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| May.31.1999 "F1GP-NIPPON CHALLENGE" STATUS REPORT | ||
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No.5 Also, we did not have much interest in manufacturing or sales of racing cars, as our sole objective was to be a F1 constructor. However, we now have confidence in our technology. Although confidence may not be directly linked to competence at the moment, through the sense we acquired developing our own technology, and by utilising all possible opportunities, we should be able to compete properly on the same level with others in a relatively short period of time, given similar conditions. The centre of this industry has a huge racing business market. We have been struggling to motivate the needs in Japan, but overseas, we should be able to achieve a fair share based on our ability without too much effort. Sooner or later, we will have a big project offered by an overseas car manufacturer, or we might have an order for a special chassis by CART teams. Then our reputation in Japan will increase, and maybe there will be a possibility to find a path into F1 GP which has nothing to do with Japan. For that reason, from last year we started preparation to launch a UK office, and participate in the year 2000 'Auto Sport International Show' (which is commonly known as the Birmingham Racing Car Show) and for racing activity in England. Our initial start will have to be on a very small scale, but if we follow our plan, it is our intention to quickly become one of the leading racing car constructors. Of course, as we need to follow my family's policy that the house and the company should be within 10 km from Gion, Kyoto, we will continue to base our business around our headquarters in Kyoto. Please not misunderstand that you will finally be rid of me. Many things have happened, and now, although it seems that our 'F1 GP Challenge of NIPPON' plan has failed because of our wrong convictions and misunderstandings, we now have belief in our success overseas, and we are still plotting an F1 GP launch based on this. We are currently entering a new world of wrong convictions and misunderstanding. By the way, a completely different story. I had a very interesting experience the other day. Formula Nippon, which claims to be in Japan's top category, had some new cars made by a European constructor, and there was a presentation before the start of the racing season. There were three types of new chassis presented, but one of them was obviously very poor work, and we could tell just by the photo that this was a chassis made by a person who was just imitating another's work with no knowledge whatsoever. You could tell this chassis was definitely two seconds slower than the others just by looking at it. Since then I kept on saying that it is 'two seconds slower' whenever the opportunity arose, maybe some of you have heard my prediction. Afterwards, when they started the actual tests, they found that it was three seconds slower. It was truly poor workmanship. The interesting thing was that no one in the Japanese racing industry who gathered at that presentation could tell the difference. Only after each car's lap time was almost finalised on the actual shake down date, did people start to make a big fuss about it. Which means that nobody had enough knowledge about chassis to begin with. Nobody could see either the plus or minus points of the chassis. Of course, nobody could predict either the performance or the situations surrounding it. I was observing this situation with a strangely calm feeling; so this had been the environment in which we had been making racing cars in. However, as our nature is basically very positive and capricious, and our minds are already focused towards Europe, even this kind of incident gave us courage that maybe we would be valued when we go to a proper place to compete. Finally, I would like to give my sincere appreciation to those of you, who gave us great support towards the 'F1 GP Challenge of NIPPON' in its early stage when the future was uncertain. Although we experience quite a few failures because our dreams are always too high, I would be grateful if you would regard it as our endless desire to improve ourselves. We are determined to try hard towards our ultimate objective however many detours we take. I would like to ask for your continuous support and guidance as before. Minoru Hayashi |
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