Stefan Grand Prix sends equipment to Bahrain

  • Thread starter Thread starter daan
  • 104 comments
  • 14,635 views
Er, ludes, not all con-men are out for money. Stefan is very obviously trying to get into F1, that is what he is trying to con his way into. And he almost did it with Toyota.
I think this may be the only "honest" thing about him, I think he does have a passion for the sport as it is clear from his repeated entries. Its just he is going totally the wrong way about it.

Otherwise, I have no answer. If it was that easy to work out how he benefits from this, he wouldn't be getting as far as he has. It could be that he is simply the fall guy for someone else? Maybe he wants to run off with potential sponsors money? Maybe he thinks getting to F1 means he'll be rich?

But the facts we know of are:
-He has made several attempts to get into F1 ever since 1997.
-He has made many false claims.
-He has no money, his company has practically nothing.
-He tried to sue the FIA, then tried to apologise, then tried to force the issue sending freight to Bahrain.
 
interludes
circular ... head spin
Click to expand...

Lulz oneoneoneoneoneone.

interludes
There is, however, one thing that stands out: what does Stefanovic possibly have to gain out of all this if he's a con artist? When he had Toyota's backing, you could easily make the argument that it was to get Toyota's money. It was the same with Russell King and QADBAK trying to get currency out of BMW. But now Toyota are gone, and yet Stefanovic is still trying to get into the sport. In order to get any money out of it, he'd have to finish tenth or higher in the final 2011 standings so that he'd be eligible for a cut of the television rights rationed out by FOM. Ninth or tenth is probably the best he could hope for, but the expenses he would rack up would so far out-weigh the income that he wouldn't just be the world's stupidest criminal, but the world's stupidest man - and that would emerge long before his application ever made it to the FIA.
Click to expand...

The problem for Stefanovic is that, by a sheer fluke, the short con didn't work very well. He actually did okay out of it - a factory in Cologne, 4+ TF109s, whatever "current" F1 cars Toyota had built and prototypes, F1 tooling, couple of wind tunnels (he already has four though, owned by AMCO. Presumably bought with next year's profits and taken back in time, since $50 won't do it) all bought for a peppercorn. I mean, that's some cash right there. Well, assets that could be sold for cash. At least he actually owns a car now, rather than the VW Beetle gussied up to look like a 959 he has on his website he calls a "Sport prototype" that he built a decade before his company existed.

But he only conned Toyota* and he only got assets. What he needed was upfront, cold, hard sponsorship cash. You can't stick a factory in your pocket and sod off back to Serbia - and selling it so early in the con quite obviously gives the game away. Sponsorship cash would run almost into the hundreds of millions, particularly for a team with a potential top five car. Once he'd got the moolah, he'd bugger off to Belgrade and count it while laughing at the non-existant extradition treaties Serbia doesn't have with Germany (Toyota F1), Japan (Toyota), the UK (Formula One Administration), France (FIA) or in fact anyone (sponsors).

Now, by a fluke or some genius from Bernie, the short con has gone south. He has his F1 "team" set up but nothing for them to compete in. Well, that's no matter. He still has the team and there's still a space on the grid thanks to the utter incompetence of USF1 - and he can play the martyr to the unfairness of the FIA/Bernie for not letting him into 2010 when he has a team, a car and a willingness to compete despite the empty grid slot. Oneoneoneoneoneone. All he needs to do is make the right noises - "look, I'm so dedicated to F1 that I sent stuff to Bahrain and they still wouldn't let me in" (anyone see this stuff?) and "look, I'm so dedicated to F1 that I'm building an F1 track here in Serbia" - and the sponsors line up for 2010.


And he'd have gotten away for it if it weren't for those pesky newspaper editors.


*allegedly
 
Last edited:
interludes
There is, however, one thing that stands out: what does Stefanovic possibly have to gain out of all this if he's a con artist?
Click to expand...

This situation reminds me of Howard Marks; he (supposedly) managed international gigs for rock bands. This was (supposedly) a front for smuggling and the cover provided an opportunity to bypass customs.

Now, where is Flav :odd:
 
Stefans agreement last year was that he would run the toyota cars ONLY if he had a grid spot. There is no use of helping him continue if he had no spot on the grid. There were no allegations of Toyota that said were not working with Stefanovich because he is a con-man. They simply stated they parted company with him and would be offering new teams looking to get into F1 a helping hand with their facilities and technical know-how. My bet is that if they help out another team to enter in 2011 and they don't get an entry they'll part ways with them too if it's just a 'lease agreement'.
 
Toyota won't help another new team. Their deal with Stefan was to finish off the abandoned TF110 project, but that car will be well and truly redundant come 2011.
 
you're mistaken, they even had a press release at the start of the season stating that new teams looking for help, toyota was available for 2011 and onward. The TF110 was supposed to be a front runner, even Ferrari wanted the diffuser because of the downforce it brought. It was on Autosport.com back in march.
 
Isn't the TF110 useless now because it has a double diffuser design? It would require a re-design at least which I'm sure Toyota won't pay for.
Who is going to buy those designs now?
Also - Toyota, a front runner? :lol: We will never know how good that design is/was, but I think its more logical to assume it would be mediocre like every other Toyota than to assume its brilliant.

The facilities will be useful for many teams and if they pay, why would Toyota want to part company with only lease agreements? If someone actually wanted and could afford to buy their assets, I'm pretty sure they would be willing to sell as long as the futures of their employees were secure.

What is stopping Toyota continuing to work with Stefan if he really has money?
 
Last edited:
freshseth83
you're mistaken, they even had a press release at the start of the season stating that new teams looking for help, toyota was available for 2011 and onward. The TF110 was supposed to be a front runner, even Ferrari wanted the diffuser because of the downforce it brought. It was on Autosport.com back in march.
Click to expand...
You got a link there, slugger?

And it's unlikely they would give the TF110 to anyone, since it's redundant. It's be like Suer Aguri running a 2002 Arrows chassis in 2005.
 
interludes
You got a link there, slugger?

And it's unlikely they would give the TF110 to anyone, since it's redundant. It's be like Suer Aguri running a 2002 Arrows chassis in 2005.
Click to expand...

Hmm, not really, as the Arrows didn't need much modification, whereas the TF110 wouldn't work effectively without a double diffuser - the diffuser is a key design area for the whole chassis, just as much as the wings, sidepods, etc are. If you change one piece, you have to change it all because the whole chassis is designed to control the airflow.
It would be more like running a 2008-spec car, you'd have to change almost all of it anyway.
 
Well, whatever the case, my point still stands: the TF110 is dead.
 
So, what's the point of Stefan making a track as part of his technology park, if testing is banned? He wouldn't be allowed to use it at all.
 
It's part of a larger plan: he wants to host a Serbian Grand Prix.
 
PJ-FFL
So, what's the point of Stefan making a track as part of his technology park, if testing is banned? He wouldn't be allowed to use it at all.
Click to expand...

Didn't Ferrari test their F10 extensively at their private circuit whilst it was under development?
 
Seismica
Didn't Ferrari test their F10 extensively at their private circuit whilst it was under development?
Click to expand...

No, no testing is allowed.
 
Ardius
No, no testing is allowed.
Click to expand...

Ah thats odd then. I did hear or read that somewhere. They must've been referring to testing the car's aerodynamics in Wind tunnels.
 
They were originally going to shake it down at Misano, but the weather repeatedy got in the way, so they had to keep re-scheduling it. In the end, they broke it in at Valencia.
 
I think you mean Fiorano, ludes. ;)
 
Fiorano, Misano. They're close enough. Both have an "I" as their second letter and both end in the "ano" sound. They're both in Italy, too. The point is that Ferrari had planned to shake the car down there, but couldn't because of the weather. I believe the definition of a shakedown is wen a car is driven no more than one hundred kilometres for the purposes of making sure everything works as it's supposed to. It's more than a kick of the tyres, but less than a dedicated test drive. As you so rightly said, no testing is allowed, except on designated test days at designated testing circuits. Any deviation from that has to be approved by the FIA and there have to be FIA stewards present.
 
PJ-FFL
So, what's the point of Stefan making a track as part of his technology park, if testing is banned? He wouldn't be allowed to use it at all.
Click to expand...

He isn't building a "technology center" because he is a total complete fraud. He actually has a good scam going, if the whole thing fails he can easily blame someone else for his failure. All he has to do is make it look like he is making a legitimate effort to build a track/field a car and investors will join.

I'm guessing next he will announce he will be building the ultimate supercar by welding two BMW engines together.:lol:
 
interludes
You got a link there, slugger?

And it's unlikely they would give the TF110 to anyone, since it's redundant. It's be like Suer Aguri running a 2002 Arrows chassis in 2005.
Click to expand...

here's your link- http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/03/19/stefan-gps-toyota-deal-is-dead/

from the article- With no ongoing commitment to Stefan, TMG is now open to offers from third parties. Last week the company formally announced that it was available to undertake design and development work for road and racing projects, and thus a new alliance with a prospective 2011 F1 entrant is not out of the question.

In a statement, TMG said that it has “restructured to provide specialist solutions ranging from complete car development to individual component testing or production, aimed at the automotive or engineering sectors and beyond. Around 200 experts provide a flexible portfolio of specialised services which for the first time is available to external clients, in addition to the worldwide Toyota family.”
 
Is Stefan storing the drivers in Bahrain too?:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
 
interludes
It's part of a larger plan: he wants to host a Serbian Grand Prix.
Click to expand...

That's definitely not going to happen anytime soon. I think we can expect a Jamaican Grand Prix around the streets of Kingston or something before that.
 
Stefanovic hosting a grand prix? I never even knew about that country at all until this Stefan GP stuff came along. And there are plenty of other places battling for spots on the F1 calendar, who actually have more than 500 euros and really have an actual track to race on.
 
Last edited:
Ecclestone wants 20 races, and that includes India, Manhattan and Russia. However, he's alluded to 25 races because it seems none of the circuits on the calendar are wiling to budge. Adding India, Manhattan and Russia will take the total count to 22. France is missing from the calendar, and that makes it 23 - leaving two vacancies in Bernie's 25 races. No-one else has expressed any interest, so why not Serbia? Robert Kubica took Formula 1 to Poland and Eastern Europe, and now Vitaly Petrov makes that two drivers. Why shouldn't Eastern Europe get more of a look-in?
 
interludes
Ecclestone wants 20 races, and that includes India, Manhattan and Russia. However, he's alluded to 25 races because it seems none of the circuits on the calendar are wiling to budge. Adding India, Manhattan and Russia will take the total count to 22. France is missing from the calendar, and that makes it 23 - leaving two vacancies in Bernie's 25 races. No-one else has expressed any interest, so why not Serbia? Robert Kubica took Formula 1 to Poland and Eastern Europe, and now Vitaly Petrov makes that two drivers. Why shouldn't Eastern Europe get more of a look-in?
Click to expand...

Not sure what PJ is exactly trying to get at, but an F1 track is not going to get built with Stevanovic behind the effort regardless of what country it's in.

I also think more countries would show interest if they weren't requesting such a ludicrous entry fee.
 
Ludes said that Stefanovic wants to host a Serbian GP, but that's not happening because his 500 euros isn't enough to host a Grand Prix, much less make a track. This guy is on his way to prison rather than F1.


Didn't Bernie want a Rome Grand Prix? And who knows, maybe we will see a US Grand Prix again soon. At least they have a track...
 
Justin
Not sure what PJ is exactly trying to get at, but an F1 track is not going to get built with Stevanovic behind the effort regardless of what country it's in.
Click to expand...
You're assuming he's a con artist because he fudged his resume. He said AMCO was involved with the German company; the German company denied it. AMCO later cleared it up as meaning a person associated with the company was involved in the preliminary stages, but the tender was not taken up. So the Germans have no record of it actually happening, even if it did.

PJ-FFL
Ludes said that Stefanovic wants to host a Serbian GP, but that's not happening because his 500 euros isn't enough to host a Grand Prix, much less make a track. This guy is on his way to prison rather than F1.
Click to expand...
Stefanovic just has to gather interest.

And that 500EUR figure is old and only applies to AMCO. For all we know, AMCO was set up that way because Serbian law dictates a business lik Stefan GP needs to have a parent comany. It's like the way a business works in China: if you want to start a partnership there, you need to have a Chinese partner with a majority shareholding, and no exceptions. AMCO may exist for the purpose of making the company appear to be wholly owned by Serbians; that way, Stefan GP can be run by whoever.

PJ-FFL
Didn't Bernie want a Rome Grand Prix? And who knows, maybe we will see a US Grand Prix again soon. At least they have a track...
Click to expand...
Did you actually read my post? Bernie has said he wants a Manhattan race. Manhattan is in America. And he also hates Indianapolis. Don't bother posting the link to that story where a guy named Zak Brown was talking about Ecclestone's meeting with Tony Geroge - neither Ecclestone nor George are quoted, and Brown is a PR guy. His entire job description is to talk things up.
 
I think pictures speak louder than words. And in the recent pictures, we seen Zoran Stefanovich with governor of the serbian city he wants to build his track/tech center near. He has to have some type of money. I don't think a governor of a city or the biggest car company in the world would have dealings with someone who only made 500 euros. You can't even buy a toyota car with those type of profits, let alone run their abandoned F1 project.
 
freshseth83
I think pictures speak louder than words. And in the recent pictures, we seen Zoran Stefanovich with governor of the serbian city he wants to build his track/tech center near. He has to have some type of money. I don't think a governor of a city or the biggest car company in the world would have dealings with someone who only made 500 euros. You can't even buy a toyota car with those type of profits, let alone run their abandoned F1 project.
Click to expand...

First, it's Mayor not Governor, second Mayor's have zero, zip, nada power when it comes to what would probably be a multi-billion dollar project.

As for Toyota, they wanted out of F1, Stefanovic was the only interested person and seems to be a smooth talker. He probably reached a deal with them.

I'm not sure how much he has in his pocket(not sure where the 500E came from), but building a technology center for a barely-existent company should set off some alarms.
 
Back