iSport's Motorsport Expert and A1 Team India fan Kunal Shah is upset at the no-show of the A1 Grand Prix this year. Could this be 'Race Over' for the 'World Cup of Motorsport'?
While it’s not officially out and while rescue efforts are still in full swing – A1 Grand Prix seems to be in financial trouble. The series which is dubbed as the ‘World Cup of Motorsport’ has had a troubled started to its 2009-10 campaign, rather a no-start!
To be honest, motor-racing has had a rough ride all through 2008 and 2009. Manufacturers have pulled out not only from Formula1 but also from the World Rally Championships and MotoGP. When you have the biggest of the big automotive brands like Honda, BMW, Toyota, Kawasaki, Subaru and the likes pull the plug on their ‘racing’ programs, you do know that motorsport is in trouble.
A1 Grand Prix, the brainchild of Shaikh Maktoum was highly publicized in its launch year with over 20 countries confirming their participation. Team launches were done with the presence of top democrats and celebrities of each country with a good balance of glamour and national pride – not to mention a ride of the A1 car with the backdrop of the country’s famous landmarks! The Indian A1 GP car was driven on Raj Path in the presence of Anil Kapoor and Aamir Khan, who were there to lend their support to the team.
The first few seasons of A1 Grand Prix offered some really exciting wheel to wheel racing but the concept did take a while to gather worldwide acceptance. The nation vs. nation concept was different and much heralded as the ‘next best step’ for motorsport. While F1 was never a direct challenge, to lure the motorsport audiences the A1 calendar was designed to run during the F1 off-season. All attempts to bring a truly world-class series at a time when racing action was negligible.
A world-class series it was – 3 years into operations, Ferrari joined hands with A1 to offer 25 identical Ferrari chassis, engines and gear boxes; and many predicted that the Italian manufacturer’s deep involvement would only give A1 the boost it needed to gain broader acceptance.
However, motorsport is a money guzzling sport. The global recession hit the A1 GP before it could stabilize itself financially. Smartly, Shaikh Maktoum decided to offload his stake in the series and let it go public to raise some much needed cash. While it did inject some much needed funds into the series, the bear managed outpace the bull! The effects of the recession were clearly visible.
The last 2 seasons haven’t been the best in terms of stability and consistency. While it’s produced new drivers, new champions it has also witnessed many countries pulling out their operations. The calendar too was culled to accommodate the ever reducing budgets. All of this hinting to some apparent trouble!
The trouble has only been visible this season as A1 Grand Prix has struggled to get off the start line. They’ve stalled in their attempts yet – to bring together a curtailed calendar and some much needed action. While I am sure that the organizers are trying their best to resurrect the championship, I believe that we might have just seen the end of a potential World Cup of Motorsport!!
Or is it just a state of coma that they might come out off next year and be back in action? I am a hopeful – for A1 Team India and for our good ol’ Narain!
(The author is a former racer and currently works with Sport18 - a div. of Network18. Kunal can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
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