F1 Pre - Ecclestone question

That was a different age, then.
Before Ecclestone, who only emerged when FOCA (Formula One Constructors Assiciation) was created, the GP organisers and circuits owners were mainly running the show finance-wise, while FIA was there for the regulations and endorsing the World Championship. There was no one in overall control.

FOCA was created by the constructors to protect them and wrestle away the financial side of F1 from circuits owners.
Basically, racing was getting more and more expensive and the teams could only manage with sponsorship, receiving very little from the organisers (start money variable from GP to GP).

Ecclestone, owner of Brabham at the time, was only FOCA secretary, but became diligent and managed to rationalise the finance: television rights switched from GP organisers to FOCA and were distributed to teams according to their results. Ecclestone started a minimum income for teams, also lowered the cost of logistics.

By giving a planned income to the teams, Ecclestone could guarantee 16 cars on the grid for each GP; before that attendance was more sporadic.
FOCA is a sort of 'trade union' for the teams with Bernie as its head.

 

Not an easy question to answer. Before Bernie wrestled control of the sport, it was much more of a privateer atmosphere. Like many things, it wasn't the over-the-top media leviathan that you see today. I think that has a lot to do with people fondly reminiscing to those days, when the rules weren't so tightly written and, as a result, you couldn't wait to see what the new cars would look like every year. And you could get close to the cars and drivers a well. But, while it's easy to beat up on Bernie now as an over-the-hill, out-of-touch troll, he deserves credit for steering F1 through a very crucial period of time and keeping it at its spot atop the motorsport mountain. By comparison, look at open wheel racing in the States. Between the mid 80's and the mid 90's the landscape of sports culture changed immensely. Bernie had the wisdom and tenacity to maximize his sport's selling power and improve facilities and exposure. Granted, back in the day we enjoyed closer access to everything, but that just isn't really possible any more. CART used to enjoy the single most important SPORTING EVENT in the WORLD--The Indy 500. But because of mismanagement, greed and downright boneheadedness, it's not even the most important RACE in our COUNTRY.

Formula One is proof that you can't enjoy progress without a little downside. That said, it's time for some fresh blood. Bernie brought F1 into the stratosphere by being able to see the big picture. But he no longer recognizes what that picture is, and they need someone who can understand that before the sport begins to implode under its own bloated weight.

 

I couldn't have said it better myself.

F1 before Bernie was having to live with Jean-Marie Balestre, who couldn't make a fair decision to save his life.
I have read the story of how Bernie bailed out the LBGP one year, kudos for that, but that was a long long time ago, things have changed.

I have read where in order to have a GP, you must put up 20 million first, I don't see how most venues could do that in TODAY'S world, but apparently some, usually backed by government - do.

It would be nice to have a real 'minimum bid' to get a race, kinda like they do with the Olympics - make your pitch and you might get one, but having to ante up 20M first has to be tough.

Oh well, as long as people keep going to events - er - as long as organisers can continue to fork over beaucoup dollars, they will have a race.
As long as we fork over $175+ for an average ticket - and enough of us do - nothing will change.

I still say bring back the rules from 1970 - but add the safety improvements such as carbon fibre and fuel cell technology, and we will be fine.

I just keep dreaming back to the 60's where guys made cars in their home garages and took them to the tracks and competed.


The question remains, do you want F1 to continue to be the pinnacle of motorsports (technology), or not ?

 

Before Bernie got too big headed in the mid 90's F-1 had the perfect balance, lots of teams, drivers, manufaturers & fans... it was possible to go to a race and actually see the cars and drivers up close... not like today... but to answer your question prior to 1981 and the 1982 Concorde Agreement there was a loose affiliation between the teams, but mostly each team made its own financial agreement with the organizer, who paid starting money based on who you were, name, status in the championship, etc... back in the late 60's and early 70's Prince Metternich was the director general of the CSI... commission sportive international .... pre runner of the FIA.

There was a constructors association, but it was mainly with the British teams, so it was mostly each man for theri own.

Jackie Stewart and his safety campaign in the late 60's and early 70's is really responsible for getting the teams together, as well as the drivers... thats where Bernie started... making sure they got a slice of the TV money, and on track sponsorship... he broke the system of each team negotiating independantly, and did a collective barganing with all the circuit owners.

So he absolutely responsible for making F-1 a global sport, but he has in my opinion gone way too far... its too hollywood now, and not real racing.

 

Bernie in the eighties was ideal for F1: He gave it structure, status and money through TV rights and all. It was the golden age and the transformation from an amateurish league (sixties, early seventies) to a global business.

The problem is, that the man is such a perfectionist and dynamo, that he didn't stop at the level he achieved in the late eighties where F1 was a lot like Champ car or NASCAR today as far as access to cars and drivers is concerned. Sadly he had to take F1 to the next level of total exclusivity. Of course that made it more glamorous and meant more money for everybody and higher tech for the cars, but it also removed the sport from the fans.

Back in the eighties I was able armed with a supportive letter from my local newspaper to get official press credentials complete with full access to pitlane and the press tower and all VIP events. In today's world even professional reporters from big newspapers and magazines fall under a quota restriction who gets press credentials and who doesn't. And for 5k I can VIP tickets, but even those really don't get me into pitlane anymore. Progress?

 

A major thing that happened was all the rule changes - when you ban things, or make them so restricted that they become useless, you MUST go look for speed in other areas, and those areas cost A LOT of money to R&D.
Look at nascar - when the 350 cid came in, where did folks turn to ?
Wind Tunnels.

I think it would be funny to go back to the F1 rules of 1980 with one new exception added - cars must weigh 2,000 pounds minus the driver.

Turbos were not as expensive as we thought, eh ?
Bring back the Turbos, but have them use pump gas - no higher than like 104 octane, and NO other additives.

 

F1 may not even exist today if not for the brilliance of Bernie...after he leaves it will likely change for the worse and become just like other race series which cater to the lowest common denomonator...FANS...

 

I could live with that very well. I don't mind for F1 to take a page out of the NASCAR, ALMS or Champ car book. At least as far as the organization of the races and the fan access is concerned.

F1 should remain elitist in its technical approach (I don't care if Merc or Ferrari pay through the nose for their cars), but come back down to earth in the way it treats its fans. The USGP pitwalk on Thursday (which is unique on the F1 calendar) is a good first step as was the traveling display by BMW in Europe. Opening pit-driver communication lines was another step in the right direction.

At USGP06 there was a booth promoting handheld TV devices with special race programming. They can be rented for the weekend and give you all the stats and feeds you want. Another great idea.