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This weekend will see the venerable country roads of Le Mans, France once again closed to public traffic in order to host the annual running of the 24 Heurs du Mans which will feature several ex-Formula 1 pilots, along with a few current F1 drivers, as well as many respected Sports Car drivers…
Just to name a few, Olivier Panis will make up part of a three car contingent of Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd’s, partnering cast-off Champ Car driver Simon Pagenaud and although the rules have been tweaked to encourage the continuance of these normally aspirated gasoline powered racecars, they’re still at a disadvantage against the turbo diesels. This years battle for overall victory will be centered upon the two mighty Turbo Diesel LMP1 behemoths, Audi vs. Peugeot, while the LMP2 Prototype category will be a Porsche RS Spyder shootout most likely.
The Peugeot three car 908 HDi FAP armada looks very formidable this year with its stellar cast of Formula 1 talent, with the likes of ex-world Champion Jacques Villeneuve along with Christian Klien, Pedro Lamy, Franck Montagny, Alexander Wurz and Ricardo Zonta.
The three car squad of Audi R10TDIs will be anchored by ex-F1 men Alan McNish and Emanuele Piro, plus the Lord of Le Mans, seven time winner Tom Kristensen.
In the LMP2 category, Jos Versappen will co-pilot a Porsche RS Spyder for Van Merksteijn Motorsport alongside A1 GP standout Jeroen Bleekemolen.
In the GT1 ranks look for some interesting battles as the main competition will be the Aston Martins squaring off against the Corvettes, although I’d find it wonderful if either the Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT or Saleen S7R could upset the apple cart.
The Works Aston Martins will be sporting Gulf Oil colours in deference to this being the 40th Anniversary of their first overall victory at the Circuit de la Sarthe, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger in the #007 James Bond DBR9, while David Brabham will co-drive the #009. Christian Fittipaldi will drive a privateer Aston, while Jan Magnusson. Oliver Beretta and Max Papis will compete in the powerful GM Factory Corvette C6Rs.
The GT2 category looks set to once again be a fiercely contested scrum between the Porsche 997 GT3 RSR’s and Ferrari F430s, with Mika Salo and Gianmaria Bruni behind the wheel of one of Risi Competizione’s F430’s, while interestingly there are two Spyker C8’s entered…
Tomaso’s Blog
June 12th, 2008
By now you’ve probably heard the news that India’s Tata Motors Ltd has finalized its deal to acquire the luxury British car brands of Jaguar and Land Rover from the beleaguered ford Motor Company for $2.3 billion.
Tata Motors Ltd is India’s largest automotive producer and currently enjoys a market share of 65% of all vehicles sold in India. The cash rich Automobile manufacturer, with current reserves of $29 billion, secured a $3 billion bridge loan from Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase in order to acquire the remaining British marques of Ford’s Premiere group, which once housed the Jaguar Formula 1 team and PI Research group run previously by Bobby Rahal and Niki Lauda.
But just who is Tata Motors? The company is just one of the Tata Group’s multiple holdings as the family controlled business also owns the Corus Group, a Dutch steel giant, currently the sixth largest in the world, the Tetley Tea company as well as a portfolio of American luxury hotels including the Pierre in New York city.
Originally known as the TELCO (TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company), they first began producing locomotives in 1945. Tata Motors then made their very first foray into commercial vehicle production in 1954 in a joint venture with Daimler Benz, with production of a heavily copied truck model, with this arrangement lasting through 1969. Since India’s infrastructure wasn’t set up to accommodate heavy tonnage vehicles at this time, Tata set it’s sights on the Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) market segment instead, producing it’s very first in-house designed LCV vehicle in 1986, the Tata 407.
Tata then set about expansion at a moderate rate by participating in joint ventures and in 1993 formed an alliance with Cummins Engines for the use of high horsepower modern diesel engines. A further joint venture was launched with Tata Holset
UK in order to produce turbochargers for its Cummins engines.
In 2000, the company introduced Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) busses as well as launching it’s 1109 Medium Heavy Commercial Vehicle (MHCV) truck, designed to fill the gap in its vehicle line-up with this intermediate tonnage truck, along with other new vehicles.
After enjoying a long dominance of the commercial vehicle market in its home country, Tata launched its first passenger vehicle, the India. Although this design received less than positive press remarks, nevertheless it’s good fuel mileage, peppy engine and mass marketing made it an eventual sales success, with large quantities being exported to South Africa along with a Rover badged version being sold in the UK. This was the City Rover, a joint venture with MG Rover which lasted only briefly as the company went bankrupt before being sold to China.
With the huge success of the various India models, Tata set its sights towards Global expansion and in 2004 Tata purchased the Daewoo commercial vehicles company of South Korea. The acquisition of Daewoo Trucks allows the company to lessen its dependency upon the domestic market sales with production of such vehicles as the Tata Novice, a well selling Heavy tonnage vehicle (TDCV) in South Korea.
Continuing it’s International expansion, Tata next set it’s sights upon the Bus market, purchasing a 21% stake in Hispano Carrocera SA in 2005, selling it’s products in the Spanish domestic market, along with establishing a 51/49% joint venture with Marcopolo S.A, a Brazilian company that is a Global leader in bus body production.
Last year Tata produced approximately 600,000 vehicles and Ratan Tata, the 70yr old Chairman of the Tata Group claims the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover is seen as a way to diversify itself against the upcoming stiff competition from ambitious Chinese auto makers.
Interestingly Daimler Benz currently holds a 7% stake in Tata Motors, while Tata also has a partnership arrangement with the recently shed Chrysler Motor Company, whose Global Motorcars division currently sells Electric versions of Tata’s popular Ace vehicle. Tata Motors will also begin production of the controversial Nano later this year, being the world’s lowest priced vehicle ever produced with a $2,500.00 retail price tag. Tata also has an interesting compressed air hybrid vehicle called the One Cat it’s currently working on.
Meanwhile the Indian Auto giant has also been aggressively unveiling multiple concept vehicles for joint partnership development in multiple Nations and is set to begin mass production in Thailand and Argentina, along with forming an alliance with FIAT to gain access to its diesel technology. With FIAT’s assistance, Tata is aiming to produce its Global pick-up for sales in Europe along with its debut in the United States slated for 2009.
Prior to Ford selling off Jaguar and Land Rover this March, Tata was listed as the World’s twentieth largest vehicle manufacturer, while Ford’s sale of it’s luxury British marcques also includes the Daimler and Rover nameplates, much to the chagrin of Chinese manufacturers.
Yet this sale is somewhat curious, as this now leaves Ford only with the Volvo nameplate in its stable of foreign Automobile manufacturers. Ironically Volvo’s truck unit currently competes against Tata for sales in India, with Volvo being the “Mercedes Benz” of trucks currently occupying the country’s roads as these two rival companies competes for vehicle purchases in the Tractor Trailer segment primarily as India’s road infrastructure has been vastly improved by their National Highway Act.
With Vijay Malia’s recent acquisition of Spyker F1 and the impending Indian Grand Prix slated for 2010, could Tata be enticed to buy the rival Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1 team and begin its own racing program?
While the Ferrari customer engines would give some prestige, why couldn’t Tata revive the stillborn Cosworth V-8 engine program with a little badge engineering to give Tata the global marketing prestige it so desires. Could we once again see the revival of Jaguar in F1?
Of course Tata would need to be careful to avoid the overambitious goals of Spyker Automobiles failed foray into Formula 1, which ultimately led to the team’s being sold to India tycoon Vijay Malia. Such an audacious move could see Malia forced into playing second fiddle inIndia’s burgeoning Automobile market…
Tomaso’s Blog
April 10th, 2008
Although many of you already know that the Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team has recently been sold to the consortium consisting of Strong Wind (the Mol Family) and Indian business tycoon Vijay Mallya for a reported $88-130 million, interim Spyker Cars NV CEO Hans Hugenholtz claims the company regrets needing to sell the improving Formula 1 team, but has done so in order to stabilize its core business of producing cars.
With the team once again changing hands and Vijay Mallya keen to insert a strong Indian flavour into his recent acquisition, there is now some idle speculation over exactly what colour the new team should be? Michael Maul, current CEO of Spyker F1, will probably wish to see the current predominant hues of Dutch orange remain as the Maul family is keen to capitalize upon the strong
Dutch support it currently enjoys.
With the new team yet to be renamed, there are several paths available to it, as it could choose a completely new paint scheme if so desired. Currently the major colours green and yellow are not in use, although there’s a plethora of red, white and blue cars occupying the grid. Thus the long ago original Irish green of Jordan Grand Prix’s 7UP days or eye catching Benson & Hedges yellow would be two excellent choices as both colours would stand out from the rest of the pack.
The national flag of India features orange, white and green which are also loosely tied to the colours of Ireland’s national flag. Interestingly the Irish orange is actually Dutch orange spanning back to William of Orange’s involvement in the pursuit of Irish liberty (editor - William was responsible for wrecking Irish liberty 
). Thus the orange shade would tie both entities together nicely.
What the new owners will rename the team as is still a mystery with speculation suggests that Mallya’s Kingfisher brand will not be used due to potential commercial clashes. A Team India moniker may not be logical if Mallya has ambitions to create a world wide brand image outside of the sport.
Personally I enjoy the current colour scheme and hope that the predominant orange hues will continue on next year…
Tomaso’s Blog
October 8th, 2007
How the sands of time slip through the hour glass as its come to my attention that the most successful customer Formula 1 engine has just celebrated its fortieth birthday.
“Power for the People” seems an appropriate headline since that’s exactly what the magnificent Ford Cosworth DFV lump turned out to be as the ubiquitous Double Four Valves V-8 power plant became the mainstay of Privateers competing in Formula 1.
Interestingly the Ford Motor Co. ponied up $200,000 for the Northampton engine manufacturer to design and produce this legendary power plant for exclusive use by Lotus in 1967 for the onset of the three litre era.
Although Mike Cosin claims that Colin Chapman wanted exclusivity for eternity, fortunately Cosin’s partner the late Keith Duckworth told Chapman to go jump in a lake as the three litre engine would become the mainstay of Formula 1 for two decades.
The DFV garnered 155 Grand Prix victories en route to becoming the second most successful engine in history. (Eclipsed only by Ferrari) The maiden win came on June 4, 1967 at Zanvoort (Holland) with the aging lumps final victory at Detroit in 1983 at the hands of Michele Alboreto aboard a Tyrrell.
A total of 47 different Constructors utilized the Cossie during its lifespan, winning twelve World Championships with Lotus, Matra, Tyrrell, McLaren, Williams and Brabham.
After its initial span of success from 1967-74, Ferrari’s Flat 12 cylinder boxer engine proved to be the DFV’s nemises with Niki Lauda at the helm. It was once again Colin Chapman who resurrected the Cosworth power plants ascension to power with the development of the groundbreaking Lotus 78.
As the ground effects era was ideally suited for the packaging of the compact 90 degree V-8, the Flat 12 proved unsuited for ground effect tunnels. Thus the DFV returned to glory for another half decade prior to the start of the Turbo era.
The DFV would soldier on a further decade as the power plant for F3000 from 1988-95, making one last gasp for the initial 3.5 liter normally aspirated era in 1989 before fathering Ford’s resurgence in Formula 1 with the three litre HB series. These lumps ultimately powered Michael Schumacher to his very first World Championship in 1994.
Sadly, Cosworth’s 39 year run in F1 came to an abrupt close with the abandonment of the 2.4 litre V-8, which was the first engine to rev over 20,000 RPM’s. When Williams chose to switch to Toyota power at the end of 2006 which left Cosworth without any customers for the season.
Although I never saw the original three litre era in combat, they’re definitely wonderful to witness as vintage F1 grids in today’s Historic racing as the engines snarl a symphonic rhapsody of low mechanical revolutions.
Recall that these engines required manual shifting along with employing overhead valve trains. It seems quaint to notice the various chassis antiquated dashboards with a large tilted RPM gauge rotated so when the tach needle hits high noon, as the engine is at its 9,000 RPM redline!
Tomaso’s Blog
September 22nd, 2007
While the Formula 1 circus is currently on a three week sabbatical, there are many other racing series in the midst of competition. Champ Car has five races remaining but the Champ Car Atlantics has finished its season upon contesting the series finale at Road
America.
Friday qualifying saw John Edwards capture his very first provisional pole position with a lap around the hallowed 4.084 mile circuit in 1:59.247, thus making the 16 year old American the youngest ever provisional pole winner in series history.
Unfortunately on Saturday the competition upped its performance as Edwards slid down the time sheets to 13th overall. Unable to hold onto pole position, Edwards still lined up second by virtue of his first days qualifying performance.
On race day, overall pole sitter Frenchman Franck Perera led flag to flag for a dominating performance on his way to his season’s third victory. He was followed across the line by 2007 Atlantics Champion Brazilian Raphael Matos, a scant 0.7 seconds behind with Carl Skerlong taking the final podium spot.
Having missed the delayed race broadcast, I’m uncertain to how Edwards slid backwards during the event. Nevertheless the two Forsythe Red Bull Rookie teammates Keith Wickens and Edwards crossed the finish line in lock step with Wickens seventh and Edwards eighth respectively.
The 18 year old Toronto rookie Wickens finishes the season third overall with one pole position, a rain soaked victory at
Portland and four podium positions enroute to second place in the Rookie of the Year standings.
Edwards finishes ninth overall as the series youngest ever driver to compete. His highlights included a third place podium finish at
Toronto along with the youngest ever driver to capture a provisional pole. As the Little Rock, Arkansas driver Finishes fifth in the rookie standings look for Edwards to continue his march forward in the Atlantics series next season…
Tomaso’s Blog
September 3rd, 2007
Recently I went on a four day holiday to Portland, Oregon where I watched almost all of the Champ Car race weekend activities. There were four support series: Champ Car Atlantics, Star Mazda, Mazda MX5 and Formula D Drifting.
Although I caught every session of Champ Car along with the majority of the Atlantics, I elected to skip some of the lower series, especially the Formula D Drifting as well as the Mazda MX5 series.
The weather was quite typical of the Pacific Northwest as we had the proverbial smorgasbord from sun to clouds, mild showers to heavy rainfall. Just about everything minus snow. So after five hours of torrential rain, I like the few remaining drowned rats made a beeline for dry shelter immediately following the finish of the Champ Car qualifying session Saturday.
So why all of the banter about Champ Car? Well as many of you may already know a certain young gun by the name of John Edwards is currently competing in the Champ Car Atlantics series for the Red Bull/Forsythe Team. This is the same John Edwards who just recently acquired his driver’s license. As the track announcer noted that Edwards is the youngest participant on the Atlantics grid at the age of 16.
Portland was a double race event, with qualifying being held the day previous to each race. I am unsure to why Edwards started from Row 9 (Race 1: P18) on Saturday but I can duly surmise that the horrific wet conditions on Saturday played a large factor in Edwards only managing to move one row forward to Row 7 for Sunday’s event. (Race 2: P17)
For Saturday’s race the 27 Atlantic competitors attempted to rocket away from the standing start in the pouring rain, yet they looked more like a bunch of Unlimited Hydroplanes as they slithered their way down the front straight spraying huge rooster tails behind them. The pit lane reporter commented that the spray appeared to be shooting 15-20 feet into the sky! Five competitors went off track racing through the first series of curves including the series point’s leader Raphael Matos who fell back to 11
I didn’t see who Edwards hit, but I heard the Announcers claim that two Forsythe crewman manhandled the front of the #7 car sans jack stands in order to replace the front nose assembly.
Meanwhile Edwards’s rookie teammate Robert Wickens from Toronto, who’d started up front made an excellent late race pass on pole winner James Hinchcliffe into the Festival curves. Hinchcliffe had led from the start of the race, being the only driver with a clean line ahead of him, yet 18 year old Wickens ran him down for his maiden Atlantics victory, with Hinchcliffe finishing 2nd.
Sunday’s race was held in much more favorable conditions. With just a brief sprinkling during the race, with Hinchcliffe once again on pole. Yet this time he was chased hard by another Canadian rookie driver, Kevin Lacroix, who hounded Hinchcliffe before passing him after one of the multiple yellow flag restarts. And the 18 year old rookie was determined to keep Hinchcliffe at bay on every subsequent restart enroute to his maiden Atlantics victory in only his second start! Hinchcliffe once again finished runner-up.
Once again Edwards had another long day as the PA loudspeakers crackled.
“The #7 has just pulled off track in turn 6.”
“And it looks like Edwards is missing a wheel?”
As his right rear tire went bouncing down the track by itself.
So with the two races being won by 18 year old Canadian rookies, I was left wondering if this was a sign that perhaps 18 year old American rookie Graham Rahal would score his debut Champ Car victory. Alas it was not to be as Rahal was mired all day mid-pack on a track that Rahal described as having absolutely no place to pass.
Sebastian Bourdais won his third consecutive race with Justin Wilson second and Robert Doornbos third. With Bourdais Claiming his 26th victory, Newman/Haas/Lanagin Racing scored their 100th Champ Car victory, a feat previously only accomplished by Roger Penske…
Tomaso’s Blog
June 20th, 2007
Time flies by as we quickly approach the Grand celebration of Ferrari’s 60th year anniversary of road car production. This claim may be debated, since Enzo Ferrari actually produced two roadsters in 1940. These chassis were known as Auto Avio Costruzioni. This was due to Ferrari being banned from using the Scuderia Ferrari name for a minimum of four years upon leaving his previous employer Alfa Romeo.
Interestingly these chassis known as the Model 815 were almost completely produced from FIAT components including the straight 8 cylinder power plant.
With World War II ending, Ferrari was now clear of all Alfa Romeo constraints and decided to build the first true Ferrari. Enzo hired ex-Alfetti colleagues to design the first Ferrari, beginning work in 1945. With the Ferrari 125 S making its racing debut on May 11, 1947. Hence the beginning of the Ferrari nameplate. And as they say, the rest is history!
Sixty years later, celebrations for the Scuderia are numerous, including a world rally tour, Shell Oil commercials and an upscale auction held at the factory.
The world tour began in late January in Abu Dhabi and will cover the globe before ending in Maranello this June. Abu Dhabi was chosen as the rally kickoff in deference to it being the site of the first Ferrari theme park with the tour visiting 50 countries.
On May 20, RM Auctions in conjunction with Sotheby’s held the most magnificent Ferrari auction at the factory in Maranello. The piece de la resistance was the 1962 winning 24 Heurs du Mans Ferrari 330 TRI/LM driven by Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien.
With the Testa Rossa spyder fetching a truly amazing price of $6,875,000 Euros. ($9.26 million US approx.) The bid was coolly conducted by an anonymous telephone bidder who agreed to pay the staggering sum of money which included a 10% commission fee. The auction reportedly sold an estimated $50 million of automobiles.
There were also several lots of Ferrari memorabilia up for grabs. Not surprisingly Michael Schumacher items were quite popular, with his 1997 310B Formula 1 chassis being the most expensive item on the block. Yet everything was for sale. Even a pair of Schuey’s race worn underwear went for $745.00.
Tomaso’s Blog
June 14th, 2007
With the Indianapolis Motor Speedway having severely lost the luster it once held and the Tifosi being pre-occupied watching the Monaco Grand Prix, I suspect few will recall that the hallowed race track was actually once previously part of the Formula 1 calendar.
Arguably one could claim that The Brickyard’s zenith of popularity spanned the four decades immediately after World War II. (1950-1990) - although there was a brief downturn in the early 1970’s when something called the Arab Oil Embargo occurred. This was a few decades prior to the stupendous decision of the feuding Open Wheel Racing series to split in 1996.
Yet Indy was all the rage in the early 1960’s when the British invaded, as Colin Chapman won the Indy 500 with Jimmy Clark in 1965 behind the wheel of his Lotus Ford. The very first rear engine chassis to win the event.
Graham Hill won the following year driving a Lola powered Ford. As this epic time period in the Speedway’s history saw Formula 1 World Champions Clark, Hill and Jackie Stewart going head to head with the likes of Dan Gurney, Lloyd Ruby, Parnelli Jones and a host of others.
And while I’m sure that the debate will rage on between who was the best Open Wheel racer stateside, most would give the nod to Mario Andretti. Statistically however AJ Foyt has the most career wins, while the Unser family has the most
Indianapolis 500 victories (9), Al Unser Sr. being a four time winner, brother Bobby a three time winner and son Al Jr. having tasted the milk in victory circle twice.
Yet Mario Andretti most likely has the best overall credentials as a Formula 1 World Champion, an Indianapolis 500 winner, Daytona 500 champion along with multiple Sports Car victories.
With Indy’s reputation now heavily tarnished, the Speedway continuously looks for any positives to accentuate. Therefore the media has made light of the fact that this years Indy 500 marks AJ Foyt’s 50th year at Indianapolis.
What had previously slipped past my attention in all of the media hoop lah over three females competing for the very first time in Open Wheel history was the fact that it was also 30 years ago that AJ Foyt became the very first driver to win Indy four times. Ironically 1977 was also the year of the very first female driver to compete at the Brickyard - none other than Janet Guthrie.
Foyt competed in a record 35 consecutive Indy 500’s, beginning in 1958 and making an impromptu decision to retire just moments after the track had gone yellow during the start of his qualification attempt in 1993. Ironically the yellow flag had been caused by his other entry, none other than “Hired Gun” Robby Gordon. Therefore Foyt didn’t qualify for a 36th event in 1993.
Jackie Stewart once claimed that Foyt truly epitomizes the United States Open Wheel driver, while Foyt himself says that he was never that interested in racing across the pond. And although Foyt has won Indy five times overall. (Four times as a driver and once as a team owner.) Michael Schumacher became the very first driver to win at Indianapolis five times upon winning the 2006 USGP.
Tomaso’s Blog
May 22nd, 2007
Prior to this weekend’s event, testing was held at the Circuit de Catalunya where Ferrari topped the time sheets for the majority of testing - although Red bull’s David Coulthard managed to pull a “flyer” out of the bag on the final day.
While almost all of the Formula 1 teams have been working flat out on Aerodynamic updates over the four week holiday. McLaren and Honda showed up with radical nose treatments to their respective chassis.
Upon McLaren’s return from a brief “Holiday” on the isle of Menorca, McLaren sent test driver Pedro de la Rosa to Barcelona to evaluate an MP4/22 chassis with a “biplane” front wing. The extra wing element is mounted to the top of each front wing endplate and spans across the nose of the chassis.
These developments are part of what has become critical for the entire F1 grid as a greater demand is put upon aerodynamics. Each Constructor spends countless hours in the wind tunnel searching for the slightest “aero” improvement, which are crucial towards increasing their team’s lap times. Yet then again the aero-gains must be balanced with mechanical grip in order to achieve maximum output on track as evidenced by Honda and Toyota’s mid-pack performance.
It will be interesting to see if the FIA lets the Biplane noses become “de-rigueur” in Formula 1. McLaren will have the new front wing design on hand at Barcelona as an added option for it’s drivers, although one must admit that it doesn’t hurt having two of the hottest drivers on the grid under contract either…
Tomaso’s Blog
May 14th, 2007
So we’re finally about to get back to seeing a Grand Prix on the “Tele,” after an agonizing four week break. And with the first three rounds having transpired, I’m sure everybody know’s whom Spyker F1 is? Perhaps a deeper look at those Orange cars languishing at the tail end of the Formula 1 grid is worth taking..
I suspect that you already know that it’s the Spyker F1 team which is owned by Spyker Cars. And its also likely that you already know that Spyker Cars is a small Dutch specialty automaker, which like all aspiring auto manufacturers has big plans for its immediate future.
Spyker’s roots were founded when brothers Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker began producing horse carriages in 1880, before building their first automobiles in 1898 with the company having been involved in motor racing ever since. The brothers notched their first major success in the 1907 Paris to Peking race.
Unfortunately also in 1907 Hendrik-Jan drowned in a boating accident with the company being acquired by the Dutch aircraft factory NV in 1914. Afterwards the car portion of the company floundered about during the early 1920’s before its final bankruptcy faltering in 1929. The Spyker automobile nameplate laid dormant for 70 years prior to its revival in 1999 by Victor Muller and Maarten de Bruijn.
Ever needed to boost your corporate bottom line? This is exactly what Spyker Cars intentions were upon purchasing the beleaguered Midland F1 Racing team. After paying $107 million in late 2006 to acquire MF1 Racing stock price immediately rose from $12.00 to $25.00 per share.
Interestingly Spyker Cars is owned by a multi-national consortium, which includes Dutch and Arab backers. These Middle East entities include a prominent member of the Bahrain Royal Family as well as the Abu Dhabi government. This same Abu Dubai concern also owns a 5% share of Ferrari (hence the Ferrari customer engine connection)
And why all of the concern over the little Dutch team? Perhaps you’ll recall that this teams origins can be traced back to original founder Eddie Jordan, whose eye for driving talent included someone by the name of Michael Schumacher.
After reaching its optimum racing performance in 1999, where Heinz Harald Frentzen flirted with the World Championship. The plucky Irishman sold his faltering team to Alex Shnaider in 2004. Renamed as MF1 Racing, and with no major investment made into the team, Shnaider effectively ran it into the ground before Spyker came along to purchase the neglected outfit.
Today it’s arguably the only true Privateer team left on the grid, having just re-branded itself for the “umpteenth” time. As its now known as the Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 team.
It will be interesting to see if Spyker can beat the likes of Scuderia Toro Rosso and Super Aguri whom are effectively satellite operations of Red bull and Honda…
Tomaso’s Blog
May 7th, 2007
I know its just shear coincidence, but the other night as I sat watching Derrick Walker’s mug on television, he was asked if it was correct that he’d once been a bus mechanic before going to work for Bernie Ecclestone?
Walker replied that yes, he’d been hired by Ron Tauranac prior to Brabham being sold to Messer Ecclestone. So he’d been able to see what Formula 1 had been like before Ecclestone built it up to what it is today.
Walker commented that some would say that Bernie is a benevolent Dictator while others would say he’s not so benevolent, yet he’s made the sport into a multi-billion dollar enterprise by taking a firm hold of F1. And Walker considers Ecclestone along with Roger Penske to be two of the shrewdest men in Motorsports.
So with that said, it’s not surprising to read that Ecclestone has once again been named as one of Britain’s most wealthiest, along with topping the list of UK Motorsports wealth holders.
While Bernie topped the motorsports list with a sum of 2.25 billion dollars and increased his net worth, the story claims that Ecclestone has dropped seven places from the 2006 list. Perhaps this is why Bernie is so eager to create new Formula 1 circuits.
I also found it surprising to read that Eddie “Irv the Swerve” Irvine was reported to have a higher net income of $150 million, far succeeding Sir Frank Williams “ho-hum” net worth of $95 million. Irvine’s fortunes seem to be derived from investing in real estate and the Jenkins shipping company.
Tomas is from Seattle and has followed Champ Cars and F1 for over two decades. He writes the No Fenders Blog
May 2nd, 2007
