenders to win Indy again.
Seems good for everyone. Lotus teams will have more engines, and at this point, if you had they money to pay for the extra Chevy or Honda, why wouldn't you?
Nice to see that Oriol will have a good lump behind him for a while. While I don't care that much for Taglilani, I'm sure he's happy as well.
Probably the best solution for all three parties mentioned. That should alleviate some pressure off Lotus, and BHA and DRR should land nicely on their feet.
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I never saw this coming...
Last edited by doitagain; 04-23-2012 at 04:49 PM.
Ain't engine competition grand?
Excellent news.
"Lotus to stop supplying engines" is corporate-positive-spin-speak for "Two teams threaten to sue Lotus if not released from contracts."
Better for Lotus and the remaining Lotus teams, and better for the series. Glad the other engine manufacturers are willing to supply powerplants.
Im a little surprised. Now Lotus has 3 cars for the year (Bourdais, Simona, Legge), that sucks. For Lotus and for Bourdais.
BHA and DRR can now show us the improvements they made in the off-season, BHA has a solid budget in place and DRR made lots of changes to their engineering department over the off-season. Tags and Servia get to join the fight now.
My words may not be what you want to hear.....but what you need to hear. TF CHALLENGE: CONVINCE 1 NEW PERSON TO WATCH INDY NEXT SUNDAY
Wonder how Seb and Simona feel?
Indy, Cleveland, Mid-Ohio, Pocono, Michigan, Long Beach, Watkins Glen, Kentucky, IRP - 49
Hopefully it makes them stronger. A few more engines now, so perhaps they can be more agressive?
Now they have more engines. This could be good, somehow. Lotus just has to do some things to change the game in favor of their teams.
They have a very talented driver with them, so... if they want, they can do something.
IMO.
Religion can't save. Jesus can because He loves you!
Does that really help them when there's a 10 grid spot penalty every time an engine doesn't go for the required # of miles?
Hopefully a little more confident they'll have an engine waiting for them each week. This should be good for their programs as well, since it means development can be concentrated on just a few cars.
No, in those cases you're right. I didn't say it WILL help them, just that it COULD. It's clear from other posts, I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Great news for BHA and DRR! Now, I ask again is it still too early to worry about Lotus?
If Katherine Legge and/or Simona de Silvestro fail to qualify at Indy will it be because of the engine or because of them?
What they need to do is prep for the long haul
- Take Bourdais and do as much testing as you can/allowed to do and risk losing an engine. Take the grid penalty, you'll be in the back anyways on speed and just focus on collecting data so that maybe you can be competitive in the 2nd half of the year.
I'm assuming that's why BHA decided to skip Brazil? I wonder if DRR is going to follow suit?
As previously stated, it will probably be a good thing all parties involved.
"Any time that I can be out at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, you're going to see a smile on my face." - Dan Wheldon
"It's crazy how the Indianapolis Motor Speedway can make you so emotional. I went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in less than 24 hours." - Alex Tagliani
Actually, that seems to be exactly what happened. Two teams threatened to file breach of contract lawsuits against Lotus to get out of their engine leases so they could switch. The headline is misleading. It should say "Lotus agrees to let BHA and DRR out of their engine contracts." The teams wouldn't have brought matters to a head if they didn't already know they could get another engine. My earlier speculations in another thread were not entirely accurate, but in many ways they weren't far off either. A couple people trying to tell me I just didn't understand the situation turned out to mean that the two teams leaving Lotus was pretty much already a done deal, but it couldn't be made public yet and they couldn't say anything.Maybe they asked that they stop...
What puzzles me is why it is only Lotus being thrown under the bus and, seemingly, the PR groundwork being set for them to be booted from the series. Judd built the engines and has gone on record publicly to say it's a good engine and that any engine shortage is not a matter of him not having funding from Lotus. McLaren built the buggy ECUs that seem to be the root of most of the problems. Wouldn't Judd's and McLaren's input have at least as much to do with solving the engine performance and supply issues as Lotus'?
It's a shame they felt the need to bail so early (due laregely to sponsor pressure, apparently) and IICS let them, because it appears to me Lotus is trying and could conceivably have the ECU and supply problems addressed by Indy. I also read that they hired the top aero guy at McLaren late last year, so they are putting serious effort into developing the aero kit. They want to be in it for the long haul, and they are being done in by expectations of immediate gratification and growing pains with a brand new engine that is a couple months behind in development. I think it was a bad decision by IICS to let the teams back out, and to let them do a whisper campaign to drag Lotus through the mud.
"It is marvelous to go very fast!" Lisa, portrayed by Françoise Hardy, in the film [B]Grand Prix
"A big, fat, piddling weasel, yes. But not truly evil." JB
1 Lotus owner told me in LB it would be good for all Lotus teams if "at least 1 team went away." Smaller fish pond=easier to swim upstream -- Jenna Fryer (@JennaFryer)
I wonder if Dragon will follow ?
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