Gazelle, here are some
'FACTS'
for your consumption, try not to get choked if you find that these
will surely confirm that you deserve an 'F' for your inability to grasp 'FACTS' and for
having no 'IDEA' when to quit
while you are ahead.
Statements
from Jackie Stewart, three times Formula One British
Champion:
"It cost the Spanish track at Barcelona $20 million just to make a
new grandstand," Stewart said. "We cannot invest $20 million when
we are likely to make a loss of $2 million this year because the
date of the race changed because of the World Cup."
The race traditionally runs in early to mid-July. Although the
circuit expects to sell most of the 85,000 tickets, last year there
were 100,000 spectators. The track reduced capacity to improve
comfort.
Stewart said the Formula One business model must be changed
so that circuit promoters can make a profit to enable them to
invest.
"Bernie has done a fantastic job," he said. "But
the financial
structure is one- sided. No
deal that only benefits one person is a good
deal. The
financial infrastructure in Formula One must change, and not just
so the teams make more money."
Formula One charges so much for the
rights to play host to a race that few circuits make enough from
the ticket sales to make a
profit.
Silverstone is in the second year of a five-year deal brokered by
Stewart in 2004.
Stewart said that even privately owned circuits like the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Formula One races in the United
States, receive help from the local government.
Stewart's business sense has rarely failed him. He had a second
Formula One career as a team owner, succeeding where many other
champions failed.
He started Stewart Grand Prix with his son, Paul, in 1997 before
the value of the teams began to rise. Two years later the team won
the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Germany.
Bernard Ferguson, director of Cosworth, which supplied the team
with engines and now supplies Williams, said Stewart's credibility
with Ford after decades as its ambassador permitted him to persuade
Ford to instead start a team from nothing when it would have been
easier to buy an existing team and provide it with free
engines.
"That was a big leap of faith by Ford, and I don't think they'd
have done it for anybody else," Ferguson said. "The Jackie Stewart
phenomenon pulled that whole team together."
After three seasons, Stewart sold the team for $154 million to
Ford, which changed its name to Jaguar. As when he was a driver, he
quit while he was ahead. Jaguar never won a race and sold out two
years ago to Red Bull.
These are the comments from an old
hand in Formula ONE races, and if he recognises the inability to
make any profit in a deal that only benefit the Sole Owner of ALL
THE COMMERCIAL RIGHTS to this business - are you smarter than
Jackie Stewart ?
The Future of
Formula ONE
Fans and those involved in the sport seem to spend as much time
talking about the future of Formula One as they do talking about
the present. There is always uncertainty about the future of the
sport, and disagreements about the direction in which Formula One
should progress.
Formula One went through a difficult time in the early 2000s.
Television ratings dropped, and many fans simply switched
off.
This was largely attributed to Ferrari's dominance from 2000 to
2004, a period in which Michael Schumacher won the World
Championship for five years in a row. The massive commercial
interests of car companies and team sponsors are also at odds with
the demand for an exciting spectator sport as the drivers are
encouraged to reduce risk to satisfy the funders.
Other factors include the use of driver aids supposedly taking the
skill away from the driver and putting it in the hands of the
mechanics. Furthermore, many of the smaller teams such as Minardi
and Jordan found themselves subject to takeovers as they struggled
to keep up with the high cost of the sport. For this reason many
rule changes have been proposed for the future.
The Shanghai Formula ONE
tickets range from USD93 to
USD534, with the kind of wages that the China workers
earn, how many can afford ticket prices at these levels ?
The
Malaysian Formula ONE event at Sepang will
feature tickets at USD17 for general areas that
see the cars zip by in a blur and allowing one to only smell the
sweet exhaust of racing fuel and get deafened by the loud high
pitched engine sound, while the price to a Top Grand Stand Ticket
Price is USD640.
At the kind of ringgit wages earned, how many Malaysians can be
bothered to head out to Sepang that is in the middle of nowhere -
as it is next to the KLIA that needs to be away from populated
area, and not connected by any kind of public transport.
With your ability to ask for 'FACTS' from others,
how about some 'FACTS' to
substantiate your list of claims ?
One tip for you before you expertly regurgitate your type of
'FACTS'
based on your style of 'cutting
and pasting' - do it with some 'IDEAS'.
