Motorsport On Monday: 29/9/2014
Why Brabham's rebirth as a crowd-sourced team continue's Sir Jack's pioneering spirit
But Brabham in modern times has been a non-entity. After a period under Bernie's control in the 70s and 80s, a tumultuous financial relationship with the name's Japanese custodians over the modern era meant one of the classic constructors was all but lost. Lotus and Lola take note...
Now, however, in 2014 Brabham the marque is back under Brabham the family's control. And it has grand plans.
As man and machines Brabham name rightly celebrated
David, son of founder Sir Jack, announced recently the reformation of Project Brabham with a cutting-edge business model that will give us PHers cracking insight into how the team is run and as much information as an octane-addled brain can process.
Formula E, this is how you do fan involvement.
Brabs announced that the family will return to racing next season, with Project Brabham targetting a three-year LMP2 programme in the World Endurance Championship. Initially it'll return as a team, with ex-F1 driver and Le Mans winner David leading the charge. The big news will come in year four, however, as Brabham aims to step up to LMP1 as a full-on constructor. Formula E and Formula 1 have not been ruled out for the future.
The crowd is the king
Crowd sourcing is the latest in thing. No longer just a buzzword for Shoreditch types with artfully unkempt beards, too-short trousers and fancy specs it's a means of funding a full motorsport programme.
Privateer LMP1 constructor Perrinn was one of the first to plump for the crowd-sourced, crowd-funded development route. It's fair to say it's not quite taken off how the team might have hoped. Not so for Brabham.
David Brabham will spearhead driver line-up
Fan favourite
Involving followers is the way forward. With F1 TV audiences dwindling and the series seemingly intent on alienating punters, Brabham, in my opinion, is genuinely doing something interesting. This is not an advert for the project - it doesn't need it - just my two cents on why this is the right way to go.
Depending on the colour of your credit card, there are a number of different investment options. From as little as £1 you can become a 'Supporter' receiving regular updates on the project. The £75 Brabham-Driver Access, £100 Brabham-Engineer Access, £125 Full Access, £500 Founder and £10,000 VIP packages let you choose how much you want to spend and what you want out of it.
Pay your way; peg involvement to interest and funds
These packages fall under the Brabham-Digital and Brabham-Fan umbrellas, giving stakeholders - us - two methods to get something back.
The former is the online portal where the team will share behind the scenes info on everything from briefings to the lunch menu in the canteen. Probably. The latter will give supporters a chance to actually contribute towards decisions on how the team should be run.
Crowdsourcing? Contrived? Nah...
The nuances of the model, to me, are fascinating. Money might change hands in this way in series like Formula E - and although I'm something of an all-electric convert since Beijing and before - I still can't help but feel aspects such as FanBoost pay lip service to enthusiasts rather than actually truly putting them at the heart of motorsport.
Jack did it his way; new scheme honours that
Fundamentally, sponsors make racing, and the sponsors only invest if the TV coverage is there. The TV companies only buy the rights to a series if the TV audience is there. So how I see it, we're the ones who fund global motorsport anyway. That Brabham is going straight to the source of the dosh, cutting out the massive group of middlemen who all want to take their million-pound cut, is nothing short of genius.
Brabham's always been associated with innovation in motorsport, it just so happens that this first step of its future now its back under family control is for off-track reasons.
[Sources: Autosport, Perrinn, Brabham]
You won't see the three web applications you've paid to use, until they get to £500,000, there won't be a car until £2,500,000 and they won't have a team until £8,000,000.
This is the key concept of crowd sourcing, sell the dream and if enough people share that dream, you can deliver and all benefit. I am sceptical that they can convince enough people to support them to raise the £8 million they need to build the team. They certainly can't do that with the introductory offers on sale through Indiegogo. I do hope that enough people can share their dream to see it thrive.
I love the concept, I wholeheartedly support it, but unfortunately, like a lot of people, I'm a cynical old goat and a tight-wad.
Not sure why it hasn’t been mentioned on here – I’m slightly disappointed by the MoM articles; too many series are overlooked/ ignored.
Feels like they're getting a free race team for very little effort/risk on their part. All they are risking is their name as far as I can see. If the whole thing fails (I hope it doesn't), then it won't affect their wallets too much. But if it comes through and they become a successful team, they will make a tidy profit. It just seems like you're helping someone who is probably already fairly rich, to become more rich. But then again, that's what we do every day in this world. I suppose the only difference is that when you spend your money on things day to day, you're actually receiving something tangible in return, rather than just a bold promise.
Funding a motorsport team doesn't really help the world. It's a sport at the end of the day, so it's just a bit of fun. If I'm going to financially support something, I think I'd prefer if it was actually useful (cancer research, alternative energy etc.).
I don't know! I could be wrong. Someone try and convince me as I'm talking to myself!
I do wish them luck though. It would be great to see it succeed.
1. the article is correct you will cheerfully spend anything up to a grand to go to the British GP and get zero involvement
2.clearly this is not a money making adventure it is too open and transparent (please note F1)
3.entertainment costs and here you are getting something for your money and not treated like a mushroom
4.how is this so different from spending £50 on a Manchester United shirt etc.?
5. just because it is innovative does not make it a no no
Good luck Brabs bring the name back and give the fans a good time sounds like a deal to me.
It would be great to be at Le Mans and have feel some real connection with a team not just because I happen to drive a road car with the same name
Not sure why it hasn’t been mentioned on here – I’m slightly disappointed by the MoM articles; too many series are overlooked/ ignored.
I like this idea, it's no different from how any other team operates really. You tip some money in, you get better access to the team. This is just a scaled version for the average Joe, instead of a Tobacco company.
BTW, if you think there is something else news worthy there is a pretty efficient system for alerting the Editors, without hi-jacking something else.
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