{"id":16266,"date":"2011-01-25T10:22:54","date_gmt":"2011-01-25T08:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=16266"},"modified":"2011-07-09T22:00:14","modified_gmt":"2011-07-09T20:00:14","slug":"grand-prix-could-bring-monaco-to-cape-town-brilliant-benefit-to-tourism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/grand-prix-could-bring-monaco-to-cape-town-brilliant-benefit-to-tourism\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Prix could bring Monaco to Cape Town, brilliant benefit to tourism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>There is regular talk of a Grand Prix coming to Cape Town.\u00a0 The latest bid, one of three,\u00a0proposes a Monaco-style street Grand Prix in September 2013, to be held in Sea Point, Green Point and Mouille Point, reports the Cape Argus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Cape Town Grand Prix Bid Company (Pty) Limited was invited by Formula One’s Ernie Ecclestone to present a proposal before the beginning of the new Formula One\u00a0season in March.\u00a0\u00a0 A 5,3 km route is proposed, which will have Table Mountain, Lion’s Head and the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop, with magnificent benefits for tourism, given the TV coverage that the event would attract.\u00a0 The route includes the Cape Town Stadium, which is proposed as the start and end to the Grand Prix route.<\/p>\n

The Bid Company’s Chief Communication Officer, Esther Henderson, said of the bid: “Green Point is ideal for a street circuit like the one in Monaco because we have so many beautiful sights in the area.\u00a0 So while Monaco is the “French Riviera” we can have the “African Riviera” in Cape Town”.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Western Cape Minister of Tourism Alan Winde said he had not yet been approached by the Bid Company to endorse the proposed Grand Prix, but said :”…..generally, I think this is something we could put within the strategy of attracting major events.\u00a0 We would support that as a city and a province, absolutely.\u00a0 A Grand Prix would profile the city very well”.\u00a0\u00a0 If the streets in the area were to be used (at a cost of R100 million to adjust them according to the international rules), instead of building a costly new track (at R4 billion), it would inconvenience locals, as the Argus Cycle\u00a0Tour does, but the race would be good for the city, Winde added.\u00a0\u00a0 A Grand Prix race usually spans a period of Thursday – Sunday, with\u00a0 practices and qualifying phases, and the actual race on the Sunday.<\/p>\n

Last year Ecclestone told the BBC: “(Africa) is another continent where we should be.\u00a0 Hopefully, now people will think what the World Cup has done for Africa would be good for Formula One.\u00a0 It would be nice to think we had then more or less covered the world”<\/p>\n

The last time South Africa hosted a Grand Prix event was in 1993 at Kyalami in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT 1\/2<\/strong>: The People’s Post <\/strong>reports today that the Grand Prix bid is “pie-in-the-sky”, as the ratepayers’ associations of Mouille Point and Sea Point have ‘slated’ the proposal, but have stated that they cannot comment until they have seen more concrete plans.\u00a0 However, the City of Cape Town’s Executive Director for Economic Social Development and Tourism, Mansoor Mohamed, disagrees, says the report, and he visited China in November to study their\u00a0Grand Prix circuits.\u00a0\u00a0 He has presented the proposals from the Cape Town Grand Prix Bid Company and the South African Grand Prix Corporation to the mayoral committee, and has been given the go-ahead to commence with an economic impact assessment and event viability study.\u00a0\u00a0 The two companies will present their bids to F1’s Bernie Eccelstone later this year.\u00a0 The bid by the South African Grand Prix Corporation\u00a0proposes a newly built race track on the West Coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week it was reported that Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold had spoken out about the Grand Prix bid, fearing for the environmental impact of the event.\u00a0 One wonders what pipe Mrs Helmbold was smoking in making such a comment, given that her organisation assisted the Cape Town Grand Prix Bid Company with its choice of month to host the event, and that the event would be a valuable tourism catalyst in such a\u00a0quiet month (September).<\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT 7\/7<\/strong>: The Formula One head Bernie Ecclestone has been quoted as saying that Cape Town could host a Grand Prix within two years, the Cape Argus<\/strong> reported yesterday.\u00a0 Of the three Cape Town Formula One bids, the Monaco-style one going through Green Point appears to be the favoured one.\u00a0 The Formula One was last held in South Africa almost twenty years ago.<\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT 9\/7<\/strong>:\u00a0 Cape Town Stadium may be incorporated in the Cape Town\u00a0Formula One course if Grand Prix SA’s bid is accepted, reports the Cape Argus<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 Cars would be driving in and out of the Stadium via the street-level gates, and it would\u00a0allow up to 60000 motor racing fans to sit in the stadium, to\u00a0enjoy the action.\u00a0 The grass would have to be lifted, and\u00a0the area\u00a0would have to be tarred, the pitch returned after the three-day event.\u00a0\u00a0 The cost of adapting Cape Town’s current roads for the race is estimated at R670 million, compared to\u00a0R 4 billion to build a brand new track.\u00a0 Two further bids have been prepared for the race – one near the airport, and another on the West Coast.\u00a0\u00a0Grand Prix SA\u00a0is quoted as saying: “I’ve said that Cape Town is a very sexy location, it’s a gateway location… for broadcast.\u00a0 No matter where you position a camera, you will capture the city’s landmarks, marketing Cape Town”.\u00a0 City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee member for Tourism, Grant Pascoe,\u00a0said that the Grand Prix supports the city’s bid to ‘establish Cape Town as the events capital<\/em>‘\u00a0of South Africa.\u00a0He qualified his support, by saying that the City and the province had not yet received an official proposal to host the event.\u00a0 The financial benefit for the city is vast, and the City’s Mayoral Committee member for Finance, Ian Neilson, has estimated the value at R770 million in tourism value, based on Singapore Grand Prix figures.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0 Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is regular talk of a Grand Prix coming to Cape Town.\u00a0 The latest bid, one of three,\u00a0proposes a Monaco-style street Grand Prix in September 2013, to be held in Sea Point, Green Point and Mouille Point, reports the Cape Argus. The Cape Town Grand Prix Bid Company (Pty) Limited was invited by Formula One’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,22,21],"tags":[2158,9589,1317,467,847,890,12291,32366,9582,32397,32378,257,9762,9587,32396,12318,9583,9588,9581,12317,11855,666,2061,99,9590,9585,894,340,347,9761,1318,833,775,9759,9760,658,12319,9758,4,5,9586,713,32373,531],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t