Plans have remerged for a possible Formula 1 return to South Africa, with World Cup host city Cape Town named as a candidate for a street race which would involve the cars travelling through the stadium in which semi-finals were played prior to the Spanish football team’s ultimate success in July.
Hopes for a South Africa comeback have been on the cards for several years although more concrete plans have now emerged for a potentially thrilling spectacle in Cape Town. The project is being led by the Cape Town Grand Prix Bid Company, which is highly keen to meet with Formula One Management’s Bernie Ecclestone.
“We have made significant progress with Ecclestone,” company spokesperson Esther Henderson told the wheels24 website on Wednesday. “We have an invitation from his office.
“Back in 2009, his office said he would like to meet us but unfortunately our national government was focused on the World Cup. But the 2010 World Cup has now allowed Ecclestone to evaluate a major event in South Africa and we hope to secure a meeting with him before the Grand Prix season.”
In 2010, talk was also on the cards for a possible return to former South African Grand Prix host venue Kyalami, although Ecclestone quickly called off the possibility. However, chances of a Cape Town debut now appear more possible.
“It would be along the coast, with the city's magnificent landmarks,” Henderson added. “It would be an iconic location for a TV broadcast, a very sexy location. It's about staging a show that's entertaining and the best of its kind and we believe it would fit Ecclestone's plans for F1.”
Showing posts with label ecclestone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ecclestone. Show all posts
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
“Bernie: The biography of Bernie Ecclestone” reviewed
This new biography of Bernie Ecclestone hit the shelves last Friday after a five-year delay in its publication.
Originally planned as an “authorised” biography, Ecclestone withdrew his endorsement of the book and it is now considered ‘unauthorised’.
On top of that, another new biography of F1′s 80-year-old tycoon is expected in just two months’ time. So should you shell out for the nearly-authorised version or wait for the next one?
“Bernie” was written by Susan Watkins whose relationship with Ecclestone goes back almost three decades. She is the wife of Professor Sid Watkins who was F1′s safety and medical delegate from 1978-2005.
Having written biographies of several historical figures, this subject marks something of a departure for her in that he is still around to be interviewed.
Not that this necessarily means the notoriously evasive Ecclestone would be more forthcoming than Elizabeth I or Mary Queen of Scots might be if you tried to interview them today.
However Watkins’ access to Ecclestone has helped her gain more first-hand material than can be found in the first major work on him, Terry Lovell’s 2004 book “Bernie’s Game” (updated and re-released as “Bernie Ecclestone: King of Sport” in 2008).
This has yielded plenty in the way of reminiscences and amusing anecdotes. But on the hard details of pivotal deals Ecclestone seems as hard to pin down as ever.
What we get is a more fleshed-out portrait of Ecclestone the person: his working-class upbringing, relationships with key figures, family life and so on.
For several years Ecclestone was wearing two hats (at minimum) as the head of a world championship-winning F1 team and the leader of the Formula One Constructors’ Association through which he and Max Mosley waged their infamous battles with the sport’s governing body. The book is split into two parts along these lines.
Among the more light-hearted moments include Ecclestone and Mosley winding up FISA President Jean-Marie Balestre by ringing him up and pretending to be Nelson Mandela.
Perhaps inevitably, this book presents a more sympathetic view of Ecclestone than that which has gone before. The cheeky, wisecracking character that comes across here is somewhat removed from the hard-edged figure in Lovell’s book. You get the impression that the real Ecclestone lies somewhere between the two.
In the opening pages Watkins quotes Ecclestone admitting “I’ve hurt people”. But when you get into the meat of the book those quoted seem more frustrated at their inability to stop him getting the better of them than bearing a serious grudge. At times it feels like punches have been pulled.
That doesn’t stop it from being the most illuminating and revealing book on Ecclestone’s life published so far. Never before have we has as detailed a portrait of the man who has made an art of ducking questions and frustrating interviewers.
Another book on Ecclestone is set for publication by Faber and Faber in February. It’s written by Tom Bower, who has made a name for himself with a series of revealing biographies of public figures including Gordon Brown, Mohammed Al-Fayed and Richard Branson. In July last year he won a legal battle with Richard Desmond over a claim made about him in a biography of Conrad Black.
Expect Bower’s “No angel: The secret life of Bernie Ecclestone” to be a very different proposition. Despite the withdrawal of his endorsement, “Bernie” may be seen as Ecclestone’s means of getting his version of events across before Bower does.
“Bernie: The biography of Bernie Ecclestone”
£19.99
Published by Haynes
ISBN 9780857330338
Originally planned as an “authorised” biography, Ecclestone withdrew his endorsement of the book and it is now considered ‘unauthorised’.
On top of that, another new biography of F1′s 80-year-old tycoon is expected in just two months’ time. So should you shell out for the nearly-authorised version or wait for the next one?
“Bernie” was written by Susan Watkins whose relationship with Ecclestone goes back almost three decades. She is the wife of Professor Sid Watkins who was F1′s safety and medical delegate from 1978-2005.
Having written biographies of several historical figures, this subject marks something of a departure for her in that he is still around to be interviewed.
Not that this necessarily means the notoriously evasive Ecclestone would be more forthcoming than Elizabeth I or Mary Queen of Scots might be if you tried to interview them today.
However Watkins’ access to Ecclestone has helped her gain more first-hand material than can be found in the first major work on him, Terry Lovell’s 2004 book “Bernie’s Game” (updated and re-released as “Bernie Ecclestone: King of Sport” in 2008).
This has yielded plenty in the way of reminiscences and amusing anecdotes. But on the hard details of pivotal deals Ecclestone seems as hard to pin down as ever.
What we get is a more fleshed-out portrait of Ecclestone the person: his working-class upbringing, relationships with key figures, family life and so on.
For several years Ecclestone was wearing two hats (at minimum) as the head of a world championship-winning F1 team and the leader of the Formula One Constructors’ Association through which he and Max Mosley waged their infamous battles with the sport’s governing body. The book is split into two parts along these lines.
Among the more light-hearted moments include Ecclestone and Mosley winding up FISA President Jean-Marie Balestre by ringing him up and pretending to be Nelson Mandela.
Perhaps inevitably, this book presents a more sympathetic view of Ecclestone than that which has gone before. The cheeky, wisecracking character that comes across here is somewhat removed from the hard-edged figure in Lovell’s book. You get the impression that the real Ecclestone lies somewhere between the two.
In the opening pages Watkins quotes Ecclestone admitting “I’ve hurt people”. But when you get into the meat of the book those quoted seem more frustrated at their inability to stop him getting the better of them than bearing a serious grudge. At times it feels like punches have been pulled.
That doesn’t stop it from being the most illuminating and revealing book on Ecclestone’s life published so far. Never before have we has as detailed a portrait of the man who has made an art of ducking questions and frustrating interviewers.
Another book on Ecclestone is set for publication by Faber and Faber in February. It’s written by Tom Bower, who has made a name for himself with a series of revealing biographies of public figures including Gordon Brown, Mohammed Al-Fayed and Richard Branson. In July last year he won a legal battle with Richard Desmond over a claim made about him in a biography of Conrad Black.
Expect Bower’s “No angel: The secret life of Bernie Ecclestone” to be a very different proposition. Despite the withdrawal of his endorsement, “Bernie” may be seen as Ecclestone’s means of getting his version of events across before Bower does.
“Bernie: The biography of Bernie Ecclestone”
£19.99
Published by Haynes
ISBN 9780857330338
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