To start with, im kinda obsessed with the Phoenix GP team ever since i heard about this ( i was 12 then) i want to know the complete story not just the bits and peaces.
I thought i had solved it when i came in contact with Charles Nickerson a few years ago.
A meeting was planned at his Landhouse in England but it never happened,i spoke to him once he told me that i was probably looking if Verstappen would be one of the drivers since i'm Dutch. Though he confirmed some pieces of the puzzle.
Months after speaking to him i received a couple of email-adresses of people who had worked on the Phoenix GP and they gave some great information , about the specs and so on. Sadly i lost almost all of the mails (Server crash on the host....)i received i only was able to save one email from Jon Hilton. See below:
Jasper,
I was in charge of the engine programme for the Lola Ford in 1997 as well
and was present in Melbourne that year with the team so I am well
represented on your list.
There is not much to say about the Phoenix Hart project really. I was told
(not asked) by Tom Walkinshaw to spirit two engines out of thin air for the
ex Prost cars and get them running in less than 2 weeks. I can¹t remember
where the first race was to be Singapore or Japan maybe? A long fly away
anyway.
The only place I could get engines from at no notice was the two show cars
the three-seater ones we had at the time so we pinched those complete with
electronics and wiring looms and set to work. The cooling, oil and
electronics were not too bad to sort out but mechanically fitting the Hart
engine to the back of the Prost tub was more tricky. This was not my part of
the job and was done by someone at Leafield, I presume an Arrows guy. The
solution they came up with was awful and to me looked unsafe (but to be fair
they had no time or room to play with). I personally took Tom to show him
the car and explained that I thought it was unsafe. He claimed that to
qualify as having taken part the car only needed to run in the garage, then
a few days after we had shipped it said that maybe it had to crawl around
for one slow lap of the track. I think it could have done this but no more.
There were a few rather awkward bits on the car as the Hart engine was
longer than the original engine so the wheel base was different and the body
work did not line up perfectly.
Two of my guys went out with the cars to the first race but they were denied
track access with the cars and instead had a short holiday. I am not sure if
they also travelled to the next race and did the same? I think my guys came
home after the first one. The project then died pretty quickly and we were
all relieved.
Best Regards,
I still don't have the proof the Phoenix raise out of the ashes of Prost GP (for those few months then). And im sure of that because Charles Nickerson told me that most of the papers about the Phoenix Team were at TWR, but at that time TWR didn't exist anymore in England, correct me if wrong.
I tried a couple of ways to collect information.
I contacted some drivers who were connected to Phoenix only Gaston Mazzacane replied back to my question and he confirmed he was one of the drivers. Maybe i should contact him again...
I tried also to contact back then RTL 7 Grandprix, Olav Mol and some others but they just don't give a **** if you ask them if they could help completing the research. And since i dont know how to contact the BBC about it without going thru the Contact form and get never replied i dont know how to contact ?
As example i know there is an Interview with Tom Walkinshaw about the Phoenix F1 Team. It was broadcasted on RTL 5, back then they broadcasted F1, as a preview on the Grand Prix of Sepang. But no response at all from RTL.
It seems that the Phoenix team managed to test with one of the cars but i cant get any confirmation that they actually tested it. It should have happend in April or May 2002 at Silverstone.
Tomas Enge tested the DART AP04B's back then probably because he did know how the AP04 was.
Im now trying to solve the Mystery again but since i'm working 60hours a week, because they can't find a second guy (yeah right) , i don't have that much time spare time left.
Below is some information im 85% sure of its correct. I hope some more would like to solve the mystery and recover finally photos of the Phoenix Cars since nobody saw them !
Oh and sorry for my English it's probably full with grammar errors.
========================================================================
Phoenix Grandprix (Phoenix Finance Limited) || D.A.R.T. Grandprix Team Ltd.
Information Car:
Chassis: Prost AP04
Chassis2: Prost AP05
Chassis used: 1 and 3
Chassis name: DART AP04B
Chassis: Carbon composite Monocoque Designed + Manufactured at Prost GP
Chassis color: Blue
Engine: Arrows T2-F1 V10 / Hart TWR Engines
Engine: Ford V10 they would have been replacing the Arrows during the Grand Prix of San Marino
Tyres: Bridgestone, rumours of Avon / Michelin (BBS forged Magnesium alloy)
Rear end: Arrows AX3 Seater
Electric system: 12-Volt System with lightweight batteries
Brakes: front + rear Prost GrandPrix System AP Racing
Suspension:
Front: Push rod operated torsion bars and carbon composite Wishbones. Sachs dampers.
Rear: Push rod operated torsion bars and steel Wishbones, Sachs dampers.
Transmission: 6 speed Arrows Semi-Automaic, In-line configuration Carbonfibre casing.
Clutch: A.P. Racing (carbon)
Sponsors:
The main sponsor would be PSN
Information Drivers:
Supposed confirmed:
-Gaston Mazzacane (confirmed)
-Tarso Marques
not confirmed:
-Jos Verstappen
-Pedro de la Rosa
Team information:
Headquaters: Arrows Fabric in Leafield
Managers: Tom Walkinshaw
Managing Director: Charles Nickerson
TeamBoss: Craig Pollock(?)Tony Dowe(?)
Mechanics: 30 persons , planning to work this up to 250. Most of them would come from TWR (that had 2500 Employees) and a small amount of Prost GP.
Original Designer: Loic Bigois / Jean Paul Gousset
Design: John Barnard
Spokes woman: Virginie Papin
Seasons: 2002 / 2003
Edited by DutchAutosportFan, 08 November 2014 - 23:12.
