BRITAIN S WINNING FORMULA
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Britain s Winning Formula Achieving World Leadership in Motorsports Martin Beck-Burridge and Jeremy Walton
Martin Beck-Burridge and Jeremy Walton 2000 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2000 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-1-349-40295-3 ISBN 978-0-230-28593-4 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230285934 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 Designed and formatted by The Ascenders Partnership, Basingstoke Illustrations by Ascenders
Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Regulations for Individual Competitors, Safety for Spectators by the Thousand 18 3 Hardware and the Evolution of Technology: from 1946 to the Benchmarks of the 1990s: the Cars and Components 28 4 A World Beyond Grand Prix: rallying 43 5 Touring Cars: a Main Event 59 6 The Thoroughbreds: Formula Single Seaters 81 7 A Sporting Chance: Sports and Grand Touring Cars 105 8 Changing the Rules: Management, Business and Sponsorship 118 9 Constructors, Customers and Suppliers: Interactions of Technologies and Hardware 148 10 Resources and Technical Infrastructures: from Motor Club to Race Circuit 174 11 Key Company Profiles and Statistics 198 12 Philosophy for 2000: Why is Britain Good at Motorsport Engineering and Management? 218 13 The Benefits to the United Kingdom of the Motor Sport Industry 235 14 The Future of Britain s Motorsport Industry: National Pride Before a Fall? 252 Appendix 1: Bibliography 263 Appendix 2: Motorsport Companies in the UK 270 Appendix 3: Motorsport Industry Questionnaire 279 Appendix 4: Motorsport Industry Questionnaire Results 283 Index 284
Acknowledgements T HE authors gratefully thank their sponsors and the men and women of Britain s motorsport industry who supplied generous financial and practical support to this project whilst working to their usual rigorous race and rally schedules. They found the time to answer our numerous, frequently out-of-hours queries. They know who they are and we thank them all. A list of individuals would be invidious as their contributions were so wide-ranging. They are the essential elements in this fascinating and supremely successful industry. Our special thanks to William Betts of PetroScience, Henley Management College MBA, for his extensive research assistance. Also to Nigel Geach of Sports Marketing Surveys for his time, and the statistics his organization generously provided. We are also grateful for the facilities of the Henley Centre for Automotive Studies. Other sources are acknowledged in the text. Any errors or omissions are the authors responsibility. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Kodak who supplied all of the film used for the photographs in the plate sections of this book. All of the photographs in the plate sections were taken on a Leica M6 camera and Leica lenses, supplied by Leica UK Limited. MB-B is grateful for Leica s generous assistance. vi