The Rockingham dream should have died long ago along with dealmaker Guy Hands' millions. But under new chief executive Joe Dickinson the Northamptonshire motor circuit is refusing to countenance the chequered flag. Jim Pendrill met him for lunch.
En route to meet Joe Dickinson things couldn't be more gloomy. The morning's news is full of MG Rover's painful demise, while my drive to our lunchtime rendevous in the Welland Valley north of Corby was punctuated by a flurry of snow showers. But as I struggled through the gloom not to miss the turning for Lyddington, the heavens turn. A blast of blue sky appears from the rolling hills to the east and the charming picture-box Rutland village is laid out before me. Nestled deep in the valley below, its sandstone cottages reflect off the dazzling sunlight.I wonder if this is some kind of omen. Over the other side of those very same hills is Rockingham race circuit whose own history has gone from the depths of despair to a new dawn. By rights, the circuit, which lost dizzying amounts of money in its early years, should be dead. Instead the sun continues to somehow shine over its oval contours.
The man shining the light is Joe Dickinson, an automotive man through and through. But even a lifetime in the motor industry - first in senior marketing roles for Ford and then as a management consultant travelling the globe advising motor companies - could have done little to prepare him for the challenges he would face at Rockingham.
We meet in the delightful surrounds of The White Hart, whose 17th century low-beamed ceiling, open fires and stone walls simply ooze charm.
Joining me over a pint of London Pride, Dickinson begins by explaining how his link to the 54,000-seater circuit began, a circuit that when built five years ago on the site of a former British Steel plant was the first purpose-built racing complex built in the UK for nearly a century. A circuit whose existence owes itself to the dreams of motor enthusiasts, headed by Peter Davis, who wanted to bring kart racing to Europe.
Dickinson's arrival at the circuit goes back to his own links with Guy Hands, the famed City dealmaker who pumped an estimated £360m into the track in its early days - and got very little of it back. Indeed, Hands would ultimately end up selling his 75 per cent stake in Rockingham to former chief executive Ashley Pover (ex Cantor Fitzgerald man) and Dickinson (when chairman) for a nominal £31.
Dickinson first met Hands three years ago when his then employer AT Kearney, the management consultants, were doing some work for Hands. The pair also happened to live near each other in Kent, an opportune time to strike up a friendship given that Hands was already looking for an exit from his costly Rockingham adventure.
"I knew Guy socially and he obviously knew about my background in the motor industry," recalls Dickinson. "It is fair to say that he obviously couldn't spend as much of his time on his personal investments compared to the immense time he would give to his investments through Nomura and as such he was relying heavily on others when it came to Rockingham."
In a masterstroke of understatement Dickinson continues: "Suffice to say that Guy was very disappointed in the performance of the board and how they had looked after shareholder interests. He asked me to join the board but initially I was a very quiet non-executive director and to be honest I was there as window dressing, which I wasn't comfortable with. I expressed strong reservations about what was still a project rather than a business.
I said to him that we had to turn this project into a proper business. It could not go on just being a sewer for Guy's cash."
The need for urgency was all too clear. For instance, Rockingham's first race in May 2001 lost in the region of £38m alone. "The first race was symptomatic. It was a great show but a fiscal disaster," bemoans Dickinson. "From my background it was scary how the business was being run."
Dickinson's wish for more of a say was granted. Hands made him chairman with a brief to restructure the company's debt. Dickinson remembers some dark days. "The bank had to guarantee the company during this period and it's fair to say that the Bank of Scotland is one of the major reasons why the track is still in business today."
Just how close did the track come to closing? Dickinson, who until this point has spoken at breakneck speed, pausing only to join me in a sumptuous soup, makes a rare pause before virtually whispering "it was close".
Unprompted he is soon very animated again. Thumping the table he adds: "The company quite simply had to get back to basics, then we knew it would have a chance. The emotion and willingness to work in this place is massive. After all, a motor circuit is a fantastic place to come and work. We had to tap into that."
Dickinson proceeded to put all those years of experience and his considerable contacts in the industry to use. "It sounds corny, but get your product, place, price and promotion right and you're onto something. That's what we had to do, plain and simple."
At the same time Dickinson took further control of the business himself, clearing out the old board and making key appointments such as new finance director Noorem Hijani and operations director David Ross. His position of strength was complete when he replaced Ashley Pover as chief executive last autumn. "It was all very amicable with Ashley, who simply wanted to pursue other interests," he stresses. "We are still good friends."
To turn things around Dickinson also delved straight into that contacts book. Among the most fruitful were his very own "gang of four", all senior automotive executives who worked with him during his time at Ford. The line up features Jim O'Donald, present managing director (MD) of BMW UK; Graham Smith, MD of Toyota GB; and Dermot Kelly, MD of Mercedes UK. Dickinson says the four, who call themselves the "alternative automotive society" still meet regularly.
Perhaps the most beneficial link has been with BMW, which now uses Rockingham as a major test circuit. "Last year they brought 12,000 people here for events. When they launched the 3-series they had 4,500 customers from all over the UK come and drive here. That's a major opportunity for us."
Dickinson takes the link with BMW even further. "We equate the Rockingham brand with the BMW brand. We install the same training programmes with our staff that BMW has. This place is all about matching the standards of BMW. That's very important to us. When people come here for a race day we want them to have a very pleasurable experience."
Crucially, Dickinson has also got some more backing for the business, after convincing American motor sport legend Jerry Forsythe to increase his original minority stake in Rockingham to a majority one.
But deep down, Dickinson knows that a sound and profitable future for Rockingham relies most on the success of its race days, and he admits that here there is still a major job to do.
"I accept that too many people still don't know we're here. A third of our visitors are from Northamptonshire, 45 per cent from the East Midlands, and the rest spread very thinly. Real fans come from all corners of the UK and the hits on our websites are incredible with some 4,500 a day. But there is a lot more to go at." One major push is for more visitors from the West Midlands. "That is definitely a region where we need to be marketing ourselves more."
So what's going to pull the punters in? Rockingham's monthly Days of Thunder event (named after the Tom Cruise film) will remain the key but Dickinson knows that the race has to become ever more of a show to woo the punters. "Back in the 70s motor racing was just about the only thing allowed on a Sunday. Now we're competing with everything else - shops, 70 TV channels, you name it. We have to understand the competition and provide something for the whole family."
Dickinson is confident he can build on the success Days of Thunder has already achieved. The series has just been renamed the Stock Car Speed Association series to help build a more professional race series across Europe and increase the ties with the American Speed Association. So much so that Dickinson has also spun off the series into a separate company. He says this arm of the business will continue to make losses for the next few years because of heavy investment, but ultimately it has the capability to outstrip the core Rockingham business, which he expects to make an operating profit for the first time this year.
For the immediate Corby region the success and profitable survival of Rockingham is also crucial. In a town desperately trying to reinvent itself, the track is a crucial multiplier for the regional economy bringing in some £3140m a year.
As such, Dickinson has also taken on a wider lobbying role for business in the region, forming alliances with other big employers such as Weetabix, Fairline and RS Components so that the Corby message is spread further.
"It is important that the key employers in this region are recognised in terms of its wider regeneration. As part of the South Midlands Study we are doubling - or at least the government wants to double - the population of Corby, so let's make sure business is involved in this. We need better infrastructure, better roads, a five star hotel, a rail station. What we don't want are more distribution sheds. We need to diversify our employment base. We want real innovative companies basing themselves here."
Dickinson's lobbying on the hotel front already seems to be bearing fruit. He reveals that he is talking to several operators about building a new hotel trackside. "We initially looked at siting it off the A43, but the more we spoke to people the more obvious it became that it should be trackside."
Rockingham also has an obvious role to play in the wider promotion of Motorsport Valley. Dickinson has £7been working closely with the Motorsport Industry Association about various tie-ups. "Something we are particularly looking at at the moment is developing a Motorsport Valley package," he adds. "The idea being that we develop a package for motor enthusiasts, say from the US, where they get to drive on the track, visit some motor sport companies, and also get to enjoy the delights of Northamptonshire. The motor racing industry is the only truly global cluster that we have in this region. We need to ensure that everyone does all they can to promote what this region has, regardless of what happens to Formula One in terms of where future races are held."
As we finish our mains, I suddenly remember that we haven't touched on Rover yet. Rolling his eyes Dickinson jibes: "I wondered when you'd ask me about that."
Like any lifetime surveyor of the automotive industry he has plenty to say on the subject, not least that - like many of his counterparts - he believes that the original Alchemy plan five years ago (to concentrate on the MG brand) would have been a better bet. "Moulton [Jon] was right, there's no doubt about it. There was an opportunity there to develop a fully fledged niche independent operator. Instead the company found itself competing in a fierce market with massive overcapacity. It's almost as simple as that."
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