Club Arnage

So says  this article  (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/3703350.stm) from MotorSport.

Probably politics at work....

There you go all you F1 devotees.  Your beloved little greedy pygmy at work again, nothing like a little blackmail to endear yourself to the fans.  How does Bird say it?  Neeeeeeow! There goes your GP to Korea.  Wish ours would go as well.
John

Thats it. As British People we should omit from buying F1 sponsored products and turn off our TV's, and stop buying the merchandise.

Stand up for ourselves

perhaps if he'd still been big mates with tony it might still be here.

I won't miss it never went and never wanted to.

LMES showed that you can out on good racing at affordable prices, so Sliverstone should concentrate on that and other things like attracting FIA GTS DTM and BTCC which last weeks racing at Donington was really good stuff.

Say what you like about F1's current state, we gave up going in 2000 and now much prefer LM. But there are a lot of uk poeple employed in the industry and many of LM teams have strong connections to through personell have worked and gained exerience and bought technology via F1. This iis very bad news for motorsport entirly! On that basis, we should support any protests aimed at reversing this stupidity and get Bernies head out of his a*se.  

Ecclestone is a money grabbing ba***rd.  This country should give him one hell of metaphorical shafting.  It's only F1, but this is outrageous.  The stupid little dwarf should have his nationality revoked.  >:( >:( >:(

Unfortunatley he'll probably end up being knighted. >:( >:(


Quote from the poison dwarf himself 'If anyone kidnapped me, I don't know who would give the money to get me back. there are an awful lot of people who would pay to keep me there'


Do we start collecting for the latter option now? :) :)

Feel free to vote for him....


http://www.lotusxifc.com/gaids/gaidsList.asp

[[

Do we start collecting for the latter option now? :) :)

Where do I send my credit card details?]

Duly Voted.

And never mind paying to keep him kidnapped, let's just pay to have him shot.

so the main 2005 motoring event will be the LMES race ???

YES, YES, YES !!!

Thanks a lot Bernie !  ;)

 let's just pay to have him shot.


Much to good for him, hang draw and quarter the little sh*te

Setting aside emotions, which can be quite hard at a time like this, you have to appreciate that F1 is simply a money circus, not a sport. It is supremely naive for anyone to assume otherwise. And it's not just F1 that's guilty of this, look at IRL etc and the political upheavals they've had in the recent past.

Bernie is playing a bloody good game. Yes he's a soulless little bastard but you have to understand the dynamics of the F1 business. And it's got sod all to do with racing cars and soul stirring racing. Effectively, he's competing for revenue with International and European Premier league  football, the Olympics and other huge worldwide sports and events.

There is no room for sentiment in this day and age. F1 only ever plays the heritage card when it suits itself to do so. Silverstone does not, and probably never will, square up to the fantastic new facilities such as the £300m spent at Shanghai. Know a couple of friends who were at Dubai and they raved about it's facilities.

Yes, I know the racing is crap at the moment, the cars are beyond parody and the drivers with one or two exceptions are utter dullards. But I'm appalled though that the British GP has been lost for the sake of £3m. If it was that important to the likes of Sirs Ron and Frank, Eddie and the others, I reckon they'd have a whip round for what effectively is loose change given team budgets, sponsors etc.

So where does this leave us? Difficult to say, but pretty largely in the lurch. It's not too late for one of the big knobs to pull the iron out of the fire, they've got until 13th Oct to come up with the dosh. I just wouldn't bet on it!

So it's back to LM for me, yes it's commercial in a way, but it's a bit more honest to goodness and retains it's sense of heritage. At least the ACO try to keep it real, even if they don't always suceed.

The LMES was my first visit to Silverstone since the days of the Silk Cut Jags and cammie-knickers, and I have to say I wasn't really looking forward to it (the facility, that is). But, I was very pleasantly surprised, either I'd forgot how good it is, or I'd been desensitised by the gradual sinking of spectator viewing standards at LM. Some of the vantage points were marvellous (whether or not they still would be with 50,000 spectators there I'm not sure) and at no time did the walls or crash fence seem intrusive, like at LM.
What was seriously impressive about the place though, was the number of toilet facilities. It was possible to walk round the entire circuit without finding anywhere to buy a drink or bit of grub (apart from the paddock area, that is) but you could have as many dumps as you could shake a stick at. The man who decided to buy that lot needs his hand shaking. Mind you, I'm not sure what sort of spectators Silverstone were expecting in order for them to invest in such lavish lavatorial facilities, but here's betting they wouldn't be at the top of the League of Continence. I kept a wary eye open and sphincter closed, for this crowd all day, but thankfully they didn't turn up, - there'd have been no missing them if they had. I'd imagine the local water company and Environment Agency heaved a huge sigh of relief and then went for a dump of their own. If all of that lot had been in action there'd have been hell on in the pipes.
So, if they haven't got the GP anymore, any major event they host has got to involve some top quality bowel evacuation or the whole thing will be a total waste. Maybe an International Curry Appreciation Convention could get things moving, sponsored by Seven Seas Cod Liver Oil, just in case. I for one would be there, and the aural qualities shouldn't be too different from a GP. I can hear the Columbian bouncing off the rev limiter now.
Bernie should be given the job of clearing up afterwards.
H

I keep thinking back to what Eddie Jordan said in an interview a few years ago, that people in F1 were ill with money.
Its very similar to whats going on over here with professional baseball, the players union and owners are cutting their own throats but are so blinded with greed they don't even realize it.
John

I heard the other day that the US Pro Ice Hockey players are all on strike.

The season has been canned, What amazed me was the statment that most of the team owners say they will lose less money by not playing than if they did.

Er, well no it won't Gilles. Both the Goodwood events (Festival of Speed and the Revival) attract crowds in excess of 100,000 - The FOS figure was 153,000 in 2003. I rather doubt that the crowd for the LMES Silverstone round was much over 30,000. Perhaps someone who knows can tell us.

Yes, the NHL has been losing its ass in recent years, tv ratings & attendance are way down but players salaries have gone through the roof.  The owners want concessions in the new contract with the players union but the union won't budge. It'll be a long, dark, cold winter for hockey fans.  Several years ago the NFL players went on strike, the owners hired scabs and played anyway, they ended up breaking the union.  It was the best thing to happen to pro football over here, the league installed a salary cap and now there's tremendous parity in the league.  Small market teams can compete with the big markets.
John

And We All Hate Bernie.

(not that I believe for a second that the BGP won't happen, but that spineless, moneygrabbing, ugly, evil, disgusting, little gimp of a man wants Telling)

I did wounder what the reaction from my fellow CAers would be when I saw this last night on the telly.

For us living around Silverstone its a huge blow. It is reconond that the GP is worth about 25 million to the local area, hotels resturants transport etc. The knock on efect is going to meen higher prices for the club events like Bentley Drivers, Aston Martin VSCC plus the BTCC and LEMS. Its going to make it harder for Silverstone to raise money to develope the track too.

Just as an aside I was in Shanghia, for 2 weeks befor the Chinese GP, and I have to say there was no-one seemed that intrested that Bernies circus was coming to town. Yet they say it was a sell out.........

Im of down to the pub were I am sure that the conversation is going to be along the lines of. "that Berni is a greedy f***** s***, lets watch somthing else"

it appeared to be more like 3000 it really wasn't well attended for a reasonably high profile race, perhaps more will be put into marketing it.


Though, as Plamer's (MSV) tracks may not get F3 and BGT due to track hire fee dispute with SRO, Silverstone may have that series to share with Donington.  At least drivers wouldn't have the excuse that they didn't know the track  when they spun off

Hello all, sorry about my absence and thanks to those that were asking about me.
 Anyway Bernies a little greedy, slimey toad. Its got nothing to do with the facilities. Look at the facilities at Spa.  He's obviously spat his dummy out and f**ked them off. Hard to believe that most of the teams are based here. I would'nt get sick of kicking that pint sized sh*t.

Rant over

Stu

It interesting to read some of the comments here.  I think we have to ask is F1 going to continue as a "sport" or is it a circus.  Lets face it apart from the GP attendance at motorsport events is very poor.  I think I'm right in saying that most of the F1 teams are British and certainly European.  I can see the day when the only GP in Europe that you will be certain to rely on will be Monaco.
                                                                               
So far the real fans have been shut out and priced of GP.
                                                                               
My first F1 race was the Internation Trophy Race as Silverstone in the 70s when the likes of Fittipaldi, Stewart and Hill where racing.   You could pay a bit extra and get over the bridge into the paddock and actualy watch the mechanics working on the cars. In fact you could get in to the paddock during the evenings without paying. The mechanics would even talk to you.
                                                                               
In the 80's they put up the fence so that even if you paid extra you couldn't get anywhere near the cars.
                                                                               
In the 90 the prices went absolutely stupid.  My theory is that this was bought
about by "Corporate Sponsorship".
                                                                               
So you get a situation were a large portion of the people attending an F1 that get access to the best places are not directly paying for the privilage.
Then there is the TV, most people watch F1 on the telly and that's another money spinner.
                                                                               
Personaly I haven't been to a GP for 12 years.  It's better to watch it on the TV anyway if I can be bothered.
                                                                               
F1 will continue and no doubt thrive.   The F1 teams are small hi-tech organisations who primarily want to make money.  Raceing is simply the way they do that.

I understand Williams for example have a small museum, but as a member of the public you can't go round it.  You only get to see it if you use the Conference Facillity they have.

Motorsport as such doesn't rely on the fans/enthusiasts it's more the other way around.

t.

BTW.  Can I have Bernie for my Microwave?

I used to be abig fan of F1 but have not whatched a race now for at least 7 years if not more.

It's like whatching paint dry sometimes. But I agree with Stu it won't have anything to do with facilities it all comes down to money not only in F1 but in everything these days companies are looking to get thelast penny of profit they can look at offshoring!!. Thats basically what the poison dwarf is doing going where he gets most money.

Just a thought on the British GP being axed.
I may be wrong as F1 bores me, but is there not a rule in place that states that F1 teams can only test a certain number of days at a race track that is on the calendar. If this is the case then I wouldn't think that Silverstone being axed would bother people like Williams, McLaren, BAR, Jordan, etc as they would then have a GP track that they could do unlimitted testing on without having to travel too far.

PS. Your damn right it is going to be a long winter if the NHL doesn't play. I was looking forward to watching 3-4 games a week, now that the Rugby League and Motor Sport seasons are about to draw to a close.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2876&item=5127888055&rd=1

Anyone want a Bernie?

Can not think of a good reason why anyone would want him.

>BTW.  Can I have Bernie for my Microwave? <

If you mean can I take a 240vAC power plug and insert it somewhere soothing then switch on  and let it rotate for 15 minutes, I'd think most of us would regard this as a perfectly good idea... :o

Hey though look on the bright side. Without the British GP I have yet another perfect excuse to play in a noisy, convivial exciting French field for the best part of a week in June every year. ;D ;D ;D ;D


Bill

No Perdu,  To put in my microwave.   Last year I took a microwave oven  to Le Mans and cooked a few CDs and one or two dud light bulbs.  Very pretty it was too.  

I don't know but I heard that if you put a live Hampster or similar in a Microwave they explode.    Not  wishing to be cruel to animals I've never tested the theory.   I just thought Bernie would make a suitable substitue.

t

OK Tom, I think your plan A is even better than mine... But do'nt forget that Bern is so full of .*...* that the surrounding area might be covered in a nauseating blanket of "ooohaah"


BIll

 :D

Some interesting post's going on here.
Being forty-two now I was first introduced to the sport when I was about seven.  My father and uncle used to take my brother and I up to the Mid-Ohio circut every summer to see the Can-Am series, Trans-Am, IMSA Camel GT, F5000, etc.  While I grew up loving the sportscars, I absolutely ate, slept and breathed F1.  My Gods were the GP heros of the seventies, Peterson, Hunt, Lauda, Stewart, etc.  It was fascinating at the time because I could read about them racing in a F1 event in Autosport and then see them race and meet them in person a couple of weeks later racing sportscars or F5000 machines over here. My love of F1 continued through the eighties and the turbo era, just glorious days. But my interest in GP racing began to decline in the early ninties with the childish bickering of Senna, Prost, and Mansell and and after the knee-jerk hysteria that followed Senna's death I lost interest completely.  As far as I'm concerned it ceased being a sport a long time ago, its just a money making, made for TV circus with Bernie as the ringleader. Long live sportscar racing!
John

I see from today's paper that it is back on the calendar - on the same day as Wimbledon Men's Finals. Although I can see that may cause a reduced crowd, I would have thought that the major revenues from the event came from TV, not actual attendance. Maybe Bernie gets the TV money and the track gets the gate money, from which Bernies Bung is taken.

FABULOUS!!!!! Biggest larf in ages! (OK must get out more).

Do you reckon he was bullied at school?  ;D

It looks like the USA GP is penciled in to clash with LM this year instead of Canada. At least the Canadian is less boring than the US so I don't think I will bother going down to Tetre Rouge to watch it.

Also, I believe it'll be the last day of Henley on the proposed GP date. I know where I would rather be; sat on the river bank, with a very large glass of something cold in my hand, watching all the gorgeous girls walk past wearing very little, watching the rowing.

Nobby

I culdn't agree more... however I tend to find that after having had 4 previous days in the environs of the said river bank/bar etc my hand, and whatever I have in at the time, tend to be shaking somewhat... ;D

DW

Indeed. Roll on Saturday and Sunday at the Barn Bar.

Come watch the highlights / lowlights on ITV at SPS Towers 2005.

But don't take any beer with you or Robbo will shout at you!!!   ;D ;D