Embassy Racing was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

team founded by Jonathan France in 2003. Initially created as a conjunction with

Xero Competition {{Use British English, date=July 2015 Xero Competition was an auto racing team based in Great Britain. They operated from premises in Warrington, in the North-West of England. They competed in the 2006 MSA Dunlop British Touring Car Championship. ...

in the

British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports GT ...

, the team expanded to become an independent team and began to win races in British GT before the team took a sabbatical year in 2006. Upon their return to motorsport, Embassy moved to the international

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

, running in a

Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were create ...

class, as well as entering the

British Superbike Championship The British Superbike Championship (BSB), currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, is the leading road racing superbike championship in the United Kingdom, and was once widely acknowledged as the p ...

's junior leagues, the Supersport and Superstock Championships, running with the support of Triumph Motorcycles under the MAP Embassy Triumph banner. In 2008, Embassy became a race car constructor for the first time, when they developed and built a new Le Mans Prototype known as th
WF01
Embassy Racing ran two WF01s in the Le Mans Series, two

Triumph Daytona 675 Introduced in 2006, the Triumph Daytona 675 is a three-cylinder sport bike, and the smallest of the Triumph triples. Built by Triumph Motorcycles, it replaced their four-cylinder Daytona 650. The 675 proved to be remarkably light, nimble an ...

s in the British Supersport Championship, and another Daytona in Superstock. At the end of the 2008 season Jonathan France declared that he planned to ‘mothball’ the team due to the economic climate. Then in March 2009 it was announced that the entire assets of the team were to be sold via an on-line auction.

Team history

British GT

When Embassy Racing was first founded by France in 2003, the team initially served as a marketing brand, racing under their own banner but serving as the public face for a second team under the management of

. Entered in the

, Xero and Embassy ran

Chevrolet Corvette C5 The Chevrolet Corvette (C5) is the fifth generation of the Chevrolet Corvette sports car, produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1997 through 2004 model years. Production variants include the high performance Z06. Racing ...

s in the series' top category with drivers Paula Cook and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

er Neil Cunningham. Embassy's Corvette started the season with good results, outperforming the other Xero Corvette, but by mid-season the team had difficulty finishing races due to accidents and mechanical problems. The team rebounded and were able to score their first podium finish at race two at the

Thruxton Circuit The Thruxton Circuit is a motor-racing circuit located near the village of Thruxton in Hampshire, England, United Kingdom, about 30 miles north of Southampton. It has hosted motorsport events including the British Touring Car Championship, B ...

, aided by Ben Collins replacing Paula Cook. By season's end Embassy's Cunningham was well ahead of the two drivers in the Xero Corvette in the Drivers' Championship for their class and eventually earned 12th place in the standings. For 2005, feeling that their partnership with Xero was not to their benefit, Embassy Racing built their own team under the direct control of France. Neil Cunningham was retained as a driver and Ben Collins was signed to a full season contract, both of which shared a new

Porsche 911 GT3 The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a line of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...

-RSR. At the

Knockhill Racing Circuit Knockhill Racing Circuit is a motor racing circuit in Fife, Scotland. It opened in September 1974 and is Scotland's national motorsport centre. The circuit is located in the countryside about north of Dunfermline. It is the only FIA approved ...

, the third race of the year, the duo earned Embassy's first victory, immediately followed by a fourth-place finish in the second race at the circuit. A string of podium finishes continued as the season progressed, including another win at the

Silverstone Circuit Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Towcester, Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix. The 1950 ...

. At the end of the year, Cunningham and Collins shared second place in the Drivers' Championship. The team also participated in the

Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was ...

with

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

factory driver

Sascha Maassen Sascha Maassen (born 28 September 1969 in Aachen, Germany) is a veteran sports car driver. Early career Maassen began his career in karts, and moved to cars in 1989, in Formula Ford 1600. During the early 1990s, he raced in the German Formula 3 s ...

and finished the event fourth in their class, twentieth overall.

Le Mans Series

Jonathan France chose to put his team on sabbatical in 2006 following the birth of his son, but planned a return in 2007 that expanded the team to an international level. France chose to take his team to the

, a European championship for

sports prototype A sports prototype, sometimes referred to as simply a prototype, is a type of race car that is used in the highest-level categories of sports car racing. These purpose-built racing cars, unlike street-legal and production-based racing cars, are n ...

s and

grand tourer A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either ...

s, and entered the LMP2 class, the lower category amongst the prototypes. Initially, a Pilbeam chassis was purchased and tested, but feeling that the car was not adequate, the Pilbeam was replaced by a newer

Radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

chassis. Neil Cunningham remained with the team while

Warren Hughes Warren Hughes (born 19 January 1969) is a racing driver from Newcastle, England. He has raced in a variety of different series, most notably the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), the FIA GT1 World Championship, the Le Mans Series, ...

joined as his teammate. In the short Le Mans Series season, Embassy did not start off well as their Radical did not finish the first two events. The team managed to finish their first race in round three, the 1000 km of Nürburgring, with thirteenth place and fifth in their class, earning them points towards the championships. Joined by

Darren Manning Darren Manning (born 30 April 1975) is a British motor racing driver who has raced in the IRL IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Career history Early career Manning was born in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, ...

, the team earned points finishes in the next two races. The season finale, the

Mil Milhas Brasil The Mil Milhas Brasil (also known as the Mil Milhas Brasileiras or 1000 Miles of Brazil in Portuguese language, Portuguese) is a sports car racing, sports car endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually in Brazil since 1956. The M ...

, featured only three cars competing in Embassy's category, but the team's Radical was once again able to finish and earn second in their category. Boosted by the points received at the Mil Milhas Brasil, Embassy Racing finished seventh in the Teams' Championship, and Warren Hughes 18th in the Drivers' Championship. During the 2007 season, Embassy announced that they were moving to larger facilities in order to allow for the construction and support of a two-car entry in the following season of the Le Mans Series. The new WF01 prototypes, named after France's son William, shares several elements with the team's Radical SR9. This includes the same designer,

Peter Elleray Peter Elleray (born 30 June 1958) is an English engineer and race car designer particularly known for designing the Bentley Speed 8 race car. Elleray, who worked for Racing Technologies Norfolk (RTN), also designed the Audi R8C and the British ...

, but the new WF01s will instead run

Zytek Gibson Technology is an automotive and motorsport company based at Repton, Derbyshire, England. It was founded by Bill Gibson as "Zytek Engineering" in 1981. In 1981 Gibson founded the "Zytech Group" with two main divisions: Zytek Automotive, b ...

engines instead of the Radical's Judd. The two chassis were completed in time for the 2008 season, and Warren Hughes was partnered with

Mario Haberfeld is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...

in one entry, while

Jonny Kane Jonny is a masculine given name, and pet name, in the English language. A pet form of Jon, the natural diminutive of given name Jonathan, in some cases it can also mean a condom. A variant form of ''Jonny'' is ''Jonnie''. People with the name *J ...

and Joey Foster share the other car. By the second round of the 2008 season, one of Embassy's WF01's had already earned its first championship points with an eighteenth-place finish at the 1000 km of Monza. Embassy Racing also plans to make their first appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Hughes, Kane, and Foster all driving. At the

2008 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 76th Grand Prix of Endurance, taking place on 14–15 June 2008 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The test day was on June 1. The race was atten ...

Embassy qualified 5th in class and 24th overall. The car retired after 15 hours and was classified 39th in the final standings. The car was entered for one more race only, the 2009 Silverstone 1000km round of the 2009 Le Mans Series, with a finish of 14th. In 2013, the relaunched

Tiga Race Cars Tiga Race Cars Ltd. was a British auto racing constructor and team. The company was founded in 1974 by two former Formula 1 drivers, Australian Tim Schenken and New Zealander Howden Ganley. The company's name was formed by the first two letters o ...

bought the

IP rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

and all existing tooling and data of the WF01, with the intention of modifying the car to comply with the revised cost-cap regulations of the then-current LMP2 class. The car's engine was changed over from its original

V8 to the Judd Power HK V8. The car did not compete in the 2014 season as originally planned but further development was carried out, with the aim of competing in 2015. The car never competed.

British Supersport and Superstock

As Embassy Racing was preparing for their entry into the Le Mans Series, team owner Jonathan France also chose to enter the world of

motorcycle racing Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Ot ...

by entering the lower levels of the British national championship. A

Yamaha R1 The Yamaha YZF-R1, or simply R1, is a -class sports motorcycle made by Yamaha. It was first released in 1998, undergoing significant updates in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2018

was purchased for use by Glen Richards in the Supersport series. In 2008, Embassy expanded their motorcycle program, signing

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n Paul Young to ride alongside Richards in Supersport, while South African A.J. Venter was signed to ride in the Superstock 600 Championship. The team was also able to sign a deal with Triumph Motorcycles for using their Daytona 675 bikes, as well as support direct from the Triumph factory.

References

{{reflist 2003 establishments in the United Kingdom Auto racing teams in the United Kingdom British racecar constructors 24 Hours of Le Mans teams European Le Mans Series teams FIA GT Championship teams