Bernie Ecclestone awarded BARC Gold Medal 19 Feb 18
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Bernie Ecclestone awarded BARC Gold Medal
http://www.barc.net/news/1642/bernie-ecclestone-aw...
The British Automobile Racing Club and its Council has bestowed Berne Ecclestone with its highest award, a BARC Gold Medal.
Not given out every year, the accolade is awarded by the Council of the BARC for outstanding achievement in motor racing by British subjects, with an impressive roll of honour dating back to 1955 already in place.
Announced at the annual BARC Championships Awards Evening this past Saturday [17th February], Ecclestone was awarded the coveted medal for his invaluable role within motorsport over the past seven decades.
Nothing to do with pocketing a couple of billion £'s on the way then ?
http://www.barc.net/news/1642/bernie-ecclestone-aw...
The British Automobile Racing Club and its Council has bestowed Berne Ecclestone with its highest award, a BARC Gold Medal.
Not given out every year, the accolade is awarded by the Council of the BARC for outstanding achievement in motor racing by British subjects, with an impressive roll of honour dating back to 1955 already in place.
Announced at the annual BARC Championships Awards Evening this past Saturday [17th February], Ecclestone was awarded the coveted medal for his invaluable role within motorsport over the past seven decades.
Nothing to do with pocketing a couple of billion £'s on the way then ?
Fair play to him. To me his zenith was when he made a criminal trial for bribery go away using money. It that isn't the negotiation of the century, I don't know what is.
All the races over the years that have come and gone must have been massive tasks. At club level, Croft can't even overcome 2 or 3 new residents moaning about noise. The F1 circus has closed entire city centres, negotiated millions (if not billions) of investment, etc etc. Fair play to the chap.
All the races over the years that have come and gone must have been massive tasks. At club level, Croft can't even overcome 2 or 3 new residents moaning about noise. The F1 circus has closed entire city centres, negotiated millions (if not billions) of investment, etc etc. Fair play to the chap.
A BARC gold medal?
Wow, stupendous news. Glad I got out of bed this morning now.
It'll set off his Blue Peter badge a treat.
Must come as a bit of a relief for good old Bernie, he's been a bit tetchy since France pinned the Legion D'Honneur to Max Mosley's suit...
Behold, the mighty Max, worthy hero of La Belle France....
Wow, stupendous news. Glad I got out of bed this morning now.
It'll set off his Blue Peter badge a treat.
Must come as a bit of a relief for good old Bernie, he's been a bit tetchy since France pinned the Legion D'Honneur to Max Mosley's suit...
Behold, the mighty Max, worthy hero of La Belle France....
The Grands Prix I attended back in the 70s didn't feel like glorified club events at all. That's just the lazy and inaccurate accusation made by people who are dazzled by Ecclestone's billions . What was different was that I could afford to watch them on a student grant , I could walk round the paddock and even wander in to the pits in the evenings . Club meetings I have been to don't have 100,000 spectators , an air display or two , a full range of decent support races and the world's best drivers in a bigger grid of more diverse cars than the homogenous , but obscenely expensive parody of GP racing we now have to endure
Global sport? Who cares and why is it better that we have s
t races at st tracks like Abu Dhabi and that the only people who get decent access to them are C list celebs ?
I'd give BCE an award for the sheer brass neck of buying the sport for £1.50 from his pervy mate Max and then milking it for every penny he could make from dodgy politicians in dodgy countries
Global sport? Who cares and why is it better that we have s
t races at st tracks like Abu Dhabi and that the only people who get decent access to them are C list celebs ?I'd give BCE an award for the sheer brass neck of buying the sport for £1.50 from his pervy mate Max and then milking it for every penny he could make from dodgy politicians in dodgy countries
Edited by coppice on Wednesday 21st February 08:46
coppice said:
The Grands Prix I attended back in the 70s didn't feel like glorified club events at all. That's just the lazy and inaccurate accusation made by people who are dazzled by Ecclestone's billions . What was different was that I could afford to watch them on a student grant , I could walk round the paddock and even wander in to the pits in the evenings . Club meetings I have been to don't have 100,000 spectators , an air display or two , a full range of decent support races and the world's best drivers in a bigger grid of more diverse cars than the homogenous , but obscenely expensive parody of GP racing we now have to endure
Global sport? Who cares and why is it better that we have st races at st tracks like Abu Dhabi and that the only people who get decent access to them are C list celebs ?
I'd give BCE an award for the sheer brass neck of buying the sport for £1.50 from his pervy mate Max and then milking it for every penny he could make from dodgy politicians in dodgy countries
Just what I wanted to say but decided I didn't want the aggro of being told I was wrong by people who weren't around in those days.Global sport? Who cares and why is it better that we have s
t races at st tracks like Abu Dhabi and that the only people who get decent access to them are C list celebs ?I'd give BCE an award for the sheer brass neck of buying the sport for £1.50 from his pervy mate Max and then milking it for every penny he could make from dodgy politicians in dodgy countries
Edited by coppice on Wednesday 21st February 08:46
What turned the sport professional was not Ecclestone organising trips for the teams, but the managers. Ecclestone was one of these with Brabham, together with, or a little behind, Williams. It was Dennis and Williams who raised the bar. They, and those who tried, and mostly failed, to compete with them, are the ones who pushed the sport into being a worldwide sport, dragging other team principals with them. Get better or get beaten.
In early MP4 days McLaren's motto/strapline was The Business of Winning, and they more than lived up to it.
Now it is going to be lost to free-to-air, courtesy of Ecclestone. Yep, let's give him a medal for getting rich.
I was around in those days and F1 might have been good for petrol heads but it was very much a niche sport compared to today.
All depends on your definition of success etc. Yes, the teams became far more professional but you could argue to the cows come home if that was because they all stopped fighting for a bigger slice of the pie from the individual promoters etc.
It's a complex subject but there is no doubt in my mind that F1 wouldn't be the multi-billion dollar business it is employing tens of thousands directly and indirectly without Ecclestone in the early years. In fact I don't think it would even exist as a single series.
People forget that in the last few years he was essentially an employee of CVC and his remit was to deliver the maximum return on their investment which he did in spades. Whether what has happened is good for F1 or not is a different matter.
All depends on your definition of success etc. Yes, the teams became far more professional but you could argue to the cows come home if that was because they all stopped fighting for a bigger slice of the pie from the individual promoters etc.
It's a complex subject but there is no doubt in my mind that F1 wouldn't be the multi-billion dollar business it is employing tens of thousands directly and indirectly without Ecclestone in the early years. In fact I don't think it would even exist as a single series.
People forget that in the last few years he was essentially an employee of CVC and his remit was to deliver the maximum return on their investment which he did in spades. Whether what has happened is good for F1 or not is a different matter.
Kraken said:
I was around in those days and F1 might have been good for petrol heads but it was very much a niche sport compared to today.
All depends on your definition of success etc. Yes, the teams became far more professional but you could argue to the cows come home if that was because they all stopped fighting for a bigger slice of the pie from the individual promoters etc.
It's a complex subject but there is no doubt in my mind that F1 wouldn't be the multi-billion dollar business it is employing tens of thousands directly and indirectly without Ecclestone in the early years. In fact I don't think it would even exist as a single series.
People forget that in the last few years he was essentially an employee of CVC and his remit was to deliver the maximum return on their investment which he did in spades. Whether what has happened is good for F1 or not is a different matter.
What did Ecclestone do in the 'early years'?All depends on your definition of success etc. Yes, the teams became far more professional but you could argue to the cows come home if that was because they all stopped fighting for a bigger slice of the pie from the individual promoters etc.
It's a complex subject but there is no doubt in my mind that F1 wouldn't be the multi-billion dollar business it is employing tens of thousands directly and indirectly without Ecclestone in the early years. In fact I don't think it would even exist as a single series.
People forget that in the last few years he was essentially an employee of CVC and his remit was to deliver the maximum return on their investment which he did in spades. Whether what has happened is good for F1 or not is a different matter.
You mention 'multi-million dollar business'. I'm not sure why this should be considered a good thing.
You say that F1 pre Ecclestone was limited to petrol heads. This is wrong. It was more popular amongst the general public than it is today. In fact motor sport in general was followed by most. Remarkable when you think that most only followed it in magazines and newspapers. Moss' accident was covered for days in national dailies. Clark's death got greater coverage than one of a film star would.
In a factory I worked in the majority, women, men, apprentices, would be able to hold a conversation about the most recent race. Further, they knew about Le Mans, and sports car racing as well. There was a group in one factory who went out each year to Le Mans and it was accepted that no one else in their section took annual leave that week. The fact that no one knows about sports car racing nowadays is down to the Ecclestone/Mosley years.
However, why should we worry about what anyone other than petrol heads want?
I'm not suggesting that F1 in the 'old days' was a bit to much more interesting than nowadays. In fact I think we've had some great seasons recently. But to dismiss the early years as amateur and uninteresting is far from the truth. It is much different nowadays. For a start there's no pre-quallifying like there used to be, with half a dozen cars kicked out early on. Now we have just 20, and lucky to have them.
I thoroughly enjoy F1 nowadays. I thoroughly enjoyed F1 when I saw my first race in 1966. The formula has changed a bit, and not always for the better, but it is still the sport I remember. The worst bit about F1 currently has a lot to do with Ecclestone's influence, with uninteresting circuits and a singular lack of overtaking possibilities at too many.
You are aware of the infighting between the teams, back hand deals with promoters. small teams not getting any money to race etc etc that was common practice before Ecclestone took over? Same with TV rights. Teams weren't getting any serious money for the coverage. Not to mention that he was instrumental in the medical backup that is taken for granted these days.
I'd say the perception of whether the sport was popular outside of hard core motorsports fans depends on your individual circumstances. Certainly no-one I worked with at the time would discuss F1 and the majority weren't even aware of anything outside of F1. In the same environment today I know many would know and talk about F1.
These days is very different and the figures for audience penetration, viewing hours, brand recall etc back that up with F1 being a massive global brand.
As I said whether what has happened to F1 is good or not is a very debatable point but it employs massively more people than it did in the past and many would see that as a good thing.
Personally I've pretty much stopped following F1 since the Mercedes domination started which is nothing to do with Ecclestone, he was totally opposed to the new "engines" right from the start.
I'd say the perception of whether the sport was popular outside of hard core motorsports fans depends on your individual circumstances. Certainly no-one I worked with at the time would discuss F1 and the majority weren't even aware of anything outside of F1. In the same environment today I know many would know and talk about F1.
These days is very different and the figures for audience penetration, viewing hours, brand recall etc back that up with F1 being a massive global brand.
As I said whether what has happened to F1 is good or not is a very debatable point but it employs massively more people than it did in the past and many would see that as a good thing.
Personally I've pretty much stopped following F1 since the Mercedes domination started which is nothing to do with Ecclestone, he was totally opposed to the new "engines" right from the start.
I actually think "these days" awareness of F1 amongst the non hardcore motorsport fraternity is declining. It may even be LESS than it was before the Bernie era. It reached a peak in the mid 1990s - what with traumatic events such as the death of Senna and the intense rivalry that existed between Senna, Mansell, Piquet and later Schumacher and Damon Hill.
I really don't see the intensity of interest that we had 30 years ago.
Audiences have only grown in some areas due to F1 being parachuted into regions where motorsport is not that well established and a relative novelty. And we are seeing some of those areas losing interest now. That strategy was all Bernie's and was always unsustainable. Instead of making sure "the core market" (I hate phrases like that) was encouraged and supported, it was treated with disdain and disrespect. So - guess what, you annoy your customers, you lose your customers. That is a very simple rule of business - one the "mega business genius" Bernie did not seem to really understand - or at least - if he did understand, he chose to ignore in pursuit of income for the few who control the sport and the related rights.
Bernie deserves recognition for his "achievements" all right.
I really don't see the intensity of interest that we had 30 years ago.
Audiences have only grown in some areas due to F1 being parachuted into regions where motorsport is not that well established and a relative novelty. And we are seeing some of those areas losing interest now. That strategy was all Bernie's and was always unsustainable. Instead of making sure "the core market" (I hate phrases like that) was encouraged and supported, it was treated with disdain and disrespect. So - guess what, you annoy your customers, you lose your customers. That is a very simple rule of business - one the "mega business genius" Bernie did not seem to really understand - or at least - if he did understand, he chose to ignore in pursuit of income for the few who control the sport and the related rights.
Bernie deserves recognition for his "achievements" all right.
Because I like racing cars and don't watch Dragons Den I couldn't care less about the F1 brand, its market penetration, its appeal to people who couldn't tell a HANS device from a handsaw and the fact it employs thousands of people in the pursuit of a better diffuser . The fact that Bernie Ecclestone has made billions by exploiting the sport I love isn't something I celebrate as much as mourn
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