Succeeding in motorsport is a matter of perspective, but even the lowest possible targets for succeeding in an elite discipline require a level of engineering excellence bordering on perfection.
Every component from the gearbox, the aerodynamic winglets and even the individual washers and ball bearings are engineered to a precise level to save weight and give more options to engineers and drivers alike.
Ultimately, this can also be costly, and many motorsport teams ultimately fall apart simply because of money issues or an inability to find the right talent, but in other cases, the reasons are far less precedented.
Sudden Rule Changes
In 2009, Formula One nearly fell apart entirely, with a huge conflict between the sport’s governing body and the teams threatening to lead to an IndyCar-style division.
The biggest sticking point was a cost cap system that would have limited how much teams could spend on their cars, and during this time, new teams were being courted to fill the spaces in the grid left by the exits of Honda and Toyota.
This led to three new teams, HRT, Virgin/Marussia/Manor and Lotus/Lotus Racing/Caterham, lining up on the grid.
However, in a compromise, the big cost cap was removed, which meant that all three teams were doomed to languish on the back of the grid, and none of them survived the 2010s.
Unreasonable Sponsor Demands
Motorsport is expensive, and typically the bill is footed by sponsors. If they leave or pull their funding, it can lead to somewhat lean years, and because of this, they have the power to make requests from the team in terms of drivers, naming rights and colour schemes.
However, Mastercard, the sponsor of the Lola F1 team, went one step further and demanded the brand new team race the same year they announced they would be taking part, which meant that the team had four months to make their new car rather than over a year.
This meant that the team were laughably uncompetitive, failed to qualify in the one race they started and went into receivership mere weeks later.