T8 to holden next year

yep thats why they signed up for a 3yr deal. 2009+3= 2012. (as per FJ's post #6)
and dont forget so did Jamie come from Holden.

All of this because Ford did not want to fund the in form team because of the colour of the cars. I don't think the colour is that important it must be hard for teams to find funding without having to restrain what colour they paint the cars. I think all those who are interested know who are driving Fords. Ford will have nothing to complain about if we get our asses kicked next season. But hopefully one of the teams they have funded steps up and gives us something to cheer about. Lowndes and Wincup would have known about the move before they signed new deals so if they have no loyalty to Ford they can go and hopefully not return.

DROF wrote:

FORDACE wrote:I agree DJR will never go over to the dark side.

I would have bet an easy hundy that Lowndes would have never gone back to the dark side too!! Bloody glad I never wasted any money on the T8 merchandise. Im glad im with Telecom

Go the mighty Vodafone Warriors

I feel sorry for my sister in laws partner he's a staunch Fordy and his brother is the head mechanic for 888.Last time i was over in Brisbane he was showing me all the 888 gear his brother got him, so he wont be happy.
I'll wait till he's over it and give him a ring and see if i can find out a bit more.

PS. anyone want to buy a 888 jacket

gee i bet there will be a few ford fans hoping whingecup gets knocked off the top.

That could be part of the deal they signed so that HRT take the number 1 over for next year

FORDACE wrote:All of this because Ford did not want to fund the in form team because of the colour of the cars. I don't think the colour is that important it must be hard for teams to find funding without having to restrain what colour they paint the cars. I think all those who are interested know who are driving Fords. Ford will have nothing to complain about if we get our asses kicked next season. But hopefully one of the teams they have funded steps up and gives us something to cheer about. Lowndes and Wincup would have known about the move before they signed new deals so if they have no loyalty to Ford they can go and hopefully not return.

Really, when you know Holdens colours are red and someone you are giving millions of dollars to pints the car you GAVE them red it is important. They also were given the option of painting them white with red signage but they also declined that. White and red is also a vodafone option, there are already other race cars sponsored by Vodafone that carry this option.

Really, when you know Holdens colours are red and someone you are giving millions of dollars to pints the car you GAVE them red it is important. They also were given the option of painting them white with red signage but they also declined that. White and red is also a vodafone option, there are already other race cars sponsored by Vodafone that carry this option.[/quote]

Yes I know it is important to them other wise they maybe would still sponsor them but I wonder how many people would not buy a Ford because the winning car was painted red? The other interesting thing is if Red cars are such a big thing for Ford why do they sell red one's and Likewise with holden and blue Commadore's

my thoughts exactly .... it was a pure cost cutting exercise and nothing to do with colours at all.

Maybe i can sue Ford for painting my ute red ..... those bastards!

Another thorn was that Ford (with their deal with Craig) wanted him to wear Ford clothing but he refused and kept the Vodafone suit in line with the team colours, which is fair enough. I now think that the Hogs breath pig in the grill has more of a resounding message to Ford than ever before.
Whats going to happen though is if now there are 2/3 Holdens and 1/3 Fords, its going to end up being a one-make race soon enough. Then we'll see viewer numbers disappearing!

ThMule wrote:my thoughts exactly .... it was a pure cost cutting exercise and nothing to do with colours at all.

Maybe i can sue Ford for painting my ute red ..... those bastards!

If you order a red Ford ( lets say a Super Pursuit) does that make you a closet Holden fan?

No it makes You a fire truck driver............

Dont follow the V8s much these days but this is a real shocker.
I heard there will be something like 20 Holdens and 10 Fords racing next year so it looks like I will be in no hurry to watch it next year either.
I dont know why Ford didnt sponsor 888 this year especially seeing they did so well last year but whatever the reason Ford have stuffed up.
Sure there is a bad economic situation going on now but I wonder exactly when Ford decided to pull the pin?
I did watch part of a race this afternoon and saw Lowndes and Whincup finish in the top 10 and by the looks of it they are doing that a lot this season so we will see two more Holden there and two less Fords.
Anyone know whats happening with the 888 cars etc?

20 vs 10 next year only if other teams don't switch to Ford. Just remember that it's 18 vs 12 this year and Ford is still winning.

As for the T888 cars, I understand that they will scontinue to be supplying other teams (DJR for example) with chassis and engines.

fair call, if a team can buy the 888 cars that they will no longer need at the end of the season that will be interesting.
Hopefully Ford has something up there sleeve later in the season to even things up a bit.

Holden have said they will be making an announcement soon about next years support for V8 Supercar teams but insiders suspect that the T888 deal and their HRT factory team will have eaten up most of the budget. They don't think there is much, if anything, left for the other Holden teams. It will be interesting to watch and see what develops but I would think that there may be a few teams that may switch to Ford as they seem to be doing most of the winning.

It was interesting this year in the NZV8's (which is actually based on the cars and not some space frame chassis equalling clones) that most of the cars were Fords. This followed the previous year where they were clearly the car better suited to most of the tracks here. Kane Scott (long term Holden driver) even went as far to say that he considered running two cars, a Holden for a couple of the circuits and a Ford for the rest. In the end he went Ford.

Did anyone else notice that one of the commentators was already refering to Wincup and Lowdnes as Holden drivers?

is it just me or does the enthusiasm watching the V8's has waned already????

It's just you Sam.

Drivers switch every year. It's not that big a deal really. Ford keep on racing and, more importantly, winning.

ThMule wrote:is it just me or does the enthusiasm watching the V8's has waned already????

Must be just you Sam. I'm trying to figure out who I will support next year though. I would like Frosty to be a bit more consistant. And I really like the Gis... he was just unlucky to go off the track.... twice. But he still finished ahead of Tander so he must of passed him at least once.

ThMule wrote:is it just me or does the enthusiasm watching the V8's has waned already????

Rather watch the ABs

Holden’s 2010 budget already spent?



Sunday 01/08/2010 15:00

Author: Allan Edwards | Source: BigPond Sport -





Holden Chairman in waiting, Alan Batey, has admitted that Holden has reduced
its financial commitment to V8 Supercars over the past few years, and indicated
it may cut the number of teams it supports in 2010 and beyond.
He implied the company’s recently announced new deal with Triple Eight Racing
and its contract extension with the Holden Racing Team (HRT) could mean there
will be less, if any, cash left in the Holden Motorsport kitty for other
Commodore teams in pitlane.
It is believed that Holden currently provides direct financial support to
Walkinshaw Performance Racing (including HRT), Jack Daniel’s Racing, Brad Jones
Racing (BJR) and Supercheap Auto Racing; however it is understood that these
contracts are up for renewal at the end of this season.
Batey – who is currently Holden Executive Director Sales, Marketing and
Aftersales but takes over from Mark Reuss as Holden Chairman on September 1 –
indicated that the other Holden teams in pitlane would be likely to receive
technical support and parts only from 2010 and beyond.
“We continue to provide them with technical support and we are providing them
with parts,” Batey told radio podcast show V8 Insiders.
“We cannot be a sponsor of every team in pitlane; the sport is bigger than
that. We have a great relationship with every Holden team.
“Our actual dollar spend in motorsport has been going down for many years.
The reason for that is because the sport is continuing to grow and other
sponsors are continuing to come into the sport.
“Our belief in this sport and our commitment to it has not diminished.
“I know it’s not the answer that everyone wants to hear, but Holden cannot
directly sponsor every team in pitlane… are we beside them providing technical
support and parts? Absolutely we are.”
BJR co-owner Kim Jones told BigPond Sport that he is hoping to keep his
team’s Holden financial support for 2010 and beyond.
“We haven’t talked yet (with Holden). We have a contract with them until the
end of the year and some time between now and then we will sit down with them
and discuss it (a new contract),” Jones said.
“I would like to keep it (Holden’s financial commitment to the team) at its
current level or increase it. To do that we need to perform… we have been
performing, so we need to keep doing that and put some results in the bank and
then we can go and talk to them.”
Jones, who moved from Ford to Holden two seasons ago, said he can understand
why Triple Eight made the move.
“I’m surprised that it took Triple Eight so long to follow BJR’s lead,” he
said with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek.
Jack Daniel’s Racing co-owner Rick Kelly said he could understand why Holden
had contracted Triple Eight, but he also hopes that decision won’t be at the
detriment to his team’s existing financial support from Holden.
“Holden signing with Triple Eight is a great idea. They are the benchmark
team out there and if I was a manufacturer those guys would definitely be a team
that I would want to be aligned with, so congratulations to both of them,” Kelly
said.
“It seems like a really good idea. I’m still really surprised that Ford
didn’t back those guys for this year. That was a very interesting decision.
“So far as our team goes we have got fantastic Holden support for this year
and we would love to continue that for next year, but… (regarding) our
relationship with Holden into the future – it would probably be a little bit
premature to be talking about that just yet.
“It’s not even halfway through the season yet. At the moment we are focussed
on the rest of this year.”

Its not just you sam, me as well.Sure drivers change camps,but how offten do you see a top team change camps. If you look at race 2 take out t8 you only have 1 ford in the top ten.Ford will have to rearly have to step up next year.Ispoke to a frend who is a die hard ford fan,said he wont watch any racing next year if all you are going to see is all commes in the top 10, so at the moment the best of the rest is jim beam racing,the rest are to far of the pace.

Craig Lowndes defecting to Holden is one of the biggest V8 Supercar
news stories since Craig Lowndes defected to Ford. As Triple 8, the
most successful Ford team in recent times, makes the move to Holden
next season, a major flaw for the category is once again exposed.
The defection highlights the danger of V8 Supercars reliance on the Ford V Holden rivalry to promote the sport.
Craig Lowndes has now moved between the two manufacturers twice and
for fans of the brand, the team and the driver, their loyalty is being
tested.
Who are fans to follow?
As one Triple 8 fan emailed to me during the week, “I cannot continue to support them if they have red badges next year.”
V8 Supercars faces a severe identity crisis.
Too much of the sports promotion has been on the manufacturer battle
and this has deflected attention away from the rivalry between
individual drivers and teams.
Even then, when there is so much movement of sponsorship and
changing identities amongst the teams, it is difficult for fans to
build an association with a particular team.
Unlike in the football codes, there is no geographical connection to
individual teams, rather commercial identities with limited appeal to
the wider community.
V8 Supercars has, in recent times at least, publicly acknowledged
the decrease in importance of the Ford V Holden dualism, but many of
the sports older fans are still grounded in that rivalry while
potential fans simply don’t care either way.
Fans have varied reasons for following an individual driver, team or manufacturer.
Some prefer to follow individual drivers who they have built a
relationship with or likewise with a team, while some still pledge
their allegiance to either red or blue.
Of those three options, not one stands out as having the most appeal.
There is probably a split between all three options and in cases
such as the Triple 8 defection, fans whose loyalties overlap between
the three can find themselves divided and being forced to make tough
choices.
It also means V8 Supercars struggles to find a way to promote its
protagonists, hence the inability to replace the Ford V Holden mantra
with any new conflict, especially as no one driver or team rivalry has
emerged out of this incredibly competitive new generation of V8
Supercars.
This hasn’t been helped by the huge generational change that has
happened in the last decade or so with the likes of Peter Brock, Dick
Johnson and Larry Perkins, the old guard who were intrinsically linked
with one manufacturer, sponsor and team for the majority of their
careers, replaced by a variety of young drivers who have hopped from
one team/sponsor/manufacturer combination to another.
This is why it is time that V8 Supercars dropped one of these
variables, the Holden and Ford rivalry by opening up the category to
different manufacturers, a move that will only strengthen the series at
a time when Ford and Holden are forced to cut the budgets to many of
non-factory teams.
Forget Holden V Ford as it’s outdated.
Back a driver or team, no matter the brand they’re in.

http://www.theroar.com.au/2009/08/02/v8-supercars-faces-a-severe-identity-crisis/