Quote:
Originally posted by empowerd
Rob,
I'm not trying to get the final word in, but I just have to make one last point (before you totally think I'm against the blue/white mark).... In case you haven't noticed, any motorsport that a manufacturer goes out to conquer with $50 million in their budget will be do good... probably win too (look at Bentley at LeMans). My point is, Honda choosed Indy.... BMW chooses F1.... does it make a difference? BMW pulled out of DTM racing in '90.... does that make all the others (Alfa, Ford, Benz, Audi, Opel) brands any better? -- You can't compare $millions invested in different programs and make a generalization of an entire manufacturer. BMW has dominated Auto Racing longer than Honda, but Honda has dominated Motorcycle Racing the entire time (I hate Honda bikes).
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Actually Randy, you're partially wrong there. Honda is in F1 the same way that BMW is in F1. They both make engines for other manufacturers. Honda is building engines for BAR (et al), while BMW is building engines for Williams. And both teams have factory sponsorship, and the BMW engine is far ahead of the Honda engine in F1 (currently).
Now, transition to the street however, is something else. One thing stock BMW engines have not taken well is the addition of forced air. Stickley gave up forced air for that reason; long term reliability. The Japanese engines *seem* to handle forced air much better than the BMW engines do. However, one could ask Nick about his Eagle Talon (roughly 700 HP), and the fact that he can do no more than 3 or 4 laps at the track without something failing....
In reality though, it's apples to oranges. With enough money, ANY car can be made fast enough. If I was stupid enough, I could take a Dodge Ram with the Cummins diesel and build that into a quick vehicle (for a 5000 lb 4WD truck...). All it takes is money, and plenty of devotion to it.
Now, just to throw things off a little farther, I'm not much of a fan of 1/4 mile anymore anyway. I appreciate it, and I appreciate what it takes to do it well (used to run an '87 GN in Calgary...and at Cayuga for awhile). I just prefer the road racing (read: Track) scene now.
And as to Mike; it might be pronounced Booker, but it's definately spelled anything but "Booker". Except I'd have to look up how to spell his name.....
And yes, his S14 is a mess in terms of reliability. He really needs to swap that S14 out for an S52 engine instead. A little more weight, but much better torque, reliabilty and overhead for developing power.
In the end, the one thing that Honda (and now Toyota as well) is doing much better than BMW (and Audi) is endorsing the aftermarket and the end-users. BMW (and now Audi) are basically abandoning the enthusiast / track-user, while Honda and Toyota have started to seriously embrace that segment. This will only serve to improve Honda's standing in the performance marketplace.
Pat
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