William Storey made waves within the Formula 1 world when his drinks brand Rich Energy became the title sponsor of the Haas F1 Team in 2019, despite the product not being readily available.
Against a backdrop of poor performance from the team, Rich Energy battled legal issues - including copyright infringement - and eventually terminated its contract with Haas part-way through the season. Though it continued to sponsor motorsport, both the brand and Storey have been relatively dormant since.
That is until now, with Storey announcing his role as CEO of Marcos Cars, which will see the defunct sports car-maker revived. Founded in 1959, it was one of the UK’s low-volume carmakers from 1959 to 1972 when it was first liquidated, then from 1981 to 2000, and finally 2002 to 2007 when it died its most recent death.
“I am absolutely delighted to become the new CEO of British Automotive company Marcos Cars,” Storey said in a LinkedIn post.
“Marcos have an extraordinary motorsport heritage and have built some iconic sports cars over the years including the incredible Mantis XP and Marcos Mantara.
“Co-founder Frank Costin designed the first ever Formula One World Championship winning chassis and pioneered aeronautical engineering in car design.
“We are launching our incredible new F1 inspired supercar in November and it will be designed, owned and built in Britain under engineering director Tony Brown.”
According to an earlier post made on X - formerly Twitter - Storey says the new Marcos supercar is “in development” and has “Ferrari and Lamborghini” in its sights.
While Storey’s posts and the brand’s website have referenced Marcos Cars as the new name, the carmaker is also operating under the Marcos Motor Company handle on social media.
It’s the latest instance of a dead British brand being resuscitated, with TVR also making multiple appearances in the headlines over the past decade, though it’s yet to build a production car despite rolling out multiple concepts.
