F1 names to assist Chinese racing development.

Four leading figures from international motorsport have come together with the common purpose of helping China nurture its developing motorsport industry at all stages, from the Chinese Grand Prix down to grass roots level.

GianPaolo Dallara, Jean-Claude Migeot, Bruno Engelric and Luca Birindelli have created Asia Racing Technologies [ART], which will be run in partnership with Chinese partner Hannah Sun - the MD of Chinaboard Investment Consultants - and with the full approval Shi Tianshu, the president of the Federation of Automobile Sports of the People's Republic of China [FASC].

Dallara is well known as a chassis builder, currently dominating the F3 and IRL markets, as well as providing spec cars for both GP2 and the World Series by Renault. Migeot's reputation also precedes him, having worked as an innovative aerodynamicist with Renault, Ferrari and Tyrrell in F1 in the 1980s and early 1990s. He is currently involved with companies specialising in aerodynamic development and wind tunnel testing.

Engelric and Birindelli may not be as well known to the general motorsport public, with the former starting his career as an engine specialist with Peugeot before going on to become the chairman of the Motorsport Expert Centre (MEC) in Switzerland. He is also MD of Del West Europe, specialists in the manufacture of valve train components. Italian lawyer Birindelli, meanwhile, was adviser to Enzo Ferrari between 1985 and 1988 and. following il Commendatore's death, remained in contact with the F1 before moving to China and developing a successful legal consultancy there.

The quartet has already identified several areas in which it wants to help China develop, and programmes are currently being put in motion to achieve those aims.

A Young Engineer Training course will seek to create a minimum population of Chinese engineers - between 50 and 100 - with a basic culture of racing technologies and relevant practical experience, for example to F3 level, within five years. Training periods are expected to be broken up by a work practice period in Europe, with the aim that, every year, 15-20 engineers will 'graduate' in the specialties of mechanical design, aerodynamics, engine development, manufacturing, electronics and race car preparation.

Once Chinese motorsport entrepreneurs have emerged from the Young Engineer Training programme, ART hopes to set up research and development facilities within what it calls the 'Chinese Motorsport Valley', which will be based close to the new Shanghai F1 facility. The Chinese engineers will be encouraged to create and set-up their own engineering activities, which will be directed at various new and existing championships in China and Asia.

Asia Racing Technologies will directly control both the YET and Motorsport Valley programmes, but will play a supporting role to Sun and the FASC in helping to set-up and develop four more ambitious programmes:

The first Chinese race school will aim to identify and train the first generation of professional racing drivers to emerge from the country. Each year, a national selection procedure - based on talent and not personal finance - will aim to discover 16 hopefuls with the talent to race at a junior level, although, in the medium term, the aim is obviously to discover true Chinese driving talent and channel its development towards international championships.

Once ART has started to train the first young Chinese engineers, mechanics and drivers, a junior national single seater championship will be established, with an aim for the inaugural running to be as early as 2008. This is understood to be being pitched at F3 level.

The championship should also serve as an outlet for the country's design talent as, with the first generation of Chinese graduates is in place, the development of the national industry continues with their own racing cars. ART intends that, as soon as the first group of engineers has returned from Europe, they will start working on the design of the first Chinese F3 chassis and engine.

"We are all very excited by this new venture," Birindelli commented, "I have been working in China for more than 15 years and have developed a strong network of connections which is one of the keys to the long-term success of ART.

"The invaluable experience and connections of GianPaolo Dallara, Jean-Claude Migeot and Bruno Engelric are also the heart of our programme. We have known each other for a long time and we think along the same lines. We know our vision is a great one and we believe that the partnership with our Chinese counterparts will help the long term success of China as a motorsport nation.

"The four of us have seen a lot of success over the past 25 years and we believe the time has come for us to give something back to motorsport. China features quite highly on the world map of the road car industry and, since 2004, has made its mark on the world map of motorsport after building the world's biggest F1 facility in Shanghai.

"China now has the top of its motorsport pyramid, but it will only develop outside the Chinese Grand Prix if we really invest time and expertise to assist it in developing home-grown motorsport from the base right to the top of the sport. Our mission is to provide our Chinese partners with the right training, technology and logistics to fast-track the development of the Chinese motorsport industry.

"Asia Racing Technologies is ambitious, but realistic at the same time. If we do not involve Chinese nationals, provide them with a solid foundation of motorsport knowledge and guide them towards the top of the industry, it is feasible that it will remain an untapped possibility. Our programme will require major investment, both human and financial, but we know this is the best way forward for China and its motor racing industry. We have a strong core group of people and more and more partners are becoming involved."

Dallara echoed the sentiment, and admitted that he had dared to dream of the project's outcome.

"We know ART is a long-term venture, but it a great dream to think that, in five or ten years' time, we were the people who had the vision and help China towards their first F1 team or Le Mans 24 Hours car," he said, "I know it is a dream but I believe that, as a team, we have what it takes to make sure it happens."