MOTORSPORT: Some things sentimental, something slick

Lots of sentimentality around at the minute. On the home front there’s been the 10th anniversary of the death of Peter Brock. On an overseas stage this weekend there will be a celebration of the life and cars of Sir Jack Brabham.

And, on the contemporary scene, a new era is dawning that most certainly doesn’t involve any sentimentality. The shake-up in the ownership of Formula 1 is not simply American media group Liberty taking financial control from private equity company CVC.

In fact, CVC isn’t going away. The transaction – if it gets all the necessary approvals – will mark the start of a handover of the controls from Bernie Ecclestone, who turns 86 next month, to 75-year-old American tycoon John Malone, known as the ‘Darth Vader of Wall Street’ and represented by a proxy from the Rupert Murdoch stable.

In other matters, Will Power has been cleared after ‘concussion-like symptoms’ to race for the IndyCar title next weekend, a younger Aussie – Anthony Martin from Kalgoorlie – is going for gold on America’s ‘Road to Indy’, and Australia’s top rally drivers are battling it out at the fourth round of the national championship near Adelaide.

While Peter Brock died in a tarmac rally in Western Australia, it was Bathurst’s Mt Panorama with which he was so synonymous that was the centre of nostalgia about Australia’s most loved touring car driver on Thursday.

The tribute at the National Motor Racing Museum there was attended by his final life partner, Julie Bamford, and included tales from one of Brock’s brothers, Phil. Next up will be the two-part TV mini-series on Brock’s life with Matt Le Nevez playing the icon.

Part one is scheduled to be screened on the night of Sunday, October 9 – just hours after this year’s Bathurst 1000.

The Brabham celebrations are at Goodwood – the Revival meeting on the original but restored circuit and what is the world’s biggest historic race meeting, quite different to the short hillclimb sprints at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Thirty-one Brabham cars have been assembled, but not the Repco-engined BT19 in which the late Sir Jack won his third F1 world drivers’ title.

That triumph, 50 years ago, remains the only one by a driver in a car bearing his own name as the constructor, although it should not be forgotten that the designer of it was fellow Australian Ron Tauranac, the ‘T’ in BT and these days living in Sydney again.

America and digital media new focus for F1
CVC Capital Partners has been despised by many involved in F1, as well as many more observing it, for having profited massively from its controlling ownership for a decade without contributing anything.

While the arrival of John Malone’s Liberty Media as a big new shareholder is being widely welcomed, Bernie Ecclestone has made the point that “they’re not looking at it as a hobby, so it’s no different to CVC”.

Ecclestone is to remain chief executive for three years, while Malone’s designated executive chairman will be Chase Carey, best-known as one of Rupert Murdoch’s main men in the US. Carey’s role will be to exploit F1 more in America and Asia and especially in the digital media world.

The deal announced this week values the F1 business at $US8 billion (almost $US10.5 billion) – 20 per cent less than was anticipated in the couple of attempts to float it on the Singapore stock market.

And it is not as simple as Liberty buying the shares owned by CVC.

Liberty is starting by buying about half of CVC’s holding in F1’s parent company, Delta Topco. In recent years CVC has owned about one-third of the business, having already sold off another third to other investors for billions of dollars in profits.

Liberty’s plan is to acquire the rest of CVC’s Delta Topco shares, and those of the other holders – including Ecclestone and his family trust, which total 13-14 per cent – by the end of March next year. Certainly by June.

However, all the sellers can remain part-owners of the Liberty company that will be renamed Formula One Group. If they do so, they collectively will own two-thirds of the business rather than the 100 per cent they have had.

There will be opportunities for teams (some of which have never understood how they haven’t been substantial shareholders anyway) to buy slices from these existing owners – if they can afford it.

It is intended to list the restructured entity on America’s NASDAD stock market.

Liberty, which is set to control the new-look set-up with one-third ownership, believes it all to be an “incredibly low-risk” deal for it because F1 has contracted revenues – primarily from TV deals and race sanction fees – of $US9.3 billion up to 2026.

“We were particularly attracted to F1 by the diverse revenue drivers and low-risk business models,” Carey said.

“There are essentially three core revenue buckets in the business: race promotion, broadcasting and advertising, and sponsorship – each with significant growth potential as we go forward.

“F1 is a key player in the high-growth market for live, premium sports rights. There is an increasing demand from broadcasters, advertisers and sponsors who want access to F1’s mass global live audiences and attractive demographics.

“There is an opportunity to continue to build this business and take it to the next level.

“The opportunity is to grow and develop this sport for the benefit of the fans, teams, partners and our shareholders by increasing promotion and marketing of F1 as a sport and brand.

“Enhancing the distribution of content, especially in digital – currently a very small percentage of revenue. Evolving the race calendar. Establishing a broader range of commercial partnerships, including sponsorships. Leveraging Liberty’s expertise in live events and digital monetisation to make our events bigger than ever.”

Ecclestone, who others brought into the business in the past have found difficult to work with, said Carey’s arrival was “good news”.
“Chase will hopefully be able to push F1 into new territories with social media,” Ecclestone said.

“I’ve never found a way to make money from social media.

“The things where Chase is knowledgeable are the things that are hopefully going to help us. Chase ran DirecTV in America, and we’re weak in America, so I hope upon hope that having him on board will help in that respect.

“There are three things that are important to me – his connections in America with TV, which are good. Then there are his connections concerning sponsors, the people he has been dealing with for years, which are also good. And finally social media, which again is good. This is all positive for the sport.”

FIA looks onside with new structure
One of the great unknowns as it became clear this deal was coming to fruition was the stance of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), which owns 1 per cent of F1 and 15 years ago granted Ecclestone the sport’s commercial rights for a century.

There has been a feeling that the FIA has the power to veto any ownership shake-up, or that it must at least approve any new controlling shareholder.

But FIA president Jean Todt has said that, while awaiting full details of the deal, he believes it is “positive”.

“We welcome this long-term investment in F1 by a company that has such a broad portfolio of sports, media and entertainment businesses,” Todt said. (Among Liberty’s assets are the Atlanta Braves baseball team and the Eurosport pay TV network).

“As motorsport’s governing body and regulator, we acknowledge Liberty Media’s wide expertise in these fields.

“We look forward to working in close partnership with them in the future in order to further develop F1 and bring it to new generations of motorsport enthusiasts around the world.”

Anthony Martin the next Oz golden boy?
Kalgoorlie 21-year-old Anthony Martin is on the cusp of becoming the US F2000 champion.

Martin leads Cape Motorsports teammate, Canadian Parker Thompson, by 21 points ahead of the two races at the final round this weekend at California’s Mazda Raceway, better known as Laguna Seca.

Martin has won seven races in the series this year and there are a maximum of 66 points to score at the finale.

Florida-based Cape Motorsports has produced the champion the past several seasons – including Australian Matthew Brabham in 2012.
Two other young Aussies, Jordan Lloyd from Toowoomba – Australia’s first Formula 4 champion last year – and Luke Gabin from Perth – also have been frontrunenrs in the series this year.

And Jake Parsons, from Sydney, has been participating in the Pro Mazda Championship – a step higher on the ‘Road to Indy’ – and has notched two podiums.

Meanwhile, Australia’s 2014 IndyCar champion Will Power flew to Florida early in the week for what IndyCar doctor Stephen Olvey called “two sophisticated tests” at the Miami Concussion Centre.

Power crashed heavily into a tyre barrier and steel wall during the penultimate race of that series at Watkins Glen last weekend after contact with Ganassi driver Charlie Kimball.

Power has been given the green light for next weekend’s finale at Sonoma in California, where he will start out 43 points behind Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud with a possible 104 points to be scored.

Proving that his tongue was in good working order, Power blasted American Kimball as “the most dangerous guy on the [IndyCar] track … just a pain in the ass”.

New stars and old vie for rally glory
The Australian Rally Championship battle is essentially between Harry Bates, the son of multiple champion Neal Bates and in his first full campaign, and veteran (and another multiple champion) Simon Evans.

Bates, in a Super 2000 Toyota Corolla, leads Evans, driving a Subaru Impreza WRX, entering this weekend’s fourth round, Rally South Australia, primarily in the Mt Crawford area near Adelaide.

Bates says this event is the one “that suits our car the least” and so “it’s all about just getting as many points as possible”.

“The top speed of the Corolla is about 30km/h less than some rivals in Subarus,” he said.

The wily Evans, who has not competed at Rally SA since 2012 (when he drove a Mazda2), has tried to paint a picture of Bates, 22, being the man under pressure.

Evans’ WRX has been completely rebuilt since a rollover at the previous round in Queensland.

Third in the championship, eight points behind Evans, is Molly Taylor in her new but Group N (showroom class) Subaru WRX.

Taylor and co-driver Bill Hayes have won Tasmania’s Southern Safari since the Queensland ARC round and say they are particularly looking forward to Rally SA’s three night stages on Saturday.

Not registered for ARC points, but winner of the National Capital Rally, the second ARC round in May, and more recently successful at a round of the New Zealand championship, are Victorian brother and sister combination Brendan Reeves and Rhiannon Gelsomino in a WRX.

Stage distances on Rally SA are shorter than in previous years, with the shortest 5.27km – although there remains one of more than 20km.

The fifth and final round will be part of Rally Australia at Coffs Harbour in November.