Alt-1956: Post-season auction is over!

[DanielPT]

Alfa Romeo confirm their entry in the 1956 season and will want to update all their current chassis and engines twice.

Drivers wanted are:
Car 1: Jack Brabham
Peter Collins
Dries van der Lof
Robert Manzon
José Froilan Gonzalez
Porfirio Rubirosa
Maria Teresa de Filippis
Harry Schell

Car 2: Giuseppe Farina
Tony Brooks
Dorino Serafini
Desmond Titterington
David Hampshire
Hernando da Silva Ramos
Paco Godia
Reg Armstrong

Car 3: Tony Gaze
Alberto Ascari
Consalvo Sanesi
Peter Whitehead
Umberto Maglioli
Mike Hawthorn
Stuart Lewis-Evans
Roger Loyer

[Gonzalez]

I have made up my mind to instead of waiting for the driver decision, i have decided to buy another Loonmotor Package for Equipo Castelldefels for £17000. So in this case, i am gonna split up the interested drivers for which car they could be drving: (with a few more additions, and this will be final)

Car 1:
Paco Godia
Alfonso de Portago
Maurice Trintignant
Hernando De Silva Ramos
Wolfgang Von Trips

Car 2:
Eugenio Castellotti
Cliff Allison
Graham Hill
Hermando De Silva Ramos
Luigi Musso



I have withdrawn my interest in Mario De Araujo Cabral.

[Salamander]

Loonmotor will construct another new FG01 chassis and new SAMC-1A engine to supply Equipo Castelldefels.

[Nessafox]

Back on the forum now.
-First of all i will confirm that i will order 1 new T41. The owners of the intellectual rights need to confirm the cost of a new car. (which was 40000 last year)
-Maserati will receive the money they need to design a new top tier engine. The contractual terms are a deal that i can buy Maserati engines for the construction price for a period of 5 years.
So FantometteBR only has to say 'yes' in this thread, and he receives the money.
-For the deal with Coventry Climax about using their engine in a second car, i need the information to be more specific.
Edit: i got confirmation that it will be the FPV I, apparently based on the old Jaguar. It's not an impressive engine, but it's affordable, and having a positive relation with Coventry Climax might come in handy in the future.

After that, i will post driver bids.

[FantometteBR]

Maserati approves the deal!

[Nessafox]

Then with the engine deals approved, i will buy 2 new T41's, and one brand new Maserati engine. It's still unclear to me if i get the Coventry Climax for free, for a reduced price, for the construction price or for the full price, so please confirm this to me quickly.

Driver bids for car 1 (Maserati)
1 Tony Bettenhausen (as suggested by Coventry Climax) 2 Mike Hawthorn 3 Lucien Bianchi 4 Harry Schell 5 Troy Ruttmann 6 Jacques Swaters 7 Reg Armstrong 8 Bob Sweikert 9 Olivier Gendebien 10 André Pilette
Driver bids for car 2 (Climax)
1 Reg Parnell 2 Stuart Lewis-Evans 3 Dennis Poore 4 Lance Macklin 5 Lucien Bianchi 6 Bib Stillwell 7 Stan Jones 8 Ron Flockhart 9 Roy Salvadori 10 Alan Brown

I also want to add another condition to the Maserati deal: that if Maserati goes bankrupt, the intellectual property of their engine will automatically be transferred to Cooper Car Company.

[Miguel98]

The Coventry is sold for 14k to Cooper

[Rated]

MSG Köthen will attempt to enter as a customer. The team will be based in Köthen (German Democratic Republic). I will give some little backstory on this team, Köthen is Theo Fitzau's birthplace. Despite the communism in East Germany, Fitzau managed to save some money from his soap factory/trade and the communist government (after exhausting negociations). He has been given special authorizations to travel freely and use western machinery. The communist government wants to show that they can enter motorsports and do as well as (if not better than) their capitalist counterparts.

Notes : It was agreed with Tommy that Fitzau didn't defect to West Germany as he did in real life as he had been given soviet preference during the 1955 Soviet GP.
MSG Köthen was a real Formula 2 East German team in the 50s and Fitzau ran for them.
Yes, I really want to give Fitzau a real career, and I would like him to get a real opportunity to at least get respectable results.

As the team will rely on Theo Fitzau, he will be the only driver on my shortlist.

[Peteroli34]

MSG Köthen will attempt to enter as a customer. The team will be based in Köthen (German Democratic Republic). I will give some little backstory on this team, Köthen is Theo Fitzau's birthplace. Despite the communism in East Germany, Fitzau managed to save some money from his soap factory/trade and the communist government (after exhausting negociations). He has been given special authorizations to travel freely and use western machinery. The communist government wants to show that they can enter motorsports and do as well as (if not better than) their capitalist counterparts.

Notes : It was agreed with Tommy that Fitzau didn't defect to West Germany as he did in real life as he had been given soviet preference during the 1955 Soviet GP.
MSG Köthen was a real Formula 2 East German team in the 50s and Fitzau ran for them.
Yes, I really want to give Fitzau a real career, and I would like him to get a real opportunity to at least get respectable results.

As the team will rely on Theo Fitzau, he will be the only driver on my shortlist.

If you need a car Gordini will be willing to supply you one of last years machinery

[pi314159]

O.S.C.A. will build four F156A chassis and four 1500S-56 engines for their works entry.

Our preferred drivers are:
Peter Collins
Stirling Moss
Robert Manzon
José Froilan Gonzalez

Our backup options are:
2. Peter Whitehead
3. Tony Bettenhausen
4. Porfirio Rubirosa
5. Umberto Maglioli
6. Dorino Serafini
7. Lance Macklin

[Normal32]

Edited driver bids, can be found on the original post

[Rated]

If you need a car Gordini will be willing to supply you one of last years machinery

Thanks for the offer but I had already agreed on a deal with pi and O.S.C.A. just a few minutes after I had submitted my entry.

MSG Köthen will buy a F156A chassis and a 1500S-56 engine from O.S.C.A, the money is now ready.

[Nessafox]

So the pre-season costs of Cooper Car Company should be:
40000 for one T41
40000 for the second T41
14000 for the Coventry Climax
15000 (builing cost only,as already agreed) for the new Maserati engine
45000 for the Maserati design (if i'm not mistaken, Maserati will receive 15000 from selling two Cooper cars, so he can afford a quarter of the price) Considering this is a big heap out of our budget, this means i want at least 50% of the legal rights and 50% of the income of this engine. Fantomette, please reply to this message by 'yes'. This is a fair deal, as i contributed significantly more than i'm asking in return. And also realise this deal is the only choice if you want to be competitive ever again.

That should total 154000, which is tightly in in our budget. Considering we will not participate outside of the British Isles. That should not become a big problem. Not counting bad luck like damage.

[FantometteBR]

Yes, I agree to the plan

[Londoner]

Hampshire Racing Alliance will offer contracts to the following drivers:

Roy Salvadori
Eric Brandon
Archie Scott-Brown
John Riseley-Pritchard
Paul Emery.

HRA will also purchase two calendars from BRM and take two Kevin McAlpine figurines off their hands as well. In addition, HRA will also purchase two gold-plated statues of Tony Vandervell, and two "Hunt The Commie" boardgames from Vanwall.

[kevinbotz]

B.C.M.A., pursuant to the agreement reached regarding the engine supply for Team Lotus for the 1956 Formula One season, will construct three new Alvis-Armstrong Siddeley Griffin engines. Team Lotus will be charged £15,000 per unit. Any and all costs of repair shall be assumed by the customer in question.

[Miguel98]

Because of Lotus cutting ties with Coventry, we offer our services to any team looking to have an official support of Coventry for 1956.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Because of Lotus cutting ties with Coventry, we offer our services to any team looking to have an official support of Coventry for 1956.

IRA is looking for an engine partner for its 1957 chassis design.

[Nessafox]

Apparently, IRA sold their shares in the T41 to Coventry Climax without explaining a lot, and now i have to explain the whole backstory. So have some patience TommyKL, i now have to make sure Miguel98 fully understands what they have gotten themselves into.
What Miguel needs to do now is agree with FantometteBR and dr-Baker (whose Brunel still owns 25% of the rights too, altough he's in a minority and therefore doesn't need to agree, it would be best to at least inform him) to decide on the official selling price of the T41. The original price was 40000, i suggest it remains the same, but they have to decide, i can't decide, i have no rights to decide.

Also Maserati might need to confirm the name of their engines. The costs involving the new Maserati engine posted above are agreed on and official. For the design they will pay 15000, i will pay 45000. They will receive 50% of the intellectual rights of the engine, and so will i. I will only pay building costs if i need a new Maserati engine.

The selling price of the Coventry Climax engine is perhaps a question mark too, because Miguel seems to be quite confused at the moment.

So sorry for the inconvenience, but this time it's not really my fault

[Bobby Doorknobs]

The selling price of the Coventry Climax engine is perhaps a question mark too, because Miguel seems to be quite confused at the moment.

We're all confused

[Miguel98]

After some (very) interesting weeks at Coventry...

We have finally some news.
We vote to reduce the price of the Cooper T41 to only 30k, in order to be able to sell a bit more cars compared to last season to drivers wanting to do an one-off for the rounds. We like to know Maserati and Brunel's opinion on this.

Coventry also announce a plan to run the IRA owned Lancia D50 in the first race of the season, and announce that they'll supply, starting in 1957, IRA with the Coventry FPV IV. The Lancia D50 will have on it's back the Coventry PFV IV built by us. The cost of the D50 is 5.000. We'll wait for the driver RNG to be over before we announce our driver for the Monaco Grand Prix.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

After some (very) interesting weeks at Coventry...

We have finally some news.
We vote to reduce the price of the Cooper T41 to only 30k, in order to be able to sell a bit more cars compared to last season to drivers wanting to do an one-off for the rounds. We like to know Maserati and Brunel's opinion on this.

Coventry also announce a plan to run the IRA owned Lancia D50 in the first race of the season, and announce that they'll supply, starting in 1957, IRA with the Coventry FPV IV. The Lancia D50 will have on it's back the Coventry PFV IV built by us. The cost of the D50 is 5.000. We'll wait for the driver RNG to be over before we announce our driver for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Just so there will be no headaches, the car that will be loaned is Lancia D50 chassis 4.

[Nessafox]

30k? You realise you only earn 1250 per sold car? I doubt Maserati and Brunel are that stupid. You know, Maserati kind of needs the money from selling 2 cars to construct their engines. If they don't get that money, i will have to pay for their engine all by myself. I can't possibly give them intellectual rights for an engine they didn't pay a penny for. They would be stupid to agree on a price like that.
Perhaps i should have mentioned that a top tier car costs 25000 to build, regardless if you're works or not. That's why the original price was 40000. Then again it's not my job, Tommy has linked a table with all the prices in the first post. The T41 is a highest tier design.
Oh god, IRA, you really sold him a cat in a bag

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Oh god, IRA, you really sold him a cat in a bag

No, we just realised the full potential of the Lancia package was more than good enough for us

[Nessafox]

Oh god, IRA, you really sold him a cat in a bag

No, we just realised the full potential of the Lancia package was more than good enough for us

I mean, you sold him something and he apparently had no idea what he just bought. Irish business tactics...

[DemocalypseNow]

Also Maserati might need to confirm the name of their engines. The costs involving the new Maserati engine posted above are agreed on and official. For the design they will pay 15000, i will pay 45000. They will receive 50% of the intellectual rights of the engine, and so will i. I will only pay building costs if i need a new Maserati engine.

Ferrari did a deal in principle with Maserati to sell them Intellectial Property to a brand new engine design for the sum of £40,000, but Maserati as of yet have not confirmed the deal.

[Nessafox]

Also Maserati might need to confirm the name of their engines. The costs involving the new Maserati engine posted above are agreed on and official. For the design they will pay 15000, i will pay 45000. They will receive 50% of the intellectual rights of the engine, and so will i. I will only pay building costs if i need a new Maserati engine.

Ferrari did a deal in principle with Maserati to sell them Intellectial Property to a brand new engine design for the sum of £40,000, but Maserati as of yet have not confirmed the deal.

They have nothing to gain from that deal. Altough in my proposal they share the intellectual rights, this also allows them to have twice as many cars with their engines, so that compensates. Generally it's cheaper for them to stick with Cooper. And besides, i'm sure they will value that i'm a man of my word. I gave them the foundations for a better future, surely they won't betray us, right?
But then again, you are Biscione and somehow always gets everything done. But even if they choose your option, i will demand compensations from them. Done deals are done deals. (for examplei will demand to keep receiving engines for only the building cost)

[DemocalypseNow]

Also Maserati might need to confirm the name of their engines. The costs involving the new Maserati engine posted above are agreed on and official. For the design they will pay 15000, i will pay 45000. They will receive 50% of the intellectual rights of the engine, and so will i. I will only pay building costs if i need a new Maserati engine.

Ferrari did a deal in principle with Maserati to sell them Intellectial Property to a brand new engine design for the sum of £40,000, but Maserati as of yet have not confirmed the deal.

They have nothing to gain from that deal. Altough in my proposal they share the intellectual rights, this also allows them to have twice as many cars with their engines, so that compensates. Generally it's cheaper for them to stick with Cooper. And besides, i'm sure they will value that i'm a man of my word. I gave them the foundations for a better future, surely they won't betray us, right?
But then again, you are Biscione and somehow always gets everything done. But even if they choose your option, i will demand compensations from them. Done deals are done deals.

I don't see the problem here. They just pay less for the the same end result. It's IP, when they build the engines, they're still Maserati engines. Maserati pay 20K, Cooper pays 20K, you each own 50% of the IP. It's essentially the same idea, just with a guaranteed outcome rather than a mystery.

[Nessafox]

I don't see the problem here. They just pay less for the the same end result. It's IP, when they build the engines, they're still Maserati engines.

Well the problem is: done deals are done deals, so i need compensations. That's all Also it's a case of gentlemans agreements. It's up to them if they stick to that or not.
Edit: i didn't read your last edit yet. Well if you explain it that way, it is indeed the same idea. But why would you sell an engine design under its price? What tricks have you got up your sleeve? Unless it's a not a top tier engine, but if that's the deal, i'm out of it. Also 20k is more than 15k, he still pays more for your option.
In my option he pays 25% but gets 50% of the rights.

Yup Tommy, it seems like you need to have even more patience. I'm sorting out things with Biscione right now, because at least it will be arranged pretty fast if he's in charge.

[tommykl]

I don't have the time to worry about anything, I have loads of coursework and placement applications to worry about at the moment, so I'm taking a two-week break from running this.

Having said that, if I can find time, I might just run the driver RNG before then...

[FantometteBR]

Maserati will name their proposed engines as 56A

[Nessafox]

You take the time you need.

At least we can now proudly announce that at least regarding me everything is arranged.
50000 construction of two brand new Cooper T41 (i think they're chassis 6 and 7)
15000 construction of one Maserati 56 A (engine 1)
14000 purchase of Coventry Climax FPV I (engine number TBA)
50000 other costs as explained iby Biscione.
Total: 129000.
Official with agremeents with Fantomette, Miguel and Biscione for their involvement.

Selling prices are:
-T41 at 35000
-56A for 25000
-T41-56A combinations for 55000
I will edit this post when finalised and will mention the date and time of the edit. Last edit December 18, 10:50, GMT+1

[DemocalypseNow]

Maserati will name their proposed engines as 56A

And the deal for the engine IP is now complete. So the following chain of transactions will take place, as already confirmed already by the appropriate parties;

Coventry Climax sells their 25% share of the Cooper T41 IP to Scuderia Ferrari for £20,000.

Scuderia Ferrari gives the IP of Engine X, plus a £7,500 cash fee to Maserati. In exchange, Maserati sends AM53 chassis 1, 2, 3 and engines 1, 2, 3 to Scuderia Ferrari.

Cooper Car Company pays a cash fee of £50,000 to Scuderia Ferrari. In exchange, Scuderia Ferrari sends Cooper 25% IP of the Cooper T41 currently in its ownership.

As part of the deal, Cooper gets to buy new Maserati engines at build cost until the end of 1961, and will inherit the IP to the new Maserati engine if the Italian marque goes bust before or during 1959.

[TomWazzleshaw]

After the recent successes of his business empire and the Macau Grand Prix, Teddy Yip would like to announce his plans to enter two cars for the season-ending Thai Grand Prix. Cars and drivers will be announced at a later date.

[Miguel98]

After driver RNG, Coventry try to seduce Stuart-Lewis Evans to drive their car in the first race of the season. In case he refuses, we offer the driver for a farewell race to Toulo de Graffenried.

[tommykl]

The Great Big Huge 1956 Driver Selection RNG

Yes, it's that time of year again! The time where all the teams come together to choose their drivers and inevitably get disappointed. But who will be most disappointed? Who will find solace in an unexpected signing? Who will have to settle for leftovers?

The order in which this post is structured seems random because it pretty much is. I first RNGd drivers with only first-choice offers so as to avoid having drivers skip offers in case they'd get other ones further down the line. Once I'd run out, I RNGd which driver to run next so as to avoid bias.

Without further ado...

Vasiliy Kuznetzov
1-50: Kuznetzov takes the offer and drives the two races for Ecclestone
51-100: shuns the decadence of Westerners
62 - Kuznetzov refuses the offer from the capitalist pigdogs

Louis Chiron
1-70: takes the full season at Maghreb
71-100: takes one more step towards retirement
69 - that's one...

André Guelfi
1-95: continues driving for Maghreb
96-100: goes back to his fishing business
62 - ...and two drivers successfully confirmed by Maghreb

Luigi Villoresi
1-85: accepts the one-off drive in Belgium for Scuderia Centro Sud
86-100: focuses on sportscars
19 - Villoresi's career somewhat recovers after the Assasti Millanti mistake

Giorgio Scarlatti
1-90: takes Centro Sud's offer of a drive in Germany
91-100: keeps on trucking with his own sportscar team
52 - Scarlatti will make his début in Germany

Toulo de Graffenried
1-70: takes the one-off Centro Sud drive at Monza
71-100: turns to being a full-time baron
86 - de Graffenried essentially retires from motor racing at the age of 42

Cesare Perdisa
1-90: Perdisa drives the season as first driver for Reatherson
91-100: waits for another opportunity and focuses on racing sportscars for Maserati
49 - Perdisa takes the Ferrari-backed Reatherson drive...

Giulio Cabianca
1-80: makes his F1 début as second driver for Reatherson
81-100: runs an expanded sportscar programme
25 - ...and so does Cabianca

Hans Tak
1-90: runs the season for Gijsbert van Loon and hopes for the best
91-100: does some more sportscar outings in his own car
3 - was Tak ever going to say no?

Gerino Gerini
1-85: makes his début as lead driver for Adriatica
86-100: builds on his sportscar success at Maserati
82 - Gerini takes over Bianchi's role at Adriatica

Onofre Marimon
1-65: returns after a year off with Asso di Fiori
66-100: settles down into retirement
30 - this time, it's really happening, you know?

Tony Gaze
1-70: stays with Alfa Romeo for one more year
71-100: returns to Australia to build local interest in the sport
45 - Gaze is the first driver to re-sign for Alfa

Anne Hall
1-70: spends one more year with BRUNEL
71-100: returns to rallying
85 - Hall has enough of such awful performance

Pat Moss
1-70: spends one more year with BRUNEL
71-100: returns to rallying
18 - Pat Moss doesn't have enough of such awful performance

Spider Webb
1-85: Schlusser takes on Webb despite being slightly uncomfortable with his enthusiasm
86-100: Schlusser would rather abandon his entry than let the uncertain Webb anywhere near his car
1 - Schlusser must have got a very...persuasive letter from the CIA

Giuseppe Farina
1-70: stays at Alfa for one last year
71-75: waits for the Ferrari offer
76-100: retires from Formula One
28 - Farina will spend his last year of competition at Alfa Romeo, where he belongs

Paco Godia
1-85: takes the full season drive for Ferrari
86-90: goes to drive the Guidobaldi at Castelldefels
91-100: passes on both offers
30 - Godia is the first driver to confirm his Ferrari contract

Desmond Titterington
1-50: stays on for one more year at IRA
51-90: switches teams and moves to Ferrari
91-100: focuses on sportscars and his business commitments
47 - although tempted by Ferrari, Des-Titties stays with IRA for the time being

Jack Brabham
1-30: stays with his winning Alfa Romeo team
31-55: tempted over to ART-Gordini by the offer of a promising new car and a lead driver role
56-80: moves to B.C.M.A. with the guarantee of a competent team, plentiful resources and a proven car
81-100: he passes on all three and gambles on Fangio not taking the IRA drive
45 - having just won the title, Brabham jumps ship again, this time to Gordini!

Consalvo Sanesi
1-55: stays on for one more year at Gordini
56-90: moves to Ferrari
91-100: retires from active racing at the age of 45
30 - seventh season at Gordini for Consalvo Sanesi

Hernando da Silva Ramos
1-80: stays on full-time at Ferrari, while still driving for Gordini in sportscars
81-100: has a change of heart and waits for an eventual offer from Gordini to return to their F1 team as well
65 - Ramos is the second driver to sign for Ferrari

Eugenio Castellotti
1-60: reluctantly signs for Castelldefels
61-100: focuses on sportscars for the time being
65 - Castellotti would rather not be in F1 at all than drive for Castelldefels

Mike Hawthorn
1-40: eagerly takes up the opportunity to work with B.C.M.A.
41-70: stays with Vanwall to continue developing the team
71-85: takes on the challenge at BRM
86-100: waits for new potential offers
5 - Hawthorn jumps from Vandervell's team to the vacant B.C.M.A. seat

Tony Brooks
1-60: stays on at BCMA to have another championship tilt
61-80: takes up Hawthorn's spot at Vanwall
81-90: takes on the BRM lead role
91-100: takes a year out of F1 to concentrate on sportscars with Aston Martin
27 - Brooks stays put for one more year at B.C.M.A.

Juan Manuel Fangio
1-65: fulfills his agreement with Ferrari to return to F1 with them
66-90: jumps on the new offer to drive for the promising IRA team
91-100: decides that a comeback may not be the best of ideas after all
52 - Fangio makes a 'long-awaited' comeback for Ferrari

Duncan Hamilton
1-95: takes the IRA drive alongside his pal Desmond
96-100: keeps on with his antics in sportscars
27 - Duncan was never not taking the offer

Roy Salvadori
1-85: stays with Hampshire
86-100: banks on another offer coming his way
46 - Salvadori senses more opportunities at Hampshire this year

Reg Parnell
1-65: takes on the role at Cooper
66-100: waits for other offers to come in from BRM or Vanwall
53 - Parnell takes on the job of building up Cooper

Lucien Bianchi
1-70: takes on the lead role at Maserati
71-100: waits for the Cooper offer to come his way
12 - Maserati's return to form will be spearheaded by a 21-year-old

Alfonso de Portago
1-60: signs for Castelldefels, being out of options
61-100: focuses on sportscars for the time being
51 - returning from the Winter Olympics, de Portago is generous enough to drive for Castelldefels

Stirling Moss
1-80: stays at O.S.C.A. for 1956
81-90: makes the jump to kick-start BRM
91-100: waits for the potential Gordini drive to materialise
58 - Moss stays at O.S.C.A. and hopes for more success

Maria Teresa de Filippis
1-65: takes the drive at Hernandez
66-85: goes to BRUNEL alongside Pat Moss
86-100: passes on both of them and hopes for the best
74 - to the surprise of many, de Filippis returns to BRUNEL alongside Pat Moss

Carlos Menditéguy
1-75: takes the Hernandez drive
76-100: keeps on playing polo in Argentina
45 - Menditéguy travels to Europe for the first time

Robert Manzon
1-65: stays with Gordini for a seventh season
66-85: moves to O.S.C.A. along with Stirling Moss
86-100: waits for the Alfa offer to materialise
83 - Manzon leaves Gordini after many years and moves to O.S.C.A.

Peter Collins
1-30: stays at B.C.M.A. for one more push at the world title
31-50: moves from B.C.M.A. to Gordini to take advantage of the new car and competition with Brabham
51-70: switches to O.S.C.A., motivated by the new car and opportunity of working with his friends Stirling Moss and Robert Manzon
71-85: goes from B.C.M.A. to Alfa Romeo to take over Jack Brabham's spot as team leader
86-95: gets sick of the climate at B.C.M.A. and decides to help develop Vanwall
96-100: passes on all these options and hopes for the best
6 - despite all the appealing offers, Collins elects to stay at B.C.M.A.

Stuart Lewis-Evans
1-55: stays with Ecclestone for another year
56-90: moves to Vanwall for his second season
91-100: waits for another potential late signing
91 - Stu-Lew leaves the nest of his friend and manager Bernie to fend for himself

B. Bira
1-65: stays on at Lotus post-renaming
66-95: jumps ship to drive the third Gordini
96-100: passes on both offers and goes into probable retirement
53 - Bira returns to the paddock with Lotus...

Dries van der Lof
1-70: stays with Lotus
71-80: bails from Lotus to Alfa Romeo as team leader
81-90: moves to Gordini to drive their new car
91-100: passes on all offers and waits a bit longer
37 - ...and so does #DriesVanDerBoss

José Froilan Gonzalez
1-55: stays put at O.S.C.A.
56-90: moves to Alfa Romeo
91-100: waits for other offers
42 - Gonzalez is the third man to sign for O.S.C.A.

Maurice Trintignant
1-90: stays on for a fourth season with Lotus
91-100: leaves Lotus and looks for another drive
44 - Trintignant completes the Lotus line-up

Cliff Allison
1-70: makes his début for Vanwall
71-85: signs with Castelldefels alongside de Portago
86-100: sits this year out to build experience
69 - the British F3 driver makes the jump to F1 while also running in F2

Ron Flockhart
1-85: takes up BRM's offer to drive the season
86-100: passes on the offer, as some good drives are still open
42 - the Scotsman takes up the BRM challenge

Peter Whitehead
1-85: stays with O.S.C.A. for one more year
86-100: goes to look somewhere else
20 - Whitehead completes O.S.C.A.'s line-up

Tony Bettenhausen
1-75: takes one of the Ferrari drives
76-90: takes on the challenge of developing Cooper
91-100: focuses on USAC for the time being
51 - left out in the cold, Bettenhausen bails to Ferrari

Dorino Serafini
1-70: takes the Adriatica drive in a factory-backed Ferrari
71-100: goes off into effective retirement
4 - still backed by Ferrari, Serafini keeps his career alive for one more year

Graham Hill
1-30: signs for Castelldefels against his better judgment and lack of experience
31-100: buids his experience in British club racing
80 - far too inexperienced at this point

Phil Hill
1-80: takes the final available drive at Ferrari
81-100: turns down the F1 drive to focus on sportscars
35 - the budding sportscar ace will also be running in Formula One this season

Porfirio Rubirosa
1-85: takes over Jack Brabham's spot at Alfa Romeo
86-100: reduces his racing involvement to Caribbean races
25 - it was a long shot, but Porfirio Rubirosa will drive the third Alfa Romeo

Harry Schell
1-45: takes the Scuderia Centro Sud drive in Germany
46-90: takes on the mantle of team leader at Cooper
91-100: sits out this round and hopes for better offers to come his way
64 - Schell will drive for Cooper alongside Reg Parnell, having already been briefly teammates at Ferrari

Luigi Musso
1-60: takes the drive at Castelldefels
61-100: prefers to concentrate on his more successful sportscar commitments
6 - Musso falls for the same trap as de Portago and joins the Catalan team

Consequent line-ups
B.C.M.A.
Peter Collins
Tony Brooks
Mike Hawthorn

Alfa Romeo
Giuseppe Farina
Tony Gaze
Porfirio Rubirosa

ART-Gordini
Jack Brabham
Consalvo Sanesi
Eugenio Castellotti

Lotus
B. Bira
Dries van der Lof
Maurice Trintignant

O.S.C.A.
Stirling Moss
Peter Whitehead
Robert Manzon
José Froilan Gonzalez
Ottorino Volonterio

IRC
Desmond Titterington
Duncan Hamilton
Joe Flynn
Hans Herrmann

Hampshire
David Hampshire
Roy Salvadori

Ferrari
Juan Manuel Fangio
Hernando da Silva Ramos
Paco Godia
Tony Bettenhausen
Phil Hill
Umberto Maglioli
Tony Gaze

Vanwall
Cliff Allison
Jack Fairman

Ecclestone
Bernie Ecclestone

Reatherson
Cesare Perdisa
Giulio Cabianca

Hernandez
Carlos Menditéguy
Heinz Melkus
Edgar Barth

Maghreb
Louis Chiron
André Guelfi

BRUNEL
Maria Teresa de Filippis
Pat Moss

BRM
Ron Flockhart
Paul Frère
Horace Gould

Maserati
Lucien Bianchi

Adriatica
Dorino Serafini
Gerino Gerini

van Loon
Hans Tak

Centro Sud
Luigi Villoresi
Giorgio Scarlatti
Masten Gregory
Jean Behra
Alfonso de Portago
Luigi Musso

Asso di Fiori
Onofre Marimon

Schlusser
Spider Webb

Castelldefels
Alfonso de Portago
Luigi Musso

Cooper
Reg Parnell
Harry Schell
Olivier Gendebien

Coventry-Climax
Stuart Lewis-Evans

Voeckler
André Simon

Ecurie Ecosse
Ivor Bueb

Kubinsky
Willy Lehmann
Jaroslav Vlcek

Halford
Bruce Halford
André Milhoux
Wolfgang Seidel
Bill Lacy
Paul Emery
Ken Kavanagh

Teddy Yip
Eduardo Carvalho
Robert Ritchie

DB
Günter Lenssen
Gilberte Thirion

[dr-baker]

Wow. Now there's a surprise!

[Bobby Doorknobs]

IRA are in for a fun year

Right, IRA have decided to give Reg Armstrong another go in a one-off entry for Wicklow, as he's been pretty dominant in the Leinster 200 motorcycle races on the circuit.

Meanwhile, Centro Sud will try to compensate for the failed de Graffenried and Schell signings with Eugenio Castellotti and Masten Gregory, respectively. If either of them say no, then an attempt will be made to sign Jean Behra instead. If both of them say no... I'll figure something else out

[Nessafox]

Hey, our drivers names rhyme! This means it will be a poëtic season! (time will tell if that's a good or a bad thing)

[DemocalypseNow]

Hey, our drivers names rhyme! This means it will be a poëtic season! (time will tell if that's a good or a bad thing)

Cooper, 1956 prediction: Sylvia Plath.