Oxfordshire specialist car firm TWR has moved to quell fears that it is caught up in the financial crisis of its sister firm, the Formula 1 team Arrows.

The two companies, run by Tom Walkinshaw, employ about 250 people each at Leafield, near Witney, but while TWR is busy with major contracts from car makers, Arrows is facing a winding-up petition in the High Court on November 13 from racing driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

As reported in the late edition of October 15's Oxford Mail, the Arrows team was due to face a winding-up petition from the Inland Revenue on October 16, but reached a last-minute, out-of-court settlement to avoid the hearing.

A spokesman for TWR, Richard Hayes, said: "We're keen to dispel a concern that TWR equals Arrows here.

"Obviously we're concerned about people working at Arrows. It's unfortunate and this is not a pleasant thing, but the two companies are completely separate.

"We were here before Arrows moved to the site when Tom Walkinshaw took over the team in 1996."

Cash-strapped Arrows has not competed in six of the last seven grand prix and salary payments have been delayed.

A spokesman for Arrows said: "Everyone is working as hard as they can to get the situation sorted out."

TWR, which employs about 1,500 people worldwide, recently won a major contract with Chevrolet as a result of its development of a successful Indy racing car in the US.

Meanwhile Williams F1, which employs more than 400 people at its Grove factory and runs the Williams F1 BMW Team, has linked up with Marks & Spencer and Halfords to produce a new line in leisure clothing, which was officially launched on October 15.