Education
Pratt Institute.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
David Thieme
Edit ProfileCareer
He is best known for having been the former owner of the Essex Overseas Petroleum Corporation, the company that sponsored Team Lotus, between 1979 and 1981, and also the official entry for Porsche in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans. Based in a room of the Hotel of Paris in Monaco, the company was a one-man show, Thieme, and was capable of making lots of money (some sources talks about 70 million dollars of profit per year). Between 1979 and 1981 he became first a major sponsor of the team and ultimately even the main.
With major parties of team presentation in 1980 and 81, in places like Royal Albert Hall, Thieme brought all the glamour and extravagant life to motorsport, having even hired the Michelin star chef Roger Vergé, to cook for all his guests at the motorhomes.
Still today is remembered for lieutenant In 1979 Essex, also sponsored the official Porsche entries for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the two 936, #12 (driven by Jacky Ickx, Brian Redman and Jurgen Barth, fastest lap in the race) and the #14 (with Bob Wollek and Hurley Haywood, pole position) don"t finish the race.
In April 1981, David Thieme was arrested at an airport in Zurich because of the accusations of fraud in the amount of 7.6 million dollars from Cr Suisse bank. After two weeks of investigation he was released on bail ( sources said that his bail of 150000 dollars was paid by Mansour Ojjeh), the Essex empire collapsed and Thieme disappeared.
