Being fabulously wealthy has it’s drawbacks. No, really... it does!
Just ask Sheik Maktoum, the inspiration and driving force behind A1 Grand Prix, the new ‘World Cup Of Motor Racing’ which debuts at Brands Hatch in the UK on September 25.
He spent two years developing what he refers to as ‘a weekend project’ before going public and launching what is possibly one of the most ambitious sports start-ups of all time.
And when he’s not immersed in A1 matters, he’s running his father’s energy businesses (which have a staff of some 5,000 ), his own companies- which include a London-based oil concern- or trouble shooting around the world as a finance and marketing consultant.
But when it came to sourcing equipment for the A1 operation, which included the world’s biggest single order for racing cars, a new phenomenon comes into play.
While most of us may be concerned about rises in mortgage rates, Maktoum’s problem is what he refers to as ‘Sheik inflation.’
This is the process by which a prospective supplier adds a zero to the price of any goods the moment they learn that the prospective buyer is a wealthy Arab.
So what anti-inflationary measures does the Sheik take,
“ I cut my name in half and simply introduce myself as Mac,” he explained.
“When they don’t know who you are you get a realistic price.”
That’s a typically pragmatic approach from a man who loves cars and motor sport but sees A1 GP first and foremost as a business venture.
Ask him how much he’s ploughed in to date and he counters by inviting you to calculate the opportunity-cost of diverting his attention from other, well established and lucrative projects.
He expects A1 to record a loss in Year One, break even the following year and be profitable in the third year which is the duration of the current set of supplier and franchise contracts.
A further group of four national teams is expected to be announced next week and, significantly, they are likely to include a number of European countries. Consequently the Sheik is confident of a strong grid when the series - which runs throughout the winter to avoid clashes with F1 and other motor sports events – gets under way.
Sheik Maktoum is determined that it should succeed, not least because it’s a very personal project. It’s his concept, he’s done most of the key deals itself and his high level contact around the world have been critical. He even wrote the team and franchise handbook himself in a few days.
Equally strikingly, he says he wrote the music for one of the A1 promotional videos and, when doubts were expressed about the authenticity of this claim, he turned up at the office with his guitar and demonstrated exactly how it had been done.
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Execs at Coca Cola must be delighted with their first season of sponsorship of The Championship, the tier of English football below the might Premier League.
Figures out this week show that The Championship attracts more fans that the top leagues in Italy and France. Even though there are many games played in The Championship , which has 24 clubs against 18 elsewhere, its quite an achievement and says a lot about the depth of real support for local football clubs in England.
The Championship chairmen may or may not get the Intertoto Cup place they say they want and there isn’t a man among them who wouldn’t rather be playing in the Premier League.
But all the indications are that Coca Cola, with its efforts to identify with the ‘Real Fans’ of clubs at a local level, read the opportunity absolutely correctly when they signed their deal.
