GP Masters to wind up

[Ranger]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/62536

Winding up order served on GPM

Tuesday, September 18th 2007, 15:02 GMT


A petition to wind up the company behind the Grand Prix Masters series will be presented at London's High Court in November.

The action is being taken by GPM's chassis supplier Delta Special Projects. It will be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice on 28 November this year.

No GPM races have taken place since the series' third event at Silverstone in August 2006, and plans for a full season this year did not come to fruition.

Former world champions Nigel Mansell and Emerson Fittipaldi had been among the participants in the three races that took place in 2005/6.

Mansell won the inaugural event at Kyalami, and the first 2006 race in Qatar, with Eddie Cheever taking victory at Silverstone.

[ArrowsFA1]

Damn shame. The series had real potential which, for whatever reasons, was never realised.

There'll probably be a few drivers - given their taste for racing back by GPM - who will be looking for somewhere else to race now.

[veeten]

Darn shame.

Would've been great with the right kind of promotion.

Oh, well...

[BDunnell]

Indeed. The lack of knowledge of the fact that it's no more rather sums up the problem.

[Speedworx]

I'm not surprised. The idea was never going to work. I've said all along it would fail.

No one has any real interest in watching a bunch of very slow cars not pass each other. We do enough of that already with F1.

[BDunnell]

I can't help but think that, from a public point of view, Martin Brundle was probably right when he said that he would have preferred something like the Procar series, in which drivers could lean on each other and have a good scrap. The problem was that a lot of the drivers involved in GP Masters were only interested in competing in an open-wheel series.

[Garry Walker]

good. It was a meaningless series

[ArrowsFA1]

good. It was a meaningless series

Why exactly? Did you see any of the races? If you had you might have understood, and seen, the enjoyment on the faces of the drivers taking part. It was not "meaningless" for them. Far from it.

This comes from Autosport's report of the first event in Kyalami:

There they were, all in one big garage, all talking to each other, winding each other up, some working with telemetry for the first time, and all having a ball.

Derek Warwick, in the first press conference of the weekend, said: "It really is a thrill to be here with all these great drivers..." Then, turning to Mansell, "No, not you!"
Then Del Boy did his PR bit: "Actually, we really do have to thank Altech for getting behind us all. Sponsorship is a very different market for us these days. It's all BUPA and Viagra, although I gather Stirling [Moss] has got that one sewn up."
Then a question to Andrea de Cesaris: "When was the last time that you drove competitively?"
Response: "I'm not sure that I ever did!"
Eddie Cheever: "Hell, nothing's changed. The last time I was in South Africa, Nigel was quick and I was pissed off!"
Slightly more seriously, Cheever didn't reckon much had altered in the manner of driving either.
"I'm kind of annoyed with myself for not doing the Silverstone test," he said. "I wasn't really that interested until Stefan [Johansson] got on the phone and said I'd really got to do it because the cars were a lot of fun. I was intrigued, and there's a lot of camaraderie until you get out onto the track, where it's the same thing all over again. It's like going back in time - the same people in the way when they're slowing down. I thought, 'Oh fcuk! Not you again!'"
Mr Arnoux, perhaps?
"I'm not naming any names, but, yes, he's small."

By Silverstone things hadn't changed:

It was a great show but it was also, crucially, a great race.

"Thank you to all the guys from GP Masters," grinned Stuck. "They had 16 totally crazy drivers to get organised. This shows how racing can be - no traction control, no tactics. I want more and I think you want the same!"

The cars were great to race with, and watch and the emphasis was on close & even competition and entertainment.

The concept was a good one, and the organisers showed it could work. Unfortunately it seems that sufficient financial backing was not available to continue.

[D-Type]

good. It was a meaningless series

I agree.

Why?

Because: although the competitive spark is still there, otherwise a driver wouldn't be entering, the degree of commitment from various individuals will varyas will the degree to which age has taken the edge off their ability.

The drivers might enjoy themselves and we may enjoy seeing them but the bottom line is that the result is meaningless.

[ChrisS]

the only way this would work was as a support race at F1 GPs in the UK, Italy, and other historically "traditional" F1 countries were older f1 fans that already were at the track would enjoy watching the past idols race once again.

The series on its own doesn't have the power to get people to the circuits, add to that the fact they tried to race in non traditional F1 countries and failure is certain.

Anyone has any idea what the spectator attendance was at Qatar in 2006?

MotoGP that gets attendance from 50k up to 130k in most races only manages about 3k in Qatar

I expect attendance at Qatar for GP Masters were the safety marshals, the engineers and a camel that wondered into the circuit from the desert.