52 replies to this topic

[Doug Nye]

Surely any manufacturer needs to have competent practises in every area of its activity, not ONLY within the accounts department.

 

And when a bean counter takes the reins of a manufacturer he should surely still permit the engineers to engineer competently, using practises which maximise quality and perceived customer value, and not least minimise risk to him - or her.  

 

It's always the product purchaser upon whom such a company ultimately depends for its financial success - unless the entire operation is some kind of transient scam in the first place.

 

DCN

[airbox]

mariner, on 06 Feb 2021 - 13:46, said:

Cosworth seemed to be convinced its turbo engine was as good as anybody else' but the Beatrice team and car were pretty hopeless despite a big budget.  

 

From what I remember at the time the Ford V6 struggled with reliability on higher boost settings and was also a good two to three hundred horsepower down on the BMW, Honda and Renault turbos when in qualifying trim.

 

Not sure that this ever got resolved - both Benetton and Beatrice seemed to constantly face the option of raising the boost and running closer to the front before retiring, or staying on more conservative pace and hoping that reliability would get them into the points.

[DaveSmith]

Gene, on 01 Feb 2021 - 19:25, said:

 but I hear Ilmor and the F1 team are kept totally independent from the rest of the company.

The original Ilmor was renamed Mercedes HPE in 2005 when they took sole ownership. Around the same time Mario Illen in conjunction with Roger Penske bought the special projects division from HPE and this became the Ilmor engineering which still exists today a totally separate entity, based just down the road from HPE.