China Motorsports and Why It Is Impressive

China is constantly in the headlines in many foreign newspapers, magazines, TV shows. As a French citizen living in China for the past 7 years, I am amazed at how much is written about China in my own country. A few years back it was the year of China in France, the following year it was the year of France in China, exhibits, shows, conferences, it was a great way for both countries to get to know each other better. But even if China is on the forefront of the media all around the world, in many areas it is still at a growing stage and going through the learning process, but not for long.

Motorsport is no exception to the rule; China is learning but is learning In the UK, motorsport engineering and services has a total turnover in excess of £5 billion, of which 50% is exported. The industry employs 38,000 people, with 75% of this workforce being highly qualified engineers working in 3,000 individual, mostly small and medium sized enterprises. The motorsport sector and its supply chain drives the development and growth of companies which make up the cluster of 450 high-performance engineering (HPE) companies in the East Midlands, including 200 motorsport-specific companies.

The cluster consists of engine builders, precision engineers and electronics specialists. But there is also a huge skills overlap which takes the business activity of HPE companies into the field of servicing for the automotive, aerospace, electronics, material technology, watersports and medical technologies sectors.

Motorsport Industry

UK teams, engineering firms and supporting services have been a major global force in motorsport for many years now. In the UK, motorsport manufacturing is concentrated in a cluster that includes the East Midlands, Northamptonshire in particular. Here, we boast major venues for racing and testing vehicles:

Silverstone, the internationally renowned, world-class venue for motorsport events home of the British F1 Grand Prix and British Motorcycle Grand Prix
Rockingham, the only ‘oval’ motorsport circuit in the UK
Santa Pod, the UK’s premier drag racing strip
MIRA, renowned as a leading design, testing and certification organisation that provides engineering expertise and advanced testing facilities across the entire range of transport technologies
With such resources on hand it is easy to see why 200 plus major motorsport companies, employing 6,000 people with an annual turnover of £0.6 billion, have made their base in the East Midlands. In addition, the region is home to:
Internationally recognised engine builders including Cosworth, Ilmor Engineering, Mahle Powertrain and Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines
A significant share of the international motorsport supply chain, (including expertise in composites and precision engineering)
F1 constructors Mercedes F1 and Force India
The National College of Motorsport
A partnership of three further education colleges based in the heart of Motorsport Valley, this was the first vocational centre for motorsport and performance engineering to tackle the decline and shortage of craft techniciafast, really fast. Europe has had a racing culture for much longer, people have enjoyed going to events for years with their family, people have driven cars for over 100 years, but it seems that slowly, the western world is not what is used to be for motorsport, it is sort of stagnating while China is leveraging on motorsport more and more through the involvement of car manufacturers, race teams, promoters.

China is catching up, motorsport is booming. It is impressive to see so many events of international standard coming to China one by one over the years, not all successful right away but all trying their best to succeed: FIA GT, F1, MotoGP, V8, DTM, Le Mans, WTCC. The age of China begging to get events is over. I remember a few years back, as I was working at Zhuhai international Circuit, we had the visit of an American promoter who wanted to discuss a historic F1 event to take place in ZIC. As much as we welcomed his ideas and his vision, and were open to listen to his offer, he had not yet realized that Chinese Motorsport Companies were now in a position to negotiate, partner with series and championships rather than just buy events at any cost. So when he offered for us to purchase the rights to his event for a few million dollars, the deal was off immediately.

And by this simple anecdote, I just want to show that China’s motorsport market has already moved to a different level over the past few years. It took time from the first Hong Kong Beijing Rally, the first GT race downtown Zhuhai, the first F1 Race in Shanghai, to put China motorsport on the map of international motorsport but if we look now, in 2011, what events come to China, what deals are made, what partnerships are signed and the level of sponsorship and involvement of all the partners, teams and federations, it is a completely different scene than the one in the 1990′s, at the start of China motorsport.

Obviously, all is not perfect and a few things have to improve. When an industry grows fast, the foundations can be rocked. I would say that one of the key things to improve is the relationship between all the actors of the industry: promoters, circuits, teams, federations, sponsors, it could often be smoother and healthier. Most parties are passionate about this sport, which is great and necessary, but often, business priorities wildly take over. At times, the struggles that take place amongst the actors seem unnecessary: who will promote what, who will organize what. But it is also part of any growing business community, we all want a piece of the cake and it is no different in China motorsport, actually maybe it is even more obvious because of the glamorous image of motorsport and the strong media coverage. But let’s not forget that we all have a responsibility towards the sport we love, the image we give of it is what people will remember. Small to big operators all contribute to that image. The best we do for China’s motorsport future, the more business will flow back to the community.

2011 is going to be another impressive year with new events and a super busy month of November in South China with WTCC in GIC and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in Zhuhai for the final round, followed by the world renowned Macau Grand Prix. 2011 is also: news circuits, new teams, new Chinese drivers on the local and foreign scenes, and more foreign businesses looking to invest in our sport, let’s look forward to it and make it grow together.

Benjamin Grenon has lived in China for the past 7 years. He is Managing Director of SpeedShare Ltd, an Asia motorsport and automotive consulting company focusing on the Greater China market. SpeedShare helps both foreign and local companies better understand the motorsport market and improve their strategy. Prior to SpeedShare, Benjamin was DG

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