Richard Branson (Virgin) to save Honda together with Adrian Reynard?

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Originally Posted by SGWilko

In fact, didn't Fry design, build and skipper the Titanic.......?

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No, but he designed the Iceburg and lewis steered it into the Titanic :D

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Originally Posted by ioan

Those were not Honda F1 Team's resources and certainly not Fry's resources!

Honda Japan was paying Super Aguri in order to give Sato a ride and thus have a Japanese F1 driver on the grid.

What Fry did is equivalent with destroying your little brother because he get's pocket money from your parents and he manages it better. (this was just an example and all characters involved are fictious! :D )

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Woah, stop giving Fry superhero powers.

Super Aguri owed Honda $100 million on the promise that they would be repaid by sponsors that never materialised. Guess what? Honda lost patience and pulled the plug. Fry had nothing to do with it.

As for funding a team just to keep a Japanese driver on the grid, this is Honda, a company that finds it nice if there is one on the grid but has never given much of a toss if there wasn't either. Autosport which is the source of much of this nonsense about Sato, Super Aguri and Honda is showing its ignorance of the Japanese market I'm afraid, Sato never was that big over there outside the hardcore F1 fan market. Certainly not worth spending $100 million on to keep in F1. If Honda was that desperate to keep him they wouldn't have sacked him in the first place would they.

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Originally Posted by I am evil Homer

You can't polish a turd.

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No, but if you eat enough yoghurt it puts a nice gloss on it....... :laugh:

Anyway, back to the thread :D

Bernie is now involved and seems to be pushing the Branson bid. No surprise there :rolleyes:

Look like the only 2 deals are a management buyout or the Virgin / Prodrive inititive.

Honda have mooted that disbanding the team is still an option which is worrying unless it's a strong arm tactic.

Hmmmmm

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Originally Posted by Knock-on

Anyway, back to the thread :D

Bernie is now involved and seems to be pushing the Branson bid. No surprise there :rolleyes:

Look like the only 2 deals are a management buyout or the Virgin / Prodrive inititive.

Honda have mooted that disbanding the team is still an option which is worrying unless it's a strong arm tactic.

Hmmmmm

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I think we need to accept that Honda are potentially not the only team to 'pull the plug' and more will follow as the global crisis deepens.

Talking to one of my work colleagues who has explained to me how Lehman's got so in the sh!t, I can see how there is a lot more poopoo to come in terms of severe toxic debt.

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Originally Posted by SGWilko

I think we need to accept that Honda are potentially not the only team to 'pull the plug' and more will follow as the global crisis deepens.

Talking to one of my work colleagues who has explained to me how Lehman's got so in the sh!t, I can see how there is a lot more poopoo to come in terms of severe toxic debt.

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Toxic debt is a nasty problem that will quickly get written off by the banks, underwritten by the government, allowing the banks to concentrate on nice profitable business while the tax payer picks up the bill.

We are already seeing banks bounce back after taking Billions of taxpayers money to put aside against toxic debt and then posting huge profits.

Exactly WHAt share have we got in the banks? I'll bet it composes of nice gilt edged bonds wrapped up in the stinking s**t they want to offload.

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Originally Posted by Knock-on

Toxic debt is a nasty problem that will quickly get written off by the banks, underwritten by the government, allowing the banks to concentrate on nice profitable business while the tax payer picks up the bill.

We are already seeing banks bounce back after taking Billions of taxpayers money to put aside against toxic debt and then posting huge profits.

Exactly WHAt share have we got in the banks? I'll bet it composes of nice gilt edged bonds wrapped up in the stinking s**t they want to offload.

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I think you'll find that the banks that have made large profits are the ones with the least toxic debt. Also, the banks still haven't gone halfway through the task of sorting out which of their debts are rubbish and which aren't so there's plenty of room left for nasty surprises.

It won't get quickly written off, and lets not forget that the car makers are getting in worse and worse trouble. If GM or Chrysler folds that will knock out a few suppliers in the US which will drag Honda, Toyota, Beemer and Merc and anyone else building cars there down with them.

We've still got a long way to fall...

I'm not sure about Bernie's comments, they add nothing new and may simply be adding pressure to Branson from whom we've heard nothing. I won't believe anything until we see the two ex-Hondas on the grid in Melbourne.

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Originally Posted by Dylan H

If GM or Chrysler folds that will knock out a few suppliers in the US which will drag Honda, Toyota, Beemer and Merc and anyone else building cars there down with them.

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I'm not sure this is how it would be.
If GM and Chrysler folds than the others, who are producing cheaper and better cars will surely have a better market than before.
Sure suppliers will have to cut back or some of them will close, but as long as one car manufacturer stays also their suppliers will stay alive. And I doubt that people are suddenly thinking about walking hundreds of miles instead of uying a car.

IMO we should not exaggerate things.

Sure this crisis is nasty, but we still need plenty of products in order to live our lives, and those who produce the products with the best price/quality will survive, which is the right thing IMO.

Come on Branson! Make with the cash so we can get on with this season.

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Originally Posted by ioan

I'm not sure this is how it would be.
If GM and Chrysler folds than the others, who are producing cheaper and better cars will surely have a better market than before.
Sure suppliers will have to cut back or some of them will close, but as long as one car manufacturer stays also their suppliers will stay alive. And I doubt that people are suddenly thinking about walking hundreds of miles instead of uying a car.

IMO we should not exaggerate things.

Sure this crisis is nasty, but we still need plenty of products in order to live our lives, and those who produce the products with the best price/quality will survive, which is the right thing IMO.

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:?:


I'm assuming this thread has been derailed a bit.

To get the thread back on track....

Sir Richard Branson was a studio guest on BBC News this morning, mainly to talk about 25 years of Virgin Atlantic Airways but he was asked about the Honda team and he said said very little, only that if "F1 were to use greener fuels and be more cost effective for the likes of the Virgin brand he might be interested".....?!

As ever, a businessman keeping his cards close to his chest but the clock is ticking surely..?