Stefan GP progress

Post by **mario** » 05 Mar 2010, 13:06

Jordan wrote:http://www.totalf1.com/full_story/view/332472/Stefan_GP_finances_unveiled/

Now, call me crazy, but i'm sure i'd seen some people standing up in this forum, long ago, and make bold claims that Stefan wasn't what it appeared. Well...guess you're right

Now, with that being said, they *did* appear to have a car, at least one driver, and were on the verge of signing another. So they seemed pretty legit for an illegitimate team

I'd just posted the very same article in another thread. Yes, it looks like Stefan has managed to take many people for a ride, and in fact was doing relatively well in keeping up the charade until recently - certainly well enough to con Nakajima and Villeneuve, as well as Toytoa's officials. It's not so bad for Toyota, since all Stefan sems to have got out of them appears to be a few cases of parts for a car that they no longer need (as they made sure that they held onto the IP rights), but for the drivers, they are going to look a bit foolish now.
Equally, it isn't going to look that good for Bernie either, is it, given that he was once singing the praises of Stefan (although the fact that he had gone so quiet recently was making me wonder whether something was amiss).

Enforcer · Post by **Enforcer** » 05 Mar 2010, 14:03

Wings detaching themselves from Virgins.

Campos nearly collapsing and being readied so late that they can't possibly be competitive.

USF1 collapsing.

Stefan GP being a joke.

Renault's rumoured collapse and now they're being sponsored by Lada (well, AutoVAZ).

Sauber feeling it would be too expensive to reprint all that BMW headed paper.

Pretty rejectworthy pre-season. Hope the actual season is this much fun.

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 05 Mar 2010, 14:18

even if it's only €42,70 , it is still a profit, and in these days that's actually pretty good

and procentually that's quite an amazing developement for the company

Post by **mario** » 05 Mar 2010, 15:34

Enforcer wrote:Wings detaching themselves from Virgins.

Campos nearly collapsing and being readied so late that they can't possibly be competitive.

USF1 collapsing.

Stefan GP being a joke.

Renault's rumoured collapse and now they're being sponsored by Lada (well, AutoVAZ).

Sauber feeling it would be too expensive to reprint all that BMW headed paper.

Pretty rejectworthy pre-season. Hope the actual season is this much fun.

Bit harsh on a couple of points there. Firstly, considering that Renault has bought a large stake in AutoVAZ (25%), it's not surprising that they are sponsoring the Renault team (even allowing for the fact that Renault are effectively suppliers, now that Genii have bought a controlling share).
As for Sauber, the only reason that they are sticking with the BMW monkier appears to be because their existing contracts with FOM were signed before BMW bailed out. As a result, they are staying as BMW Sauber until they can get permission from the FIA and FOTA to change their name, and sort out their contracts with FOM - which will probably be at the end of the year.

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 05 Mar 2010, 15:51

mario wrote:Apologies for bringing this up again, but it looks as if Stefan might actually be a much more questionable character then first appears, looking at this article over at F1Technical: http://www.f1technical.net/news/14333
For all Stefan's bold claims, it appears that his "military technology" company is in fact nothing more then a shell company. Somebody has gone through the Serbian company registry, where all the details about the company are registered. The company, a limited liability firm, was founded with the grand sum of €500 as it's starting capital on the 14th March 2008. Revenues for 2009 are recorded as being €3,315, yielding a net profit of €42.70.
Looks like Stefan might have pulled a Qadbak on Toyota - the difference being that at least he got something out of Toyota (even if it is just spare parts). And it's no wonder that the FIA is refusing to allow Stefan GP to attend any races...

And what would have they done if they were allowed to race?

Jordan192 · Post by **Jordan192** » 05 Mar 2010, 15:58

Phoenix wrote:And what would have they done if they were allowed to race?

made it to 2 or 3 races (and probably had cars running), then collapsed with masses of unpaid bills.

Tealy · Post by **Tealy** » 05 Mar 2010, 16:09

Phoenix wrote:
mario wrote:Apologies for bringing this up again, but it looks as if Stefan might actually be a much more questionable character then first appears, looking at this article over at F1Technical: http://www.f1technical.net/news/14333
For all Stefan's bold claims, it appears that his "military technology" company is in fact nothing more then a shell company. Somebody has gone through the Serbian company registry, where all the details about the company are registered. The company, a limited liability firm, was founded with the grand sum of €500 as it's starting capital on the 14th March 2008. Revenues for 2009 are recorded as being €3,315, yielding a net profit of €42.70.
Looks like Stefan might have pulled a Qadbak on Toyota - the difference being that at least he got something out of Toyota (even if it is just spare parts). And it's no wonder that the FIA is refusing to allow Stefan GP to attend any races...

And what would have they done if they were allowed to race?

How on earth was Zoran able to go on for so long with nobody checking out the basics on the company behind him. In these post Qadbak days you would expect him to be outed much earlier. I know many people here believed Stefan GP to be false for quite some time now but technically he nearly made it to the start of the season without being outed. For me the moment that made me realise it was a fake was when they did a press release to prove that they had sent a shipping container to Bahrain, it seemed very desperate to me.

What I love about this though is that JV was talking up Stefan GP's chances in 2010 just yesterday on autosport. Zoran fooled many people with this operation including Toyota, the 2 drivers and his staff members like Mike Coughlan.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 05 Mar 2010, 18:12

Fraudulent buisness?! This is why everyone called him Andrea Moda's heir apparent! That's why he's so lovable!

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 05 Mar 2010, 19:35

Cynon wrote:Fraudulent buisness?! This is why everyone called him Andrea Moda's heir apparent! That's why he's so lovable!

hehe all smoke and mirrors.... nothing new under the sun.......

tristan1117 · Post by **tristan1117** » 05 Mar 2010, 19:57

Well, I'm not surprised. Outside of a reject perspective, Stefan didn't look very dredible to start with. They had the car and a driver, but did anyone else interview employees? Find any parts? Look up Zoran Stefanovic's background? Now we know the FIA actually did the right thing, letting Stefan would really bring the sport into disrepute. It makes for a great story though! Hopefully we'll see a reject profile for USF1, Stefan, and all the other aborted teams.

Enforcer · Post by **Enforcer** » 05 Mar 2010, 20:32

mario wrote:
Bit harsh on a couple of points there. Firstly, considering that Renault has bought a large stake in AutoVAZ (25%), it's not surprising that they are sponsoring the Renault team (even allowing for the fact that Renault are effectively suppliers, now that Genii have bought a controlling share).
As for Sauber, the only reason that they are sticking with the BMW monkier appears to be because their existing contracts with FOM were signed before BMW bailed out. As a result, they are staying as BMW Sauber until they can get permission from the FIA and FOTA to change their name, and sort out their contracts with FOM - which will probably be at the end of the year.

The AutoVAZ/Lada thing was a bit tongue-in-cheek.

As for BMW Sauber, didn't Virgin sign up as Manor Grand Prix? :?:

Should be possible to change it, and it's pretty silly if they're not allowed in any case.

Been thinking about this Stefan thing a bit, and it beggars belief that Toyota would've loaned Stefan GP Nakajima, sold them their 2010 chassis and engine specs, without getting some $$$$ up front. Either this article is an exagerrated hatchet job, Zoran's dealings with Toyota are all off the balance sheet, or what's left of the Toyota F1 team is currently being looked after by Coco the Clown.

Alianora La Canta · Post by **Alianora La Canta** » 05 Mar 2010, 20:58

Tealy" - previous post][quote="Phoenix wrote:
mario wrote:Apologies for bringing this up again, but it looks as if Stefan might actually be a much more questionable character then first appears, looking at this article over at F1Technical: http://www.f1technical.net/news/14333
For all Stefan's bold claims, it appears that his "military technology" company is in fact nothing more then a shell company. Somebody has gone through the Serbian company registry, where all the details about the company are registered. The company, a limited liability firm, was founded with the grand sum of €500 as it's starting capital on the 14th March 2008. Revenues for 2009 are recorded as being €3,315, yielding a net profit of €42.70.
Looks like Stefan might have pulled a Qadbak on Toyota - the difference being that at least he got something out of Toyota (even if it is just spare parts). And it's no wonder that the FIA is refusing to allow Stefan GP to attend any races...

And what would have they done if they were allowed to race?

How on earth was Zoran able to go on for so long with nobody checking out the basics on the company behind him. In these post Qadbak days you would expect him to be outed much earlier.[/quote]

Easy. Stefan GP did put in an entry for the original places (hence why they could file a complaint about it with the EU later without getting laughed out of the lawyer's office) but the FIA rejected them. The FIA never said why. Whatever other faults were in the selection process, it did at least respect people's confidentiality.

It's possible that the FIA thought Stefan GP were a shell company from the moment their application was checked, but for once it displayed some subtlety and simply allowed Stefan GP to believe it had a chance (however small) if it sorted itself out - reckoning that it wouldn't.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 05 Mar 2010, 22:51

Thread merged for optimal gossiping.

Cynon wrote:Fraudulent buisness?! This is why everyone called him Andrea Moda's heir apparent! That's why he's so lovable!

Indeed. The closure of this topic should indeed be the words through which many of us (well, me at least) first learned of Mr Stefanovic:

Captain Hammer wrote:Remember Zoran Stefanovic? He tried to buy the 1997 Lolas. And he tried to join the grid for next year under the guise of Stefan Grand Prix. He was duly turned down, and attempted to force a do-over of the seletion process.

Well, he's back. I wouldn't normally do this, but the sheer comedy value of it means this story is deserving a thread of its on. Stefanovic has annouced that he's going ahead with his racing team and will be present in Bahrain - despite the fact that he doesn't have a 2010 entry. And so I submit for your consideration: Zoran Stefanovic is the heir apparent to Andrea Sassetti, owner and operator of the worst team in Formula One history.

And no, I'm not kidding.

Captain, you said it.

eytl · Post by **eytl** » 06 Mar 2010, 06:52

Or should the last word belong to Stefan themselves:

http://www.stefangp.com/denial.html

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 06 Mar 2010, 06:58

eytl wrote:Or should the last word belong to Stefan themselves:

http://www.stefangp.com/denial.html

Maybe they're not a shell... I don't recall any denials from Qadbak.

FloProAct · Post by **FloProAct** » 06 Mar 2010, 07:48

thehemogoblin wrote:
eytl wrote:Or should the last word belong to Stefan themselves:

http://www.stefangp.com/denial.html

Maybe they're not a shell... I don't recall any denials from Qadbak.

Qadbak had nothing to deny. Noone ever found out what they really were......

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 06 Mar 2010, 09:03

eytl wrote:Or should the last word belong to Stefan themselves:

http://www.stefangp.com/denial.html

And the word is "denial".

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 06 Mar 2010, 11:34

eytl wrote:Or should the last word belong to Stefan themselves:

http://www.stefangp.com/denial.html

What does this have to do with its F1 operation?

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 06 Mar 2010, 11:59

Phoenix wrote:
eytl wrote:Or should the last word belong to Stefan themselves:

http://www.stefangp.com/denial.html

What does this have to do with its F1 operation?

Although you do have a point, StefanF1 has been banging on about his other companies to improve is credibility and point out their know-how in hi-tech. Moreover, many people seem to believe this would be their funding source (I maintain that withdrawing money from one company into another spells trouble, disaster or, in the very least, suicidally bad management - those 47 Euros will be needed somewhere else!)

Post by **mario** » 06 Mar 2010, 12:08

Phoenix wrote:
eytl wrote:Or should the last word belong to Stefan themselves:

http://www.stefangp.com/denial.html

What does this have to do with its F1 operation?

The reason that people are commenting about this comes down to the issue of trust; it is becoming clear that AMCO is far and away from what Stefan claimed it to be. After all, this only serves to reinforce that impression - he claims that the company made parts 7 years ago for the Ariane rocket, when the articles of association show that the company only came into existance in 2008.
Instead of the mighty manufacturing colossus he claims it is, the company consists of one bloke, probably in his shed, making goodness knows what. Now the same man is looking for investors to back the team - would you be willing to support a man who evidently has lied about his achievements?

watka · Post by **watka** » 06 Mar 2010, 12:21

I think it should be "Zoran Stefanovic - Jeremy Beadle's heir apparent"! He's fooled Bernie, USF1, Chad Hurley, Jacques Villeneuve, Kazuki Nakajima, Ralf Schumacher, Toyota, the Serbian government, and some of us - the ultimate prank.

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 06 Mar 2010, 14:22

watka wrote:I think it should be "Zoran Stefanovic - Jeremy Beadle's heir apparent"! He's fooled Bernie, USF1, Chad Hurley, Jacques Villeneuve, Kazuki Nakajima, Ralf Schumacher, Toyota, the Serbian government, and some of us - the ultimate prank.

I like to believe that Ralf simply saw through the clever disguise and didn't worked with them because of that ... I just looove fooling myself. :mrgreen:

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 06 Mar 2010, 16:39

Dear Edward,

thank you very much for your support, we suddenly do need all available
support we can get.
It is good from you having such serious interest into racing.
Our team is based in Belgrade, in Serbia, so there is no chance at the
moment to have many persons outside of Serbia, except very specialized
engineers and with previous F1 experience.

Maybe we can suggest to you which is best way to do it for you.
Any team will be looking always for educated engineers and you can do
your best to have sound formal education in school regarding engineering.
Second thing is, when you nearly at the end of your school period, just
ask some of teams to have some practice for you in motorsport. And you
will be qualified and experienced after that to apply for your real job.

We at Stefan Grand Prix will be very happy for you to do such good and
serious step.

We will inform you, as all our friends, upon further developments of our
business regarding our motorsport activity.

Very kind regards,

SGP
Zoran Stefanovic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXyuLN4TcRc

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 06 Mar 2010, 21:40

shinji wrote:
Dear Edward,

thank you very much for your support, we suddenly do need all available
support we can get.
It is good from you having such serious interest into racing.
Our team is based in Belgrade, in Serbia, so there is no chance at the
moment to have many persons outside of Serbia, except very specialized
engineers and with previous F1 experience.

Maybe we can suggest to you which is best way to do it for you.
Any team will be looking always for educated engineers and you can do
your best to have sound formal education in school regarding engineering.
Second thing is, when you nearly at the end of your school period, just
ask some of teams to have some practice for you in motorsport. And you
will be qualified and experienced after that to apply for your real job.

We at Stefan Grand Prix will be very happy for you to do such good and
serious step.

We will inform you, as all our friends, upon further developments of our
business regarding our motorsport activity.

Very kind regards,

SGP
Zoran Stefanovic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXyuLN4TcRc

Have you written to Stefanovic? I would even say you've been applying for a job and all...

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 06 Mar 2010, 21:45

Phoenix wrote:
shinji wrote:
Dear Edward,

thank you very much for your support, we suddenly do need all available
support we can get.
It is good from you having such serious interest into racing.
Our team is based in Belgrade, in Serbia, so there is no chance at the
moment to have many persons outside of Serbia, except very specialized
engineers and with previous F1 experience.

Maybe we can suggest to you which is best way to do it for you.
Any team will be looking always for educated engineers and you can do
your best to have sound formal education in school regarding engineering.
Second thing is, when you nearly at the end of your school period, just
ask some of teams to have some practice for you in motorsport. And you
will be qualified and experienced after that to apply for your real job.

We at Stefan Grand Prix will be very happy for you to do such good and
serious step.

We will inform you, as all our friends, upon further developments of our
business regarding our motorsport activity.

Very kind regards,

SGP
Zoran Stefanovic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXyuLN4TcRc

Have you written to Stefanovic? I would even say you've been applying for a job and all...

Yeah, months ago, when we first heard of him for the second time. I've been a fan since, even if I kind of knew it wasn't a legit entry for the last while. Still sad though. Hence the 'bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah, bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah, bah'

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 06 Mar 2010, 21:51

They seemed kind of serious in the letter. Furthermore, it was nice they wrote you back.

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 06 Mar 2010, 21:55

Phoenix wrote:They seemed kind of serious in the letter. Furthermore, it was nice they wrote you back.

I know. That's why I love them.

But I love them like I love The Room. Lovably terrible.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 22 Mar 2010, 10:38

Stefan has parted ways with Toyota. Makes sense as Stefan has no use of their cars this year. May as well go ahead and design and run their own?!?!?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82287

crazydude1992 · Post by **crazydude1992** » 22 Mar 2010, 11:09

On a different note, go to http://www.stefangp.com
Hm...

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 22 Mar 2010, 14:51

crazydude1992 wrote:On a different note, go to http://www.stefangp.com
Hm...

Site under (re-)construction? At least they're building something!

madcat · Post by **madcat** » 22 Mar 2010, 14:55

Are they competing with USF1? I guess the selling F1 entries to another team didn't work for anyone. I'm glad that FIA is putting it to tender again instead of them selling their entries...

Myrvold · Post by **Myrvold** » 22 Mar 2010, 15:25

But it kinda looks like that had a good plan for the season, the whole toyota-team was backing them, and some old F1-guys that got fired because of some scandals...

Tealy · Post by **Tealy** » 22 Mar 2010, 16:45

dr-baker wrote:
crazydude1992 wrote:On a different note, go to http://www.stefangp.com
Hm...

Site under (re-)construction? At least they're building something!

I tried to access the site the other day and nothing was there. I thought it had gone the way of Pacific's website.

Stefangp · Post by **Stefangp** » 23 Mar 2010, 18:56

For all of the Stefan GP nay-sayers or fans, the latest interview with Zoran Stefanovic for http://www.sportal.rs/ which I and a friend of Serbian blood tried the best to translate here http://stefangp.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/zoran-stefanovic-speaks/

He speaks about the negotiations with USF1 and Campos stating that both deals were done, but Anderson and Windsor were not will to let go of the reins, and that Adrian Campos asked for an extortionate amount of money. He also states that he sent a notice to Ferrari regarding the "vultures" comment, which was not followed up as Ferrari backed away from the articles, stating it wasn't the official party line.

Although, it doesn't clear some other things up. Regarding AMCO, it appears it's the interviewer who quotes a figure of 310,000 euros turnover in 2008, which Mr. Stefanovic doesn't respond to. Previously, maybe through (that dreaded phrase) bad translation, it was assumed that AMCO had the wind tunnels he have referred to in past interviews. Now, it would appear not.

Everything is still very hazy crazy.

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 23 Mar 2010, 19:44

Stefangp wrote:For all of the Stefan GP nay-sayers or fans, the latest interview with Zoran Stefanovic for http://www.sportal.rs/ which I and a friend of Serbian blood tried the best to translate here http://stefangp.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/zoran-stefanovic-speaks/

He speaks about the negotiations with USF1 and Campos stating that both deals were done, but Anderson and Windsor were not will to let go of the reins, and that Adrian Campos asked for an extortionate amount of money. He also states that he sent a notice to Ferrari regarding the "vultures" comment, which was not followed up as Ferrari backed away from the articles, stating it wasn't the official party line.

Although, it doesn't clear some other things up. Regarding AMCO, it appears it's the interviewer who quotes a figure of 310,000 euros turnover in 2008, which Mr. Stefanovic doesn't respond to. Previously, maybe through (that dreaded phrase) bad translation, it was assumed that AMCO had the wind tunnels he have referred to in past interviews. Now, it would appear not.

Everything is still very hazy crazy.

Actually, the negotiations with Campos may have reaped them something...the Stefan GP logo on the nosecone!

Waris · Post by **Waris** » 28 Mar 2010, 18:46

Awesome! Apparently, Stefan is still considering buying USF1. Sadly, USF1 will probably be punished by never being allowed into F1, so this route possibly won't work out, but it does demonstrate Zoran Stefanovic's AWESOME fighting spirit!

Never give up, Stefan!!

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 29 Mar 2010, 01:47

Yeah, but if he buys it, he could get pulled into the FIA's santcions against USF1. And since the Toyota deal is over, he'll have an entry with no chassis (ironic given that he had a chassis, but no entry).

There's also been the suggestion that USF1 will hae to wait until 2013 until they enter. This may be because of FIA sanctions, or a decision to take their time instead of trying to rush for a deadline again (and given the rate at which things happened last time, a three-year development window may be the earliest the can do it).

JeanDenisAlcatraz · Post by **JeanDenisAlcatraz** » 05 May 2010, 23:34

Why not become Stefan GP's friend on Facebook?

There's only me and one other woman so far

http://www.facebook.com/stefanGPofficial

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 06 May 2010, 08:04

JeanDenisAlcatraz wrote:Why not become Stefan GP's friend on Facebook?

There's only me and one other woman so far

http://www.facebook.com/stefanGPofficial

I wouldn't mind becoming your facebook friend, but StefanGP's? Why?

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 06 May 2010, 15:26

CarlosFerreira wrote:
JeanDenisAlcatraz wrote:Why not become Stefan GP's friend on Facebook?

There's only me and one other woman so far

http://www.facebook.com/stefanGPofficial

I wouldn't mind becoming your facebook friend, but StefanGP's? Why?

Don't do it, he's linked it to his Twitter!

MAYHEM on the homepage.