Orange Arrows was based at the state of the art F1 facility created by Tom Walkinshaw deep in the Oxfordshire countryside. These were testing times for the Orange Arrows F1 Team as financial difficulties were having a severe effect on the racing business. In 2002/3 F1 Technical Director Mike Coughlan and his team of talented designers had created our best race car to date, the Orange Arrows A23 which was powered by a customer Cosworth V10 and driven by F1 drivers HH Frentzen and Enrique Bernoldi. The A23 was quick and proved itself in pre-season testing and the early races. However, money was tight and the squeeze began to be felt in the racing and testing programmes. We had great sponsors, Orange and Red Bull but the costs of F1 were forever rising and in those days in F1 we used so many F1 engines at every event, both testing and racing.
We all knew we were in trouble and I decided to progress an idea that I had during my time as F1 Test Team manager. So often fans would ask for a piece of memorabilia from the team during the tests but we did not have infrastructure to make this happen. Most F1 parts ended up in the crusher and went off to landfill. So I created the F1-247 programme to satisfy the demand of the genuine F1 fans. For the very first time they would be able to purchase F1 items that were officially released from the F1 Team, knowing that the F1 Team would benefit financially and the money would be fed back into the racing programme. This meant that F1 fans could be sure that the items they had purchased were real and exactly what they claimed to be.
Late in 2003 the Orange Arrows Team went into receivership and ceased racing despite the best efforts of the entire Team, Tom Walkinshaw Racing also suffered and never recovered, by the end of 2003 it was all over.
The F1-247 programme was then taken to Williams F1 and after discussions with Sir Frank Williams, F1-247 became the Official Memorabilia agent for the Williams F1 Team. Jaguar Racing followed into the F1-247 programme and then in 2006 Red Bull Racing joined too.
F1-247 is contracted to act as the F1 memorabilia agent for BMW Williams F1 Team, Williams F1, Williams Racing, Williams Martini Racing, Williams Heritage, Red Bull Racing, Jaguar Racing and Jaguar Heritage.
F1-247 continues to deliver on the original mission statement and is now in its second decade of operation. You can be sure that when you purchase from F1-247 that you are buying genuine and authentic F1 team items and F1 race car parts that have been used and raced in the FIA F1 World Championship.