TWR buys Prost

[vat_man]

From www.grandprix.com...
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THE Tom Walkinshaw Racing organization has apparently agreed a deal to buy elements of the defunct Prost Grand Prix. According to well-connected sources in Paris, the Tribunal de Commerce in Versailles has agreed to sell to the TWR company the Prost F1 entry (worth something like $12m), the 2001 cars and the intellectual property rights to the 2002 car for a sum reported to be only a couple of million dollars.

Extraordinarily, the talented Mr. Walkinshaw has managed to convince the French legal people that TWR should not be liable for any of the debts of Prost, nor responsible for what happens to any of the staff. Prost creditors are going to get almost nothing and this may cause some upset as the court turned down several offers which were worth tens of millions of dollars before placing the company in liquidation. This will not affect Tom Walkinshaw, of course, as any criticism will go to the court.

While the court may argue that circumstances have changed and that it raised as much money as it could raise (which is its job), the staff and the creditors have got almost nothing.

TWR is not expected to take on more than a handful of Prost people, leaving in the region of 180 Prost employees out of work. The intention appears to be to set up the new team in England.
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Does this mean we're finally going to see the TWR name in F1 (rather than Arrows).

Does this mean Uncle Tom is going to walk away from Arrows and Deutsche Bank? Haven't they got some huge debts?

Are we simply going to see the Arrows operation move from Arrows to Prost/TWR? I wonder who owns all the gears - heck, Frentzen's probably got a contract with Prost and Arrows!

This is all a bit odd - and I wonder what Pollock is up to - wasn't there some talk of someone buying Arrows and making it an 'American' team.

This is all getting very curious...

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Indeed. It appears to be an odd move for the principal of an apparently cash-strapped team. OK, so Prost have got lots of stuff, but so have Arrows.

It may come down to an issue of TV rights. Does Prost still have claim to any?

Deiter Maesitch (sp?) of Red Bull wanted to set up an American team - it could be to do with that.

This is sufficiently illogical that I'm beginning to doubt its truthfulness (no offence vat_man).

 

[f1king]

Well an american team would be nice, may be they will get an american driver if it happens.

 

[vat_man]

Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
Indeed. It appears to be an odd move for the principal of an apparently cash-strapped team. OK, so Prost have got lots of stuff, but so have Arrows.

It may come down to an issue of TV rights. Does Prost still have claim to any?

Deiter Maesitch (sp?) of Red Bull wanted to set up an American team - it could be to do with that.

This is sufficiently illogical that I'm beginning to doubt its truthfulness (no offence vat_man).

Well, it is apparently true - it was reported as rumour but grandprix.com were reporting it as truth this morning.

Prost is still an entrant - they paid their 2002 entry fees. The item ran indicated TWR (as distinct from Arrows) bought the entry, equipment, the 2001 cars (which are legal) the 2002 chassis that apparently was built, and the intellectual rights to the 2002 car.

The suggestion was that TWR could use its old stock of Arrows engines from the 2000 season, put them in the back of the 2001 Prost cars, find some pay drivers, front up at Malaysia, and only have to pay a fairly small fine for not fronting at Melbourne. The team probably wouldn't be competitive (go Minardi!) but at least they'd be there.

 

[vat_man]

From www.grandprix.com

THE news that Tom Walkinshaw Racing has bought the assets of Prost Grand Prix means that the Minardi team will not get around $12m of TV money which goes to the top 10 F1 teams. If Prost survives Minardi gets nothing.

Paul Stoddart, the boss of Minardi, was not impressed when he heard about the TWR deal, telling the Australian Associated Press that it was "an absolute travesty of justice". The Australian was outspoken about the deal.

"I think when scrutineering commenced here yesterday at 10 am, then under the Concorde Agreement, Prost Grand Prix team's right to exist ceased," said Stoddart, "because they were then a team failing to turn up to an event whilst insolvent. That is a statement of fact - not disputable in law.

"To me liquidation is and always has been the final chapter in a company's history, therefore it can't come back from the dead unless all the creditors are paid and unless all the employees are paid. This seems to me that they've all been ****ed over...and why am I not surprised - look at who's name's attached to it," he said.

"We are going to have to fight. We believe this will not be allowed to go ahead because if it did it would wipe out the assets you attach the entry of every team in this pit lane. I'll be surprised if I'm the only team who thinks that this is absolutely outrageous. I'll be gutted if we don't have a bunch of team principals united on this point."

Stoddart is believed to be planning legal action to stop the deal going through.

 

[Schumy]

Originally posted by f1king
Well an american team would be nice, may be they will get an american driver if it happens.

it sounds like that is the only route an american can take to reach F1

 

[vat_man]

Originally posted by Schumy
it sounds like that is the only route an american can take to reach F1

Well - they really need to come over to Europe and get involved at a young age in the lower formulae.

Look at Mark Webber - he hasn't raced in Australia since 1996/97. Did British FFord, F3, Sportscars and International F3000.

 

[vat_man]

Originally posted by vat_man
"I think when scrutineering commenced here yesterday at 10 am, then under the Concorde Agreement, Prost Grand Prix team's right to exist ceased," said Stoddart, "because they were then a team failing to turn up to an event whilst insolvent. That is a statement of fact - not disputable in law.

There is talk the sale actually went through on Thursday and that Walkinshaw wasn't involved in the sale but will be involved in providing engineering support services.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Hmm. I was wrong to doubt this.

Paul Stoddart's got his knickers in a twist big-style over this one, hasn't he?! Still, you can't exactly blame him - $12m is a lot of money in anyone's language!

You've got to wonder if this is al just a smokescreen for something else. I mean, putting Muppet Mazzacane in the car for Malaysia is mental. It has to be something to do with next year.

So, who does TWR have connections with? (Well, of course, who doesn't TWR have connections with?). So the question would more appropriately be:
"Which motor manufacturer, not currently in F1, has a relationship with TWR?"

Hmm. Off the top of my head...
Nissan (Renault)
Volvo (Ford)
Saab (GM)

Ah ha... I think we have a winner...

Walkinshaw is adamant that he has not bought Prost, and that he's only providing engineering support. Is this a basis for an entry from General Motors?

I have to think that planning to race the AP04 with a TWR engine in it is a pointless sporting exercise, and there must be a commercial reason for it. I would be surprised if even MS could get it onto the back row of the grid...

Interesting!