It's been such a long time since cars - four wheeled machine - were invented to replace horses and such back then. Nowadays, with technology providing great amounts of safety features as well as luxuries to keep passengers happy throughout any journey. Despite rising fuel prices and more critical environmental issues, motor sport has never lost its popularity as one of the main forms of showcasing how cars can be put to the test in the name of competition, engineering and recreation.
However, there is always a question on whether a car maker successful on track can be as successful in building what cars are meant to be in the first place. This is not so the case vice versa as building a car for the masses is definitely an easier task than building the perfect race machine capable of conquering the tarmacs and dirt roads presented upon them anywhere in the world.
Or is it?
Take a look at the mother of all motor sports for instance. Three of the most successful constructors are Ferrari, McLaren and Renault. While Ferrari does make brilliant road-going cars, not many will argue the fact that the 599s and 430s gracing town and seaside roads are simply heavily toned down versions of the monster machines that have won them so many titles in F1 ever since God knows when. Furthermore, only the very wealthy can afford them which do not make Ferraris very applicable in the real world. While Mercedes is among the finest car makers in the world building some fantastic road legal cars with McLaren, McLaren are otherwise simply their tuners and refiners in Britain, one the Germans can do without considering how Mercedes have decided to part with McLaren within the previous year.
Renault is a funny story altogether, building very good cars for all sorts of people but having many failed attempts at designing a visually appealing or properly attractive sports car for the average driver.
Even of late, while the Laguna Coupe isdeemed to be one of the finest French designs since never ever, the original saloon was simply a sight to induce sore eyes. The other French maker, Citroen, has an almost equal dilemma, being highly successful in the Word Rally Championships, but building uninspiring and dull cars which have quite a record for being unreliable for the open market.
Maybe making cars and racing them are just two things that do not go well together as Honda has demonstrated. The hyper successful and trusted Japanese auto maker chose to withdraw from F1 despite having such brand presence in the automotive industry simply because they realized it was only an ever losing investment. The other Japanese giant, the only one bigger than Honda which is Toyota, while still in it, have never shown any signs of threatening the major constructors at all. It is probably safe to assume that Ford has the best balance in both worlds, being a cult name in most major rallies in the world while having cars in their line up to satisfy every person in the world due to the company's global diversity but then again, it would probably be a totally different story should they venture into F1.
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