number66.net

In motorsport, money doesn't just talk, it does everything. Without the ability to raise a large sum of money in relatively short period of time, it is unlikely that you will get anywhere in this sport. Forget about your dreams of Formula One, NASCAR or someone paying you to drive, if you want to be a racing driver you have a problem of astronomical proportion to deal with now. Money. Where does it come from? Motor racing is a rich man's sport. Remember that. That isn't derogatory, it's fact. It always has been and probably always will be. It just is not feasible any other way. Racing cars are expensive and even in the junior series of Formula Three or GP2 the cars are at the forefront of aerodynamic, composite and tyre technology. It cannot be inexpensive, there is no way. Let's throw down a marker. Just how expensive am I talking? Well, as you would expect there are no exact figures and a budget in any championship varies depending on whether it is with an established team or not. For argument's sake we'll assume you want to win. A season within the Lloyds TSB British Formula Three International Series, with an established front running team, you realistically should be expecting to raise no less than £300,000. That's not just difficult, it's damn near impossible.

realistically, you should be expecting to raise no less than £300,000. That's not just difficult, it's damn near impossible.

So how is it that in Formula Three, year after year, grids are so near their capacity? I recall a conversation with Formula Two star of the past, Peter Wardle, in which he suggested that not a single driver on the current British Formula Three grid had genuinely raised their budget through sponsorship. That doesn't mean that businesses or brands aren't involved in their racing, because they are; what it means is that those businesses did not genuinely expect a return on their commercial investment. Usually a family member or friend has a business relationship in which this expenditure can be authorised and this expenditure justified. Am I saying that genuine sponsorship at this level doesn't exist? Of course not. However, what it does do is raise serious doubts as to whether even a series with as much pedigree as British Formula Three, sponsorship can achieve the sort of brand exposure necessary to justify an entire budget. How else do young drivers raise money to race? Let's look at Justin Wilson - star of the Champ Car World Series but a former a Grand Prix driver, International Formula 3000 champion and in 1998, he was Formula Palmer Audi champion. His career path doesn't exactly scream wealth. In 1998 Formula Palmer Audi was a new concept. The brainchild of Jonathan Palmer, a former Grand Prix driver himself, Formula Palmer Audi is unique in the world of motorsport. All cars are owned and maintained by the series owners and every car is prepared to an identical standard . As a result it creates as much of a level playing field as is ever possible. More importantly to us, it helps to control costs. In 1998 for just £70,000 Justin was assured a season's racing in cars more powerful than Formula Three, for a fraction of the cost. In motorsport, that's as good as it gets. Then in 2001 Justin dominated International Formula 3000, the then feeder series to Formula One. How could he have raised that sort of money? Well, simple. It was his prize for winning the Formula Palmer Audi championship. There is no similar prize that exists in any series today.

It was his prize for winning the Formula Palmer Audi championship. There is no similar prize that exists in any series today.

Fast-forward to 2002 and Justin makes his Formula One debut with Minardi. Again, it's another monumental change in budget because even in Formula One, generally speaking, if you're not with a manufacturer, you have to bring money to the team - and a lot of it. However, after his success in Formula Palmer Audi and International Formula 3000, Justin was now under the management of Jonathan Palmer himself and together they had a concept which was to be revolutionary. Justin Wilson PLC was launched in 2003 in attempt to raise £1.2 million pounds for his race seat at Minardi. The scheme offered shares in Justin, or more to the point, his future earnings and in response received huge amounts of media attention. As a result, nearly 900 shareholders each invested a minimum of £500. Shares can no longer be purchased and after being unable to raise the finance for a race seat at Jaguar in 2004, Justin focused on the premier open-wheel championship in the US - the Champ Car World Series. After two years and three race wins he is now quite handsomely paid by his team Rusport and at the end of each year, every single one of those 900 shareholders will receive their dividend in appreciation of their faith. So that's two quite different approaches to raising serious budgets. The first relies almost entirely on your network of contacts and more often than not, your families. The second is ingenious - taking advantage of the free market economy which makes racing possible in the first place. However, its sustainability is limited and is therefore only effective when a racing career is relatively mature - Justin Wilson was a proven racer, he was a winner and this would see him in the pinnacle of the sport. It was fairly unlikely, for instance, that he'd fail to earn a living racing something and so it was a an investment that was not entirely without merit. This means, unfortunately, that neither is a viable means of raising money for a young, unfunded racing driver. It's unlikely you'll have a friend who's able to organise corporate patronage and it's far too risky to start selling shares in your future earnings - as a student you may not have any significant earnings for years! Although it has been tried, albeit on a different scale and without the overwhelming success. Earlier in the year, ex-Formula BMW racer Aaron Steele sold shares in his future earnings on eBay and raised enough cash for the first half of the Formula Palmer Audi championship in 2006. It's easy to become cynical but in a lot of ways, the lessons it teaches you are important. Can the merits of a junior race series still be sold as commercial sponsorship? And if they can, is it enough to fulfil an entire budget or have the increases in cost finally surpassed value? Show me another sport in which talent is useless without money. Show me another sport in which just making the entry list of a series is overcoming the greatest of hurdles. There just isn't and this is a cruel, cruel sport but for some reason, despite all of its faults, I still love it.