Grand Prix Rejects

..........it's Datsun aparently!!!!

Or Infiniti if you prefer.

All the Renault stickers are being removed tomorrow, and the engines will have a grinder taken to the Renault logos so that every thing can be rebranded Infiniti.

Red Bull get the engines for free, Nissan get to promote the premium brand through F1, and everyone gets to roll out the Datsun joke for the rest of the season.

Why???? It's the same flippin engine! The last time a constructor's championship defending team ditched the engine supplier of their championship season only to have the same engine only rebranded....

was in 1998, when Williams ditched Renault for Mecachrome.
Williams never did recover since then.

JeremyMcClean wrote:Why???? It's the same flippin engine! The last time a constructor's championship defending team ditched the engine supplier of their championship season only to have the same engine only rebranded....

was in 1998, when Williams ditched Renault for Mecachrome.
Williams never did recover since then.

Wan't the Machachrome just the rebadged '97 Renault? Whereas the Infiniti is still this year's Renault, just it's got a different name.

JeremyMcClean wrote:Why???? ..................

8 million quid I'm guessing, free money really as the engine is still the 2011 Renault but has a new badge. 8 Million to wear a badge? who wouldn't?

So we have one team called Renault that looks like a Lotus, but we will have to call it Renault; not to be confused with the other Lotus-Renault,.... and the World championship winning team that use Renault engines but are now called Infiniti engines.

Chewie wrote:So we have one team called Renault that looks like a Lotus, but we will have to call it Renault; not to be confused with the other Lotus-Renault,.... and the World championship winning team that use Renault engines but are now called Infiniti engines.

Plus, the Lotus road cars currently use Toyota engines. Toyota, through Lexus, us the major competitor to Nissan's Infinity.

Well done all-round.

well let's see....
Yamaha - judd
Petronas - Ferrari
Supertec - renault
"PlayLife" - Renault
Ford - Cosworth
MegaTron - BMW
Fondmetal - ford
Sauber - Mercedes
Ilmor - Mercedes

wow i'm bored. it is interesting to see Nissan come into play like this. i guess they're trying to one-up Toyota for their sublime Lexus supercar/engine success.
meh. i say let it happen.

Autosport is apparently running a story saying that Force India's Mercedes units will be rebadged Smart.

alright that's too far

The BBC got it wrong by reporting too early it seems, RBR is going to carry Infiniti sponsorship and technical partnership but the engines will remain Renault badged. New livery please?

Autosport reports that this is wrong!

Does everyone here but me heavily rely on autosport?
they've been posting shaky stuff this past weekend.
and i was just getting hopeful!

Anybody else see the irony in the Datsun logo above the "Make Roads Safe" one?

Captain Hammer wrote:Anybody else see the irony in the Datsun logo above the "Make Roads Safe" one?

The fact that it's Vettel's car pictured makes it a Double Pun.

Wizzie wrote:

Captain Hammer wrote:Anybody else see the irony in the Datsun logo above the "Make Roads Safe" one?

The fact that it's Vettel's car pictured makes it a Double Pun.

Datsun - I honestly didn't know they still existed.

What about Datsuns? My mother used to own one. Great, lively, reliable car. Amazing car to do rallying (unfortunately she sold it a year before I got my driving license). If Red Bull was called Datsun and won this year championship it would do justice to the brand!

Unfortunately the engine will still be called Renault... Autosport and a certain Joe Saward are reporting that. So it is yet another stupid association. It all started with the BMW Sauber Ferrari. Lotus Renault was next and now Red Bull Infiniti Renault. It is the new trend these days. Expect then the Ferrari Fiat or the Smart Mercedes or yet the Toro Rosso Chrysler Fiat...

Captain Hammer wrote:Anybody else see the irony in the Datsun logo above the "Make Roads Safe" one?

I don't get it.

Phoenix wrote:

Captain Hammer wrote:Anybody else see the irony in the Datsun logo above the "Make Roads Safe" one?

I don't get it.

Datsuns are not very safe to drive. Yes, in case of an accident, your car stays almost intact with a few bumps and scratches here and there as it is pretty solid, but you will probably die. Its seat belt is a joke, really. Also, being lively can be a bad thing too. Its rear wheel drive is hard to master.

DanielPT wrote: Expect then the Ferrari Fiat ..........

Fiat has had it's name on Ferrari F1 cars since the 80s, and also TATA now.

So we have :-

Ferrari Fiat TATA

Renault Lotus Lada

Red Bull Infiniti Renault

so multiple car maker involvement seems the way to go.

just waiting for the VW group to buy into Williams because then we'd have the

Skoda sponsored, VW powered Williams with technical involvement from Audi/Seat!!

April fools day comes a month too early...

... Its not supposed to clash with st davids day...

Infiniti have announced that they have no interest in Rebadgeing,

However for those that are interested, nissans motorsport arm is back in growth... Aren't making a major assault on Le Mans quite yet... But are treading lightly with a couple of lmp2s.

Trust you to mention Le Mans cars!

DanielPT wrote:

Phoenix wrote:

Captain Hammer wrote:Anybody else see the irony in the Datsun logo above the "Make Roads Safe" one?

I don't get it.

Datsuns are not very safe to drive. Yes, in case of an accident, your car stays almost intact with a few bumps and scratches here and there as it is pretty solid, but you will probably die. Its seat belt is a joke, really. Also, being lively can be a bad thing too. Its rear wheel drive is hard to master.

But aren't pretty much all 70s sport cars like that?

Not entirely I think. A friend of mine had a Ford Escort MKII which was better than the Datsun (Both roughly had the same age).

DanielPT wrote:Not entirely I think. A friend of mine had a Ford Escort MKII which was better than the Datsun (Both roughly had the same age).

That smacks of comparing a really strong bout of flu to TB. That one is better than the other doesn't mean I'd like either.

CarlosFerreira wrote:

DanielPT wrote:Not entirely I think. A friend of mine had a Ford Escort MKII which was better than the Datsun (Both roughly had the same age).

That smacks of comparing a really strong bout of flu to TB. That one is better than the other doesn't mean I'd like either.

That just shows my point. The Datsun sports cars from the 70s were a bit bad...

DanielPT wrote:

CarlosFerreira wrote:

DanielPT wrote:Not entirely I think. A friend of mine had a Ford Escort MKII which was better than the Datsun (Both roughly had the same age).

That smacks of comparing a really strong bout of flu to TB. That one is better than the other doesn't mean I'd like either.

That just shows my point. The Datsun sports cars from the 70s were a bit bad...

I'm pointing out the same, mate.

CarlosFerreira wrote:

DanielPT wrote:That just shows my point. The Datsun sports cars from the 70s were a bit bad...

I'm pointing out the same, mate.

Sorry, misunderstood that...

ADx_Wales wrote:
However for those that are interested, nissans motorsport arm is back in growth... Aren't making a major assault on Le Mans quite yet... But are treading lightly with a couple of lmp2s.

Who cares about Nissan, I want a Mazda LMP1, complete in RENOWN livery and with awesome sounding rotary engine.

Did everyone forget Asiatech too? Peugeot's rebadged, and in the back of the Minardi in 2002.

If Smart are taking over the Merc team (yes i know its not going to happen) then they need to rename the car the ForOne.

nome66 wrote:wow i'm bored. it is interesting to see Nissan come into play like this. i guess they're trying to one-up Toyota for their sublime Lexus supercar/engine success.
meh. i say let it happen.

Lexus/Toyota are sportscar bound too. LFRs are going to be in FIA GT1, and Toyota are also supplying Rebellion Racing (from switzerland not dantoine:P) for another sportscar based assault that someone will no doubt flame me for (shush tim ).

The race that happens somewhere in europe is still unfinished business with the big three from Japan. Dunno what Honda are doing yet.

patrick wrote:

ADx_Wales wrote:
However for those that are interested, nissans motorsport arm is back in growth... Aren't making a major assault on Le Mans quite yet... But are treading lightly with a couple of lmp2s.

Who cares about Nissan, I want a Mazda LMP1, complete in RENOWN livery and with awesome sounding rotary engine.

There used to be a Mazda rotary powered LMP2 car in the American Le Mans series until 2006 (it was a Courage C65 with a three rotor Mazda engine), until they decided to switch the engine with a 2.0L straight four instead.

In fact, whilst we're talking about Le Mans, it's worth noting that most of the manufacturers who left Formula 1 are now concentrating their efforts on Endurance Racing instead - BMW has their GT2 program (along with plans for DTM), whilst Honda and Toyota are both producing works engines for the LMP2 and LMP1 classes. In the case of Toyota, their engine program is even based in Cologne at the former Formula 1 facility, which is now mostly specialising in outsourcing work (for current F1 teams as well as other motorsport categories - Mercedes and Mclaren used them last year, amongst others).

If Infiniti want to expand in the UK then the first thing they should have done before paying to stuff the name on the Red Bull is to have made a car with Manual transmission. I've been looking at all the locations there planning to open a showroom here so its not like they arnt aimed at our market

Edit - No option for a DAB either