A1GP: Thank you and goodnight

[Mr Revhead]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80017

Well, that appears to be that I reckon.

[Zitchu]

Man thats a pity

[Mr Revhead]

Well, It's been coming for a while. But I was hopeful they could sort it out

[snwtoy]

Damn And just when NZ gets a new track they could have raced on too.

[2jayzgte]

I was never a fan of A1..

What have the Arabs runinng it ran out of money surely not they spent 100s of millions on that F-1 Abu Dhabi track or maybe they just realised what it really was a cheaper version of wannbe F-1.

[Mr Revhead]

It was exciting racing in exciting cars, whats not to like?

[Adamal]

I think I recall someone trying to say that A1 is bigger than F1......

[DRFTIN]

wasnt the guy that started A1 some Dubai billionaire? tell him to throw some more cash at it

i liked the idea of it, just never quite worked

[Mr Revhead]

yes he was, he got it going, then sold it after the first year
struggled since then....

[JustinSpiderholden]

It was exciting racing in exciting cars, whats not to like?

Wouldn't say it was that excting, I went and watched in Taupo and the cars sound awesome and looked the part they didnt really seem to go that fast for the looks and the noise

Series is $&#$% who ever buys is going to have to spend $1000's on upgrading the cars to new FIA safety specs

Plus with GP2, Formula 2, World Series By Reanult, Britsh F3000, European F3000, Asian GP2 series, Formula BMW

Oh plus don't forget the Superleagre Formula as well, you know cars dressed up as soccer clubs racing

I think there is already a overload of single seater racing in Europe and Asia so its jsut not profitable

[Mr Revhead]

Oh it was very exciting, It's just Taupo is not a track for passing.
Also faster than anything else in this country...

But yes, certainly plenty of top or near top tier single seaters out there....
What a pity we don't get any here...

[Adamal]

I liked the idea of it being a nation based race. But, I didn't like that the cars are identical.

F1 cars are roughly all the same, but all have their little differences. They excel in some aspects, and dull in others. Just like how Force India performed so friggen well at Spa.

With F1, there are people who are interested in the Drivers contention, then there are others who are interested in Team contention, then there are others who like both.
With A1, you don't really get the choice of rooting for your favourite maker. You can like any car you want as long as its a Ferrari

Another part of the F1 fun is hearing about the research and development the teams make into their cars for the season. You don't get that in A1 :/

I'm sure not as many people would be interested in WRC if it were just Citroen were the only cars in it

[Mr Revhead]

look! over there ---->
it's the point....

[Adamal]

Care to explain how my post isn't relavent to the demise of A1GP?

[Mr Revhead]

Right from the outset A1 was never meant to compete with F1. Hence why it's season was mainly during the F1 off season
The aim of A1 was country against country and close racing
It was not about how fast can we spend
Which was good, as they clearly couldn't afford that!

[Adamal]

I was giving reasons as to the lack of interest in A1, and using examples from F1

[Loudtoy]

using examples from F1

Right from the outset A1 was never meant to compete with F1.
The aim of A1 was country against country and close racing
It was not about how fast can we spend

Hence why you can't use examples from F1 to explain the dmise of A1

[TRD Man]

yes he was, he got it going, then sold it after the first year
struggled since then....

Tony Teixeira has been the owner since day one. From what I understand the Sheik tossed in some money and fronted the media but didn't hang around long when the pockets were getting emptied.

From a reliable source ... rumour or fact?

- Ferrari have never been paid for the lease on their engines and they want them back.
- The freight company that transports the gear around the globe is owed a substantial amount and has a lien on much of it.
- Over the off season much of the gear has been stored outside at the Top Gear airfield and is in pretty poor shape.
- The cars have been in an adjacient hangar but are also in a state of disrepair, rusty parts etc...
- Only 4 franchises were ever sold (1 being NZ) with the remainder of the 25 strong field being run and propped up by A1GP themselves.

Doesn't sound like something that'll ever fly again without a significant cash injection.

[2jayzgte]

Really 4 out of 25 of the teams were paid up what a joke.

The reason I wasn't a fan while the idea was decent country against country really I thought the drivers were fairly average outside of Nico Hulkenburg who is close to a F-1 seat the rest for the most part were pretty average in my eyes.

I mean and some of the countries involved Lebanon and alike have very limited racing backrounds and were just there to make up the numbers.

How long did this circus last 3-4 years and now they can't pay there bills.NEXT...

[Adamal]

using examples from F1

Right from the outset A1 was never meant to compete with F1.
The aim of A1 was country against country and close racing
It was not about how fast can we spend

Hence why you can't use examples from F1 to explain the dmise of A1

You missed the bit where I said, and in big $&#$% letters, so you don't miss it again:

I was giving reasons as to the lack of interest in A1