Phoenix Grand Prix, which became for a short instant D.A.R.T. Grand Prix, is some fascinating story surrounded by a lot of mystery. Even after 25years, it is not clear in what form the team eventually existed. Rising as a Phoenix from its Prost Grand Prix ashes the team disappeared before it even arrived on the grid. Therefore, I decided to start from scratch again and dive deep into the Phoeinx mystery. The team that came alive after Charles Nickerson acquired Prost Grand Prix’s assets except their entry for 2002. While late Tom Walkinshaw would give the needed technical support to get the team on the grid.
Earlier this year I wrote several articles already about the Phoenix Grand Prix Team. You can find the stories here, included the first article I wrote about the project back in 2017. This article is more about what is known about the car and the structure of the team. Nothing really special, for the near future I’m working on an article about the short period the team changed their name to D.A.R.T.
Prost Grand Prix after the 2001 Japanese Grand Prix
Prost Grand Prix managed to survive the winter of 2000-2001 just barely. Financially, the team was not in a good shape. However, they struck a deal with Ferrari to use their engine from 2000. The engines were rebadged to ACER. Fitted in the Prost AP04 the combination was a decent one. Prost managed to score four points with Jean Alesi, which was good enough to finish ninth in the championship.
However, after the Japanese Grand Prix the Prost Team was financially struggling. In 2001 Pedro Diniz, with the help of his father, bought himself in the team. He was seen a couple of times at the pits as well. However, Alain and Pedro had a dispute and Diniz decided to leave the team. Alain saw less and less options to keep his team afloat. While his factory workers tried to convince the French government to help them it didn’t work out. The team went into bankruptcy, and an auction was held eventually. Most of the team’s assets were purchased by Charles Nickerson’s Phoenix Finance.
Some trivia. While Alain Prost was desperately looking to save his team. His old companion Pedro Diniz, together with his father, offered(according to the rumour) 75million dollar in early November 2001. Alain declined it, I believe if he would have accepted it Prost would have stayed on the grid as Diniz Grand Prix.
Phoenix Grand Prix
The registered name behind Phoenix was Phoenix Finance Ltd, which was a company from Charles Nickerson. Nickerson was a good friend from Tom Walkinshaw. In the past both were teammates and Charles had a decent career as well in rallies. On the 1st of March 2002 the news came out that Charles Nickerson, with the help of Tom Walkinshaw, acquired assets from Prost Grand Prix. With it were some Prost AP04 cars, lots of spare-parts, and it seems as well the blue-print for the stillborn Prost AP05. As the Prost Grand Prix team already started with their design for 2002 in the off-season.
Paul Stoddart was the first team boss who opposed against the purchase of the Prost assets. He believed the assets were only purchased to gain the money which Prost would get in 2002 due to their performance in 2001. However, which would be known later, within the assets there were not the starting papers. Phoenix Grand Prix would have had apply for a spot on the grid. Bernie Ecclestone eventually stated this just before the start of the Australian Grand Prix. It is said that Nickerson believed, and was told so, that he would buy also the rights to race in 2002. It could mean that in 2002 Phoenix Grand Prix would still be branded Prost Grand Prix for that matter.
Soon it became known that Tom Walkinshaw’s TWR would supply the needed technical people like engineers and designers. It was also rumoured that the team’s test team would be “hired” by Phoenix Grand Prix from TWR/Arrows to do the race weekends for the team. TWR had at that time 2500 employees. For those who don’t know it, back in 2002 many teams had special test teams up and running. Testing in that era was unlimited!
Phoenix Grand Prix structure
In other articles I will dive deeper into Phoenix Grand Prix Ltd. The structure is more about what Phoenix Grand Prix their plans were regarding their drivers, suppliers, sponsors and so on. The team would be based in a factory near the Arrows factory in Leafield.
As soon the assets from Prost Grand Prix were acquired the first thing the team did was looking for an engine. As Tom Walkinshaw was involved more or the front than the background the cars would be fitted with the Arrows V10 engines. These engines used Arrows in 1999 to power their A20. The engines were ex Hart engines and therefore ancient. Though, it was the quickest possibility for the team. As you can read in the conversation I had with Jon Hilton it was an insane job to have the engines fitted.
The team would use the old Prost AP04 cars and rebrand them to the AP04B. However, the cars would been fitted with the Arrows AX3 rear. This was because the old V10s came straight out of the back of these cars. The AP04B would be a hybrid and only be used in the first few races of the season. It seems that the team would continue building on the AP05 which was already beyond it’s designing stage. Parts of the car were already constructed, and a wind tunnel model was already tested. For the first races the car would stay in blue. There were no sponsors announced yet. There was an issue regarding the tyres, while Prost drove with Michelin in 2001, Michelin already stated that they could not supply. Bridgestone stated the same which would mean the car would have no tyres. At that time Avon might have been an option, perhaps also Pirelli.
Around 50people from TWR were to join Phoenix Grand Prix. While suggested some old Prost Grand Prix personal would be able to stay, it seems that none were asked for a position within Phoenix Grand Prix. Some positions were known within the team.
Managing Director: Charles Nickerson
Spokesperson: Helen Shergold/Virginie Papin
Team Boss: Tony Dowe(rumoured)
Designer: John Barnard(rumoured)
Interestingly were the drivers and especially those who were rumoured. Back in 2012 I asked Gastón Mazzacane if it was true he signed a contract with Phoenix Grand Prix. He told me I was correct and that he was to race in Malaysia. However, there was not a car to race with. Most likely, Tarso Marques would have been the second driver due to the money. However, both Jos Verstappen and Pedro de la Rosa were rumoured as well to drive for the team. Eventually, the team did appear in Malaysia. However, the car did not cross customs. From that point on it became a big soap.
