DECEMBER 4, 2006

A dangerous time for Turkey

It is a dangerous time of year to be a turkey - and the FIA World Council will be discussing this matter when it meets this week to discuss what to do about the outstanding fine of $2.5m that the Turkish Automobile and Motorsports Federation (TOMSFED) needs to pay for its involvement in the podium debacle at the Turkish Grand Prix last summer.

The club faces bankruptcy if it tries to pay the fine but if it does not pay it will probably have its sporting power removed and will cease to have any reason to exist. Thus, even attempting to pay is a waste of time and money, and it is best that the club accepts its fate and a new club be formed and accepted by the FIA.

These things are relative easy to achieve as we have seen in recent years in India where one federation was rapidly replaced by another after the original club decided to remove its FIA representative and nominate a new man for the position. The result was that the original delegate set up a new federation and the old club had its sporting power withdrawn.

The overall result was that the same man remained at the FIA but everything else changed.

There is, therefore, nothing to stop Mumtaz Tahincioglu, the head of TOMSFED, from starting a new club and leaving the Turkish GP mess behind - if the FIA accepts him.

The FIA would, of course, need a new club as it wants the Turkish GP to go ahead.