Crowd-Funded Caterham Will Race In Abu Dhabi

And, probably, get a $40-million payday because of it.

The struggling Formula 1 squad went into administration and had padlocks on their doors. But a CrowdCube idea set forth the idea that if the Caterham F1 team (Kamui Kobayashi's car is pictured, thanks Caterham F1 Team) made a certain amount (2.35-million pounds), they could race in the last race of the 2014 season despite being in administration. That placement would put them top-ten in the standings for owners points and give them a mid-eight figure payday for their survival.

Much to the chagrin of F1 major domo Bernie Ecclestone- who thought the idea was a crock in the first place.

This coming from the guy who thinks social media isn't for his racing series, anyway...

“We set ourselves a major challenge, but it’s definitely been worth it! In only a week the fans have made the impossible, possible," Finbarr O’Connell of Smith & Williamson, joint administrator of Caterham Sports Limited. "We knew that the best way to keep this team alive and attract possible buyers was to show that it’s still a racing team and be in Abu Dhabi for the finale, and there aren’t enough words to say how grateful we are to all the fans that have made this possible.

“We now head to Abu Dhabi ready to show what a hard-working and positive group of people this is and to hopefully secure a future for the team. During the past few days the interest of many potential buyers has increased massively and by racing in Abu Dhabi the team will be showcasing itself as a live and functioning team that deserves to continue into 2015 and beyond. It has hard-working people, team spirit and experience and now it only needs a secure financial future which I’m very hopeful we can achieve. Once again, I’d like to reiterate that we are racing in Abu Dhabi thanks to all the fans out there – an achievement that will go down in F1 history and one that we can all be very proud of. We still need to raise a bit more cash so please do keep an eye on the Crowdcube website. Let’s go racing!”

Here was Craig Slater outside Caterham HQ just a few weeks ago when things were pretty bleak...
((HT: Sky Sports))


No idea on who will drive the car (or cars) for the team since Marcus Ericsson quit. Kobayashi has driven the other car, but his future was in doubt as well.

Caterham Can Skip US Grand Prix To Find New Owners (UPDATE: Marussia Skips As Well)

((HT: FIA/Sky Sports))

Let's face it...

The situation at Caterham's F1 team is a mess-and-a-half...

The old owner says the new owners are responsible for paying the bills. The new owners are saying the old owner never turned over the keys to the kingdom. As a result, Formula One Major Domo Bernie Ecclestone has given permission for the team to miss the next two races while they get their finances straightened out.

it's so bad right now that administrator Finbarr O'Connell closed the team's doors and no one and nothing is allowed in or out to tinker with anything.

Chief Executive Graham McDonald discusses the current mood


Part of a statement from FIA read:

"In a telephone conversation today between Finbarr O'Connell and Bernie Ecclestone, Mr Ecclestone agreed to support the administrators in their wish to sell the Formula One team to a party with the financial strength to sustain it into the future.

"Mr Ecclestone also agreed to give dispensation to Caterham F1 such that it could, if necessary, miss the US and Brazilian Grands Prix, but hoped that a new owner would be in a position to race the team at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix."

Ecclestone has said in the past that FIA would be okay with ten squads. But the new owners who thought they were the new owners and have gone back and forth with the Tony Fernandes ("old") group in a war of words saying one group is responsible to pay bills and not themselves.

The lack of a Caterham side opens the door for both Sauber and Marussia to make more owners points in-roads and put Caterham in a deeper financial hole for the beginning of the 20125 racing season.

Especially, if no new owners are found by Abu Dhabi...

UPDATE: Looks like the Marussia squad is done with the US and Brazil GP's as well. The crash involving Juiles Bianchi in Japan has ricked the team to its core. At the last race in Russia- a race the home-owned squad wanted to have a stellar showing- they only ran one car in deference to Bianchi. The group hasn't seemed to be emotionally in the game and their financial issues are leaning them to regrouping for 2015 as well.

FIA rules say that you can sit out three races without violating the racing charter- looks Marussia might do that by choice and Caterham not so much so...

Ecclestone Stepping Aside At Formula 1, Not Stepping Down

But the HQ thinks it's amazing what being brought up on bribery charges by Munich's state court will do for you...

The major domo of F1 for the last four decades is linked to an alleged $44-million payment to a German banker. Ecclestone maintains his innocence, but has stepped down from the board of the holding company that runs the sport. He will still be in charge of the day-to-day operations...

From Delta Topco Limited: 'After discussion with the Board, Mr Ecclestone has proposed and the Board has agreed that until the case has been concluded, he will step down as a director with immediate effect, thereby relinquishing his board duties and responsibilities until the case has been resolved.

'It is in the best interests of both the F1 business and the sport that Mr Ecclestone should continue to run the business on a day to day basis, but subject to increased monitoring and control by the Board. Mr Ecclestone has agreed to these arrangements.'

The whole German suit comes from what Ecclestone calls a "shakedown" from German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky over an alleged undervaluation of Formula 1 back in 2006. Gribkowsky is currently serving an eight-and-a-half-year jail sentence for accepting the payment from Ecclestone...

Here's an interview with Ecclestone discussing the fixing of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix by Flavio Briatore and Renault to let you know just how shady F1 comes across on the whole...
((HT: DW English))

Edmonton Indy Is Toast For Now... Will It Stay Or Will It Go...??? Austin, Are You Listening...???

((HT: NBCSN/youtube))

The Edmonton Indy Car race is done until further notice after the current promoter, Octane, pulled out and the city says they won't find a replacement- and they'll eat the costs they fronted to make the race happen in the first place.

The last Indy, probably, left a sour taste in the mouth of everyone in Alberta province as relayed by the Edmonton Sun's Terry Jones:

"Colin Livingston pointed out, on the record, all the warning signs to your correspondent a week before the race in July.

"Livingston, owner of CanTorque, a business based in Edmonton, said what he was seeing bothered him greatly.

“There has been a great neglect in the marketing, promotion of the race is even worse than Northlands,” he said. “This year, specifically, it looks like they are trying to run the race for free. There appears to be next to no budget for promotion or marketing of this thing. They just operate the race. And they do a great job running the race. But my concern is there’s not going to be a race left here to operate.”

The big beef being that an outfit in eastern Canada was in no shape to run something in the west... and everyone in town seems to be right... There didn't seem to be any promotion, any signage, any advertising, or anything else that would make a race (a very popular race at that...) available to the city.

Jones seems to think Michael Andretti could step in like he did in Baltimore or Kevin Savoree who ran the Toronto Indy.

The HQ thinks that another city might have a stake in the future of that time slot... if they look at it hard enough... Austin, Texas and the Circuit of the Americas...

It would give the city another reason to claim a motorsports foothold in a series that is more North American than the overt corruption that seems to permeate the F1. And the HQ shudders at the thought of just how much money has gone F1's way to get a race to a college football town on a college football weekend the weekend before Thanksgiving. It reminds us of the IOC...

Who said that...???

The US Grand Prix will, no doubt, look pretty. Texans will make sure of it. But they really need to look to book the building for other clients and not just Bernie Ecclestone.

It just lends to too many questions in the long term instead of too many solutions to pay for the track...

Here's the last race from Edmonton- for now... until it ends up some place else...

Bahrain Crown Prince Calls F1 Race "Force For Good"

((HT: Channel 4 Scotland))

The Formula One race in Bahrain this weekend has been one of those on-again, off-again events. F1 Chief Bernie Ecclestone left it up to each race team as to whether or not they would travel to compete- which they all have.

But one team, Force India, declined to make the second practice. Another team, Sauber, saw what SkySports wrote as "witnessed disturbances on their return to their hotel from the circuit on Thursday night." Now, there is talk of the race being postponed again.

"We are a real country with real issues and we hope you see us with all our complexities and all our shades," the Crown Prince of Bahrain, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, said when interviewed in the race paddock. "I genuinely believe that this race is a force for good. It unites many people from many different religious backgrounds and sects."

Channel 4's Cathy Newman caught up with the country's Information Affairs Authority spokesman about the new chapter of the uproar...


Here's the interview with the Crown Prince in its entirety
((HT: SkySports/youtube))


Just so you know: Bahrain's royal family owns 40-percent of the McLaren team, look to entertain 100,000 spectators, and bring in half a billion dollars in spending by those folks.

Protestors are proclaiming that the weekend will bring in "days of rage."