LONDON, England (AP) Sat atop the motor sport tree, Formula One prides itself on exclusivity. The sky-high cost of getting into and then staying in Formula One keeps grids small. Try accessing the pit or paddock areas as a regular fan and you'd quickly be ushered towards the exit by heavies intent on keeping the hoi polloi out. So, if it's difficult to get access into the cosseted world of F1 as a fan, what's it like if you want to compete? Just how do you get on to the grid? Firstly, the sport's governing body, the FIA, requires a deposit of $48 million. It's a statement of intent, but nothing more. The smoothest route in is to buy an existing team. Midland, then the worst team on the grid, were sold to Spyker for a reputed $106 million in 2006. Since then the team has been bought out again, this time by Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya, to become Force India. And now he's got his foot in the door, Mallya will need to invest more than the estimated $120 million Force India have as their annual budget if he wants to see his team mingle with the big boys. Buying an existing team means the facilities and personnel to design and build a car as well as run a team are already in place, and the deposit has already been paid to the FIA. The alternative is fraught with risk. Super Aguri, the last new team on the grid, lasted 39 races across little more than two years due to sponsorship difficulties. And they had the might of Honda behind them. A team should ideally take at least a season to get up to speed off track. Before Super Aguri, Toyota were the last team to start from scratch. In 1999, the Japanese marquee announced plans to enter F1 in 2001, only to delay that by a year and thereby forfeit an $11 million deposit. It is rumored their budget is the biggest in the sport, an estimated $500 million a year, and they have yet to win a race in 6½ seasons trying. Even before a wheel is turned in anger, then, it takes a long time for a team -- one that is serious about challenging for wins, at least -- to establish itself. It has been suggested that teams be allowed to enter the sport by buying 'off the shelf' engines and chassis from existing competitors, similar to how Super Aguri made it onto the grid over the winter of 2005-06. That proposal, however, was successfully challenged by long-time privateers and one-time dominant force Williams, who were peeved at the prospect of having to compete with entrants who would avoid the huge costs incurred by designing and building their own cars. As Williams co-founder Patrick Head explains: "It's a serious commercial threat to us if a team comes into F1 with a customer car and no investment in the staffing and equipment that we've built up over 25 years." The estimated total spending of the 11 teams that contested the 2006 world championship was just shy of $3 billion, according to F1 Racing magazine. And after that exorbitant outlay, the winner's circle still remains F1's most exclusive club.
