Lowndes Leaves 00 Motorsport

[GTO_madness]

Lowndes Leaves 00 Motorsport. Just a bit more at www.darcysmodelcars.com

[SWRT]

Seton has said he will run 2 cars and Lowndes probably has joined.
Since Prodrive has bought out GSR this still leaves the chance of Prodrive to buy out 00 motorsport,00 motorsport runs 3 cars so Prodrive will have a 4 or 5 car team if 00 motorsport is to be bought out by Prodrive or they can use the IMS franchise to do it instead.
Lowndes,Seton,Besnard,Radisich and Forbes together in a Ford mega team?
I'm excited!,been a while since I've heard Big Kev's catch phrase.
Team Prodrive(Ford factory racing),SBR,Ozemail and DJR taking on HRO in 2003,can't wait.

[GTO_madness]

I dont like the chances of that happening. i can't be positive but i have a funny feeling that Prodrive won't be able to secure a partnership with 00 motorsport. Considering Prodrive have been Negotiating with 00 for at least 12 months now and still there havn't been any signs of a coming together. But i suppose we'll have to wait and see.

btw, does anybody else miss seeing the Big Kev girls walking around at the Races? ;)

[brchi17]

The word I have heard is that Lowndes owns the copyright, etc..., to '00 Motorsport' & 'the green eyed monster' and after notegiations fell out with Forbes Prodrive went looking for another solid Ford franchise - hense the Seton link.

Now I have heard that Prodrive have bought out GSR (level 1 franchise) & IMS (level 2 franchise) which will allow them to run 3 cars in 2003.

Glenn will continue in Ford Credit colours while David Besnard & Lowndes will run in Prodrive/FPV colours.

Also,
Now all that Forbes has is 3 AU's, 1 driver (Rodney) & no sponsors as they have all jumped ship with with Lowndes.

This all happened because Craig was not happy with what Forbes was giving him (also the reason why Cromley left) & so he got Mr Polities to step him and help out Fords 'Golden Boy'

Don't you just love the silly season,
cheers.

[Richard Poole]

Originally posted by brchi17
The word I have heard is that Lowndes owns the copyright, etc..., to '00 Motorsport' & 'the green eyed monster' and after notegiations fell out with Forbes Prodrive went looking for another solid Ford franchise - hense the Seton link.

Now I have heard that Prodrive have bought out GSR (level 1 franchise) & IMS (level 2 franchise) which will allow them to run 3 cars in 2003.

Glenn will continue in Ford Credit colours while David Besnard & Lowndes will run in Prodrive/FPV colours.

Also,
Now all that Forbes has is 3 AU's, 1 driver (Rodney) & no sponsors as they have all jumped ship with with Lowndes.

This all happened because Craig was not happy with what Forbes was giving him (also the reason why Cromley left) & so he got Mr Polities to step him and help out Fords 'Golden Boy'

Don't you just love the silly season,
cheers.

Yes it is the silly season but before things get out of hand we need to say that 99% of this post is not accurate. Yes, Lowndes is moving but the details relating to 00 Motorsport are untrue. We would hate for someone to read this and then go to any other forums and then things get out of control very fast. This is not anything against you Brad, just rumour control.

There will be changes however 00 Motorsport will be there in full force in 2003. One sponsor that has not jumped ship is Biante!.

Let's all just wait for the official announcements and then all will be revealed.

[terrine]

There will be changes however 00 Motorsport will be there in full force in 2003. One sponsor that has not jumped ship is Biante!.

which raises another question

if lowndes defects to the team suggested will biante no longer be supplying his models?

r/peter

[SWRT]

If Biante follows Craig into team Prodrive(aka GSR) this means the CC's loose out on making Setons cars.
Maybe Bob Forbes should seriusly consider joining Team Prodrive and boosting thier team from 3 to 6 cars and then Ford would have a team as big as TWR(or HRO).

[GTSCoup]

I have to ask, what is HRO?. I have never seen that word mentioned anywhere.

[mustang1966]

GTS, from what I understand HRO is a revamped name for TWRA. HRO is supposed to stand for Holden Racing Organization. Team Brock and the other Level 2 Licence will come under the HRO banner but will be a different team to HRT and Kmart racing.

[GTSCoup]

Thanks Mustang. I thought it would have been Holden Racing Organisation but I haven't heard of TWRA referred to anything other than TWR Australia.

[mtkt]

I thought that Birrana Racing leased the IMS team so to run a car for Jason Richards so who's going to be left out in the cold Birrana or Prodrive?

[SWRT]

Birrana racing or Team Dynamik are using the Romano racing franchise.The IMS one is still on the market.

[brchi17]

So Richard,
If what I have heard is 99% false, just what is actually occuring ? It is true that none non of my usual (V8 supercar) sources feed me the info for my last posts, but it was just what I have found floating out there on the net from a variety of sources.

Would you like to share some actual real info on the make up of 00 & Lowndes in 2003 ?

Are they any truth to the talk of a Prodrive/Seton/Lowndes super team ?

I whole heartly argee that we do not want false rumors floating out there, but when you see things many times on a variety of different web sites, then you can tend to think that such might actually be a chance of occuring, which was the motivation of my previous post - simply sharing the information that I had found.

I have nothing against 00 of Forbes, but would love to see Glenn Seton given an oppuntintyto show us all his great driving talents again, as its' just a pitty he can't manage a team & drive at the same time (as it appears that when he only has to contraite on driving he is very good).

Now that I know what I had found was simply a rumor (which was what I had initally said at the beggining of my post), how about letting us in on something of which is know to be true - without comprising your self of course.

don't you just love the silly season - roll on the 2003 AGP our 1st chance to see the V8 Supercars,
cheers.

[Richard Poole]

Everything will be revealed in regards to who is driving what and where when the teams and drivers are ready to announce it. It is not up to us to announce anything like this.

Sifting the fact from fiction in this years driver change rumours is hard enough already, we were just trying to help the process.

[brchi17]

Any news of a publice release date for the unvailing of the 2003 00 Motorsport & the Lowndes project cars ????

[Richard Poole]

We cannot reveal any information as it is not ours to reveal. When the teams are set and ready to annouce the 2003 line ups they will advertise a date. Until then we all have to sit and wait.

The teams wouldn't announce any new models and we wouldn't annouce anything to do with the teams.

[brchi17]

Did anyone read Saturday's Herald-Sun (Melbourne) ???
It had some news on the V8 silly season & said that it believed that Lowndes had left 00 to join Glenn Seton with David Besnard in a Prodrive super team.
Now either they have been reading the same sites as me & believe that there may just be something happening or we're all heading down the wrong track !!!
Anyone other than Richard got something they would like to share on this subject ???
cheers.

[admin]

They have probably been reading the Forum.

[ferrari fan]

Yes,I have some for you; What part of the sentences that Richard wrote ,do you have trouble understanding? :mad:

[brchi17]

Originally posted by ferrari fan
Yes,I have some for you; What part of the sentences that Richard wrote ,do you have trouble understanding? :mad:

To ff, lightern up buddy !!!

All I was doing was sharing some information that I had found & though that was relevant to this particular thread. As Richard had said in his post was that he flet what I had posted was not correct, so he decided to help out & correct what had been writern.

The point of my last post was to try & encourage some positive conversation on a topic which is hot at the moment, as it appears that Lowndes may have left 00 motorsport & could be forming an aliance with Glenn Seton which may also include Prodrive.

At no point in time would I expect admin, Richard , etc...., to risk their contracts, etc...., just to provide us with some good information.

What was being asked was if there were anyone else who could provide some insight into what is going on, without endangering their livelyhood to share it with all of us. As I'm sure there are many of us hear who are interested in what they may have to say. Not pointless, negative comments like the one mentioned above.

cheers.

[oldxr]

Latest romour i have heard is that the DJR cars will have BP not Shell sponsorship this year.
the person that told me was very serious.

[Markj]

FYI

Craig Lowndes is contracted to Ford Motorsport
He isnt contracted to any teams & therefore can be moved to any team that "MR Ford" sees fit to put him in as long as they have some control over it. eg SBR!

[GRPIII]

sydney papers last week report lowdnes/seton prodive but no metion of besnard.
supposed to done deal. not rumored

[brchi17]

Originally posted by oldxr
Latest romour i have heard is that the DJR cars will have BP not Shell sponsorship this year.
the person that told me was very serious.

I've heard this one quite a few times too, but from memory I thought Dick had Shell money until the end of 2004.

May be Shell own BP, but I have a feeling that BP might be a part of the Mobil / Exxon oil empire.
cheers.

[Richard Poole]

BP did have a cooperative agreement with Mobil in Europe only however when Exxon bought out Mobil 4 years ago that was disbanded. Now BP have no links with Mobil and never had any link with Shell. BP are the single biggest fuel/oil company (in market share) in Australia.

In the last few years BP have purchased Castrol and brought that brand into the fold.

[wombat]

Thats interesting Richard

I'm of the understanding that BP and Shell have a lond standing agreement concerning fuel in WA and Vic. That is, BP will rebadge the fuel coming out of the Shell refinery near Melb, whilst Shell rebadges the fuel coming from the BP refinery at Kwinana (Perth). Has been that way for ages according to some sources. Perhaps it's just a gentlemens agreement for dispensing purposes only.


BTW, did you know that the town of Kalgoorlie/Boulder uses more diesel fuel than the entire state of Victoria? Perhaps that it's the diesel where BP has created the market control.;)

[Acj428]

I too beleive Dick signed with Shell untill 2004!!!!! Man it's coming thick and fast around here....;)

Peter....

[FOMOCO]

a friend of mine that Drives in the Konica series was telling me that a Seaton, Lownes, Besnard prodrive outfit is what we can expect. this is still only a rumor but he has been pretty good with his info in the past.

[wynncau]

It doesn't matter what ford do as long as it starts to win races.
It will be dissapointing to see Lowndes leave 00. When it kicked off with Fred Gibson we where promised big things. A year to get the team up and running then we would see results. Then with the fall out with Gibson it all fell apart. I hope if there is going to be a Ford super team, Seton, Lowndes and Bernard that we don't have to wait another 2 years to start seeing results.
I have followed fords all my life but you get a bit sick of making up excuses to your mates at work.
I also hope for the guys that work for 00 that they are able to get some good drivers for their line up.

[oldxr]

wynncau, why make excuses, we all know the rules and regulations are bias toward holden.
I'm proud to be a life long FORD (DJR) supporter, better than being like most holden / hrt supporers who will fade into the woodwork when they start losing.

[GRPIII]

oldxr
re you comments regarding HRT supporters, i agree HRT was a lot of hanger ons since they have been dominating. but there are many like me for one, who have support HRT since there arrival in 88, (but not know as HRT till 89). back then they were the laughing stock of the touring car championship.
couldnt even support brockie he was either driving a bimmer of ford.
You have stuck by DJR in the bad times just like the loyal holden supporters did when they couldnt even get a look in, with bathurst being the only hope.
good supporters stick with there choosen team, with or without the wins.

[Ford Boy]

GRPIII i agree with you about fans sticking to there chosen teams win or lose, in the AFL (football), i barrack for geelong and have since i was little!!! anyone who follows the AFl know that more than occasionally geelong tend to, umm how to put it nicely.... CHOKE! But talking V8's, my chosen team is 00motorsport.... from what ive been hearing it looks like they will be no more... what then?

[brchi17]

I'm with you Ford boy in being both a Geelong & Ford supporter, thanks to my very bais father !!!!

DJR is my chosen team, but lately (just like Geelong) I have been questioning my chosen team (some say that the bad times make the good so much better, but I am tending to get a bit lost) & its' been really hard following the V8's over the past 5 or so years. I know we had the 'Sierra years' but the rules were changed (you can also blame Nissan for their part as well as the super Sierra's for the rule changes - or Holden's poor performances if you follow that line of thinking) & that was the end of that era.

Now after almost of 10 years of Holden dominance (Except for 93, 95 & 97 when Ford won the ATCC) there looks to be no end. Surely something or someone will provail soon & bring the 'Blue Oval' back to front as I feel that many of us, are starting to get borred with the current V8 structure (unless your a Holden person of course).

cheers.

[GRPIII]

any sport will have they domintaing force for certain peroids. motorsport is one. hrt have, the sierras have & godzilla has.
subaru has in rally, porsche at le mans
HRT dominace wont last forever.
someone else will dominate for a few years.
no one complains about the aussie cricket team winning or about ian thorpe killing everyone in the pool.
nobody likes lossing weather you play or follow sport.
2nd place is the first loser.

[Eliot Meadows]

I'm a Holden supporter and have been since the Torana days, but as much as i might be dissapointed by a Ford win, total domination by one make (Holden & HRT) or by one team (F1 Ferrari) makes for very boring racing.
One of the problems that i can see with project blueprint is that if all the cars are mechanically identical and run the same tyres then where are the overtaking opportunities going to come from? No more "i have better brakes than you to make up for less horsepower". No easy solutions unfortunately.
But come on you Ford teams lift your game!!!:D

[oldxr]

Has anyone seen this weeks Auto Action, in it there is a artiale about the aero test, it was found that the BA has more downforce at the rear than the VYuck so Ford has been told to trim the rear wing by 60mm to even it up with the holden, it also states that the holden has more downforce at the front, but nothing is said about any triming of the front undertray on the holden to even that up with the Ford.
Already the bias bulls**t starts, if i were the head of Ford i would pull out of this series for good this time, why continue to fight a loosing battle.

All Ford suporters be prepared for anouther crap season, holden/hrt have already won this one!

[GRPIII]

its a bit early to say holden has already won.
yes the rear wings have been clipped, but both cars will have identical downforce front & rear.
give them a chance, rear downforce would be easier to solve than the front, they are still in early testing.
but the start of the season will be **** fight for any teams whom want to run the BA or VY, by the time they finish aero testing, get the nech aero parts made for all the teams & then try to go testing, i dont think that will leave to much time.
will be interesting to see how many teams opt for the old models over the new.

[Leigh]

Wait for the re-test AFTER the adjustment...I don't know exactly how the test is done, but have you ever pushed down on the back of a car??? The front lifts...(i.e. reduced downforce)

[fordfan5]

Im with you xr somthings will never change we get the raw end
once again.

[BATHURSTFAN]

I watched on TV last year an interview with one of the rule makers and he was asked about the domination of HRT and the effect on the sport, he looked totally disinterested in the question and only said the crowd figures are up 15% and was happy with that.

Did he consider that the crowds may have been up even higher if there was a better competition?.

[mustang1966]

I have also read the artical in AA about the cliping of the rear wing on the Falcon. I think it is better to wait and see what happens when the final aero package is approved on both brands before we comment. I like most fans would like to see more teams up there and winning.

I am a die hard Ford fan and have followed DJR since 1979 as a 10 year old, I still follow DJR today. The best round win last year for me was Bargs. To see a smaller team and driver win was the best thing for the V8 series, as Morris did in 2001. It showed that smaller teams were still in with a chance.

My fear has been with TWRA, and now Prodrive is they have the money, the technology, etc and it will make for a 2 team series and all the other smaller teams such as Garry Rogers, Larkham, DJR, team Kiwi, etc will fall by the wayside and are just there to make up the numbers. How good would that be for the sport. We might as well have a 2 team series and everyone else goes to Konicas.

BathurstFan, yes I saw something along the same lines, with crowd figures and the lack of interest. I think it will get to the stage and maybe this year it will happen that people will start walking away from the sport if it becomes another 1 team series. My wife and I love the sport but if we are going to spend our hard earned cash on watching the same thing this year, it will be our last and the Mrs, kiddies and I will be going to the football, and smaller non televised motor-racing events. Hey I can spend $32 buck on a slab of VB and enjoy the V8supercars in a the comfort of home and not have to worry the Mrs complain about me spending $5 a can of beer at the creek. I wonder how forgiving the fans would be if they did leave the sport, and watched it on TV instead?


As for the HRT Sheep theory, yes there are many die hard HRT fans out there, like I am with DJR. If prodrive with Lowndes/Seton/Besnard start on a big winning streak, watch all the sheep flock over to Prodrive. We cannot tar all HRT fans with the same brush. I guess a lot of the hate towards HRT fans stems from the gobby Sheep, who have jumped on the bandwagon.

[mustang1966]

As far as ford teams lifting thier game. Why were the fans not asking Holden teams to lift thier game when the EB & EL falcons were killing the series?

Why were there threats of legal action and the powers to be destroying the sport?

I seem to remember a certain team owner near in tears at the fear of sponsers pulling out and what it was "doing to the sport"

Sorry this is not meant to be a flame fest as happens in other forums. I do get a little worked up at times.

[ferrari fan]

EVER TRYED PLAYING A GAME OF CARDS WITH ALL THE CARDS BEING ACES?i.e. all the same value???
Well car racing is the same ,make them all the same,I.E. get Cockroadges to run the socalled racing ,equal all the machines and it is like the above card game!!
The racing of old was with completely different cars that had different caracteristics Valiants against torana's and fords with for good measure Mini's etc. We all are still wishing for these days to reappear and what do we get in all forms off motorsport? PARADES and no racing: Yuckkkkkk :mad:

[wesley charles]

So we are finally hearing the truth about what we all new went on over the last few years with the Holden verses Ford V8 Supercar debarkle.
Holden this year is to get a double wishbone front end , the same as the ford AU Falcon has had to use since its introduction.
Does this mean that the Holden V8 Super car is being penalized this year, by giving it a inferia front end to it,s strutt set up that it has used over the past years.
Question? Wouldn't it be more true to the mark that they are now getting a more superior front end so as to make the things handle as the Falcon does with the double wishbone front end and giving it less down force instead of giving it 6 times the down force as a falcon over the past few years in a attempt to even it up out on the track.
Us ford people all new they went a bit to far, but doesn't it show you just how good the AU FALCON was as a race car that the rulling body had to give the Holden 6 times as much down force as the falcon to make it a bit better.
Shame' on you AVESCO for deceving the public into thinking that the holden was a better race car when in fact it is a bucket of ----to steer.
I wonder how many people bought holdens because of it.