31 replies to this topic

[HP]

http://www.f1-live.c...301101153.shtml

[Halfpint2]

Yeah - I asked the same question in another thread. I can't find a trace of him anywhere. In which case, I would guess he is a finance bod, fronting an investment team or something similar. He's definitely not a 'name' to front the team.

[Pieter]

A Google search on the name Charles Nickerson lead to an ALF fan page

[Megatron]

If its the Alf I am thinking of (alien from the 80s TV show), then he might be in line for a drive. Although Alf comes from outerspace, I assume that is an American citizen as the shows were done in the US. Therefore, the US finally has an American driver!

[Witt]

Charles Nickerson is probably the first name Tom Walkinshaw could think up when filling in the paper work. No matter who the legal owner is, it's pretty obvious TW is the driving force behind the team.

[cv2000]

Originally posted by Witt
Charles Nickerson is probably the first name Tom Walkinshaw could think up when filling in the paper work. No matter who the legal owner is, it's pretty obvious TW is the driving force behind the team.

HAHA too funny.

I wonder if Paul will be successfull in stopping them. Though it doesn't seem like a bright idea with 99 (Supertecs?) spec engine. You are right, TW is probably wanting to dump ARROWS (i heard debt is high) and then end up owning this new whatever-you-wanna-call-it team. I suspect the Concorde Agreement doesn't allow controlling ownership of two teams at once. This might seem like an odd statement because Paul was bidding for it too but remember he said he was only bidding to keep others from forming a 12th team so basicly he was gonna buy it and then just perhaps use the "intellectual property" to enhance their cars. On the other hand not much they could use from that piece of crap Prost chassis.

[K-One]

Originally posted by Megatron
If its the Alf I am thinking of (alien from the 80s TV show), then he might be in line for a drive. Although Alf comes from outerspace, I assume that is an American citizen as the shows were done in the US. Therefore, the US finally has an American driver!

He might have problems with dehydration in some races like Malaysia, Brasil and Hungary...

[Garagiste]

Curious - the article says he's a British Businessman, and yet Bloomberg have no profile on him.
(For those unfamiliar, you get a Bloomberg profile if you have ever had a notable job in any business - Tom Walkinshaw's is pages long).

A mystery man then - Witt may well be right, unless F1-live has cocked up his first name - there are plenty Nickersons on there...

[Eli]

He is in the poultry industry. He is known as the "King of Chicken". No, it's not a joke

[cv2000]

Originally posted by Garagiste
Curious - the article says he's a British Businessman, and yet Bloomberg have no profile on him.
(For those unfamiliar, you get a Bloomberg profile if you have ever had a notable job in any business - Tom Walkinshaw's is pages long).

A mystery man then - Witt may well be right, unless F1-live has cocked up his first name - there are plenty Nickersons on there...

The first guy Tom found who could buy the assets for him until he can dump arrows

[Locai]

Originally posted by Megatron
If its the Alf I am thinking of (alien from the 80s TV show), then he might be in line for a drive. Although Alf comes from outerspace, I assume that is an American citizen as the shows were done in the US. Therefore, the US finally has an American driver!

At least ALF is small enough to fit in an F1 car.

[Christos Koukides]

Atlas F1 news

Prost Liquidator Reveals Purchaser's Name

Friday March 1st, 2002

Cosme Rogeau, the court appointed liquidator of the Prost Grand Prix team, has issued a statement to clarify the deadline set for buyout offers of the French squad following reports that an undisclosed buyer had purchased the Formula One team who were put into liquidation on January 28th.

Rogeau has clarified that the buyout took place before the established deadline imposed by the FIA's regulations and so the team will be able to compete in this year's Championship if they are able to complete their line-up.

Rogeau also confirmed that, as Atlas F1 had reported earlier today, the purchaser of the team's 2001 cars and their intellectual property rights, is British businessman Charles Nickerson through the company Phoenix Finance Ltd.

The statement clarified that the offer taken by Nickerson included the following:

1. the AP04 and AP05 chassis intellectual property

2. the AP05 pieces and elements

3. the rights related to the Concorde Agreement

4. the hiring of some AP04 chassis elements and related parts

Rogeau said that no buyout offer of the Prost Grand Prix production unit (the factory) was delivered before the expiration of the deadline. He also indicated that the working plant elements will be auctioned in the coming weeks, in accordance with the order of the "Juge Commissaire" edicted on February 19th 2002.

The name "Prost Grand Prix" was not included in the assignment. Finally, he also said that he is still looking for a purchaser of the Guyancourt facilities and the Magny-Cours wind tunnel.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This Phoenix Group (and correct if I am wrong) had something to do with the Rover saviour/buyout last year?

[Garagiste]

Bloomberg draws a blank for Phoenix Group too, and it's normally very good. I'm wondering how long the group has existed?

[BRG]

Weren't Phoenix one of the bidders for MG- Rover when BMW sold them off?

[DEVO]

Well he be able to compete this year or that is out of the question because Prost GP will not be at Melbourne?

[TazioN]

He's probably the guy who mows TW's grass.

[Peeko]

Originally posted by Eli
He is in the poultry industry. He is known as the "King of Chicken". No, it's not a joke

Kenny Rogers might have something to say about that. And poor old Colonel Sanders isn't even around to defend his throne.

[coyoteBR]

Originally posted by Eli
He is in the poultry industry. He is known as the "King of Chicken". No, it's not a joke

Will the new F-1 team be sponsored by the movie Chicken Run?

[Viktor]

I found a web page for Phoenix Group.
This sounds realy strange, I dont like it.

/Viktor

[effone2k]

Originally posted by Eli
He is in the poultry industry. He is known as the "King of Chicken". No, it's not a joke

"King of Chicken" would look good on the sidepods of the car after they relaunch the team!!

[RV_Canada]

Maybe they could craft the airintake on the top to look like a rooster's comb, have the front of the car shaped like a beak, and then have the rest of the car covered in feathers and chicken-coloured paint.

Now that would be cool.

[pa]

Who knows, maybe they'll run white feather livery with a honking big yellow beak as the nose!

[Ross Stonefeld]

This is my big break!

I used to work at Kentucky Fried Chicken to pay for pre-season testing, and people are allways saying im a cock...

[Pascal]

Originally posted by Viktor
I found a web page for Phoenix Group.

This website is for an American company, so I doubt it's the one we are talking about...

[BrundleBud]

I don't think that's the right Phoenix group Viktor!

The Nickerson family are quite well known in Lincolnshire as agricultural suppliers...I wonder if he is part of that family...will look into it!

[LeDiableRouge]

Does this Charles Nickerson knew Florence Prescott in Knotty Ash (Dovecot), Liverpool circa 1950s?

If he does perhaps Mr Stephen Simpson can reveal all.

http://www.reunite.c.../listings/n.htm

That is the only reference to him I can find on a British site.

Honest.

[skylark68]

Phoenix - a bird that lived for a few hundred years, was consumed by fire, and rose from the ashes.

Nicker - a nicker is what a horse does - it neighs softly (I own a race horse), almost a laugh.

Son - Charles is the son of the Queen, and supposed to be King?


Put it all together AND.. I don't know, a scam name?


A phoenix rises from the ashes, to be King, silently laughing at the world for the ruse he just pulled in securing the rights to race for peanuts.

[josfan]

www.grandprix.com has a story about who Nickerson is...Apparently he is an old buddy of Walkinshaw's, and they have been doing shady deals for years!!! "All quiet on the Prost front" is the story...go jos...down with TWR!

[effone2k]

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld
This is my big break!

I used to work at Kentucky Fried Chicken to pay for pre-season testing, and people are allways saying im a cock...

Maybe your teammate will be the San Diego chicken (assuming he isn't a cock-up)

[effone2k]

Originally posted by josfan
www.grandprix.com has a story about who Nickerson is...Apparently he is an old buddy of Walkinshaw's, and they have been doing shady deals for years!!! "All quiet on the Prost front" is the story...go jos...down with TWR!

Before this saga runs its course, it would not surprise me if Bernie E. had a hand in the way this transpired (although he doesn't know anything about it!!!!).

[Liam]

I think he raced Touring cars either with or against Prost for a while.
Bernie's done running an F1 team, Brabham was his baby for a long while, I really can't see him getting involved again.

Sounds like a Tom thing really, with Nickerson as a front to allow Tom run two teams, in the same way George Bush is a front to allow "Cheney and friends" to run America.
It aslo seems that the FIA is going to let them in after a fine for missing Oz, just as if they missed France, and got fined, which is about the cleanest part of this story.
This looks destant for the courts, and could well stay there longer than the team stays on the grid.
How they managed to buy the assets and not take the debts is another tricky point.

If Tom jumps ship from Arrows, it will be scary just how many "Arrows" people (like HHF) find themselves with TWR contracts, not Arows ones.

[HP]

Originally posted by josfan
www.grandprix.com has a story about who Nickerson is...Apparently he is an old buddy of Walkinshaw's, and they have been doing shady deals for years!!! "All quiet on the Prost front" is the story...go jos...down with TWR!

Thanks

The rumors in Melbourne suggested that the buyers - who are believed to belong to an English company which features the word "Phoenix" (the mythological bird who rose from the ashes) - is one of Walkinshaw's oldest friends Charles Nickerson. Nickerson used to race under the name "Chuck Nicholson" and was Walkinshaw's team mate in the Jaguar European Touring Car team in the early 1980s. "Nicholson" was a capable gentleman driver without being a star and raced under a pseudonym to avoid it being thought that his activities were being funded by the Nickerson Seed company, which his family owned at the time.