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Deal done! Arrows saved!

Hard work ahead
By Huw Alban November 11 2002
The title to this story was shouted loud from this sites forum earlier today, and is based on a story that has appeared at f1-plus.com and backed up by a similar report at city-guide.de/formeleins/ . Both say that the German deal has been completed, and that the team will race in 2003.
Last week this site was proud to shout about the fact that a rescue deal, based in Germany, had been put together, and that the staff were about to receive some serious back pay. This should have happened around mid-week, but by Friday it was obvious that nothing of the sort had occurred. Sources available to this site revealed that the deal was almost done, and would be so in time for the FIA 2003 submission deadline of November 15th.

According to our sources, the deal became held up when one of the key names was suddenly taken ill preventing the transfer of funds.

According to todays reports, an organisation calling itself German Grand Prix Racing now has a controlling interest in the Arrows team, with Tom Walkinshaw retaining his stake. The company made an announcement in Hamburg today to this effect, but there has been no official confirmation from the team itself yet. The deal was signed in Bremen on the 31st of October, with a value estimated to be in tens of millions. Both sites also state that the reason for the delay in the final deal was due to repeated demands from Morgan Grenfell.

This news comes at the eleventh hour for Arrows, as the team needs to submit its application for entry to the 2003 World Championship by the end of the week. This application is likely to be closely examined by the FIA, who will no doubt ask for assurances that there will be no repeat of the no shows that became the norm for Arrows during the latter half of 2002.

This news has also received a muted response from the many Arrows staff who use this sites forum to keep in touch. Those that have read the reports have said that they will remain sceptical until unpaid wages appear in their bank accounts.

This news also raises a lot of, as yet, unanswerable questions. Will the team name change? Will Arrows be able to design an build a new chassis in time? Will Tom Walkinshaw be able to fill the 250 or so predicted positions vacated by staff who were unable to sit out the cash crisis? What engine will the team use next year? Who will drive the cars? Where will the team go for sponsorship?

Far from the crisis being over, the real hard work now begins to build the team back up into a competitive racing company. This sites support is right behind them.

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