Ferrari Challenge - what's the point?
 

The Ferrari's were about 10 seconds slower on the Formula 1 track in Montreal than the Star Mazda's (despite having almost double the amount of power).
Why would you race in a series were a car costs $350'000, when you can race a faster car for less money.
After all these Ferrari's are not street legal, so you obviously can't use them to get some attention on the road or something.
http://www.photof1.com/CRASH2001.jpg
vs.
http://www.starmazda.com/results/200...treal-0048.jpg

i guess its kinda like saying why buy an rx8 when i can get a civic hatchback with a K20 turbo in it for less money...the civic will hand the rx8 his ass to him..

It's more fun IMO. I have raced open wheel cars, and while any racing is fun, I much prefer the racing you get in a traditional car. Those pictures say it all, which one looks more entertaining? As an owner of an RX-8 you should know it's not about speed, but enjoyment ;)

However in that case you can argue that the RX-8 has more status than the Civic. After all cars are usually bought for what they present and how we can identify with them.

When you buy a race car, status shouldn't really be a factor. Having fun with it and being able to race against others is usually the main factor.

Well if I had endless money to burn, I might consider racing a Ferrari too, but if I wouldn't, I'd cry everytime I had an accident.

They race the Ferrari's because they can!...and you can't. :D

...but those Ferraris are based on street legal road cars, and the Mazdas are dedicated open wheel racers. Also, the Ferraris may make almost twice as much power, but they also weigh more than twice as much. Why would you race? Because you can.

Funny considering that neither of the types of cars mentioned are F1 cars....

i dont understrand the post ^

someone deleted their post. It read
"Do you know how much an F1 car costs??"
Lame, whoever you were, lame.

I misread the post. Therefore, my comment was not needed.

And The Backwards Driver Takes The Point!!!!!

hehehehe...i'm not really sure which way they are racing in that first pic...haha everyone seems to be going their owm way...madness i say madness

^ Good point. I actually went to the Montreal Grand Prix and saw all these cars (incl. F1) racing and I noticed that the Ferrari Challenge drivers were definitely the least consistent drivers. So, at least some of these participants have definitely more cash than driving skills.

That's the case with every racing series and every car. I am sure 95% of the people who own an 8 wouldn't be able to drive it around a track to save their lives. Why buy a sports car then?

Well it was interesting to notice that the more sophisticated the race series was, the more consistent the drivers were.

b/c i'm not tryign to save my life when i drive my 8 silly head :p

hehehe

What's the point? Why don't we just get rid of all sports car racing except open-wheeled cars. It's just a different series with different rules.

Different strokes.... Why have Nascar when the open wheel guys (and girl, sorry Danika) go around tracks about 25-30 MPH faster. Want pure speed? Watch the F1 or IRL in car videos, think you can handle that? lol. But nascar is more popular in America because it can be fun, fast speed and bumping and all. different game altogether.

Actually I did not argue about it from spectators point of view and frankly I can understand why many people prefer to watch Nascar over F1 or champ cars.
Besides these race series are all sponsored (unlike the Ferrari challenge). So this is really a different topic.

I question the Ferrari challenge from drivers point of view. Why spending $350000 of your own money on a race car that is slower than a much cheaper open wheel car?

If you're going to think that way then why doesn't everyone race 250cc superkarts that will probably smoke the Mazda's and the Ferraris. Afterall it's much cheaper and they're faster around the track... People like different things for different reasons.

Last year during the F1 weekend the ferrari challenge had a finish that was so close that initially the scoring monitor could not determine the winner while shumacher did not see the second place car in is rear mirror after the third lap.

And if you really want to know the reason for the existance. The car comes race ready from the factory and is maintained by your local ferrari dealer. If money is no object, the only thing you need to worry about is racing. If I could drop the cash I would do it.