F1 Scholarship

[D Fleming]

Hi all.

What would you do for a shot at F1? My name is David Fleming. I'm organising a scholarship which might just allow you to do that. I have a background in F1 marketing and I know how things work (I think!). You may have read about this in Autosport and on the motorsport portals back in November. I'm about to do a feature in Autosport about it and would like a bit more feedback from drivers and/or total novices. I'd like anecdotes about why you haven't made it yet, budget troubles, once on track have you been surprised how little competition there is, what your goal is, what you'd do to get to F1, etc. etc.

We're about to launch our scholarship and I want to start people talking!

To make a long story short, the winner of the scholarship will go from zero to F3000 without stopping and a $1,000,000 budget to get him/her a test in an F1 and a management team working to get them a full-time drive in F1. The ONLY thing that will stop their progress is if they can't deliver the goods.

I feel this scholarship is very important for motorsport. Despite all the money and successful businesses in the industry, nobody is helping people at the absolute grass-roots level.

I'm also running a sponsorship scheme on which I've already had some feedback from you. This will be up and running soon as a secondary service to the scholarship scheme. Thanks for your help on that too. Apologies to anyone I didn't get back to as I lost some e-mails to a virus.

I really look forward to your comments.

dfleming@motorsportpr.com

Regards.

David

[Sato san]

I remember reading about this last year . There are many talented young drivers that could benefit from a scholarship like this , who cannot get enough financial backing to see them step up the ladder .

I think its a great idea .

[Stephen Green]

Great idea David. Why do I have a suspicion that you will find a rather long queue outside your office very soon?

As for me I'm afraid it is too late in life to even contemplate thinking of such a wonderful scheme. Oh to be 30 years younger and full of talent *sighs*

[Mr V]

yes, why couldn't i lived near a kart track and had parents who were interested in motorsport? good luck with your scheme anyway "d"

p.s......stephen, check your pm's please!

[D Fleming]

Hi Mr.V. Thanks for your reply but your profile says you live close to Brands Hatch. That's more than most! Plus Buckmore Park is only 20 minutes from there. :-)

But I agree that parental influence/encouragement (or the correct term: Dadus Racingus) is the most important factor in tracing back where successful drivers have come from.

D

[Mr V]

Originally posted by D Fleming
Hi Mr.V. Thanks for your reply but your profile says you live close to Brands Hatch. That's more than most! Plus Buckmore Park is only 20 minutes from there. :-)

i live even closer to buckmore D (about 3 miles away!) oh, what i'd give to be young (well not 29 anyway) again and take up karting, isn't hindsight a wonderful tool!

[Spinner]

It sounds like a fantastic idea. I only had the budget for one "high profile" season in 2000, and the year went very well, with two victories and 1 podium place. Since then, I have been privately running my car, in less profile races, mainly, sorry, ALL because of the costs of high profile championships. I for one wthink its great, and at 21 I'm still youngish.

[expert]

great initiative!

but... why pumping 1.000.000$ in only one driver? you could also back 10 drivers to do 1 season of e.g. Formula Renault Monza (this year only in italy but from next year on also in benelux)... you could then follow closely all of these 10 drivers and help the 3 most promising drivers to the next level...

in terms of exposure it's also better to have 10 then to have 1... what do you think???

[calais]

what happens when you have already spent, lets say, $600,000, and that driver starts to fail???
does he or she have to re imburse anything???

Are you sure F1 wants this ? A driver entering the championship on merit alone could upset some people

Seriously, best wishes for the success of the scolarship, great concept. May the best driver win.

As you have already said, parental influence is a huge factor on driver success. Have you heard the one about how Pedro Diniz's dad allowed Parmalat to sponsor his son in exchange for prime positioning on the shelf in his supermarkets ?

Even if you have a sporty family, common sense will tell them that motor racing is not just about driver skill. A quick glance at the budgets required by the only teams worth driving for in karting and single-seaters will make it fairly obvious that entry in these series are restricted by access to money, and therefore the value of the activity as a true sport is compromised. It also doesn't help if your Dad is an accountant.

I have competed in a few scholarships before and have always wondered how the organisers know who the best racer is without actually having a race. Laptimes alone mean nothing if you get in the lead and don't know what to do, or cannot overtake or defend.

[D Fleming]

To Expert:
We'll be doing that in the selection phase. The other reason is like the lottery, the bigger the prize the bigger the entry. If we only offered a prize of F Monza - we wouldn't get very far and those drivers wouldn't have the money to progress and we're all back where we started. I'd rather ONE person made it to F1 on merit and show the rich boys how to do it than 10 people fall into the cash trap.

To Calais: If they get to F3 and don't do well they won't get the budget to go further but they won't owe anything. However, if we believe in them, we'll still help as much as we can.

To TTT: I WANT to upset F1! :-) I used to work for a top F1 team and love it but I really want to see what happens when money is taken out of the equation altogether and only talent counts from the word go.

Selection is always tricky. You can't give everyone a race or you'd have to charge £1,500 to enter etc. Our entry fee is £300 in total. Plus, winning a scholarship race may not be a great indicator of talent. Potential based on speed, how quickly your speed increases, natural handling and control, and lots of other things. Our selection process WILL however put the last 20 drivers into a mini-championship with 6 races over two days each with a Q session. Even then, the winner of the mini-championship may not be the winner of the scholarship - but it probably will be.

[Spinner]

Do you have a site with more details, dates or venue?
You have got me all excited about it now!

[Lee Janotta]

A very admirable effort, David! Danny Sullivan and Red Bull are trying something similar here in the US, though you basically still have to pay your own way all the way to Formula Atlantic, which still leaves the vast majority out in the cold. I certainly hope things go better on your side of the pond!

If you could point me as to where to find more info, there are a couple drivers I'd like to pass it along to. Thanks, and good luck!

[D Fleming]

Hi Spinner. I'm glad you're excited. If you're serious about racing you should be!

The site is to be launched at the same time as the whole scholarship in about 4 weeks so there isn't anything available yet. However, ask me anything you want and I'll reply.

The thing is that the main £300 scholarship is designed for novices only. We will however be accepting registrations from experienced drivers for a "Pro" scholarship to run alongside it. Our funding is very complicated - but guaranteed - and can only work for a novice scholarship. For the "Pro" scholarship our funding is different and this makes it more expensive. We don't know how much yet but it will cost about £1,000 to enter.

The "pro" scholarship will start at F Renault in 2003, BF3 in 2004 (both with big enough budgets to secure the best drives)and then $1,000,000 towards an F1 test contract with the management behind you to help get an F1 drive. The driver will receive a salary of £50,000 each year and a large budget for tuition, training and support. Again, it's up to you to deliver. The selection phase will be designed to ensure that real talent isn't missed.

I hope to hear from you soon.

David

[Spinner]

Just a quickie, if we have had Formula Renaualt 2000 experience, would that mark us down in anyway?

[D Fleming]

TO Lee Janotta

Hi Lee. Our scholarship is global and will allow drivers/novices from the States to compete as easily as anyone else. See my reply to spinner about the site but you can pass my e-mail address to anyone you like for now.

All the best.

David

dfleming@motorsportpr.com

[D Fleming]

Hi Spinner.

I'm afraid it would exclude you from the novice scholarship unless you've never actually raced one.

Don't worry. We're even offering assistance and advice on how to raise the £1,000 (or so) entry fee if you don't have it.

[Spinner]

Brilliant, Ill keep in touch.

[D Fleming]

Good. I'll let you know as things happen.

[Lee Janotta]

Oh, too cool David. I'll be eagerly awaiting the site launch.

Kudos!

[nameless]

what about a 16 yr old who has never sat in the driving seat of any type of car...............????

[D Fleming]

You're exactly what we're looking for! In an ideal world I'd give every 16 year old a trial every year.

Keep your eye on www.motorsportpr.com In a month or so it will lead you to our scholarship website.

Please message me and tell me exactly what your goals are.

David

[StuiE]

this sounds good, but how do you intend to fund it? from all the entrants?

[nameless]

what do you mean exactly by 'goals'.........

[D Fleming]

What your ambition in racing is.

The method of funding is will be 80% private funds, 10% entry fees and 10% sponsorship.