Istanbul Park Could Not Contain the Fuss
Whatever the headline, whatever the subject on which we offer an opinion, we always say it is either black or white. And we never know where to stop. From the best educated to the most experienced, down to the most adolescent, everyone has outbursts that make trying to remain objective and fair almost painful. The criticism has now reached the point where people will either march on Istanbul Park with torches in hand or have the federation dissolved.
A whole load of nonsensical old claims doing the rounds have resurfaced with this inflamed debate. From what I know, I would like to offer a few explanations of my own on each of them.
Why was the circuit needed at all?
I cannot see what could possibly be wrong with owning a FIA Grade A circuit that every driver who races there loves. As an architect who, as a university student in 1999, drew up an F1 circuit at Kurtköy, I categorically disagree with this criticism. And those who say Istanbul was the wrong location are mistaken too. With the cargo terminal right next door, the international airport, the giant port to the south, the industrial zone just to the east, and the technopark regulation published at the time, it was built in the best possible place. The only mistake was that there was treasury land further south. It was built inside the Ömerli reservoir catchment boundary and created speculation in the area. There used to be a municipality called Akfırat. When the mayor produced a power of attorney from his drawer so that one of our senior state figures could acquire land, the town was hurriedly transferred to Tuzla. That may give you some idea of the scale of the speculation.
The circuit is all well and good, but it cost an incredible amount of money. So much that for that money ten FIA Grade B circuits could have been built in the country and the sport would have leapt forward an era. The process afterwards was not managed properly either. Every venture flared up like a fire in straw and then died out. WTCC, DTM, Renault Days… they all came. The young driver project that started with PO could not be sustained. Istanbul Park was a huge opportunity to turn this into an industry, and it slipped away. Today you go to Silverstone, Monza or the Nürburgring and the circuit encompasses an entire sector. That was not done back then; it could not be done. Even the single-seaters that had remained in the sport disappeared. We were told we would make people love it by making it aspirational, but it did nothing except reinforce the image of a rich man's hobby in people's eyes. A right initiative, a wrong strategy, and this is where it ended up. One critic got carried away and wrote, "I still don't understand why so much fuss is made about cars going fast." What are you supposed to tell this person? Nothing.
It Became a Car Park
It is as though diesel white Clio Symbols are lined up on the start-finish straight grid and company-issue Jettas are parked side by side at Turn 8. Nothing of the sort. The land the circuit sits on is enormous. Intercity, which took over the circuit's operation, has for years been using the car park areas, which sat empty like tumbleweed rolling through a town square in a cowboy film, to park its own vehicles. What could be more natural? Of course it is going to use them. It also set up a used car market called İPOP and rented out some of the prefabricated cabins used as rally headquarters during events to car dealers. It also has a workshop where it carries out repairs and maintenance on its own vehicles.
The Circuit Is Not Operating
Right now the circuit's schedule is very busy. Following signed agreements, it is being used as the global driving centre for Porsche and Mercedes. They have their own lounges. Trackdays are held. The operator runs the circuit according to its own profit and loss calculations. So it is not idle at all.
There are off-road tracks within the circuit grounds that can be used as stages for rallies. The most recent time, the area inside İPOP was used at the Istanbul Rally. Official races are organised through the club set up by the circuit operator. Clio and Megane cups are run. I am not counting those lovely caged Porsches that sat unused because they were never rented to anyone, after a fortune was spent on them following a miscalculation made in the excitement of the moment.
So what is the problem?
The problem is that all of this is purely commercial, and that TMF and TOSFED drivers cannot enter the circuit for licensed competitors to race. It has even reached the point of saying "let the TMF president go and I will hold the races for free", and some important names from within the sport are not allowed onto the circuit even for sporting rather than commercial activity. Everything is stuck right here: sporting activity cannot take place because of personal disputes.
After the incidents at the prize-giving ceremony of Kenan's race, the circuit's doors were closed to TMF races. Now, because of the fee the circuit operator asked for the Corsa Cup organisation and because the organising club did not make the necessary application to the federation, the Turkish circuit racing championship rounds have also said goodbye to Istanbul Park for now. The circuit operator has the commercial right to take what it wants or not, but it is not right to pick and choose the drivers who will race within the maxi group of the Turkish championship and say you cannot enter unless you pay 15,000 euros a day. I would understand if it wanted to rent the circuit for a separate day for a separate cup, but singling out drivers who come under the Turkish championship event is illogical. Yes, the cup is a commercial business. But most of the drivers racing at the circuit already rent a car from a garage, don't they? They pay and rent. Whatever trade the cup organiser is doing, every garage that rents a car to a driver is doing the same trade. What is wrong here is that the circuit operator has been choosing people.
But this problem reaching this state is again a mistake of the past. If, when the tender for operating this circuit was opened, the specification had included a clause such as "(x) weekends a year will be allocated to races organised by the federation(s) in return for a fee of (y)", none of this would be happening today. In terms of cost and return, the circuit became such a hot potato for ITO that they wanted to hand it over as soon as possible. Naturally, since they were looking at it from a commercial viewpoint, securing a concession for sporting competition was not their focus. Yet the state, the federation and the associations, who spearheaded the building of this circuit and put up the money, should have tried to secure that.
I have a couple of words for the old-timers too. Yes, this sport used to have a bigger audience. But it is not only the sport; the world has changed. A single team in a single season used to spend, in foreign currency terms, nearly the federation's entire five-year budget of today. A great many sponsors, manufacturers and brands have been absent from this sport for years. It is not only the spectators; the very arteries that provided the real economy were used up long ago. When you offer criticism, blend in what you know, and please do not talk just for the sake of talking. There are only three or five of us left anyway, so let us at least watch the racing side by side.
