Update on Nurburgrind
We talked a while back about the financial straits that Nurburgring is going through, and the fact that it is quite close to bankruptcy. Nobody in the automotive industry wants to see this happen to such an important race track, and while everyone would like to help, economic woes are present all over the place.
F1 also have their own slew of issues to deal with, but even so, Bernie Ecclestone has made it clear that he is offering a very welcomed hand to the ailing track. He has vowed to do all in his power to save the track and he’s not just saying that, he said that the typical sanctioning fee to bring an F1 race to the track will be waived, in order to help.
This is quite a significant thing because that fee can be quite large, for instance the free to bring F1 to the States was $25 million. A Formula 1 race would bring a lot of tourism to the general area and hence might prove to be the exact income injection that the place really needs.
Formula 1 is very popular in Europe, it has to be said, so an F1 race at the Nurburgring will surely bring a lot of income to the area, but it all has to be planned very well. However there is a catch because it is yet unknown if the ‘Ring is still suitable for F1 races because low income usually means that the track conditions are rather poor. This of course leads to another problem, if the track isn’t up to F1 standards, will track officials have enough money to bring it to said standards? And if there is no money for such an investment – considering that the place is going bankrupt – will F1 double down on its offer and help fix the track?
The entire issue is compounded by the fact that the time frame needed to get a Formula 1 deal done is rather short as well, and it may already be too late to save the circuit, the conclusion to this story remains to be seen.
