2019 Cobra Jet program in jeopardy ?

[ALMACK]

Originally Posted by Dyno

Jesse, well written and spoken!

I agree

[troublemaker427]

Ford lost a fine representative of the company when Jesse left....

[Ralph A Powell]

It was announced yesterday that the Ford GT program is dead after 2019.
Is the Cobrajet program next to fall?

[Ralph A Powell]

Originally Posted by Ralph A Powell

It was announced yesterday that the Ford GT program is dead after 2019.
Is the Cobrajet program next to fall?

The factory-backed Ford GT race program will cease at the end of the 2019 racing season, the American automaker has announced.

Ford will stop providing support for both Chip Ganassi Racing Team USA and Team UK at the end of this year, ending its official involvement in IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championship.

While the factory-backed Ford GT will be no longer, the car may still compete in IMSA and WEC through customer teams.



Ford is hoping to sell the remaining Ford GT race car chassis to interested IMSA or WEC teams, it said. The automaker’s goal is to have four cars racing next year – preferably two in IMSA and two in the WEC.

“We’ve talked, at some level, just looking to find the best way to keep the cars on track in the future with some level of involvement from us,” Ford Performance’s head of motorsport, Mark Rushbrook told Sportscar365 in an interview. “The cars are meant to be on track. They’re meant to be raced and that’s our preference, in trying to optimize where and how they get raced.”

The automaker would provide some level of support for customer Ford GT teams, however, due to the complexity of the vehicle.

“With these cars, they are of a higher pedigree that you can’t just sell them to anybody and they can just go race them,” Rushbrook added. “You can’t just push the button and go. There’s a lot of knowledge that needs to go along with it to make sure they’re raced competitively.”

[troublemaker427]

Ford said from the very start that the GT program would not be a long term factory backed effort. It sounds like they want the team owners to take over running the program with limited factory support. Probably a deal more like what they currently do in NASCAR.

The GT street car program was originally not supposed to last as long as it has either.

[MNDartSwagger]

Originally Posted by BillyCarroll

I don't want to hijack the thread and get it off topic, but I wanted to clarify the "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" comment I made in the earlier post in this thread. I do think the Factory Showdown Cars will prompt sales on Monday, but I wasn't referring to the sale of more Showdown Cars. That program was never designed to sell a high volume of showdown cars, but more as a way of selling performance cars, parts and accessories. You could argue if an in house factory race team or a factory support program works out better in the long run as far as engineering and product development, but without the guys relaying the information back and forth it becomes a non issue.

My main point is that people can look at these factory efforts in racing and pick them apart, but let's not devalue the importance of the manufacturer's human links that have a real interest in what is going on in the pits and try to improve the product across the board.

Aside from if you think the program sells cars or not, if it gets people interested in paying attention to the sportsman classes either as a spectator or a potential new racer I'd say it's a win/win. I often hear people say younger people need to get involved in racing. It's a lot easier if it is something that they can identify with and the correlation between a fuel car and a Camry is lost on me.

Agreed. What will sell on Monday? Prolly not too many COPOs, CJs, or DPs. But if FSS/FSC piques someone's interest in sportsman racing, there's the Challenger 1320, Hellcat, Hellcat Red-eye, ZL1 Camaro, and Shelby Mustangs that will scratch that itch. All available at your local dealership on any given Monday!

[MNDartSwagger]

Reading Jesse Kershaw's posts is a fascinating inside glimpse of what it takes to develop a package car. I would LOVE to get the same description of what happened inside Mopar. Why DID Geoff Turk leave the brand he raced for decades (at the pinnacle of performance) and jump into a CJ? I bet the story their is even more brutal than what Mr. Kershaw is relaying...