Feature: Walkinshaw Needs All His Survival Skills

Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw has swum with Formula One's 'Piranha Club' for long enough to have earned a fearsome reputation as a fighter and survivor.

But the burly Scot, whose business empire spans continents and a multitude of companies, will need to muster all his considerable expertise if he is to resolve the problems afflicting his team. The London High Court heard on Thursday that Arrows were teetering on the edge of collapse, financially doomed barring a miracle.

The team are two months late with payments to engine provider Cosworth and need to come up with $4.7 million by Saturday afternoon qualifying if they are to race in Sunday's British Grand Prix. On Friday, their drivers sat out opening free practice at Silverstone - grounded by the cash crisis.

There are more legal battles ahead, including a suit launched by former driver Jos Verstappen after he was replaced at the start of the year, and the financial juggling act is in danger of crashing to the floor.

Failure to race at Silverstone could spell the end of the road for a team yet to win in 380 attempts - a record - but hanging on doggedly where others have failed.

Miracle Maker

But those who have known Walkinshaw since his days as a racer - before he became an engineering entrepreneur with a fortune estimated by the British media at more than $160 million - were not writing him off.

"I have known Tom for a long time, I have raced against him in Formula Three and whatever, and I would say on that basis that Tom is a miracle maker," said fellow team boss Eddie Jordan at Silverstone. "I know the guy, he is a great fighter."

Niki Lauda, the former World Champion and Jaguar boss who presides over the Ford-owned Cosworth concern, spoke in a similar vein.

"I get on very well with him. There is no question, he is a survivor and a fighter...normally, he always survives but it looks pretty close at the moment. I want him to race but I cannot pay for his racing because I will get fired if I do this."

Walkinshaw came to prominence in Formula One as director of engineering at Benetton, winning the Championship with Michael Schumacher in 1994.

But the forthright 54-year-old son of an East Lothian market gardener wanted his own team and, after moving to Ligier in 1995, took over Arrows - who had been renamed Footwork by then - in 1996. The team had been founded in 1977, securing a pole position at the USA West Grand Prix in 1981 with Italian Riccardo Patrese.

Deutsche Bank's Morgan Grenfell Equity Partners have since become heavily involved, the judge in the High Court on Thursday putting their investment in the team at $60 million. Walkinshaw has also enjoyed considerable success with his TWR Group, engineering racing cars for a range of manufacturers over the years.

In 1988 the former touring car champion produced a winning Le Mans 24 Hours car with Jaguar. He scored a coup at Arrows by signing World Champion Damon Hill from Williams in 1997 and the Briton led in Hungary until a gearbox problem struck.

He was overtaken agonisingly by Canadian Jacques Villeneuve in the closing laps but the second place remains Arrows' finest hour. The team have scored just two points this season, despite regularly outperforming Lauda's own Jaguars.

Walkinshaw has spent much of the season fighting Minardi's ultimately successful attempts to claim money first earmarked for the Prost team that failed in January. The Scot was also linked to the unsuccessful attempt by Phoenix Finance Ltd to buy the Prost team's rights to compete in Formula One.

Walkinshaw's other major sporting love is rugby, and, despite stepping down as chairman of the company representing the English premier league clubs, he remains the owner of Gloucester.