Kettch

Kettch was an "incredible driving hamster" who reportedly drove for Team Minardi USA in the Formula Trinity series following the departure of Bram Machiels but before the arrival of Chris Ford.

Build up
Team Minardi USA began the inaugural Formula Trinity series with Tom Mullan, Joe Emberton and Bram Machiels as drivers. However, after the opening Grand Prix in Australia, Machiels disappeared.

Debut and demise
A replacement was found quickly for the next race at Phoenix International Raceway, but with no press announcement made. The anonymous driver qualified dead last, with a very slow lap time. When asked about this in an interview, Tom Mullan claimed that a hamster had been put behind the wheel. Joe Emberton and manager Tom Hartley also started talking about the hamster to the press, his name being given as Kettch, apparently Emberton's pet.

On race day, Machiels' full time replacement was named as Chris Ford. The Kettch story continued to escalate, however, as member's of the Minardi team claimed that Kettch had been fed to an alligator in order to make way for Ford, much to Emberton's dismay.

After criticism from some members of the paddock, the Minardi team stopped talking about Kettch, and the little hamster seemed destined to be forgotten.

Post RLB Career
During Season 5, Joe Emberton launched an online blog about his search to find Kettch, who he believed was still alive. However, the blog soon disappeared off the internet, and Emberton himself soon disappeared from the public eye. Whether this is more than a coincidence or not is unknown.

Upon his short lived return to the RLB, Rob Webb claimed that he had been kidnapped and tortured by Kettch. Soon after making these claims, Webb disappeared without a trace, much like Emberton and Machiels before him.

There have been no sightings of Kettch for several years now, and he is presumed either dead, or having been completely made up from the beginning.

However, in later years Emberton suddenly returned to the world of RLB. He participated in the inagrual season of GP2 and claimed to be back in contact with Kettch. Emberton continued this trend through a season in IndyCar with Penske Racing and then into Formula One with Lotus, even managing a GP2 team sponsored by Kettch's own Hamster food. However, when Emberton moved to Sauber in season 17 he stopped talking about Kettch and once again mysteriously disappeared...