JUNE 2, 1997

The future of Tyrrell

THERE have been a lot of rumors in recent days suggesting that Tyrrell is about to be sold. It is not the first time there have been such stories over the years and Ken Tyrrell has always insisted that the team will remain with the Tyrrell Family. The shareholdings in the team reflect this intention with Ken controlling 18% of the shares - with another 32% apparently under his control. The other shares are held by his sons Bob (23%) and airline pilot Kenneth (10%) with a further seven percent believed to be held by Ken's various grandchildren.

The only non-family shares appear to belong to technical director Harvey Postlethwaite who owns 10% of the equity.

There is no shortage of people who are interested in buying the team at the moment. Insiders report that there have been several consortiums from the City of London which have expressed an interest in acquiring the team and leaving the Tyrrells to run the show. There are also a variety of motor racing people who want to take over the team.

One name which has come up recently is that of Canadian businessman Walter Wolf (who ran an F1 team in the 1970s with Harvey Postlethwaite - Tyrrell's technical chief - designing for him). Another rumor suggests that Jacques Villeneuve's manager Craig Pollock and Adrian Reynard are keen to buy the team, so they can close it down and use the factory - and the Tyrrell staff - to build chassis for Prost Grand Prix.

Other rumors have linked Tyrrell with Prodrive and with Dome, both of which seem to want to enter Grand Prix racing.