F1 : British GP set for axe

[JUBJUB]

It looks as though the British GP has been dumped.

ITV

BRITISH GP SET FOR AXE, ADMIT BRDC
Last Updated: Thursday, 30, September, 2004, 17:30


The British Grand Prix will not be included on the provisional calendar for the 2005 season.

British Racing Drivers' Club president Jackie Stewart said on Thursday that he had admitted defeat in his efforts to save the race.

Bernie Ecclestone had set a deadline of this Thursday to find a promoter for the race, even though the provisional 2005 calendar is not due to be finalised until the FIA World Council meets on October 13.

The BRDC, who own Silverstone, had made an offer to Ecclestone to promote the race themselves. But it was understood to have fallen around £2million short of the F1 supremo's valuation.

They are not prepared to go any higher because doing so would mean running the event at a loss.

Stewart said: "We've gone as far as we can in making cutbacks in other areas to be able to afford the Grand Prix because we feel it is very important for the country as a whole.

"The gap between money being asked for (by Formula One) and what we can offer is comparatively small - in single figures of millions - but the amount is unaffordable.

"The British Racing Drivers Club cannot afford the British Grand Prix at any price."

The BRDC had been lobbying the government to step in and make up the shortfall between their offer and Ecclestone's asking price - but without success.

However, it is to be hoped that the news the race will almost certainly be axed could spur ministers into action.

The British-based F1 teams may also step in and do their best to save the race.

 

[muesli]

Would be a real shame if they didnt race there next year

 

[Dakota]

Such a shame. Whilst not my favourite track (Spa is, and Melbourne for obvious reasons) Silverstone has an amazing history to it, and has witnessed many good races. Ecclestone's comment about 'a country fair masquerading as a world event' was a tad harsh I think, although I suppose there is some truth to it, sadly.

Is there any truth to the rumours that the French GP (Magny-Cours) is going to be dropped too? I heard something about it a while ago, but haven't heard anything since.

 

[Russian]

The British Grand Prix at Silverstone is finally dead after Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One promoter, decided he could do nothing more to save the nation's biggest motor race, a newspaper said here Wednesday.

Silverstone's inability to react to the fast pace of modern business means that it has lost out to one of the nations clamouring to climb on to the sports calendar of increasingly exotic locations, The Times newspaper said. It is thought that Ecclestone is negotiating terms for a new Grand Prix in the United States, it added.

Ecclestone refused to be drawn on the venue, but said that he had to end the talks on Silverstone to guarantee the new event, for which promoters were ready and willing to meet his terms, the daily said. The decision will be a body-blow to the hundreds of thousands of Formula One enthusiasts in Britain who have been making Silverstone their motor racing Mecca for the past 54 years, it said.

Ecclestone told The Times he finally had to give up attempts to save the race, after the longest talks of his reign as Formula Ones promoter, because he had a new offer on the table from a consortium that needs an answer immediately.

"What could I do?" he said. "I have got an offer from another country who are looking to build a lovely venue and invest a lot of money in Formula One and they will pay the going rate. I have to give them a years notice to go ahead. If I miss that because I am still messing about with the BRDC, I would be keeping out a country that desperately wants to be in the Formula One World Championship."

What started as an argument over price boiled down to what Ecclestone said was a series of nit-picking disputes with his terms, the newspaper said.