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21 Oct 2014, 09:15 (Ref:3467037) | #1 | |
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More trouble at Silverstone - again!
More trouble at Silverstone, it seems...
http://www.pitpass.com/52766/Problem...rated+Feeds%29 "Three directors at Silverstone, including managing director Richard Phillips, have been suspended and placed on "gardening leave". The three, Phillips, Finance Director Ed Brookes and Legal and Estates Director David Thomson, are said to have been "escorted from the premises" on Friday morning according to a Pitpass source." Last edited by ScotsBrutesFan; 21 Oct 2014 at 10:23. Reason: Removed embedded hotlink to pitpass's silver stone circuit guide |
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21 Oct 2014, 17:38 (Ref:3467134) | #2 | ||
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Probably a good move, maybe will now see the circuit run by people who understand motor sport, as opposed to being 'good managers'.
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21 Oct 2014, 17:55 (Ref:3467136) | #3 | ||
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Love this enigmatic "pitpass source"? It must be a done deal so isn't it?
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If I had asked my customer what they wanted, they would've said a faster horse. -Henry Ford |
22 Oct 2014, 09:16 (Ref:3467324) | #4 | ||
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23 Oct 2014, 08:13 (Ref:3467561) | #5 | |
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I didn't realise Lawrence Tomlinson of Ginetta fame was involved in Silverstone now.
That is good news for me as he seems like a down to earth racer who knows how to build a successful business! |
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23 Oct 2014, 11:19 (Ref:3467597) | #6 | ||
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its amazing what Lawrence actually gets up to...im sure he did a report for the government on small businesses or something last year...was shocked when he was on the BBC news!
edit here you go http://www.tomlinsonreport.com/ |
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28 Sep 2015, 13:34 (Ref:3577750) | #7 | |
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It appears that Silverstone is behind in its payments to Bernie and the 2016 British GP is at risk. If a race day crowd with some of the most expensive race day tickets cannot cover Bernie's escalator fees then there is something very wrong.
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns32053.html I note one of the sources is a lap dog for a certain F1 ringmaster. |
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28 Sep 2015, 18:47 (Ref:3577812) | #8 | |
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This is getting ridicolous. There are so many great venues that remind us why we love F1, yet Bernie is one by one threatening them with his ridicolous fees. He is not fit to run F1
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28 Sep 2015, 19:08 (Ref:3577816) | #9 | ||
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This is the reason why every other series that races at Silverstone has its ticket prices jacked up by £5-10 over the last 24 months, or at least, the ones that I attend.
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29 Sep 2015, 09:16 (Ref:3577957) | #10 | ||
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Quote:
You only have to look at the fee escalator in the contract to see that Silverstone would either have to raise ticket prices quite substantially or increase attendance to keep pace with the increase in FOM fee. Bear in mind that probably they are at the price resistance point for ticket prices and logisitically cannot fit many more people either into the circuit or environs, this was the inevitable result. They have been trying to 'sell' for that read lease the circuit operation for years, but this is a business that if every duck lines up will make a small profit and in 2013 lost over £15M and in fact has lost money every year since 2010 when the new FOM contract started. |
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29 Sep 2015, 13:12 (Ref:3578008) | #11 | ||
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Isn't it about time some of the classic circuits like Silverstone, Monza, Spa etc
received some revenue from the vast pot of gold Bernie distributes? They are every bit as valuable to the sport as any F1 team, maybe even more so. We must be at the point where only Countries or Regional Governments can afford to promote a GP. I don't think any stand alone circuit can promote one on a viable financial basis. That just can't be right.....we'll run out of circuits eventually and then where's Bernie gonna race....DownTown Benghazi or around a marina in Mogadishu. What the hell is going on in F1....somebody please take control of it and get rid of that dreadful billionaire! We want our sport back !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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29 Sep 2015, 13:53 (Ref:3578018) | #12 | ||
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This would balance some of the inequality and protect the core venues that do not attract state subsidy and would the the cost of new venues/countries joining the calendar. |
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29 Sep 2015, 15:56 (Ref:3578047) | #13 | ||
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I just can't believe that Echolstone will allow the British Grand Prix to fall by the wayside ...
He has a heart that is obvious by doing things like paying the wages of Lotus employees .. |
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29 Sep 2015, 16:12 (Ref:3578051) | #14 | ||
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He's a complete gangster. There's always a soulless monstrosity of a track in the middle of nowhere ready to replace the grandee tracks and keeping Lotus ticking over is in his own self interest. I've zero time for him. Eccelstone - OUT, OUT, OUT.
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If I had asked my customer what they wanted, they would've said a faster horse. -Henry Ford |
29 Sep 2015, 16:56 (Ref:3578063) | #15 | ||
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Well I can't even spell his name correctly .... LOL
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29 Sep 2015, 17:15 (Ref:3578069) | #16 | ||
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the F1 race is no doubt their largest expense but is F1 the reason that Silverstone struggles?
moneyseeker, actually really like the idea of a 'heritage tax' being placed on the new venues that receives a disproportional amount of gov't funding. in many ways it is too the advantage of those paying a premium for hosting rights to bolster the value of the product as a whole by subsidizing the products history and catering to its core fan base. |
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29 Sep 2015, 17:17 (Ref:3578071) | #17 | ||
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The FIA need to grow some gonads and take control of a sport which is disintegrating before their very eyes....where is Jean Todt in all this?
Surely they could attempt to remove Ecclestone by demonstrating he's not a fit and proper person to hold and manage the commercial rights to their sport.There's plenty of evidence to support that. Or they could just charge him with Bringing the Sport into Disrepute and ban him from all motor sport activities for 10 years. That should see him off. |
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29 Sep 2015, 17:25 (Ref:3578074) | #18 | ||
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29 Sep 2015, 17:28 (Ref:3578076) | #19 | ||
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i agree and also lament the pressure the traditional tracks find themselves under but how is he bringing the sport into disrepute?
these state run/family investment holding companies that are buying up races are the same ones that are buying into F1 teams and their manufacturer parent corps. this money is literally the only thing keeping this sport alive...all be it possibly at the expense of destroying it. the Qatar Investment Authority has sent a lot of money Williams' way. possibly even saving, what im assuming is, a team we all cherish a great deal...if they want a race, for example at the expense of silverstone, are we in a position to begrudge them that? rock and a hard place really. |
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Home, is where I want to be but I guess I'm already there I come home, she lifted up her wings guess that this must be the place |
29 Sep 2015, 19:24 (Ref:3578105) | #20 | |||
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Quote:
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29 Sep 2015, 19:30 (Ref:3578106) | #21 | |
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30 Sep 2015, 08:11 (Ref:3578231) | #22 | ||
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It's the BRDC Annual General Meeting today, maybe we will see/hear an announcement from Silverstone later?
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30 Sep 2015, 09:52 (Ref:3578243) | #23 | ||
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According to a report on the Autosport website, BCE has granted Silverstone more breathing space, and has agreed to wait for a further period to receive the sanctioning fee for this year's race. This will allow the GP to go ahead next.
However, in the article, he is quite scathing, again, about the BRDC and how they have wasted money, commenting that they spent £20 million on the new BDRC clubhouse and car park for the members. Although he says that the race will take place next year, he cannot guarantee that it will in the following years. |
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30 Sep 2015, 11:13 (Ref:3578256) | #24 | ||
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This is capitalism folks and Bernie is the arch capitalist. He goes where the money is. It's amazing that people are still shocked by his actions.
I stopped attending the BGP decades ago as prices started to outstrip my disposable income. If the GP goes then it goes. It's been a rip off for years and may be it will take the loss of major European circuits to get people angry enough to force a change in the governance of the sport. It's going down the pan but it still makes a few people very wealthy and that's all they're interested in. |
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30 Sep 2015, 11:26 (Ref:3578259) | #25 | ||
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Quote:
To answer the point earlier about if the GP is the real problem at Silverstone. The root of the problems stem from the BRDC blowing the thick end of £30m on that (IMO) terrible Wing building - how can it have cost that much is beyond me- which is now marooned on the far side of the circuit as they couldn't afford to build a tunnel or bridge to get to it! No doubt on a spreadsheet somewhere there are some extrapilations on how they would rent it out for x weeks a year at x to the corporates and event organisers.....and how many times has it been rented I wonder...? Having sold off the commercial estate land and environs this has relieved the balance sheet of the Wing borrowing, but of course has slashed the circuit income. So a bit like an impoverished aristocrat who is slowly selling bits off to keep the roof on, the BRDC is running out of things to sell aside from the circuit operation, which is always going to be a tricky sell as the BGP contract is their biggest and increasing liability. The local councils supported the circuit with loans to build the Wing, but I think government investment is very unlikely, the whole BE image and the fact that it is an elite 'sport' entered and supported by some of the world's biggest brands is probably not going to get a politician sticking their neck out for. I am sure JYS has already tapped on every relevant door. |
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