JANUARY 9, 2006

You can help out the motorsport industry

The British government is currently in the process of defining what uses money from the National Lottery should be put to after 2009 and motorsport, which has been largely ignored to date, has the opportunity to get in on the action. And with $1.75bn a year up for grabs, with sport getting around $290m, the motorsport industry has an important opportunity to get government aid for the future.

The money raised by the National Lottery is used to fund "good causes" which are defined by the government and at the moment there are five categories: arts and film; heritage; sport; charities and environment, health and education. These will remain unchanged in 2009 but the categories within are yet to be defined and thus there is a chance that motorsport can get a better deal than has been the case in the 11 years since the National Lottery was created. The chance for the public to have its say is open only until February but if you want to have a say you can fill in a questionnaire at: Questionnaire

The decisions will be announced in June.