UK racing still healthy, says Palmer

Several car manufacturers have scaled down or ended their involvement in various championships in the last 12 months, and the economic climate has had an impact on racing right down to grass roots level.

But Palmer, whose MotorSport Vision company runs five circuits in Britain including Brands Hatch says that motorsport in the UK is coping well and expects things to improve in 2010.

"I think motorsport is in pretty good health overall," Palmer said at AUTOSPORT International today.

"Our biggest crowds come from British Touring Cars. The ticket sales last year were down probably 10 per cent, which is not bad when you consider the scale of the recession. So far this year they seem to be a little bit up on last season.

"The other part is the people who pay to come and drive their cars on the circuits and the clubs who come to put on race meetings. Those are actually up on last year's sales and our own club, MSVR, is running more events and championships than ever before."

Palmer also believes that the current climate is helping his Formula 2 and Formula Palmer Audi championships to flourish.

"In F2 and FPA we can offer low cost compared to other championships and that's playing into our hands," he said. "If we'd done this in the boom times we probably wouldn't have been so successful."