Will A1GP undermine Champ Car?

A reader asks, Dear AutoRacing1.com, The new A1GP appears to be getting a lot of press lately, they have a huge amount of Arab money behind them, they are doing some urban races and they are using the same team-by-country concept that Champ Car is trying to do. They use the term Grand Prix in their title, yet Bernie does not come down on them at all, but he does come down hard on the use of Grand Prix by the new Grand Prix Masters series. What is really going on here? Dave Westphall, Miami, FL.

Dear Dave, we can only speculate what Bernie is up to. Yes it does appear that A1GP has adopted some of the same business strategy that Champ Car has and they use Grand Prix in their title which is a definite plus as most people in the world understand what Grand Prix means – a sort of universal branded name. (See related article on the use of the word Grand Prix)

We are not sure how popular this series will be as the cars are smaller and have less HP than F1 and Champ Car. It was originally meant to be a winter series focused on the Middle East as a way to train drivers from that part of the world. It has evolved into much more than that, a true world series. Like we said many times, it will be interesting to see what the new Champ Car is and where the series positions itself in the World Order of Motorsports. If they move Champ Car closer to F1 in performance then A1GP will be less of a threat. We expect news about the new Champ Car later this week. By all accounts it should be lighter and faster than the current car.

In a way it is too bad that there is the proliferation of junior open wheel formulas around the world as it only serves to dilute the marketplace and make it more difficult for anyone to succeed. Imagine how strong Champ Car could be if Sheikh Maktoum (A1GP owner) had combined his resources with OWRS rather than go off and start their own series. Then again perhaps that's the way Bernie likes it – divide and conquer, hence why he hasn't tried to stop them from using the Grand Prix title. Mark C.