Ilmor withdraw from GP's

[neninja]

Due to lack of funding Ilmor have pulled out of the next GP

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sp...kignnewsilmor/

[maxu05]

hock:

[tha_jackal]

hock:

I wouldnt believe it until motogp.com or a more reputable source post some information.. MCN have been known to fabricate in the past.. If its true, well, no big loss really, is it? Probably a waste of money to keep running 5 seconds off the pace.. ... Hardly surprising either..

[neninja]

They would hardly make up a conversation with Illien - Dorna might bail them out though.

I think it is a big loss as it's symptomatic of the problems facing ALL Motogp teams in finding sponsorship. The championship is probably at it's biggest for years yet sponsors would rather pay the same amount of money to have a tiny sticker on an F1 car than a totally branded bike and rider in MotoGP.

[maxu05]

Shame all the same though.

[tha_jackal]

They would hardly make up a conversation with Illien - Dorna might bail them out though.

After actually reading the article it would appear to be genuine..

Still, as i said before, hardly surprising.. I mean, Team KR had an awesome year last year and STILL struggled to get backing.. Sponsors need to pull their heads outta their arses..

[NinjaMaster]

It's also reported on Crash.net
http://www.crash.net/news_view~cid~0~id~144548.htm

Really hope they can find some cash somewhere to continue and hopefully get more competitive. Clearly big business doesn't know an advertising bargain when it sees one.

[ChrisS]

How can a team fold after just one race? How did they plan their season? They though they would show up at Qatar, race, blow everyone away and sponsors would start giving them money?

I thought that maybe Ilmor would look at Cosworth's mistakes and learn from them but it seems they were even more out of tough with motoGP than Cosworth

They could at least try and fight for a while, WCM fought for 3 years with very little sponsorship racing modified R1s

[seppefan]

How can a team fold after just one race? How did they plan their season? They though they would show up at Qatar, race, blow everyone away and sponsors would start giving them money?

I thought that maybe Ilmor would look at Cosworth's mistakes and learn from them but it seems they were even more out of tough with motoGP than Cosworth

They could at least try and fight for a while, WCM fought for 3 years with very little sponsorship racing modified R1s

I find it hard to believe that they did not have a business plan in place prior to commencing the project and can only deduce they have done this ti try and become more competitive and then return. Glad I had not signed on the dotted line to join them in any capacity.

[Kropotkin]

I've posted this on all the forums I frequent, so I'll post it here too. I strongly encourage you to post something similar on any other forums you may frequent.

MotoGP is immensely popular: Well over 300 million viewers for every race, in some very important markets. And yet it is finding it hard to find sponsorship, and the sport is suffering as a result. That's a tragedy, but there's nothing we can do about it, right?

Wrong. Most of us work for companies. Almost all those companies will have marketing budgets. And all those companies will be desperately looking for a way to get their brand out in front of people. Now, at the last two companies I have worked at, I have tried to generate interest in sponsoring motorcycle racing, in whatever form: MotoGP, Superbike, Dakar, whatever. Even though I have so far been unsuccessful, the reactions I got were really enthusiastic. Mostly, the marketing people were unaware of motorcycle racing, and unaware of its huge popularity. It certainly gave the marketing department something to think about, and maybe at some time in the future the situation could change, and they could start looking more actively at sponsoring motorcycle racing. As it happens, a good friend has just been hired to the marketing department of another company, and I'm already trying to interest her in sponsoring some racing. It may come together even yet.

Now, you could do the same. It will only take you 15 minutes to send an e-mail to your marketing department, making them aware of the huge interest in MotoGP and motorcycle racing in general, especially in specific locations such as Southern Europe. The worst thing that can happen is that they will tell you no. But if they don't then you too could end up in a pit box somewhere, watching some of the world's finest riders mounting to join battle.