DECEMBER 8, 2009

Forums on both sides of the ocean

This week will see two Motor Sport Business Forums: one in Monte Carlo as usual and a second in Orlando, Florida, where the inaugural Motor Sport Business Forum North America will take place.

This week will see two Motor Sport Business Forums: one in Monte Carlo as usual and a second in Orlando, Florida, where the inaugural Motor Sport Business Forum North America will take place. Among those who will be appearing at the event are two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, Lesa France Kennedy, the chief executive officer of the International Speedway Corporation; Bobby Rahal, the former driver who now runs Rahal Letterman Racing, plus the leading executives from the Indy Racing League, the National Hod Rod Association, GrandAm, the American Le Mans Series and big players from the world of US sports television, circuits across the country and representatives from the auotmobile companies involved in the sport.

France Kennedy and Rahal will be the keynote speakers while nearly four dozen other high-powered executives will participate in panel discussions throughout the two-day forum. The forum is being organized and hosted by Switzerland™s IM2 Events 9which runs the Monaco event) in league with Just Marketing International (JMI), the motorsports-exclusive marketing agency, which is run by Zak Brown. The event is being held in the run-up to the huge Performance Racing Industry Trade Show, the biggest exhibition in global motorsports. The subjects under discussion will include the state of US motorsports, how the media delivers the sport to the US public, how team onwership as a marketing tool.

Meanwhile in Monaco the annual Business Forum there will feature keynote speeches from Tony Fernandes, the boss of the new Lotus F1 team, plus Jacques Raynaud, the Vice-Chairman of Eurosport, which not only televises major events but also promotes the FIA World Touring Car Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Among those expected to appear are Alex Tai, the man who will head Virgin's F1 team, Nick Fry, the CEO of Brawn GO, Richard Cregan (the boss of the Yas Marina Circuit) and others.