Ferrari and CART

[TomWazzleshaw]

I was on wikipedia earlier today reading about the history of Scuderia Ferrari (Reading random stuff on wiki is a great way to pass the time while learning something somewhat interesting ) I noticed that Ferrari threatened to go to CART in the mid 80s if the FIA didn't reconsider the Engine rules for the 1986 season. Could anyone provide more infomation on this?

[Londoner]

Found this on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_637

[coops]

Its true and they even built a car to do it with. Eventually they backed down and depending on what you believe that was either because they reached a compromise with FISA (pre FIA) or when tested the Ferrari Indycar was so woeful Mr Ferrari pulled the plug to save his reputation.

[dr-baker]

[P_Friesacher]

Oh, how I whish they had done it.
Would have been great for CART, good for F1, woderful for motorsport in the USA and bad for Ferrari.
In short: Everyone's a winner!

[danardif1]

They had done quite a bit of research into the project as well... They had hired Bobby Rahal and the Truesports team to come to Fiorano and showcase their March car, and see what Indy racing would require... They were being lined up to be the ones to run the 637 as well, kind of like a Ferrari Team USA, which probably shows they weren't really going to leave F1, especially when they couldn't use V12's in Indy either, which was their point of contention in their fuss with the FIA...

The car later became a test bed for the Alfa engine that flopped in the early 90's...

[Cynon]

Despite hiring Rahal, new chassis in CART always had a tough first season unless Michael Andretti was driving them. The CART Ferrari wouldn't have been more competitive than the Porsches were in CART.

[Phoenix]

Lotus tried to join CART in 1985, by the way, though the reasons are unknown.

[danardif1]

Didn't know about that!! Imagine if Ferrari and Lotus had made the commitment to join CART and had done well unlike Porsche and Alfa Romeo, it would've been even better at it's peak in the early 90's!

[cretoxyrhina]

8w has a pretty comprehensive article about Ferrari 637 CART: http://8w.forix.com/march90ca-ferrari.html

Ligier also raced(?) with Ligier LC02 in 1984, which was heavily based on JS21. Only qualified once at Long Beach with Kevin Cogan, and retired very early. (IIRC it was retired on lap 3)

[MinardiFan95]

Oh, how I whish they had done it.
Would have been great for CART, good for F1, woderful for motorsport in the USA and bad for Ferrari.
In short: Everyone's a winner!

...except for the tifosi.

[Phoenix]

8w has a pretty comprehensive article about Ferrari 637 CART: http://8w.forix.com/march90ca-ferrari.html

Ligier also raced(?) with Ligier LC02 in 1984, which was heavily based on JS21. Only qualified once at Long Beach with Kevin Cogan, and retired very early. (IIRC it was retired on lap 3)

That car was absolutely horrendous. Aerodinamically ineffective (and hence painfully slow) and flimsily built (I've read that thing dropped pieces of it on the racetrack at high speeds).
And I'm affraid your link doesn't work.

[Waris]

Wow, that's amazing! More European constructors should go to the States (though, now that Dallara has won the contest to be IndyCar's sole supplier until what, 2015? albeit with this really weird idea where they produce a safety cell and then teams get to stick parts on, so they become... half-constructors?, this might probably take a while).

Penske vs. Panoz vs. Reynard vs. Lola vs. Ferrari vs. Lotus vs. Ligier, or something like that, would've been epic.

[thehemogoblin]

I fixed both of those links. They work now.

[Cynon]

Ligier also raced(?) with Ligier LC02 in 1984, which was heavily based on JS21. Only qualified once at Long Beach with Kevin Cogan, and retired very early. (IIRC it was retired on lap 3)

That's most likely why the Ligier retired from the race...

Lotus used to be a fixture in USAC before CART split off from USAC, so it was never really a surprise that they'd try to come back in. That Lotus car looks actually like it might have done some serious ass kicking, but who knows...

So you could have had...

Lotus, March, Ferrari, Penske, Lola, Reynard, Galmer (shame this car didn't last that long), ... in the mid 1990s...

[Viresh]

Awesome snaps it's a power of racers.it can be great if any one can drive or see the tracks or F1 race lively.

[Nessafox]

Awesome snaps it's a power of racers.it can be great if any one can drive or see the tracks or F1 race lively.

Not to be rude but,... ever tried talking like a normal person?

[ADx_Wales]

Awesome snaps it's a power of racers.it can be great if any one can drive or see the tracks or F1 race lively.

Not to be rude but,... ever tried talking like a normal person?

Hey Viresh Have you really been far as decided to use even go want to do look more like?