Malcolm and losing with no dignity

I've never claimed to know everything :mark: I'm under the impression you can't homologate a car without manufacturer support but wasn't sure. Is it against forum rules not to know everything?

Ben. I take your point but all the drivers you list are world class drivers and are not the rich kids playing with daddy's money which we see a lot of these days. I generalise of course but hopefully you get my point.

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Originally Posted by Lousada

Are the M-Sport Focus WRC cars still the property of Ford? I don't think so as M-Sport try to sell every car. It seems to me that Ford only provide funding and homologations.

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It would be quite impossible to develop and homologate the car without Ford's support. Current cars would be out of date soon. And remember Mitsubishi case last year. Mitsu didn't give permission to use their name in AlQassimi/Gardemeister team. Ford could do the same to M-Sport, if they decide to withdraw.

Thanks for the answer Zes :) I thought that was the case but wasn't sure.

Well, I wrote my thoughts on what Ford did to the M-Sport team and Malcom Wilson himself answered me. (Probably a standard mail to those who complained). Here's what he wrote:

Dear Mr XXX (Just removed my name)

Many thanks for taking the time to contact us to explain your views.

Rallying is a complex sport and the situation in which we found ourselves in Corsica was far from ideal. However, we at the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team had to take whatever steps were necessary within the sport to keep alive our hopes of winning the manufacturers' world title for a third consecutive season and to give Mikko Hirvonen the best opportunity of claiming the drivers' crown.
Of course, we considered the introduction of team orders extremely carefully on the final day and analysed all the options available to us. We settled on this method as the best when there were no other alternatives available to us. Tactics have long been a part of the WRC and accepted as an integral part of the sport by the FIA, teams and competitors alike.
Many thanks for your interest and I hope this helps answer your concerns.

Best regards

Malcolm Wilson
Managing Director

Why didn't you ask him why his son is so crap while you were at it? :)

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Originally Posted by Daniel

Why didn't you ask him why his son is so crap while you were at it? :)

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Ooh, ouch!!

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Originally Posted by Daniel

Why didn't you ask him why his son is so crap while you were at it? :)

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Daniel,you are bad man.

i know :) I'm only one man though so what can I do? :p

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Originally Posted by Zes

It would be quite impossible to develop and homologate the car without Ford's support. Current cars would be out of date soon. And remember Mitsubishi case last year. Mitsu didn't give permission to use their name in AlQassimi/Gardemeister team. Ford could do the same to M-Sport, if they decide to withdraw.

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WRC cars are obsolete in 2010 anyway (at least, that's what the FIA wants). Currently the cars are way better than Subaru and Suzuki and I wonder if they will loose that advantage in just one year.
Not allowing to use their name, is that a problem? They could still run the cars and/or call it M-Sport-BP-Stobart-Abbi-Dabbi or something like that.

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Originally Posted by Daniel

You can't homologate a car without manufacturer approval can you?

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To be precise: only manufacturer can submit homologation papers.

In the other words, anyone can design the rally version of the car but it cannot be homologated unless manufacturer agrees to submit the paperwork to FIA. So, in effect manufacturer approval is needed, yes.