THE OG SCAM SPONSOR! The Story of the Moneytron Onyx F1 Team (1989-1990)

I want these days of fly by night teams to return. The sight of random cars led/owned by goodness knows who, featuring drivers who are going to be lapped as soon as the lights go out on the starting grid was funny. And the reasons why team X or Y folded are usually interesting. It's all too humourless, professional, money driven and restrictive now the big car manufacturers run the show.

Porsche: "we'll give you engines as long as you keep quiet about it" Onyx: "alright" Onyx: "GUYS! WE'RE GOING TO GET PORSCHE ENGINES!" Porsche: "yeah, not anymore"

I'd like to see Moneytron fight Megatron.

With a name like Moneytron you are asking for to be scammed

For more van Rossem shenanigans I recommend the Motorsport Magazine podcast with Mike Earle. Hilarious episode and Earle knows how to tell a good story as well!

I'd love to see more stories about similar minnow teams going back through the 80s and into the 70s, because there is an absolute goldmine of outfits there, many of which didn't even build their own cars.

The whole Ponzi scheme worked by him talking to investors in his office, which he left through a door behind him, to a room that was supposed to have the Moneytron. He would see what the computer would say, come back with that information and tell the investor. When he was arrested it turned it to be an empty room where Van Rossem would hang out for a little bit before returning to his clients. Nobody was allowed into the room, yet everyone bought into it, all because of quick profits. The '90's were crazy..

I will say that the Onyx was a nice looking car (livery aside). It was simple and clean lined … like many of the cars of its era. I would say the same of the Leyton House … it was a tidy car, nice looking air box.

"Not even people in Lincolnshire have enough fingers to count" so subtle but brilliance! 😂 Great work on this epsiode as always.

Seeing as how we're talking about scams, I feel it's only right we get an up to date retelling of Rich Energy and their absurdity including what they did in the British superbike championship.

Only thing missing from the Onyx story: Roberto Moreno On a side note does anyone remember Onyx F1 models and Minichamps

I remember you made a video about this way back, but it got taken down. I love this story, so it’s great to see this re-done.

Gachot, the driver of multiple nationalities owing as he was born in Luxembourg to a French diplomat and a German mother. Held a French passport but drove under the Belgian flag initially because it was probably the closest/cheapest option.

Even if Onyx was destined to be a backmaker on the grid, they had a very cool name for a F1 team. Sad that this team faded before Pokémon was a thing.

Great story and ‘what would have been’. I always knew that Onyx was one of those backmarker DPNQ teams but not that then got a podium!

Mr. Krabs: Money Money Money!

These stories of the weird money that comes into F1 are always so absolutely wild, I love it!

The original evil Santa story! He was a weird one. Though it's a real shame for the team because they obviously showed signs of promise at the start of their run in F1. Imagine if they'd had a Mattersiech (sp? I know it's wrong) instead.

108– the number of stitches on a baseball…⚾️ 108– the number of beads on a string of prayer beads 📿 108– the number of Ferraris in Jean-Pierre Van Rossem’s collection 🏎🏎🏎🏁

Watching this video about Moneytron, a literal Ponzi scheme, while getting ads for "Crypto Genius", another literal Ponzi scheme WITHIN a Ponzi scheme is chef's kiss