JUNE 17, 1996

...and talks to Chrysler

IN Montreal Tom Walkinshaw held discreet talks with the man who designed Chrysler's Lamborghini F1 engines in the early 1990s to see if the American company might be interested in being involved with the TWR V10 engine.

Chrysler engine designer Mike Royce was in Montreal to deliver a technical paper to the Society of Automotive Engineers but spent a lot of his weekend at the race track. Chrysler withdrew from F1 at the end of 1993 but in recent weeks has been rumored to be considering a return to the sport.

TWR's marketing boss Daniele Audetto - who was managing-director of Lamborghini Engineering before he joined Walkinshaw - flew to Detroit after the Canadian GP to meet with other Chrysler engineers - notably the company's vice-president (vehicle engineering) Francois Castaing, who headed Renault Sport's technical team in the early 1980s.

Walkinshaw is believed to be talking to a variety of manufacturers about a possible badging deal for his engine but is still hoping to be able to sign up with Honda to receive factory engines when the company returns to F1 in 1998.