Motorsport: a noble Business

How often nowadays do we hear comments about the fact that Motorsport has now become an elite competition because of its increasingly prohibitive costs. 

How often do we listen to the nostalgic comments about the time when everyone could have the chance to run and the desire to bring back the clock to those days.

The statement is not entirely true, however, certainly in the past years the cars and competitions were not as complex and sought after as they are today, but certainly have never been cheap for all budgets.

At the beginning of the competitions, when cars were still a strange invention - some even preached their failure within a few years - especially wealthy characters, were engaged in the thrill of speed and the constant challenge with risk. In Edwardian England, many automobile clubs arose - one of them the Royal Automobile Club - composed of the majority, if not all, of nobles or characters with ample funding behind them.

The competitions were surrounded by a mundane and refined environment, which we could compare, at least for the first time, with the atmosphere present at the Royal Ascot. Pilots were seen as riders of risk ready for anything to get to glory.

With the birth of Formula 1 in 1950, most of the drivers were of noble origin, one of all Birabongse Bhanudej Bhanubandh, better known as Prince Bira, a member of the Tahi royal family.

In recent times famous the case of Johnny Dumfries, a Scottish guy who took part in the whole 1986 season of Formula 1 at the wheel of an official Lotus, which despite appearances at home was known as the 7th Marquess of Bute.

It was not only the category of drivers that attracted noble minds, even the charm of building their own team and seeing their cars compete. A dream that Lord Hesketh, who in the 70s gave life to his stable together with the iconic James Hunt, wanted to realize at all costs. The English nobleman, in order to pursue success, gave all his savings to the bottom and saw himself forced in recent times to sell the old family estate in order to avoid bankruptcy.

So we can deduce how Motorsport, at the expense of excessively nostalgic speeches, has always been a pastime for rich and noble characters, and at the expense of appearances will remain so for the future, for the desperation of someone and for the joy of others.