The understanding of it all commercially is also very important for the manufacturers, he has a real feel for the business and that is something that I am learning. I have a lot more knowledge than I had a few years ago but, compared to people who have been in the sport and entrenched in it for a long time, I am a complete novice. People like Stuart Higgs and Jim Parker from the ACU are very eager and have a lot of experience, so it is important that I draw on that experience and listen to them.
I need to seek opinions and ultimately my job is to harness it all together and make the decisions to move it all forwards.
Crash.net:
MSV had a big part to play in the BSB already, with half of the events being at your circuits, so, in putting this deal together, was there ever any concern on your side that people might look at it and think that there was a conflict of interests in the person in charge of the series also hosting so many of the events?
Jonathan Palmer:
I think that is a strength of it - that the guy in charge has seen it from a circuits point of view, has a very big vested interest in it from that angle and is certainly going to make sure that the deal for the circuits – who fundamentally own the championship – is better than it has been and better than it would be if a third party outside the circuits was running it. It is being run pretty much in-house now, which has to be a good thing, with the advantages that we are the biggest business in UK motorsport in terms of track operations.
A single circuit might find it to be a big financial gamble, and it is a significant financial gamble for us but, nevertheless, we also have a great depth of resource from people – be it PR, marketing, legal, IT, sales and finance – that we can draw on to run those functions of BSB.
