Williams in court: Schumacher/Montoya racing car vanished without a trace

A racing team is searching for its racing car. The long-established British racing team Williams has taken a case to the High Court in London because a racing car from the 2001 season appears to have vanished into thin air.

The car in question is a Williams FW23-BMW, which was driven by Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya during the 2021 Grand Prix season. The German finished fourth in the World Championship that year, the Colombian sixth; Ralf secured three Grand Prix victories, Juan Pablo one, and the team came third in the Constructors’ Championship.

Williams is taking legal action to recover a car that disappeared after being loaned to a company. Richard Clegg, Williams’ legal representative, states in the claim that the FW23 was loaned to Autotech Performance Ltd in 2015 to serve as a display car for the company in Telford, England. This agreement, Clegg continues, came to an end in 2021 when Williams approached Autotech to retrieve the car but received no response.

Autotech subsequently went into liquidation and was wound up. Williams is now suing the former Autotech director and shareholder, Peter Thorpe, and suspects that the racing car was removed from the premises during or after the liquidation. Thorpe is suspected of having taken possession of it or of having arranged for its removal. The presumption of innocence applies.

Peter Thorpe’s defence team argues that he does not know where the car is and denies that their client took possession of another person’s property. Furthermore, the defence states that Thorpe’s memory has been impaired following a stroke in 2018.

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Williams estimates the value of the car at 750,000 British pounds (884,000 euros) and is claiming damages (the car plus hire charges) totalling one million pounds (1.18 million euros). Thorpe’s defence argues that the vehicle in question is a display model without an engine, and that its value is therefore much lower.

Whilst the case is before the court, Williams is refusing to comment further on the matter.

It remains unclear at present where the racing car is located.