MOTORSPORT: Manufacturers want Mosley out

German manufacturers Mercedes-Benz and BMW and Japanese makers Toyota and Honda -- all of which participate in F1 -- have gone public with statements in the wake of the sex scandal that has embroiled Mosley this week.

While the manufacturers have stopped short of directly calling for Mosley to quit, that is clearly what they want.

The 67-year-old Englishman, who has been president of the FIA since 1993 and whose term does not expire until October 2009, is fighting a strong rearguard action, claiming he is the victim of a "covert investigation".

There are suggestions Mosley, or those close to him, may soon name people he believes were behind the surveillance of him, which translated into a sensational story and pictures in last weekend's News of the World newspaper in London, with video as well on its website -- until withdrawn under pressure from Mosley.

He has not denied that he took part in an orgy with five prostitutes last Friday, but he denied that there were Nazi connotations.

As brilliant a man as he is, and despite his achievements in the FIA role, it is hard to see Mosley being able to continue as many of the enemies he has made over the years gather forces against him.

Mosley is calling a meeting of the FIA Senate, but that comprises 222 representatives from 130 countries on five continents and may take weeks to arrange.

While he may retain the support of that Senate, the overwhelming sentiment in the broader motorsport community -- and public -- is that the honorable thing for him to do is resign, although few are saying it publicly, still fearing what they see as Mosley's capacity for reprisal.

Jody Scheckter is among those who have publicly demanded his resignation. The South African of Jewish origin was Ferrari's last world champion driver before Michael Schumacher, back in 1979.

Reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen's attitude is that what Mosley does in his own time is his own business and pretty much nobody else's.

But Raikkonen's own form in his spare time lends his opinion little credibility in this matter.

F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone had already advised Mosley against attending this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, the third round of the world championship, but Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the Crown Prince of Bahrain, wrote to Mosley telling him he would not be welcome.

"I felt it important to convey the position of Bahrain and its people. It would be inappropriate for you to be in Bahrain," the Crown Prince wrote.

The Times of London, which revealed the Crown Prince's letter, said it was "an embarrassingly clear sign that Mr Mosley's reputation has been severely damaged".

It added: "He is already a liability to his own organisation."

And yet more: "Despite Mr Mosley's conviction that he can weather the storm, few in the sport believe that will be possible."

Now here is what the four manufacturers have said:

<<< "Toyota Motorsport does not approve of any behaviour which could be seen to damage F1's image, in particular any behaviour which could be understood to be racist or anti-Semitic.

"Senior figures within any sport or business, including motorsport, must adhere to high standards of behaviour. When all the facts are known, it will be for the FIA to decide whether Mr Mosley has met the moral obligations which come with the position of FIA president.

<<< Honda: "It is necessary that senior figures in sport and business maintain the highest standards of conduct in order to fulfill their duties with integrity and respect.

"The Honda Racing F1 Team is extremely disappointed by recent events surrounding Mr Mosley and we are concerned that the reputation of F1 and all its participants is being damaged.

"We request that the FIA gives this matter careful consideration and reaches an immediate decision in the best interests of F1 and motorsport."

<<< BMW and Mercedes: "The content of the publications is disgraceful.

"As a company, we strongly distance ourselves from it.

"This incident concerns Max Mosley both personally and as president of the FIA, the global umbrella organisation for motoring clubs.

"Its consequences therefore extend far beyond the motor sport industry.

"We await a response from the relevant FIA bodies."

Mosley made a strange reply to the German manufacturers via the Reuters news agency.

"Given the history of BMW and Mercedes Benz, particularly before and during the Second World War, I fully understand why they would wish to strongly distance themselves from what they rightly describe as the disgraceful content of these publications," he said.

"Unfortunately, they did not contact me before putting out their statement to ask whether the content was in fact true."

Your correspondent received information this morning about a report in Germany's Auto Motor und Sport publication which apparently claims that:

<<<Mosley's investigators have found out a lot about who was behind the expose on him and are now waiting to reveal the identity of them.

<<<Mosley has been spied on for seven weeks, including computer hacking and phone tapping.

<<<Mosley knew he was being watched, but thought it was linked to his financial affairs.

<<<A specialist firm was employed to observe him, with one of the prostitutes carrying a camera "as small as a needle".

<<<The operation may have cost a six or even seven-figure sum, indicating it was more than "a simple act of revenge".

<<<The News of the World held last weekend's story back until its second edition, figuring that Mosley would have had lawyers intercept it if it had appeared in the first edition.

<<<Mosley claims not to have been offered any opportunity to comment in the article.

Clearly somebody did Mosley in a few days ago.

He's embarrassed about it, as he ought be, and has a point that his privacy has been invaded.

But there are much broader issues here, and by trying to stand his ground he is showing that he does not fathom the public's attitude to his actions.

He has reason to be unhappy about what is now in the public domain, but the reality is it's out there.

Wherever he goes, wherever his name is mentioned, he now conjures images of the News of the World splash.

As juicy as the scandal is, easily topping even last year's Spygate, it is hugely damaging to motorsport generally and the F1 brand in particular.

Sooner or later, for the good of the sport to which -- despite his critics -- he has contributed greatly, Mosley's going to have to go.

As he's not an employee of the FIA -- he's an honorary official -- and can't easily be sacked, he's going to have to resign.

And the sooner the better.

At 67, he was going to have go within a few years anyway.

Already there was reason to wonder about the wisdom of having a man of his vintage -- along with the 10-years-older Ecclestone -- retaining so much power over so much of world motorsport.

Jean Todt, who was Ferrari's team boss through its most glorious era, had already been touted as Mosley's successor at the FIA before this fuss erupted, but it is probably too soon for someone still so closely aligned with one team to make that transition.

Another name to have cropped up as a potential successor to Mosley is Richard Parry-Jones, a Ford executive who was integral to the Jaguar Racing project in F1 earlier this decade.

Whether it be either of this pair, surely a worldwide organisation has someone within its ranks capable of taking the reins. And quickly.

The Spygate saga last year emphasized all of those traits.

And one of Mosley's last acts before his sex scandal erupted further reiterated them.

McLaren, disqualified from last year's constructors' world championship as a consequence of Spygate, would normally have been garaged at the far end of the F1 pitplane this year.

However, Bernie Ecclestone intervened and allowed McLaren to have garages in the middle of the pit buildings in Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur last month.

Mosley, exercising the muscle that we had felt for several years had made him rather than Ecclestone the most powerful player in the sport, decreed that for this weekend's Bahrain GP the McLarens should be banished to the bottom end of the pitlane.

No doubt this was intended to be further humiliation for McLaren team principal Ron Dennis, who Mosley pursued so vigorously throughout Spygate.

Dennis has long had an unfortunate smirk, but now he has good reason for it, wherever his cars may be along the pitlane.

It's something Ecclestone has been quietly pushing for years, and indeed needs to get more race sanction fees to keep the profits of his empire -- 75 per cent owned now by private equity group CVC -- increasing at a significant annual rate.

Apart from countries like India, Korea and Russia becoming part of the championship, Indianapolis is chasing sponsorship to get F1 back to The Brickyard, having this year given up the GP it has staged since 2000.

But, even with 20 races a year, is there still going to be a place on the F1 calendar for Australia?

Kiwi teenager Brendon Hartley has just tested the new Toro Rosso F1 car for three days at Vairano in Italy.

The STR3 is the Ferrari-engined car based on Adrian Newey's Red Bull RB4 that Mark Webber and David Coulthard race with Renault power.

Hartley, only 18, is in Red Bull's junior driver program.

Last year he became the youngest winner of the Formula Renault 2.0 Euro Cup and this season he is racing for Carlin Motorsport in the British International Formula 3 Championship -- a slot James Courtney had for two seasons a few years back.

Hartley had already demonstrated a Red Bull F1 car in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabian capital, last month after a familiarisation session at Silverstone in Britain.

Apart from greats like Denny Hulme, Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, NZ's last F1 racer was Mike Thackwell in 1984 -- and he remains the youngest driver to have started an F1 GP.

Scott Dixon, the Brisbane-born Kiwi who won the opening round of the IndyCar series in Florida last weekend, tested a Williams-BMW a few years back.

Incidentally, Coca-Cola has agreed a sponsorship of IndyCar until 2010.

At this weekend's second round of the series, Brazilian Helio Castroneves is going for his third straight win at St. Petersburg in Florida.

Aussie Ryan Briscoe, the new Penske teammate of Castroneves, won the American Le Mans Series race at St Petersburg last year.

The Forest Rally is in south-west Western Australia, around Busselton and the timber town of Nannup.

It's a well-established event and popular in its area, especially the Busselton foreshore special stage tonight (Friday) and tomorrow night, but unfortunately doesn't attract great interest beyond -- even in Perth, let alone the more populous east coast of Australia.

Toyota is the ARC's only factory team this year, with Simon Evans -- champion the past two years -- and veteran Neal Bates now both in Super 2000 Corollas.

The former Bates-built Toyota Racing Development Group N prototype Corollas have been hived off to privateers -- youngster Glen Raymond and former Privateer Cup Champion Stewart Reid, although Queenslander Reid is not making it to the first round.

Evans' younger brother Eli is seeded No. 2 to the champion in a Subaru Impreza, ahead of Michael Guest in the Ford Focus he drove last year for the pseudo factory entry run then by Jason Bright's Britek, but now entered privately by stalwart Tasmanian operator Les Walken.

Former Mitsubishi Ralliart factory driver Spencer Lowndes returns full-time to the championship this season in an Evo IX Lancer and is seeded No. 4, ahead of Bates, with Darren Windus -- the other former Britek driver -- now a privateer again in a Subaru at No. 6.

Victorian Raymond is next in the order, ahead of West Australian champion Alex Stone in a Subaru.

Cody Crocker has won the title the past two years in Subarus, Dean Herridge has opted for the series this year in another Subaru rather than domestic gravel competition, and Scott Pedder will drive a Mitsubishi Lancer for India's Team MRF.

Aussie co-drivers will also be prominent in the MRF stable, with Mark Stacey teamed with Japanese veteran Katsuhiko Taguchi and Glen Macneall partnered with 2007 Indian champion Gaurav Gill.

The series starts with the Rally of New Caledonia on April 12-13, which Crocker and his Singapore-based team will skip, followed by the Rally of Canberra on May 10-11.

Other rounds are in New Zealand (the Rally of Whangarei on June 7-8), Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and China.

Herridge and new co-driver Chris Murphy are only entered in the Pacific Cup section at this stage, with some secrecy about whether they will contest the full APRC.

The planned new Thredbo Sprint, due to be have been held in NSW on May 23-25, has been cancelled.

Resort management company Kosiousko-Thredbo withdrew its support due to protestations from the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service, which was concerned about the danger to fauna from competing cars.

Mountain Motorsports said it had invested significant time and money in planning the sprint and was now working on a replacement event in September.

"The new event is likely to have a far more stable weather pattern and a much easier logistical situation for both competitors and organisational staff than Thredbo would have offered," it said.

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