Long time buddy and partner Vince has now taken on full ownership of the car. "It was a really difficult decision to come to" explains Ray "but I am so happy that Vince has been able to maintain ownership and will keep Nosferatu blasting down the strip, hopefully long into the future". Vince added "I completely understand Ray's decision, he will remain my best buddy and will always be welcome in the Nosferatu pit. No doubt we will still need his expert advice and Ray has volunteered to still help with any future re-builds and upgrades". Although Vince has secured ownership of Nosferatu this has been through the help of family members who will need to have this help returned at some point. "After the discussion between the pair of us we saw three possible options" explains Vince. "First option was to break up the car and sell it splitting the proceeds between us, the second was for me to try and find the funds to take on the full ownership and the third was to find a new partner/sponsor". Team Nosferatu did get very close to an agreement with a major sponsor but due to a change in strategy we were not able to close the deal. "My family could see that my passion and determination to continue running Nosferatu was strong" said Vince "and although Ray was in no rush they stepped in to give me some time to plan our future".
Team Nosferatu have had some expensive challenges this year with a freshly built motor destroying itself on the first qualifying run at the Easter Thunderball, due to a dropped valve. The re-build took some time, keeping the team out of the Main Event and Summer Nationals. Then during an exhibition burnout at the Xtreme Wheels show, Nosferatu became a drift car and made contact with the banking, damaging the carbon fibre bodywork (all this news is detailed in Vince's blog ). It was after this accident the team really found out how many people cared about Nosferatu, as offers of help came flooding in from many people. "I was really blown away by the offers of support and condolences from many people I have never met" explains Vince.
"Even before the accident so many of the visitors to the show seemed to know so much about our car and team, it was actually a little spooky. The donations from the fans and offers of help from several businesses made me more determined to want to carry on". The repair to the body is in the planning stage and Vince has sourced a supplier for a new carbon fibre front from Canada and will be ordering this soon (with some help). Although the immediate future of Nosferatu is secure, Vince is looking to obtain significant sponsorship to return the "help" from the family and a contribution towards the running costs of the six second Nosferatu Pontiac Firebird. "We believe we can offer great value for money for our sponsors, due to the popularity of Nosferatu and the thousands of visitors to our website" says Vince. "We will promote brands in any way we can even visiting company headquarters to put Nosferatu on show". If you would like any further information, concerning sponsorship packages, the please contact Vince directly at vincentgibbs@aol.com.