Earlier on Tuesday Pitpass wrote that "we will most probably see the Grand Prix of America on the provisional calendar" for 2014 which will be released by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council on 27 September. We explained that the promoter Leo Hindery junior is ensuring that registration fees are paid to the FIA so that his proposed race in New Jersey gets on the provisional calendar. This will enable him to keep alive his chances of raising the required £64.2m ($100m) by the November deadline set by Formula One's boss Bernie Ecclestone. As we wrote, if the GP of America is not on the provisional calendar it would jeopardise Hindery's talks with New York investment funds about raising the money. Clearly we were spot on.
A matter of hours after our article appeared, Press Association reporter Ian Parkes published an interview he had done with Hindery. Parkes wrote that a payment to the Automobile Competitions Committee for the United States (ACCUS) is not due until this Friday and Hindery is quoted saying that "the calendar decision will be made later this month, and although I can't guarantee anything, we fully expect to be on it."
That all makes perfect sense but what Parkes goes on to say is not so accurate. He claims that once the decision about the provisional calendar has been made "it will be all systems go for New Jersey to finally count down towards making its debut, and the end of a saga on which he concedes he almost threw in the towel." The reason this is not accurate is the small matter of Hindery needing to raise £64.2m. Most people's eyes glaze over when numbers of this size are mentioned but that doesn't make them any less significant.
As Ecclestone said recently "we have a contract with New Jersey and I hope they can honour the contract." If Hindery doesn't come up with the money by November then the race in New Jersey will not be going ahead in 2014. Likewise, the GP of America was on the 2013 provisional calendar when it was released by the FIA on 28 September last year but lack of money prevented it from taking place.
Despite lacking the money, Hindery released a statement following the release of the 2013 provisional calendar saying "I am proud that years of hard work have brought us to this point and we look forward to bringing world-class Formula One racing to New Jersey." It was followed by a statement from New Jersey's governor Chris Christie who said that he had spoken to Hindery and "asked if he needs any help and he said, 'No.' I am not looking for problems. I heard there may be problems, so I called. And he told me it's not a problem." In fact there most certainly was a problem because the race did not take place in 2013 despite being listed on the provisional calendar.
The wheels came off the plan at almost the same time that the race was listed on the provisional calendar as Ecclestone revealed to Pitpass' business editor Christian Sylt that Hindery's contract had been torn up after he failed to comply with its terms.
The final blow came in October last year when Ecclestone told Sylt that the race "is not going to happen next year." The problem was money and that still hasn't been resolved. However, Pitpass hears that there is an even more significant hurdle which needs to be crossed before the race can ever take place, let alone in 2014. Stay tuned for all the details on that as soon as we can release them.
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