story by: Danie van Jaarsveld 20 February 2009 In the days leading up to the Go-GP.com A1GP of Gauteng, the grapevine reached a point somewhere near spontaneous combustion with rumours and gossip that flared up consistently. Fact is that the cars were still in New Zealand when they should have been at Kyalami, giving conspiracy theorists and prophets of doom ample fuel for their arguments while causing disquiet among even the most ardent fans of the formula. 

When the communications personnel at A1GP and Go-GP.com closed ranks and good friends would just say “I cannot talk to you”, it became clear that there were real problems and that perhaps this time the naysayers would have their day. 

Even when the cars arrived last night, it was clear that the schedule required to turn the containers of spares and disassembled cars into an international race by the weekend was next to impossible. The critical path had become a critical blob.

By today, Friday the 20th, a cool breeze of relief is blowing through the paddock. There is a mountain of work ahead, but it is now doable and the efforts of all those who kept the faith and did their bit is paying off handsomely.

We caught up with A1GP Group CEO, Pete da Silva, who agreed to answer tough questions about A1GP, the racing, and ultimately, the business that he is at the head of.

It went something like this.

DvJ: “Pete, when A1GP first saw the light, it confounded its critics with an outstanding first year. The formula had genuine merit and public support and it seemed on its way to being a real “World Cup of Motor Sport”.

Now in it's fourth season, the outlook seems bleak.
This weekend's race was in jeopardy up to the very last minute, with rumours of unpaid bills, unpaid prize money and spares shortages flaring up like wildfire.

The rounds in Mugello and Indonesia were lost, the Mexican round has quietly fallen off the calendar and Brazil, which was subject to confirmation, is now officially unconfirmed.

Does A1 GP have a future ? 
What are the problems ?
Are they going to be rectified, and if so how ?”

PdS: “Tough, but valid questions. I'll do my best to answer them.

Let me take you back to the beginning. When A1GP started, we rented the venues, promoted the race meetings and took care of the entire circus. We had to, we were an unknown quantity and people would have laughed at me if I tried to sell them our form of racing. This an enormous investment. We had to pay for everything and we were not enough of a brand for anyone to want to pay us for the pleasure of our company. 

The racing was good and a lot of goodwill was established, but there is more to racing than just having fun. We had to get this series to win in the boardroom too, to be an attractive proposition to the people who handle corporate money. To this end my people and I developed a five year strategy that would take the series from a “let's race” philosophy to being a sound, sustainable business. This five year plan was approved by our shareholders and our investors and we are sticking to this plan, because this was the deal we have with our stakeholders. 

We are now in year four of the plan and the primary change in philosophy at this time is that we are now offering venues and/or promoters a proven motor sport package. We'll bring the show, they must promote and market the event, prepare the venue to the required specification and generate their own revenue around our offering. This change in philosophy is starting to bear fruit and events like the Go-GP.com Gauteng A1GP and the multi-year deal we just did with Surfer's Paradise are good examples of this. A1GP is an international brand and we are determined to race on five continents in every season. We may not manage that now, but that's where we're headed.

What we did not foresee, was the complete collapse of the financial world towards the end of last year. Our biggest shareholder and funding partners suddenly found themselves with a share price that was just a fraction of what it used to be and inevitably the money dried up. They were very good about their investment and agreed to convert debt into equity. In the process, we cleaned up our balance sheet, but the money dried up.

So if you had to ask me if I sometimes stretch payments – I do, I have to. Do I avail myself of opportunities to stretch a buck ? Absolutely.

Let's talk about the rounds that were lost. Mugello, I had to take one on the chin. 

The Dutch round had become a regular season opener and the Hollanders are crazy about their motor sport. When we were finalising the Ferrari deal at Maranello, they suggested that an opening round at Mugello would be an appropriate gesture to show our appreciation for the new partnership. A little bit of the good old “an offer you can't refuse”. When the new car failed a crash test which would have made it irresponsible to race at Mugello at the planned date, I went back to Italy and we as a team agreed to move the opening round to what was intended to be the second round in Holland. It hurt like hell, but it was the right thing to do.

In Jakarta, the circuit did not have the appropriate FIA clearance when the go-no-go stage of the planning was reached and we could not dispatch our entire show to a circuit that might not be have FIA clearance to run our race. What made it particularly galling is that the Indonesian round was a round along the new philosophy where they would pay us for our product while they would make their money from hosting the event. I was really sorry to see that round go but, again, it was the right thing to do.

In Mexico, we had an FIA approved date on an FIA approved circuit. A!GP's homework was done. Then one of the partners sold a stadium inside the circuit to the promoters of a rock concert on the same weekend. We tried to exploit possible synergies between our respective events, but were then told that entry and egress to the concert would be via the pit lane. This was clearly not a workable solution and eventually we were told that everyone is very sorry but could we please assume the position on the hind teet. We're still working on the matter and hope to make an announcement in the near future.”

DvJ: “Is the new philosophy gaining acceptance and do you see yourselves becoming successful in providing the spectacle to approved circuits and or promoters ?”

PdS: “Absolutely. We see a number of iconic races developing around the world, of which the Gauteng event will be one, around which we will have satellite events in the same part of the world. Surfers Paradise is another such event, from where we will make a visit to New Zealand.” 

DvJ: “Why were the cars so late for this round of the series ?”
PdS: “We played things very tight in terms of free storage that was available when, unbeknown to us, we fell foul of a time requirement for a required import permit. This would ordinarily have added ten days to the critical path, but thanks to our friends in the Gauteng government, everything was organised in 48 hours, a miracle. It was still 48 hours straight onto the critical path, the knock-on effect of which left so many people pulling an all-nighter last night. 

DvJ: “The Lola/Zytec A1GP cars are generally considered to have been more of a driver's car than the current “powered by Ferrari” car. Switching to the new cars also brought a host of problems, not least of which was the loss of teams and the cancellation of the Mugello round. In hindsight, was the move the right decision, and if so when will it bear fruit ?”

PdS: “Brands are built by association. We are still developing the A1GP brand and as such we must associate with other strong brands to lift our profile, instead of trying to lift other unknown brands into the limelight with our activity. So when the Ferrari deal landed on our table – it was right in the middle of the Ferrari-McLaren spy saga which may or may not have had something to with it – I grabbed it with both hands. After that Michelin came on board, another well know brand, instantly recognisable and suddenly I was not paying at great expense for a brand which is known to few motor sport die-hards at best. Now were in a position where we are associated with big brands, instantly lifting the profile of A1GP with it.

It did not help that the financial paw-paw hit the fan when half the Ferraris were built, but we had to stick to the plan and see the strategy through. As things are now we have serious players who are keen to enter the sport in its new, investor friendly form and I believe that it will prove to have been the right decision.” - End of interview.

A1GP, like WRC, F1 and MotoGP is not immune to the negative effects of the international financial crisis. Unlike WRC, F1 and MotoGP, A1GP is a mere four years old and the question has to be: “Is the fact that A1GP is staging races while steadfastly executing its business plan during these times not the clearest possible indicator that the series is in exceptional hands while navigating stormy waters and poised to fly when the financial climate improves?”

(c) Danie van Jaarsveld - all rights reserved