F1 » Virgin to the Manor born?

Vergin sounds more like another Prodrive.

cheapskate branson, trying to find the cheapest way to get exposure. he got good exposure from his initial interest in brawn, but is very quick to move on. surely it makes more sense to be associated with a competitive team than a backmarker

Did he not fall out with Button after allegedly making improper advances to Button's girlfriend ? he's known as a bit of a womaniser, she's well tasty tho so you can't blame the bloke for trying

Branson thinks he can find another pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I dont think there's much chance of Manor having the same success as Brawn have had this season, even tho Nick Wirth is massively talented. Bransons company would probably not get any more publicity than what Kingfisher is getting now, and thats not alot in my opinion. About the only time they show a Force India is when its being lapped

Manor have been outed as Moseley stooges, Donnelley has his snout in that trough well and truly... they are not welcome in F1 due to this, so, it would be quite funny if they had an abortive sponsorship from Beardie's Cheapskate Virgin.

I believe that Brawn, Button et al have done well to avoid being sponsored by The Bearde One.
Seemingly, if one can believe press reports he, TBO, pushed his luck with Button's lady and got a flea in his ear for his pains.
I am in no doubt that if he were lead sponsor that he would push his luck with the whole organisation - Brawn, Button and through to the tea lady, to the extent that it would be "his" team, designed, built and it's strategies formulated in his image.
Anybody thinking of geeting into bed with him would do well in my view to read Tom Bower's book: "BRANSON", first published in 2000 and which to the best of my knowledge has never been subject to legal action.
Verb sap! :

crash - there is spelling error and a punctuation error in your headline for this article. The corrected headling should read: "Virgin to the manure born!"

The question is "Will Manor make it to next year's grid?"

Given that Manor applied on the assumption that the budget cap would take place, the team will have to find more sources of funding. Will Branson be willing to cough up with the dough needed to fund a team for the whole year?

There's also the problem of the Cosworth engine which Manor is getting for their car. Cosworth needs to supply at least 3 customers in order for their return to F1 to be feasible. Campos and USF1 were also planning on using the Cosworth engine but are reportedly looking at other suppliers as well.

The FOTA teams are suspicious of Manor and would prefer another team (Prodrive?) to be accepted.

Do people really rate Nick Wirth as exceptionally talented? I have heard that line a few times. I mean, I have no doubt he is a bright cookie compared to Joe Public, but by F1 standards? This is the pihrana club. I remember a Ron Dennis quote from somewhere in the mid 90s when (post Simtek) Wirth was linked with the McLaren chief designers role and Dennis said something along the lines of "I have nothing against Nick but I have never seen his car win a GP, but I've seen one break". You could argue he built a strong chassis at Simtek, especially the 1995 car which Verstappen looked promising in (Argentinian GP especially) but at Benetton he didn't produce the goods despite massive resources.

I'm undecided on this. On the one hand it's Branson's money, and being on the Brawn is now old news, he is more likely to get exposure in the short term by sponsoring yet another 'new hopeful', adopting the role of 'whie knight' for them. He has to be admired for, usually, making a rip-roaring success of everything he tries and good luck to him.

On the other hand, he's an irritating beardy ****.

I can't decide.....