Remington Joins United Autosports Team

FIA GT3 European Championship Entry to Promote Famed Shaver Brand

ZIONSVILLE, IN (December 18, 2009) – Remington shavers, a lead brand of
Atlanta–based Spectrum Brands will be a sponsor of the debut United Autosports race team, it was announced today.  The American-owned team operating from the U.K. will place prominent Remington Shaver signage on one of its two factory assisted Audi R8 LMS race cars.   

The entry to be co-driven by United Autosports co-owner American Zak Brown and Pablo Perez Companc will prominently carry the Remington brand logo on its upper door and nose.  Driver and crew uniforms, select team race equipment and marketing materials will likewise incorporate the Remington brand.  Beyond signage, Remington is afforded team-provided trackside hospitality for its guests and the right to feature the race team and its drivers in advertising and promotional materials.

“As an American consumer, I’m personally familiar with the quality and popularity of Remington shavers,” said Brown. “I’m looking forward to applying the assets of the United Autosports team to promote the Remington shaver line across Europe.”

The United Autosports affiliation is not the first Remington sponsorship foray in sports car racing. The brand had previously backed a Cadillac race team in North America’s SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge.

“In general, FIA GT racing is a highly evolved and sophisticated type of racing,” stated Brown.“It features many of the world’s legendary sports car manufacturers and attracts premium quality brands as sponsors.  Given that positioning, and the growing popularity of the GT3 series across Europe, Remington shavers will enjoy a highly viable platform to effectively reach new consumers within its target audience.”

ABOUT UNITED AUTOSPORTS

United Autosports is a U.S.-owned professional auto racing team and motorsports development business based in Yorkshire, England. In 2010, United Autosports features a two-car Audi R8 LMS team in the FIA European GT3 series and single-car Ginetta Cup entry. It will additionally prepare and field a fleet of historic racecars for Historic Motorsports Productions “Legends of Motorsports” events in North America.

ABOUT SPECTRUM BRANDS, INC.

Spectrum Brands is a global consumer products company and a leading supplier of batteries, shaving and grooming products, personal care products, specialty pet supplies, lawn & garden and home pest control products, personal insect repellents and portable lighting. Helping to meet the needs of consumers worldwide, included in its portfolio of widely trusted brands are Rayovac(R), Remington(R), Varta(R), Tetra(R), Marineland(R), Nature's Miracle(R), Dingo(R), 8-In-1(R), Spectracide(R), Cutter(R), Repel(R), and HotShot(R). Spectrum Brands' products are sold by the world's top 25 retailers and are available in more than one million stores in more than 120 countries around the world. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Spectrum Brands generates annual revenue from continuing operations in excess of $2 billion.

Twin Audi attack is planned for British GT opener

With three months to go before the 2010 Avon Tyres British GT Championship blasts off, the touchpaper has been lit by the new United Autosports team and its plans to field a brace of factory assisted Audi R8 LMS racers in Easter Monday’s opening rounds of the series.

The Anglo-American team’s exciting news has been revealed by United Autosports’ co-owner and managing director, Richard Dean, who believes the Oulton Park rounds of the UK’s most prestigious sports car series will provide an ideal testbed for his new team and its German chargers.

“Our plans for 2010 centre on the FIA GT3 European Championship, and Oulton Park will be an ideal warm-up event for us,” says Dean. “The competition in British GT is always fierce and Oulton is the sort of demanding circuit that will provide the ideal test for United Autosports’ maiden outing.”

On the driving strength will be team co-owner Zak Brown, 37, an experienced sports car hand and chief executive of the world’s largest motorsport marketing agency, Just Marketing International. Another of the team’s four seats will be filled by Argentine ace Pablo Perez Companc, a former South American F3 Champion and Ferrari sports car racer.

The Audi R8 LMS was a star of FIA GT3 in 2009, Phoenix Racing drivers Christopher Haase and Christopher Mies clinching the drivers championship thanks to their R8’s three race victories and several additional podium finishes.

“The Audi proved itself as a major contender in Europe last season and we have every reason to believe that it will be a race winner again in 2010,” says Dean. “United Autosports may have a very American flavour but the team is Yorkshire based and it will be great for a British-based team to give the Audi its maiden outing in the British GT Championship.”

Among the opposition planning to line up at Oulton to give the Audis a run for their money will be the race-winning MTECH team with its Duncan Cameron/Matt Griffin Ferrari 430 Scuderia, and two Ferrari 430 Scuderias from Chad Racing. Several other new and established teams are planning major post-Christmas announcements of their plans for the championship.

“British GT and all its classes – GT3, GTC and GT4/Supersport – is looking very healthy for 2010,” says the new Avon Tyres British GT Championship manager Benjamin Franasovicci, “and Oulton Park is going to be all the more exciting for the arrival on the grid of the United Autosports Audis.”

Championship promoter SRO has announced an eight-date, 14-race calendar for 2010, including a season-closing ‘into the night’ race at Donington Park and a two-hour endurance round on the Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone.

The championship is sponsored by Avon Tyres and is further supported by motorsport insurance specialist AON, by Sunoco Racing Fuels and by Anglo American Oil Company.