mellowyellow

So WTF happened to the Evosport/MBBS Racing entry in the Pirelli WC?

St Pete is this weekend and the CLKBS racecar is not on the entry list. At least we've got two MBs for Green Hornet Racing with SLS GT3s.

mellowyellow

No news here? Wasn't someone on this forum plugged into what Evosport and MBBS were doing with this racecar - perhaps Jim Brady?

FYI, the St Pete race will air on NBC Sports, Sunday, April 7th. Otherwise you can stream it at http://www.world-challenge.com/

JamE55

Would like to know as well. Maybe they ran into problems and couldn't attend?

ecampbell

My understanding is management derailed and poof, no more team.

cigarette1

Well, someone has a pretty nice car on their hands

G

Jim Brady

MBBS racing effort is separate entity from Evosport Engineering as it has to be to make economic sense. World Challenge is not a cheap date and I doubt most would be able to guess what it takes to run a race team. Now that Audi, Cadillac, Volvo have seven figure cars, it's a whole new ball game. I've come to a new appreciation on how difficult it is to built a car, engineer it and race it against a factory effort.

A new SLS race car cost $475k and you get a few spares and they don't finance it. Add a race engineer, crew, oh and you need a transporter and support staff. It's $50k a race minimum! If you want a driver add that into the mix as a gun for hire is $7500-10k per race and that's not Johnny O'Connell. Testing is a major part of any racing program and those test days are about $10k @ day for a single car privateer entry. The more testing the better you're going to do.
FWIW, the Cadillac's make over 700hp unrestricted and have 20 ecu programs they're the best funded fortunately the rules committee has dialed back their advantage to make it a race. The SLS's are woefully short on power compared to the Volvo and Caddy's. It seems that the Audi's got a shot in the arm over the winter. Since AMG no longer makes CLK's there is no factory support available but if you want an SLS step right up just know that that only the tip of the iceberg. I believe WC has the best format for road racing with cars that enthusiasts want to see but behind the scene the factory's play hardball.
Jimmy
PS don't even mention how you can run a Porsche for only X dollars. Nobody want to watch a Porsche parade, if you do just tune in to ALMS/Grand, AM.

mellowyellow

Understand it isn't cheap to go racing. You know how to make a small fortune in sportscar racing? Start with a large one.

Jim, your comments are all well and good, but I am pretty sure they knew the costs going into it, right? They paid to develop, build the car & outfit it. They hired Craig Stanton, a very seasoned driver.

So one race in 2012 and they decided they couldn't be competitive? Did something else change for the 2013 season?

ScottW911

For starters, has anyone else been able to visit the evosport.com site recently?

I've been hearing rumors, for a well placed source, that they are done, lock-stock-and-barrel.

JamE55

Funny you mentioned that. I've been trying to get on their website for a few days now with zero luck. Think they're probably upgrading maybe or adding more stuff but it's been a few days now and still no site to be found.

However i did call and got the phone menu but i'm thinking that's as far as it goes? Guess the economy took over?

Are they still a vendor of this site?

jrcart

Pretty sure they are done, a couple of their "investors" pulled out. I have talked to a few people that were still involved with them up until late last year as vendors and they said they are done. It's a shame they were a great company at one point.

PaulWdz

Maybe it's just me but it would seem that their website is gone ? Google search for it and it looks like it's totally vanished. Strange.

jrcart

It is still there, just does not come up as number one under a google query, you have to go back several pages to find it. Takes you to a white page with evosport logo. Does not say under construction, just a white page with their logo. Pretty sad when you can not afford to pay to keep your site at the top of a google search...or at least on the first page lol.

Stick a fork in em'

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...fPtq1jO2iS7rnA