The Toyota Affair
30/11/2004
FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
Italian justice takes its time, but charges have been brought against Angelo Santini and Mauro Iacconi for the theft of intellectual property owned by Ferrari. In other words, the Toyota TF103 was a rip off of the Ferrari F2002. You can find details by clicking here and starting with 'Espionage'.
Our sources were both public (published news stories) and private (disaffected employees within Toyota Motorsport). Some of the main points are:
- Santini and Iacconi both worked for Ferrari, Santini is currently employed by Toyota and Iacconi is retained as a consultant.
- In an interview with The Indianapolis Star, David Richards confirmed that employees of a major team had approached him with an offer to provide information in return for positions at BAR. Richards, of course, turned down the offer.
- Toyota has issued a statement saying that none of the files allegedly stolen from Ferrari were used in the design of its cars. Our inside sources dispute this and say that fabricators worked to blueprints bearing the Ferrari logo. They also say that Ferrari documents were handed round at meetings of senior personnel. They claim that an e.mail was sent to all employees instructing them to destroy Ferrari documents. We know who sent this instruction and when.
- This may have nothing to do with the current case, but Toyota Motorsport was banned from the 1996 World Rally Championship, and lost all points for the 1995 series, for cheating. The same man was in charge when Toyota Motorsport was banned and when German police raided the HQ in Köln (Cologne) just over 12 months ago.
- Piero Ferrari (formerly Lardi Ferrari) of whom very little is usually heard, issued a statement suggesting that illicit copying of CD Roms may have been involved. This was only a suggestion, but a computer records every action it performs, as some guys now in prison have discovered too late.
- The case was begun by the prosecutor's office in Modena and the evidence was so strong that it led to a raid by German police.
- Santini claimed that the information could have been of no use to Toyota since the 2003 car ran on Michelin tyres and the engine was different. The fact remains that the Toyota TF103 was the spitting image of the Ferrari F2002.
It is also the case that knowing how Ferrari used its Bridgestones in 2002 could be invaluable for a team which had run on Bridgestones, but was switching.
Since all top teams can build a car up to 100 kg under the minimum weight limit, the distribution of ballast is of vital importance. Forget the rubber, consider the lead weights.
Most readers of Pitpass live in countries where the legal system originated in England where the police bring a case to the attention of the prosecuting authority but remain in charge of gathering the evidence. As I understand it, the Italian system follows the French in that a prosecuting magistrate is appointed who takes charge and can direct the police. It takes longer for a case to come to court, but when it does, the prosecution is on firmer ground than in those systems where the points of a case are argued in court.
Given all that, the fact that it has taken just over a year to bring a non urgent (no serial killer) case to court indicates the seriousness with which it is regarded. This is a serious case. If you steal the intelligence behind a World Championship winning car, you steal information to the value of many millions of pounds.
Mike Lawrence
To check out previous features from Mike, click here
