GTR 2 - Super Endurance Fun Race - Spa 04 - 11th March

[linco24]

btw, Dave Richard's consortium (helped by Kuwait or smthn) bought Aston Martin today. Ford sold it cheap, 479 milion or so.

But F*rd do get to retain some technology rights and a shareholding so for once they seem to have done something financially shrewd instead of simply selling off the family silver.

Wasn't Aston currently the most profitable part of that 'family'?

[Joss]

I'm surprised they got rid of the most "prestigious" brand they own. On the other hand, Aston Martin can only really make one car can't they? The Vantage, DB9 and Vanquish all look exactly the bloody same and the latter is twice the price of the former.
Hope they learn to differentiate between models under Prodrive's guidance.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Should Spa 2003 and 2004 have different statistics seen as they're different tracks?

Internally they do. But most tracks change a little year on year and I have to draw a line somewhere.

[Jure]

ford had to sell, they need every penny to keep on making... fiestas or whatever they produce

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6442101.stm

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I'm surprised they got rid of the most "prestigious" brand they own.

They need the money. The entire automotive industry is in a dire state (GM are in real danger of becoming bankrupt and Chrysler aren't far behind) and Aston have never really fitted into Ford's portfolio. It makes much more sense for them to be set free and provide an essentially risk-free investment income stream for Ford if they do well - and very limited exposure if it goes pear-shaped.

The Daimler-Chrysler divorce will be much bigger news... And somehow Porsche effectively acquiring VW went almost unreported in the mainstream press.

We are getting slightly off-topic mind...

[Adam Parle]

Sorry I missed this one - just felt awful on Sunday night.

All being well I'll be racing tonight though, and get another Spa fix.

[Joss]

Just got the email about my infringement for this. Is it really worth bothering with reports when they take a year (!) to do?

I vaguely remember what I did here, was my fault so no problem....but yea. 

[Paul968]

You mean 2 years! Looks like a glitch in the system or finger trouble.

[Joss]

Oh my god you're right! 

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I implemented a change to the court system today which reveals events with incorrect statuses, one of which was this one. Moving it from "published" to "official" has triggered PMs. Hopefully events won't get into the wrong state in future after this change.