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Branson offers Lotus F1 boss a stewardess challenge :-

Branson offers Lotus F1 boss a stewardess challenge
Tuesday, December 15 02:52 pm
Alan Baldwin
Richard Branson challenged aviation rival Tony Fernandes to a Formula One duel on Tuesday with the loser having to dress up as an airline stewardess.

AirAsia's Fernandes, who once worked for Branson's music business, told Reuters last week that his new Malaysian-backed Lotus F1 team had to beat Branson's Virgin Racing operation next season.

"Number one we have to be ahead of Branson, otherwise I will retire and kill myself," said the Malaysian.

Branson, speaking at the launch of his team, suggested a less painful alternative.

"Having come from a music background, I suppose we might be able to choose the music for the funeral," joked the Briton. "But I like Tony a lot so I hope he doesn't have to kill himself.

"At the same obviously we would like to beat him. Maybe we can think of another challenge. He has an airline, we have an airline and if we beat him he can come and work on our airline as a Virgin stewardess.

"We will make sure that the stewardess outfit is perfect. I suspect that he might ask us to reciprocate," added Branson.

"I'll have to check how fetching his stewardess outfits are but I'd be game to do it while totally confident of winning."

Branson and Fernandes join Force India's Vijay Mallya, who controls the Kingfisher airline, as a trio of aviation entrepreneurs challenging the established players in the skies and on the Formula One starting grid.

"It's a very friendly personal rivalry," Branson said. "And it's fun.

"What I discovered last year (as sponsor of Brawn) is that there are a billion people that watch Formula One and the people that watch it are fanatical.

"For us to be involved in Formula One is good for the brand. Formula One is a sexy beast and we are going to try and make it a little bit sexier.

"We love supporting an underdog but we like that underdog to have some pretty good qualities."

(Editing by Ed Osmond)

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Mal

Virgin out to make money
Reuters - Tue, 15 Dec 14:13:00 2009
Buzz Up!
Richard Branson launched his Virgin Racing Formula One team with a plan to make money where others have burned through billions, team principal Alex Tai said.

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"It is possible to have a Formula One team that actually makes money," Tai said. "With this limiting to the budgets, we find ourselves on a level playing field. That is the opportunity for us to actually have a profitable Formula One team.
"Richard and Virgin do not go into business to lose money. This is a very valuable marketing tool for the Virgin Group, it's a very valuable marketing tool for our partners."
"We haven't put a lot of money in, we've put our brand in," entrepreneur Branson said after the team presented Brazilian rookie Lucas di Grassi and Germany's Timo Glock as their driver line-up.
"On the back of the brand, the team are managing to get a lot of sponsors. Our involvement is the naming of the team and some money."
The team first secured their place on the 2010 grid as Manor Grand Prix when slots were made available to new entrants earlier in the year. Branson's Virgin Group sponsored champions Brawn this year.
"We had an incredible season, we loved being the David versus Goliath," said Branson of a team who emerged from the ashes of departed Honda to win both titles and then be taken over by Mercedes.
"Brawn were very much the David. At the end of the season they became the Goliath," said Branson. "So we searched around for another great team and we think we have come up with some brilliant engineers and drivers.
"They are very much another David, we'll see how it goes."
Virgin, billed as "a new team for a new era", will have a car designed by former Simtek owner Nick Wirth using only computational fluid dynamics rather than wind tunnel testing.
Some, such as Williams co-founder Patrick Head, have publicly questioned the wisdom of relying exclusively on computer models but Wirth said he had no doubts.
Manor founder John Booth will be the sporting director while Tai, formerly director of special projects for the Virgin Group, will be principal.
Etienne de Villiers, the former president of the men's ATP tennis tour, will be non-executive chairman.
Virgin have lined up 10 sponsors for 2010 and Tai said they were fully-funded for the season ahead. Tai that the cars would be in Virgin's black and red livery and the team was in for the long term.
"We're the new red car on the block, hopefully we will be here for 60 years to come and making money during that time and not pouring money into it," he added.
Glock, who raced for now-departed Toyota last year, recognised the size of his challenge.
"I know it is the right way to go for me," he said. "The first year will be tough. I am prepared to have a year where we are maybe not fighting for the top positions."
Reuters

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Mal