Russians set to swoop for Silverstone
A group of investors from Russia is understood to be in exclusive talks to buy Silverstone, the Northamptonshire track which is home to Formula One’s British Grand Prix, according to reports over the weekend.
Silverstone is owned by the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), a group of 850 racing personalities including champions Jackie Stewart and Damon Hill. BRDC wants to sell the the track after racking up combined net losses of £55.2m over the last five years.
This new development is the latest step in a saga that recently saw Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and the tycoon Lawrence Tomlinson pull out of the race to purchase a long lease on Silverstone.
These developments comes after Silverstone chairman, John Grant, in October sent a letter to shareholders saying that the track will make a loss because “ticket revenues were well down compared with last year’s strong performance.”
The letter continued: “With an ever-increasing hosting fee, this means that the Grand Prix’s contribution to profit will be less than last year, so that we now expect to make a loss for the year and miss the year-two target of [our] three-year plan.”
Around 139,000 supporters saw Lewis Hamilton race to victory in the British Grand Prix this year, but this was offset by reduced ticket prices, which started at £99.
Silverstone’s chances of turning its financial year around look slim, say reports, as the British Grand Prix accounts for half of its parent company’s £54.7m annual revenue.
