THE ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE HISTORIC AND CLASSIC MOTOR INDUSTRY IN THE UK

42 7. Direct economic impact of historic motorsport 7.1 Introduction This section looks directly at historic motor sport which is in itself an industry of significant size, and its economic impact. It gives a brief description of the industry and then looks at the two different components, racing and rallying and their economic effects. It should be noted that most of the information here is estimated and where in doubt we have generally used the more cautious estimates. 7.2 Historic motorsports Historic motorsports are highly popular at two levels. There is great excitement amongst the spectators at the major showca se events while participants vie for prized entry. Two of this report’s co -authors participated in the 2019 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge and can confirm directly the scale of interest as the rally ran across Asia and then Europe. Crowds of thousands appeared wherever the cars stopped 15 . The most prestigious events in the UK, the Goodwood events and those at Silverstone and elsewhere are oversubscribed and the ticket prices reflect the high demand. Other events attract multiple thousands of spectators. The second level of popularity is among the participants. They spend substantial sums preparing their cars to participate in the events, as well as paying the often-hefty entry fees. Again, the prestigious events are oversubscribed. There is a massive waiting list for Goodwood (invitation only) while the 2022 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge was 8 times oversubscribed on the opening day for entries in February 2020. It appears that historic rallying in particular is a fast-growing sport. Participation in various forms of beginner training has been running at around 600 a year and while not everyone who learns the basics will go on to compete, it appears that the numbers competing are growing, evidenced by the increasing investment in the sport. We estimate that there are about 200-250 historic rallies held in the UK in a normal (non Covid affected) year. 7.3 Historic motor racing We have counted a total of nearly 900 classic events in the UK each year just from one website and it is likely that there is a considerable multiple of that held in total. We would estimate that around a quarter are racing events of some kind. In addition, many of the owners clubs organise racing events. This means that there is at least a similar number of racing events (excluding club events) to rallies – between 200 and 250 in a normal year. It should be noted that a typical racing event will probably include at least 10 races for different classes of competitors. There appear to be some thousands of historic racing cars in the UK. Of these, some are very expensive and involve the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of pounds on race preparation annually. Attendance at various events at Goodwood each year 16 is over 350,000. The next most highly attended racing event is the Silverstone Classic with an attendance of over 100,000. The Goodwood Revival was introduced in 1988. In 2019 , tickets cost £60 for Friday and £80 for Saturday or Sunday. From the 2012 Goodwood Revival, the British economy was estimated (by the organisers) to have benefitted £36 million, with £4 million raised in VAT alone for the Government. The local economic impact totalled over £12 million in revenue. The Bonhams auction raised £13 million and with it £500,000 in VAT receipts. 15 For a description of this report’s co -authors ’ experiences on the rally, see ‘Driving the Silk Road – Halfway Across the World in a Bentley S1’ by Douglas McWilliams, Whitefox, London December 2019. 16 Technically the Goodwood Festival of Speed covers both modern and older vehicles