February 17, 2001
Welcome to the 2001 CVRT - BMW launch. I cannot say a lot, as I'll be running late attending a meeting over confidential matters about the 2001 season.

The new car was launched in a last minute rush, where an hour before the launch, the car did not even have all of its stickers on it yet.

We were very lucky to book the Silverstone circuit for the launch, for obvious reasons of late booking, but we still got in. The new car will be named the CVRT01 and has the same specifications as the 2001 A-Racing car.

Engine: BMW Power

Chassis: BenettonF1

Fuel: Elf

Tires: Bridgestone

Main Sponsor: Marlboro

I bel ieve this is a real good choice, as after calculations, this team is thought to be the fastest overall package for 2001. After a few chats with the BMW Motorsport company, I found out just how committed they are to the GPVWC league, this including our team and DL Racing. I believe that there will be no bias towards one of our teams over the other, and that BMW will commit themselves equally to our team and DL Racing.

The Benetton chassis seems to be very good, the car is yet to go through extensive pre-season testing, but before I took over, I believe Richard Dickson and Christian Neumann tested the car, and found it very easy to drive, and felt that the Benetton chassis were very stable.

THe fuel will be supplied from Elf, which I think will be OK, as I don't really see much difference between fuel types, what I mean is, they all run the car don't they? But after more testing on the CVRT01, we will see how good Elf really is - I think it was a good choice.

What can I say about Bridgestone, they are the only choice, they have a whole season's experience on their backs, which was obtained during the 2000 GPVWC season. They have built up much data from most of the 2001 tracks, and basically have a year's head start over Michelin. Maybe the gap that Bridgestone has over Michelin will close after about 5-10 years... ??

It is good that Andrew was able to secure Marlboro for his A-Racing team for 2001. I believe it can really help CVRT during the season, as the deal is worth quite a lot, and their logo looks good on the car :-)

The launch day was surprisingly sunny, but cool - quite a break from the usual wet and rainy periods experienced in Silverstone at this time of the year. The day was very relaxing for the whole team, designers, mechanics, myself and many other workers who help behind the scenes to get the car launched as quick as possible. A special paint was used on the car too, an expensive quick drying type to get the car ready quicker. This paint will not be used during the season on the car, as it weighs too much, and would make the car illegal. Christian Neumann has the honors of taking the CVRT-01 for its first spin around Silverstone, as all of the CVRT (Ex-A-Racing) crew, sat and watched, proud of the new car they had spent the last day designing and building.

Well before I run off for my interview, I would like to thank my number one driver, Christian Neumann for helping with ideas for the new teams' name, finally ending up CVRT (also one of his ideas).

Good luck to everyone this year, and try your best, show the world your talent, because it could be the difference between a drive in the following season, and not.

(thanks to Blair Disley for telling me how to make car liveries)

Christian Neumann commented:

I'm very happy that Chris has saved the team, although is disappointing that A-Racing has quit. My aims for the season haven't changed, because CVRT has got all equipment and knowledge from A-Racing. So the car is the same, and it's still the best. I'm sure that CVRT will play an important role, although it will be hard to defend constructor title, because we need a 2nd driver. And in my opinion the new car design doesn't look bad, does it?