"Formula 1 Celebrity Grand Prix"

[Nina]

Its more about Spectacle, good PR and coverage more than it is about giving back to the people...

I think the idea of auctioning rides is good, especially if it goes to good causes - Good PR.

If teams run comps, tv comps etc - Good PR...

But to just give it all to joe public - it wont generate as much Press coverage, revenue etc so I dont see why they should entertain this idea... I dislike the idea of celebs who nothing abotu f1 being given the chance of a lifetime... but from a business point of view I cant see the point in filling the places with people like me!!! (joe public!)

[Pit_Lane_Babe]

No one said about just giving the rides to "Joe Public" without entering a comptetition of some sort.
I can understand where you are coming from in the respect of business' wanting to promot. Of course it would get a lot more interest if you had a famous person in the car intest of a nobody. However, I would prefer to have someone get the ride who would really enjoy it more than some celeb

[Rob29]

Originally posted by Nina
Would it be as much of a spectacle for the people watching if you just had joe public in the cars?!!

Dont see how it could make any difference,Nina.You will only see the tops of their helmets either way.If its televised with radio link to the passengers might be a laugh?

[cos]

There's a good interview with Stoddart about this at pitpass.com
http://pitpass.com/news2/news.cfm?newsid=8434

Including...

Balfe comments that he's noticed discussions on a number of forums and that many fans feel that this is something aimed purely at celebrities and other people who have no real interest in the sport. Is there any chance of the general public getting rides?

"Yes," he replies, "and this is one Bernie's ideas. He'd like to see some sort of scheme whereby a lucky race ticket holder, or whatever, gets to ride in the car on the Friday and maybe take part in the Saturday qualifying run." (The Celebrity GP format would be a scaled down version of the rest of the weekend). "Hopefully all the teams would agree, but if not, Minardi certainly would. We'd be happy to run a member of the public. However, they would need to pass the medical.

[Wrex]

Looks like its going down the plughole.

From grandprix.com
We understand that there are a couple of teams which have sponsors who do not want to be involved; there are a couple which want to be able to prepare the two-seaters themselves and others which simply have not replied to the proposal.

[Mags]

Originally posted by fiona
i like the idea of it but not the celebs getting a shot

Has anyone read Murray Walker's book and just what is involved in actually being able to get a ride in one of these?? He passed at 80, and men half his age failed the test! And then you have to get a seat made for you, it's incredibly involved. So there are BIG $$$ involved. And even HE said that as much fun as he had, he was exhausted after his stint, and wouldn't have taken extra laps even if they have been offered.

[Wrex]

Its all a clever E-Bay ploy by Stoddart anyway.

He's going to fund it by selling off the celebrity bum 'moulds' from the seat fittings.


Taking bids now on J-Lo's.....

[Mr V]

There isn't a seat big enough for J-Lo's bum

[Mr V]

From the initial link..........

Paul Stoddart's idea to run celebrity races with his two-seater F1 cars in 2004 looks like it is going to go ahead with one car per team, painted in team colours and driven by the regular third drivers

I personally can't see this happening. I'm presuming that all cars are equal, as they are all Minardi's painted in different team colours. But what happens when a Ferrari, Williams or McLaren gets beaten by a Minardi, Jordan or Jag?

Not exactly good for the top teams image to be beaten by one of the lower teams.

[rpolinski]

Originally posted by Mr V
Not exactly good for the top teams image to be beaten by one of the lower teams.

More importantly it seems not good for the sponsors. They pay a lot of money to get their brand displayed in a winning light.