The Serious Fraud Office has started looking into the A1 Grand Prix, which is in administration with debts of £100m, and A1 Holdings, which has been liquidated with creditors claiming more than £300m. These two companies are linked to Tony Teixeira, the South African diamond entrepreneur,
The competition was originally backed by Sheikh Maktoum of Dubai, but he sold out and was no longer involved in the company at the time of its failure.
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I take it Ferrari is still angry about the A1GP engines they didn’t get paid for?
Joe, do you know if the cars are still held at Dunsfold aerodrome, or are they already sold?
It is a shame that the debts are so high, the series itself was never really a succes with only a few small sponsors on the cars. Even here in Holland, where many people watched because Jos Verstappen drove for the team, the team struggled to find some proper sponsors.
I have heard they wanted to revive this series, but this will not happen now I guess, with such high debts.
Joe …. this has been brewing for some time i believe all the cars and equipment are housed in the UK and awaiting a buyer..Ferrari is the largest creditor with i believe 6,373,042 sterling owed with another 17 plus motorsport companies owed in the balance ranging from 2,074.000 to 101.511 sterling… i am told some teams were more viable than the series and were making a modest return…
Oh, the S.F.O.
So everyone’s safe then?
Slight problem with blind men, shotgun, barrel full of fish!
But, yeah, the atmosphere IS changing. Slowly.
I’m drinking my coffee outa a S.O.C.A mug.
Guy who gave that to me is a coke head. No, not a suspect, a supposedly well respected analyst. Says that on his C.V. anyhow. They gave references.
Ooh, arrest me!
What was the old saying, something like “Only the innocent need witnesses”?
Feeling like the fishy in the barrel, on a bad day, when the light is bright enough for blind men. But that’s normal for me.
- john
A1 has resurfaced as A10, and like all dodgy bad debt companies all they’ve done is slightly alter their name and continued trading.
But what circuits, promoters, suppliers, sponsors and even drivers will want to be associated with A1/A10, it’ll only damage their reputations.
A1 was a disgrace to motor sport and A10 will be just a continuation of that disgrace.
As soon as Sheik Maktoum sold out of it, I knew A1GP was doomed. He had such passion for it in the early days.
If anyone wants to read more about the failure of A1GP Racecar Engineering had a nice post-mortem on the series in November of 2010.
The article lists the numbers involved and tends to credit Tony Teixeira with the disaster. It also notes that various suppliers were left with over 14 million pounds in unpaid bills. The total amount owed is close to 100 million pounds. This article notes that all of this should not have been a surprise to anyone.
So, what’s the word then on A10 GP? They do have a rather crummy website which isn’t very forthcoming on information. They even have a picture of an engine. (insert a big sarcastic Wow here).
About time…………….
Such a shame, the two events I went to at Brands were great, with the chance to get really close to racing, semi F1 cars being driven in anger and you could actually see them, instead of being kept behind a fence 200 yards away. Sitting on the inside of druids was fantastic as they came barrelling (sp?) round.
anyone else enjoy and miss the series? i liked the concept and the racing was good enough…
I heard that the new Lotus MockF1 was in fact the revised A1 car.
Robbie,
I think it is a Panoz Champ car…
I always thought that A1Gp was a good idea to begin with, hey even my home country Lebanon had a team, regardless that all their drivers bar Daniel Morad didn’t know to drive a car let alone an open wheeler.
I have good relations with the local team, and most of the Lebanese members were devastated when the series closed as they had just started to get the hang of it with Daniel and the rest of the newly recruited guys.
However on the subject of sheikh Maktoum, the guy never really put anything in the series. all of it was brought forward with big promises, and then he sold his shares which had cost him nothing but time for something like 30 million + dollars and disappeared leaving Teixeira and the rest with a big surprise where everyone was asking to get paid.
Details are sketchy at best, but the way i get it, A1GP was born out of debt, and there was never a good willed plan in making it a viable series. It’s a shame it never actually took off as it had the potential of becoming a feeder series to GP2 and then F1..
Karen
Your comment posted at 1433 on 28 February is grossly inaccurate and I imagine offensive to the people behind A10.
Mike Sheppard,
I doubt anyone series is involved. The original A1GP was never a serious racing championship. This is why the SFO is involved
Yes Mr S you are correct.
Sorry Timbo!
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