Salamander wrote:I have no grand expectations for this, I just think it'd be nice if it actually happened and I could watch BTCC there or something. That's all.
Don't get me wrong, I 100% agree with this. I've moved to Bristol and even Thruxton is over an hour away for me so if anywhere could do with a decent track, it's the West Country/South Wales. If this gets finished and they host BTCC races there, I'd be all over for checking that out. As I said, I'm not against building new tracks in this country, I think that should be welcomed. I want to clarify at this point, I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just highly skeptical of the plans, and I'm just pointing out my reasons for those feelings.
The fact is, a lot has been made in the press of the circuit's need for funding, it's appeal to the government to stump up £50million and Silverstone's subsequent protest of that. Michael Carrick is spouting wildly over-optimistic claims of visitor numbers, and establishing a motorsport hub when the country has arguably the best one in the world anyway a couple of hours further east. To me it looks like its either a lot of ignorance, or an attempt to upset the apple cart. Either way, it's not a constructive way of going about introducing a new circuit. We all know what happened to Donington and had it turned out a bit worse we could have lost the F1 race altogether. I don't want that to happen to MotoGP. The fact they need an interim venue in 2015 tells you everything you need to know about the deal - it's poorly thought-out and incomplete. They've already committed themselves to something without having everything (or more specifically, anything) in place first.
That is damaging to the country and the other motorsport venues for a number of reasons.
Firstly, Silverstone has lost it's second-best attended event of the year, despite having made a significant investment itself to host it less than five years ago.That sort of investment needs a bit of long term support, not a short-term contract that then disappears, putting Silverstone in a potentially tricky position.
Secondly, if Ebbw Vale does fail, we potentially loose a popular world-class event to totally avoidable mis-management, and Silverstone's investment would really have been for nothing. Whilst Britain hasn't the richest history in world championship motorcycle racing (at least in more recent times) there is a significant biking community in the country, and now
one of the biggest motorcycle manufacturers in the world too. That will also impact on MotoGP's attractiveness to sponsors, something they are already struggling with significantly.
Thirdly, should Ebbw Vale fail, it paints a very negative picture of the British motorsport industry, particularly in light of Donington's troubles. We've all talked about whether tracks like Korea, India, Austin, etc would be ready on time, and despite cutting it fine, they all have been. When the world casts a spotlight on your country expecting a new venue to feature, and it doesn't materialise, not once but twice in the space of five years, that isn't great for the British motorsport industry is it? At a time when the country is desperately scrabbling around trying to find other industries in which to invest and shift reliance away from the financial hub of London, we need motorsport, which has been highlighted by the Tories on numerous occasions, to be performing as well as possible. People like Michael Carrick aren't going to instil confidence in foreign investors looking to locate to the UK. If you were Gene Haas would you commit to leasing floor space at Ebbw Vale at this point in time when they have nothing but drawings and hollow promises? This then blows back on the rest of the industry in the country. It generates a negative, counter-productive feeling that scares off investment. If we want growth, this isn't the way to go about it.
So in my mind, the best thing Mr Carrick should have done, was sat down with the other circuit owners, got them on-side and liaised with them on the best way of introducing a new track to the country. It's good to have healthy competition every now and then, particularly as Donington and Brands have slipped down in terms of the events they now attract, but there's no point ruffling feathers until there is something concrete (literally) in place.
Ebbw Vale could have been a really successful project, but they've missed the point and have set themselves up for failure. I hope I'm proven wrong, but I can only see one outcome to all of this unfortunately.
Get well soon!
Boy, that kid has lost his nerve!