Ford Racing helps out in 80th bash at Oran Park

[fpv_gtho]

http://www.v8supercars.com.au/news/l...nd=M&gid=18192

Ford Racing to mark 80th birthday of the blue oval in Australia
Release Date: 01/08/2005
Ford will mark its 80th year in Australia at round #8 of this year's V8 Supercar Championship Series at Sydney's Oran Park on August 12-14. All 14 official Ford entries will carry 'Ford 80' on their windscreen headers. Adding to the celebration will be a number change and a special one-off livery for Greg Ritter's Ford Credit/FPV Ford Performance Racing Falcon.

Ritter will run as car #80 instead of his usual #5 and will carry special logos on the side and roof of his race car.

The design will feature a special logo developed to celebrate Ford's 80 years in Australia, as well as its 80-year partnership with the Geelong Football Club. The Ford/GFC partnership is believed to be the oldest sporting sponsorship in the world.

The weekend of August 12-14 is the Heritage Round in the AFL with Geelong to face old foes Melbourne at Skilled Stadium on the Saturday afternoon. The two oldest clubs in the AFL will wear period-styled playing guernseys with the Geelong playing strip to feature the same logo as the Ritter Falcon that will be on the track in Sydney at the same time.

The unveiling of the #80 year celebration Falcon took place at a special ride-day for the Geelong Football Club at Ford's Proving Ground outside of Melbourne.

"It's clearly a special moment for Ford and I feel quite honoured to be part of it," said Ritter.

"It's not that often that two major sporting codes can come together to mark a major celebration like this. Ford would have to be one of only a few corporations that could even think about using its sporting partnerships in this type of activity!

"The Cats are travelling very well this season. Here's hoping some of that form can rub off on us not just for Oran Park but also the big races at Sandown and Bathurst!"

Ritter was on-hand with other Ford Racing stars Brad Jones (Team BOC), Russell Ingall (Caltex Racing) and Jason Bargwanna (Orrcon Steel Racing), to give the full senior squad advanced driver tuition.

It's the second time that Ford has hosted the Cats' players at a drive day. Last year's event at Calder Park proved very popular and coach Mark Thompson was keen to get his players back behind the wheel.

Players got to experience driving from the Ford Racing stars, as well as putting their skills to the test in a tightly controlled program.

"We have run the same type of program for the Australian Cricket Team as well as the Australian Wallabies Rugby Union team," said Jason Bargwanna.

"Everyone has a great day and for the footballers they really do improve their driving. The good thing is they can explore the limits of the cars in controlled conditions. They certainly get a better appreciation of car control without the danger of having an accident.

"For us as drivers it's great to swap stories with other athletes. Overall we are all driven individuals and although they are twice as big as us, we all have ambitions to be the best in our chosen field."



Ford’s official V8 Line-up for Oran Park

#1 Marcos Ambrose (Tas) Pirtek Racing
#9 Russell Ingall (SA) Caltex Racing
#80 Greg Ritter (Vic) Ford Credit/FPV Ford Performance Racing
#6 Jason Bright (Vic) CAT Ford Performance Racing
#10 Jason Bargwanna (NSW) Orrcon Steel Racing
#20 Mark Winterbottom (NSW) Orrcon Steel Racing
#12 John Bowe (Tas) Team BOC
#21 Brad Jones (NSW) Team BOC
#17 Steve Johnson (Qld) Westpoint Racing
#18 Glenn Seton (NSW) Westpoint Racing
#25 Matthew White (Vic) Fujitsu Racing
#52 Steve Owen (Vic) Fujitsu Racing
#88 Steve Ellery (Vic) Team Betta Electrical
#888 Craig Lowndes (Vic) Team Betta Electrical

Also: http://fpv.com.au/fpr/index.asp?link_id=5.846

[SlickHolden]

Some were saying that ford should do something like this, It's a bloody good effort 80 years and it should be a party Am i invited

[fpv_gtho]

They might have been also talking about the Falcon's 45th..

[SlickHolden]

45th aniversary falcon sounds like a party car to me

[KELSA]

BA certainly turned Ford around, best decision Ford made in YEARS!

[KELSA]

now all Ford needs is a Super hero image, i don't understand why they wouldn't bring a few Ford GT into the country, just for promotional and image build up reasons, its definately worth the while

[fpv_gtho]

I think most of the public would respond better to a hero car they can legally drive, something impossible with the LHD-only GT. They did show one at last years Sydney Motor Show though..

[SlickHolden]

I wouldnt like that anyway, If holden brought in the Vette i would see that as dum, HSV would take offence at that. So all is needed is a GT that's got some extra nads

[fpv_gtho]

If Holden could get Vettes in for around $100K, they'd sell though. It doesnt matter what HSV thinks as Holden needs to look out for themselves. In either case, it would probably be brought in with the Chev badges still, as the only thing worse than an over priced Corvette, is one with Holden or HSV badges

[SlickHolden]

A guy working in the US brought his Vette back here after working there. He had it tuned up by callaway, When they put that up againts the GTS Coupe and Mondo GT it was left behind But i say why pay $100k for 2 or 4 seats when $60k gets you 5 Clubbie
But 100k would be a base model Vette yeah?

[fpv_gtho]

Yeah, just a normal C6, but that still comes with 400hp

Do you know how old that Vette was that got brought in? To get smoked by a GTS, it mustve been a C4 or something

[SlickHolden]

It was a C5 Convertible. The test was done in 2002. He bought it new in the U.S for $45,000. Got it converted to RHD it now owes him $122,500. It says standard it was 255kw But this guy had it done up to LS6spec or Z06. it's got 542Nm

[fpv_gtho]

In that case it sounds like he didnt know how to drive, even a standad 350hp C5 should be able to keep up with and beat a GTS coupe, theres gotta be 300kg worth of weight difference there

[SlickHolden]

MOTOR mag drove it. They all did about 0-100 in 5.99 + seconds and 1/4 in 13.9+. they said it felt like it had more go straight ahead but the corners and stopping was it's biggest problem. That's when the HSV beat the both all over.

[fpv_gtho]

they may have been afraid to drive it to the limit, Motor seem to give out more mechanical abuse than many others, but its what it takes to get the best times, which is something usually always to their credit.