Administrators to auction off remaining Caterham assets - MotorSportsTalk

Just as there appear to be signs of life at Marussia/Manor ahead of the 2015 Formula 1 season, the death knell is sounding for Caterham as its administrators prepare to auction off the team’s assets.

The team fell into administration following last year’s Russian Grand Prix, forcing it to miss two races before making a shock comeback in Abu Dhabi in a last-ditch bid to secure investment for the new year.

However, this appears to have fallen flat, with a statement from auctioneers Wyles Hardy & Co. confirming that the administrators are now preparing to sell off the assets of the team.

“Acting for the Joint Administrators Finbarr O’Connell, Henry Shinners and Anthony Spicer of Smith & Williamson, Wyles Hardy & Co have been instructed to realise the assets of the Caterham F1 race team,” a statement reads.

“A series of online timed auction sales will be held covering the race equipment, engineering facility, F1 memorabilia, IT and communications, office furniture and as well as private treaty sales for the Race Trailer Fleet, the state of the art Race Simulator, Dell HPC super computer and Autoclaves.

“The first Auction will focus on the race support and pit lane equipment including the 2014 chassis’ and show cars and is scheduled for early March. Further details of the sale items and terms of sale etc will be found at www.wyleshardy.com/caterhamf1/.”

The auction is set to begin on March 11, four days before the first race of the year in Australia.

Caterham fell into financial difficulty in the middle of last season after former owner Tony Fernandes and potential buyers Engavest entered a legal dispute over the sale of the team.

This ultimately led to the operation falling into administration, coming into control of Finbarr O’Connell who surprisingly managed to secure a comeback for the team at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix thanks in part to a crowdfunding scheme.

O’Connell was then tasked with finding a buyer for the team over the winter, telling Reuters just two weeks ago: “As long as there are people [out] there who have got a real possibility of doing something, I’m not going to close [the team] down.”

However, his best efforts appear to have now fallen short. Marussia had been set to go down a similar road after missing the last three races of last year, only for its own auction to be cancelled after talks with new buyers began to gain momentum.

The Caterham auction could generate some interest from Gene Haas, who recently acquired the old Marussia factory ahead of his F1 team’s debut at the beginning of the 2016 season.

After five years of racing, the Caterham story has come to a sad and bitter end, and we can only hope that Formula 1 learns from its plight in the future when it comes to fixing the financial crisis the sport is currently facing.

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Vicki Golden has earned a career worthy of a thousand stories and 805 Beer tells at least one of them, as “Inverted Perspective” premiered March 30 on the company’s website and YouTube channel.

Golden did more to break the glass ceiling in SuperMotocross than she ever thought possible. She knows this because riders have never felt the need to explain any of her accomplishments with the disclaimer, “for a girl”.

At this point in Golden’s career, she’s been the first woman to finish top 10 in AMA Arenacross Lites, the first woman to qualify in the Fast 40 in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the first woman to compete in freestyle Moto X competition, earning a bronze medal by doing so.

Her love for moto came from childhood while she watched her dad and brother ride. By seven she was on her bike and making waves throughout Southern California.

Golden, 30, is still madly in love with the sport and has no plans on moving away but her career is already one to talk about. 805 Beer’s film series wanted to do exactly that.

“I’m taken aback by it all,” Golden told NBC Sports about the documentary. “It’s just crazy to see your story, it’s one thing to live your life and battle everything that comes about but it’s another to just sit there and talk about it.”

805 approached Golden about the feature by asking, “Do you even realize that what you do, and your story is special?”

Golden took the question as a blank canvas to map out the highs and lows of her career and life.

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The title “Inverted Perspective” came from a brainstorming session with Dominick Russo and it highlights Golden’s outlook on the sport of SuperMotocross and her life in general.

“My whole life, my whole career was thinking differently and looking at things that shouldn’t be done and aren’t there, while being able to make a place for myself, where no one thought there should be a place,” Golden said. “It’s inspiring someone to think in different ways. It sums up my life.”

*Vicki Golden is not “fast for a girl”; she’s just fast. – 805 Beer*

While Golden is no stranger to the spotlight, this was the first time she’s been fully involved with the storytelling and creation of a feature about herself.

“It’s not like a full new experience,” Golden said. “Obviously, you get your standard questions about your upbringing and accomplishments, but I’ve never really put into perspective things that happened in my past with my dad and putting that to light. Also, certain other things that maybe got overlooked in previous interviews or films. I wanted to touch on these and Dom wanted to create a story. It’s just cool to see it come to light, it’s a nearly impossible thing to tell somebody’s life story in 40 minutes.”

Golden’s father was left paralyzed after an ATV accident, robbing him the opportunity to ride again. This happened a few months before the father-daughter duo was set to compete in the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals when Vicki was 12. While she might have been unable to grasp the severity at the time, it’s something she carries with her. Golden continues to ride in his honor.

Years later, an accident in 2018 nearly sidelined the then 25-year-old Vicki when a freestyle accident almost resulted in the amputation of her lower leg.

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Golden 805 Beer — *Vicki Golden has ridden a variety of disciplines in SuperMotocross, which gives her a unique perspective. – 805 Beer*

“Inverted Perspective” highlights her father’s diligence in helping Vicki continue with her career and the kindness and strength he carried while fighting his own battle.

“My dad was the entire reason that I started riding in the first place,” Golden said. “So, to honor his memory and to honor what we went through and how hard he pushed to keep our dream alive and keep everything going – in that sense then, it was really special to be able to honor him and talk about him.”

The 40-minute feature was filmed entirely in black and white, a stark contrast from the oversaturated world of motocross where the brighter the suit the easier it is for fans to find their rider and follow him in the race. By filming in monochrome Russo and Golden had the chance to focus on the race and track from a different perspective.

“It was cool to be able to film it differently,” Golden said. “It created a challenge in the sense of what was going to be more visually impactful for the film.

“I couldn’t be here without the companies that back me but at the same time, it’s not like the logos or colors disappeared, it’s just different lights shed on different spots. It’s just a cool way to do it and to take color away and still be impactful. When you think of black and white, you think of old school, the OG way of doing things.”

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