Pit Pass Exam

8/9/2019 Pit Pass Exam

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PITPASS /news

Brawn buys HondaEx-Ferrari Technical Director completes management buyout of stricken team

Ross Brawn has com-

pleted a takeover ofthe troubled Honda F1team. The management buy-out will see the team take tothe grid this season, albeitas the newly branded BrawnGP.Brawn, who joined the Japa-

nese outt last year after aten year stint at Ferrari, hadbeen linked several times witha management buyout of theteam over the past few weeks

after interest from other par-ties including Richard Bran-son amounted to nothing. Ifthe team hadnt been sold bythe start of the season Hondawouldve been forced to close itdown to cut costs.Thankfully for Brawn and

his team development of thisseasons car didnt stop whenHonda announced their intentionto withdraw meaning that Brawn

GP will have no trouble beingready for the rst race of theseason in Melbourne on March29. The team made their testdebut in Barcelona on March 9and the BGP 001, which will be

powered by Mercedes engines,surprised everyone by toppingthe time sheet in the rst ses-sion.The cars will be driven by the

former Honda pairing of JensonButton and Rubens Barrichello,with the former rumoured to betaking a 50% pay cut in his 8million contract to help keep theteam in business.Honda announced they were

withdrawing at the end of the2008 season citing the global

economic crisis as the reason.The team had endured two tor-rid seasons prior to opting outof the sport, nishing eighth andninth in consecutive seasonsafter failing to build on a strongfourth place nish in 2006. Inthe previous two seasons theynished behind teams with afraction of their 200 millionplus budget.Speaking about the takeover,

Ross Brawn said: The vastexperience and knowledge thatboth drivers bring to our teamwill prove invaluable as we aimto get up to speed in the short-est time possible to be ready for

ALL SMILES: The team will race under the name Brawn GP for the 2009 season

the rst race of the season...Iwould also like to take this op-portunity to pay due credit toour staff at Brackley. The levelsof motivation and commitmentthat I have witnessed at the fac-tory deserve the highest praise.Initially, we may experiencesome reliability issues resultingfrom the lack of track time butwe feel we have a good car andwe hope that our performancewill be respectable.Hiroshi Oshima, managing of-

cer of Honda Motor CompanyLimited, said that Honda offeredits sincerest wishes for thenew team, adding: We are verypleased that we could sell theteam to Ross Brawn, with whomwe have been partaking in thechallenges of F1 competition,and are grateful for his deci-sion.It is not yet known if there

will be any redundancies at the

teams Brackley plant, where700 now former Honda staffwork but one man who will bekeeping his job is Nick Fry, whois staying on at Brawn GP as aCEO.

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PITPASS /feature

RACING IN

A RECESSION

S

port is usually prettybulletproof wheneverthe rest of the world

hits fnancial hardship. Thispoint may have been provenwhen earlier this year, amida plethora of job losses forJoe Public, the FA PremierLeague managed to renego-tiate a new television dealand bleed more money outof broadcasters. However,football may well be the ex-ception that proves the rule.While the beautiful game

may not be on the bones ofits backside other sports arestruggling badly, and at thevery top of that list are someof the biggest series in theworld of motorsport.Shockingly, F1 is right up there

at the summit treading a neline between being a nanciallyviable venture or being completepie in the sky. Yes, even themost glamorous form of racing,which prides itself on being the

hottest thing on four wheels,has had a short, sharp shockover the past few months. Theracing world sat up and tooknotice when Honda announced

that they would be pulling outof the sport. If a buyer wasntfound the team then that would

leave the grid laughably sparsewith only nine outts involved -far cry from the mid 90s whenthere was nigh on constantly 13to 14 teams competing seasonafter season . Thankfully teamprincipal Ross Brawn has com-pleted a management buyoutso the old Honda team will be

on the grid next season in someshape or form. Still, those incharge cant say they werentaware of the difculties some ofthe teams were facing - SuperAguri, the unofcial Honda Bteam, pulled out of the 2008campaign after only four races.A warning shot across the bows

for all concerned.Problems arent just conned

to F1, where millions are spent

trying to shave a second ortwo off a lap time. Popular, butless money-centric series arealso suffering. The World RallyChampionship has lost one ofits banner names in Subaru tothe recession, as well as rela-tive newcomers Suzuki meaningthat the 2009 season only has

two factory teams on its grid ofeight. The effect that losing twoteams of Subaru and Suzukiscalibre will have on the WRC willno doubt be felt this season,after all Subaru pulling out ofrallying is like Ferrari decidingits too expensive to race in F1 -unthinkable. At least it was until

Until this season the idea

of Subaru pulling outof the WRC was like Ferrari

pulling out of F1 - unthinkable

As Matthew Briggs finds out not even

the glitzy world of racing has escaped

the clutches of the global financial crisis

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this year.Ikuo Mori, chief executive of

Subarus parent company FujiHeavy Industries explained thedecision: Our business environ-ment has changed dramaticallydue to the rapid deteriorationof the global economy. In orderto optimise the management

resources and to strengthen theSubaru brand further, Fuji Heavydecided to withdraw from WRCactivities at the earliest time.But rather than wallow in self

pity plans are being put into ac-tion by the FIA and other bod-ies to try and curb the amountof money spent by teams andindividuals in the pursuit oftrophies and championships inall levels of motorsport. FormulaOne teams have took the leadby proposing radical cost cuttingmeasures that it plans to imple-ment over the next two years.A recent meeting between theteams was very productive andFerrari president Luca di Mon-tezemolo said that the proposalsfrom the meeting will be pre-sented to the FIA soonerrather than later: If wehad not done alone thesecost savings, it would have

been difcult for manyteams to maintain activitiesin F1. We will meet withthe chairman of FIA in thenext few days, and we willinform the World Councilon these important deci-sions, because as you haveseen these decisions havebeen taken in such a shorttime and I think there areimportant cost savings.

This move will be music tothe ears of FIA presidentMax Mosley who has beenpestering the teams forsome time about cost cut-ting measures.Outside F1 cost cutting

is paramount, with lesserseries and formula lookingfor ways to avoid nancialproblems. The revampedFormula Two series promises togive young drivers a chance to

show off their talent in a uniformmachine. This model is basedupon the idea behind A1GP ofproviding several identical carsto all the drivers on the grid so

costs are cut and importantlyracing is made even more inter-esting.Does this mean well see F1

adopt the same model? Thatshighly doubtful. One of the ma-

jor drawing points for supportersand prospective teams alike is

the R&D aspect. The fact that F1is about teams doing battle bothon the track and off the track.While a universally used chassismay improve racing itll destroythe battle of the brains that goeson behind the scenes. This sea-sons rule changes wouldnt behalf as interesting if every newmachine came out looking iden-

tical. Anyway, a universally usedchassis may be one thing but

no F1 team will agree to havingidentical engines put in everycar. If it was forced then all thename teams would leave in ahuff and the appeal of F1 would

die overnight.For WRC though it looks like it

could be a tough few years. WithFord and Citroen also taking along hard look at their involve-ment in the sport prior to thestart of the 2009 campaign itsentirely possible that if the situ-

ation doesnt improve economi-cally we could see a WRC gridfull of privately owned teams.Much like F1 very few people ifany would be left to watch if themanufacturers jump ship.Is there any light on the ho-

rizon? Well, the nancial crisishas to end sometime and whenit does those in motor racing all

over the world will thanktheir lucky stars thattheyve made it throughto the other side. What

will the future hold forthe mad world of motor-sport then? Will we seea return to the days ofplenty when constructorsand car companies threwtheir cash about like theirwas no tomorrow in thehope that they could geta couple more points onthe board come the end ofthe season or will frugality

remain the word on every-ones lips? It depends. Ifthe changes that are afootproduce a positive resultthen we may not see teambudgets skyrocket for awhile yet but as always ifthe money is there theresa temptation to spend it.Whatever happens in thedistant future, the next

year or two in not just F1 butevery motorsport will be, in the

words of Luca di Montezemolo,an unprecedented. Lets justhope that these unprecedenteddecisions have a positive effecton the sport we love.

PITPASS /feature

GONE: Honda and Super Aguri have quit

Formula One over the past twelve months

There would be few peopleabout who would still want

to watch F1 or WRC if the

manufacturers are forced out

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Formula One has alwaysstruggled in the UnitedStates for some inexpli-

cable reason. Maybe its dueto the lack of drivers withthe word Junior hanging offthe back of their name, or

the sparse number of laps, orthe fact drivers are expectedto tackle both left and righthand turns in the same race.No matter what the reason is

Formula One has always foughtto be accepted across the Atlan-tic ocean. The 1991 US GrandPrix, the last held in America fornine long years was only attend-ed by 18,000 people but thatdidnt stop Bernie Ecclestone

from trying to break that mar-ket again. In 2000 F1 returnedto the United States taking upresidence at the world famousIndianapolis Motor Speedwaywhich had recently undergone

renovation to create a twistingineld course for the IndyCarseries.The rst F1 race at the home

of the Indy 500 was attendedby over 250,000 spectators. Arecord crowd. The year after

Formula One further enamoureditself with the American audi-ence by being the rst majorsporting event to come to theUS after the 9/11 attacks. Somepeople began to wonder whetherF1 had nally got its foot in thedoor of the American marketafter all those years and wheth-er it would nally be acceptedalongside the likes of IndyCarand NASCAR.

It soon began to fall aparthowever when in 2002 MichaelSchumacher moved over andallowed his team mate RubensBarrichello to take the win in anapparent reversal of what had

happened at Austria earlier inthe year. All of the leg work thatthe F1 establishment had put into make F1 look like a serioussport looked wasted as the Fer-rari team manipulated the resultat the last corner for the second

time in the season. While thismay have left Ferrari red facedand the head honchos at the FIAfuming it was only the audervecompared to what was to come.Fast forward to 2005. Schu-

macher wasnt romping awaywith the title as some youngupstart going by the name ofFernando Alonso had stole histhunder. Common sense dictatedthat Alonso would probably con-

tinue his charge toward his rstworld title here and Schumacherwould still be ailing about look-ing for his rst when of the sea-son when the teams packed upand went to France. As we know

PITPASS /feature

In this new feature were going to bring you the tales behind the drivers, teamsand races the motorsport fraternity would rather forget. This month Matthew

Briggs looks back at one of the biggest PR disasters in F1 history - Indygate

THE GREAT

AMERICAN FARCE

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race with the chicane but with-out Ferrari was the only realoption, something which theFIA would not have any part of.After a brief conab between theteam principals and drivers itwas decided that unless the FIAwould help nd a solution to theproblem the nine teams pres-ent would not race, with Ferrari

being the only ones who wouldtake to the grid.Renault team principal Flavio

Briatore rang head of the FIAMax Mosley to discuss theirsuggestions but Mosley at outrefused to entertain the idea anysort of non-championship race.According to the then Minardiboss Paul Stoddart, Mosley saidthat if the non-championshiprace was allowed to go ahead

then all FIA backed sport inNorth America would be underthreat.With all avenues seemingly

closed the teams decided thatthe eight of the nine teams pres-ent decided that the only optionwas to take part in the forma-tion lap but pull off into the pitswhen the cars were regroupingon the grid. Jordan team bossColin Kolles went back on hisearlier promise not to send hisBridgestone shod cars out torace which, along with a pleafrom a Bridgestone representa-tive forced the Minardi team totake part in the race too.All 20 cars sat on the grid and

took part in the formation lapbut as they reached the bankedturn 13 where the entrance to

the pit lane was situated the14 cars running Michelin tyrespulled in to the pits and out ofthe race. It quickly became afarce with the two Ferraris of

Michael Schumacher and RubensBarrichello running away fromthe other four cars. Debris wasthrown onto the track by dis-gruntled fans and boos rang out

every time the remaining vehi-cles sped past. One of those an-noyed fans was Lisa Cote, whotravelled to watch the race fromHartford, CT: The rst we heardsomething was up was lateSaturday night but we assumedit would be sorted. Half an hourbefore the race the word gotround to expect only the Ferra-

ris to race and everyone startedto get tense. Its no surprisethere was an angry reaction.

Unsurprisingly the result was aFerrari one-two, with Schumach-er taking his rst win of theseason and in the aftermath of

the race the blame game com-menced. Some team principalsblamed the FIA for being un-willing to reach a compromise,the FIA blamed Michelin for not

bringing safe tyres and the fansblamed everyone involved. Driv-ers were their typical outspokenselves after the asco. DavidCoulthard said he was sick to

his stomach after the weekendand went on to say: The fact isthat mature adults were not ableto put on a show for everybody.Its a very sad day for racing.Even if we do come back, halfthe crowd in the stands todaywont be back. Even the oldguard were annoyed, with racinglegend Sir Stirling Moss calling it

a bloody disgrace.Michelins involvement in For-

mula One and F1s appeal in

America slowly withered. Mi-chelin pulled out of the sportin 2006 leaving Bridgestone asthe single tyre supplier and theNorth American market wasgiven the cold shoulder by F1,with the US and Canada now

without races. However, thisdoesnt spell the end of F1 in theUnited States. With the creationof new team USGPE, who planto debut in 2010 the chances ofBernie Ecclestone deciding tohave one nal stab at the Ameri-can market dont look too bleak.Formula One is all about themoney and if the powers that bebelieve there is a buck or two tobe made across the ocean then

theyll head straight back overthere, cap in hand pleading forforgiveness. Swallowing yourpride is very easy if theres afew million in it for you.

PITPASS /feature

EMBARRASSING: The infamous six car grid pulls away in the US

Debris was thrown onto the

track by fans and boos rang

out every time a car sailed past

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Andy became interestedin racing at a youngage but surprisingly his

Dads racing career didntfactor into his decision tobecome a driver: We usedto go and watch a friend ofmy parents race Lotus Elansaround Croft back in the mid70s and he was either re-ally fast or crashed whichis great entertainment, es-

pecially for a seven year oldlad.My dad was raced but by thetime I was born hed stoppeddoing that anyway. I wasnt re-

ally inuenced by him, it wasgoing to watch other peoplerace. I was aware he had raced,Id see newspaper clippings fromhis career but that never reallyput any pressure onto me. Henever encouraged me to startracing or anything along thoselines. Funnily enough my Dadhas never seen me drive a rac-ing car in his life. The nearesthe came was when I was karting

but there wasnt much supportthere, especially in a nancialsense.While most drivers nowadays

are sat in a kart before theyre

able to walk Andy was a latebloomer and admits kartingwasnt always his rst choice: Ididnt actually start until I was17. In hindsight though, if I hadmoney available to me Id havestarted in Rallying because Ral-lying was the thing that reallygot me going as a youngster.However, circumstances dictatedthat I go into karting becauseit was more accessible, I could

just put my kart in the back ofmy van and drive up to Rowrahand other places. There was alsothe cost, because at the timeyou could buy a brand new kart

PITPASS /interview

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He was once the next big thing in British motorsport and was even tipped to be

racing alongside the likes of Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher in F1. While

he may not have lived up to the initial hype Andy McKenna has had a glittering

career in the world of racing. He talks to Matthew Briggs about his influences,

the stress of race deals and teaching a world champion how to drive on ice

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for the same price as a clappedout rally car.My rst ever meeting was abig one over in the Lake Districtat Rowrah and I nished thirdoverall. During the race it rainedand Ive always liked driving onloose surfaces since I grew uplearning to drive on farms andprivate land owned by familyfriends. Obviously the minutethe track got wet it suited meand since then wet driving hasalways been my major strength,

just as it was for people likeSchumacher and Senna.Eventually the cost of kart-

ing became too much and Andycouldnt compete with the moreprofessional outts. He took achance on a little known ven-ture: I left karting and I movedonto a driver scholarship in1990, which was brand newat the time. It was basically a

chance to get sponsored to racefor a team and it was a big deal,especially for the youngster whowere just coming out of lowerseries. I got all the way throughto the nal day of selection,which fell on my 21 birthday andI won a winter drive in FormulaFord. It was the dening mo-ment of my career because itconrmed what I thought I wascapable of. Winning was the only

option I had because I couldnthave afforded to continue racingif I didnt.Unsurprisingly his rise had been

such a big one that people in

Of course I had bad experiencesbut sport is competitive. WhileIm competitive in the car out ofthe car Im probably a little bitgreen.With a career as colourful and

varied as Andys its no surprisethere are a handful of driverswho Andy really enjoys battlingwith on track: Chris Ward isa great driver. We have a loadof respect for each other andnowadays hes the chief instruc-

tor at Silverstone. Theres an-

other chap called Mark Rennisonwho used to race in RallyCrossand was someone I really lookedup to. He was British champion,European champion, he was thebusiness and eventually I got toknow him and got the chance torace against him. It was in theVauxhall Vectra Challenge backin 1998 and I managed to passhim on the last corner of the lastlap to take fth.

Although Andy loves the highsand the lows of racing he has nolove for the race deals which hefeels see many talented driversleave the sport through sheer

and around the industry werealready tipping him for the top,but he soon learned that thekind words and big expectationswerent solely for his benet: Itwas a lot for a young lad fromthe North East, people expectedme to do great things and I wasbeing told that come 1995 Idbe the next great British hope inFormula One. It was especiallyhard as I was pretty nave andthe motor racing business was

a new thing to me. I trusted

everyone and took them attheir word which was a mistakebecause, as with every businessmotorsport isnt ran entirely bykind, even handed people. Thereare quite a few snakes.There are countless times Iwas ill advised and it cost memoney and a few times nearlycost me my reputation. Therewere times I got involved withnasty people who turned out

to not be what they presentedthemselves as but I also sur-rounded myself with friendswho had more experience whowould and could help me out.

TOP THREE FINISH: Andy putting a Nemesis Sports prototype machine on the podium back in 2004

A lot of people expected me to

do great things. I was told id

be racing in F1 come 1995

PITPASS /interview

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Andy Priaulx, the three time WTCC

champion, came to Sweden to

have a one to one session with mein preparation for the new season

frustration or lack of funds:Race deals are such a largepart of racing. When I won thescholarship I was warned that itwould be the only time every-thing was paid for and that canbe soul destroying. Its prob-ably the thing which makes arebreaks most drivers careersbecause to put it plainly if they

cant nd the fund-ing, no matter howgood they are, theywont get the drive.The kids will get aknock on the doorand theyre soldthe drive, then theycome down to meetthe team man-ager and theyretold that they can

have theyre wel-come to the driveso long as theybring 100,000with them, whetherthat be in sponsor-ship or out of theirdads pocket. Itwas weird for mebecause the minuteI stopped chasingdeals and decided to concentrateon teaching and having a family

they suddenly all came to me.It even happens in F1 rac-ing now. A great friend of minecoaches drivers and Ive seenhis client list, which contains

quite a few high prole driv-ers but theyre in there be-cause they can stump up thecash to pay for the seat ratherthan earned it through racingin different series. Its a careerchoice. Id be surprised if therewere anymore than six driverson the grid currently earning awage outright.Nowadays Andy splits his time

between his racing and histeaching. A rally driver at heart,he decided to go for ice drivingafter seeing it done by a fellowracer: I started teaching the IceDriver course in Sweden back in2007. I got the idea after work-ing with a bloke in Norway whowas doing something similarbut in my opinion wasnt doing

it well but I thought it was sucha good idea. He went bust so I

took the risk and did it myself. Imade sure it was a professionaloperation, everything is workedout from the track to the localinfrastructure.

People love it because its dif-ferent to driving around a nor-mal track, you can tell by theirfaces theyre blown away by it. Iget everyone, from women whoare terried of driving in thefew inches of snow we get backat home to world class drivers.Andy Priaulx came out for a oneto one session not so long ago inpreparation for the World Tour-

COOL: The adapted Ice Driver Subaru Impreza is ready to hit the white stuff

ing Car Championship. I meanhes a three time world cham-pion.So does Andy have any ad-

vice for aspiring racing drivers?Dont bother! he guffaws.Honestly though I love it, Imvery fortunate to be able to dowhat I do for a job. As for advicego with your gut instinct and

always remember its a busi-ness and there are people out

there who dont necessarily wantto see you do well. Also, dontgo it alone. If you need a handnd someone who can help you.You cant go wrong watchingand studying the best drivers,at the minute Im fascinated bySebastian Loeb in WRC becausehes so good. He never makesmistakes, hes always quick andhes brilliant in so many differentseries and formula.

And as for regrets, Andy hasnone: You cant look back,youve got to keep looking for-ward. Im delighted at what Imdoing now and thats enoughfor me. Even when you race inthe worst cars you still get outhaving learned something aboutyourself and the business sothere are no regrets. All I wouldsay is that if I had my timeagain I wouldve went into theWorld Rally Championship ratherthan hanging on the other prom-ises made to me but Im happywith what Im doing now. Its nobig deal.

PITPASS /interview

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