Minardis 2001 Miracle rebirth: Even Alonso was building the car

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John
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Minardis 2001 Miracle rebirth: Even Alonso was building the car

#1

Post by John »

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MonteCristo
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#2

Post by MonteCristo »

Great read indeed. Thanks so much for sharing!

“Next I tried to buy out [Arrows F1 boss] Tom Walksinshaw, but when we went in and did the due diligence, it was such a crock of shit that nobody would touch it with a barge pole!"

I wonder what the full story behind that would be...
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MonteCristo wrote: 3 years ago Great read indeed. Thanks so much for sharing!

“Next I tried to buy out [Arrows F1 boss] Tom Walksinshaw, but when we went in and did the due diligence, it was such a crock of shit that nobody would touch it with a barge pole!"

I wonder what the full story behind that would be...
Yeah I saw that too and thought "This needs a part two"!
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1997: Arrows sign Hill for big money, but the Yamaha engine is a massive disappointment, and Hill's wages are essentially wasted.

1998: Arrows gamble on the Hart engine, which also proves to be underpowered and unreliable. It's another poor season.

1999: The '98 Arrows is upgraded to '99 spec, and there is the promise of £120m from Prince Malik. He promptly buggered off in the September, leaving them with that hold plus a court case with Morgan Grenfell.

2000: The poor '99 car left Arrows with further reduced prize money, and despite De La Rosa showing promise, Tora Takagi added nothing for the team other than a bit of much needed cash.
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#5

Post by MonteCristo »

Sounded like financial shenanigans to me.
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#6

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

MonteCristo wrote: 3 years ago Sounded like financial shenanigans to me.
There was also the "Prince Malik?" business that was the final straw for Arrows. If that wasnt his name it was to do with the Nigerian Prince who got involved as the big saviour of the team but he shafteed a by then desperate Tom Walkinshaw. Either way financial shenanigns and promises to a desperate TW who was in a way forced to believe it was all kosha, because it gave him a light at the end of the tunnel, which in reality was the train coming the other way. Malik He suddenly disappeared to leave the team in greater shit that it was in prior, and was never seen again in F1 circles, having skammed his way into the F1 history books of lets just say interesting people.

The "T minus" plan we discussed briefly elsewher on the forum recently was just one of the skams that led to the final demise of Arrows, and indeed at the time took the whole TWR empire down, albeit temporarily. (Im sure TW had tucked a few quid under the mattress and a few hidden diamonds stashed in the back of the filing cabinet to make sure he never went short.) :wink:

Edit: found this article about the mystery Nigerian Prince (whose name was Prince Malik Ado Ibrahim) and Arrows, which should set the scene as to why Arrows was such a muddled state financially.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/gvawv7/ ... an-f1-team

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#7

Post by Nononsensecapeesh »

I remember Marques' car was still in pieces with not much time to put it together before first practice or something like that?
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