Arise Sir Lewis

  • Thread starter Thread starter durhamplumber
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So the Ferrari engine is designed and built in Italy.

The Merc engine is designed and built in the UK, the Renault is designed and built in viry, France, and the Honda was a collaborative effort between the UK and Japan.

Renault needed considerable input from ilmor engineering to make their engine better at the start of the hybrid era and I believe ilmor also carried out some consulting to honda to make their engine more competitive.

The reason for there being so many F1 teams in the UK is the infrastructure and the workforce are here. We have the best Motorsport universities, and there is some of the best setup engineering companies to assist the F1 teams, I'm not saying that all the staff is British, they come from all corners of the world.

But that's the same for Ferrari, they are not all Italian, so the point your trying to make is mute.
So it's more of an accident of locality then, rather than any influence from British engineering excellence. A case of an infant, emerging industry which grows purely out of convenience, attracting like-minded competitors and support industries, with financial support from UK government, and infrastructure development by successive governments. But there was no inherent resource there, other than many disused airfields that attracted boy racers initially. It could have happened anywhere that was convenient, with disused airfields.
Rather like the jewelry quarter emerged in Birmingham, or the industry grew in the Black Country, or perhaps the way the pottery industry developed in Staffordshire.
 
So it's more of an accident of locality then, rather than any influence from British engineering excellence. A case of an infant, emerging industry which grows purely out of convenience, attracting like-minded competitors and support industries, with financial support from UK government, and infrastructure development by successive governments. But there was no inherent resource there, other than many disused airfields that attracted boy racers initially. It could have happened anywhere that was convenient, with disused airfields.
Rather like the jewelry quarter emerged in Birmingham, or the industry grew in the Black Country, or perhaps the way the pottery industry developed in Staffordshire.

Don't down play it because it means saying us Brits are good at something.

It started up because we were/are the best in the engineering field. Obviously since then we have become less of an engineering powerhouse, blame that on The various governments being insistent that we should turn into a service economy and concentrate on money and insurance, become a nation of pen pushers almost.

But I digress, the reason F1 teams and many motorsports teams are still in the UK is because we still predominantly have the best minds and infrastructure in this particular industry.

A case in point is that Toyota used Toyota Team Europe GmbH, based in cologne to run the Toyota formula one team, Toyota also funded the outfit quite handsomely in some years they had the biggest budget of all teams, they had one of the best, If not the best wind tunnel in the business, and other F1 teams used/still use their facilities, but in 7 years, they achieved pretty much nothing.

The fact they were based in cologne was a major factor in their lack of success.

This is a big reason why teams such as Mercedes red bull and Renault all have bases in the UK.

I know this is an extremely hard pill for you to swallow, but us Brits really are good at something.
 
Don't down play it because it means saying us Brits are good at something.

It started up because we were/are the best in the engineering field. Obviously since then we have become less of an engineering powerhouse, blame that on The various governments being insistent that we should turn into a service economy and concentrate on money and insurance, become a nation of pen pushers almost.

But I digress, the reason F1 teams and many motorsports teams are still in the UK is because we still predominantly have the best minds and infrastructure in this particular industry.

A case in point is that Toyota used Toyota Team Europe GmbH, based in cologne to run the Toyota formula one team, Toyota also funded the outfit quite handsomely in some years they had the biggest budget of all teams, they had one of the best, If not the best wind tunnel in the business, and other F1 teams used/still use their facilities, but in 7 years, they achieved pretty much nothing.

The fact they were based in cologne was a major factor in their lack of success.

This is a big reason why teams such as Mercedes red bull and Renault all have bases in the UK.

I know this is an extremely hard pill for you to swallow, but us Brits really are good at something.
Yes, having disused airfields, and some ex-aircraft builders with time on their hands so they built lightweight aluminium cars to race around those disused airfields, and an emerging industry was born, assisted with financial help and the development of the infrastructure by government. Which then attracted support industries and suppliers from around the world. Then it grew and developed with the employment of the best international talent and continued assistance from government.
Then as new teams emerged it made sense to set up in that area so that any personnel poached from other teams could easily swap workplaces without moving house, etc.
 
Yes, having disused airfields, and some ex-aircraft builders with time on their hands so they built lightweight aluminium cars to race around those disused airfields, and an emerging industry was born, assisted with financial help and the development of the infrastructure by government. Which then attracted support industries and suppliers from around the world. Then it grew and developed with the employment of the best international talent and continued assistance from government.

grand Prix racing was a French thing, which then over time progresses to formula 1 as we know it.

But anyway, is the German car industry (BMW, vag group, Mercedes) any less the perceived to be the pinnacle of the automotive industry for exactly the same thing as you write above. They don't employ only Germans etc etc, but they are perceived to be the darlings of German industry.

The same is said with formula one and the UK.
 
So Bodd would criticise a Tate & Lyle truck driver

"driving for a company that used Slave labour."

if they expressed an opinion about racial discrimination.
 
What Are you saying..... that I don't drive a Japanese car?
No. That you blurt out something in response to me saying 'I don't blame Hitler for liking German cars', then follow it up with a load of waffle and deflection - when asked (many times) to clarify what it was you were getting at.

Your actual response asked to clarify was...How about the slave labour involved in building Mercedes.

Once more - how about it?
 
So Bodd would criticise a Tate & Lyle truck driver

"driving for a company that used Slave labour."

if they expressed an opinion about racial discrimination.


I suppose that depends on his View on life and History. If I felt the need to bend my knee, then I would not drive a German car or work for any Sugar company. Or support Bishops Stortford FC
 
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