The F1 teams are testing today in Bahrain but not many people stayed on to watch as they have been away from home for somewhere between two weeks and a month, depending on whether they stayed out in Asia between Australia and Malaysia. There were a lot of F1 folk on the Emirates flight out of Bahrain at 03.50 on Monday morning. It is not a great time to be at an airport but it meant that one could be home by lunchtime on Monday. Well, that was the theory… We went straight from the track to the airport, after we finished off GP+, stopping at the hotel only to pick up the bags and pay the bills. We were still hammering away at the computers (doing other stuff) in the lounge. Sadly, there was morning fog in Dubai and that meant that the plane stayed on the ground in Manama for around four hours (I was really not paying attention as I was either sleeping or working, or doing both at the same time). The end result was that we arrived in Dubai after most of the connections had been missed. There were a few who managed to bully (or bullshit) their way onto planes that were spooling up to leave, while the airport staff told the usual lies about why fraught passengers could not board a flight that was still there. For most of us, however, it was six hours in the lounge (no great burden) and we were finally off in the mid-afternoon to arrive at our various destinations late at night, some with luggage and some without.
A short sleep later and I was able to do one of my favourite things: walk through the town square where I live, nibbling on a croissant on my way home from the boulangerie. It struck me that Spring had definitely sprung. My “garden”, a solitary mint plant on the kitchen window ledge, is keenly growing in order to give up its leaves for mojitos and other such delights. It was then off to the Chinese consulate in Paris, having been instructed to go there by the folks in Shanghai. There is a certain irony in this as the consulate is on the Rue Washington… As expected, no one had any idea what I was doing there. Supervisors were not there to be consulted and heads were scratched. They would call, I was told, so I went home again and, literally as I walked in the door, the phone rang. I needed to go back to the Consulate again (for my fourth visit so far this year). Oh joy! So I went back to Paris again… and with the promise of a visa by Friday if I pay extra charges – I decided to enjoy Paris in the Spring. Oddly, there were a lot of Chinese people. I hoped (secretly) that they had had lots of griefs with their visas.
As I wandered down the Avenue des Champs Elysées it struck me that anyone who tells you that motorsport does not sell road cars is not on the pace at all. The celebrated piece of road – probably the most famous in the world – features no fewer than five of the busiest car showrooms on earth. The most famous of these is the Atelier Renault (literally the Renault workshop) which has been the company’s primary showroom since 1910. In 1962 it became Le Pub Renault, with the big idea being to have a car showroom with a bar and restaurant attached. This attracted millions of visitors until 2000 when it was revamped as the Atelier. They say that 25 million people have visited the facility in the last 14 years. They have a Red Bull F1 car on display at the entrance and the staff inside wander around in Red Bull team uniforms.
A little further up the road is the Rendez-Vous Toyota, a pretty similar establishment described by the company as being “the unique brand flagship of Toyota in Europe”. This is reckoned to have had 11 million visitors in 16 years. Once again motorsport is in your face, with a Toyota TS030 Hybrid Le Mans car in prime position, hoping to lure punters into the showroom. This is the car that won five WEC races in 2012 and 2013, driven by the likes of Alexander Wurz (with whom I was flying home on Monday).
Across the road from this is the Mercedes-Benz Gallery where the Stuttgart firm has another pretty similar (but rather more flashy) showroom. Pride of place at the moment is not a Mercedes F1 car (which surprised me) but rather the only road-going CLK-LM car built. The only other car of this type, built in order to homologate the racing cars, was used for crash-testing and so this is a unique machine. It is based on the CLK-LM which won the FIA GT Championship in 1997 and 1998.
The Peugeot Avenue facility is nearby, although this is currently closed for refurbishment. This claims to get close to three million visitors a year and you can buy all kinds of stuff there, including the traditional Peugeot-branded spice grinders, in addition to more modern designer gear. Further down the Avenue there is Peugeot’s sister brand Citroën’s C42 showroom, the whackiest of the lot with audacious architecture and a pretty innovative way to display cars. This opened in 2007 and has already had 10 million visitors… The five-storey building has what looks like a corkscrew going up the middle with cars on top of one another all the way up to a fancy atrium.
The bottom three cars on display were all motorsport related, the most interesting being the new WTC challenger, known as the C-Elysee WTCC, which will be campaigned this year by Sebastien Loeb, Yvan Muller and others. If one relates all this to modern Formula 1 it is fairly clear that the sport is best-served by having motorsport technologies that are used in the roadgoing machinery. The world does no long wants thumping great V8s that scream outrageously. The motorsport fans might like them, but then the average motorsport fan these days is a middle-aged man and car companies are forever chasing a younger audience… which is something that F1 needs to consider before all of its fans die of old age.
joeblogsf1 
I’m probably not the first to say this, but the only problem with noise in the F1 world at the moment is the incessant whine coming from the direction of Bernie.
And Montemezelo, or however you spell it. They were both dissing their own sport quite badly all weekend before the race, and by Sunday after the race both had egg all over their faces.
Oh Dear.
Excellent post. Enjoyable read.
Not that it’s of any importance, but the Mercedes in 1997 was the CLK-GTR, 1998 was the CLK-LM, and lastly in 1999 was the high flying CLR.
Funny side note, my predictive text remembers all of those acronyms from the last time I recounted the odd Mercedes nomenclature sequence; I type CL and it gives the option of CLK-LM or CLK-GTR. 🙂
That’s cool, your predictive text suggestions. I always get confused between the CLK-GTR, CLK LM and Mark Webber’s flying CLR. When I see the pics it’s hard to tell which one is which, particularly between the GTR and LM…
It learns pretty quickly!
The CLK-GTR has a wider roof – it extends almost the full width of the car (almost like the first generation Daytona Prototypes) and it generally looks like a GT car; the CLK-LM has a similar nose and other features, but narrower roof – like they chopped up the CLK-GTR and slapped on a tiny roof; the CLR looks like a Group C prototype, but with Mercedes design – the nose is optimised for aero, with just subtle changes to make it look like it might be a Mercedes.
Mercedes didn’t do themselves any favours with the nomenclature. At least with Audi, the numbers go up (R8, R10, R15, R18). With Porsche’s 911 GT1, they had “EVO” then the year (“EVO97”). Peugeot just called them all 908s! Hard to get that wrong. 🙂
My heart goes out to the Ferrari showroom. Sales must have bombed since sunday night.
I do enjoy seeing those ‘garagistes’ (such as Force India) whooping the arrogant italian red cars. It must wind up Montezemolo something chronic.
Enjoyed your musings on finding race cars in out of context places. Reminded me of my last trip to Hawai’i. We spent the last couple of nights in Waikiki. Kalakua Avenue is the main shopping avenue in Waikiki, and while strolling along, looking at shops filled with things I would never buy, there was a Ferrari store. It sold everything branded Ferrari except for the cars. In pride of place, though, was an F2003GA. I was tickled pink to see it. I visited the store several times and took numerous pictures. A formula one car in Hawai’i, of all places!
Excellent post. Enjoyable read.
Not that it matters, but the Mercedes in 1997 was the CLK-GTR, 1998 was the only year of the CLK-LM (pictured and correctly identified), and lastly in 1999 was the high flying CLR.
Funny side note: predictive text remembers those acronyms from the last time I had this conversation… Type in CLK and the options are CLK-LM or CLK-GTR. 🙂
How early can you apply for a Chinese media visa?
Not early enough
Hopefully they let you leave with less drama than it takes to get in the country.
When I visited those shops some 10 years ago they were proudly showing Fi cars. Renault had Williams and Renault, Mercedes had a McLaren, etc. Now it’s another Formula. Significant?
Is a red bull not an F1 car?
Guys like Ecclestone and di Montezemolo may still be kicking and screaming, but F1 has left the 20th Century in its rear view mirror.
We may need a little work on the sound (not too much if you ever want, say, a race in NYC). And these new power units may need a little more development time, but things should be pretty good in the near future
” I decided to enjoy Paris in the Spring. Oddly, there were a lot of Chinese people. I hoped (secretly) that they had had lots of griefs with their visas.”
Why, that’s right nice of you to wish your bad experience with lousy government upon other innocent people. 🙄
As for the car dealers, I call shenanigans on sales figures linked to racing. Hot girls leaning up against a car, sell a hell of a lot more vehicles than racing does. IMO, If all auto manufacturers left racing, they’d still sell the same amount of cars.
Get a sense of humour
Indeed. It made me chuckle, and I would have thought the exact same thing. Jim needs to lighten up.
Nice piece.
And yet the only car I ever bought was of a brand that I liked because of their success in rallying.
And the company car I got at some point, well I could pick between a few of them and I went pretty much straight for the one car that was also racing in the WRC at the time.
Motorsport does sell cars.
Nice piece, Joe, pity others don’t seem to be able to enjoy it as much as I did.
Thank you.
Sorry for the double post. The first one seemed to disappear, and no matter how many times I refreshed, it wouldn’t show up… Of course, now it shows up after I repeated the post.
No sign of the Chinese in the Peugeot establishment yet then?
You need to keep an eye on the mint or it will spread, the roots grow out of the bottom of the pot and take over the world.
I have it under control. I really like mojitos and learned how to make them properly at the Floridita in Havana!
Watch the sugar levels…nice drink but way to much sugar for me! Of course over here in the UK there is loads of talk of tax on sugar as it’s bad for us…there’s always something that is bad for us even in motorsport, or so we are told. It was an interesting blog Joe, but I guess I had better stand up for us old guys, ( I’m in my 50’s ), and say I still think sportscars is the place for battery power. My boys are in their early 20’s and have grown up with motorsport from when they were toddlers. They are in your demograph for continuing the fan base, and they still prefer the V10’s which they remember from their first introduction to the sport. Interestingly, they don’t see hybrids as the way forward, they like noise and spectacle. The spectacle they are currently happy with, but they think the noise is rubbish and they can’t stand all the petty rules and inconsistencies of penalties applied to drivers and teams. They both think Ricciardo and Bottas have been hard done by this year, and can’t understand why Maldonado can get away with his awful driving. To keep them interested the sport needs to provide more competition and less rules. They have found it hard to keep watching F1 over the last few years as it has been so dominated by Ferrari & RBR. And now, they are moaning that it will be Merc all year, They think F1 should look hard at MotoGP for ideas of how to entertain the fans.
For my mojitos I use raw sugar, it gives some sweeness but not too much and the grains are quite large and hard which means that they dissolve slowly. Then again, I really do not like sweet things, so maybe I am too far towards the other end.
On the engine noise – I understand what you are saying and I will never forget the day I arrived at first practice on the first race I attended and heard the engine of the first car! I could not beleive it! Still, I had watched F1 on the telly for years before that!
I have yet to experience the noise of the new cars live, but on TV it is not really much compared to the V8s. So what though, I love the new formula. The on-board feeds showing how drivers struggle with the steering wheels and all that torque, less downforce to worry about being ruined if they follow too closely, The noise that the engines do produce though is very nice, deep and throaty. More like the safety car now (I actually got goosebumps the first time I heard that live too).
Also, the BBC reported the other day that Mercedes would have pulled out of F1 had the engines not changed and it seems probably Renault too.
If one is looking for problems, one will always find them but if we instead focus on the positives, I think that we, and the new formula, will be allright.
It’s disturbing though when drivers make comments such as that the new cars are a lot easier to drive. This is F1, it should look and be a series where we fans cannot feel that we could jump in and do as good a job as Hammy & Co. It’s not right, to me, the rules have gone the wrong way and engines are just a part of that. Having said that, in the documentary Life on the Limit, there is a Dutch guy recounting the first time he went to Zandvoort with his Dad in the early 70’s, he says the sound of those cars, V8/V12/Boxer12, hit him in the stomach and went through his bones….good description, and just what it should be!
Really enjoyed that post, away from all the BS coming from f1 at the moment
Given that the new mainstream hypercars are all hybrids, as are the Le Mans cars, it would have been embarrassing if F1 had kept the old regs frankly.
“the average motorsport fan these days is a middle-aged man and car companies are forever chasing a younger audience… which is something that F1 needs to consider before all of its fans die of old age.”
Oh dear. Am I too old to watch F1? Should I consider a trip to Dignitas, to make way for all the children who are desperate to pay to watch F1. Or do I just shut up and sit in the corner, babble incoherently and drool.
Sadly, this is the truth about the F1 demographic. Change is needed for survival.
I get the very depressing feeling that Bernie and Co., are simply going to wring every last penny out of F1 before it implodes and then just walk away, whistling. Change is indeed vital.
If Formula-1 is to be about ‘road car relevance’ and fuel-efficient, low-carbon, low noise technologies….then what’s the point of the “Formula-E” and the “World Endurance Championships”? Surely the World Endurance Championship [which Webber has just joined] is a much better racing platform to trial road-relevent technologies of the future?
I’m all for change in F1…and F1 has changed a lot over the 30+ years that I’ve been an avid fan – but this new ‘hybrid Toyota Prius era’ of F1 just lacks some pizzaz!…(it’s a bit like a badly made Mojito…where poor quality Mint has been used)
Arguably the ideal option is to take something like touring cars and open the floodgates on all the advanced technology options. Standard roadcar chassis used as test rigs for all the electronics and clever driver aids and wizardry the boffins can come up with.
Keith, I had an epiphany. Forget Dignitas, get tickets for Goodwood, it looks like there’s going to be a surge in interest as ppl go to pick their favourite ‘true’ F1 era. Also, there should be plenty of V8s available for them this year.
Don’t forget your earplugs, there should be plenty going cheap. I’ll see you there, burble, drool, parp.
“Or do I just shut up and sit in the corner, babble incoherently and drool.”
I’m thinking of a certain Mr. E
I love these pieces you do Joe even more than the business of F1…
I love these pieces you do Joe, even more than the business of F1 …
Great piece Joe, I’m trilled at the sound of the current cars, there has never been a better or easier time to experience formula 1 or the thumping screaming Symphony of historic motor racing.
Don’t worry Joe the French make it equally hard on the Chinese to get a tourist Visa, so difficult that we get it for another country but enter thru France anyway.
Love the story BTW
Just curious, but in France are there no companies providing the service of Chinese visa procurement for professionals, including journos?
Not exactly the same thing, as mine was for sport, and not to cover sport, but I handed over one of my passports to the company and in about 2wks recvd FedEx w/ passport w/ visa pasted in. And best part was someone else’s paying for it! lol…
There are but they cost a fortune and I am not paying £300 for a visa
I’ve encountered similar with an Indian visa, but calculated that the £300+ using a 3rd party was cheaper in the long run than fanning around using my own time.
I remember walking down that street in mid-2012 when I was in Europe for a holiday. We had lunch in the Renault showroom and those little Twizy cars were everywhere. They look like they’d be a lot of fun in the city.
Is the FIAT showroom still there? I was expecting you to comment on that one as well but maybe it’s closed. It’s at the Louvre end end of Champs Elysées. I remember it having an early-90s Ferrari F1 car in it.
I don’t think it is there any more
The Fiat place was still there in December, though with a lot of prominent Lancia branding as they’ve been sort of pushing a relaunch of the brand in Europe over the past few years.
It is called Motor Village and it is at the Rond Point, which is further down the Champs Elysees than I went… So you can add a sixth fancy showroom on that road.
Sadly the Twizy is nowhere near as fun to drive as it looks. 17hp is just about as fun as THAT sounds… But what do I know, I live in Sweden where a car without door windows (optional tarpaulin(?) windows are available, but the wind drag “inside” is still insane) are not that practical.
The Renault Twizy F1 (google it) should be fun though…
Nice piece. And, as a middle aged WASP male, I have to say you’re right about the fans. Some of us who have been following F1 for decades forget that we’re not the only game in town.
That’s probably why the St Petersburg indycar race is one of the better attended ones. Its basically a retirement home outing for locals.
Without wishing to be seen too smart statistically the older generation are in the main the ones with the money and the spending power (and now I’m getting on to that age range 60-year-olds it seems are becoming younger in attitude every day) – I would agree that arguably the really young have quite a lot of disposable cash – hence Red Bull costing nearly a quid perhaps which always seems mad.
That said the younger generation probably doesn’t watch television the same way the older generation does so if you want to change the age profile for F1 you’re going to have to think how to present it which I think you’ve alluded to before Joe. The only sport I can think of that a younger demographic is interested in is football – which is fairly universal in appeal
The sound is not that bad but maybe a could be a little more exciting.
It has always been a big part of the excitement of F1 and to some extend that
It’s also funny that in 2010 when at first four cylinder engines were proposed the biggest concern of Niki Lauda wasn’t speed but the sound of it.
“I am worried about the sound, which in formula one has been so unique.”
Although these are 6-cylinder cars, it does seem he has changed his mind..
I’ve been to the three french manufacturers showrooms at Champs Champs Elysées. Well worth a visit! And the Citroën is truly wacky, but nice! Haven’t got the taste for the croissants yet, though. I’m more of a baguette kind of guy, I guess.
Brilliant article. Would be great to see what other cities have to offer the car buying public, perhaps you could report from a few on the F1 calendar?
I may be wrong joe , but I rather have the impression that it is the under 40 fans that are whining about the whine
personally I prefer the new sound , but am a long way from that demographic so maybe F1 DOES need to do something about the noise level if that is where the car companies are aiming their marketing
How can you possibly say that?
He can say that because it’s an open blog. The reason he’s wrong (in my opinion) is because he gives an equal weight to every expressed opinion. As some wise person has said (me), the reason the ‘too-quiet’ brigade makes so much noise is because they’re already deaf, to sound as well as reason.
I find him guilty of trying to be consiliatory, curse him!
(I like the new sound..)
I love your asides to places unknown to most of us F1 fans.
This post is almost as good as the one about your trip to Cuba!
Enjoy your time at home.
BTW-After the Bahrain race, I’m a believer. The new cars are fantastic.
Enjoyable as ever, and worth flagging up that some grey haired middle aged folk quite like relevancy too.
I enjoyed F1 in the 1980s, and now go to more motor racing than ever before, and while I can appreciate the howl of a Matra V12, I’m just as intrigued by the greater variety of noises, and indeed the capability to audibly comment on them to my neighbour, that’s offered by a modern hybrid racing engine.
I’m more and more convinced that motorsport has to work to remain relevant to the society which ultimately pays for it, and that society is now rooted a lot more in the 21st century than some might think.
GREAT BLOG as alawys Joe”
Why did I miss all these fancy showrooms on my trip to Paris last year?????!!
Maybe it was because I was too busy being bustled round the clothes shops by my wife (1st Anniversary, so cant really complain), and was also busy blasting a Ferrari California Spyder through the “Diana tunnel”….. which was fun, but not as fast as I thought it would be 😉
Great piece. I do like the pictures you paint… Now…what’s the “proper” way to make a Mojito then?
It is all to do with what you do with the mint…
I used to say the same about Jaguar until the recent F Type came out. A customer base with one foot in the grave isn’t a great business plan.
Yes, they did the right thing. They got rid of all the walnut and sideboard. They’ve even gone a bit bonkers Lancia style with the new F Type – they give you a boot, then put the spare wheel in there so you cannot store anything in there whatsoever, apart from perhaps something the size of a packet of tea bags. Perhaps that’s to stop you putting a bag of golf clubs in there, in a further attempt to discourage the double-breasted blazer nature of the people that used to buy Jags. For the same reasons and apart from all the other reasons for doing so, F1 should continue to go down the V6 turbo/energy recovery systems route – to chase away the old guard who insist on V6’s and the like. Yes, you, Mr Montemezelo.
What is the average age of a Ferrari/Mclaren/high end Porsche driver ? – i don’t know but recall its at least 50 plus – pretty profitable market segment methinks (and for a lot of other things)
Which Michael is why I think sports car racing has more relevance to the buyers you speak about (I mirror the demographics you mentioned) then F1 does. Unless I have connections or a lot of cash I need to throw away – the Paddock Club is a no go for me. So my only hope to see a brand I’m interested in at an F1 race – is to sit all day in a grandstand in the hot sun watching the cars go by for a few hours, (at best) – still not connected with the sport or brand and eating bad, over priced food and spending north of $400 (without travel costs) for a ticket to do so.
Compare this to a sports car race where I can drive my car into the track, talk with other owners, have a hand on my shoulder by the marketing/sales guy and lead around to the new models on display under the tent and a business card slipped into my pocket. I can have a nice lunch, sit in a special reserved grandstand if I wish, or walk through the pits looking at the cars or sit down with a driver like Pat Long or Jorg and have a nice chat – all for $150 for three days! Its one of the main reasons why VAG give F1 a miss. Or sitting down having a fascinating conversation with an engineer who worked on the 918 Spyder PDK gearbox and is now seconded to the 919 race team – that was worth the ticket price alone!
When ‘my’ brand wins at Le Mans I feel ‘connected’. When an F1 engine designed, constructed, tested in the UK by an outside firm with a Japanese companies name on the engine cover, paid for by a French firm that actually didn’t build the engine, with said engine placed into another independent small manufacturers hand made chassis… OK, my head is spinning.
When this mongrel like team wins, am I the ‘connected’ client of this French car company or is it the Japaneses firm I’m supposed to feel ‘connected’ to when they win? Or is it the 20 something fan with fewer financial resources to buy these car brands, who is swilling a semi toxic drink made more toxic with the addition of Vodka that feels ‘connected’? How does this sell cars? Why does a car company ‘partner’ with this Bull? See what I did there? 🙂
The FIA forced this ‘green’ activity with smaller hybrid motors upon the sport but that marketing just plays lip service to the general issue of the bottom line – selling cars is the end game here. Anything less then this upsets the CFO. Confusing buyers is the last thing they need to do. Selling a drink that tastes like brake fluid to a country that makes lots of Vodka only supports one demographic – a demographic that Mercedes, Fiat, Reggie and the rest don’t benefit from.
The problem isn’t the sound of the engines or lack of sound – the problem is the pyramid has been flipped upside down in F1 where everything is weighted up top where money is being sucked out of the sport by non auto interested groups (investment bankers – sports drink firms) and its all resting on a tiny base of a few manufacturers and some very overly leveraged small UK companies. The F1 fan is forgotten about, the buyers of these sponsors products forgotten about and the ROI for everyone else but investment bankers, Sultans and a few authoritarian regimes holding races…forgotten about.
Think you are pretty much spot on there.
True – but that market segment has a very limited range, mainly defined by when said individual either pops their clogs, becomes an OAP and decides to get a more sensible Nuttalls Mintoes car like a Hinda Civic; or realises it’s just too embarrasing to be seen at 60+ in a Ferrari (something which everyone else realised when they started their mid-life crisis at the age of 40). The younger generation has a much wider time span to exploit.
Don’t for get when all the Oldies die, their kids inherit the Ferrari or Porsche etc etc.
Mine can’t handle the 140hp in her VW – I’m not putting the 430hp vehicle in my will… 🙂
Don´t forget the constant whining of Red Bull staff members is very short-sighted as the special situation at their home-racetrack at Spielberg is almost entirely a “sound problem”. I was told that the struggle could re-start next year if the engine noise is increased again. The less engine noise is delivered at Spielberg the easier their business will be.
Thought provoking post. It’s a shame all the back and forthing with the Chinese Embassy, and love the thought where you hope the Chinese tourists had similar visa problems.
As to the bit on the car showrooms, Only two of the showrooms you highlighted were not French companies, so with Paris being similar to London, in that it is the Cultural, Governmental, Financial, and Business center of the Country, (as if DC, NYC, LA, and Chicago and/or some other city in the US were all combined into one place) It totally makes sense to highlight the “best” or most significant achievements of the companies. Sure this would include the race/racey cars. (It is curious that MB has a one of a kind FIA GT car in Paris, but is there a most central German city that would be as good a host as Paris is? )
I do agree with how Peugeot, and Citroen have race/racey cars that are more translateable to their product line, and still have to say that the stretch for Renault has been puzzling to me for some time, So it seems they exploit it further even though you can’t seem to get those benefits from F1/racing involvement as you can w/ MB or Peugeot or Citroen.
Thanks for the post. Hope you’re able to get to Shanghai next week, and hopefully the embassy didn’t extort too much money from you.