JULY 31, 1995

The ultimate F1 dream

THE Arrows F1 team launched a fascinating marketing scheme called "The Ultimate Dream" last Friday at Hockenheim. The scheme plans to give away no fewer than seven of its old F1 cars as competition prizes and make sure that people who drive them are properly trained.

The cars have, in fact, been bought by an American soft drinks company called Global Brands - which is run by English businessman Nigel Spiro. The Ultimate Dream competition will be used to launch Global Brands's products: California Seltzer, Hype energy drink, New York Ice Tea, and a male grooming product called Arrows, into the European market.

The launch also saw the first appearance of a new Arrows team logo, suggesting that Jackie Oliver is planning to continue to run the team he founded rather than selling it as had been thought.

Oliver has to wait until the end of August, however, because up until then Footwork boss Wataru Ohashi can buy back the team if he wishes to do so. The buy-back clause may not include Oliver and Rees, and there have been suggestions that Ohashi can put in other people. This might include former Arrows team manager John Wickham or even David Sears of the Supernova F3000 team, which is looking for a way to break into F1.

Arrows also has to decide if it is to continue with Brian Hart's engines within the next three weeks.