NOVEMBER 14, 2000

The latest moves at British American Racing

WE understand that the political battles within British American Racing may not be over yet.

WE understand that the political battles within British American Racing may not be over yet. We continue to hear stories suggesting that changes are coming within the next few days. Adrian Reynard seems to be out of the picture at the moment but we have heard suggestions that David Richards of Prodrive may be working towards acquiring a shareholding in the team, having decided not to buy the entire Reynard Motorsport company. Richards may even have taken out an option to buy Reynard Motorsport's shares in BAR.

One possible deal is that Richards would take over the British American Tobacco shareholding in the team and will then put in his own management team. This is likely to include Rick Gorne, who we hear has been working closely with Richards in recent months. Gorne is ambitious and with Richards busy running his World Rally Championship program and looking after the entire World Rally Championship he is not going to have much time to do the job. Richards, of course, enjoyed a very successful relationship with British American Tobaco with the 555 Subaru Team and selling the shares in BAR to the team would allow the tobacco firm to justify the move by saying that it was consolidating its programs.

It is worth noting that former BAT executive Tom Moser has not completely disappeared from the scene and was spotted last week dining with the top men from the Honda engine program in England. Moser may well be representing Pollock in talks with the Japanese car company about the future of the team.