Silverstone shrugs off rival's deal

THE OWNERS of Silverstone yesterday dismissed the deal struck by Brands Hatch to stage the British Grand Prix as a crude attempt by the rival motor racing circuit to bounce them into agreeing to a takeover.

Under the contract signed between Brands Hatch Leisure and Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Administration, the Grand Prix will move from Silverstone to the Kent circuit in 2002 and remain there until at least 2007.

Nicola Foulston, chief executive of Brands Hatch, refused to disclose how much she had paid for the rights to the race. But Mr Ecclestone is understood to have told Silverstone it would cost $11.5m plus 10 per cent of the gate receipts to keep the race at the Leicestershire circuit.

The agreement with Mr Ecclestone is conditional on Brands Hatch getting planning permission for a pounds 20m expansion of the site, which would involve a huge increase in its seating capacity and car parking, a new pits and paddock complex and extensive improvements to the track to bring it up to today's Formula One standards.

Ms Foulston has been trying for several months to persuade the owners of Silverstone, the British Racing Drivers Club, to agree a takeover. She has made an indicative offer valuing the circuit at pounds 80m, which would result in a payout of pounds 95,000 a head for the 832 members of the BRDC.

At a joint press conference held yesterday at Brands Hatch and Monte Carlo, where Mr Ecclestone is attending the Monaco Grand Prix, Ms Foulston again held out the prospect of buying Silverstone and then keeping the Grand Prix there. "We wanted to buy Silverstone when it had Formula One - we are still interested in the circuit without Formula One."

Mr Ecclestone later emerged from his mobile office at the site of the Monaco Grand Prix and agreed that Silverstone could still host the race, although Ms Foulston would be in charge. "If she doesn't run it at Silverstone, she'll run it at Brands. It doesn't matter to me which it is. But if this deal hadn't been done Britain would have lost the Grand Prix. That's 100 per cent certain," he said.

"Silverstone is like a big club race. They've got new grandstands at last but it's still a bit Battle of Britain. I could put that on at Biggin Hill."

"We've got to raise the standards in Europe to match Malaysia. Nicola Foulston will do that. We've gone through the plans and they're confident they will get planning permission. I don't see why not. We've also gone through the figures and they can pay us what they're contracted to pay."

A spokesman for the BRDC said: "The driving factor behind this deal is Nicola's desire to get her hands on Silverstone. She wants it very much and she is getting desperate."

Brands Hatch has not hosted the British Grand Prix since 1986 and there is some scepticism about whether it can be made suitable. Brands Hatch hopes to obtain planning permission by the end of this year but has yet to put in an application and is likely to face opposition from residents of an executive housing estate 50 yards away.

The BRDC is in the process of restructuring itself along more commercial lines in order to fend off a bid from Brands Hatch. A revised plan drawn up by its advisers, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, will be put to members in the next few weeks. This entails splitting up Silverstone so that the circuit and clubhouse continue to be owned by the club while the running of the business, including its non-racing activities, is taken over by a new plc in which the 832 members will each have shares.

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