So what's happening with ProdriveF1?

[Ranger]

The last I heard from Dave about this, they had just commissioned a new Headquarters. I've heard they may enter in 2009 more recently, but that's gone quiet lately.

So does anyone know what's happening with them?

[Valve Bounce]

The last I heard from Dave about this, they had just commissioned a new Headquarters. I've heard they may enter in 2009 more recently, but that's gone quiet lately.

So does anyone know what's happening with them?

I think the whole thing fell through when the customer cars deal fell through and they couldn't race McLarens.

[Powered by Cosworth]

I can't see Prodrive making their own chassis either, considering afaik all they have ever done is enhance other manufacturers cars and never build a chassis themselves.

[Valve Bounce]

I can't see Prodrive making their own chassis either, considering afaik all they have ever done is enhance other manufacturers cars and never build a chassis themselves.

That's why they pulled out - no customer cars allowed.

[Powered by Cosworth]

That's why they pulled out - no customer cars allowed.

Well, yeah.

[CNR]

Berger hopes for Kuwaiti cash

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns20239.html

It is worth noting that David Richards, who is also looking for money for his Prodrive F1 operation, is already involved in a partnership with Investment Dar, a company which is part-owned by the Kuwaiti government. The alliance enabled Richards to buy the Aston Martin car company

[gloomyDAY]

Project is in the dumps?

I think Richards is focused on the WRC and their new Subaru.
He's in Jordan preparing for the new rally event.

[Stuartf12007]

i heard he was making a paper car lol

[Valve Bounce]

Berger hopes for Kuwaiti cash

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns20239.html


I cannot see the Kuwaitis buying a team which could be defunct as quickly as next year, same as Super Aguri. Unless Bernie makes a decision one way or the other, I am predicting that Super Aguri and Torro Rosso will not be running next year.

[CNR]

if prodrive really wanted to get into f1 i think that they could build all the parts

http://www.prodrive.com/level2.html?id=25



Prodrive is one of the world’s leading motorsport businesses and in order to support our works and customer race and rally programmes with Subaru and Aston Martin, we have an extensive design and manufacturing facility which includes advanced composites, CNC machining, fabrication and electrical/electronics capabilities.




With the exception of the Ford Performance Racing programme, which is based in Melbourne Australia(glen seaton racing was a good racing team untill prodrive got hold of it), all our motorsport operations are based at Banbury in the UK. Here we have the capability to design, develop, manufacture and test prototype race and rally cars(Why not f1 cars), as well as having the production capacity to build more than 100 cars each year.

Our approach is to design and manufacture as many components and systems in-house, which ensures that we can control the quality and costs of our programmes. To do this, we have invested many millions of pounds in the latest CNC machines; we have our own bodyshell build and separate repair shops; extensive fabrication facilities; we make all our wiring harnesses and electrical systems on site; and have our own composites operation in Milton Keynes.

We build and rebuild more than 200 WRC and group N gearboxes each year and the same number of engines and turbos, and can test all of them on our computerised dynos and gearbox spin rigs.

Our distribution centre is able to stock all the parts for our race and rally programmes and provides overnight distribution to our customers across the world. We also have the capability to inspect every part that is made using CMC measurement machines and crack detection.
Our manufacturing facilities are available for external customers including aerospace and performance yachting industries and we have recently been accredited to the aerospace industry's quality management system AS9100.
Click on the links on the left hand side to view our manufacturing facilities and to see how we might be able to work with you.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Performance_Racing



Prodrive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodrive) took over Glenn Seton Racing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Seton_Racing) in 2003, and renamed it Ford Performance Racing as part of a marketing push to link FPV's road cars to the popular V8 Supercars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8_Supercars). Along with this renaming came a huge expansion programme - the team expanded from just one car driven by Glenn Seton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Seton) to three - Seton, Craig Lowndes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Lowndes) and David Besnard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Besnard). The team moved into a new headquarters in adjacent to the FPV plant in Melbourne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne), and the crew expanded as well.
The team's early years were a disappointment to say the least, given the fact the team was one of the richest in V8 Supercars. Lowndes had his moments in 2003 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003), including a round win at Phillip Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Island_%28Victoria%29) (which was somewhat of a fluke), and a second place finish at Bathurst (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathurst_1000) driving with Seton. Lowndes finished the year 5th in the championship, with Seton and Besnard well down the order.
2004 saw the team downsize to two cars - Besnard forced to leave due to the impracticality of preparing three cars at the same time. Lowndes and Seton both had disappointing years, plagued by engine dramas, a lack of test days, and a lack of comparable data (their cars were built to different specifications). While the pair did start to find some pace at the end of the year (they finished 2nd at Bathurst again), they both decided to move at the end of the year - Lowndes to Triple Eight Race Engineering (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Eight_Race_Engineering) and Seton to Dick Johnson Racing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Johnson_Racing).

[Valve Bounce]

I refer you to this post: http://www.motorsportforums.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=462973

Apart from anything else, building an F1 car and getting the aero right is totally different from the building of rallying and V8 saloons. Prodrive pulled out when they found that they could not use customer cars - I am not sure if anything has changed, but if Prodrive were to build an F1 car to race next year, I will jump into Albert Park Lake fully clothed.

[aryan]

Running Subarus and Aston Martins and building handling kits for RX-8 is very different to building an F1 car.

Even teams with years of open-wheel racing find it difficult to design F1 chassis (e.g., Lola). AFAIK Prodrive has no open-wheel racing experience.

No they can not build a chassis on their own, unless they hire 200 top people from other teams. Not gonna be easy.