Honda has dozen suitors
January 8, 2009 by Negative Camber
Filed under Prime & Option
Apparently we were off a little in our expectations on just how much interest in the Brackley based F1 teams fire sale there would be. Outside of Andy looking to buy the team for 30 Pounds, apparently there have been as many as 30 potential groups with a list, having been narrowed by Fry and the 8-ball, are now being culled even further to arrive at the right group.
Nick said he was reticent about it but it seems that things are looking better for BBF1. Speaking at the Autosport show:
“It’s looking very positive at the moment. We had, as you might expect, a huge amount of interest at the start – probably well in excess of 30 groups came to us.
“We have narrowed that down to something in the region of a dozen, and we’re currently talking to Honda about what is the best bet for the future.”
“Right at the start of this process Bernie Ecclestone said that he was 100 percent confident that we’d be on the grid in Melbourne, and I have to say that I wasn’t quite so sure where his confidence came from.
“But as we’ve gone through this process, my confidence based on what we’ve seen has increased – maybe not to 100 percent, but it’s pretty close. And it has been very gratifying.
“We are in a very unusual situation at the moment. This is not a situation like some of the smaller teams that have fallen by the wayside, which frankly had an entry on the grid but did not have much in the way of technology, or in the way of engineering substance.
“The one thing that we have benefited from, to a level which is difficult to exaggerate, is the amount of money, effort and skill that Honda have put into this.
“We’ve got a team that have benefited from 75 million pounds worth of capital investment in the last three years.
“They have probably got some of the best automotive and other technology in the country, if not the world, and it has got an immensely highly-skilled technical staff, obviously led by Ross [Brawn]. So there is a huge amount going for it.”
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Gee, that’s great news for honda but more so for F1 in general!
Couldn’t agree more Robin. The grid has been thin for several years now. Losing the BBF1 team would be disastrous. Welcome to F1B; it is great to have you here.
30?!? Who is Nick trying to fool? Sorry, but he can’t include people he solicited at his local convenience store right after they had purchased lottery tickets.
yeah right! I think Nick is showing a low profile with the amount of bidders. For sure there’re at least 46 interested multi-million people and organizations dreaming about the green team, who doesn’t want such a successful, higly competitive team?. . . and for 1 buck!
I find this number to be very inflated…this perhaps is a plan by BBF1 to maybe speed up the buying process. As I stated in the forum, time is quickly running out on the 09 season and they need to get something together like yesterday. It may be more than 4 potential buyers, but this number is absolutely ridiculous.
Maybe 30 folks total, counting everyone who vaguely was attached to interested groups?
Or… maybe its 30 counting a bunch of F1Bers as Frantic’s “backers”?
30 separate groups in this economic climate is hard to believe.
30 people so excited to buy the team that not a single one of them have gone to the media to make it known, besides DR
And in an interview put up on autosport today, DR outlines his reasons why he will not be the one buying out the team….
Autosport? Is it an exclusive?
I don’t know why there’s seemingly such a rush. There is 0% chance that whomever takes over this team (if anyone at all) will be able to field a car until the middle of the season, and if it’s that late, why not save some money, play the lottery and shoot for 2010?
which has been my point all along… Especially now that Herr Max has announced in 2010 everything is going to be totally different but the same. Why not wait and come in competititve. The FIA cannot limit your testing if your not an official team. You can also sit back all season and see what the teams come up with for aero, KERS, engine tuning etc.., and then maybe steal their people for your team
Yes, I agree, Jim. How can Honda be ’so attractive’ in terms of development and technology when their results were so dismal? They’re essentially now behind if they haven’t been actively preparing a car launch. Why rush it now when you’re already behind the curve when you can wait it out, test and developed your vehicles?
It’s time to do some outing..
I did 29 offers (one pound each) with 29 differents names.. and they accepted all my purposes!!
I’ll put on the car Rubens and Shumacher (Ralf, not Michael, there is crisis in the world) and buy an asiatech engine, and obvioulsy i’ll pay Ross with bananas..
30 offers isn’t real, I really hope that someone will buy it in order to have 20 cars, i think this year could be an interesting car (it’s difficult to do worse than 2008, if only they will be on the grid) but I’ll believe in Nick only if in a few days there is something official..
LOL. Nice Nelson. I agree, we need 20 cars and I suspect Bernie will get 20 there in Oz. Hopefully.
so NC do u think Mr.E is gonna buy the team?
Pitpass are running the story about Nick wanting to buy the team himself…
They got it from the Daily Telegraph…
No-one seems too excited…
Although I had a tip from Honda that the mood at Brackley was rather buoyant today…
Hmmm….
Hmmm. If Nick does buy the team, karma will have come full circle with him being the new Aguri Suzuki. A guy owning a team that he can barely afford with no help from Honda. :)
You’ve missed the big story today NC…
I am very surprised…
Shake, shake. shake…….erm…..hey – that’s my reflection!
LOL. Nice! Mirror, mirror on the wall…who’s the buyer of them all?