FEBRUARY 16, 2002

Burden appointed "MP for motorsport"

RICHARD BURDEN, the British Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield, has been appointed by the Sports Minister Richard Caborn to work as a liaison between the government of and the motorsport industry. His first priority will be to ensure that the work needed on the roads in the Silverstone area will be completed before the British Grand Prix in July.

The 47-year-old is a member of the 750 Motor Club and the Historic Sports Car Club and has been head of the House of Commons Motor Club for the last five years. He is also head of the All Party Parliamentary Motor Group.

Burden's job is to make sure that nothing goes wrong with the running of the race this year as organizers are under pressure from the FIA to get the job done properly. Burden and Caborn visited Silverstone on Thursday to inspect the work in progress and hope that the weather will not slow down the contractors as the deadlines are already extremely tight.