Ford Pulls Out of ARC

[ST205GT4]

Britek pulls out
of OZ Rally SHOCK!

BRITEK Rallye Sport has withdrawn from the
Australian Rally Championship.
The former factory Ford rally team, along with major
sponsor Pirtek, have abandoned its rally plans with
immediate affect. The team’s two Fiestas are for sale.
“It was a very difficult decision to make, but with
sponsorship uncertainty for the future going beyond
2008, it ultimately left us with no alternative,” said team
owner Jason Bright.
It comes at a tough time for the ARC, which is
now left with just one official factory team in the
championship (Toyota).

Bad news for the series.


I've met Jon Mortimer a few times whilst competing in local WA club sport and he's a lovely bloke. Feel for him.

[bf1_IRL]

:eek: Hope that someone picks up the programme...

[HaCo]

Yeah, I hope that too... now the Fiestas will not be FIA homologated I bet?

[SubaruNorway]

Not good, but beyond 2008, why wont they race in 2008 then?

[raybak]

Rumour has it that they pulled the pin when the announcement was made that there wouldn't be a control tyre in 2008. They were one of the key advocates of a control tyre.

Be interesting to see what happens to the cars also to all the guys in the team like Gavin Mosher. Will the rally guys move over to the V8 team?

Ray

[Livewireshock]

This is a repeat of Subaru's exit from the ARC. As a manufacturer team, Britek, have to pay a substantial media fee to pay for the series tv coverage. A major side issue with the control tyre situation was that the tyre company would take over paying for all the coverage.

Ford have in the past few months have tried to have Britek recognised as a privateer team, thus also be excempt from paying the fees. However ARCom was not having a bar of it. Subaru tried to do a similar thing when they withdrew & tried to enter two cars with Les Walkden Racing. When the powers that be declared that LWR was a factory team in disguise & had to pay the media fees, Subaru withdrew completely & LWR competed in the APRC instead.

It will be interesting to see if a privateer effort buys the outfit as a going concern. Will it be a genuine privateer or just a front for Ford to compete without paying the fees.

Britek's slice of the Ford motorsport budget has been reduced due to Jason Bright's poor performance through the 2007 V8Supercar championship. How this affected the rally program is anyones gues. Ford themselves in Australia have been on shakey ground due to poor financial & car sales results.

[Rat]

Why can't Ford take up the Fiestas and use them? We know they are winners, so go for it Ford!

[Maui J.]

This is a real shame.
Was looking forward to a good battle in the ARC between the Toyota and Ford S2000s.
I wonder what the future holds for the Fiestas. Hopefully MSport will buy them and develop them further back in the UK. Seems pointless for and Australian privateer to buy one to run especially without any back up of the developers. It could be a very difficult and expensive undertaking.

[m.lowe]

Can anyone find out how much they are selling for as a guy in the UK is wanting to know more

[raybak]

I'll see what I can find out about price.

Ray

[Livewireshock]

Can anyone find out how much they are selling for as a guy in the UK is wanting to know more

The original price being bandied about last year when they wanted to build new cars was approx. $AUD350,000.

Naturally that will have changed considering the current situation. The above price included comprehensive support package that may not happen now.

[Rally Hokkaido]

Can anyone find out how much they are selling for as a guy in the UK is wanting to know more

I found this , but no price given

http://www.rallyclassified.com/classified.php/listing/1393

[Rally Hokkaido]

I found this , but no price given

http://www.rallyclassified.com/classified.php/listing/1393

sorry, AUD700,000 for both cars and spares

[m.lowe]

Thanks for that RH

[raybak]

I wreckon that by the looks of the spares package that is available with the 2 Fiesta's that the team had no intention of running this year at all. If they were going to run they would have had a much larger spares list.

Maybe the decision was made much earlier in the year than we think?

Ray

[Sulland]

What has happened to the two Fiestas, did anyone buy them ?

[HaCo]

There here... http://www.rallycarsforsale.net/clas/index.php?ct=fsrc&md=details&id=29074

[raybak]

I wreckon the cars are too dear, they want around $700k Australian for the pair, not many spares either.

Ray

[Livewireshock]

Yes it seems it is not so much a worry about buying the cars at the inflated price, but the lack of ongoing support that has frightened alot of people off too. Alot of finger pointing and nothing substantial in keeping the cars running.

Which is a shame they pulled out for 2008. The Ford team would have been very competitive in WA at the first round of the ARC.