February 20, 2002
It was 3am and in a cold dark room in the Mapes-VO HQ 3 men sat around a table, looking over a piece of paper to which the common eye meant nothing, but to these 3 men it was about to change lives........

It is with the greatest of pleasure that after over 3 hours of negotiations tonight Mapes-VO would like to announce there newest member of their famaily.... Portugese superstar Artur Costa.

The 3 men left the room, Maple with his usual smerk, Van-Oostende with his 'thank god now i can go to bed' look on his face and Costa his usual mellow self not really showing the fact that he had just become £15,000,000 richer. The final piece of the puzzle then came when Driver Administrator 'and all around nice guy' Jason Smith was sitting alone in an office pen in hand with his new KRB clothes on after Mapes-VO had flown him back from Belgium to sign the contract. And like that it was done, after all that negotiating Jason made one squiggly pen movement and everything that had happened before became obselete as it as now offical that Artur Costa had a new home.

An immediate press conference was called and all of the Mapes-VO press department and there immediate associates who had been on standby all night were there, Maple spoke first "*cough* I would like to make an announcement" immediately the press sat to attention "Approximately 1 hour ago Artur Costa put pen to paper and signed a lucrative £15million deal with our team making him an offical Mapes-VO driver" a cheer arose from the staff and a disgruntled moan from the press whose 'Conspiracy Theory' as Maple had earlier labled it was now utter rubbish.

Matt made the following statement regarding the signing of Costa "as soon as i heard about him driving in the league i pounced on him like a fly on some food, we have been in negotiations for the past few weeks and i am relieved more than anything at this point that it was finally wrapped up tonight". When asked about Roaldo Maple calmly replied "we will be investigating what happened with that rumour, where it came from etc but all i can tell you is that as far as we're concerned there was NO point in which Artur was going to break his agreement with the team, he is a man who values his word and we valued it to". The next question came, and the next and the next until finally someone spoke some sense 'How Do You Feel About The Money Aspect Of The Deal', slightly shocked by this Maple replied "£15million is a LOT of money, and Artur is worth every penny of it... and more, he is a proven winner with a reputation for trying hard and getting the best out of a car, he has already met Kieran and they get along well so dont worry about that, now we have two drivers capable of winning races and if we aren't up there in Melbourne now then there must be something wrong with the car *he chuckles*".

Next up came 100 microphones in the face of Artur, he managed to get one sentance out "Im very happy to sign with Mapes-VO because its a team were I already have friend and a good partnership and I dont need to get used to it. I just want to say that I was very disapointed with Roald and the rumours he made". Once again dispelling any link with the Hernj-Roaldo team.

Van-Oostende was unavaliable for comment at this time as he had to catch a flight to Holland very early in the morning to meet with chief car designer Peter Wilsson to finalise the colour scheme in time for the launch on the 21st. Peter Wilsson has been quoted as saying "the car will blow you away, we have designed it from scratch and if its not fast from the get go then i will be very suprised". The meeting is private and therefore no details can be revealed.

Meanwhile Maple and Costa have now left the premises and will be on there way to there homes and be getting a good nights rest. Thanks for reading we will keep you posted on Mapes-VO happenings as they come in.