Failed F1 Projects

[Nononsensecapeesh]

I think of a few failed Manufacturer F1 efforts.

In the 1980s:

Nissan
Volkswagen
Audi

In the 1990s:

BMW
Mercedes
Peugeot
Honda

[erwin greven]

Manufacturer. Do you also include engine-suppliers?

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Manufacturer. Do you also include engine-suppliers only?

Teams and engine suppliers.

[Michael Ferner]

Nissan, Volkswagen, Audi??? Well, I followed F1 religiously in the eighties, but I don't recall none of those!!!

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Nissan, Volkswagen, Audi??? Well, I followed F1 religiously in the eighties, but I don't recall none of those!!!

Motorsport Magazine recently uncovered the VW F1 project.
For Audi and Nissan, see unracedf1.com, not much info admittedly but they're there.

[Michael Ferner]

No, they're not "there". It's just the invention of some journos with too much imagination. Please stop this nonsense, you seem to be obsessed with inflating these bullshit stories (also on other boards, I can see). This is like editing wikipedia stories over and over again to suit your agenda, whatever that is in your case. The simple fact remains: there were no Nissan, Audi or Volkswagen F1 projects in the eighties.

[PTRACER]

Let's try to keep this civil guys. A lot of F1 projects start with a little too much imagination and that is also where some of them end. I recall quite a few back in the 2000s, like USF1, Stefan Grand Prix etc. It's not prohibited to discuss them here.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Nissan, Volkswagen, Audi??? Well, I followed F1 religiously in the eighties, but I don't recall none of those!!!

Nissan were branded on some Renault engines via their (Nissan) Infiniti brand in recent years. (Nissan / Renault have some joint ownership / partnership / Alliance call it what you will deal. Oh and Mitsubishi joined 1n 2016.
Between them they control eight brands: Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Infiniti, Renault Korea, Dacia, Alpine, and Venucia.}

But yes not Nissan per se. Closest Nissan got was as Infiniti.

Ill throw Peugeot in. And Asiatech. Lamborghini.

Where do brands such as Playlife which were basically rebrands of other engines fit in?

ATS back in 1963/4.
Further back the likes of Alta in the 50's. This list could run to hundreds

If you want to talk failed constructors there are again hundreds..... just from the 70's in the kit car era you had the likes of Lec, Trojan, Amon, The Rebaque we have discussed elsewhere. Mezario etc etc.

[Michael Ferner]

Let's try to keep this civil guys. A lot of F1 projects start with a little too much imagination and that is also where some of them end. I recall quite a few back in the 2000s, like USF1, Stefan Grand Prix etc. It's not prohibited to discuss them here.

I'm sorry if I sounded offensive, that was not my intention.

But this whole "there was a fancy drawing in a magazine, so it must've been real" thing is wearing my patience thin. Lots of magazines in those days tried to attract readers by speculating about "secret" or "clandestine" F1 projects that bore aboslutely no relation to reality. Those with knowledge of the sport knew it was BS, but it was aimed at increasing circulation, not information, so it was kinda tolerated. That doesn't make any of it real. Everybody can make a drawing, and claim to enter F1 tomorrow, that doesn't make it an "F1 project". Let's try to keep our feet on the ground, here.

[MonteCristo]

To quote a much-loved, albeit highly over-enthusiastic commentator of yesteryear, if is F1 spelled backwards.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

So I took things a bit too literally! I'm sorry but I can't help it! I'm Autistic so it's in my nature to take things literally and sometimes at face value. I'm not the one who makes up these stories.

In the mean time, there was FIRST Racing in 1989, became Life which became a complete disaster.

[Michael Ferner]

I'm not the one who makes up these stories.

I realize that. At the same time, it's the repetition of outlandish claims that makes them "real" in a way that distorts reality. The internet has the power to rewrite history by sheer numbers; that's not a good development. Just because every second website claims that you can make easy money with bitcoins, that you can defeat CoViD by gargling bleach or that elections were stolen, doesn't make it real. Use of common sense is indispensable. If something looks crazy and impossible, it probably is. If it sounds too good to be true, then you better believe it is. If it involves secrets and big names, it's most likely invented - big things don't stay secret, or they were never big in the first place. The world wasn't invented yesterday, and clamouring for attention is the oldest game in town.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Whatever

DAMS and Dome were most certainly real and still failed.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Stefan Grand Prix tried a few times, most notably 1998 with the ex-Mastercard Lolas, then 2010 with the unraced Toyota TF110.

[PTRACER]

I'm not the one who makes up these stories.

I realize that. At the same time, it's the repetition of outlandish claims that makes them "real" in a way that distorts reality. The internet has the power to rewrite history by sheer numbers; that's not a good development. Just because every second website claims that you can make easy money with bitcoins, that you can defeat CoViD by gargling bleach or that elections were stolen, doesn't make it real. Use of common sense is indispensable. If something looks crazy and impossible, it probably is. If it sounds too good to be true, then you better believe it is. If it involves secrets and big names, it's most likely invented - big things don't stay secret, or they were never big in the first place. The world wasn't invented yesterday, and clamouring for attention is the oldest game in town.

There are a LOT of people who believe those things too...As per the above, it's not forbidden to speculate here, and I don't think there is any danger in talking about these things. I find it interesting in a way.

I wonder how many of these rich businessmen actually put a lot of money on the table to publicise these failed efforts and really believed they were going to create an F1 team (but were probably a good few hundred million away from having enough cash)