James,
I fully agree that the racing of MGFs and the rally cars are worthwhile
endeavors, as the cars at least bear some resemblance to what the dealer is
selling. My gripe was that the Le Mans car was not an MG just because it had
an engine based on the one used in the MGF.
At least the Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, et al, cars raced at Le Mans are built
by the companies whose name they bear, and incorporate the engineering and
design ideas of those companies. The "MG" was mostly Lola, as I understand
it.
Still, I guess I'm in the minority here, as NASCAR is incredibly popular and
people seem to believe that the cars they see racing really are Chevrolets,
Pontiacs and Fords..................!
Lawrie
----- Original Message -----
From: James Nazarian Jr <jamesnazarian@netzero.net>
To: Lawrie Alexander <Lawrie@britcars.com>
Cc: <Tomsaudi200@aol.com>; <mgs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2001 8:32 AM
Subject: Re: Real MGs? - was Re: SV, NASCAR and F1
> On Tue, Jul 03, 2001 at 07:37:54AM -0700, Lawrie Alexander profoundly
declared:
> > I know there was a lot of discussion about this before the Le Mans race
but
> > I was on vacation and perhaps missed the answer to this question: other
than
> > painted logos on the bodywork, what made the "MG" that raced this year
an
> > MG? What I saw was a Lola sports racing car that bore no resemblance to
> > anything available from even the reincarnated MG Car company.
>
> It was a heavily modified Lola chassis running with a worked over version
of the
> MGF driveline.
>
> >
> > What am I missing? And why does this supposed re-emergence of the MG
marque
> > in long distance racing stir me a whole lot less than reading about when
> > real MGs raced to advertise the capabilities of the cars available at
the
> > local MG dealer.
>
> I think it is cool because I like racing, but I doubt anyone that owns and
> AUDI thought they were buying one of the Prototype LeMans cars. Real MGs
are
> going to race. They have built a car for the World Rally Championship,
this is
> a modified version of one of the production cars they have right now.
They also
> have built cars that will run in the British touring car championship.
These
> are stripped down production sedans. The class is dominated by honda
integras
> and bmw 3series cars. So they will be touting what you can actually buy.
> Hard to say why they started racing again in prototype classes, but I'm
sure they
> have a reason. That effort cost 10s of millions of dollars, so I'm sure
they
> had some way to justify it. Maybe we will see in a few years.
>
> >
> > Shoot, even Bill Spohn's twinkie stories are more exciting than watching
yet
> > another swoopy, space-framed, plastic bodied advertising billboard
compete
> > with other "cars" that are completely unavailable for purchase, and
totally
> > impractical even if they were.
>
> Inovation and development has to come from somewhere. Whether the
consumer sees
> any of it or not, the team is learning how to get more HP out of that
engine.
> That may do consumers some good. This is also a good way to get the
sporting
> public aware of them. Audi made a lot of headlines sweeping the LeMans
and
> with all of their other wins, and I think a lot of people took a look at
them
> again and thought "maybe there is something sporty there" perhaps MG is
trying
> to do the same. Only time will tell........
>
> >
> > Just my tuppence-worth..........
> >
> > Lawrie
> >
> --
> James Nazarian Jr
> 71 MGB roadster
> 71 MGBGT-V8 in need of paint
> 01 Impreza 2.5RS
>
> A complex system that does not work is invariably found to have
> evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine.
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