[Rumours] Bulgaria to hold Grand Prix from 2011?

[duke_toaster]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76651

Bulgaria. Let me get this straight. Bulgaria.

Bernie has already gone in to countries where the population either don't give two hoots about motor racing or don't even understand them - China and its empty grandstands, the two men and a dog (getting mowed down by Bruno Senna) at Istanbul, Bahrain, Hungary with its lack of local fans as well as Bernie's two races in Spain rubbish.

Why should Bulgaria get a race when the entire continent of North America - which not only is the largest car market but a wealthy area with people who actually understand cars - loses both of its races?

[Peralta]

Latin America are fanatics about F1 probably more so than Europe. We need races back in Argentina and Mexico and now with USF1 how about Canada and USA and forget Bulgaria Turkey even Bahrain not to mention Korea now. What Bernie could do is alternate these races every other year while the most attended can get it every year. Spain doesnt need 2 races so scrap one or alternate. Hungary can alternate with Turkey. Bahrain with Abu Dhabi. China with Korea.

[duke_toaster]

Would Argentina and Mexico get enough fans through the doors? They do have advantages in that they would be good TV timing for Europe, though.

Spain should lose one of its races of course. As for Hungary, Turkey and at least one of the Middle East races should go. Hungary just gets supporters from Scandinavia - a race in Finland or Sweden would be far more logical for that by far.

China has no reason to be on the calendar due to the lack of interest shown by the Chinese public. Korea might be a more sensible idea, the same with a second race in Japan.

The main priority must be ensuring that all the major European markets, the USA and Japan are covered by races.

[Spritle]

He who pays Bernie the most, gets the races...

...until nobody shows up and the governments who financed the whole fiasco, balk at continuing the farce with THEIR money.

Without government financing, Tony George spent $100,000,000 to get the Indianapolis Motor Speedway up to F1 standards. He then paid Bernie & Company millions every year to hold a race which he eventually lost because he was tired of paying exorbitant fees to hold the race while losing money trying to keep ticket prices down among other things.

The end result, no USGP, no more Tony George and probably a zero likelihood of a USGP at Indy or anyplace else in all reality, since I doubt any local US government or private track owner is stupid enough to fall for Bernie's salespitch again.

This saga will play out in all of those F1 venues that Bernie covets so much.

Maybe he should try and convince America to embrace football, (soccer) while he's at it.

[Peralta]

I think the major reason for poor attendance is the ticked prices and not so much interest. It's just too much for these countries. Close to 1000 pounds for a family of four in some cases. Thanks Bernie for putting the organizers in debt. Maybe FOTA will have a say in this. Don't they know the economy is in the ****ter.

[Notso Swift]

Good to see F1 going back to it roots
(Sarcasm)


Yeah OK I may live in Australia, but we had to get 4 world championships before we got a gig on the main calander... although there were many years of off-season fun in the Tasman series)

By now I think Finland has done enough to get a race...
(Not Sarcasm)

[Peter Ford]

I can see all the future tracks with empty on sundays because most of the countries bernie is going to the people wont be able to afford the tickets so the drivers will be racing around the tracks with empty grandstands.

[VIVA GT]

When I saw the thread title I thought this was going to be about the proposed race near to Disneyland Paris

[Rob29]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

When I saw the thread title I thought this was going to be about the proposed race near to Disneyland Paris

Yep,same here.I have never understood the use of the term 'Mickey Mouse'to mean rubbish.Was a cartoon charicter and always meant 'fit only for children' to meGT race in Romania recently cancelled.Has been held twice before and I think attracted bigger crowds than F1 in the desert? Survey to find where the crowds are might help to find more sensible venues? Cost is of course a major factor.When I attended by first F1GP Silverstone 1960-gen admission was six shillings(30p)Coach trip from were we lived in North London 14s-programme 2s-total cost of day out £1.10-think mum provided refreshments incl. flask of coffee Offer of simlar trip this year was £200

[champcarman]

Perfect timing by Bernie!

Just when the FOTA/FIA deal is done Bernie hints that a deal might be about to be done that goes against what FOTA has been saying and asking for and what was one of their main gripes.

FOTA has been saying why are we going to these countries where no one watches and we don't sell cars when we don't go to North America.

Probably politics but a worry all the same.

[JamesH]

What I don;t understand is why these countries even talk to BE about holding GP's. They must know from looking at the other new events its going to cost an arm and a leg, they will never get the money back, and it'll have to be gone in a few fears when the government money runs out.

I can only assume some fairly hefty back handers winging their way around, greasing the wheels and wallets of these governments lackies. So the tax payer ends up coughing the dosh, BE makes a hat load, and the lackies make a hat load. We should just give money straight to these people instead. Saves time AND money.

Hmm, actually, that sounds like the normal way of doing business in the world we live in.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Rob29

GT race in Romania recently cancelled.Has been held twice before and I think attracted bigger crowds than F1 in the desert

not quite. but it was priced a bit high for the locals, and the city was very welcoming to the travelling western europeans. it's a shame the new mayor didn't fancy it, i certainly wouldn't have gone anywhere near bucharest without the lure of a street race!

i think it's very important to keep the hungarian gp alive - there's a big following from very enthusiastic fans there, and even though the tickets are pretty expensive for them and the races are mindnumbing they still pile in in their thousands. i would say that perhaps the bulgaria rumours are to try and extract some extra funding from the hungarian govt/business community (what's left of it) to keep their race above water.

[ivanalesi]

It will be instead of Turkey and probably Hungary, so basically it's less races in the region. Turkey is gone and btw, the crowds at the race were mostly Bulgarians You could see the flags everywhere. There have been thousands of Bulgarians at Hungaroring for years... There's more interest here and Romania in racing, also in Serbia. The track at Pleven(which is not 100% certain) will be quite close to Bucharest and Serbia, so I guess there would be lots of them too. Hopefully more Greeks will come to Bulgaria than to Turkey, Turks and Greeks are not really friends With Istanbul the problem is the track management, it's simply horrible! Can you imagine they didn't offer track days for years? The last local race at the track was back in 2005? Their fees for testing are so attractive, that no team has gone testing even though it may be cheaper because of the ferry and accomodation! Serres, F3 licensed track in Greece, has more testing than Istanbul! It has like 10 times cheaper fees than Istanbul... If you have some decent promotion in the country, some in Romania, Serbia and Greece, then the track will be full. The guy behind this, Bogdan Nikolov, he's got brains for sure and he's very, very ambitious. The best ever Bulgarian road racing rider, he made the world's best MX and supermoto tracks, also schools for MX riders. At a recent meeting, they gathered 176 participants - you can't gather such number of car racing and kart drivers for the last 5 years! He aims to host as much as possible championships on this track, Moto GP starts in 2012, then Superbike, WTCC and so on, full calendar. Btw, if all this happens, it will mean that almost all major racing championship will be in Bulgaria - MX, Supermoto and MotoGP have already contracts, also Rally Bulgaria will be part of the WRC and then you add F1, WTCC, Superbikes...
Bella, people in our region, for whatever reason believe that one should never ever do anything in downtown and their traffic jams are the world's biggest. For example, the Sofia mayor(ex-mutra, gangster) and favourite for prime minister, once asked for EU 1mln. to close some park roads for a super special rally stage!
Btw, I don't think FIA GT was priced high, I don't remember very well, but I think 40 EU was quite a nice ticket. Now Madonna is coming in August, the tickets start at the same price. In general, concert tickets are about 25-30 EU. I think V12s sound more exciting

[bella]

Originally Posted by ivanalesi

Btw, I don't think FIA GT was priced high, I don't remember very well, but I think 40 EU was quite a nice ticket. Now Madonna is coming in August, the tickets start at the same price. In general, concert tickets are about 25-30 EU. I think V12s sound more exciting

ooh crikey, it was in comparison to how much you pay in this country for the same thing, plus not everyone had paddock access iirc. i don't think they'd charge the same money if they did a similar race in the uk, and we get paid more here...

in defence of the turkish gp, i was looking at ticket prices and it wasn't very expensive this year. below half the price of a 3 day general admission ticket at spa for the same thing there.

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by bella

not quite. but it was priced a bit high for the locals, and the city was very welcoming to the travelling western europeans. it's a shame the new mayor didn't fancy it, i certainly wouldn't have gone anywhere near bucharest without the lure of a street race!

i think it's very important to keep the hungarian gp alive - there's a big following from very enthusiastic fans there, and even though the tickets are pretty expensive for them and the races are mindnumbing they still pile in in their thousands.

Aren't most of these enthusiastic fans coming in from other countries, including Scandinavia? If a presence in a EET country is needed, I think a Finnish Grand Prix on the streets of Tampere or Helsinki would be a good idea.

[Yannick]

That is just another proof that CVC, the owners of F1, don't care at all about the interest of the manufacturers, but only about their own, which is cashing in more money.

There is apparently a payola scandal going on at the time involving the local government officials responsible for the Valencia F1 race.

And in otherwise poor countries with rather a limited democratic history that are interested in getting an F1 race now, payola certainly would be able to fill the pockets of CVC shareholders, too.

CVC is basically speculating that one day, the manufacturers will buy them out so they finally have a say.
The renewed Concorde Agreement now runs until 2012. That is more than enough time for FOTA to set up a new series of their own.

[duke_toaster]

Wasn't there an issue with Valencia at one point regarding the contract requiring a certain party to win the local council election?

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Yannick

That is just another proof that CVC, the owners of F1, don't care at all about the interest of the manufacturers, but only about their own, which is cashing in more money.

As crazy as it may seem there's probably quite a large untapped car market in Bulgaria,and a lot of money from Russia is beginning to filter out into these areas.You won't hear FOTA telling Bernie not to ge there.

[KSM86]

i believe the fia gt series is going to Bulgaria next year aswell, will be interesting to see how many turn up for that event.

[Yannick]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

Wasn't there an issue with Valencia at one point regarding the contract requiring a certain party to win the local council election?

Yes, there was. And they won - just in time to sign the contract.

[Gingers4Justice]

I am informed that the Bulgarians are big on Quidditch, nothing else.

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by KSM86

i believe the fia gt series is going to Bulgaria next year aswell, will be interesting to see how many turn up for that event.

Depends if they find a venue . I'd say that it would be wishful thinking on the part of Ratel.

[ivanalesi]

It should be in Varna. The people behind the mayor, they are the richest in the country, all of them are into the billions

[Flat12-Aircool]

I can't understand why some people here are moaning about Bulgaria having a GP. At least the place is in Europe, and apart from Hungary is in a area of the continent that's relatively untapped as regards the "circuit racing" variety of Motorsport.

I think its a smart move.

[jab]

When I heard this, my first reaction was "Hungary is skint, so this is going to be the new Eastern Europe race". I think that's probably what it comes down to. Hungary still has no motor racing heritage outside Csaba Kesjar, Zsolt Baumgartner and a few non-descript Grands Prix (and 2006, obviously), so what's the difference?

Bulgaria seem to be pushing for more international races. They have a MotoGP race in a couple of years and have been knocking on F1's door for a while now. I seem to remember something about a street circuit in one of the seaside towns - maybe that was for MotoGP or GTs or something like that