Scott Malvern 2012

[Deemun]

May be a desperate measure on his part but Scott Malvern is trying everything and anything to stay on the grid this year. See http://www.gofundme.com/drku8

I have just been talking to him working at PF International Kart circuit this weekend where he is running a junior driver. He was telling me about losing his F2 deal and how he has worked every single day this year so far apart from the 4 days he spent on duty at the Autosport Show a couple of weeks ago.

I really hope he gets something sorted. He is too good a talent to be left sitting on the sidelines.

President of the BRDC Derek Warwick said on stage at the Autosport Show that the six McLaren Autosport BRDC Finalists deserve everyone's support. Lets hope his words are heeded.

See also http://www.autosport.com/video/#player

[ptclaus98]

Think he might start looking across the pond?

[FFfan]

Originally Posted by ptclaus98

Think he might start looking across the pond?

Thanks Deemun for the plug & pteclaus98 for the suggestion. Scott has certainly had offers from the USA but the deals there are sadly probably not as cheap as you think unless you know something or someone that we don't

Dominic Malvern (Scott's father)

[Peat]

Money is always the bottom line, regardless of talent. It's a shame.

There must be a wealthy car owner in one of the domestic or european GT championships that would like a hot-shoe young team-mate? Could be an avenue to go down?

Or are you still focusing on single-seaters?

[FFfan]

Originally Posted by Peat

Money is always the bottom line, regardless of talent. It's a shame.

There must be a wealthy car owner in one of the domestic or european GT championships that would like a hot-shoe young team-mate? Could be an avenue to go down?

Or are you still focusing on single-seaters?

No Scott would definitely embrace a move to GT's & has spoken to several teams but again he is expected to bring quite a lot of funding with him. It always comes back to this I'm afraid. We are working very hard to try to find money for him but in the current climate it is very tough.

DM

[EastonNeston]

As the discussion about the costs of F3 has shown, running a racing team is not an easy way of making money, and the margins are very slim indeed. As we are in a worldwide recession, the number of extreemly high networth individuals who can afford to pay the full costs involved in running a car in a professional international series are even lower than before.

I'm sure most of the few individuals in that situation would make the wise decision to go with a driver who has put the time, effort and resources into proving he is capable of doing the job at that level.

I'm not been negative, just realistic.

[Deemun]

Originally Posted by EastonNeston

As the discussion about the costs of F3 has shown, running a racing team is not an easy way of making money, and the margins are very slim indeed. As we are in a worldwide recession, the number of extreemly high networth individuals who can afford to pay the full costs involved in running a car in a professional international series are even lower than before.

I'm sure most of the few individuals in that situation would make the wise decision to go with a driver who has put the time, effort and resources into proving he is capable of doing the job at that level.

I'm not been negative, just realistic.

I think that Scott's record proves that he has the talent. You don't win 26 races out of 33 in something as close and competitive as Formula Ford if you arn't any good. And yes you can argue as a 2nd year driver in without doubt the best team that was what he was exactly what he was expected to do. But compare that with say Josh Hill who is highly regarded as a bright talent and was in that same position in 2010 as a 2nd year driver at Jamun and won only 5 races.

Yes I grant you that Scott has no track record yet in a GT car but I do know that the only opportunity that he has had so far to test one he performed extremely well in it comparing very favourably against the regular pilot. If you think about it GT cars are very low Aero and Scott coming from FF a class that relies on mechanical grip will pretty much take to it like a duck to water.

A good driver is a good driver whatever you put him in. It's not Scott's ability that is holding him back, it's his lack of funding pure & simple. Sadly he is not the only talented young driver in this position.

Much more could be done to help him and others with his predicament if those in the position to choose to.

[Richard B]

I can't believe somebody of Scott's talent isn't eligible for Racing Steps Foundation backing because he's too old? I always believed talent was what was needed.

[EastonNeston]

RSF prefer to develop their links with drivers at an early stage of their careers, usually while the driver is in Karts or making the first move into cars. I can't remember them ever taking on a driver who was older than 18 at the start of the relationship.

Also, RSF set strict criteria for their backing and have a specific route and set of teams they work with at each level. With 4 drivers and 2 bike racers receiving their backing, as well as the involvement in Intersteps I think they are fully committed this year.

[FFfan]

Originally Posted by EastonNeston

RSF prefer to develop their links with drivers at an early stage of their careers, usually while the driver is in Karts or making the first move into cars. I can't remember them ever taking on a driver who was older than 18 at the start of the relationship.

Also, RSF set strict criteria for their backing and have a specific route and set of teams they work with at each level. With 4 drivers and 2 bike racers receiving their backing, as well as the involvement in Intersteps I think they are fully committed this year.

To put the record staright on this. RSF did consider assisting Scott in 2010 but ultimately decided that he was a too old. Unfortunately at 20 Scott was a late starter to car racing by today's standards having spent the years since giving up karting both working as a mechanic and studying motorsport engineering.

I naturally think it was a shame that RSF decided he was too old because I think much of the reason for his undeniable success in the short time that he has been racing is his maturity. He tends not to make many of the unenforced mistakes that the younger drivers make and is calm under pressure.

That said it is of course RSF's right to set their own criteria and it is better that they do this and help the drivers and riders that they do rather than none at all. It's only a shame that there arn't more organisations and or partnerships etc following their lead and running similar schemes. Lets hope that their initiative produces either a 2 or 4 wheeled world champion sooner rather than later.

In the meantime we will KBO

Dominic Malvern (Scott's dad)

[Peter Cammish]

I have never really understood the age issue in motorsport, I dont know what it says, look at the F1 grids in early 80,s and if like me you dont buy into the Autosports or current F1 drivers version of current F1 then the field was much stronger than now and the drivers came through later. Racing drivers sit down at work and unless they are injured are able to run through a longer career than most other sports. I realise that the current top guys in F1 started very young and I understand the RSF strategy to take a driver to F1 will mimic say Red Bull with Vettel or Mclaren with Hamilton but it is not a given this strategy works and seems to me to put all the RSF eggs into one basket also and I dont want to enrage the current generation but who would you pick if it was Hamilton and Mansell (back to his 1987 best) in this years Mclarens over the season, I suggest it would be a lot closer than many think and one was racing in FF at the same age as Scott (no it wasnt Lewis).

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Peter Cammish

I have never really understood the age issue in motorsport, I dont know what it says, look at the F1 grids in early 80,s and if like me you dont buy into the Autosports or current F1 drivers version of current F1 then the field was much stronger than now and the drivers came through later. Racing drivers sit down at work and unless they are injured are able to run through a longer career than most other sports. I realise that the current top guys in F1 started very young and I understand the RSF strategy to take a driver to F1 will mimic say Red Bull with Vettel or Mclaren with Hamilton but it is not a given this strategy works and seems to me to put all the RSF eggs into one basket also and I dont want to enrage the current generation but who would you pick if it was Hamilton and Mansell (back to his 1987 best) in this years Mclarens over the season, I suggest it would be a lot closer than many think and one was racing in FF at the same age as Scott (no it wasnt Lewis).

To further add to your point, I would say that the majority of young drivers of the 80's were doing F3 well into their 20's before they even stepped up to F2/F3000 let alone think about F1. There were a few exceptions to that rule, people like Dave Scott or Thackwell, De Angelis and De Cesaris but nothing like we have today where most drivers have finished in F3 by the time they're 20!!

[Flavio Galtieri]

Apart from the general "culture of youth" that has developed in the last few decades in all sorts of sports isn't it another reason that these very young drivers are signed to long term management contracts?

In other words the younger said driver is when he or she enters F1 and starts earning money the longer and greater the payback for the investors who have funded the career thus far?

[Peter Cammish]

Flavio, I am sure you a right certainly serious money was I believe made on Button, Raikkonen, dont know how the Vettel and Hamilton thing works because I dont know who owns the contracts, after that I am not sure I would guess Kubica has made his investors money, Remember all of this is pre the financial crash of 08 so I am not sure anybody looking at it now would take the same view, I dont think Vettel and Hamilton were ever designed to make money they were designed to save Money which is why both are on deals that mature later (now) into some pretty serious salaries for the next year or 2 so expect some movement on one or the other in next few years which might leave a door open, suspect that is the main red bull agenda, remember in the 80s and 90s F1 salaries were massive $1m per race for Senna, Mansell, Piquet, Prost was not uncommon, Joe Saward believes Vettel will be on circa $11m in 2011 so in real terms F1 guys have had huge paycuts and certainly in relation to football the fall is massive.. As regards RSF I suspect it is heavily cash negative on its investments, I dont understand how it is funded as it not my business and in many ways it is difficult to see how it will become positive which I guess means it is currently a motorsport charity which gives it huge credit even though I dont always understand the selection criteria but sport is a matter of opinions and I think Calado is pretty special and would be great for F1. For majority of Drivers who use words such as investors or sponsors change the word to Dad, Grandad, Uncle, Aunt etc or supplier to family business, most will never see a return. What price a return on Bruno Senna, he doesnt need the money so like Peter Revson and others in the 70,s you are seeing a very quick return to Gentlemen F1 drivers, problem is the public of the 21st century prefer meritocracy and there of course lies the Elephant in the F1 room which is cascading down to all single seater series at present. PC

[bella]

like what, though? if they help with a hundred grand one year how much are they going to have to fork out the next year? the only full budget schemes are red bull and the rsf. so how many years would they have to subsidise?

it's a can of worms that unfortunately, they can't open. where do they draw the line? there's always going to be someone not *quite* good though or *just* too old, or *just* too poor. ask any of the guys who had to drop out of things like the rdd because they couldn't find the level of backing required to keep up with the scheme.

i'm not trying to be rude or anything, but it's just the way it is unfortunately. for every massive chequebook there's 100 who can't find financial partners, supporters, sponsors, whatever you want to call them.

we're all faced with situations where we're not quite from the right background or our face doesn't quite fit, or we simply can't afford something. unfortunately motorsport is one of those situations, but unlike many of ours it unfolds in public.

[Deemun]

Originally Posted by bella

like what, though? if they help with a hundred grand one year how much are they going to have to fork out the next year? the only full budget schemes are red bull and the rsf. so how many years would they have to subsidise?

it's a can of worms that unfortunately, they can't open. where do they draw the line? there's always going to be someone not *quite* good though or *just* too old, or *just* too poor. ask any of the guys who had to drop out of things like the rdd because they couldn't find the level of backing required to keep up with the scheme.

i'm not trying to be rude or anything, but it's just the way it is unfortunately. for every massive chequebook there's 100 who can't find financial partners, supporters, sponsors, whatever you want to call them.


we're all faced with situations where we're not quite from the right background or our face doesn't quite fit, or we simply can't afford something. unfortunately motorsport is one of those situations, but unlike many of ours it unfolds in public.

And with that attitude Bella nothing will ever change! Plenty could be done! For example a stipulation should be that if a championship is sanctioned by a governing body then to receive that sanction they have to offer a prize taht will enable the winner of teh championship to move up to the next level.

Also it could bea stipulation that drivers are not allowed to move up until they have received a minimmum level of results on the championship that they have competed in.

Just saying that this is the way things are and we have to accept it because we cannot do anything to change it is simply not good enough.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Deemun

And with that attitude Bella nothing will ever change! Plenty could be done!

i think you'll find that's purely my answer to this kind of situation. it just doesn't seem to make any commercial sense to start limiting your drivers. if you say that drivers have to achieve a certain level of results then you end up with budgets going even higher for the teams the market perceives as good or better than others.

the only way it does make commercial sense is the way the world series by renault/renaultsport award a massive bursary to their fr2.0 eurocup champion if they go to fr3.5 the following year. that keeps the money within the event, and yes, it really helps the driver. or the way gp3 do it for gp2 (evidently with the support of pirelli). or the way f2 are awarding their rookie of the year a couple of free test days.

what you're effectively saying is mr ford should sponsor a driver to compete in formula renault, which is mr renault's marketing tool. or whichever competing brand we're looking at here. that's why you end up with outside companies like red bull doing it - they don't need to stay affiliated to any particular set of brands or avoid any others.

i think it's a crying shame that scott may be left out of racing this year, don't get me wrong. but sadly it's how motorsport works. like everything else, it's driven by money, and spare money is a relatively rare commodity at the moment. the biggest incentive to spend cash on someone is if you know them personally. maybe it's time to buy a new suit and get socially mobile. that helps more in my opinion than going around with a commercial proposal. sad in a way, but true.

[Peter Cammish]

Deemun, I have followed your posts for 3 years and while I couldnt agree with everything I think its clear you have a genuine passion, maybe like me 30 years ago, the reality of motorsport is cruel in the extreme but at the end of the day I consider the 10 years I spent sponsoring my Son in the sport as probably the best part of my life and I am sure others in same situation feel same, dont be disillusioned, to spend your young years racing cars is a privelege most dont get and as parent to be part of that is a great way to spend a life. For me my enthusiasm was punctured on the 30th of May 2009, Dan in his second every car race put his novice cross fitted Spectrum on pole at Rockingham for Brit FF, in front of some pretty quick guys, Newgarden etc. For 1 Week my phone was hot with some serious motorsport people, first question what do you do how much have you got, once I answered the questions i never got another call except for guy in Germany who ran Dan in ADAC for free, it was possible we could have moved on into German F3 in 2010 but the teams sponsor pulled out and that was that. When I look back it was great to be part of that time, and i am sure that drivers who wont be racing in 2012 should look back with happiness, as I said the sport is not meritocratic so in effect for most its a hobby and thats how I have looked at it since that day at Rockingham, its the best way.

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by Peter Cammish

Deemun, I have followed your posts for 3 years and while I couldnt agree with everything I think its clear you have a genuine passion, maybe like me 30 years ago, the reality of motorsport is cruel in the extreme but at the end of the day I consider the 10 years I spent sponsoring my Son in the sport as probably the best part of my life and I am sure others in same situation feel same, dont be disillusioned, to spend your young years racing cars is a privelege most dont get and as parent to be part of that is a great way to spend a life. For me my enthusiasm was punctured on the 30th of May 2009, Dan in his second every car race put his novice cross fitted Spectrum on pole at Rockingham for Brit FF, in front of some pretty quick guys, Newgarden etc. For 1 Week my phone was hot with some serious motorsport people, first question what do you do how much have you got, once I answered the questions i never got another call except for guy in Germany who ran Dan in ADAC for free, it was possible we could have moved on into German F3 in 2010 but the teams sponsor pulled out and that was that. When I look back it was great to be part of that time, and i am sure that drivers who wont be racing in 2012 should look back with happiness, as I said the sport is not meritocratic so in effect for most its a hobby and thats how I have looked at it since that day at Rockingham, its the best way.

The bit in bold is true, and that's how we should all regard the sport.
We all have our hobbies, and when we cannot afford to do them we don't do them. I didn't even have enough money to start my favourite sport, so I now do other, less expensive, hobbies. But only when I have the money to do them. Simple really.

[strider]

Originally Posted by bella

i think it's a crying shame that scott may be left out of racing this year, don't get me wrong. but sadly it's how motorsport works. like everything else, it's driven by money, and spare money is a relatively rare commodity at the moment. the biggest incentive to spend cash on someone is if you know them personally. maybe it's time to buy a new suit and get socially mobile. that helps more in my opinion than going around with a commercial proposal. sad in a way, but true.

Well said. I'm very disappointed for Scott as well, but it's no good saying something should be done about it. These are difficult times and there's very little spare cash around unless it's in the family already.

[EastonNeston]

I'd say that apart from a very small, and fortunate minority, to take part in racing requires a tremendous sacrifice and hard work, not just from the driver, but the family too.
I've lost count of the number of very talented drivers I've known over the years I've been involved in the sport that have had together change their aims or even give up completely. It's a tough sport to be in, and only a very talented few manage to make a successful living from it. Red Bull and RSF etc have their own criteria for selecting the drivers they back, based on talent, profile and potential return.

I feel your suggestions are unworkable, and probably not permitted under British and EU laws. The situation isn't ideal, but it is what we have to live and work with. Other threads have shown there is not a lot of profit in the racing industry, and definitely not enough to fund people to the level you would like.

[ptclaus98]

Hey FFfan, might Scott still be active in karting?

[Bowser]

Scotts story is scarily similar to the 2006 fford champion Nathan Freke

[barnettracing]

At least Nathan had the ability to (eventually) set up his own team and has been able to run himself in the Ginetta G55 Supercup (and the previous G50 Cup).

Dominic, has Scott even got the money to be able to race just for fun? As, at the end of the day, that is the one thing we all do this for, the enjoyment.

This would be the real sad situation, if Scott is unable to race at all. Have you tried and SPEED teams (previously VdeV)? Darren Burke managed to get a works Juno drive on the back of his HSCC Historic FF1600 domination. I'd imagine one of those cars would be a good step up for Scott and would get him into sportscars. I don't know what sort of budgets they are looking for though.

[FFfan]

Thanks guys. Unfortunately Scott is very bereft of funds as things stand but we haven't quite given up yet and we are hopeful that he will do some racing this year even if it isn't a full season. Last year he turned down two offers to drive in the end of season WHT because of the clash with the McLaren award competition so I'd like to think that things like that will still be offered to him.

Yes we have spoken to teams in the EURO SPEED series but they still need quite a lot of funding. It's just the way things are at the moment. Where previously some teams in GT's & sports cars etc had some team backing now that is gone and all of the funding has to come from the drivers.

Scott is being kept very busy at the moment working with the kart team (He is at Buckmore Park this weekend, Kimbolton last) and is still being called upon to do some further development work on the Ford ECOboost car & has one or two other track days that he has been asked to do so he is still very much involved in motorsport. But of course he'd much rather be able to prove his ability further in another professional racing series and is naturally disappointed that the planned move to F2 which looked to be progressing extremely well late last year unfortunately didn't happen through circumstances entirely beyond his control.

Dominic Malvern