No Borders Here…………Bill Oursler looks at the levees
Excuse me if I sound confused. Over the past year the tail, in this case
Porsche, may not have been wagging the dog, hereafter known as
Volkswagen AG, but to be sure it now controls the hound, having already
purchased a controlling 31 per cent interest in the giant auto maker.
Moreover, if one is a true believer, the “little guys” are in the process of putting
together a financial package that will allow them to purchase another 20 per
cent of Volkswagen stock for an uncontestable 51 per cent interest in VW.
Now, all of this may appear rather dull to us sports car racing freaks; you
know that kind of business reporting which comes as a couple of lines in our
nightly news programs and puts us to sleep better than any pill.
Unfortunately, while we may ignore these going-ons as having nothing to do
with our racing passions, the fact is that we do so at our peril. Of course, that
narrow focus is rampant in many fields. However, for the racing community, it
seems to be something of a badge to be proudly displayed. Ignorance it
seems is bliss for far too many motorheads.
In case you haven’t noticed, the automobile business, especially in the
United States, and to some degree, the European Community, is in a state of
turmoil as it struggles to sell cars in a shaky economic climate while at the
same time trying to re-invent itself to meet the challenges of global warming
and the pressures of reducing the dependence of its products on oil – whose
supply issues are about on par with today’s economic matters in terms of
shakiness.
What in the wide world of sports is going on here?
When times are troubled, the first thing to go are what many perceive as
“frills,” motorsport being among them for folks like Wendelin Wiedeking, who
has said many times that he considers racing a financial “black hole.” And,
why you say is his opinion important? The answer is simple: Wiedeking is
the man who runs Porsche for the Piech and Porsche families, and, as such
is the man who will be making decisions soon, if not already at VW, and its
subsidiaries such as Audi.
In the movie “The Right Stuff,” there is a line that goes: “No bucks; no Buck
Rogers.” Wiedeking is the man who controls “the bucks,” or “Euros,” Audi
and Porsche use to go racing. Put another way, Wiedeking is the man who
can “giveth,” and is the man who can “taketh” them away. So, that’s why I’m
confused.
Throughout the late fall and the early part of this winter, Dr. Ulrich, the head of
AudiSport which is the organization that has developed the awesome
turbocharged R10 diesel spyders that are run under the banner of its
surrogates like Reinhold Joest and David Maraj’s Champion Racing, has
demanded that the American Le Mans Series put the full 50 kilogram weight
penalty on its LMP2 prototypes, this including the Penske Team RS Spyders
which last year beat the Audis eight times in head-to-head competition.
On the other hand, the Porsche folks at Weissach have been equally
insistent that if the ALMS does comply with the demands of Le Mans, from
which it leases its technical regulations, Porsche will take its “marbles” and
stay home. Now, if my silly mind reads the fine print, I thought the final
decision as to who does what where will be made by the man who controls
“the bucks.” And, as far as I can determine that individual is Wiedeking, not
the engineers and team bosses at either Audi or Porsche.
So why am I listening to these guys. In fact, why are you?
Come out and play….
The R10 program is a commercially inspired enterprise on which VW has
spend in the area of $250 to $350 million that is intended to help Volkswagen
and its brands capture a large share of the diesel street market which is now
increasing exponentially around the world. At the moment the R10 effort
appears secure in light of the fact that Peugeot has put itself in the same
diesel arena on the track in hopes of achieving the same street market
objectives as has Volkswagen. Moreover, companies like Mercedes, Toyota,
Honda, and even Ford, General Motors and Chrysler are all on the diesel
bandwagon, although Detroit sees the United States as being from five to ten
years behind the rest of the globe.
And, diesels are just the beginning. Unfortunately, Wiedeking and Porsche
are not necessarily diesel lovers, with pronouncements that Porsche is not
intending to go the diesel route. Thus, as long as Wiedeking can see the R10
being the promotional tool to increase diesel car profitability, it will stay.
When he doesn’t, it will disappear. A hard line to be sure, but one typical of a
man whose has boosted Porsche’s net annual profits by ten per cent a year
for a numbers years, and in the process has made it the most profitable auto
maker in the world on a per unit basis.
Combine Wiedeking’s sometimes cold hearted decisiveness in ridding himself
of that which might hurt the bottom line, and one has to wonder about the
persistent rumors of efforts to get Porsche to build a LMP1 version of the RS
Spyder. Some believe it makes sense. After all, they say, while the RS
Spyder customer program will continue at least through 2009, the factory
supported Penske deal will end at the conclusion of the 2008 ALMS
campaign, this leaving Porsche’s engineers to concentrate on something
new.
The French, are you here?
The problem is that according to the L’Automobile Club du L’Ouest, which
runs the Le Mans enduro classic, the rules will change in 2010 from open
topped racers back to the coupes of the past. Quite what the specifics of this
changeover will be haven’t according to insiders, been completely worked out
as yet. So again, why would Porsche even think about constructing a car to a
set of as yet still uncertain rules?
And, even if the scriptures were firm, why would Wiedeking want to initiate a
program that would in any manner tarnish, or diminish a multi-hundred million
dollar effort intended to increase VW’s black ink? Porsche says it wants to
sell up to 115,000 units for 2008. That is many times less than the figures for
Volkswagen. In terms of profits and loses, it doesn’t now, nor will it in the
future, make sense; certainly not to someone like Wiedeking.
Over to you Scott….
Indeed, it may well be that by the time the ALMS reaches its mid-season
point, the LMP2 contingent could well find themselves saddled not with the 25
extra kilos they’ve be ordered to carry now, but the whole 50. And, as for the
reduction in their fuel capacity, who knows what will happen there. Again,
now that Audi is racing for the Piech and Porsche branches of the Porsche
family, and now that Wiedeking is in charge of seeing to the brand’s financial
health, does he really want to see Porsche beat Audi? If he were a
passionate motorsport fan, perhaps yes. However, given that he is anything
but a passionate advocate for racing, one suspects not.
Whatever the ALMS’ future, you can be sure that the head guy behind the
desk will have a large say in how it turns out, no matter what bickering goes
on by those who are now in effect his underlings.
Bill Oursler
February 2008
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