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View Full Version : Ben Johnson wants to buy all 93 Cosworth engines NOW!!



JLMannin
11-06-08, 04:02 PM
Well, by the end of the month, anyway.


From a Gallivan Auctioneers e-mail:

NOTICE OF BANKRUPTCY SALE OF 93 COSWORTH ENGINES USED IN THE CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES

The Chapter 7 Trustee for the Bankruptcy Case of Champ Car World Series, LLC has filed a Motion with United States Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, Case No. 08-02172-AJM-7 to Approve Bidding Procedures and to Approve Asset Purchase Agreement and Sale.
In summary, the sale proposed by the Trustee will be for 93 Cosworth Engines from the Champ Car World Series Races, for a cash sale price of $250,000.00 “as is, where is.” The minimum overbid is $275,000.00 and minimum bid increments of $5,000.00 thereafter.
The Trustee is in possession of 18 of the engines-the Trustee will obtain orders from the Bankruptcy Court directing the third parties in possession of the remaining engines to deliver them to the Trustee and/or buyer.
A hearing on the Bidding Procedures is set for November 18, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. and a hearing on the Asset Purchase Agreement and Sale (and any competitive bidding) is set for November 25, 2008 at 10:00 a.m., in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Room 311, U.S. Courthouse, 46 E. Ohio St., Indianapolis, IN 46224. Orders and Notices of the Hearings, as well as a copy of the Motion to Approve Asset Purchase Agreement and Sale, with an Asset Purchase Agreement Attached as Exhibit “A,” which contain the details of the proposed sale and other important additional information, are found at this link:


A couple of questions:

First, is Ben Johnson the guy who wanted to start the "green racing series",

and second, is the price 250,000 for each of the 93 engines or for all 93 total? I would assume 250k each. Wow - that's 23 million.
(edit - wrong, 250k for the whole lot, like the link reads!)

Linky to the legal documents:
http://www.swiftpage1.com/GallivanAuctioneers.gallivan/C081106113700/BIO/text.pdf

Methanolandbrats
11-06-08, 04:05 PM
Ya, he's the gay :tony:

trish
11-06-08, 04:08 PM
LOL!


Edit: And it's Johnston.

Gnam
11-06-08, 04:08 PM
Yeah he's the gay.
$250 large for all 93 engines, or $2,688 each.

My question is who's holding the outstanding 75 engines?

Sean Malone
11-06-08, 04:09 PM
Well, by the end of the month, anyway.



A couple of questions:

First, is Ben Johnson the gay who wanted to start the "green racing series",

and second, is the price 250,000 for each of the 93 engines or for all 93 total? I would assume 250k each. Wow - that's 23 million.

Linky to the legal documents:
http://www.swiftpage1.com/GallivanAuctioneers.gallivan/C081106113700/BIO/text.pdf


In summary, the sale proposed by the Trustee will be for 93 Cosworth Engines from the Champ Car World Series Races, for a cash sale price of $250,000.00

That reads as $250K for the bunch to me.

Insomniac
11-06-08, 04:14 PM
Yeah he's the gay.
$250 large for all 93 engines, or $2,688 each.

My question is who's holding the outstanding 75 engines?

I'm thinking ex-teams have them in their position and CC never collected them when they decided to close up shop.

JLMannin
11-06-08, 04:52 PM
Well, you guys confirmed my initial gut reaction that it was 250,000 for the whole lot, and I managed to talk myself out of that.

The other 75 are, in fact, in the possession of the teams. They were leased, so the teams should see no issue with giving them back, right? :gomer:

Gnam
11-06-08, 08:56 PM
Will this make buying the remaining DP-01 chassis easier? A roller still has value, but if one guy corners the engine market, doesn't he become the only potential customer?

opinionated ow
11-06-08, 09:28 PM
Well, you guys confirmed my initial gut reaction that it was 250,000 for the whole lot, and I managed to talk myself out of that.

The other 75 are, in fact, in the possession of the teams. They were leased, so the teams should see no issue with giving them back, right? :gomer:

$250k is bugger all money for 93 engines!

Oh, how is a turbocharged methanol eating V8 green? Seems the marijuana racing league has lost its morals already!

Sean Malone
11-06-08, 10:03 PM
I read on another forum that Ben is actually none other than Paul Gentilozi in disguise. At the debut of the first race he will pull off his mask revealing not only his true identity but the triumphant return of Champ Car (and free tickets to his strip club (3 drink minimum)). ;)

trish
11-06-08, 10:06 PM
I read on another forum that Ben is actually none other than Paul Gentilozi in disguise. At the debut of the first race he will pull off his mask revealing not only his true identity but the triumphant return of Champ Car (and free tickets to his strip club (3 drink minimum)). ;)

Now that he's come out you should probably expect male dancers.

pchall
11-07-08, 12:17 AM
$250k is bugger all money for 93 engines!

Oh, how is a turbocharged methanol eating V8 green? Seems the marijuana racing league has lost its morals already!

I'd suggest that running a Cossie XFE on some kind of biofuel suitable for ignition engines is mostly a matter of the ECU programming. After all, they do run the engine on racing gasoline for a bit after the race to clear the methanol out of it and the fuel plumbing.

Michaelhatesfans
11-07-08, 03:59 AM
First, is Ben Johnson the gay who wanted to start the "green racing series",



Not to be confused with this one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBMRj7XIGBI

JLMannin
11-07-08, 03:53 PM
The address for Ben Johnson is listed as being in an industrial park about two miles from my house. I will have to drive through there ans see which IRL team has their garage there.

NismoZ
11-07-08, 11:14 PM
So, he wants to own and maintain all those things? Sounds like a bargain price but how much to keep them tip-top in house for a season? :tony: will probably outbid Bengay anyway just to keep them from running at all. Maybe Ben will sell them back to KK at a loss to keep people working in Torrence (?) in return for a bargain rebuild price! Could be a win-win.

NismoZ
11-09-08, 04:40 PM
Hmmmmm...the engines are strippers. No ECUs, software, hardware etc. Who has that stuff and how much does that add to the cost?

Methanolandbrats
11-09-08, 04:41 PM
Hmmmmm...the engines are strippers. No ECUs, software, hardware etc. Who has that stuff and how much does that add to the cost?

http://www.jcwhitney.com/Auto-Parts/10101.jcw :tony:

extramundane
11-09-08, 05:14 PM
Hmmmmm...the engines are strippers.

So they run on crystal meth? Does that qualify as green?

<rimshot>

pchall
11-10-08, 09:55 PM
Seems like the ECUs are included, but none of the Cosworth proprietary programming....



8. Expressly excluded from the Assets are any software or operating systems for the ECUs.




Hmmmmm...the engines are strippers. No ECUs, software, hardware etc. Who has that stuff and how much does that add to the cost?

nissan gtp
11-11-08, 10:32 AM
no software for the ECU ? :laugh:

maybe Ben can get Linux running :opensource: :p

dando
11-11-08, 11:30 AM
no software for the ECU ? :laugh:

maybe Ben can get Linux running :opensource: :p

Think M$FT sponsorship. The cars will all be painted BSOD blue. :gomer:

-Kevin

High Sided
12-03-08, 12:22 PM
from robins mailbag..http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/robin-millers-mailbag-for-december-3/

Q: So I e-mailed you a couple of weeks ago about the IRL buying the engines from under the nose of Ben Johnston so that they could kill his series and you said sadly the IRL had no interest in the Panoz or anything else. So now I read that he showed up to the auction only to find out that the auction had been moved up to an earlier date. Did the IRL actually buy the engines?

Kyle

RM: The story I heard was that Johnston showed up at the scheduled time and was informed the auction had been moved up an hour and it was already over. And that Gerry Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven had re-claimed the engines from their own company. Then I read Kalkhoven claims they offered to lease the engines to Ben at a "reasonable rate" because he didn't have the necessary technology to run them. And there is something to that, because it's not like you can just buy a Cosworth, bolt it in, push the start button and go racing. There's electronics galore and I'm sure data engineers would also be needed.

Methanolandbrats
12-03-08, 12:32 PM
Every year more and more "reasonable" people become involved in running motorsport :saywhat:

JLMannin
12-03-08, 12:51 PM
from robins mailbag..http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/robin-millers-mailbag-for-december-3/

Q: So I e-mailed you a couple of weeks ago about the IRL buying the engines from under the nose of Ben Johnston so that they could kill his series and you said sadly the IRL had no interest in the Panoz or anything else. So now I read that he showed up to the auction only to find out that the auction had been moved up to an earlier date. Did the IRL actually buy the engines?

Kyle

RM: The story I heard was that Johnston showed up at the scheduled time and was informed the auction had been moved up an hour and it was already over.

He must have been confused by daylight savings time. :rofl:

Methanolandbrats
12-03-08, 01:46 PM
He must have been confused by daylight savings time. :rofl:
:laugh::laugh:

trish
12-03-08, 01:53 PM
If the time was really moved up without notice to the guy who wanted to buy the engines, how is this a competitive bid? How is this even ethical?

Methanolandbrats
12-03-08, 02:24 PM
If the time was really moved up without notice to the guy who wanted to buy the engines, how is this a competitive bid? How is this even ethical? Ethics and racing :rofl: Don't waste your time trying to figure that one out.

Insomniac
12-03-08, 04:35 PM
If the time was really moved up without notice to the guy who wanted to buy the engines, how is this a competitive bid? How is this even ethical?

My guess is the auction company reserved the right (doesn't mean they could) to move/change the auction terms/times.

Cam
12-03-08, 06:18 PM
Every year more and more "reasonable" people become involved in ruining motorsport :saywhat:

Fixxered.

miatanut
12-05-08, 01:51 AM
A blessing in disguise. Now Atlantic can be his focus. Dump some grip. Add some power. Real racing for real drivers. Ride buyers need not apply.

extramundane
12-05-08, 09:32 AM
Ride buyers need not apply.

So you're content with single-digit grids?

Easy
12-05-08, 11:26 AM
So you're content with single-digit grids?

I think that would be a single car grid.

extramundane
12-05-08, 12:07 PM
I think that would be a single car grid.

1 is a single digit. :D

miatanut
12-05-08, 01:02 PM
So you're content with single-digit grids?

If a low cost series like Atlantic, with the publicity a low downforce higher power formula would generate, can't provide a place for professional racing drivers, then I'm fine not watching any North American open wheel at all. I remain forever biased by the tail-out stuff I got to enjoy as a kid.

F1 was completely transformed last year by the elimination of traction control, and the unusual number of wet races made it even better. Minassian at Le Mans on slicks in the rain was mind-blowing. At some point, somebody will get smart and put together a North American series built around that kind of racing.

extramundane
12-05-08, 02:02 PM
If a low cost series like Atlantic, with the publicity a low downforce higher power formula would generate, can't provide a place for professional racing drivers, then I'm fine not watching any North American open wheel at all. I remain forever biased by the tail-out stuff I got to enjoy as a kid.

F1 was completely transformed last year by the elimination of traction control, and the unusual number of wet races made it even better. Minassian at Le Mans on slicks in the rain was mind-blowing. At some point, somebody will get smart and put together a North American series built around that kind of racing.

While I don't disagree with the sentiment, I think the days of "professional" open-wheel racing in this country are done, at least for the foreseeable future. While a series such as you suggest might generate a lot of fan interest amongst diehards, I suspect you'd have a hard time filling a phonebooth with corporate interests willing to bankroll such a venture. In an economy where the ALMS is going to be lucky to have a 20-car grid next year, the odds of any racing series existing without the presence of ride-buyers is slim.

NismoZ
12-05-08, 02:51 PM
Huh, looks like KK read my post of 11/7 and decided it'd "be good for business." :D All makes perfect sense. Now, Audi/Porsche turbo Cosworths for the ICS?

SurfaceUnits
12-05-08, 03:06 PM
Huh, looks like KK read my post of 11/7 and decided it'd "be good for business." :D All makes perfect sense. Now, Audi/Porsche turbo Cosworths for the ICS?

which four cylinders will they disable