英伦广角 Issue 136 本田宣布退出F1

Well, we,we told the staff at the Honda we are pulling out of Formula One last night. Obviously that was a huge shock to them. But this morning that’s given way to a huge silly determination to succeed. The staff will be paid for at least the next three months. We have the money to progress the car to Melbourne. And the staff that I have just been speaking to are determined¹ we are all gonna get there. And, so we’ve had a couple of expressions of interest already in the team, and hopefully, this could be a whole new future for us.

 

We spoke² to your team principal Rose Brown earlier this morning, and he said this is a top-level F1 business with some extremely talented people, very good drivers and marvelous facilities. It’s just a matter of finding the right person. Who out there has 300 million pounds a year to invest in putting two cars on the grid³?

 

Oh, firstly, I should emphasize that this is a completely different situation from other Formula One teams, sort of gone bust⁴ in the past. This is a top line facility, possibly the best team in Formula One in terms of facilities, the people are outstanding and even Ross has technical hands that he is the best in the world. So, the car, those guys of design next year is a hugely attractive to outside buyers. Formula One is still a great spectacle. It’s up there 600 million fans a year watch Formula One. It’s up there with the Olympics. If you have a global product that you want to advertise, it’s still the best, and we gotta remember that, as I said ,we’ve had 2 or 3 global players contact us already, who are interested in a top-level team and it's gonna be tough, but I think there’s a good reason for hope for the future.

 

Just looking at the F1market place right now, will others be looking into what’s happened here at Honda and worrying about themselves now when, their backers may be pulling out too?

 

Clearly, that’s,that’s a big worry. And you know, many of the Formula One teams are owned by car manufacturers. As everyone knows, here in the UK, 40 percent reduction in car buying in the last month. That has huge impacts on, not just Honda, but the other car companies then and everyone’s gotta cut their cost to face. I said with all the other team owners yesterday, and we reduced the budgets for next year, potentially by, about 50 million Euros by cutting back testing, thinking about that, cutting back developments. So we are trying to respond very quickly to the economic situation. And hopefully all the Formula One teams are gonna have a secure future. We’ve got to find a way of seeing ourselves through the next couple of years, which, undoubtedly⁵, for everyone, all are gonna be a bit tough.

 

1 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

4 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

5 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。