[QUOTE=type25;381756]
Mate............ You just a bit tooooo serious about your forum posts!!!!! I am sure you are a world expert on all things motorsport but my reply was "general" not a slap with a wet glove. I dont wear HRT & FPV underpants either and name my kids BROCK.

But as you stated, everybody is entitled to an opinion "not just you....".

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In Training for 2010 Finke Desert Race...

I cant find an article only blog and forum posts with regards to the 'blue' issue.

I remember reading an article that forward was cutting funding to teams who colours were not blue enough. Vodafone is too red for fords liking.

Pity i cant find and article to prove this. This ringing anyones bells?

I remember reading that in Auto Action. No idea if it was true or not but probably played a part.

[QUOTE=Broomy;382056]I never claimed to be an expert on "all things motorsport", but I have had involvement in teams that have achieved some excellent good results.

I am very glad to here that your kids aren't named brock, and that you are mature enough not to wear HRT/FPV undies.

I know we are ALL entitled to OUR OWN opinions, I just thought your attack on mine was a bit over the top.

That is all.

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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

Who cares. PM your whinges to each other.

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Old Dog

As long time supporters of Ford, we thought you should hear directly from us about today’s announcement that the Triple 8 race team and its drivers, including Craig Lowndes, will be racing Holdens next year. There is a lot of speculation and some negative commentary around about the decision so I’m giving you the facts.

Firstly, we sponsored Triple 8 to the tune of millions of dollars for a number of years. We honoured every single aspect of our sponsorship arrangement with them and in return, we asked for one thing – that they respect our brand by painting their cars blue. This wasn’t just a simple request, it was written into their contracts over a number of years – and each year Triple 8 chose to defy that contractual obligation and paint their cars red. That may seem relatively minor to you but it’s not to us. We’re running a business at Ford and investing millions of dollars in supporting motorsport. If someone continues to take large sums of money from us every year while continuing to blatantly defy the obligations they’ve agreed to in order to obtain that money, then we have no choice but to end that arrangement.

Make no mistake – Triple 8 was given every opportunity to live up to the contractual arrangements they agreed to. Eventually we said enough – as any responsible company would do. I make no apologies for doing that. It’s not just about the cars being painted blue, it’s about whether or not we have an open and trusting relationship with an organisation that significantly benefits from their involvement with us. That wasn’t there and, in the market environment we’ve been facing over the last few years, we simply cannot afford to continue giving money to a team that does not respect our brand.

Secondly, we are hugely disappointed that Craig Lowndes will be returning to Holden at the end of this year. We’re disappointed because he’s a great talent and we’re disappointed because we have gone out of our way to welcome Craig into the Ford family since he moved to us in 2001. We’re also disappointed because we found out this was happening on Tuesday evening. Our sponsorship of Craig has benefited him to the tune of millions of dollars since 2001 and I have yet to receive a phone call from Craig himself telling me of his decision to re-sign with Triple 8 and subsequently return to Holden. We had every intention of continuing our relationship with Craig into next year but this is now not possible.

We continue to support motorsport in Australia through our direct sponsorship of FPR and SBR and we also continue to provide significant in-kind support to other teams such as DJR. Motorsport continues to be a useful tool for us to communicate our brand promise to our customers. You can rest assured that we will continue to be involved in motorsport in Australia in the future and will do what we can to leverage our successes.

Thanks for your ongoing passion and interest in Ford.

Marin


The above is the 'blue' issue.

Welby

By the by, we do have a combined brands/types race, its called improved production. They even get to run around Bathurst as well. Very little support for that category.

So which is it?

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No more GC8, sad face.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

That's a bit cunty of Ford to have a dig at Lowndes like that, he probably has contract obligations and/or personal commitments (not to mention good friendships) with triple 8 racing too.....

Some interesting words in that Ford article there.

One of the news/sports reports I heard about the switch to Holden last week was that Lowndes wasn't allowed to be at the announcement because he is a Ford contracted driver, so he has a contract both with 888 and with Ford. Fair call. Later on I heard that the Ford contract runs out at the end of the year, so the timing of the switch to Holden makes sense from that perspective.

I think it was yesterday that Neil Crompton said that those contracts were not allowed anymore, and that Lowndes' contract had been the last one and had been allowed to run it's course.

So I wonder what the Ford guy was saying when he said that Ford had "every intention of continuing our relationship with Craig" ? Curious.

And I understand why they'd be pissed that Lowndes is going back to Holden, I've been following the Blue/Red battle for many a long year and I remember the stink it caused when he moved from Holden to Ford. I guess he's getting to be one of the older drivers in the field now so if the shift back is going to keep him in a competitive and well paid seat then it's an easy decision.

BTW I take no sides in this; I did my apprenticeship at a Ford dealership and I've always followed the marque, not the drivers. For my two cents I'd rather see a return to Touring Car racing as it used to be, with a multitude of manufacturers and different classes of vehicles. In my opinion the current format is so tied up in parity rules that the cars may as well be Nascar template cars.

Cheers,

Wrxpc

^^ Good post.

Very interesting. I think Craig should stay with Ford. He wanted to move to them when he was with Holden because he always was a ford fan. Now he is just chasin dollars. Lame.

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