Series financial security

[RichardRenes]

Er.. two more factors that helped RTL making the decision:

1) RTL didn't have the rights to broadcast F1 at the time

and

2) RTL's commentator Allard Kalff is Jeroen Bleekemolen's manager

[Kiwi3]

While I am not there I hear mixed reports about A1GP's success in NZL. Taupo seems to get good crowds (although slightly lower each year?), and TV3 show each round it is delayed and late at night. It seems the viewer base is motorsport fans, other people there tell me the general public are not very interested at all.

In China it's simple - very few people have heard of it.

It seems NED and RSA are way ahead in terms of popular interest. Perhaps some others can shed light on other countries?

[RichardRenes]

I am very certain A1GP is also very popular in Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan (judging by their presence on several forums)

[Mak]

It is very popular in OZ, just Sydney's Eastern Creek always struggles to pull crowds. The Gold Coast race should attract a big crowd and also introduce it to the V8 supporters.

[Armco Bender]

The South African round was on TV3 here at 2am Monday morning.Most normal people have to go to work at 8am so the viewing numbers here must have been very low.No replay either,


As to the money side story I heard that as Fiat/Ferrari have got involved theres no way they will let it go tits up and will empty some of thier money bin into A1GP to keep it going if necessary.

[nic.v814]

A1GP is really going to have to sort out their act for next year if they want to make this series work and hopefully get some better tv deals going and bigger crowd numbers.

The South African round was on TV3 here at 2am Monday morning.Most normal people have to go to work at 8am so the viewing numbers here must have been very low.No replay either

At least its on free tv, F1 is only on sky isnt it

[RichardRenes]

May I point you all to a nice series of articles on the German site motorsport-total.com ?

Pete Da Silva talks freely about what has happened the last few months, why Mexico was rescheduled because of a pop concert and why Lippo exactly was cancelled.

You'd do well to read it

[rychard]

Here's a link to the most Frank interview Pete da Silva has ever given ....

http://www.motorpics.co.za/picsites/...=564575-147898

We get every round of A1GP as well as most qualifying on SABC3. Sprint race is recorded but feature is live (NZ @ 3:00am!)

SABC is a free to air TV and A1 is the ONLY motorsport shown on it. The rest (F1, WSB, MotoGP even all South African motorsport) are all on pay to view Supersport chanelels.

Perhaps explains why Kyalami had a good crowd even though I didn't think the event was well advertised

[ford prefect]

In view of that interview perhaps we can reduce the number of "panicking and stirring up trouble" posts from "insiders".

Positive noises are coming from A1gp and we should support it, not knock it.

[rychard]

Half the problem is that A1GP don't communicate so speculation is rife - very often half correct as well.

On Thursday afternoon it seemed certain that there'd be no race yet there was still no reassurance or communication from A1GP.

[RichardRenes]

I agree. If they had told us the reason for rescheduling Mexico was because if not, people could only visit the concert by going through the pitland of the circuit. That makes perfect sense.

[Kiwi3]

This is the second very frank interview that I have seen Pete Da Silva give (there was one on autosport website a month or so ago), although this one does outdo the other one.

It answers a lot of questions and builds confidence.

There has also been a fairly frank interview by Tony Teixeira this weekend. Hope the trend continues!

The A1GP communications department on the other hand really could explain things better sometimes...

[Alan52]

The fact remains that the series might well comprise of 7 rounds which is laughable for an international championship (or even a professional national one).If this is the number of promoters that can run a viable round then something needs to change drastically for the series to survive.There will be new venues in the next series but at least 2 of the 08/09 circuits probably won't be back.An unrefuted story in the Sydney Sun Herald newspaper a few weeks back said that Alan Jones had to recently take a $8mill loan for the Australian team to survive.The hoped for/fantasised about new investors have failed to arrive.I have been a fan of A1 since its inception but it seems like it is in a downward spiral and I cannot see any way it will be able to generate a big enough income stream to enable it to survive.

[Kiwi3]

I think seven rounds would have been very disappointing for everyone if the economy was still functioning normally, but considering the financial crisis I'd rather A1GP be cautious and only go to venues where they are reasonably certain of a good turnout.

Which financial institution is giving $8m loans these days? Perhaps before the financial crisis, and perhaps Jones needed it for the franchise fee for the next 3-5 years. A1GP has seemed to struggle a bit in Australia so far, but surely Surfers Paradise will change that. Not sure how revenues are to be split between A1GP and V8 Supercars, but surely the crowd at such an iconic event will produce a profit on that one? Times that by however many rounds, and then add the fact that Tony Teixeira views it as a long term investment, with more sponsors hopefully coming on board later...

Chengdu was definitely a one off, but I am lead to believe that A1GP has a five year contract with the Chinese government (with them paying), so I presume it is a case of moving it back to Zhuhai.

I guess Taupo might not be back, but hopefully that would also just be a case of moving it to Hampton Downs. I cannot think of what other venues from this season will be disappearing, Zandvoort is fantastic, crowds are increasing at Sepang every year, Kyalami was Zandvoort-esque and Brands is always brimming.

[Mak]

And I thought the government spin doctors were the best...

[kerrmanningjarv]

Autosport magazine in the UK reported a few months back that A1 had signed a 2-race per season contract with the Chinese government starting next year.

And to be honest, I didn't actually think Chengdu was that bad...

[Kiwi3]

Originally Posted by kerrmanningjarv

Autosport magazine in the UK reported a few months back that A1 had signed a 2-race per season contract with the Chinese government starting next year.

And to be honest, I didn't actually think Chengdu was that bad...

The racing turned out OK, but the bumps were terrible, everything was covered in a layer of dust, the marshalls could not clear a car from a sandtrap, there was a dog on track incident, appalling lack of facilities for spectators (most had no option but to stand in muddy ground), there was no safety zone between the spectators and the catch fencing, the media centre was not big enough and an ambulance would struggle to get out of there in a hurry. Not sure what the hospitality suite was like but Chengdu is a secondary city three hours flying time from the major commercial centres anyway.

[kerrmanningjarv]

Alright, the only thing I noticed from TV was the racing which was quite good... didn't realise the other stuff was so "extreme".

[RichardRenes]

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

The racing turned out OK, but the bumps were terrible, everything was covered in a layer of dust, the marshalls could not clear a car from a sandtrap, there was a dog on track incident, appalling lack of facilities for spectators (most had no option but to stand in muddy ground), there was no safety zone between the spectators and the catch fencing, the media centre was not big enough and an ambulance would struggle to get out of there in a hurry. Not sure what the hospitality suite was like but Chengdu is a secondary city three hours flying time from the major commercial centres anyway.

You are describing Chengdu right, not zandvoort ? Ok, it has less bumps and isn't 3 hours flying time away from civilisation, but other than that, the discription is quite accurate :P

[Kiwi3]

Actually, the conditions were not even half as bad as those experienced by the crazy individuals in the Netherlands that sit on sand dunes and watch A1GP in driving rain and freezing wind...

Also the grid girls in Chengdu were gorgeous (actually the TW Steel ones), so it wasn't all bad being there! I'd gladly go again.

[RichardRenes]

Seriously, lack of grandstands and other facilities is what keeps Zandvoort from having a grade 1 homologation (They have 1T if I am not mistaken).

They do have some plans for the future though

[rychard]

Kyalami doesn't have a lot of grandstands, but the promoters erected a lot of temporary one which will probably stay until after the world superbikes in May.

In other words the promoters went the extra mile ....

[RichardRenes]

Before this runs into a 'our circuit is in this status tread', shall we continue discussing the financial side of A1 please?

[rychard]

I think mentioning the lengths the promoters went to is relevant to the 'financial' side of things. If the series isn't viable then someone certainly is making an effort to change it.

The Durban organisers also went to a lot of effort so surely that shows committment from South Africa?

[RichardRenes]

Yes it does. South Africa has been committed to A1 since day 1, and it shows.