David Richards is slowly turning British American Racing into the team he wants it to be. The Briton, owner of the successful Prodrive company and a former rally navigator, is taking the right steps to take the team to the top. Karl Ludvigsen, who worked with Richards in the past, believes the signs are there already and that BAR will be one to watch in 2003

Credibility - that's what David Richards has brought to British American Racing, better known to you and me as BAR. As a team principal, Craig Pollock lacked this vital ingredient for success. He worked the miracle of the 1990s by putting BAR together and getting it on the road, to be sure. At its launch to the media on December 2nd, 1997 the new team's credibility hinged on the participation of Adrian Reynard and his eponymous company. Credibility was added by the signing on July 1998 of Jacques Villeneuve, 1997 World Champion for Williams. The evident strength of this line-up was exceeded only by the braggadocio with which BAR presented itself to the world.

Now, 66 Formula One races later, all that has changed. Adrian Reynard is still a board member and part-owner of BAR but his own business has gone up the Swannee. Honda has come in - a boost to credibility - but has so far lagged behind its rivals in such vital parameters as power, lightness and reliability. As for Jacques Villeneuve, we can be confident that he is still a hell of a racing driver, but we can worry about his ability to motivate himself when trundling around at the back of the field.

At Indianapolis, a venue that's been kind to him in his past life, Jacques regained that motivation. "We've been quite competitive here this weekend," he said after Indy. "I could drive the car aggressively and overtake." By this year's standards a finish in the points was big news for BAR, which has slumped from the form that saw it score 20 points in 2000-with third places in Spain and Germany for Jacques - and 17 in 2001. Indy was all the better for BAR after sixth place at Monza for Olivier Panis. The team is hoping for a flourish from Honda that will help break its tie with Jordan and even attack Jaguar and Sauber, just ahead of BAR in the makes standings.

Before stepping down from his role as BAR principal, Craig Pollock enhanced his team's credibility by poaching Geoff Willis from Williams to take over as technical director. Just as important as Willis's engineering skills is his knowledge of the state of the Formula One art, and when he arrived at Brackley he was withering about the team's lack of understanding of the technical advances that others had made. Thanks to his input and the high standards he sets, Willis's BAR 005 for next season should be a much improved racing car.

One person who has seen 005 and finds it appealing is Britain's big hope for the future, Jenson Button. David Richards's signing of Button to drive for BAR is every bit as compelling a coup as the original engagement of Villeneuve by the team. Jenson has had his ups and downs, but he's now a seasoned racer at the top level and a great hope for the future. Pairing Jenson and Jacques - assuming the latter doesn't bolt for North America as has oft been rumored - will be an ace combination.

Contributing to Button's decision is the credibility that Richards has brought to BAR. Jenson would have been unlikely to sign for a team that was run by the manager of his teammate. Richards, in contrast, brings neutrality to the driver-selection process as well as the reputation he has earned as the creator of Prodrive, a 1,000-strong company that started out in rally preparation and now cuts a broad swathe through the worlds of contract engineering of both racing cars and road cars. Not bad for a former rally navigator.

David and I go back a long way. When I was running motor sports at Ford of Europe, we turned our proven 16-valve Mark II Escorts over to the team that David Sutton was running for Rothmans while we developed a new rally car based on the Mark III Escort. In the 1981 season Richards rode shotgun for Ari Vatanen in a campaign that brought Ford another World Rally Championship, a highlight of my time with Ford. I don't think Ford's won a rally world championship since. Richards was obviously paying attention, because he's been tremendously successful in his later efforts, which now include as well his management of the televising of the world rally events-TV which I find compelling.

David has gathered good people around him at Prodrive and now at BAR. The rallying connection is still very much present in his engagement of Hugh Chambers as Prodrive's marketing honcho, since January holding down a similar role at BAR as well. Chambers is the son of Marcus Chambers, who led the rallying and racing efforts of the BMC team and others with great flair and no little success. Marcus is also an entertaining author whose color slides of races and rallies are now in the Ludvigsen Library.

Earlier this year BAR stated that Hugh Chambers "will be applying his 23 years of experience across the full marketing spectrum to create a new and unique brand-led positioning for the team, which the BAR team plans to launch as part of the 2003 program." It's not hard to see the reasoning behind this. British American Tobacco (which is also behind Jordan's Benson & Hedges brand, by the way) is spending multi-millions on BAR to advertise its Lucky Strike brand. But at the same time it could be building a brand name for the team that would have intrinsic value.

"BAR" as "British American Racing" is hardly a compelling and marketable moniker. It wouldn't make much of an automobile brand, for example. It reminds me of the way All American Racers rejigged its acronym to stand for Anglo American Racers when Dan Gurney's Formula One team based itself in England. "AAR" still has some resonance to those who know, but it's hardly a brand with which to reckon. The question is: will Dan revive it for his planned all-American Grand Prix team?!

This is the background to Richards's assignment to Chambers of the task of coming up with a new "brand-led positioning" for BAR. The rumor mill even churned out the notion that the "Lotus" brand could be acquired and used by BAR, a move the team was quick to deny. There could be a good solution to this, possibly by acquiring an existing brand (the team owns "Tyrrell", after all) or - more likely - by fashioning a new one that would have more long-term marketing potential. This is the kind of thing that I do in my other life, so it's of special interest to me.

Most recently David Richards has said that he's not going to hurry this rebranding process. Thus next season is likely to continue under the BAR brand. That's not such a bad idea. Nothing improves a brand like better performance of the products and services it stands for. I think BAR has a chance of delivering that next year.