Lots of interesting points in here overnight - it's 9 am now where I am.
CORALLY. Corally is a relatively small company in terms of manpower, though not in terms of it's contribution to our sport, and certainly not in terms of it's products and quality. Just look back a few years and think where one of todays popular cars came from. Corally are always innovative, and their engineering is second to none. I don't run Corally cars, not touring cars anyway, though we use their motors and cells exclusively, but that is more a business related decision than anything else.
I agree entirely that your chances of success are proportional to the number of BIG drivers you have in the team. Again, just look at the number of personell some teams have at big races and compare it to Corally. Then compare their respective success rates. Another company springs to mind here - YOKOMO. When they had a big team in the U.S. they were winning everything. Now I don't think they have one BIG driver there. Pity. For some reason or other AE seem to be going the same way. Baker and Blackstock are both excellent drivers, but dare I say they are past their sell by date. That's being a bit harsh, but you know what I mean. Let's face it, the likes of Hara, Reinhard, Levanen - all kids relatively speaking - are the up and coming stars of our sport.
How would you fancy, say Corally's chances, if Hara or Reinhard were driving them - without meaning to be disrespectful to Chris Toso in any way.
Clearly some manufacturers know more about marketing than others. At the end of the day that can be a big asset.