JULY 1, 1996
TWR completes Arrows takeover
TOM WALKINSHAW RACING has completed its takeover of the Arrows F1 team begun at the Brazilian GP in March.
Tom Walkinshaw becomes chairman and chief executive of Arrows Grand Prix International and assumes control of all the companies which comes under the team banner. There had been serious problems between Walkinshaw and Oliver over who owned what, and in recent weeks the doors at the team's Milton Keynes factory in England were sealed to stop any machinery leaving to go to the TWR base in Leafield. The power struggle is now over and the team will be relocated to Leafield within a matter of weeks.
There is no shortage of things which need to be done at Arrows but the most important remains getting the name changed from Arrows to TWR F1 and the cars from Footwork chassis to TWR chassis without having to start a completely new team and lose all the travel benefits. Walkinshaw is being blocked in the name change by Ron Dennis of McLaren and Eddie Jordan.
Walkinshaw, however, had very long talks with Giancarlo Minardi at Magny-Cours and it may be that the original attempt to change the team name - begun by Jackie Oliver a couple of years ago but blocked by Minardi - has been revived. It is quite probable that both Jordan and McLaren signed a piece of paper to allow the name change at that time...