27 replies to this topic

[D.M.N.]

https://www.indiegog...project-brabham

 

There hasn’t been a Brabham team for over twenty years, but now the famous name is ready to embark on its next journey. Brabham Racing will initially compete in the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship, which includes the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours. The ultimate dream is to bring this same model to Formula 1 and potentially other exciting new series such as the FIA Formula E Championship.

How your money will be spent

To have a car in place for the first round of the FIA WEC (including the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours) we have budgeted close to £8m for an LMP2 car. Project Brabham is a new solution to go racing that:

 

·  Makes long-term investment more likely and more sustainable

 

·  Makes sponsorship more attractive to brands

 

·  Involves fans more than ever before

 

We are initially looking to raise £250,000 to get Phase 1 of Project Brabham up and running, but put simply the more we raise and the more people who show their support, the sooner we can develop the e-learning content and go racing.

 

Sounds interesting!  

[Risil]

Innovative crowd-funding strategy?

I would say "I'll believe it when I see it" but that's not getting into the spirit of things.

[Ross Stonefeld]

So not really Brabham at all. Basically the various Lotus F1 cars have had a stronger claim to the respective name.

 

I'll be curious to see how many people they fleece for money. Because what are you paying for other than the feelgood of seeing a certain name on a timesheet? Might as well chip in to sponsor one of the Brabham kids. At least the heritage is legit.

[Mat13]

Cracking idea. Although I'm not sure the crowd funding route will last indefinitely, would prize money fill the void?

[sabjit]

Take my money!

[Disgrace]

£500 to moderate their forums. Bargain IMO. 

[JHSingo]

Doesn't fill me with confidence, this "crowd sourcing" technique...all very well talking about LMP1 and F1, but I'll believe it when it happens.

 

Best of luck to them, I guess.

[Fastcake]

Cracking idea. Although I'm not sure the crowd funding route will last indefinitely, would prize money fill the void?

 

I guess the initial £250k is to help get the factory up and running, and once they've got a car deal in place they can move onto securing funding from investors and pay drivers.

 

Interesting idea. I'm surprised no one else has tried the crowdfunding model, the only comparison has to be Justin Wilson's offering shares in himself. I imagine though that without the name and subsequent publicity any other effort would be unlikely to succeed - especially with the high costs involved at any level of motorsport. At least this Brabham is being run by Sir Jack's son, unlike the effort in 2010 that had no connection to the family (or even Bernie for that matter).

[Prost1997T]

Might as well chip in to sponsor one of the Brabham kids. At least the heritage is legit.

 

Nobody wants to, it seems. Sam Brabham had to quit racing mid-way through this year for financial reasons, Matthew's status is up in the air (Andretti has placed him with his Formula E team for now).

[TIPO61]

and for a new logo they could feature a Winged Pig!

[Lee Nicolle]

Nobody wants to, it seems. Sam Brabham had to quit racing mid-way through this year for financial reasons, Matthew's status is up in the air (Andretti has placed him with his Formula E team for now).

I suspect that Formula E is a kiss of death to a career.

I cannot see this happening, while it would be nice Jacks style of operation is long gone. More the pity. Though I will be pleased if it does get up and fly!

[Ross Stonefeld]

Why would racing in the off-season for teams that can choose on talent be bad for your career?

[LORDBYRON]

Innovative crowd-funding strategy  its a pipe dram and wont get by the first year then it will be bust and a travesty to the name Brabham

[Jazza]

This sounds like the return of "MyF1Dream". Pure fantasy.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Ah, my bad, David Brabham is involved.

[Tsarwash]

£500 to moderate their forums. Bargain IMO. 

That's such a terrible idea. Guaranteed to create a bad atmosphere in the forums. Need to change that. 

[D.M.N.]

Up to £40,000 at the moment.  

[TheMidnight]

I think LMP2 is realistically feasible for Brabham, I have little doubt he can generate the backing to get on track at that level. 

 

I do think though that P1 and F1 are probably going far to expensive to be crowd funded, I shudder to think of the money required for them (even if P1 is the backward unsophisticated wilderness that's mentioned by a few on this forum  ). Maybe he can use his sportscar contacts and gravitas to get something together, it'd be nice to see Rebellion racing someone else in P1. 

 

All the best of luck to David, I met him at Goodwood last year and thought he was a really nice and decent bloke. I hope he's ruthless enough to make it happen soon, it'd be great to see his team on the grid in 2016. 

Edited by Elissa, 25 September 2014 - 11:44.

[F1matt]

I guess the initial £250k is to help get the factory up and running, and once they've got a car deal in place they can move onto securing funding from investors and pay drivers.

 

Interesting idea. I'm surprised no one else has tried the crowdfunding model, the only comparison has to be Justin Wilson's offering shares in himself. I imagine though that without the name and subsequent publicity any other effort would be unlikely to succeed - especially with the high costs involved at any level of motorsport. At least this Brabham is being run by Sir Jack's son, unlike the effort in 2010 that had no connection to the family (or even Bernie for that matter).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Max Chilton funds his drive in a similar way but instead of crowd funding he uses investors from the city of London through his father.

[Disgrace]

This sounds like the return of "MyF1Dream". Pure fantasy.

 

Crowdfunding is a proven method which gets businesses off the ground. However, it is obviously only designed to do that - whether they are sustained depends upon that business and further (angel) investment.

 

Hilariously South Park came out with a new episode satirising this just last night; donors do not invest and therefore cannot get ROI based on (racing) performance. A lot of goodwill is required, and this can be dashed in the event of an acquisition (see Oculus and Facebook). The donor perks which I touched upon earlier have nothing to do with the racing itself.

 

I do think it's a bit fanciful that they'll crowdfund the whole £8m, but that's why they have initial targets to attract real investors. It would be interesting to see this work.

[FullThrottleF1]

This is a great idea. To see Brabham back in WEC and F1 would be awesome. The fact that we could make both a reality as fans makes it even more special. I doff my cap to David for doing this and I really hope he succeeds

[Ross Stonefeld]

This sounds like the return of "MyF1Dream". Pure fantasy.

 

It pretty much sounds like a complete ripoff of MyF1Dream.

[stewie]

Isn't LMP2 just effectively a spec series, buy a chassis, engine and tyres and go racing? If so, can't see why LMP2 would be too tricky or expensive for Brabham to work with.

[BRG]

Isn't LMP2 just effectively a spec series, buy a chassis, engine and tyres and go racing? 

No. You can use any chassis, any engine, not sure about the tyres.  That's not a spec series.

[Victor_RO]

No. You can use any chassis, any engine, not sure about the tyres.  That's not a spec series.

 

It is cost-capped though, everything is off-the-shelf. You can buy out of a selection of 4-5 different chassis (Oreca, Onroak - Morgan (open) or Ligier (closed), Zytek, HPD), 3 different engines (Judd, Nissan or HPD) and tire deal with Michelin or Dunlop. Mix-and-match and there's your LMP2 entry.

[stewie]

Ah OK, my bad, I thought it was spec for some reason. Least you don't have to make your own chassis etc.

[jonpollak]

Brabham Digital?

 

Jp

[Fastcake]

Annnd Brabham have just reached their £250k goal

 

Good on them. It appears at least one crowdfunded effort in the racing world has met success.