Had to happen .... no FORD badge on the new FG team Vodafone cars.

V8 SUPERCARS' top team have dumped Ford for a pink pig as payback for the manufacturing giant's sponsorship snubbing.

Team Vodafone - home to 2008 champion Jamie Whincup and Bathurst king Craig Lowndes - have replaced the Ford badges on their Falcon with a pig for the season beginning on March 19.

The shock move comes after Ford cut the powerful team's funding, along with that of the team of legend Dick Johnson, amid the global credit crisis. Ford have centralised their funding to Ford Performance Racing and Stone Brothers Racing.

The decision rocked Team Vodafone last year, with boss Roland Dane left reeling by the $2 million cut. But revenge is sweet. After not only winning Bathurst but the championship, the outfit will race with the Hog's Breath pig on their grille, not the famous Blue Oval.

Fair enough too I reckon

I would do the same too.

Mofo - if someone gave you two mill, you would do anything...

If they took it away

you'd do worser..

At least Your not saying I'm cheap.

Get over yourself 888. You are old news. 88 kicks your butt. Move over, there is new blood coming through and its making you look your age. And Ford for one saw it coming 2 years ago when they signed their Ford drivers.

4DPrincess wrote:Get over yourself 888. You are old news. 88 kicks your butt. Move over, there is new blood coming through and its making you look your age. And Ford for one saw it coming 2 years ago when they signed their Ford drivers.

Thats a bit harsh ..... you have got 2 of the hottest drivers and one of the hottest Ford teams in the series. Whincup the defending series champion and Lowndes the undisputed current king of the mountain. I know your a Giz fan but he has yet to prove himself in the V8's ..... maybe this year???

I think Whincup is fantastic but as I say Lowndes is old news. It is his own partner after all that is showing him up. No one can overlook what Lowndes past is but to spit the dummy because Ford are no longer giving them full support in my mind is pretty childish. And it is hard not to be judgmental when you know a bit of back ground that is not in the media. Dont like dirty dealers whoever they may be.

I dont think you can blame Lowndes for that - its the team owners / managers that make those decisions, not the drivers.
We all have our favourites and Craig is still one of mine. I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking to him on a couple of occasions and he is a real nice guy.

He he Sam we posted at the same time but mine wouldnt go through because yours was...
anyway what I was saying was that you are right, I shouldnt let my disappointment of the new 'attitude' behind the scenes cloud my judgement. it is Dane who is the idiot. He thought he was bigger than Ford and that he could make veiled threats and force them to sponsor his team. At the end of the day, Ford get the last laugh because when these cars win/place everyone knows they are Fords and it doesnt take a small oval on the front to prove that.
I too have met Lowndes a couple of times and yes he was lovely, but its a dog eat dog world and sometimes personalities change. I am sure that to his fans he will always be the friendly guy he always has been. isn't that called marketing?
I will be supporting Whincup all day long as my fav driver, I just wish they would get new team colours cos red doesnt suit me

So what were these threats that were made to Ford then??

I suppose there are a lot of other teams out there that fly the Ford flag but aren't sponsored by Ford too, Holden is the same also.

SSSSSSHHH, I think it is one of those hush hush things that we not suppose to know,

Caron mentioned it though and around here once you drop the hint You have to tell the whole story

No use leaving us hanging..........It could be juicy gossip, You heard it right here kinda stuff.

No secret .... when Ford dropped thier sponsorship of all Ford teams except FPR and SBR, Roland Dane threw his bricks out of his pram and threatened all sorts of things including changing Team Vodafone over to Holdens but could not do this as his drivers are under contract to Ford still. He even investigated the idea of using different body panels on their cars but i dont think the rules allow it. So his protest is that this season you will not see "FORD" anywhere on thier cars - i.e the Hogs Breath pig where the front and rear blue ovals normally go and NORTON accross the top of the windscreen where the FORD name was last year.

Still a few Ford parts in the cars though too.

Vehicle: Triple Eight Race Engineering Falcon FG

Engine: KRE developed 5.0litre V8 Ford Boss 302 cast iron block and Ford D3 aluminium heads
Category control MoTeC engine management control

Estimated Power: 635 + BHP limited to maximum 7,500 RPM

Gearbox: 6-speed Holinger Sequential gearbox - Australian made with electronic gear cut

Differential: Triple Eight Race Engineering designed rear axle assembly with Ford 9" spooled differential gears

Suspension: Front - Triple Eight Race Engineered double wishbone suspension with Sachs adjustable damper and cockpit adjustable front anti roll bar.
Rear - Triple Eight 4 link rear suspension with adjustable watts link, coil over Sachs adjustable rear dampers with cockpit adjustable rear anti roll bar

Brakes: Front - Control Alcon 6 piston front calipers with Alcon 375mm ventilated discs - Cockpit adjustable front/rear bias.
Rear - Alcon 4 piston calipers with Alcon 343mm ventilated discs

Wheels: Triple Eight Race Engineering designed AutoTek 8 spoke, 17" aluminium racing rim

Tyres: Dunlop control tyre

Fuel Capacity: 120 Litre

Vehicle Weight: 1355kg (category minimum without driver)

Top Speed: 298kph (185mph)
0-100kph: 3.55 seconds

Telemetry: Motec and Freewave 900Mhz spread spectum radio

Data Acquisition: MoTeC ADL3 Display/Acquisition System. 256Mb memory, up to 100 channels of data at up to 5000 samples per second

Seat: Racetech 9119 Carbon with 6 point mounting system

Steering Wheel: Revolution Sportsline RPM