so do u guys think a ford first team will be world champs again
Personally, I don’t think that the sponsor has much to do with how well a team performs, unless if they directly contribute physical help (mentors, planning, etc)
Jacob
our sponsors do i thought they did that 4 everybody
Not in the least. Some sponsors are purely monetary. They pay your registration fee, and that’s it. Some contribute more, like mentors or shop space. But being a sponsor in itself carries no commitment to provide robot support
but just about every ford team i know has a ford mentor
We’re a Ford (and GM, and DaimlerChrysler) team and have no professional mentors, period. Just college students. (ETA) Not that that’s a bad thing, we get by just fine. Of course, if we had the opportunity for professional mentors, we would gladly take them!! 
i don’t think this really is relevant to the question he asked; i expect that he’s refering to ‘Ford FIRST’ as any of the teams sponsored by Ford, much like one may refer to the variety of Delphi teams, or Bristol-Meyer teams.
To answer the original question, i wouldn’t be suprised to see a Ford team come out on top (especially with the likes of 1114 and 67…), but a team that has really stuck out in my mind is team 469. if they can play their game, and pick an effective alliance for finals, i think they could win it all.
I think you are mixing up Ford and GM because the teams you mentioned are GM teams
im thinkin if they play there cards right 217 can do it again with our help of course
With the way that this competition has been going, I think that anyone, including a Ford First team, could win. All I can say is that time will tell!
I don’t think they can be the world champs. No single team is the world champs, it’s an alliance effort. It is possible they can very well be on that winning alliance but there are sooo many good teams this year, it’s going to be much harder.
did i say ‘ford teams’? i meant ‘domestic auto maker teams’ 
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Delphi makes parts that are in Ford vehicles - does that count? 
The dark side of me wants to ask if that had anything to do with your, um, reliability issues earlier in the season??? 
And before you say anything, Travis, I do realize they used to be a part of my little company…
Hi all
I just want to point out in reference to the above; I was one of these “professional mentors” for 8 years and I have never felt that Delphi was “providing me” to the team. In fact my mentoring or not mentoring the team has had very little to do with the Delphi monetary suport.
Matt B.
From what I know of Ford and GM teams, I would imagine that they would have an advantage over others. To the best of my knowledge, both have a very strong stance that their teams will have their engineers. On HOT, we had over 10 GM engineers. Obviously, having that kind of engineering knowledge contributing to a team will give them competitive advantage.
And that’s why FIRST, in my mind, is so much better than other science programs. When highschoolers get a chance to work with professional engineers, who knows what could happen!?
Not to nitpick (All right, ONLY to nitpick), but 217 isn’t as much a “Ford FIRST” team as a collaborative team. Of the main mentors on the team, there is 1 Ford (Retired) Engineer, 1 Visteon (Retired) Engineer, 3 FANUC Robotics Engineers, 1 college student, 1 Ambulance Medic, and 3 UCS teachers. This is why the name is “Ford/FANUC/UCS The ThunderChickens”
Having said that, 60, 247 and 217 are all strong contenders this year. 1718 (Armada Acadamy) should also do very well.
There are MANY companies, aside from Ford and GM, that offer great mentor support to a number of teams. Off the top of my head: P&G, Delphi, DaimlerChrysler, GE, etc… Our team has a gaggle of P&G engineers, a GE guy, a GM guy and a number of other mentors. Any team with multiple experienced mentors will have a leg up on teams without that knowledge base, the trick - in my opinion - is keeping the mentors over time to ensure continuity year to year.
Thanks, but unfortunately, 1718 will not be there. Hopefully next year.