WELSH RAREBIT
It seems there won't be much of a welcome on the hillsides or, indeed, in the valleys for Jonathan Palmer should he ever decide to set foot in South Wales any time soon. His questioning of state support being given by the Welsh Assembly for their £250m Circuit of Wales Project plus his scornful dismissal of the benefits promised has not gone down well.
No surprise there you might say. The boss of Motor Sport Vision is not a fan of state support in general - there are usually too many strings attached - and/or, as he argues in this case, it distorts the market thereby disadvantaging commercial operators like, well, himself.
His salvo against the Welsh plan has been delivered in his role as chairman of the Association of Racing Motor Circuit Owners which includes the likes of Silverstone, Donington plus, of course, the circuits he owns - Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Snetterton and Cadwell Park.
So what are the arguments?:
FOR
Wales, particularly the south, is among the most deprived areas in the United Kingdom. It's main industries, mining and steel, have virtually disappeared. New industries, lured by government aid, have sprung up but technology took the place of labour and not all, even those owned by multi-national companies, survived. Unemployment in the area, near Ebbw Vale, is among the highest in the UK and towns are disfigured by high streets where one third of the shops are boarded up.
It is up to the Welsh Assembly, where it's role is independent of the UK Government, to do something about it; to raise the profile of Wales among the international community. Something which gets world wide tv coverage as the shop window for industrial regeneration, like the Olympics but on a much smaller scale, is the objective.
AGAINST
New projects which have a high capital cost but uncertain revenues have a nasty habit of failing unless there are backers, like the State, who are prepared to take a long view. This may be the case here. The Welsh Assembly have so far provided the Heads of the Valley Development Agency, whose idea it is, with £2m to do the initial work on plans, PR etc. How much more they are prepared to put in is unclear but the bulk of the £250m will have to come from private investors. Despite all the talk, and reality of austerity, there is a lot of money swilling around looking for a home at the moment. And solid infrastructure projects can be attractive.
But it is hard to escape the fate of Rockingham, Donington, Silverstone, Portimau, Nurburgring and some others. Due to new build or development costs, the operators all went bust, had to be sold to finance debts or are in serious trouble.
It is equally hard to disregard Bernie Ecclestone's chilling comment to one circuit owner who wished to stage an F1 round: "You do realise the only person who will make money out of this is me..." The wily octogenarian wasn't joking.
It is not the same everywhere. In Spain, which hosts MotoGP on four tracks, state or regional aid is prevalent. And MotoGP is second only to football in popularity! That presumably is how new tracks seem to survive.
The developers may have shot themselves in the foot by giving the racing circuit too high a profile. And promising it will employ 6000 people and attract three quarters of a million people each year. Palmer is surely right to dismiss such far-fetched claims even though he faces accusations of self interest. He wouldn't deny it and while there are those who say he takes too much out of racing and doesn't enough back Into it, the circuits he owns have survived, are successful and the spectator experience has improved. It is also his own money.
IN CONCLUSION
Competition is to be welcomed. The Welsh Assembly, independent as far as it is from UK government, is perfectly entitled to do what it wants. Equally, UK tracks - some of whom are loss making and face regulatory problems - have a right to protest that state aid which distorts competition is highly questionable. It is, of course, not that long ago that Silverstone village was by-passed and new roads installed which made access to the circuit for the British Grand Prix much easier. Who paid for that? Even so any road user wishing to use the A43 on Grand Prix weekend will find it only goes one way.
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL
Legendary Spanish talent scout Alberto Puig has a guiding principle when running the rule over racing wannabes. Check out the parents. If they are tall, big-boned or generally heavy, steer clear of their little darling. It is highly likely that he will grow up to be like them. And life is tougher for big riders.
Puig, mentor of Danny Pedrosa among others, seems to know what he is talking about. But is anybody listening? Huge attention is paid to the weight of machines but the riders? In most other sports weight of the participants is highly important - some even starve themselves - and a recent article by Kevin Eason in The Times made some interesting comparisons.
It is said that in F1 some drivers are not getting seats because they are too heavy. Jenson Button competes in triathlons to keep his six-foot fame to 70kg (11st 3lb); Vettel at 5ft 9in is a mere 64kg; Nico Hulkenberg, at 6ft and 74kg was said to have been rejected by Mercedes for being too big and heavy for the 2014 turbo-charged 1.6-litre cars for 2014 which have weight limit of 642kg, heavier than now because of the engine.
Most interesting is motorbike enthusiast and Red Bull driver Aussie Mark Webber. Although six feet plus and 75kg (11st 11lb) he warns that the ideal weight for F1 in future will be between 60 and 65kg because every five kilos of extra weight means a loss of 0.2 seconds a lap.
Other sportsman weights make interesting reading: jockey Frankie Dettori has to be just 54.8kg at 5ft 5in; Bradley Wiggins is 69kg at 6ft 3in; Andy Murray is 80.7kg at 6ft 3in; rugby player Tom Youngs is 102kg at 5ft 9in!
No wonder Pedrosa and Marquez are fast. But just how important is it?
