Formula 1

Frank Williams Sells His Share of Storied Formula One Team

F1, Formula One, Frank Williams

By ADAM COOPER

AUTO WEEK

Williams F1 has sold a minority shareholding to an Austrian group led by investor Christian “Toto” Wolff.

The Williams team has been owned 70/30 by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head since it was started in 1977. They have resisted overtures from potential partners, including BMW.

The 37-year-old Wolff is based in Switzerland with his partner, Scottish DTM racer Susie Stoddart. He made his money in a wide range of venture-capital investments under the Marchfifteen and Marchsixteen names. His holdings currently include HWA AG, which operates the Mercedes DTM program, and rally organization BRR, which runs the Red Bull junior team. He also runs a driver-management company with Mika Häkkinen.

Wolff also is a successful racer. He started in Formula Ford in 1992, but has focused mainly on GTs. In 2004, he raced a Ferrari 575 Maranello with close associate and former Formula One driver Karl Wendlinger in the FIA GT series. More recently, he has competed in rallying.

He is lap record holder at the full Nürburgring track, a feat achieved in a Porsche 997 RSR. But he wrecked the car on the next lap after a tire failed at 165 mph.

Canadian Ryan Coniam hired as race engineer for Jacques Villeneuve in 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup

Stories

 

Burlington racer to be Villeneuve’s NASCAR engineer

TheStar.com – AutoRacing – Burlington racer to be Villeneuve’s NASCAR engineer

September 04, 2007

Norris McDonald
Motorsport Reporter
6_-_ryan_coniam_-_head_shot_16-123-2-t.jpg

Burlington’s Ryan Coniam has been hired as race engineer for Jacques Villeneuve in the 2008 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

Villeneuve, who was world driving champion in 1997, will start his NASCAR career at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sept. 22 when he will partner Bill Davis Racing teammate Mike Skinner in a Craftsman Truck Series race.

Villeneuve is expected to drive as many as seven truck races and possibly one Nextel Cup race in ’07 before going into the Cup series full-time in 2008.

The 27-year-old Coniam, former World of Outlaws sprint car star and son of Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductee Warren Coniam, has been living in Mooresville, N.C., where he was employed in research and development for Dale Earnhardt Inc. He was head-hunted by BDR and travelled to Bristol, Tenn., for an interview the weekend of Aug. 25. He was notified last Friday that he has the job and told wheels.ca today that he is absolutely thrilled.

Coniam, who started racing karts when he was seven, has carefully worked his way up the racing ladder. He had seasons in modifieds and limited supermodifieds on pavement and then went sprint-car racing on dirt, spending seasons with the Southern Ontario Sprint Car series and the New York-based Empire Super Sprints.

A move to the highly competitive U.S.-based All Star Circuit of Champions series followed and he won rookie-of-the-year honours and finished top five in points in his first year. He then raced on and off with the World of Outlaws before starting to concentrate on car preparation and team management.

Villeneuve will drive truck No. 27, renumbered in recent days by BDR to honour Villeneuve’s late father, Gilles Villeneuve, who drove Ferrari No. 27.

Jacques Villeneuve also drove with that number on his car when he raced in the CART series in the mid-1990s, winning both the Indianapolis 500 and the CART championship in 1995.