[DOF_power]

Mosley vote threatens FIA future

Tuesday 3rd June 2008


The FIA's vote of confidence in Max Mosley threatens to split the organisation, with a number of high-profile clubs set to threaten their withdrawal from motorsport's governing body.

At Tuesday's Extraordinary General Assembly in Paris, Mosley received the endorsement of 103 of the 169 votes.

However, it is believed that his survival was dependent on the votes of the smaller national bodies, while a number of influential and heavyweight clubs opposed him. With the FIA voting procedure based on a principle of 'one club, one vote' Mosley was able to repel their criticism, but, while he won, the vote has instead put the future of the FIA in jeopardy.

According to the BBC, USA delegate Robert Darbelnet said he was 'disappointed with the outcome and may withdraw his country's membership' as he left the FIA headquarters. It is also understood that Germany ADAC has threatened to 'rest' its international activities.

The importance of the vote was highlighted ahead of the meeting by Confederation of Australian Motor Sport chief Gary Connelly as he arrived in Paris.

"This is a very important day for motorsport," he told reporters. "This isn't just about the future of one person; this is about the future of a whole organisation with more than 100 years of history."

[DOF_power]

Germany's ADAC has already frozen their relationship to FIA.

[DOF_power]

Germany boycotts FIA, USA may follow
Fallout from the Mosley vote of confidence


The fallout of Max Mosley's survival as FIA President has begun, with Europe's largest automobile club vowing to now boycott the Paris-based governing body.

After a clear majority of FIA affiliates voted to keep the scandal-gripped Briton as President on Tuesday, Germany's Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (ADAC) announced in a statement they would boycott the FIA in protest.

The club said it viewed the outcome of the vote "with regret and incredulity".

"This is a reason for Europe's largest automobile club to let its functions and co-operation in FIA working groups rest at world level," the statement read.

"ADAC will stay with its decision as long as Max Mosley holds the top FIA office as President. "

The representative of America's automobile association (AAA), Robert Darbelnet, said the club was considering joining ACAC in the protest.

He told reporters in Paris that the result was a "disappointing day for the FIA".

"I will give it very serious consideration whether or not to remain effectively engaged in an organisation that condones this type of activity," Darbelnet added.

Source: GMM
© CAPSIS International



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FIA in crisis, facing beginning of the end?
Tuesday, 3rd June 2008

'Today the FIA is an organisation in crisis, facing the prospect of being ripped apart.'

World motorsport's governing body has been described as being ‘in crisis' and facing ‘the beginning of the end' following the outcome of the vote of confidence on Max Mosley's future today.

The FIA President – shamed by a lurid front page exposé on his private life published in the News of the World just over two months ago – survived a secret ballot called to decide whether or not he was deemed fit to continue in what is the most powerful post within the sport by the perhaps surprisingly large margin of 103 votes to 55.

Former Minardi (now Scuderia Toro Rosso) owner Paul Stoddart – a long-time nemesis of the embattled Briton – believes the repercussions may be such that the FIA will never recover, with a number of influential national clubs already threatening to withdraw their membership and form their own breakaway organisation instead.

“This is a sad day for motorsport because this is the beginning of the end of the FIA,” the Australian told BBC Radio Five Live, suggesting the aforementioned threat is not one to be taken lightly. “The damage done is irreparable, and we will now see the demise of the FIA.”

Those views were echoed by BBC sports correspondent Adam Parsons, who fears that notwithstanding Mosley's resounding victory – or perhaps even because of it – the damage to the FIA's credibility and future has already been done.

“He won by a clear majority,” Parsons said, “but among those who opposed him there is overt anger and resentment.

“The US, German and Dutch raised the spectre of breaking away from the FIA in protest, [which] is an unprecedented threat.

“Today the FIA is an organisation in crisis, facing the prospect of being ripped apart.”

It has been suggested that key to Mosley's success was the support of a large number of the smaller national bodies, with the more heavyweight organisations such as the American Automobile Association and its German equivalent the ADAC expressing their opposition [see separate story – click here]. That argument would mean that the FIA voting system of ‘one club, one vote' would quite possibly have worked in the 68-year-old's favour.

“This is a very important day for motorsport,” Confederation of Australian Motor Sport chief Gary Connelly told reporters in Paris. “This isn't just about the future of one person; this is about the future of a whole organisation with more than 100 years of history.”

[Racer Duck]

WOW!

DOF, how do you interpret Germany's "rest" statement? I'm a little confused by it.

However, there's certainly no confusion in either the USA nor Germany's position re: Mosley's continuing in office.

And, more importantly, how does this now affect the remainder of the F1, WTCC, WRC, GT, GT3, Autocross, etc., seasons? Will BMW and Mercedes cease all participation in scheduled events.? What about the teams from the other thumb down countries?

I haven't seen GB's position (not that it's not out there, just haven't seen it), do you know which way they voted?

[DOF_power]

Germany id out:

German body leaves FIA working groups

Germany's national motoring body, ADAC, has been the first major organisation to react to Max Mosley's victory in today's confidence vote, saying they regret the result.

ADAC had been one of the bodies who had asked Mosley to reconsider his position as head of the FIA following revelations about his private life.

The German body, which claims to be the largest Automobile club in Europe, said on Tuesday that it was withdrawing all involvement with the FIA.

The ADAC said it will continue with that policy as long as Mosley stays as president of the governing body.

"With regret and incomprehension, the ADAC has learned from the decision by the General Assembly of the FIA in Paris to confirm Max Mosley in his function as president of the FIA," the ADAC said in a statement.

"For Europe's largest motoring club, this is a reason to put down all its functions and the involvement in the global organisation of motoring clubs with immediate effect and to step down from the globally active FIA working groups.

"The ADAC will stick to this attitude as long as Max Mosley will be on duty as president of the FIA.

"After the affair became public on March 30, 2008, the ADAC insistently called upon Mosley in a personal letter to step down in order to avoid any harm being done to the FIA and its institutions. This was done in close co-operation with other major motoring clubs within this global organisation.

"The service portfolio for ADAC members will by no means be affected by the decision now taken. This is being ensured by a closely-knit worldwide network that the ADAC has already established for a long time and that is working very effectively.

"The services will be carried out without any compromises by its own companies as well as by European and global organisations in which the club is participating."

From what I understand in the case of Germany without ADAC the FIA cannot stage the Grand-Prix of Germany.
The race held last year in Germany was the Grand-Prix of Europe not of Germany as ADAC refuse to give it the status.

The same will probably be true for other cases/countries, meaning FIA better come with a lot of Grand Prix of Europe/equivalents to fill in for the national Grand Prix races and find a very clever way to explain the "world" in its world championships.

The full extent of the frictions and split are yet to be forseen.

[DOF_power]

'Mosley had support of just 5% of FIA membership'

Wednesday 4th June 2008


Max Mosley, the disgraced FIA president, was able to stay in his post through the support of national bodies that represent just 5% of the organisation's membership, it has been calculated

While Mosley secured a resounding victory in terms of vote cast in Tuesday's meeting in Paris, his detractors, of whom there are many, claim that the 103 votes cast in his favour were made by clubs that account for only a fraction of the governing body's membership. It is believed that the vast majority of countries which endorsed Mosley's presidency were from Eastern Europe, Africa and the developing world.

While Bernie Ecclestone has already argued that the vote of confidence in Mosley should not be regarded as a reason for him to stay on, pointing out that "Just because he gets a few clubs from Africa voting for him will not make the King of Spain want to shake his hand", a number of heavyweight bodies have already threatened to withdraw from the FIA. They include the AAA and the Canadian Automobile Club - according to The Daily Telegraph, they "represent 60 per cent of the membership but had only two votes between them".

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by DOF_power

Germany id out:



From what I understand in the case of Germany without ADAC the FIA cannot stage the Grand-Prix of Germany.
The race held last year in Germany was the Grand-Prix of Europe not of Germany as ADAC refuse to give it the status.

The same will probably be true for other cases/countries, meaning FIA better come with a lot of Grand Prix of Europe/equivalents to fill in for the national Grand Prix races and find a very clever way to explain the "world" in its world championships.

The full extent of the frictions and split are yet to be forseen.

According to the FIA website calendars, these are the FIA/ADAC events in the next 60 days that I found which appear to be canceled (there's several events in August including the WRC ADAC Rallye Deutschland and WTCC Oschersleben events):

• 29/06/2008 - Int. ADAC Autocross Seelow - European Championship for Autocross Drivers
• 06/07/2008 - Oschersleben Motorsport Arena - GT Championship Series
• 06/07/2008 - Oschersleben Motorsport Arena - GT3 European Championship Series
• 13/07/2008 - Nürburgring Grand Prix - European Truck Racing Championship Series
• 20/07/2008 - Grand Prix of Germany - Formula 1 Championship Series
• 27/07/2008 - Int. ADAC Autocross Matschenberg - European Championship for Rallycross drivers

I guess if anyone has already bought their tickets, ya might want to check into this further.

[DOF_power]

It's seems to be getting really ugly. I'm hearing Nurburgring is gonna go.

[Racer Duck]

"go as in run an FIA event or "go" as in jump off the FIA ship?

[DOF_power]

As in not gonna be held anymore, and with European Grand Prix moved from Germany to Spain it will this will Germany out of the circus.
Not good considering the german audience were down 20-25% with Michael Schumacher's retirement.

[Bob Tanner]

And we [USA] thought Tony George's split with CART was ugly? That was peanuts compared to this! That was just Tony against a few team owners. This is having entire countries turning against the organization! Wow!

[DOF_power]

The German, American and Dutch clubs held a meeting after the vote to discuss whether they should pull out of the FIA and start up a new rival body.
Now with germans gone don't be surprised about anything.

[clutch]

Originally Posted by DOF_power

The German, American and Dutch clubs held a meeting after the vote to discuss whether they should pull out of the FIA and start up a new rival body.
Now with germans gone don't be surprised about anything.

Well sofar Mosley is a survivor thats for sure and he obviously carries some influence......this will be interesting. You make it sound like there will be a major split......I'm not as sure

[Racer Duck]

Does anybody have any information that would help us piece together, not only which "clubs" were defecting but also to where?

Germany was quite adamant about what they intend to do, what about the other "adamant" clubs?

[DOF_power]

The F1-FIA plot thickens - or does it?


Bernie Ecclestone has written to all the FIA club presidents saying that he wishes to clarify the current situation, blaming confusion on the media - a regular thing in F1 circles.
He says that "the position of Formula One Management and the teams and the Formula 1 promoters is very simple. They would like a Concorde Agreement signed in basically the same format as in the past agreements".
Ecclestone goes on to say that "a number of manufacturers and teams along with their sponsors have stated that they thought the president should step down because of matters in his private life. This is their and only their opinion as they are not part of the FIA and therefore do not have votes".
He adds that Max Mosley has been a friend for 40 and "hopes that he still is". He concludes by saying that Mosley has "in his way carried out many matters which have been beneficial to the FIA and should be appreciated for this".
It is not clear what this letter hopes to achieve, beyond being slightly more conciliatory than some of the statements attributed to Ecclestone in recent weeks.
What is interesting is that the letter coincides with new rumours that suggest that CVC Capital Partners may be involved in preliminary talks with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp about selling its shares in the Formula One group, presumably by way of the ultimate holding company at the moment, Delta Topco. This is a Jersey-based company which is 70% owned by CVC with other shares belonging to JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, the Ecclestone Family trust Bambino and Bernie Ecclestone himself.
In the current circumstances, it is hard to know whether any rumour can be trusted because there are all manner of propaganda wars going on to create impressions that may or may not be true. Rather than try to analyse whether this is right or wrong, it is probably best to simply state that the rumour exists.
It is certainly an interesting and logical idea as News Corp is one of the few companies that might be able to generate more revenues from the sport, because it owns and operates not only TV stations but also satellite TV networks such as Sky and DirecTV. These allow the company to broadcast its own programming without having to rely on other TV companies for delivery or for content.
This could mean that the various News Corp stations could generate the advertising revenues associated with F1 without needing to use the traditional broadcasters, which currently pay for the TV rights but then make their money back and generate profits by selling advertising.
There are any number of implications of such a deal, not least that News Corp owns the News of the World newspaper, the publication that exposed Max Mosley's recent escapades and it is now heavily involved in legal action with the FIA President.
The FIA has a controversial veto clause in its contract with the Formula One group that allows it to refuse a change of ownership if it does not like the buyer.
The rumour may be a complete fabrication but people trying to create perceptions about the Mosley Scandal, but it is not easy to know fact from fiction at the moment.