Action Resources Ltd assists contracted race-drivers, riders and teams to compete by helping them with commercial and sponsorship matters by way of generating sustainable strategic partnerships. This Section of "Late Braking News" brings to you some of the latest information regarding global business and marketing matters that may be of interest:

Randstad has extended and expanded its sponsorship of Williams F1, taking the partnership between the Grove-based team and the Dutch HR company into its 7th year (November 2011).

The Ferrari F1 Team has renewed its partnership with Kaspersky Lab for a further two years (November 2011).

Williams F1 has entered into a partnership with Ingenie, the specialist provider of car insurance to 17 - 25-year olds (November 2011).

Indian sports promoter Sahara India Pariwar has purchased a 42.5% share (valued at some £63.4m) in the Silverstone-based Force India F1 Team (October 2011).

Global sportswear company Puma has announced a new multi-year partnership with the Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team (October 2011).

Team Lotus is likely to be re-branded as the Caterham Formula 1 Team for 2012 (October 2011).

Bernie Ecclestone is reported to have said that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is no longer interested in buying Formula One (September 2011).

Aston Martin has become the new primary sponsor of German soccer club TSV 1860 Munich (September 2011).

Software used by the McLaren F1 Team for developing race tactics has been adopted by Heathrow Airport's air traffic controllers and is to be used in helping to streamline aircraft movements. McLaren has also entered into a long-term partnership with American bike manufacturer, Specialized. The arrangement comes after HTC-Highroad cyclist Mark Cavendish has been competing with a Specialized S-Works Venge, co-designed by Specialized and Formula One personnel from McLaren. The Woking-based McLaren Group has signed a wide-ranging co-operation agreement with global pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) also (September 2011).

New car sales in the UK rose by 7.3% in August 2011, compared with the same month last year. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders stated that 59,346 cars were sold in the month, the first increase since June 2010 (September 2011).

The Motorsport Industry Association - MIA - has opened up individual Membership to motor-sport professionals and to students, some 17 years after its foundation. It currently represents nearly 400 Corporate Members. "Our aim is to help grow business networks," said the MIA's CEO, Chris Aylett, "so that professionals can gain more business and motor-sport students can become better equipped to secure employment in the industry" (September 2011).

The British Automobile Racing Club - BARC - is to take over the promotion of both the British Hillclimb Championship and the Hillclimb Leaders' Championship from 2012, for the next 5 years (September 2011).

Scuderia Toro Rosso has confirmed a major strategic partnership with the Spanish oil company Compania Espanola de Petroleos - CEPSA - whose owner is the International Petroleum Investment Company, a UAE organisation that also owns another new Toro Rosso sponsor, Falcon Private Bank (September 2011).

McLaren Cars has announced that the first 20 examples of the new MP4-12C GT3 racer have already been sold, even though the machine has only recently made its competition debut. The car is being developed by Andrew Kirkaldy's team at CRS Racing (September 2011).

Bentley and Aston Martin franchised dealer Broughtons of Cheltenham has been bought for £1.5m (together with the settlement of a £1.3m loan) by London-based HR Owen. The deal expands HR Owen's presence with Bentley whilst adding Aston Martin to its "stable of luxury marques" (August 2011).

The giant global advertising agency WPP has bought into US motor-sport marketing agency, Just Marketing International [JMI], and will become the third-largest shareholder in the business founded by Zak Brown in 1995. JMI is based in Zionsville, Indiana, and now has satellite offices in Charlotte and Daytona Beach as well as in London and Singapore. Brown owns the United Autosports race team which runs Audis in British and FIA GT Championships and also competes in GrandAm (July 2011).

Porsche is set to return to the Le Mans 24-Hours in 2014 with an all-new factory LMP1 Prototype; the firm is the most successful Manufacturer in the history of the race, with a total of 16 outright wins thus far, mostly achieved several years ago with the iconic 917 and 956 machines (July 2011).

Williams F1 has announced that it is to swop its existing Cosworth powerplants for Renault units from next season, thus renewing a successful partnership from the 1990s when the Term ran Williams-Renaults to Championship glory with the likes of Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Alain Prost at the wheel (July 2011).

The partners in the Circuit of the Americas project in Austin, Texas, have announced a $25 million subsidy for the venue (the scene of the US GP for 10 years, the inaugural 2012 race being due to be held on 17 June) from local authorities and business groups. The Circuit is also to host MotoGP and a ground-breaking deal has been done to run the Australian-based V8 Supercar Series for 5 years too (July 2011).

Spanish investment house Thesan Capital (founded in 2008 by the Japanese banking giant Nomura) has acquired a controlling interest in the Hispania Racing F1 Team for around US$29 million. The arrangement is part of a wider deal whereby Thesan Capital (originally formed as an investment vehicle for Spanish businesses) will buy a majority shareholding in the Team's parent company, Grupo Inversor Hispania, which is run by Jose Ramon Carabante (who himself bought the fledgling operation from Adrian Campos). The cars are currently run out of Germany by Team Principal, Colin Kolles (July 2011).

GP Week Ltd. - the publisher and owner of on-line global motor-sports journal 'GPWEEK' - has been bought by Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI), a rapidly expanding international sports, media and entertainment company owned by Vladimir Antonov, Roman Dubov and Chris Akers. This is an interesting development because Antonov has recently been investing in the television rights for the World Rally Championship and has bought into Spyker Cars (he's bought CPP - Coventry Prototype Panels where Spyker sportcars have been assembled of late), Saab, exotic Italian body-builder Zagato, the Bowler Offroad firm and the promoter of the Isle-of-Man bike races. The Russian Banker is also said to be owed money by Lotus Renault GP - the F1 team based at Enstone in Oxfordshire (July 2011).

The little known Danish supercar manufacturer Zenvo Automotive has announced a special edition Zenvo ST-1 50S, for the US market. The car develops 1,233bhp apparently, with a claimed 0-60mph time of less than three seconds; prices start at £1.1million, plus taxes (June 2011).

Team Lotus has confirmed a significant new 3-year deal with American multinational General Electric, the first of what are said to be several big announcements on the horizon for Tony Fernandes's ambitious outfit. General Electric has strong links with Fernandes's AirAsia and the two Companies have concluded a 20-year $600 million engine supply contract (June 2011).

Scuderia Ferrari in F1 has extended its long-running partnership with Philip Morris International, the parent Company of Marlboro cigarettes, through to the end of 2015 in a deal said to be worth US$160 million each season. Marlboro's long history in Formula One motor-racing started in 1972 and the firm became title sponsor of the Ferrari team in 1997 (June 2011).

The American Fox tv Channel has reported a 9% increase in its viewing figures for the first 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup races of 2011 - the biggest year-on-year increase since Fox started to televise NASCAR back in 2001 (June 2011).

Sports lifestyle brand Puma has announced a long-term extension to its partnership with Ferrari. Under the new agreement, Puma will continue to serve as the official team-wear and race-wear supplier to Scuderia Ferrari and will design and provide apparel for the F1 Team's pit crews and drivers (Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa) - (June 2011).

Brands Hatch Circuit in Kent has been nominated by LOGOG (the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) as the venue for the Road Cycling events for the London 2012 Paralympics which are due to take place from 5-8 September 2012 (June 2011).

The troubled Finnish mobile 'phone manufacturer Nokia has signed a new multi-year agreement with the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) - (June 2011).

Danica Patrick has signed a multi-year endorsement agreement with William Rast, the "New America denim culture brand" founded by Justin Timberlake - Danica will endorse William Rast eyewear through a licensing partnership with Viva International Group (June 2011).

Leading specialist insurer Hiscox has entered into a 42-month agreement with official Aston Martin Racing Partner, Jota Sport, which sees the Company become the Kent-based Team's official insurance partner. Action Resources Ltd uses Hiscox for its own Professional Indemnity insurance. The Jota Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT2 participates in the Le Mans 24-Hours this year in the GTE Pro Class, with Sam Hancock, Simon Dolan and Westcountryman Chris Buncombe at the wheel. The car is also due to appear at the Le Mans Series races at Imola, Estoril and Silverstone (June 2011).

Major changes are about to overtake Scuderia Toro Rosso as the Abu Dhabi financial organisation Aabar Investments is said to be taking as much as 40% of the Team from Red Bull entrepreneur, Dietrich Mateschitz. Aabar owned companies will begin to feature as sponsors of the STR cars (which currently use Ferrari engines) and a deal has already been signed with the Swiss Falcon Private Bank. Aabar already owns some 9% of Daimler AG and 40% of the British-based Mercedes GP Petronas operation (formerly Brawn GP). There is speculation, therefore, that STR will ultimately run with Mercedes-Benz power (May 2011).

The Eurosport Group has said that it has renewed its association with the Le Mans 24-Hour Race and L'Automobile Club de l'Ouest, and will continue to broadcast the iconic event for the next 3 years (May 2011).

Liechtenstein-based finance company Money Service Group - formerly a backer of Scuderia Toro Rosso - has entered into a season-long partnership with the Sauber F1 Team (May 2011).

Telecom giant Airtel is said to have signed a 5-year agreement to sponsor the new Indian Grand Prix from this year (May 2011).

The future of Spyker-owned Saab has been plunged into doubt after a proposed funding deal with potential Chinese partner Hawtai Motor Group collapsed. Saab's cashflow has been badly dented by poor sales recently and the Company's production lines at Trolhattan in Sweden have been shut down. However, there is hope that another Chinese investor - Pang Da Automobile - will take a 24% stake in Spyker and set up a joint Saab-manufacturing venture in China (May 2011).

To update the story below (March) regarding Bristol Cars, the firm has been bought by KamKorp Autokraft, part of Kamal Siddiqui's Frazer-Nash Research Group. Bristol's assets and goodwill are believed to have been acquired for some £3 million (May 2011).

Tata-owned Jaguar has confirmed that it is to build a production run of 250 examples of its stunning C-X75 hybrid, at a minimum price of £700,000 each, in collaboration with the Williams F1 Team's new High Performance Vehicles Division. The 200 mph low-emission supercar will feature a 1.6-litre turbo petrol engine and two electric motors but not the revolutionary gas turbines seen on the concept version. The cars will be built between 2013 and 2015 (May 2011).

Brand consultancy Interbrand has become an official partner of the AT&T Williams F1 Team. The New York-based Agency, which is part of the Omnicom Group, will assist in the development of the Williams brand to create new merchandising and licensing opportunities (May 2011).

Team Lotus Owner, Tony Fernandes, is buying the Caterham Car Company, which was originally established in 1959 to take over the further production of Colin Chapman's lightweight Lotus 7 car (April 2011).

Toyota says that it has lost production of some 260,000 cars already in 2011 due to the Japanese earthquake (April 2011).

The Company that holds the commercial rights to F1 has announced its financial results for 2010. A turnover figure of $1.08billion represents an increase over 2009 of $19million and contributed to a net income figure of $296million. Last year's 2% increase in turnover was attributed to the new race in South Korea and to the return of the Canadian GP. The Accounts show that Bernie Ecclestone's salary rose by 21% to £4.85million (April 2011).

Dario Franchitti and Target Chip Ganassi Racing are to enjoy the support of Kelloggs at two IndyCar races this season - at Sao Paulo and Baltimore (April 2011).

Shell has signed a multi-year agreement to be the title sponsor of the F1 Belgian Grand Prix at the wonderful Spa-Francorchamps track (March 2011).

Somerset racer, Adam Sharpe, has established a new website business Higher Sites at www.highersites.co.uk; telephone 01823 444 442 (March 2011).

The Bridgestone-owned tyre Company Firestone has been persuaded NOT after all to cease its commitment to the IndyCar Series at the end of this season. Bridgestone's Firestone Firehawks brand will now remain as the sole tyre of IndyCar for another two years, continuing a much respected supply deal that dates back to 1996 (March 2011).

Bristol Cars, founded in 1949 out of the Bristol Aeroplane Company by former racer and automotive entrepreneur Tony Crook, has gone into Administration and the hunt is on for a buyer for the uber-expensive manufacturer, which is thought to have produced no more than 25 vehicles last year. Tom MacLennan and Trevor Binyon, Directors of RSM Tenon Recovery, have been appointed joint administrators of the Company. The servicing and sales operations (the showroom is in Kensington High Street in London) are continuing but 22 of the firm's 27 employees have been made redundant, including everyone at the Filton manufacturing facility (March 2011).

Kwik-Fit, Britain's biggest tyre retailer, has been sold by its French private equity owner, PAI Partners, to Itochu Corporation of Japan for £637m. (March 2011).

Daimler AG, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, and Aabar Investment PJS have acquired the remaining 24.9% shareholding in Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd. which had been held by Ross Brawn and his management team (March 2011).

Red Bull Racing has confirmed that it has established a highly significant 'marketing agreement' for 2011/12 with the luxury Japanese automobile brand, Infiniti, which is a member of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. It seems that this is a sponsorship agreement and not an arrangement whereby the Team's Renault power-units will be re-badged although Sebastian Vettel will act as a brand ambassador. However, it looks as though RBR will benefit from 'free' Manufacturer engines (it's had to pay for them up to now), thus free-ing up some £6.8m for overall chassis and car development - the message has to be, watch out RBR's competitors! Infiniti is a brand largely active in the American market and has previously supplied and badged engines in the IndyCar Series (March 2011).

Singtel, sponsor of the Singapore GP since the race's inception in 2008, has renewed its title sponsorship of the event for a further 2 years. This year's race is to be held on 25 September with a 20:00 hours local start-time (March 2011).

The Sauber F1 Team has added the Japanese firm NEC to its rapidly growing roster of sponsors (March 2011).

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has signed an agreement with Dassault Systemes, 'a world leader in 3D and product lifecycle management solutions' (March 2011).

The Stephane Ratel Organisation (SRO) has brokered a deal with Air Asia X - the 'low fare' arm of Malaysian air carrier Air Asia - to be the title sponsor of the Renault Clio Cup UK, part of the BTCC programme, for the next 3 years (March 2011).

NASCAR sponsor Aaron's (a major furniture and electrical appliance retailer in the US) is to extend its motor-sport funding to NHRA drag racing with Don Schumacher Racing (February 2011).

Walmart, the world's largest public corporation (by revenue) and owner of ASDA in the UK, is to be responsible for selling NASCAR's branded merchandise in a trail-blazing deal. The programme, which is launching now in 1,500 Walmart stores, is branded "Race Time" and will encompass special savings on race tickets, t-shirts, flags, food, beverages and e-commerce items. Some ticket packages will be on offer for $99, to include 4 race passes, 4 hot dogs, 4 drinks and a race programme. Innovative marketing indeed just as 20-year old rookie Trevor Bayne wins the Daytona 500 in a Wood Brothers' Ford in only his second NASCAR Sprint Cup start - truly a new era (February 2011).

Italian car brand Lancia has become a new sponsor and the official car partner of Swiss Tennis (February 2011).

The Shanghai City Government says that it has concluded a deal to hold the Chinese Grand Prix from 2012-2017 (February 2011).

Jaguar Land Rover reported a record net profit of £275m for the quarter ending 31 December. Sales have particularly surged in Asia. The Tata-owned Company has now enjoyed five consecutive quarters in the black and employs 16,000 people across its three UK factories (February 2011).

The British Racing Drivers' Club (the Owner of Silverstone) has commissioned PriceWaterhouseCoopers to spell out the vision for commercial investment around the motor-racing facility and "help realise the potential" of the 760-acre Silverstone site. The plans could include hotels, a driver academy, simulators, a further technology park, an international karting track, off-road courses and a Hall of Fame (akin to Indianapolis). Stuart Rolt (the BRDC's new Chairman) commented: "We are seeking external investment to help us realise the full potential of Silverstone more quickly. We have asked Robert Brooks, previous Chairman, to lead the process. If we cannot find a suitable investor, or are unable to agree satisfactory terms on a deal, we will continue with the development ourselves, albeit at a slower pace" (February 2011).

The Barwa Addax GP2/3 teams have agreed a strategic partnership with French Agency, Lagardere Unlimited. The Agency will work with Addax to develop the widest possible portfolio of sponsors, which currently include Barwa (a Qatari Bank), together with Banco Santander and Pepe Jeans (February 2011).

Russian petrochem company Lukoil is to support a pair of Sunred Team SEATs in the 2011 WTCC (February 2011).

Force India has extended its partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies until the end of the 2012 season (February 2011).

Italy's largest shoe manufacturing group, Geox, will replace Puma as official footwear supplier to defending F1 World Champions, Red Bull Racing. Geox will launch an RBR-inspired retail collection next month (February 2011).

Allianz will complement its core sponsorship of Formula One (closely linked to its push to improve road safety) with direct support for the Mercedes GP Team (February 2011).

Spanish banking group Santander has extended its partnership with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes via specific support for drivers, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. The Team has also extended its long-standing partnership with ExxonMobil for another 5 years (February 2011).

RBR star Mark Webber has signed as a brand ambassador for Australian airline Qantas (February 2011).

Jota Sport AMR is joining forces with Serengeti Eyewear. The joint-venture sees Jota Sport's drivers and crew being supplied with Serengeti's critically acclaimed sunglasses throughout the upcoming Le Mans Series campaign with an Aston Martin Vantage GT2. Andrew Grose is UK MD of Bushnell Performance Optics and commented as follows: "The Jota drivers face challenging conditions including intense sunlight and glare, abrupt changes in cloud cover and sudden reductions in visibility. Serengeti lenses increase the ability to pick out details, colour and contrast, far and near ..... optical clarity is second to none" (February 2011).

BSM (British School of Motoring) has been sold to the giant motoring organisation, The AA. The UK's largest driving school has been bought out of administration in a move to safeguard over 2,000 jobs and the driving lessons of 30,000 customers. BSM is in its 100th year of trading (February 2011).

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has lost its Etihad and Mubadala support for 2011 but Philip Morris (the Marlboro parent company), Shell, Santander, Acer, Tata and AMD will remain much in evidence (January 2011).

2010 Daytona 500 Winner, Jamie McMurray, will be backed by Liftmaster which is to be an associate sponsor of his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Team throughout the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Liftmaster installs automatic garage door openers and telephone entry systems for residential and commercial properties. This is its first foray into NASCAR support (January 2011).

Penske Racing's NASCAR operations are to benefit from sponsorship worth some US$2.5m from Kimberly-Clark brand, Wypal Wypers. The Team's No 22 Dodge Challenger competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series is to be sponsored by restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday to the tune of US$1.25m (January 2011).

Swiss watch brand Certina has extended its long-standing partnership with the Sauber F1 Team for the 2011 season as has Energy Brands' Mad-Croc beverage firm. Sauber also has a deal with the Italian clothing manufacturer P1. Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez will be at the wheel and the strong Mexican flavour now pervading the Team is demonstrated by the significant sponsorship being brought in by Jose Cuervo, the best-selling tequila brand in the world, Telmex, Claro and Interproteccion (January 2011).

The Ducati MotoGP outfit has signed a sponsorship agreement with lifestyle clothing brand Diesel. Multiple World Champion, Valentino Rossi, and 2006 Champion, Nicky Hayden, will ride for Ducati this year (January 2011).

Watch-maker Tag Heuer has entered into a new partnership with the Automobile Club of Monaco to become sponsor and official watch, chronograph, eyewear and timing partner (January 2011).

VitaminSpice is to be an associate sponsor of Scott Sharp's Extreme Speed Motorsports campaign in the 2011 ALMS - the team will be known as Team Ferrari and will run Ferrari F430 GTs (January 2011).

Williams F1, based near Didcot, has confirmed that Venezuelan energy company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) will become a "substantial" sponsor of the Team. Sir Frank Williams has also indicated that he is considering a stock market flotation for the Formula One team that bears his name "in order to secure the long-term independence" of the Company and a bright future for its 450 employees. In 2009, Wiliams posted pre-tax profits of £4.5m and revenues of £108m, including their then RBS sponsorship (January 2011).

22-year old Swiss driver, Simona de Silvestro, is to be sponsored in the IndyCar Series for the next 3 years by Entergy Nuclear, to the tune of some US$5m per season. Simona drives for Keith Wiggins's HVM Racing Team. The deal follows on from a one-off sponsorship arrangement at the 2010 Indy 500 where de Silvestro finished up as top rookie (January 2011).

Major publishing group, Dennis, is to remain official media partner to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship for an eighth consecutive year. Their presence will be spearheaded by the 'Auto Express' and 'evo' titles (January 2011).

Oil giant BP - where a 5% stake has just been purchased by Kremlin-backed oil company, Rosneft - has predicted that global carbon emissions are set to peak just after 2020, despite the reduction targets recently set by a number of individual countries. The Company said that, by 2020, emissions will be 20% higher than 2005 levels, with actual demand for energy from all sources (particularly from non-OECD nations) set to increase by nearly 40% over the next 20 years (January 2011).

The founder of the well-respected fluid transfer systems company that bore his name, Stuart Goodridge, passed away after a long illness in early January. He had not recently been active in the operation of the Exeter-based firm.

Vauxhall, the British arm of General Motors of the US, has announced a multi-million dollar sponsorship agreement with England's Football Association, thus replacing the long-standing support from Nationwide. Vauxhall's three-and-a-half year sponsorship of the England Team is said to be worth GBP£20m and will run on until just after the 2014 FIFA (Soccer) World Cup to be staged in Brazil. Vauxhall is also concluding similar (but smaller) deals with the national football associations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (January 2011).

Mike Lanigan, who owns Mi-Jack Construction Equipment, has bought into Rahal Letterman Racing, the team now to be known as Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Bobby Rahal's team won the 2010 ALMS GT title running BMW M3s (January 2011).

Castrol is the new exclusive motor oil and related lubricants sponsor of the National Football League (NFL) (January 2011).

ESPN has agreed to a multi-platform broadcast agreement with the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in a deal brokered by Chicago-based Intersport. Details of the agreement are expected to see the series receive coverage of nine races on ABC and ESPN2 complemented by live, beginning-to-end broadcasts of each race on ESPN3.com (January 2011).

The south-west accountancy firm Bishop Fleming is assisting 19-year old Devon racer, Callum Holland, who raced in Formula Palmer Audi in 2010 and is hoping to switch to British or FIA GT in 2011 (January 2011).

Tony Fernandes' new GP2 Team Air Asia has agreed a strategic partnership with FXPM.com (January 2011).

8 February 2012

Action Resources Ltd. operates what is arguably the biggest and most effective dedicated motor-sport and performance engineering recruitment operation around at www.motor-sport.uk.com and The Motor-Sport Network.

Now we are offering Employers a very basic but highly cost-effective recruitment advertising opportunity in 2011, involving the use of "Late Braking News" and the "This Week's Jobs" area of the website for the amazing price of just £45.00 (INCLUDING VAT at 20%) per advertisement, to be currently displayed for as long as you wish.

Just call Roger Phillips on + 44 (0) 1458 253 442 or E-mail him. Forward your cheque (payable to Action Resources Ltd.) in the post to the address shown below plus confirmation of copy and we'll do the rest.

Let's set out together to generate as many new jobs in the sector this year as we possibly can.

We have now been a proactive provider of solutions to employers and competitors alike, within the motor-sport community, for over 12 years.

Back in 1999, I quickly came to realise that conventional ‘sponsorship’ was effectively dead and that sustained STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS constituted the only route by which competitors could meet their business and career objectives going forward.   And so it has proved to be.

The strategic partnership approach recognises that a business or organisation can only support motor-racing if tangible and positive commercial outcomes ensue.  Teams, drivers and riders who compete in the sport, therefore, have to work on such relationships, understand all they can about their target partner companies and materially assist in making the expected outcomes actually happen.

Alas, I have lost count of the enquiries I’ve received from aspiring racers (or, more often, from their parents) who think that a ‘sponsor’ is just waiting round the corner to pour cash into a fledgling racing career. There must have been 500 or so, mostly with little or no racing experience already under their belt and thus absolutely no story to tell.  

During these past dozen years, we have helped lots of teams (competing at many levels and in several countries) and around 60 drivers, mostly from the UK but also from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and the USA.  These girls and guys have competed in series from modern to historic with great success, from Formula Ford to F3000 and GP2, from Ginettas to Britcar, Carrera Cup, British GT, GrandAm, ALMS, the Le Mans Series and the Le Mans 24-Hours itself and from Super Mighty Minis to BTCC and DTM.

And now comes news of probably the most ground-breaking strategic partnership yet to involve a motor-sport company.   With the world economy subject to all sorts of ifs and buts, there is no better time for an innovative, iconoclastic partnership such as that recently announced by Ron Dennis’s McLaren Group and the British-based pharmaceutical and consumer products giant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).  This is a live example of motor-sport in the community, of motor-sport in the context of the real economy and of motor-sport coming out from under its protective and secretive shell. 

The collaboration will initially run until 2016 and may indeed involve some GSK brands adorning McLaren race-cars.  In essence, though, GSK has chosen McLaren as its partner in order to tap into practices that will give GSK a sustained competitive business advantage – through access to McLaren’s accumulated expertise in using planning processes, data modelling tools and forecasting methodologies, and in deploying human resources.  This comes hot on the heels of McLaren’s work in advising the Air-Traffic Controllers at London’s Heathrow Airport.  These are giant examples of applying the lessons learnt in racing cars at the highest level to other disciplines and activities.

GSK will build a mission control facility at its London HQ which will be based on McLaren’s Formula One race control module and the two companies are also to construct a Centre of Learning alongside McLaren’s futuristic base on the outskirts of Woking in Surrey. Andrew Witty, who is the CEO of GSK, commented:  “McLaren has an unparalleled reputation for innovation, built on rigorous analysis and fast decision-making.  This partnership is another example of GSK looking outside its sector for inspiration and fresh perspectives on how we can achieve our strategic goals in an ever more challenging and fast-changing business environment”.

In today’s operating climate, anyone who seeks external cash to go motor-racing has to work out how their backers’ and partners’ commercial objectives may be achieved.   No projected outcomes translate into no cash received.  And broken promises this year mean no money next year.

The application of lessons and techniques emanating from performance engineering to the wider world might at last persuade the public and consumer at large that motor-sport might not be a totally self-centred and vacuous activity after all.

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Somerset's Jenson Button led from lights to flag, from second spot on the grid (outshone in Qualifying by team-mate Lewis Hamilton).   The latter, however, ended up a grumpy third behind Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull and it is to my mind disappointing that Hamilton's post-race behaviour smacked of immaturity and a dollop of petulance at finding himself behind the super-smooth Button by the end of Sunday.

Hamilton is clearly wonderful to behold on a single flying lap but he still has to come to terms with the Pirelli tyres (now in their second season) and his more aggressive driving style sometimes fails to get the best out of them.  I suspect that the same applies to Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber and this may very well be the Australian's final F1 season. The promise of the re-vamped Mercedes GP Team was dampened too by tyre worries.

Ferrari had a dreadful weekend, saved only by the magic of Alonso, contrasting mightily with the despair of Felipe Massa.  There is much speculation now that the hapless Brazilian won't see out the season with the Scuderia and, whilst there is talent such as Toro Rosso refugee Jaime Alguersuari currently behind a BBC microphone rather than an F1 steering-wheel, there are alternative pedallers ready and willing to take over.

Alas, the Spanish HRT Team failed to show any speed during Qualifying - it was clearly a mistake to move out Team Principal, Colin Kolles, and his German sub-contractors and to re-group over the winter as an entirely Spanish operation - and the cars failed to start the race.  If HRT is still around by the time of the last race in Brazil, it will be a minor miracle.  Tony Fernandes's Caterham team also performed well below the expected level and failed to bring either of its cars home.

The battle for the mid-field, though, will be intense all year long, with absolutely nothing to choose between Ferrari, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Force India and a rejuvenated Williams (now with Renault power).

Indeed, apart from Frome's Jenson Button, the stars this weekend included the Lotus team (formerly Renault) with Grosjean's third on the grid and Raikkonen's feisty drive from 18th to 7th in the race.  Then there was Sauber who picked up 6th (with the marvellously entertaining Kamui Kobayashi) and the amazing Sergio Perez coming from dead last on the grid to 8th, with a single stop for tyres - finesse indeed.  After this one race, Sauber lies third in the Constructors' Championship.  The Williams renaissance was good to see too; Maldonado crashed heavily on the final lap when challenging Alonso for 5th but the new Williams FW34 looked a far better proposition all race than last year's machine.

Under the old adage that 'what looks right goes right', McLaren seems to be in an excellent position (other than some worries over fuel consumption); Woking's influence on the new Anglo-Russian Marussia-Cosworth looks quite promising too (let's hope that Timo Glock's considerable talent will not be totally wasted for a third year).  But Albert Park, Melbourne, is really a street circuit and it may be quite another matter as the cars hit the bespoke Sepang race-track in  Malaysia in just a few days' time.

As rumours fly around that Ferrari and Red Bull Racing have done 'special' deals with Bernie Ecclestone by way of financial settlements beyond 2012 and that CVC Capital Partners is about to sell all or some of Formula One, the racing at least looks set fair for a great spectacle going forward.

Fernando Alonso won for Ferrari and the sheer grit and determination of the Spaniard takes him to the top of the table, by 5 points from double pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton, with Button a further 5 points behind.

However, the Constructors' Championship points table is a far better indicator as to the real status quo this year, after two of the twenty rounds.  Vodafone McLaren has 55 points, with Red Bull Racing second on 42 and Ferrari third on 35.  The Ferrari-powered Sauber F1 Team is fourth on 30 points with Lotus-Renault fifth on 16.

The latest McLaren is clearly a potent weapon and RBR is less than happy adjusting to the loss of the exhaust-blown diffuser.  But Malaysia has shown just how intense is the battle for the mid-field, with a startling performance from the young Mexican, Sergio Perez, in taking second place for Sauber and the welcome return of Williams (now Renault powered) to the points with a brilliant sixth place by Bruno Senna.  And a confident Kimi Raikkonen bagged an excellent fifth place and fastest race lap for Lotus.  Both Sahara Force India cars finished in the points at Sepang and the rookie, Jean-Eric Vergne, scored his first F1 championship points with eighth place in his Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso.

So it must be concluded that Ferrari needs to improve a poor car (and it seems that Massa's place in the Team may be under threat from Perez, who is a member of Ferrari's Driver Academy).  But the biggest disappointment must be Mercedes GP - the car is very quick in a straight line but it seems to eat up its tyres at an alarming rate and the talented Nico Rosberg is looking particularly unsure of himself right now.

Rosberg (who carries German nationality and speaks five languages) is only the third post-war second generation F1 driver to win a World Championship race; the others have been Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, who both went on to become World Champions in their own right.  Nico's father, Keke (who has Finnish nationality), won five Grands Prix during his career (always driving for Williams .... and smoking a Marlboro) and took the championship crown in 1982 with just a single race win in that season.  But consistency proved to be everything for Rosberg Snr. and it seems that the new-for-2012 Lewis Hamilton has now latched on to the merits of a similar approach - two poles for Lewis in three races and three consecutive third-place race finishes, taking him two points clear of his own team-mate at the top of the table at this juncture.  Coincidentally, Mark Webber has collected three consecutive fourth-place finishes.

The hero team from Malaysia, Sauber, had to make do with third on the grid (Kobayashi), fastest race lap (Kobayashi) and a single championship point for tenth (Kobayashi).   Why do I mention 'Kobayashi' so often?  Because he is still quite the most entertaining driver on the grid.

Red Bull Racing is clearly missing the exhaust-blown diffuser of yore and will doubtless move just as quickly as it can to replicate the rear end of the Mercedes.  But Vettel, in particular, is not the chirpy chappie from 2011 any more, or not yet anyway.

Romain Grosjean managed to convert promise to outcome when he came home in sixth for Lotus(-Renault), having completed just four racing laps over the whole of the season's initial two races.   And Williams managed to get both its cars into the points in seventh (Senna) and eighth (Maldonado).

What might be the biggest disappointment of the year so far?  Arguably, Tony Fernandes's Caterham team - nee Team Lotus - (with its Renault engines and RBR bits) seems to be sliding further and further away from the 'grandee' teams ahead of it and, indeed, it is Marussia that is in 10th spot in the Constructors' rankings at this moment.

That's enough of the politics.  How about the racing?

The status quo was restored with the fourth different winner in as many races turning out to be Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing.   Indeed, Vettel again tops the Drivers' Championship table and Red Bull Racing (with Renault power) heads the Constructors'.  Sebastian also took pole.

The new kid on the block, however, was Lotus, which has leapt to third place in the Constructors' Championship. Despite all the ownership and sponsorship issues surrounding the Enstone-based team, former World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen, came in a very strong second whilst the ever jovial Romain Grosjean finished a short distance behind him in third.

The disappointment of the weekend this time around was McLaren.   Pit-stop errors, mechanical issues and an inability to get the tyres to work in the way that they had at the start of 2012 all contributed to a miserable outing for the Woking squad, with just an eighth place for Hamilton to show for their efforts.

This is proving to be a great season;  this is the first time since 1983 that four different cars have won the first four races.

This is a dossier of the latest news regarding who is working for or with whom in the motor-sport and performance engineering sectors, and other information about people within the sport and in the industry that surrounds it. Action Resources Ltd. is itself a noted recruitment and executive search organisation dedicated to this sector and, of course, offers driver management services as well:

April 2012

It is being suggested that the Austrian Chairman of the multi-national Swiss-based Nestle Group, Peter Brabeck (67), is likely to be named as the Chairman of the Formula One Group once the mooted IPO on the Singapore Stock Exchange takes place this coming July.   Brabeck serves as a Board Member of Credit Suisse, L'Oreal and ExxonMobil; he is also already on the Board of the F1 holding company, Delta Topco.   It is thought that Brabeck will be appointed ahead of Britain's Martin Sorrell, Chairman of global advertising agency, WPP, who is a fellow Delta Topco director.

Ex-F1 driver and Le Mans winner (with Porsche), Hans-Joachim Stuck, has been elected President of the DMSB (Deutsche Motor Sport Bund), Germany's motor-sport governing body.

Ben Agathangelou has joined Scuderia Ferrari in order to focus on liaison between the Team's Maranello base in Italy and the Toyota wind-tunnel, which Ferrari regularly uses, in Germany.

Naoki Tokunaga is leaving the Lotus F1 Team to join Renault Sport F1 as Deputy Technical Director of the next generation Renault F1 power-unit.  An ex-Nissan man, Tokunaga joined the Enstone-based operation in 2000.

38-year old Toni Cuquerella has been promoted to Technical Director within the HRT F1 operation.

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, the son of Ferry Porsche and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, has died at the age of 76.  He was known chiefly for his work on the 911 series, launched in 1963, and as the lead engineer on the 1.5-litre F1 Porsche 804 machine piloted by Dan Gurney to victory in the 1962 French GP at Rouen.  He also founded the Porsche Design company.

Bentley's new Sales Manager is Kevin Rose who once ran Audi and SEAT in the UK and who returns now from China.  Rose replaces Alasdair Stewart who has moved on to become the boss of Skoda UK.

Jaime Alguersuari and Lucas di Grassi have been confirmed as the two Pirelli test drivers for 2012.

Ford's Head of Global Performance Vehicles & Motorsport Business Development, Jost Capito, is to take over the management of Volkswagen Motorsport on 1 May 2012.  53-year old Capito's predecessor, Kris Nissen, has been in the post since 2003 and will stay on as an Adviser.

Ted Cutting - the designer of the 1959 World Sportscar Championship winning Aston Martin DBR1 - has died at the age of 84.

March 2012

Adam Parr is relinquishing his post as Chairman of Williams F1 on 31 March and will be replaced by Nick Rose, the former CEO of drinks group (and current McLaren sponsor) Diageo.

With great sadness, we have learnt of the death (in his mid-seventies) of Alan Mann on 21 March.  The motor-sport and helicopter leasing entrepreneur worked closely with the Ford Motor Company in the late '70s and early '80s and the scarlet and gold Alan Mann Racing Escorts, Galaxies, Cobras and F3Ls lit up the racing world in that era. The family tradition is being carried on in historic racing by Alan's son, Henry.

The Lola Group has announced that Jean Marchioni is the new International MD of Lola Cars and that John Gobbi has been confirmed as the MD of Lola Composites.

Writer and journalist, Joe Saward, has been appointed a non-executive director of Caterham Cars Group Ltd. (but he is not involved in the Caterham F1 team).

Cranfield graduate, Gerry Hughes, has joined Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to work with Takuma Sato in IndyCar.  Hughes has worked with Bobby Rahal before - at Jaguar Racing - and with Sato too, when he was Chief Engineer at Super Aguri F1 in 2005.  

The 21-year old ex-Toro Rosso F1 driver from Spain, Jaime Alguersuari, is to join BBC Radio 5 Live! to commentate on Grands Prix alongside James Allen.

Rubens Barrichello - who drove in 322 GPs between 1993 and 2011 - is joining his friend and fellow Brazilian, Tony Kanaan, and EJ Viso in Kevin Kalkhoven's and Jimmy Vasser's KV Racing Technology Team in IndyCar this year.  The trio will race Chevvy-powered Dallaras and Barrichello will enjoy the backing of Brasil Maquinas de Construcao (BMC) - manufacturers of heavy construction equipment and specialist vehicles - and Embrase, a security and facility services company.

David Campbell has left his role as CEO of Allsport Management (which he joined at the end of 2010).

Nick Shorrock is retiring as Competition Director of Michelin, to be replaced by Pascal Couasnon.

February 2012

Rob Collard, Nick Foster and Tom Onslow-Cole will comprise WSR's BMW challenge in the 2012 BTCC, backed by eBay Motors.

19-year old Kevin Magnussen is to be 'promoted' within the McLaren Driver Development Programme and will henceforth share F1 simulator work with Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey (the latter will also assist with McLaren's GT programme this year alongside Rob Bell and Alvaro Parente).  As part of his new deal, Magnussen will drive at the year-end F1 Young Driver test at Abu Dhabi in November.  Meanwhile, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has also announced that British-born teenager, Tom Blomquist, son of 1984 World Rally Champion Stig Blomquist, has been picked to join its Driver Development Programme.  In 2010, Blomquist (now 18) was the youngest driver ever to win the Formula Renault UK Championship, going on to demonstrate race-winning form with Performance Racing in the 2011 Formula 3 Cup.

Veteran racing man, Tony Dowe, has been appointed Performance Director of Kelly Racing, which will run Nissans in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship.  Dowe ran Tom Walkinshaw's operations in the USA (TWR Inc.) and was a Panoz executive, amongst many other involvements in the sport since the late 1960s.

Russia's Vitaly Petrov has replaced the veteran Italian driver, Jarno Trulli, at the Caterham F1 Team.  Petrov brings funding from petrochemical company, Sibur, and from AvtoVAZ, the company that builds Lada cars in which Renault has a 25% stake.  Lada is soon to begin manufacturing Renault and Nissan-derived vehicles at its Togliatti factory in Russia.  Meanwhile, Mike Gascoyne has been promoted to the position of Chief Technical Officer for the whole of the Caterham Group, leaving Mark Smith in charge of all technical operations within the Caterham F1 Team.

Michael Wentworth is the new Licensing Manager at the MSA, the UK's governing body for motor-sport.  Wentworth has served as the deputy for the past year and joined the Licensing Department in 2006.

Autosport's race-car design guru and highly experienced designer and technical analyst, Gary Anderson, is to join the BBC's F1 commentary team.

Beaux Barfield is IndyCar's new Race Director.  Paul Walter is to take over from Barfield as the Race Director of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS).

Gianpiero Moretti - the Founder of the Momo steering-wheel empire and the main influence upon Ferrari in bringing about the 333SP sports prototype - has died at the age of 71.  This writer has a vivid memory of Moretti piloting a 512 Ferrari at Thruxton in around 1971.

Yves Matton has replaced Olivier Quesnel as Team Principal of the Citroen WRC Team.  Xavier Mestelan Pinion has been appointed Matton's deputy principal and Technical Director.

39-year old Toby Moody has been named as ITV Sport's new BTCC race commentator, to take over from Ben Edwards who moves over to the BBC to cover Formula One.  Moody comes from Worcester and competes at his local Shelsley Walsh speed hill-climb.  ITV Sport has also confirmed that Tim Harvey, Steve Rider and Louise Goodman will continue to be part of their BTCC team.

James Key has resigned from his role as Technical Director with the Sauber F1 Team in order to take on a new appointment back in the UK.

Adrian Sutil's F1 career looks as though it might be over, or at least on hold, after the German driver was handed an 18-month suspended jail sentence for grievous bodily harm to Eric Lux, the co-owner of the Lotus F1 Team (formerly Lotus Renault).  Lux and Sutil were out celebrating with Lewis Hamilton following the McLaren driver's victory in the 2011 Chinese GP in Shanghai.

David Brabham, Karun Chandhok and Peter Dumbreck are to drive the JRM Team's HPD ARX-03a LMP1 Prototype in the World Endurance Championship.  Brabham is also to contest the 2012 Blancpain Endurance Series with the United Autosports team, driving a McLaren MP4-12C GT3 alongside Alvaro Parente and Matt Bell (younger brother of global GT star and former LMS GT2 Champion, Rob Bell).

Jean-Michel Jalinier is to replace Bernard Rey as President of Renault's Formula 1 division.  Jalinier will report directly to the Chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Carlos Ghosn.

Williams has announced the appointment of two new Directors to its Board.  Nick Rose joins Toto Wolff, Mike O'Driscoll and Eddie Charlton as the group's fourth non-executive Director, while Louise Evans has stepped up from her former position as Head of Finance to become Finance Director.

Having announced that Jacky Eeckelaert is to head up the design team on the 2012 HRT F1 car, the Belgian is now to leave the Team and HRT's Chief Designer will now be Jean-Claude Martens.  Martens will work alongside aerodynamicist, Stephane Schosse, on the Spanish team's 2012 challenger.

Steve Clark has been appointed Chief Track Engineer at Scuderia Ferrari F1.

Damon Hill is joining Sky for its 2012 F1 coverage.  Hill will appear at the Australian, Bahrain, Monaco, British, German, Hungarian, Belgian, Indian, USA and Brazilian Grands Prix.  Sky's HD F1 Channel launches on 9 March.

Riad Asmat has been appointed CEO of Tony Fernandes's three motor-sport operations - Caterham F1, Caterham Cars and Caterham Team AirAsia.

Kimi Raikkonen has had his first drive in an F1 car since the end of 2009.  The 2007 World Champion tested a 2-year old Renault R30 at Valencia prior to his full-time return to Grand Prix racing this year with the Lotus F1 Team.

Jack Harvey, Josh Hill, Alex Lynn, Oliver Rowland, Josh Webster, Lewis WIlliamson and Nick Yelloly have all joined the MIA's elite Team UK squad for 2012.

New UK Porsche Carrera Cup Scholar, Daniel Lloyd, has signed with Team Parker Racing.

Luis Perez-Sala is the new boss of HRT F1, replacing Colin Kolles.

Action Resources Ltd assists contracted race-drivers, riders and teams to compete by helping them with commercial and sponsorship matters by way of generating sustainable strategic partnerships. This Section of "Late Braking News" brings to you some of the latest information regarding global business and marketing matters that may be of interest:

May 2012

Virginia-based Federated Auto Parts is to be the new title sponsor of Richmond International Raceway's September NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race for the next 3 years.  The event will be known as the 'Federated Auto Parts 400' and will take place this year on 8 September.

German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF have been granted rights to include footage within their news and sports magazine programmes of MotoGP and its support championships this season.   Meanwhile, Sport1 has secured a package of rights to this year's troubled World Rally Championship (WRC) and will broadcast 30-minute highlights of all 2012's remaining events.  The WRC is still without a global promoter following the collapse of the North One company just prior to the start of the season.  Eurosport and the European Broadcasting Union have been assisting the FIA with television production and distribution during the year thus far but the longer-term future of the Series remains unclear.

North America's largest fastener distributor Fastenal will sponsor all three Roush Fenway Racing entries - driven by Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth - in the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on 27 May.

April 2012

Roman Abramovich's Chelsea FC has announced what it describes as a 'ground-breaking' partnership with the Swiss Sauber Formula One Team.   Chelsea logos will feature on the cars of Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez from the next Grand Prix (Barcelona, 13 May) whilst Sauber logos will be positioned on perimeter boards at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium in West London.  Abramovich has long been targetted as a potential F1 backer and his Russian homeland is soon to stage its first World Championship race at the Black Sea resort and Winter Olympic venue of Sochi.  Chelsea CEO, Ron Gourlay, commented: "This is an innovative partnership that will see a football club link up with an F1 team like never before...... .  In a year when Chelsea celebrates 20 seasons in the Premier League, Sauber does so as a Formula One team.  We share many philosophies when it comes to how the respective organisations are run, from the development of young talent to constantly striving for success".  Chelsea features in the UEFA Champions' League Final on 19 May.

Fifteen years on from a previous attempt at an initial public offering of shares in the business, the Formula One Group (now majority owned by CVC Capital Partners) is seeking to try again, with an IPO (probably in July this year) on the Singapore Stock Exchange.  The apparent aim is to sell some 20% of the shares for around $1.5 to $2 billion.  Meanwhile, there are suggestions surfacing once again that Bernie Ecclestone is hoping to increase the annual number of World Championship races, in the next Concorde Agreement with the Teams, to a possible 24 championship rounds.  The Russian race at Sochi is already on the cards for 2013 or 2014, as is the revival of the French GP at Paul Ricard (alternating with another race, from 2013).  But it's well known that further races in American time-zones are needed and Grands Prix in Argentina, Mexico and even the Caribbean region (the Dominican Republic is being mooted) are possibly on the cards.

Pirtek Racing, which runs Andrew Jordan in a Honda in the BTCC, has secured backing from the UK cosmetic car repair firm, Revive!   It is the Company's first foray into motor-sport sponsorship.

Budweiser is to support the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia this season.  The beer brand joins Mobil 1, Michelin, ZF Friedrichshafen AG and Adidas as series sponsors.

Mexico's tourism authority - Visit Mexico - has confirmed that it is to renew its support for the Sauber F1 Team (with its Mexican driver, Sergio Perez).  Visit Mexico logos will appear on the noses of the cars as well as on team equipment and the drivers' race-suits.

Skoda - a member of the VW Group - has said that the company will continue to serve as the official vehicle sponsor of the Tour of Britain bike race for a second consecutive year.

It has been formally announced that Lotus F1 has terminated their financial title sponsorship deal with Group Lotus.  The Enstone-based team, which numbers Microsoft and Unilever amongst its backers, maintains that "Group Lotus and the Lotus F1 Team are brand partners" but that no money will change hands.

Penske Racing has announced Hitachi Automotive Systems as a 2012 sponsor of the Team's IZOD IndyCar Series programme for eight of the races for the Number Two Dallara-Chevrolet driven by Ryan Briscoe.  The deal covers the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama and the races at Long Beach, Sao Paulo, Detroit, Toronto, Edmonton, Qingdao (China) and Sonoma.  The value of Hitachi's commitment to Penske is thought to be around US$2.5m.

The Prime Minister of France is saying that it is likely that a deal will be done to alternate a French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard with "another event" - thought most likely to be the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps.

March 2012

Shell (and Penzoil) is to sponsor the IndyCar Grand Prix of Houston to be held on 4-6 October 2013.

More financial bad news is emerging from the Sahara Force India F1 Team.  The Silverstone-based outfit has been ordered by a High Court judge to pay fees amounting to over £707,000 in relation to a long-standing intellectual property dispute with its former Italian supplier of wind tunnel servcies, Aerolab.  The costs of the action are expected to top £4m once legal fees have been accounted for.  The essence of the case between Aerolab and Force India centred upon accusations that Aerolab had copied significant parts of Force India's F1 chassis design whilst working on the creation of the (then) Team Lotus T127 racer.

In the USA, Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) is finalising plans to purchase Performance Racing Industry (PRI), the producers of the motorsport business magazine and trade show.  Founded in 1963, the SEMA Trade Association provides services and resources to businesses within the specialist automotive equipment industry, including the staging of its own automotive accessories trade show attended annually by some 100,000 people.

The Exeter-based Goodridge company has acquired a 17,000 sq ft factory in Mooresville, North Carolina, in order to secure a major expansion of its US operations - the firm's customers include NASCAR, Aston Martin and BAe Systems.  Goodridge supplies fluid transfer systems and has a turnover of some £30m per annum.  Jamie Ramsden, the Company's Vice-President Commercial (North America), commented: "This new facility will give us a more flexible distribution and logistics operation whilst ensuring that we continue to meet the exacting requirements of our US motorsports customers".

It is thought that Bernie Ecclestone is negotiating with the President of Argentina for a street race to be held at Mar del Plata at the end of 2013.  It is important for F1 Management to secure as many races as possible within American time zones and it seems that the plan is to seek to add races in New Jersey, Mexico City and Mar del Plata to those already on the calendar in Montreal (Canada), Austin (Texas) and Interlagos (Brazil).

The Lotus F1 Team has announced a new multi-year partnership with Microsoft Dynamics.

Sahara Force India has finalised a new agreement with British specialist clothing firm, Chatham Marine, which becomes the Team's official provider of travel shoes; the Company will supply its current deck shoe collection to all travelling team members this season.

The Lotus F1 Team (formerly Renault) has signed California-based software solutions company, iRise, as a technical partner.

The Caterham F1 Team (formerly Team Lotus), owned by Tony Fernandes, has announced a multi-year agreement with Visa that sees the financial services provider become the Team's hospitality and 'experiential marketing partner'. Other strategic partners within Caterham F1's portfolio include GE, Dell, Intel, Renault and AirAsia.

The All American Racers-built Ben Bowlby-designed 'delta wing' sportscar entered for Le Mans has had its first circuit tests in California, with Alex Gurney and Marino Franchitti at the wheel. The project is to be supported by Nissan in order to highlight Nissan technology and the power-unit is a 300bhp 1.6-litre Nissan 4-cylinder turbo, designated DIG-T (Direct Injection Gasoline - Turbocharged).

Uncertainty still reigns over the future of Norfolk-based Group Lotus and the Lotus F1 Team (formerly Renault).  The private Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom is buying the Proton automotive group, which includes Group Lotus.  Due diligence is said to be currently in progress and, once it has been completed, DRB-Hicom will decide whether it wishes to retain Group Lotus or put it up for sale.

Pirelli is starting its own F1 tyre test team and has acquired a 2010 Renault R30 chassis.

Mouser Electronics is sponsoring Tony Kanaan's KV Racing Technology IndyCar effort.

There are rumours that Renault is considering a revival of the Alpine brand in 2014, in order to return a little 'stardust' back to the French marque.  Since 1994, Alpine's Dieppe factory has been producing Sport versions of the Megane and Clio.

Scuderia Ferrari has signed a 3-year sponsorship deal with the Brazilian Grupo Petropolis (Brazil's third largest brewer) by which the TNT brand will become Ferrari's official energy drink until 2014.

Williams Hybrid Power is supplying Audi Sport with its hybrid system for the Audi R18 Hybrid for the 2012 Le Mans 24-Hours and the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The British firm Avingtrans plc has established a company called Sigma Composites Ltd., following the  acquisition of Delta Composites Ltd., Alpha Composites Ltd., and Orion Machining Ltd.

General Motors and French firm, Peugeot, are both suffering real setbacks with regard to their sales in Europe. It has been estimated that Peugeot will only be utilising some 62% of its factory capacity in Europe this year, whilst GM (Vauxhall-Opel) will be using around 74%.  Little wonder that Peugeot recently pulled the plug on its Prototype sportscar racing programme.  Now it has been announced that GM has taken a 7% stake in Peugeot (which also owns Citroen) and it is said that the deal will generate $2bn in annual savings within 5 years.  Car registrations fell 6.6% in Europe in the month of January 2012, causing both the partners in this new motor industry alliance to comment that "each of the Companies must separately re-structure their European operations".  Philippe Varin, Peugeot's CEO, said: "The alliance doesn't replace what we have to do to sort out the overcapacity question".

February 2012

The buzz in the City is that Force India's founder, Vijay Mallya, is likely to put the Whisky distiller Whyte & Mackay up for sale, in order to clear his debts.  Mallya's United Spirits company has apparently told the Bombay Stock Exchange that the sale of its 49% stake in the Glasgow-based distillery is one of several options under consideration.  United Breweries Group, which is Mallya's holding company, bought Whyte & Mackay back in 2007 for £595m.  The Indian billionaire is currently said to be struggling to keep his Kingfisher airline in business and it is thought that he is needing to pay down debts of around £2.5bn.

The motor-sport trade body in the UK, the MIA, reports that the UK's Motor-Sport and Performance Engineering sector generates sales of over £6 billion a year, of which £3.6 billion is represented by exports.  The industry still employs some 40,000 people.

We hear from Mark Goddard's highly ambitious Eurasia Motorsport that the team has been busily testing its GT, F3, Formula Pilota and JK Racing Asia Series cars at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia.  Former F1 driver, Alex Yoong, has been helping to set up Eurasia's Ginetta G50Z GT3 cars in readiness for the first Malaysian Super Series race at the F1 GP at Sepang next month.

Tata Communications - part of the Indian Tata Group which owns Jaguar Land Rover in the UK - has entered into a 'multi-year' technical and marketing partnership with Formula One Management.   It is said that F1 businesses and race locations will henceforth be connected to the Tata Global Network, with Formula One Management's IT infrastructure and website co-located within Tata Communications' data centres.

NASCAR has signed Florida-based Creative Recycling Systems (CRS) as an official green partner.  This is the second organisation to be taken by NASCAR into a portfolio of environment aware companies 'focused on the three key areas of waste, emissions and power'.

Thomas Sabo - already a personal sponsor of Nico Rosberg - has become official jewellery supplier to the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team.  Reports coming out of Mercedes-Benz in Germany indicate that Michael Schumacher may sign a fresh 2-year agreement to carry on his career with the Team beyond 2012.

Shell is to close down its main UK R & D Centre in Cheshire (where it has been developing racing fuels over many years for Ferrari) and intends to re-locate the facility to Germany.

The well-known Norfolk-based Super Nova Racing team is no longer to compete in GP2.

UK company DC Electronics - founded by David Cunliffe some 15 years ago - is to set up a new manufacturing facility in the USA  to service an increase in demand for the firm's products from the NASCAR community.

The movie, "Senna" (now a DVD), has won the 'Best Documentary' and 'Best Editing' categories at the 2012 BAFTA Awards Ceremony in London.

The Spanish HRT F1 Team has said that Arzak-Bokado - run by Basque Chef, Juan Mari Arzak - will provide the Team's in-paddock catering this year.  HRT has also signed a 'collaboration agreement' with Spanish logistics firm, Transportes Azkar. Meanwhile, the Spanish de-greaser product manufacturer KH-7 has become an additional HRT sponsor.

V8 Supercars - the most popular motor-sport series in Australia - has announced Virgin Australia as its official domestic airlline and Dunlop as the naming rights sponsor of the V8 Supercars Development Series, from 2012.  Adelaide-based brewer, Coopers, has signed up to become the official beer partner to the Australian V8 Supercars Series.

The traditional Malvern-based British sports-car Manufacturer, Morgan Motor Company, will run two Morgan-badged Judd-powered LMP2 prototypes in this year's FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and in the Le Mans 24-Hours itself. The cars will be run by the French OAK Racing organisation and have been designed by the sister Le Mans-based Onroak Automotive company.  OAK Racing is run by Jacques Nicolet, who is also likely to be on the driver strength for Le Mans at least.  Morgan has not been officially represented at La Sarthe since 2004, when the drivers of their dark blue and silver Advan-shod Aero 8 model were Somerset's Adam Sharpe (and Taunton School was amongst the backers listed on the car), Neil Cunningham and Steve Hyde.

Brazilian auto-parts manufacturer, Aethra, has become an official partner of the Sahara Force India F1 Team - the deal ties in with the retention of Ferrari-endorsed Jules Bianchi as the team's test and reserve driver for the 2012 season, a driver whom Aethra has supported for some time.

Luxury shirt-maker Alain Figaret is to be the first 'official apparel partner' to the Le Mans 24-Hours as part of a new licensing agreement with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest.

The Mercedes AMG F1 Team has renewed its sponsorship deal with Swiss on-line foreign exchange trader, MIG Bank, for 2012.  The Team has also confirmed a new partnership with Spanish solar energy company, Isofoton.  Based in Andalucia, Isofoton has some 800 employees and specialises in the design, manufacture and delivery of solar energy solutions.

Formula One outfit, Marussia F1 Team, has announced what it describes as a 'comprehensive' new strategic partnership with on-line employment agency monster.com  A Press Release reads as follows: "Working closely with Marussia, in the coming weeks and months, monster.com will utilise its range of specialist services and products in order to help the Team hone in on top talent for a wide variety of permanent opportunities that have opened up at the Marussia F1 Team's new technology centre located in Banbury, England".  For more information, go to www.monstercooljobs.com/marussiaf1team .

The Huntingdon-based Lola Group is specifically targeting the next generation of engineers as it continues to build upon its legacy as a market leader in high-tech manufacturing and composites technology. The Company is also placing a special emphasis on attracting female engineers to its ranks.  Lola says that, at present, only 9% of UK engineering professionals are women.

Sam Hignett's Kent-based Jota Sport organisation is re-uniting itself with Zytek by running a Zytek ZO11SN in the European Le Mans Series and at Le Mans itself, with Simon Hancock and Simon Dolan at the wheel.

The Spanish oil company, Compania Espanola de Petroleos (CEPSA), together with the Swiss Falcon Private Bank and the Canadian Nova Chemicals Corporation, have extended their support of the Toro Rosso F1 Team for 2012.  The cars are to be driven by Daniel Ricciardo and rookie, Jean-Eric Vergne.

The Lotus F1 Team - formerly Renault - has secured significant sponsorship from two Unilever brands, namely Rexona (a deodorant known as Sure in the UK) and the anti-dandruff shampoo, Clear.  The deal was brokered by Zak Brown's Just Marketing agency.

Ferrari has extended its sponsorship deal with Santander for a further three years.  The Scuderia has also signed a 3-year supply agreement with Italian company Oz for its racing wheels.

The McLaren Mercedes F1 team has been certified by Carbon Neutral Investments (CNI) as 100% carbon neutral, becoming the world's first carbon neutral Formula 1 team.

January 2012

The Chinese-owned MG Motor UK is to enter the British Touring Car Championship with its MG6 GT model, with double-BTCC Champion, Jason Plato, and Andy Neate at the wheel of the Tesco Momentum 99 and KX Energy Drink sponsored cars; the Team will be run by Triple Eight Race Engineering.

The man who formerly ran HRT in F1 - Colin Kolles - is set to compete in the 2012 LMP2 Class of the FIA World Endurance Championship with Lotus, using a BMW-based V8 by Engine Developments in Lola B12/80 chassis.

Bob Neville's RJN Motorsport is to launch an attack on the 2012 British GT Championship with a JRM-built Nissan GT-R GT3 machine.  The Team may also compete in the Blancpain Endurance Series.

Peugeot has launched a bombshell into the world of international sportscar racing by withdrawing its Team of 908 HDi FAP machines with immediate effect; the Company blamed the global financial situation but has not ruled out a return to competition at some point in the future.  Peugeot returned to the ALMS and Le Mans Scene in 2007 (after a 14-year absence) with its exciting diesel-powered machines and immediately became the sole opposition to Audi, winning the Le Mans 24-Hours in 2009 with David Brabham, Alex Wurz and Marc Gene at the wheel.

Lord Paul Drayson is lobbying for a round of the new-for-2013 Formula E Championship to be held as a street race around London's Olympic Park.  Drayson - who is now the President of the MIA - unveiled his own all-electric sportscar project (bsed on a Lola B12/69 LMP1 chassis) during January's Autosport International Show.

The Caterham F1 Team is re-locating to the former Arrows base at Leafield in Oxfordshire later this year.

The FIA has been recognised by the International Olympic Committee in a move that could pave the way for an Olympic motor-sport event in the future.

Ricardo was declared the "Business of the Year" at the MIA's Business Excellence Awards event, held during Autosport International.

There have been five different fastest race lap drivers too: Button, Raikkonen, Kobayashi, Vettel and Grosjean.

Moreover, amongst those winning drivers are two who have chalked up their maiden victories, namely Nico Rosberg and now Pastor Maldonado, within teams which have not won officially in Grand Prix racing since 1955 (Mercedes-Benz) and 2004 (Williams) respectively.

The Venezuelan had never finished higher than eighth in his short F1 career thus far and yet here he was getting his Williams-Renault FW34 on to pole for the Spanish GP (after the hapless Lewis Hamilton suffered another cock-up by McLaren and was sent to the very back of the grid) and subsequently drove faultlessly to end up on the top step of the podium.  This achievement by Pastor - constantly branded a 'pay' driver by media and colleagues alike - was all the more remarkable as, in the words of Autosport's Charles Bradley, he was "utterly clueless about tyre management, when he began racing in GP2".  On Sunday he clinched victory by his skill in nursing his tyres through the race's final stages.  To quote Bradley again: "Maldonado could not have been more savvy and intelligent".  Furthermore, he brings with him a sum widely believed to be north of $29m from his home country and its oil giant, PDVSA.    In comparison, team-mate, Bruno Senna, had a poor weekend.

Sadly, during the celebrations that ensued on Sunday evening, a fire broke out in the Williams garage when a fuel rig ignited - apparently, a spark ignited fuel vapour when Senna's car was being drained of petrol.  Certainly, bravery was on display from Williams personnel and from neighbouring Force India and Caterham people.  Formula One pulled together for once.

It is ironic that Williams should achieve this historic win so soon after Patrick Head retired from front-line involvement and just after Sam Michael (for so long the heir apparent) was released from the team (and, eventually, moved to McLaren) - and, indeed, so very soon after CEO Adam Parr resigned too.  Technical Director, Mike Coughlan, was once in the dog-house for the part he played in 'Spygate' and his appointment at Williams was much criticised.  But Coughlan and Mark Gillan (Chief Operations Engineer) have moved Williams forward far and fast. 

It is quite striking that the difference between the top eight teams is minimal - possibly as small as it's ever been in the history of Grand Prix racing.

Another highlight of Barcelona must be Hamilton's performance from the back of the grid - Lewis's luck MUST change eventually in 2012 and, when it does, watch out everybody else.  Conversely, Schumacher's reputation dives with every race.

Roll on Monaco - where Pastor is a circuit specialist (from his GP2 exploits) ............ .

Drivers: Vettel = Alonso (61), Hamilton (53), Raikkonen (49), Webber (48), Button (45).
Constructors: Red Bull Racing-Renault (109), Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes (98), Lotus-Renault (84), Scuderia Ferrari (63), Mercedes AMG Petronas GP = Williams-Renault (43), Sauber F1 Team (31).
[Sauber is Ferrari powered]