as a holden fan i havent really been flowoing the story much but i see you have mentoishioned that ford sponsers the cricket and i cant work out why they would cut of the sponsering from a car then cricket you dont see cricket players driving a ford while playing cricket. or you think they would cut of something thats less popular than a car!!!

so is jamie going to have ford on his car next year??

rumour is that there will be no ford signage at all on the Vodafone cars or on the merchandise, one thing i just dont understand is why they would take sponsorship away from the reighning champ….i dont get it but i think that they will regret it

ok.

Just my two cents on this but fact of the matter is Ford has no money to throw around. While it is unfortunate that T8 lost the sponsorship, but how could Ford effectively market a car with red and white all over it. This is purely a business decision as Ford needs to cut costs. I dont know how big the downturn of Ford or GM affect Australia, but here in the US thousands of people are losing their jobs everyday and its bleeding cash. Not to try and start arguements or fights, I’ve watched some interviews and I never really heard Jamie or Craig thank or really mention Ford, and I think its kind of childish to remove Ford logos from the car and merchandise. Ford helped build this team to a level that we all like and I think that still deserves some credit. Probably didn’t make much sense, but its how I feel about the situation

While you make very good points about fords “strange” decision to pull their backing from T8 (one of which I dont agree with) the fact of the matter is that there is only so much money available to spend and they have decided to push that into certain teams and not others. While, again I dont agree with it, it is a sign of the times. Everyone is tightening belts. UNFORTUNATELY.. the old adage of “WIN ON SUNDAY SELL ON MONDAY” is just not reality any more. Only a small minority of people purchase cars based on who wins what in what car. You may think that Ford focusing on the Cricket is strange, but if your watching V8’s you already have a passion for one make or the other. What they are aiming for with the cricket is all those thousands of people who dont watch the V8’s.
If Ford is not putting up any money then T8 have the right to pull the logo from whatever they want, I think this is a fair call.

I don’t think the basis of your argument works too well Darren. You say that this is a perfect opportunity for Ford to market their brand at the V8’s. Have you paid attention to the cars parked out the front of any meet? They’re generally 3/4 Ford or Holden! From a basic marketing persepective, we’re already sold! And there is little point trying to get the Holden-ites to change over, because we’re just as passionate about our brand of car as you are.

However - consider the tennis and cricket. There is a bigger cross section the car owning society. I’ve never been to the cricket, but growing up in Melbourne have been to the Australia Open, whilst it was sponsored by Ford. Here the passion is tennis, or a desire to see toned tennis players running around with very little clothing on. Because the passion has such little relation to the event that is being sponsored, there is a higher percentage chance that you will be able to sway atendees and the home viewer to consider your choice of car - they’re a more open audience.

When considering marketing only, I would drop the V8’s and try for an alternate, more open audience.

Dammit Hayley…. your comment wasn’t there when I was typing mine, and now I look like a copy cat!!

Sorry Casey… we must have been working on our essays together. You have good points though, I must say. LOL

Casey I am not trying to concert the Holden-ites as you say, what I am trying to say is that Ford need to promote there success on the track to the public who dont have any ties to win them over. Heck it worked for me, I drive a Ford as I am passionate about Ford motorsport and I just dont think that Ford do enough to promote there success on the track, either with posters at local dealerships or adds on TV etc.

Yes I do understand that Ford cannot throw money that they dont have at every team, I just think that the promo money they do have would be better spent backing a team like T8 that will & IS giving them very good results, & next year with no Ford signage on the T8 cars who is going to lose out,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Ford.

I never said you are trying to convert Holden fans… Ford have just exercised sensible marketing with a recently constrained budget.

Ford sponsor the cricket because more people will see the advertising. Think of it this way, most people that watch motorsport already know about Ford, and know that the car running 1st, 5th or whatever is a Falcon.

Whereas at the cricket, Ford will appeal to a wider audience that doesn’t necessarily watch motorsport.

To be honest, I would like to see Ford and Holden pull sponsorship of all their teams, instead sponsoring the V8 Supercar series itself. Perhaps in doing so, VESA could use the extra cash to reduce ticket prices?? But that is for another conversation.

I think that teams should have to source other sponsorship, not rely on manufacturer support. Thus we would see teams such as HRT turn back to HDT etc. That is the way the sport needs to head to take the next step in it’s evolution.

This is why V8 Supercars are looking at adding a 3rd or even 4th manufacturer. GM and Chrysler in the US are just about to go under, with Ford not much further behind unless they can sell Volvo. The fact is that Ford and for that matter Holden won’t be handing out money to any teams. After walking through the new T8 base, V8 Spercar is almost - I hate to say it a mini F1.

In the current econimic climate teams will need to seek additional sponsors to pick up the slack, easier said than do.

Interesting argument Muz. It would make it fairer some teams didn’t get the factory sponsorship… and it’s not as though the factory teams get anything out of V8 Supercars anymore with all the (stupid) parity rules. Pulling factory sponsorship would encourage further cost cuttings.

And then, all this money that the sport is trying to save could be spent on even more ridiculous Bahrain rounds!!

The people who dont watch V8’s dont give 2 hoots about how won what round and where. And from alot that we talk to (running a dealership and all) we would close doors if it came down to selling cars based on the V8’s. Those people that dont have any ties to V8’s are more interested in the rest of the vehicle ie. fuel ecomony, comfort, standard inclusions and extras but most importantly price, seeing as you cant buy a T8 racecar in any showroom.

I agreen with Muz’s comments about supporting the V8 supercars as a whole. It would seem fairer.

I went to the cricket today,the “FORD” Backyard Series Cricket got heaps of publication!

ok well as i said i dident really follow the story much… but i can now see why they have cut the funding from v8s rather then cricket!

Oh well as we are all entitled to our own opinion I think that Ford would have got more Bang for there buck if they where able to keep T8 on the payroll as they are clearly the best team out there with the best drivers, and to think that next year the T8 cars will have no Ford Logo’s on them ( to me that sucks ) as it has the ability to win the next generation.
Young kids at a race for the first time & they see car 88 or car 888 out front and they have the blue oval all over them, then there is a chance that it just might win a young kids allegiance & he will grow up & most likely buy a Ford.
Plus that & as I mentioned just the thought of Holden coming along with a bigger cheque book & luring the T8 team over to the Dark side still gives me cols sweets.

I would like to see Holden’s ‘bigger cheque book’ while it’s American daddy is in trouble….

Yeah fair point Muz, I am aware that Holden are struggling finacialy as well. But it is just a fear of mine that Craig or T8 will go back to Holden. Mate I will be happy if Ford acclowledged T8 & there cars had the Blue Oval on them.