SEPTEMBER 13, 2001
Manufacturers agree to push ahead with rival series
THE automobile manufacturers met at the Frankfurt Motor Show yesterday and agreed to push ahead with their plans to establish their own World Championship in 2008 when the current Concorde Agreement expires.
The FIA has sold the commercial rights for 100 years for the relatively small sum of $315m but the federation says that it will licence any new championship if it can prove that it has the necessary levels of safety and organization. It has no real choice as to do otherwise would be to infringe European competition law.
The problem for Kirch is that if all the teams were to go with a new championship, he would have no-one to stage the races - and so his 100-year deal would not amount to much.