This thread follows from the Ilmor pull-out issue in a way, but it's been on the horizon for a while.

MotoGP is booming in terms of popularity. Audiences are up, well, everywhere. We've edged closer to the ever-elusive mainstream but we've still got our credibility. I wrote a thread on the old forum about the mainstream and getting there - well maybe we're not fully there but we've started to get close. People at work nowadays are just as eager to talk about the MotoGP as the F1 race, and in terms of enthusiasm they're keener on how good the racing was. Excellent!

(a good article is here: http://www.crash.net/feature_view~ci...0832~pid~0.htm)

BUT - there's still a problem.

Money.

This week the Ilmor team dropped off the grid for the time being. Team KR, who had an excellent season last year, were looking a bit shaky for this season. Gresini, the top non-factory team, don't look to have a major sponsor. Sito Pons' team have also dropped out despite being one of the best teams of the past few years. The Yamaha Factory squad were uncertain of their sponsor for some time.

How can this be?

We're not dealing with a series past its prime or one that's losing fans - we're gaining everywhere. The audience that our sport is reaching is bigger than ever before and still growing. Companies should want to put their brand on a bike that's going to be seen all over the world - why not? It would be great promotion.

It's clear that the growth of the series does push costs up, necessarily. Fair enough.

Maybe the problem is that some of the teams are actually very small organisations. Ilmor Engineering has around 60 employees in total, including their IndyCar engine program (they supply the entire field there). That's really a tiny amount. The company I work for has about 60 people in it too - and since I've worked at a much bigger place [about 500] it shows what a small number 60 is. We don't have a personel department as such, one guy does the IT, three do the accounts, etc... really small numbers of people doing some important things.

Ilmor have 60 people, which includes the MotoGP team, plus the IndyCar engine guys. I'm guessing Ilmor's marketing and sponsorship department is not a massive operation within that number. Most of them are generally busy engineering the 160 IndyCar wins [including 12 Indy 500s] and in the past the two Formula One World titles [Mika Hakkinen's McLaren-Mercedes in 1998/99], and nowadays the bikes. As an organisation they've been an engine supplier by trade - not a whole team. Getting sponsorship is probably pretty new to them.

As another useful number, the website for SSM Aprilia (the Polaris World 125cc squad) lists all the team members - all 15 of them, including the two riders Pasini and Olive. There are some small operations out there.

So - as suggested elsewhere - let's do our bit. Let's be positive and pro-active, do some writing and try and see if we can find some companies who might want to sponsor Ilmor and get them back on the grid.

Who's in?