TWR To Buy Prost ?

[EERO]

Recent suggestions on the Autosport site allude to the creation of a Renault Junior Team. As Walkinshaw and the spawn of Satan, Flavio Flave, have ties back to Benetton in the mid-nineties, this might be the most plausible rumour yet. Get the team on the Grid, pass an uncompettive season of DNQ's season to hold the spot in the Concorde and enter in 2003 as Nissan?



Hmmmmmmm........

[Valve Bounce]

I wonder whether there are grounds in the FIA regs to stop TW owning Arrows and being involved in racing a second team?
It was announced that he would be using last year's Asiatech engines, and I just wonder if he is just going to paint last years Arrows a different colour and try to put them on the track for quals to avoid the punitive no-show fines. Somehow, whichever way this turns out, this controversy will create a lot of ill feeling withing the F1 ranks.

[paulzinho]

They won't be able to repaint them as rules atate that each team must build their own chassis.

[Valve Bounce]

So, as I posted further up this thread, I just find it difficult to believe that TW could cobble up a Prost with an Asiatech engine, and expect Tomas Enge and Mazza to get the thing onto the grid this year. Also, I think that Paul Stoddart will do his best to put an injunction against TW running this team. Surely there must be FIA regs against that.

[paulzinho]

TW says his company is only providing logistics support...

[MichaelC]

OK then - I'm writing this as much to clear my own head as anything else:

Tom Walkinshaw as we all know owns Arrows, which he bought with his own money. He also happens to own TWR Engineering, and Gloucester Rugby Club, and several Volvo dealerships...
Arrows have retained TWR to run their cars in F1, and there's absolutely no reason whatsoever why ay other team shouldn't do the same thing, as I see it.
VW need to be in F1, whether they want to be or not. I was initially unclear why they'd go with Skoda rather than Audi or better still Bently or Bugatti, but parts of the jigsaw are coming together now.
Run the team as Skoda, a Czech company, and put a Czech guy in the car. There is only one Czech racing driver in the world, and as an additional bonus, he happens to come armed with a large cheque from Cocoa-Cola, which gives us a bit of budget to play with.
We still don't really have enough money though, even though VW will throw a bit of their own in, so we need another pay driver. Who's available? Why not Marzipan, who comes with his own large cheque from Pan-American Sports Network? Remember them, they had logos on the car last year too...
Now we've got enough money, but no engine. VW haven't got time to build or adapt one, so they'll buy a licence to use the engine that TWR built, just to get them round the track. They won't win, they probably won't get any points unless we see a repeat of today's race, but it doesn't matter.
The FIA is kindly paying for their travel courtesy of Jean Alesi's performance last year, so there should be enough money to put in a token effort and run the team for a year to avoid VW having to cough up 48 million to buy a fresh slot on the grid
That makes sense to me. Is it even half-way sensible in your opinions?

[EERO]

Michael, I think you are right on the money. Its what I've been trying to say, and you summed it up elegantly.

[steve nielsen]

I heard a rumour that Tom will let Arrows go broke and take the sponsors and engine to the "Prost 2" team(new owner is a friend of TW)

[Halfpint]

A Slovakian friend of mine has just said that Enge's manager was commentating on the GP coverage he saw. The guy said that that it wasn't Skoda, and that Enge was not definitely driving. Apparently they needed to name two drivers by Thursday, and picked Enge and Mazzacane.

[Don K]

Tom Walkinshaw said today on Dutch TV that the new team had contracted Mazzacane.
He proposed to ask further questions to the new owners.

[Mania]

Who in their right mind can put Mazzacane behind the wheel again? There are tons of other drivers around for goodness sake!

Even if the team is sold at the end of the season to VW or whatever - you still have a season of embarassment by putting Mazzacane behind the wheel. Even I can probably go quicker!

[Stephen Green]

Mania, you are missing the point. If Mazza comes with money who cares how well he does this year. It's merely an interim year before whoever it is goes the way they want to.

[The Accomplice]

This is TOTALLY about money. They probabaly don't care if two monkeys drive, they have Morris 1000 engines and the rest of the world think they are all arses.
The team will be worth a fortune.

[STREETROD]

The only thing I do not understand is were Mazza gets his money, since PSN went in bankrupty last summer.

I can not believe that the new PSN with there financial budget just give a go for Mazza again.

[Stephen Green]

Well he must be bringing something to the party or they wouldn't hire him?

[Super Tourer]

Hmmmm...well Tom's done a great job today to impress his new 'customer'.

Let's have a re-cap... couldn't get either car to fire on the grid...eventually got the cars into the race several laps down...broke two regulations...black flagged....disqualified.

Yep...def looks like a quality outfit that really know's what's its doing...I'd really like to have them as my technical support supplier.

Arrow's were pathetic today........I reckon he need's to get his own car's to run before tinkering with 'anybody' else's.......

[Mania]

Well, if they just want someone with money - why not go for Diniz. His daddys rich - he still has a valid license and he may be a monkey but at least he can drive a bit. Putting Mazzacane behind the wheel is just awful !

I understand what you`re saying with regard to this being about money - but speaking purely with my "FI Fan Cap" on - I think its just wrong to have a no hope team, with two no hope drivers in a no-hope car, running around at the back of the grid and interfering with other peoples races.

But I guess Money talks

[mickj]

gentleman
This is ALL ABOUT MONEY,BIG MONEY.twr run 3 teams in the aus v8 series. hrt and k mart and holden young lion teams. thats 3 francises. tw is trying to do the same on a world stage, if it does't work out. someone WILL paye him BIG money to get it.whether we like him or not,he is 1 shrewd person.
Arn't the major car company's planning a break away gp circus in the future???
after all does'nt bernie ecclston get US 1.5 million for every grand prix every year.

[racer69]

I haven't seen any confirmation that VW has anything to do with Prost. I reckon Uncle Tom will probably end up seeling Arrows to Red Bull so they can run their American team, and Tom will just move over to Prost.

And where did this thing about Prost going to use last years Asiatech's, as far as i know Arrows got them free, so at the end of the year Asiatech just took them back. Prost will probably just use the TWR Hart engine.

[Valve Bounce]

I think TW said he would be using lsat year's Asiatechs. Maybe he could buy the old Fondmetal lumps from Paul Stoddart.

[Mekola]

Originally posted by STREETROD
The only thing I do not understand is were Mazza gets his money, since PSN went in bankrupty last summer.

I can not believe that the new PSN with there financial budget just give a go for Mazza again.

That I say in the topic "Mazzacane insists". Also we Argentinians were taken by surprise when we knew about Gaston insistence to remain in F1.
Surely Gastón will have the backing he had before PSN sponsored him in his way to F1. It means: Quilmes (The Argentinian beer giant company) and newspapers "Diario Popular" and "El DÃ*a".