I don't think your ignorant or stupid Steve and for someone to come on here and call you that is just pure rude and ignorant in itself.
I also know you are well placed to comment as you have been around FF1600 since you were born.
I don't think the WHT is as a consequence of the Festival. JEB comes across as a great bloke and we could do with more of his sort in our struggling sport, but the reason for the Walter Hayes, as is the reason for the MSV, is the seizer of a money making opportunity.....
Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with that, so long as it's done right and the costs to drivers and teams are right.
Now, call it coincidence or fate, but the demise of the Festival could be slightly attributed to the haven that is the WHT. You only have to look at the difference in cost and location. Nobody to blame, but it's a competitive market out there and JEB has put a good, or should I say bloody brilliant package together and the BRSCC can't respond. For one, the circuit hire at Brands is the killer and that's before any of the other overheads.
Thus, the spiral of demise begins. The entry costs are high, so the "maybes" don't go. Other categories are brought in to help foot the bill. The hardcore fans stay away because they wanted to see FF and so on and so forth.
In my opinion, for what it's worth and I'll start a new Thread about this I think, when the opportunity arose, the BRSCC should have beg, stole and borrowed to get their hands on the Brands Hatch circuits. What better asset could they have had than owning their own circuits.
But that's History now and unfortunately, it looks like the Festival is heading that way. Don't get me wrong, I would like to see it continue, but I can't see it. From what I have heard about the cost of circuit hire at Brands, I am a little mithed that Mr JP hasn't done a deal with the BRSCC to reduce circuit hire fees. After all, he has this year, become a fan of FF hasn't he?