Bid for Race Circuits

[Amanda]

The following report comes from Autosport.

Ex-BTCC champ reveals Brands bid
Five binding offers to be submitted before Friday deadline


Brands Hatch is one of Britain's best-known circuits


Gravett is a former BTCC champion


Former British Touring Car Champion Robb Gravett has revealed himself as one of the five contenders bidding to buy four of Britain's racing circuits ñ Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Snetterton and Cadwell Park.

Gravett, who won the BTCC title in 1990, has formed a company named Brands Racing Ltd with his former manager Kimmy Cockburn. The pair claim that the finance for their bid has been secured.

The Interpublic group, which owns the four tracks through its Brands Hatch Circuits Ltd arm, has drawn up a shortlist of five bidders after a lengthy process of elimination from the applications that were made when estate management firm Jones Lang LaSalle was commissioned to find a buyer in July.

The final five must submit binding offers for the circuits by Friday this week. The successful bidder will be notified on November 17.

Gravett said: "There has been a lot of talk about the buy-out, so we feel it is correct for us to announce our intention. We have completed due diligence on the circuits and our plans extend way beyond simply buying them.

We want to put something back into British motorsport
Robb Gravett

"Brands Hatch itself is in a sorry state and we have a lot of plans to develop the circuit for British motorsport into something good. We want to put something back into British motorsport.

"Everything I have done in the past, I have won, and I hope that will be the case this time too. We are reasonably confident. What we offer is good for everyone in motorsport. We are looking at championships, club racing ñ everything in UK motorsport. We have radical, positive plans."

Cockburn added that Brands Racing Ltd believes it has the highest bid of the five. Rival bidders include former grand prix driver Jonathan Palmer and BTCC team owner John Batchelor.

The bids are said to range between £10million to £30million, although sources have also indicated that the highest is in the region of £70million. Neither Gravett nor Cockburn were willing to reveal how much they are offering, but confirmed that it is a "high bid".


Good luck Robb!!!!!:D

[Jamie P-E]

What Fantastic news, Fair play Robb!!!1

:)

[Alan]

I rather hope this works out - Robb is a nice guy and has been around long enough to know the business (he has also been running his own driver training business recently).

If you are reading this Robb - good luck to you!!

[touring fan]

It seems majority of bids want to keep the venues motorsport use. I hope one of them gets it.

[Les]

my bet would be on Westie's consortium. He knows even more how to promote racing.

[neilthenut]

how do i bid?

will £20 get me anywhere?

[tvgod]

Originally posted by neilthenut
how do i bid?

will £20 get me anywhere?

You'd only need another £19,999,980 to be in with a chance...

[neilthenut]

can any lend me a couple of quid?
please, ill be your friend?

[bramble]

so whats the latest in the circuit saga? who owns what now?

[Alan]

Well the successful party was going to be told yesterday (17th) as I understood.

I am sure whoever it is they will not waste any time making an announcement. Perhaps it has not yet been decided! I have a suspicion though that it has been but all will be kept quiet until the paperwork is done, which I guess may take a couple of days.

[kevin ritson]

It's a tense wait and whilst we all hope that sense has prevailed, looking round Brands on Sunday I couldn't help wondering if it was one of the last times I'd be doing this?

I'm sure I won't be the only one in front of the bulldozers if the worst happens?

[Amanda]

Has anyone got any news on who the successful bidder is? I don't like all this waiting! I just hope whovever gets them keeps at least some of them as race circuits after all the rumours about housing estates, industrial estates and supermarkets.

[neilthenut]

imagein if the government bought them, they would start charging road tax to race car, and they would start digging them up for no reason and doing a S**T job of puttin some sort of black top back down. our govenment, they must really lover us motorists.
twocers.

[V6.]

why dont they sell it on ebay

[Amanda]

Motorsport News says that the company in charge of selling Brands Hatch circuits has said no decision is imminent despite speculation that the new owner would be revealed this week.

They say the sale is 'on schedule'.

[touring fan]

Hmmm. Today I recieved 3 letters from octagon (or whatever they're calling themselves this week) with a brochure about driving experiences at the circuits and............................................... .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ...........
2004 season tickets for £125! Doesn't cover silverstone though.


I think I'll wait a while before deciding on that one somehow.:rolleyes:

[kevin ritson]

I also received an invitation to renew my season pass from Brands Hatch Circuits. No mention of Octagon or Silverstone anywhere, the latter I take as a positive as I suspect that the BRDC will have something in the lease regarding change of ownership or a deal has been done somewhere along the line.

I then decided to call the call centre and was told that an announcement will be made 'in the next few weeks', however the buyer appears to be running the venues as race circuits and the 'phone operator seemed to be quite relieved, understandably!

Nevertheless, I think I'll wait to hear this announcement before renewing!

[Alan]

Has anyone noticed that the price of the season passes has come down to £99. And - this covers cars and bikes!

I still have my doubts about this though - and would want some pretty cast iron guarantees from them before shelling out my hard earned (!!!) cash.

[touring fan]

The £99 is just for silverstone.

[Alan]

Sorry - the Silverstone bit I missed - too big I guess!!!

But who will buy a season ticket just for Silverstone??

[Does-it-Matter]

Has anybody heard any more news re who is buying Brands Hatch etc ? I have heard Robb Gravett is in with a chance, but also Jonathan Palmer is tipped as the most likely to end up with it ?

[Croft fan]

I think this one is going to take forever to be announced, but I wish they would hurry up. Im dying to know.

[Les]

Latest news is we should hear Monday

[Amanda]

Any news yet? I guess they didn't say which Monday!:D

[cos]

Palmer's "MotorSport Vision Ltd" company has bought Brands, Oulton, Snetterton and Cadwell.

[Alan]

Well spotted cos - it was obviously this Monday. Found the following quote:

Jonathan Palmer, managing director of MotorSport Vision, commented: ìRace driving, commentary and motorsport business have dominated my life and I am thrilled to have been successful in acquiring four of the most famous motorsport circuits in Britain. We are absolutely committed to developing motor racing at the circuits and believe that through innovation and quality enhancement we can revitalise one of the UKÃ*s most exciting sports.î


Let's hope it all works out. :)

[Claire]

I'm really pleased that the circuits have been bought by Jonathan Palmer's company but unless he sees something that Interpublic didn't how is he going to make them all pay? I can see that for 2004 not much will change but for 2005 I don't expect all 4 to still be run as race circuits.
As hard as it would be to lose one or two of them if selling them off and then investing the money back into the remaining ones is the way to go then so be it.
But how do you choose which ones to sell off, I can't see it being Brands but what about the other 3, as much as I love Snetterton it doesn't have all that much going for it!!
I guess we will have to wait and see what happens. :)

[Sarah]

Good news. Look East mentioned it this lunchtime on the news.

[Amanda]

At last we have been told who has bought the circuits! I think Claire is right when she says that it is unlikely that all four will remain as race circuits. It will be interesting to see what happens but if one or more are sold and the money is invested in the remaining ones that has to be good for the sport.

[cos]

Originally posted by Claire
I'm really pleased that the circuits have been bought by Jonathan Palmer's company but unless he sees something that Interpublic didn't how is he going to make them all pay?

Hopefully he'll focus on getting more revenue out of the trackdays/driving experiences rather than hiking the prices for spectators and club racers.

[Les]

well JP has managed to keep one circuit going with corporate days etc - maybe he will just expand on this.

[Kelvin]

I think at least one will be sold off, possibly Cadwell. as it perhaps needs the most money spending on it, and apart from a couple of big bike meetings, must be the least profitable.
I love Cadwell and do hope that it, and the others dont get the chop!

Kelvin

[wvm]

Originally posted by Claire
as much as I love Snetterton it doesn't have all that much going for it!!


Snetterton has one very big advantage: There are no restrictions on how many days a year it can be used, and no restrictions on what hours it can be used.

If I had to sell one for development to save the others, it would be Cadwell. It does need a lot of improvement work.

But the chances are that JP won't need to sell one, as he hasn't bought Silverstone, which is the circuit which made the biggest losses under Octagon/Interpublic.

[kevin ritson]

There's no reason why a properly managed group of circuits can't survive and it would be rather chilling news if this was the case. There are plenty of potential spectators, drivers etc out there that haven't yet found a good enough incentive to attend under Octagon's (mis)management. The fact that they were so easily duped into paying 3-times the price just because of a B C Ecclestone endorsement is enough to prove this.

I wish Dr Palmer the best of luck, he's done a pretty good job with Bedford Autodrome so far and even his racing formula has adapted and survived, how many people would dare take on F3 and still have something to show for it? The idea of selling shares in a driver's career is catching on, guess who revived it?

I'll certainly be renewing my season pass and I hope that many of you out there who regularly attend events at any of the four circuits consider the same, after all it would help consolidate the circuits' standing.

[Alan]

I believe we have to remain optomistic at this stage.

Do what Kevin says and give the circuits, and the man, our support and get out there and watch the racing.

As for Cadwell being sold for development - unlikely as it is in the middle of nowhere and probably in a green belt area. It is also a great circuit to view at - bikes round there must be awesome, but it could never take TOCA, far too narrow I would think.

[Kelvin]

Have just read the story on the BBC website (sorry, but this website does not allow me to give you the link, so go find it yourself!) and I think I may have to change my forecast. JP makes it quite clear that all 4 circuits will continue as race circuits! :)


Kelvin.

[The Stig]

MotorSport Vision apparently paid 70 million pounds for the four circuits and Brands Hatch is reputedly worth 35 million on its own. Interpublic have retained the rights to the British GP at Silverstone and will rename it's Brands Hatch Circuits division, Silverstone Motorsport.

[Alan]

But then again I read (in a "posh" paper) they had been valued at about £40m and, inside sources said that the new owners paid only half that for them.:(

So take your pick!!!!:)

[cos]

Property "experts" told The Times that the circuits were worth between £30 and £40m. (so, the Times is a posh paper now is it..? :p )