20 replies to this topic

[One]

http://uk.reuters.co...type=formulaOne

Bernie stated tat F1 could go on to IPO sooner than 2014. In the Reuter report Bernie says some interesting things and most usual stuff. He twist things.

How about it, Formula one is a world championship. Yes it is so.
How about it, Formula one is NOT an Euroepean championship, huumm. I feel some voices raising from somewhere...

So if... I mean, if... If there is yet another series called Formula One European champonship organized by FIA? Should it gain excitements?

1. It uses a year old regulation.
2. Grid is minimum of 20, but till 30 cars are allowed.
3. 12 to 14 races per season.
4. No drivers on the World Championship is allowed.
5. Much simpler commercial organization, from which about 1/10 of costs are made.
6. higher money division to teams and promoters.
7. Entrance fee is also about 1/10
8. Budget cap, about 1/10 of the world championships.
9. WC teams are allowed to compete.
10. Customer deals are allowed.
11. Several tires.
12. No Tests
...

"Last year I thought that the markets were not ready, but now it is getting more likely that there is an opportunity," the 82-year-old billionaire told the official F1 website ahead of Sunday's Australian season-opener.
"In the next three months or so somebody will have to decide yes or no," he added when asked about a possible float towards the end of the year.
Ecclestone told Reuters last November that any initial public offering (IPO) was unlikely before 2014.
The owners of Formula One had been preparing a £2 billion IPO in Singapore last June but decided to hold off as global markets tumbled and investor mood soured after Facebook's plunge in value following its flotation.
Private equity firm CVC, the sport's largest shareholder, has a stake of around 35.5 percent.
Some 30 percent of the business is owned by investment groups Blackrock, Waddell & Reed, Norges Bank and the Texas Teachers' pension fund.
This year's Formula One championship will have 19 races, one less than last year due to the postponement of a planned grand prix in New Jersey and the disappearance of the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain.
The German Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring was confirmed only at the end of January amid prolonged wrangling over hosting fees while a slot reserved for an unidentified European race in July has gone unfilled.
Ecclestone suggested Europe could see fewer races in future with other countries, such as Thailand and Mexico, seeking slots.
"The fact is that we are a world championship, not a European championship, so maybe we are going to lose a couple of European races because we are going to other parts of the world," he said.
"There are lots of countries knocking at our door and it is a case of finding the right places for Formula One."
Russia is due to make its debut next year with a race in Winter Olympics venue Sochi.

[Shiroo]

Wouldn't it will be just better to make from current F1 some races count into F1 European Championship?... maybe Webber would get hsi 1st title then

[Nemo1965]

I am extremely sceptic. In the old days, the F1-entourage was bent on getting the chance to race as often as possible (for which an European F1 championship would be great). Nowadays, Ecclestone and followers are bent on getting as much money as possible (for which an European champinship would be s..t).

But if it happens, I have a simple rule: two year old cars are mandatory. New parts can be used but only in the original design. No budget cap needed.

Other idea: enable digital imagery for advertisment on cars. Much easier to find and place sponsors then.

[Ravenak]

Too expensive.

Nobody interested, not manufacturers, nor investors.

/thread

[pingu666]

theres no money for it

[One]

OK, so if the team do not fly everywhere, and the team is much smaller as it used a year old chassis, no testing only limited updates and so on. How much should this top notch spec car series costs? GP2 should somewhere 2,5 mil Euro by now and that is 1/100th of F1 buget. Champcar is said to be around 50mil for this spec series.

Meaning running a year old F1 car for 20 mil on updated relevant european track should say something for World championship team, in terms of testing aero bits and tires, training younger drivers etc.

Besides if Minaldi wants to be back on grid it may choose this route?
It could learn recent car technologies and tires etc.

It should give some more promotional value to European sponsors of WC team?

[FNG]

Wow

Texas Teachers Pension Fund is a big stakeholder? Who knew!!

Edited by FNG, 13 March 2013 - 21:58.

[One]

Wow

Texas Teachers Pension Fund is a big stakeholder? Who knew!!

Mad men!

[PayasYouRace]

4. No drivers on the World Championship is allowed.

That would be your killer. The big stars of F1 is a big part of the interest. Without them, you'd just have the hardcore enthusiasts interested, and that's not enough to make money out of it.

[oetzi]

That would be your killer. The big stars of F1 is a big part of the interest. Without them, you'd just have the hardcore enthusiasts interested, and that's not enough to make money out of it.

The teams and cars are the stars. You could put a FF1600 grid in F1 cars and people would watch. Try getting them to watch F1 drivers n FF1600 cars.

I offer you the opportunity to discount the people who post here. They're not significant.

[oetzi]

It would be a great finishing school for engineers and drivers.

[One]

The teams and cars are the stars. You could put a FF1600 grid in F1 cars and people would watch. Try getting them to watch F1 drivers n FF1600 cars.

I offer you the opportunity to discount the people who post here. They're not significant.

Is it that bad? What is your credentials hero?

WRChas ERC which Kubica is taking it on.

[oetzi]

Is it that bad?

I never said it was bad - I think it's a reasonable idea if you can get the money somehow.

The F1 Championship's not the be all and end all of motor racing, and it doesn't even need to be the be all and end all of F1 - loads of people used to go to non-championship F1 races, only problem is the cars are now so complex and expensive to run that they're not going to turn up for a fun run. If there was a way to make their old kit pay while training up engineers and trying out young drivers I'm sure the teams could be persuaded, and that people would rather watch that than GP2, for instance.

Chill

[PayasYouRace]

The teams and cars are the stars. You could put a FF1600 grid in F1 cars and people would watch. Try getting them to watch F1 drivers n FF1600 cars.

I offer you the opportunity to discount the people who post here. They're not significant.

They are also part of the attraction of course, but if you take away the heroes of the sport, the drivers, you're going to be struggling.

The topic is for a European F1, championship, with F1 cars (presumably run by F1 teams), so I didn't feel the need to comment on that. But by not allowing the real stars of the show, you won't have the same interest.

[lustigson]

I always liked the concept of having separate titles for — in this case — the European leg of the Formula One season. If you applied all the regular points to the 2012 championship, the European Formula One Drivers' Championship would have looked like this:

1. Fernando Alonso (126 points)
2. Kimi Räikkönen (103)
3. Mark Webber (78)
4. Sebastian Vettel (75; World Champion)
5. Lewis Hamilton (68)
6. Jenson Button (58)
7. Felipe Massa (44)
8. M.Schumacher (41)
9. Nico Rosberg (40)
10. Romain Grosjean (35)
11. Nico Hülkenberg (29)
12. Sergio Pérez (28)
13. Pastor Maldonado (25)
14. Kamui Kobayashi (24)
15. Paul Di Resta (17)
16. Bruno Senna (11)
17. Jean-Eric Vergne (4)
18. Daniel Ricciardo (2)

[oetzi]

Is it that bad? What is your credentials hero?

Ah, just seen what you meant there - I didn't mean that only insignificant people post here, I meant that the fact that people who post here would be interested in watching F1 drivers in FF1600s isn't significant, as it's too small an audience.

[oetzi]

They are also part of the attraction of course, but if you take away the heroes of the sport, the drivers, you're going to be struggling.

The topic is for a European F1, championship, with F1 cars (presumably run by F1 teams), so I didn't feel the need to comment on that. But by not allowing the real stars of the show, you won't have the same interest.

If it was a lot cheaper to get to the races, and the drivers were of a decent standard (maybe F1 reserve drivers, some recently (unwillingly) retired F1 drivers, champs from the junior formulae) then I reckon you could get a fairly significant crowd in, and get people watching it on TV.

The more I think about it, the less likely I think the teams would be to agree, though.

[One]

Ah, just seen what you meant there - I didn't mean that only insignificant people post here, I meant that the fact that people who post here would be interested in watching F1 drivers in FF1600s isn't significant, as it's too small an audience.

SO you are million dollar baby!

[One]

I always liked the concept of having separate titles for — in this case — the European leg of the Formula One season. If you applied all the regular points to the 2012 championship, the European Formula One Drivers' Championship would have looked like this:

1. Fernando Alonso (126 points)
2. Kimi Räikkönen (103)
3. Mark Webber (78)
4. Sebastian Vettel (75; World Champion)
5. Lewis Hamilton (68)
6. Jenson Button (58)
7. Felipe Massa (44)
8. M.Schumacher (41)
9. Nico Rosberg (40)
10. Romain Grosjean (35)
11. Nico Hülkenberg (29)
12. Sergio Pérez (28)
13. Pastor Maldonado (25)
14. Kamui Kobayashi (24)
15. Paul Di Resta (17)
16. Bruno Senna (11)
17. Jean-Eric Vergne (4)
18. Daniel Ricciardo (2)

Never seen this result. Thanx.

Which I think reveals the reason as to why Fernando deserved the title.
Vettel is lowly 4th.

[One]

They are also part of the attraction of course, but if you take away the heroes of the sport, the drivers, you're going to be struggling.

The topic is for a European F1, championship, with F1 cars (presumably run by F1 teams), so I didn't feel the need to comment on that. But by not allowing the real stars of the show, you won't have the same interest.

Alonso was not a real star, just as much as Sutil suffered the last year. Kobayashi is not on the grid, and so on.
Sorry but I have to say iot is silly to give sich an importance on "real" stars... how do one quantify that? Real stars drive i World championship, ... real but no money drives in ECC, real one who just mised seat drives in ECC, real talkent drives in ECC, real dark horse drives in ECC real future star drives in ECC, ...

[BRG]

Try getting them to watch F1 drivers in FF1600 cars.

I'd pay to see that. And used to, back in the day when F1 drivers regularly also appeared in Formula 2, saloon cars and sports cars. Watching Graham Hill, towards the end of his racing career, duelling in F2 with up and coming drivers like Peterson, Lauda, Reutteman etc was great. More recently, seeing many of the F1 grid racing the BMW M1 Procars was also terrific. If only we could see something like that again.

Edited by BRG, 16 March 2013 - 19:10.