MSA announces new addition to its elite programme

Filed under: Thoughts on April 1, 2007

Today, the Motor Sport Association, the body which governs motor sport in the UK made a landmark announcement. Well, at least, I am pretending that they did.

Call it an April Fools joke if you like, but actually this is a subject which could do with some attention. The MSA British Race Elite programme is a step in the right direction. However, the selection of the top-20 drivers made me think that maybe they’ve missed the point and all we’ll have in the end is more of the same, well-funded young drivers that we would have had anyway.

I think now would be a good time to explain what I have done. Two days ago I purchased the domain, www.msabritshraceelite.co.uk (note the spelling mistake) for £1.99 and mirrored the entire MSA British Race Elite website.

I added a “fake press release announcing the MSA British Race of Races – a new one day event in which one national driver is given the opportunity of a fully funded season in the British Formula Three Championship. It was placed on the news page and submitted to a couple of popular forums to see what the reaction would be.

Let me now declare an interest: I applied for the Race Elite programme and probably shouldn’t have. It was a condition of entry that you already had your 2007 season’s budget confirmed.

It got me thinking, what should they have done? What could they do now?

If you haven’t already, read the entire press release here: MSA ANNOUNCES NEW ADDITION TO ITS ELITE PROGRAMME.

Ultimately, I hope it sparks a discussion. This is an idea, is it any good? If it is, will the MSA look at it? I realise the cost involved so please do not think that I’m suggesting the MSA should fund such an event (it probably couldn’t anyway). However, with a decent promoter and an imaginative team driving it forward, the MSA British Race of Races could be a real national spectacle. You never know, the MSA could even franchise similar events worldwide!

To continue this all year long, I will be inputting the results of participating championships into the MSA British Race of Races Tracker and thus towards the end of the year, we should have an idea as to what the event would look like were it actually to happen.

So come on then, what do you think?

Would perhaps a meritocracy be better than an elite? And a damn good motor race to boot!

Oh, and if you’re Alan Gow or David Brabham, don’t worry, the “fake web site expires on April 2nd.

Links to forum posts:

UPDATE: The site is now removed and traffic redirected to this post. The above link has also been updated. The MSA Race of Races Tracker is now live and includes the first Formula BMW and Renault rounds.

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