Vanwall: the bitter battle for historic F1 name

It was a blow to the team’s preparations for Le Mans, but some involved in the acrimonious dispute might see it as justice, after a legal ruling appeared to ban Kolles from racing under the historic name.

His team has entered WEC as Vanwall Racing despite losing a case at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). It centred on a dispute over the ‘Class 12’ issue – regarding naming of road-going and competition cars – with the body finding the matter in favour of Vanwall 1958.

Motor Sport understands the appeal process against the verdict has been started, with a paddock source revealing this suspends the initial decision.

When contacted for comment the FIA was reticent, saying it “is not in a position to comment on or arbitrate any ongoing disputes between third party entities.”

If Kolles was to ultimately lose the appeal and was therefore no longer associated with an automotive brand, the repercussions are unclear.

First competing in the world championship in 1954, Vanwall represented the first of what Enzo Ferrari would come to term ‘the garagistas’, the plucky British start-up teams taking on the manufacturing might of the Scuderia, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Mercedes.

Acting as an incubator for British racing talent, Vanwall was not only the team with which both Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks took a number of world championship wins, but also where Colin Chapman cut his F1 engineering teeth before forming Lotus.

The team’s most successful car, the VW 5, claimed the constructors’ crown in 1958 with both Moss and Brooks both scoring three wins apiece that season.

In producing the above-mentioned continuation cars, Sanderson says he want to preserve the history of the great racing brand through his business venture.

“Our strategy with Vanwall has been to look after the historic side and bring the name back to the fore via looking after its true values of quality British innovation,” he said.

“Doing it this way with a massive look over our shoulder the whole time to make sure that we look after the provenance and the great story behind Vanwall.”

Sanderson first became involved with the reproduction of Vanwall continuation cars when he joined forces with car designer Arthur Wolstenholme in 2006 who, under licence from the now-defunct DANA engineering firm, had produced the Vanwall GPR V12, a ‘50s-esque single-seater for use at both track days and on the public roads.

In 2016 – with the Vanwall trademark now owned by Sanderson International – the firm produced another continuation car, the one-off Vanwall ’57, similarly a road-going single-seater. Then, in late 2020, it announced plans to produce the six continuation cars based around Vanwall’s 1958 title-winning machine.

However in early 2021 the ByKolles team applied to take over Vanwall name for its new Hypercar guise, with WEC rules stating constructors in this category must be associated with an automotive brand.

The dispute over the name went to EUIPO. ByKolles managed to secure the Vanwall trademark name for a number of categories including clothing, toys and metals, but Vanwall 1958 hung on to Class 12 concerning road-going and competition cars. It used its 2016 car as key evidence that it was still commercially active in the automotive sector.

“We’re very happy for Kolles to carry on racing as by ByKolles, not as Vanwall,” says Sanderson. “It’s perplexing. We have the trademark, game over, fact.”

However, he then conceded that the issue might not be quite resolved after all.

“They have filed notice of an appeal. It would be interesting to see their grounds given that the original 14-page ruling was very thorough, and included commercial use.”

With the appeal deadline at the end of May, and the previous investigation taking two years to get to the bottom of, the dispute could roll on for some time yet.