Brawn Racing? Surely not…

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The F1 world is waiting to discover whether Honda’s team will make it onto the grid next year.

Becken has unearthed an interesting detail potentially revealing the name of the new team as Brawn Racing:

There’s an interesting history regarding an internet domain registered by a lawyer named Caroline McGrory (former BAR employee!). She taken two names:

BRAWNRACING.COM and BRAWNRACING.CO.UK

Here, the data concerning the domain register:

BRAWNRACING.COM

Registrant: Caroline McGrory
28 The Hall Close
Rugby
Cv22 6NP
UK

Domain name: brawnracing.com

Created on: 2009-02-25
Expires on: 2011-02-25

Is this the new identity of the team formerly known as Honda? Or someone taking a punt on what the team will be called, and pre-emptively registering the domain name in the hope of making some quick cash? Answers in the comments…

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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67 comments on “Brawn Racing? Surely not…”

  1. I thought Cybersquatting has been outlawed?

    Hopefully we’ll know for sure soon enough, there’s too many names and monikers to keep with!

  2. I looked at the latest info available on Honda GP Holdings Ltd, and Ms Caroline McGrory is indeed the company secretary (and therefore a registered director) for Honda GP and a few other companies connected to Honda such as Advantage CFD Ltd and Application Electronics Ltd.

    She has also been a director for Honda GP Ltd, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Honda GP Holdings Ltd….

    Looks like you may be right!!!

  3. I’ve read previously that it was going to be called “Brackely F1”.

    No offence to either Brawn Racing or Brackley F1 but neither really conjours up much excitement in me…keep trying!

  4. Either Brawn Racing or Brackley F1 suits me. Not the most provocative of names, but neither was Tyrrell or Williams when they first started out.

  5. “Either Brawn Racing or Brackley F1 suits me. Not the most provocative of names, but neither was Tyrrell or Williams when they first started out.”

    Fair point, well made.

  6. I still think the best option (if you want something emotive) would be giving a nod to the factory’s roots and calling the team Tyrrell.

    Perhaps in this climate having a team name with a bit of prestige and heritage would help grease the wheels with potential sponsors?

    Seems unlikely though, so given the choice of Brawn and Brackley, I’d say the latter sounds better.

  7. I don’t like either name. Surely they can come up with something a bit more exciting than BRAWN RACING

    1. Force India?

    2. Sush Meerkat
      1st March 2009, 14:39

      Fry Racing?
      Force England?
      Force Fry?
      Force Brawn?
      Brains over Brawns racing?

  8. I’d say this sound like a risky but I suppose confident strategy by Ross and hopefully it works out well…

  9. I’m not too keen on Brawn Racing either. It just seems a bit un-imaginitive.

    Maybe they should run a competition to come up with a better name? Same for the colour schemes? Use the money from text voting to put fuel in the cars…

  10. Look at this..

    domain: virginf1.com
    created: 05-Dec-2008
    last-changed: 05-Dec-2008
    registration-expiration: 05-Dec-2009

    registrant-firstname: Louise
    registrant-lastname: Reavil

    looked up Louise and her facebook network is the Virgin Group..

  11. Now they just need some sponsors…
    Brains brewery, sponsors of last year’s Grand Slam winning rugby team?
    or Braun shavers:
    http://www.f1technical.net/f1db/cars/images/1991/Tyrrell-020.jpg

  12. It’s only right that they return to Tyrrell. I only started watching f1 in 1997 during the final 2 years of this iconic name but i would love to see the Tyrrell name revived. I think many f1 fans who remember the old days and recognise the history of the team will support this idea. It would be good with potential sponsors backing the return of an icon with Ross Brawn in charge. Maybe in a few years they could return to the glory years when Jackie was winning with them. Who wouldn’t want that (other than Bernie + max of course).

  13. All I think of when I hear that name is Shaving LOL. Frankly I don’t care what their called as long as my team survives :D

    1. ChickenMcNuggets
      28th February 2009, 18:31

      Well, they’ll have to revive the Tyrrell name quickly, otherwise the only real association most of us will have with that name in future will be the crisps. ;)

  14. Haha, I just wrote on another site that I think names like Force India and USF1 are lame and how I think Mallya should have, in classic fashion, called the team Mallya. So I’d be happy with Brawn Racing. People have short memories and I think the name Ross Brawn currently has way more prestige than Tyrrell. Plus I assume someone owns the rights to the Tyrrell brand and it may not be that simple. Although to be fair, registering domains is one of the first things you do when setting up new brands. The fact that Virgin Racing AND Brawn Racing both have been registered really says it all. We still don’t have a clue.

  15. @Pete Walker, the now ‘Honda’ team in truth had very little to do with Tyrrell. BAR bought the team more or less just for its entry into F1.

    Tyrrell was based in Ockham, made their own cars, Ford engines etc. BAR was based in Brackley, cars made by Reynard, engines were Supertech.

    BAR bought out the company Tyrrell and therefore it’s F1 entry, but that was about it. In reality, almost totally different entities.

    1. Ah, my mistake, I thought BAR took over the manufacturing facilities as well as the entry. Cheers for clearing that up. :)

      I suppose in essence then the link with Tyrrell is really quite tenuous, but I still think it beats Brawn.

      Maybe if they pull through at this late stage of the game ‘Phoenix’ might be a suitable name. :)

    2. Pheonix F1. I Like it! Good name.

  16. TBA Racing sounds good to me :) That’s what it’s called in my head anyway.

  17. I quite liked the suggestion of someone on another forum of EuroBrawn, a nice pastiche of EuroBrun :-D

    1. Oh dear, I wouldn’t want to have BS written all over the team!

    2. lol…At least this team is not THAT red team, so we can allow some bias towards them.

    3. Terry Fabulous
      1st March 2009, 21:19

      Loki you are a crack up!

  18. LOL the domain squatters are about, somebody has bought http://www.brawnsport.co.uk and .com

  19. the name brawn racing reminds me fo the old saying – no brains all brawn

  20. I prefer just ‘Brawn’… rather like McLaren or Ferrari: for example:

    “Look look under the bridge there….that’s one of the Brawns!”

  21. What about “Brawn Again”?

    1. I like it, reminds me of an ABBA tribute band I saw once called Bjorn Again.

      And their theme song could be Take a Chance on me. They could play it at meetings with potential sponsors. Or maybe Money Money Money – although that’s really Bernie’s theme song…

  22. I would love it if Ross Brawn can carry this through.. Maybe get Micheal back for a couple of seasons Yipppeee

    1. well well well…

  23. As my wife’s English granny was fond of saying, “Call me anything but late for supper.” Call the old Honda whatever they want, but get it on the grid!

    Great news, really.

  24. Adam Cooper, who wrote the article about BRAWN SPORT, wrote this at his column:

    I made a few phone calls and one very good source told me that the deal was indeed basically done. Not only that, but I could write that the team would be called Brawn Sport – and he was absolutely adamant on that.
    So I did exactly that on speedtv.com this morning, and thus you guys were the first to hear that phrase. I’ve been joking for a while that it might be called Ross Brawn Racing, so presumably someone thought RBR was a bad choice. I’m not sure that BS is much better…

    Surprisingly our story wasn’t picked up by the rest of the world’s media, but it did cause some activity on the forums. And intriguingly one race fan found that http://www.brawnsport.com had indeed been allocated to somebody. Of course, for all I knew that could be a boxing gym in New Zealand, but a quick look on Google for ‘Brawnsport’ brought guess what? Our speedtv.com news story at the top of the list…

  25. I think they should call it Forti F1 as a nod to the old days of teams with no cash and a snowball in haides chance of surviving more than a season and a half.

    I sincerely hope that Ross has sorted the financial backing for the behemoth that it is. Super Aguri could trounce Honda with less than half the staff and almost no money. I have my doubts if Ross can really the team around.

    Oh, to whoever buys the team, please sack Nick Fry!!

    1. Ross mcdonogh
      3rd March 2009, 14:25

      i support your view, get rid of the FRY

  26. Well, it’s not the worst name in the world, but I don’t think Ross Brawn would be vain enough the plaster is own name on the ‘team’.

  27. Brawn racing sounds a lot better and relates to F1 in a way, however to respect prestige tyrell would be great to hear in f1 again. I just hope he has the financial backing and if it is successful this buyout he sacks nick fry.

  28. I don’t think Ross Brawn would be vain enough the plaster is own name on the ‘team’.

    Nick Fry might be though.

    Fried Brawn?

  29. Be positive guys it could have Fry F1sh.

  30. I actually like the name! Go Ross Brawn!

  31. How about Ross Racing ?

  32. Well, we’ve already got a RBR, and a B/S (as you all know):)
    I think Brackley Racing or Brackley F1 would’ve been good, but as long as it’s on the grid in Oz, I don’t really care.

  33. brackley f1 is good for me, has a ring.

  34. Is it only me who has reservations about Ross Brawn with the Honda team?

    I can’t stand the cheat….

    To me he cheated to help Schumacher when he was at Benneton and then again when he was at Ferrari. Don’t ask me to name all the times it happened as there were too many to go into. I didn’t like the fact he was taken on at Honda in the first place. And i do not think he will make a race winning or championship winning team.
    Though i do wish honda could be on the grid in 2009 and do well.
    I do not like Nick Fry either, and i think he has done the most to scupper Honda’s chances since David Richards left the team. It was just getting on it’s feet at the time and since Nick fry took over it has nose dived big time.

    To me The team formally known as Honda need someone who can lead the team to a winning way without breaking the rules or getting around them at every opportunity.

    1. Every single team that has ever won in F1 have bent the rules at every available opportunity.

      Colin Chapman was probably the expert at bending the rules with such examples as him claiming that corrugated cardboard was a suitable material to use for the fireproof dash board.

      Ferrari cheat, McLaren cheat, Williams cheat, they all cheat.

      Claiming Ross Brawn is any worse than anyone else on the grid is a bit biased (in my opinion), most fans have no problem with their team doing it yet still get outraged when the others do it.

      Everything is legal until you’re caught, that’s always been the way in F1 and probably always will be.

  35. Okay so Brawn Sport is looking like the frontrunner for the name of the new team, what about the title sponsor?

    Someone over on the 606 message boards suggested a global brand that’s never been in F1 and that the team would have a largely blue livery…

    Well, it got me thinking and Pepsi aren’t adverse to spending large amounts on endorsements…came up with a mock-up of what the car could look like if this was the case over on my F1ParkingSpace blog…

    1. Pepsi have sponsored Jordan in the past

  36. Sounds fine to me. Ferrari is hardly a cutting edge super imaginitve team name. I mean, it’s Ferrari’s racing team, so they called it Ferrari.

    Also, Team Vodafone McLaren Mercede’s is hardly something to be amazed by either.

    Call it Team Brawn, Honda, or even Blah Blah McGee for all I care, so long as the team makes it to the grid.

    1. Ross mcdonogh
      3rd March 2009, 14:28

      YES, i agree, if they have a race team left. Not happy bunnies at the moment

  37. So, if everything goes in place, as it should,

    the full name of the team would be Brawn Sport Mercedes? Or Virgin Brawn Sport Mercedes perhaps?

    I like the ring of Brawn Sport Mercedes…BSM!

  38. you’ll probably find since brawn has bought into the new f1 team, he has not done so personally, he would have setup a holding company for personal security and tax reasons, probably called brawn racing, and a part of that is securing the domains for future use.

  39. Having read through all the posts here Brawn Racing is starting to grow on me. Unless someone else is involved who we don’t know about I can’t think of anything better.

  40. Check out what someone’s done to http://www.brackleyf1.com – me thinks they’re hoping to get some Google Adsense money!!

  41. There is a NASCAR team called Braun Racing http://www.braunracing.com/ only one letter different!

  42. Grandprix.com reckon it will be Brawn Racing: http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21219.html

  43. How about calling it Brains Over…

  44. Ross mcdonogh
    3rd March 2009, 13:42

    who cares what they call it, they will be lucky even to have a race team the way things are going. No one wants to stay.

  45. Why not be really cheeky and call it Super Aguri?

  46. So when Jenson and eventual team mate overtake a backmarker simultaneously, they’ll be able to call it a Brawn sandwich…

    Ithangyew

  47. Is there any particular reason why Brawn GP’s headquarters are in the middle of a field….

  48. WELL DONE ROSS
    with merc power i think you will do well.

  49. fantastic outcome now perhaps the team can realise their true potential

  50. luke standing
    9th March 2009, 0:12

    I am a big fan of Ross Brawn and Jenson Button.Jenson is a brilliant driver and Brawn a fine engineer.Who gives toss about the name.Everyone at Brawn GP should be applauded for making sure we have not lost you all out of F1.I wish you all the success in the world.

  51. paul brackley
    23rd March 2009, 9:58

    as my name is Brackley!!

    Brackley F1 sounds kewl for a F1 team

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