Re: Alfa Racing history (& Porsche's)

[Carscribe@domain.elided]

I certainly wouldn't write Porsche off so easily, particularily when one considers the particulars related to BMW's recent successes in endurance racing, and that BMW's primary successes have been in classes that Porsche has not competed in directly, such as LMP, or by creative rules interpretation. 

One area BMW has done well in the last year is here in the US ALMS with the M3. If it seems the ALMS M3 racers are particularily fast this season, it's because they are bending the ALMS rules and running a V-8 in place of the production-based V-6. Previously competitve Porsche entrants have complained and protested to no avail (for this season at least), and so BMW has enjoyed an unfair advantage this season. 

Will BMW's luck hold out? Can't say. A scenario more likely than poor showings is BMW Motorsports experiencing a reduction in funding. BMW has a notoriously critical board, and so Motorsports must justify any continuing outlay in racing against a stringent set of ROI metrics, then convince the board to approve the expense; in other words, BMW's motorsports effort could have it's plug pulled at any time should the board decide that television commercials provide more impact on the bottomline. Either poor future showings or a budget cut would clearly benefit any Porsche privateer efforts in the ALMS.

Porsche, being largely family controlled, has a motorsports effort as a mandate built into it's corporate principles (as opposed to just a notion of the marketing dept.), handed down from Fredinand through Ferry and directly to the current management team of Dr. Wiedeking. Porsche executives would have a very, very difficult time killing off the factory's motorsport effort, and additionally it would result in loosing much of the brand's cache necessary to purpetuate much the motorsports consulting that brings in a good portion of Porsche's revenues.

As far as Porsche's past F1 history, Porsche can legitimately claim 25 Formula 1 victories with McLaren using the engine designed and built by Porsche for TAG.

Hopefully clearing a bit of the fog of racing,
Paul Mitchell

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