Ford has finally confirmed its revised approach to V8 Supercar racing, and the crux of it is that it will only financially support two teams from next year and that it wants the cars it sponsors to be more representative of the Blue Oval brand.
The teams it will tip dollars into are Ford Performance Racing and Stone Brothers.
The most successful Ford team in V8 Supercar racing in recent times, Triple 8/Team Vodafone, will miss out on Ford money, apparently because of the predominant red in the Vodafone color scheme (pictured) clashing with Ford's desire to see more blue. However, the Vodafone millions that go into Triple 8 seem to be more than enough to ensure it keeps rolling along quite nicely.
The big loser from Ford's new approach is its stalwart, Dick Johnson. It is the reality of the severance of that cord that is striking a raw nerve with fans and the media today.
Another victim of the cost cutting is Jason Bright's Britek operation.
Not a lot of what has come to light in the past 24 hours is surprising --Auto Action magazine has been predicting it for months, and we have touched on it here several times -- although it had seemed until quite recently that FPR and Triple 8 would be Ford's designated teams.
If there has been a late switch from Triple 8 to Stone Brothers, we wonder whether things might have come to a head when Triple 8 effectively prevented Lowndes (pictured) from doing the first demonstration drives in the new FG01 Falcon at Sandown. At that time Triple 8 insisted Lowndes would have to wear Vodafone overalls while Ford wanted him in its generic blue overalls.
That clearly was a way of a team telling a manufacturer that it valued its major sponsor more than the carmaker.
Stones Bros' James Courtney was slotted into the FG01 at the last moment in place of Lowndes for those few laps.
Being one of Ford's two designated teams will be something of a lifesaver for the Stones, who look set to lose Courtney at the end of the season -- and the Jeld-Wen sponsorship with him.
Ford is talking about its two teams having "at least four drivers", but expect there to be five -- Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards at FPR, Courtney in an FPR satellite operation, and young gun Shane Van Gisbergen and one other at Stone Bros.
The question then becomes: who will be that other driver at Stones?
We reckon Will Davison must be favourite for the slot.
Davison has done well with Dick Johnson Racing, winning the Eastern Creek round for it this season, but if DJR has found the going tough the past couple of years and things are only going to get tougher financially now, surely the chance to drive for one of only two properly Ford-supported teams would be enough to lure Davison across to Stones.
Another longer-term question must be the future viability of the two-make category. Holden has progressively scaled back its benevolence to V8 Supercar teams and drivers in recent years. The word around the V8 paddock is that this Ford exercise may trim its annual spend in the category from $15 million to perhaps $12 million or even $10 million.
So what happens if these spending trends continue at Broadmeadows and Fishermen's Bend? Can the field remain around 30 cars without the two manufacturers backing teams with money as well as equipment and technical assistance?
Probably not.
Certainly it seems that a window is opening for another manufacturer to enter the fray, and the one on everyone's lips is Toyota.
While Toyota always officially denies it is interested, it is known to have had talks with some teams -- in particular Triple 8, and perhaps also (Larry) Perkins Engineering. Toyota is a big spender, especially on marketing and advertising -- and on Formula 1, at which it has been hugely unsuccessful. It is achieving great success now in American stock car racing, NASCAR, and while the spending there is significant it is loose change compared with F1.
But how would Toyota, today announcing record sales for the first half of 2008 (more than Holden and Ford combined!) benefit from going V8 Supercar racing?
It's hard to see what there is to gain when its marketing of road cars is clearly going so well. But if it does see a reason to go V8 Supercar racing it is likely to run into a lot less resistance now than it might have in yesteryear.
Holden boss Mark Reuss has said: "I think it's probably time to move on from the whole Ford-Holden thing, because it turns off as many people as it turns on."
From Ford's perspective, it said in announcing its "more targeted approach to motorsport sponsorship" that its investment in the sport, particularly V8 Supercars, continued to be "a critical component of Ford's diversified sponsorship and marketing portfolio".
"Ford's involvement in V8 Supercars will remain the company's single largest sponsorship and category investment, however, moving forward, the company will target enhanced return on its motorsport investment through leveraging activities more closely linked to its performance car line-up," it said.
While cutting back its financial involvement to two teams, it will provide FG race car shells, crash panels and other technical support to teams it has been sponsoring.
And it pledged its continued support for driver development and sponsorship of the Australian Formula Ford Championship,
Ford's marketing and sales vice-president Mark Winslow was the foremost bearer of Ford's revised approach, rather than motorsport manager Ray Price.
"Motorsport is a key part of our brand strength in Australia," Winslow said.
Focusing its motorsport sponsorship on two race teams (with FPR concentrating on cars and SBR on engines), Winslow said, would provide a high level of leveraging opportunities integral to the performance success of the Ford brand.
"A closer collaboration between Ford Performance Racing and Stone Brothers Racing will have race-win benefits for Ford, while also allowing us to be more involved in the positioning and marketing of the Ford brand in association with those two teams," Winslow said.
"Both teams will continue to run at least two cars each in the V8 Supercar Championship and all four of them will be predominantly blue, which will make them easily recognisable as Ford-supported vehicles.
"The increasingly competitive nature of the Australian automotive market makes it imperative that we have control and direction over how our brand is represented in every segment in which we compete.
"This more targeted strategy, in conjunction with our ongoing support for other Ford teams and sponsorship of the Formula Ford Championship, will allow us to obtain the best possible return for our investment."
Racing manager Price said the "combined knowledge" of FPR and Stones "can only bring positive results for the Ford brand in the V8 Supercar Championship".
However, Triple 8 chief Roland Dane has said quite pointedly: "Team Vodafone has won 16 rounds of the V8 championship in the past three years. FPR has won four, Stones have won two and Dickie Johnson's team has won one.
"We've also won four of the six enduros in that time, including two Bathursts."
And further thumbing his nose at the manufacturer, Dane added:
"Ford's contribution to our budget is not that great, so I'm not particularly concerned from a commercial standpoint."
Ford's Winslow responded: "Triple Eight is stellar. Clearly Vodafone are a strong sponsor ... but they are predominantly red and we are blue."
Despite the gulf that is now apparent between Triple 8/Vodafone and Ford, the manufacturer clearly still hopes to leverage off the popularity of Lowndes -- who it went to great lengths to lure from Holden in the late 1990s and who is now the best-known face in V8 Supercars.
Ford claimed closer links between its performance vehicle range and marquee drivers such as Lowndes would be generated through "the company's targeted approach to its V8 Supercar involvement".
"We look forward to working closely with Craig and other Ford-aligned drivers to link our performance success more closely to our relevant brand communications," Winslow said.
We can foresee a bit of arm-wrestling between Triple 8 and Ford over Lowndes' services in off-track affairs.
But the main factor is going to be how FPR and Stones perform on the tracks. The jury is out on whether Ford has made a blue here, or whether it will be proven to be true blue. We might just have to wait two or three years for the verdict.
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