Formula One News — December 2000

STUART TURNER, the former Director of Motorsport for Ford of Europe, today paid tribute to his former boss, colleague and friend Walter Hayes who died aged 76 in the London Independent Hospital on Boxing Day.

FORMULA 1 bosses have never much cared about the demographics of the average Formula 1 race fan but it is something which will be taken into account in the years ahead as the sport grows.

DURING the holiday season everyone enjoys a glass or two of wine. Formula 1 fans would be well-advised to try a drop of two of Mario Andretti's range of wines, which he has been producing since 1996.

THE international automobile federation is to be one of the sponsors of an international conference on sports governance, which is planned to take place in Brussels, Belgium, at the end of February.

THE gradual attack of the world's legislators against tobacco advertising continues with new countries pushing through bans with each passing month.

WALTER HAYES, the man who funded the construction of the Cosworth DFV Formula 1 engine in the early 1960s, has died at the age of 76.

THE motor racing industry does not often stop but on Christmas Day there is not much action going on.

JOHN COOPER, the junior half of the famous father-and-son partnership which revolutionized Grand Prix racing in the 1950s, died on Christmas Eve at the age of 77.

THE rumors that Ferrari will be using Michelin tires in 2002 seem to have been created because there is not much news about Ferrari in Italy at the moment.

MOTOR RACING film maker Brian Kreisky and four members of his family were killed when his turboprop aircraft crashed just after take-off from Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire on Saturday.

AS the Formula 1 circus shuts down for the Christmas break, many people will be wondering if anyone in Formula 1 will figure in the New Year's Honours List, which will be revealed next week.

MINARDI are remaining upbeat about their future in Formula One, despite the recent announcement that Prost have teamed up with PSN.

JAGUAR Chief Executive Officer Bobby Rahal will be amongst a number of guest speakers at the Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) Business Congress conference.

ARROWS will launch its new passenger car, the AX3, as part of the Arrows F1 Xperience program, at the Autosport Show on Thursday 11 January.

THE Honda-owned Suzuka racing circuit in Japan is to be upgraded in an effort to stave off a challenge for the Japanese Grand Prix from the Mount Fuji racing circuit, which was recently acquired by Toyota.

LANDING a major sponsorship deal from the Pan-american Sports Network is a coup for Alain Prost but it is almost certain that there will be strings attached to the deal.

THE national government of India has approved a plan to rename Calcutta and that is expected to be a major boost for the plan to hold a Grand Prix near the city.

THE German authorities have visited the EM.TV offices in Munich and have taken away documents and spoken to members of staff.

THE Suzuka circuit, which hosts the Japanese Grand Prix, will feature changes for the 2001 World Championship in a bid to increase driver safety in Formula One.

THE Hungarian Grand Prix has been given a reprieve after the country's government excluded "world-class motorsport events" from the newly-imposed tobacco ban.

DINO TOSO, one of the bright crew of young engineers at Jordan in recent years, is following the team's former technical director Mike Gascoyne to Benetton.

PRIOR to Monday's EGM of the board of the BRDC, at which the recent deal with Brands Hatch to retain the British Grand Prix was ratified, somebody somewhere let their feelings be known.

BRITON Marc Hynes will learn early in the New Year if he has done enough to secure a test drive with British American Racing, after he completed a test with the team in Barcelona.

THE German Federal Securities Trading Supervisory Authority has recommended that there be a formal investigation into the share movements of EM.TV in the last few weeks amid suggestions that there may have been insider trading.