If you were a billionare who started a race team, which 5 cars would you purchase?

  • Thread starter Thread starter adam46
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Update: New list for 2011 edited in to first post. Could someone change thread title to clarify it's a billion british pounds, cheers.
 
ncrdbl1
Your going to need a lot more than a billion if you are going to jump into a two car operation in F1.
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There's plenty of teams in F1 who are worth less than that.
 
Nissan GT-R (Super GT - GT500)
Drivers: André Couto and João Paulo de Oliveira (i would be an investor in the #12 Calsonic Impul team)

Mercedes-Benz SLS (GT3 Brazil) - for me and my brother, ha!
 
Alex.
There's plenty of teams in F1 who are worth less than that.
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Make that all F1 teams ever. Even Ferrari are not worth a direct value of $1 billion. Perhaps in potential marketing value, but the cost of running Scuderia Ferrari is no where near a billion.
People seem to have a really exaggerated view of F1 in comparison to some other sports....(e.g. the playboy F1 drivers, as opposed to the rugged footballers...yeah right :lol:).
 
If I was a billionaire I would do the following.

1. Start a Formula Ford team and learn the ropes.

2. Upgrade the team the following year to a Formula 3 team.

3. Upgrade the team the following year to GP3.

4. Upgrade the team the following year to GP2.

5. Impress the FIA with my plans to enter F1 two years hence.

6. Whilst F1 goes about it's championship, my team would test, test and test again. We would spend all year developing the car. I could afford this as I'm a billionaire. I'm not part of F1 so the testing ban doesn't apply.

7. Enter F1 with a well drilled and professional team of good people and a well developed car and hope for the best.
 
I still think there's some restriction you'd face with testing.
 
Tired Tyres
If I was a billionaire I would do the following.

1. Start a Formula Ford team and learn the ropes.

2. Upgrade the team the following year to a Formula 3 team.

3. Upgrade the team the following year to GP3.

4. Upgrade the team the following year to GP2.

5. Impress the FIA with my plans to enter F1 two years hence.

6. Whilst F1 goes about it's championship, my team would test, test and test again. We would spend all year developing the car. I could afford this as I'm a billionaire. I'm not part of F1 so the testing ban doesn't apply.

7. Enter F1 with a well drilled and professional team of good people and a well developed car and hope for the best.
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And you'd have a well-drilled car thats a year out of date, and driving around with HRT at best...
 
MrMulsanne
And you'd have a well-drilled car thats a year out of date, and driving around with HRT at best...
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Why would he be developing a car for the season he isn't entering? :dunce: You do realise all the F1 teams start desiging their cars around June/July for the following season?
As long as the regulations were known far enough in advance, you could quite easily develop your F1 car in the year before you plan to enter. Its not generally recommended though because the regulations are rarely set in stone till the middle of the previous season anyway and it helps to spend the months between July to October perfecting your base design, rather than producing the car and then having to re-design it all again. Plus you can always learn a thing or two from the other team's cars even as they bolt on parts nearer the end of the season.

Still no gurantee of success though as it really rests on how good your designers and engineers are and how much you are willing to spend on the car and drivers. Plus you then have to manage it all properly, so that your staff are working effectively and you aren't wasting money. You can come in and buy an existing F1 team with plenty of money and good drivers and designers and still mess it up (Jaguar) and even spending the time developing the team and car can only achieve moderate success (Toyota).

And yes, you would face a testing restriction. Otherwise the FIA wouldn't give you entry.
 
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For the following year with stable rules.

You test whilst they race. You catch up.
 
What if my application for F1 was turned down? That's F1 for you. Things happen.

Incidentally that's what Toyota did when they entered F1. Not the best example fair enough but that was a team run by committee from Tokyo.
 
Tired Tyres
What if my application for F1 was turned down? That's F1 for you. Things happen.

Incidentally that's what Toyota did when they entered F1. Not the best example fair enough but that was a team run by committee from Tokyo.
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There was no testing ban when Toyota entered, so they could do what they like.
I'm merely confirming that if you were entering now, you wouldn't be able to carry out unlimited testing, or at least it would quite clearly be against the spirit of the testing ban and wouldn't be looked upon very well by the FIA. I realise its only a fantasy team, but it doesn't mean I can't point out or discuss the potential success or flaws.
Whether you want to respond or address the flaws is not my business, its up to you if you would like to discuss how more or less realistic you think your ideas should be. Its all cool man :).
 
Tired Tyres
What if my application for F1 was turned down? That's F1 for you. Things happen.

Incidentally that's what Toyota did when they entered F1. Not the best example fair enough but that was a team run by committee from Tokyo.
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No offense intended BTW. 👍
 
I'd just have 5 Lola B11/60s, one with one of the following engines:

Toyota V12
Volvo I5
Porsche F6
Lamborghini V10
Chevrolet V8
 
Stormtrooper217
5 go karts. I'm cheap!
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Not neccesarily. Running a team of 5 people to the standard of winning races in Super one (the top uk karting champs) would cost nearly a million a year. However in that case its buying a new kart chassis every 3 races so you would be running 5 new karts every month.
 
Interesting idea.

Toyota Camry (X2) - ARCA RE/MAX Series (Former Braun Racing equipment)

Lexus IS-F Racing Concept - VLN and Nurburgring 24 HR (why the hell not)

Audi A4 - DTM (Since no American has been in DTM before, to my knowledge anyway)

Ford Fiesta - WRC (Because Ken could use some assistance ;) )
 
Corvette C6.R GT2 (American LeMans)
Acura ARX-02a (American LeMans)
Subaru Impreza WRX STi (WRC) (making a comback after pulling out)
Lexus SC430 (Super GT-GT500 class)
Mazda RX-8 (Grand Am Road Racing- Grand Touring Class)
 
LMP: Buy a Pescarolo and turn it into a coupe. Buy another one too and make it a development car, or second car. Maybe have Judd develop a turbo charged engine if the ACO rules favor the forced induced car.

WRC: Fiesta WRC need I say more? Probably make this a two car effort also.

Last spot will probably be a Peugeot or Audi diesel, whichever is cheaper and whichever company is cool enough to sell it to me.
 

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