Some of the 90 workers at the Oxfordshire- based Formula One racing team Super Aguri expressed wry surprise this week after learning that their team had pulled out of the 2008 FIA Formula One Championship.

Performing a little old-fashioned door-stepping in the brilliant May sunshine at the company's site at the Technical Centre, Leafield, I learned of dashed hopes from one young employee, who declined to be named.

Asked if he worked for Aguri, he replied. "No. Let's say I did work for Aguri." He added "I am bitterly disappointed, because I thought this was an opportunity for me. I am just going in now to attend a meeting and learn a little more about my future."

The Arrows F1 team, owned by Tom Walkinshaw, was based at the same site until it folded in 2002, owing millions to creditors and thousands in unpaid wages.

Some of its former employees later found new jobs with the Japanese-owned team Super Aguri. Now their jobs are threatened once again.

People who once worked for Arrows include Aguri directors Daniel Audetto and Mark Preston. Press officer Emma Bearpark said she could reveal no information: "This is a sensitive time for us."

Some might say it is a sensitive time for creditors too. Even a request to be told whether the team was in administration and, if so, who was the administrator, was declined with the words: "We can say nothing."

A group of four Japanese men, who did not speak very good English, swept up in a 4X4, stony faced, unsmiling, to the closed barrier. They spoke little English but in any case had nothing to say to The Oxford Times.

Fast cars have, of course, long had a particular fascination in Oxfordshire. A decade ago Oxford was named city of screaming tyres because of the popularity of so-called joyriding; and motorsport, of a more respectable nature, has long been one of the county's top money-spinning industries.

As long ago as 2002, a report from the universities of Cranfield and Birmingham and the Henley Management College found that the industry was contributing £2.2bn to overseas earnings, placing Oxfordshire at the heart of Motorsport Valley, a crescent stretching roughly from Southampton to Norfolk.

The report mentioned such key Formula One teams in the area as Williams at Grove (then sponsored by BMW but now by AT&T, using Toyota engines); Renault at Enstone; and Honda (then British American Racing) at Brackley. Also mentioned was Prodrive, Subaru's world rally championship team based at Banbury.

But now the heady smell of burning rubber is being carried on a chillier wind yet again - at any rate in Leafield, as the industry's rollercoaster boom-bust ride continues. The site belongs to American firm MCT, which bought up the sister company of Arrows, TWR, in 2002.

Super Aguri was formed in November 2005 by former Grand Prix driver Aguri Suzuki. The team entered Formula One in 2006, achieving its first championship points in the Spanish Grand Prix after 22 races.

Other notable successes included a ninth overall finish in the 2007 Constructors' Championship.

Announcing the withdrawal of Super Aguri from Formula One in a written statement on Tuesday, Mr Suzuki blamed a contractual dispute and difficulties in getting financial backing for the decision.

He added: "In order to realise my dream to become an owner of a Formula One Team, I applied for a grid position in the FIA Formula One World Championship in November 2005. Since then, I have participated in the championship for two years and four months as the Super Aguri F1 team, but regretfully I must inform you that the team will be ceasing its racing activities as of today.

"With the help of Honda, we have somehow managed to keep the team going, but we find it difficult to establish a way to continue the activities in the future within the environment surrounding F1 and as a result, I have concluded to withdraw from the championship."

In November last year, up to 30 people were given 30 days' warning that they could be made redundant.

Earlier this year, insiders predicted that the writing was on the wall for Super Aguri, which featured British driver Anthony Davidson, after Dubai-based investment company Magma Group pulled out of a deal to bail them out. Its other driver, Takuma Sato, is among the 90 employees facing an uncertain future.

Now the Formula One circus will be forced to continue this year with just ten teams in the paddock.

Last week, Super Aguri's trucks were refused admittance to the Istanbul circuit ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix.

The team's cars came from Honda, along with much of its funding.

Yesterday it transpired that Philip Long, Ian Gould and Brian Hamblin, of administrators PKF Accountants, are hoping to sell the business as an on-going concern "to a company or individual looking to launch a Formula 1 or other motorsport operation".

Several expressions of interest have already been received, said Mr Long. He said: "This administration provides a unique opportunity to get into high-level motorsport without having to build an operation from scratch. In terms of capability, a new team could easily be up and running for the 2009 Formula 1 season.

"Virtually everything is in place, including the people, the technical expertise, the laboratories and testing facilities. A new team could walk in and take over a fully operational unit from day one. There are a number of other motorsport projects being undertaken which should interest the motor-racing world."

He added: "I am pleased that there has already been significant interest."