JUNE 26, 1995

Vanwall to make F1 comeback?

WE hear strange rumors from England of an attempt to revive the Vanwall name in Formula 1. Vanwall raced between 1954 and 1960 and employed such famous names as Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks and Stuart Lewis-Evans.

Founded by bearing magnate Tony Vandervell, the team succeeded in winning the Formula 1 Constructors' Championship in 1958 but was closed down in 1960 after Lewis-Evans's death. Vanwall led the British vanguard in F1, giving way to Cooper and Lotus in the 1960s. Tony Vandervell died aged 68 in 1967, but the Vandervell bearing company continues to this day, based in the Vanwall Business Park in Maidenhead, not far from London's Heathrow Airport.

It is currently uncertain as to whether the family company is behind the project. It may have sold the rights to the Vanwall name to others with F1 ambition. There are unsubstantiated rumors that the team has secured a factory supply for Ford V8 engines and is pitching Hertz (which is owned by Ford) for backing. There are also wild stories of Coca-Cola backing based on performance.

The entire project sounds rather unlikely, with Ford saying that it has no involvement in any such scheme; but it may be worth watching to see how things develop in the weeks ahead.