Brabham to return?

[Steve O'Malley]

Not sure if this has been previously posted but would love to see it happen.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/project-brabham
Has anyone chipped in?

 

[Philip Heck]

Oh wow.
I really hope they make it

 

[Nelson Ullinskey]

Would be cool, but I remember hearing about a crowd funded Indy 500 entry a few years back. It never got off the ground.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

If this is their only source of funding, then it's never going to happen.
I think anyone trying to start up a team in any form of motor racing these days is crazy!

 

[Philip Heck]

I doubt that this will be their only source of money.
250k would be way too low for that.

 

[Nelson Ullinskey]

http://racer.com/latest-stories/ite...ent-of-crowd-funding-target-in-first-36-hours

This thing might be gaining traction. Guess I was wrong

 

[Steve O'Malley]

If this is their only source of funding, then it's never going to happen.
I think anyone trying to start up a team in any form of motor racing these days is crazy!

I would imagine they will looking for some major sponsors as well. Say they get 50,000 people on board. That's a pretty attractive proposition for attracting the attention of some big names.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Sure but what big name, sustainable sponsors are still available?

Surely between all the big teams in Motorsport, they've exhausted every major option for investment.

It's highly unlikely that any new team is going to discover a hidden pot of gold that no one else has attempted to find.

All big investments these days seem to be short term, realise their money only gets them physical assets and staff, no success. Don't see any return on their investment and leave the sport.

Look at Tony Fernandez, Richard Branson/Virgin, Vodafone, Telefonica, Hewlett Packard, Intel, etc.

All invest hundreds of millions in F1 sponsorship/funding and all have withdrawn because there was no return for them.
Vodafone, you could argue funded a few championships, but if you compare the success they saw to the £40m+ per year that they shelled out for over 10 years, it's still a massive financial loss.

No one is going to spend big on motor sports sponsorship any more.
The world is a different place to what it was 10-15 years ago.

 

[Steve O'Malley]

Sure but what big name, sustainable sponsors are still available?
Surely between all the big teams in Motorsport, they've exhausted every major option for investment.
It's highly unlikely that any new team is going to discover a hidden pot of gold that no one else has attempted to find.
All big investments these days seem to be short term, realise their money only gets them physical assets and staff, no success. Don't see any return on their investment and leave the sport.
Look at Tony Fernandez, Richard Branson/Virgin, Vodafone, Telefonica, Hewlett Packard, Intel, etc.
All invest hundreds of millions in F1 sponsorship/funding and all have withdrawn because there was no return for them.
Vodafone, you could argue funded a few championships, but if you compare the success they saw to the £40m+ per year that they shelled out for over 10 years, it's still a massive financial loss.
No one is going to spend big on motor sports sponsorship any more.
The world is a different place to what it was 10-15 years ago.

I hope you are wrong on most points Chris.
Sponsorship money is offset against profits so its a tax saving as well as advertising.
The world is coming out of the financial crisis, there will be plenty of big firms with big money to invest, hopefully in motor racing.
If we had had the same conversation when cigarette advertising was banned you would have probably thought the same thing but F1 has survived and thrived quite well.

 

[Nox]

I hope you are wrong on most points Chris.
Sponsorship money is offset against profits so its a tax saving as well as advertising.
The world is coming out of the financial crisis, there will be plenty of big firms with big money to invest, hopefully in motor racing.
If we had had the same conversation when cigarette advertising was banned you would have probably thought the same thing but F1 has survived and thrived quite well.

F1 has, but the teams haven't - look how many individual teams have sold or left. Even now there is all this talk about 3 cars per team next year to make a full grid; Sauber might not survive, Caterham on the ropes, Lotus financial issues... I unfortunately agree with Chris. It's not in the best of states right now (and F1 could learn a thing or two by seeing how other motor sports series run, like the WEC, which is probably why Brabham are starting in WEC)