NOVEMBER 24, 2005

The chassis at Super Aguri F1

There has been talk in recent days about the planned Super Aguri F1 team using old 2002 Arrows F1 cars because of the problems of timing. The team is in a rush to build cars because it is apparently not allowed to buy chassis from BAR. This is arguable as BAR will soon change ownership and the intellectual property rights to the 2005 chassis might be sold by BAT. A constructor is defined in Schedule 3 of the Concorde Agreement as a person, whether or not incorporated, "who owns the intellectual property rights to the rolling chassis it currently races."

In the finest tradition, however, there may be other clauses in Concorde which confuse matters although it is hard to say as the rules of the sport remain confidential. One thing we do know, however, is that in ordedr to get an entry new teams must undertake to respect all the terms of the Concorde Agreement.

While using three year old cars acquired from Minardi is one option, it is hard to see why that is any different to acquiring last year's designs from BAR, although there may also be a stipulation that the team physically builds the cars itself.

The other option is that Super Aguri has an F1 design - perhaps from Preston Racing - which it is going to be building itself. The biggest problem in that situation is logistical as there are only so many composite laminators available at any one moment and demand is high at this time of year. Having said that a number of composite businesses have gone out of business in recent times and so there should be enough people around.

One way or the other we will discover next week whether or not Super Aguri has been given an entry by the FIA. If the teams is given an entry it is fair to say that the FIA is satisfied that the team will not be breaking the rules (whatever they may be) when it comes to chassis design.