Pescarolo & Bankruptcy?

[Tim Northcutt]

In another thread Fab reported that Henri Pescarolo said that without more sponsor support, his racing operation may not have the funds for next year...

Is this a ploy? I'd think that fench autoracing fans would be clamoring to let French businesses know that they need to take a look at Henri's operation and get on board...

How much funding does Peugeot Give Them???

Speaking of Peugeot, how about giving Henri more power and using the LM Tourney and Le Mans as a showcase for your enginerring prowess???

If his revised Courages would have had more horses under the hood, they would have run even stronger than they did...that chassis seemed great....

This loss would be a tragedy....

How about potential French companies as sponsors???

Thomson Multimedia???

Any others????

Share your thoughts on this...

[BSchneiderFan]

Total/Fina, who are already tied in with Peugeot in the WRC, seem an obvious potential sponsor, and are (I think) French, though Fina used to be Belgian - maybe someone can sort that one out for me.

Elf would be another possibility. Shame Gauloises are out - how cool would that look...

[Fogelhund]

Well, it could be a ploy to fish more money out of Peugeot, before having to hit the phones to solicit for more funding. It would be a shame to not have his cars racing though. There certainly are plenty of options for sponsorship for him.

[Tim Northcutt]

To me, it is a no-brainer for Peugeot not only to step up the $$$, but to give Henri a competitive, fast engine...

LM is a world stage for crying out loud....and that stage will get even bigger with the LM Tourney next year....

That's a great marketing tool for them that they are not using...

It is short-sighted and stupid from a business standpoint...

[skid marques]

Racing For France Stickers at 2000 euros a time? It might slow it up a bit too much. RfH looks to have done fairly well.

[Tim Northcutt]

Or to be original -- "The Spirit of France" "FranceSpeed" or any name that might have a historical tie, be a racing related catchy name with France in it, etc...

and Indy car was funded as a "Spirit of Indiana" car for the 500 during the USA "Bicentennial Year and it did well -- they let the people autograph the car after signing their checks, etc.

[Craner-Curve]

The Pug connection is quite interesting, Henri gets a considerable amount of money from Peugeot but still has to buy his engines from sodemo. This means that a large portion of the peugeot money is spend on engines that do not have the power needed and without technical support. but as Henri cannot afford another solution, as the pug connections ensures that other french companies sponsor him, so he is stuck with limited sponsorship, a bad engine and no technical support

[JAG]

I think something may have been lost in the translation which makes the situation sound worse than it actually is. If you look at the situation almost every team would go banckrupt if they did not get the required sponsorship.

Sony, with PS2, sponsored Pescarolo this year, and as you may have noticed there biggest ever game is released next year, Gran Turismo 4. This will have a huge marketing budget and I'm sure Pescarolo will get an incresed share of the money.

Add in the LM Tournament with high profile races instead of the low profile FIA SCC and I can see Pescarolo getting the funding he requires.

[27tim]

Originally posted by BSchneiderFan
Total/Fina, who are already tied in with Peugeot in the WRC, seem an obvious potential sponsor, and are (I think) French, though Fina used to be Belgian - maybe someone can sort that one out for me.

Total bought out Fina a number of yrs ago...

[Tim Northcutt]

Maybe Henri needs the extra $$$ to develop mor epower with Sodemo in the Peugeot engine, or to develop the V-10???

Just a wild guess that isn't even in the ballpark...

make that not even in the line outside of the stadium waiting for a ticket...

[pirenzo]

Well, i hope that they don't go under. I think they will benefit from the playstation/sony money, and perhaps now the car is adoptening a bluer tint, the FFSA might be interested in lending a hand...
I thought Fina was German actually...

[Fab]

Originally posted by JAG
I think something may have been lost in the translation which makes the situation sound worse than it actually is

I'm positive : I heard Henri and Corado Provera --> Henri says that there's a real risk of bankrupcy due to lack of sponsorship (itself due to lack of LM results, itself due to lack of engine power). And when the speaker asks to Corado Provera about a better involvement by Peugeot, he answers that Peugoet don't think of doing it, due to the WRC Peugoet involvement...

for french industry !

[Tim Northcutt]

Maybe it's time for Henri to talk to Renault...

I'm sure that Renault would love to poke a stick in Peugeot's eye by forming a partnership with a French racing legend that Peugeot might leave ahnging out to dry...

Of course, Fab, you could start the ball rolling on the "Spirit of France" or the "FranceSpeed" or the "Racing for France" project...take the beautiful blue color Pesca used this year as a start with red & white added to paint the car in the Tri-colors like a French flag and let the "sponsors" sign their names to the red & white sections of the car....

Just another onoe of those impassioned thoughts of mine...

[Fab]

again... those darn french factories are only interrested by F ...

[BSchneiderFan]

I'm fairly sure Fina was originally Belgian. Didn't they have a pretty respectable record of supporting Belgian drivers?

[Tim Northcutt]

BTW....My son watches the WRC, and I can see why Peugeot has chosen that focus, since their team is incredibly strong, but...

IMO, watching last weekend's action at Le Mans or any given ALMS event, I just can't understand why anyone would want to watch four-bangers on steriods racing down goat paths in Albania as they indivisually play "Beat the Clock"....

Back on Subject:

I can't see why French auto makers "Would Not" be plugged into what is one of the two most prestigious racing events on the planet, that is heald in their own home country and has now expanded with a Tournament plus a North American series tied to it as well....

That is "Business Marketing 101"....

[JAG]

Well today its been reported Pescarolo are going to enter the LMES next year, so things must be looking up.

[kdr]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
BTW....My son watches the WRC, and I can see why Peugeot has chosen that focus, since their team is incredibly strong, but...

IMO, watching last weekend's action at Le Mans or any given ALMS event, I just can't understand why anyone would want to watch four-bangers on steriods racing down goat paths in Albania as they indivisually play "Beat the Clock"....

i think those drivers are amongst the best in the world....but i still can't help thinking they're touring cars that got lost on the way to the track!

[Tim Northcutt]

I'm totally with you on the driver skills...Colin MCRae (sp?), Makkinen, Gronholm, Burns, etc. are unbelievably talented...

But that form of racing does ZERO for me...make that less than zero...

Kinda like "Johnny goes mud bogging" in the family's rice rocket...

[JAG]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
I'm totally with you on the driver skills...Colin MCRae (sp?), Makkinen, Gronholm, Burns, etc. are unbelievably talented...

But that form of racing does ZERO for me...make that less than zero...

Kinda like "Johnny goes mud bogging" in the family's rice rocket...

Have to disagree with you there. The technology and performance of these cars is amazing, 0-60mph in 3.2 seconds and amazing levels of grip.

I like sportscars the most but WRC comes a close second.

[Fab]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
I can't see why French auto makers "Would Not" be plugged into what is one of the two most prestigious racing events on the planet, that is heald in their own home country and has now expanded with a Tournament plus a North American series tied to it as well....

You won't believe me, but NOBODY can't see the point of their position as well here ! This is just a shame, to remain polite...

Bernard, Pascal, Gilles, and the other TT french members may give another opinion, but I think that french people are not especially 'sports type' ; football keep the best place, and french industrials managers are only interrested by winning, not by "beeing a part of it, doing what must be done, and win after significative efforts"... IMHO

Le Mans is not a prestigious race in France : the race has been forbidden since Renault victory in 1978. There's just fans left, other people think it's just a 'thing' in the year, as artistic skating and so on...

[GTRMagic]

How would a full house Pug 206 Rally engine go in a Pescarolo Courage?? The engine is intake restricted in rallying but likely not the same as in Le Mans style.

An unrestricted 2 Litre Cosworth Sierra engine from an Australian tuner in its heyday could produce at maximum development a touch over 600bhp with a T04 turbocharger, with thunderous torque.....

..... a Pug engine with the appropriate development budget would be able to do similarly I would have thought...

[Fab]

Originally posted by GTRMagic
How would a full house Pug 206 Rally engine go in a Pescarolo Courage?? The engine is intake restricted in rallying but likely not the same as in Le Mans style.

An unrestricted 2 Litre Cosworth Sierra engine from an Australian tuner in its heyday could produce at maximum development a touch over 600bhp with a T04 turbocharger, with thunderous torque.....

..... a Pug engine with the appropriate development budget would be able to do similarly I would have thought...

Those engines are too small for euch a long race, except in a LMP 675 approach.

Racing for the overall, Pescarolo ahs to find a big engine, powerfull and reliable enough. Judd is now a good one... or maybe an VAG engine ?

[FG1]

I love the WRC too, it spectacular to watch even if it's only one car at a time.

What I think is VERY strange is that Peugot and Citroen are both in the WRC. Since they are the same company, with cars based on the same floorplan, WHY? Is the WRC that good an advertisement for them. Surely one of those brands could do Sportscars instead. Do the marketing men really know what they are doing?

In spite of the phenomenal success of the 206 over the last few years Peugot still don't do a rally replica. Nor do either Citroen or Peugot take much advantage of their motorsport success. Compare that with Subaru, or Ford.

FG

[Fab]

Originally posted by FG1
I love the WRC too, it spectacular to watch even if it's only one car at a time.

What I think is VERY strange is that Peugot and Citroen are both in the WRC. Since they are the same company, with cars based on the same floorplan, WHY? Is the WRC that good an advertisement for them. Surely one of those brands could do Sportscars instead. Do the marketing men really know what they are doing?

In spite of the phenomenal success of the 206 over the last few years Peugot still don't do a rally replica. Nor do either Citroen or Peugot take much advantage of their motorsport success. Compare that with Subaru, or Ford.

FG

It could be a question of person : Corado Provera is not interrested at all by sportscars, and the gap between sportscars and cars sold to the public is to wide --> it's easier to recognize a street car in a WRC, even if it's completely false...

Anyway, even if it's difficult for us to admit it, nobody's interrested by sportscars in France, except weird fans as we are... certainly because of a lack of media covering...