Just a litre will do, ...
This article was published in The Business, Weekend FT 22.04.2000
Just how many mechanics does it take to change a tyre?
Tomorrow’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone will be the first of the season in which artificial driver aids, such as traction control and pit lane speed limiting, are banned. This is part of a concerted campaign by the sport’s ruling body to make sure that, for all the technological advances, the essential man-versus-machine dynamic is maintained.
Its myriad, constantly changing rules now govern everything from tyre widths to the size of the sponsor’s logo on baseball caps. But it wasn’t always so: one single change to accepted practice altered the whole way the sport has developed. All is explained in The Power Game, a new history of world championship racing. In 1980, after winning grand prix in Argentina, and acting on the orders of the then new Fl power broker, Bernie Ecclestone, champion Nelson Piquet removed the traditional laurel wreath from around his neck. He didn’t want to obscure the sponsor’s name on his chest. The result was more interest from sponsors, more money into the sport, and the real beginnings of a £2bn a year business.
The Power Game, by Ivan Rendall, published by Cassell f25
This article was published in The Business, Weekend FT, 22.04.2000