AGF's Zhuhai Station Successfully Comes to a Close

AGF's Zhuhai Station Successfully Comes to a Close

November 14, 2007

Race Cars Economic Platform Formed


    ZHUHAI, Nov. 14 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- On November
11th, 2007 AGF Asian Formula International Open Competition
Zhuhai station successfully came to a close. After intense
competition, Daiwei, Hu An Zhu and Zhi Qiang Zhang
respectively won the honor of champion, second-place
winner, and third-place winner. Cao Ying, the first woman
driver in the event and a welcome newcomer, participated in
AGF with CY family and acquired the cup of excellent women
in the competition.

    During the two-day period, over 10,000 viewers attended
the competition, participating in on-the-spot lotteries and
the Karting challenge competition. The loud cheering of
viewers from all over the world, the participation of star
drivers, the extremely high speed of formula racing cars,
and the flying colorful flags of sponsors, all made people
feel that China's independent formula sports industry has
found its footing. 

    China lacks a strong automobile culture. Car racing is
not an Olympic sport, and without that support has remained
rather exotic and obscure. In recent years, however, along
with the developing economy and the increase in automobile
output, the number of private cars in China has increased
greatly. More and more matches are being independently held
in China, though the increase has mainly been in rally
matches and civilian car competitions. 

    In 2003, F1 established Shanghai station and formally
entered the market of China. "Souvenir caps worth 300
Yuan were sold out on the first day, tickets and set
tickets worth several thousand Yuan were all booked ...
" Foreigners of F1 Organization Committee were
surprised at the calling of formula sports in China, and
felt the broad potential of the formula market in China. 

    The emergence of F1 originates from brand competition.
Each year, different brands invest several hundred millions
of dollars in providing their most advanced industrial
technology to racing teams. However, it is not realistic to
mechanically apply this international mode in China. Some F1
manufacturers exclusively produce racing cars and sports
cars, whose needs are contrary to safety requirements and
modern comfort. At present, civilian automobiles are still
a growing market and so sports cars and racing cars have
not yet branched out.

    Foreign racing teams have occasionally been introduced
to jumpstart the field, with the unintended side effect of
perhaps stifling independent formula sports, but some
growth has been organic. Several years ago, Geely
automobile intended to produce formula cars for formula
sports. Geely acted as the automobile provider of AGF Asian
Formula International Open Competition and used that event
as a promotion platform for their automobiles. 

    The huge value of formula sports and the high-end
orientation of consumers are connecting well with many
internationally famous brands and domestic emerging brands.
At the beginning of AGF's investment period, advertisement
sites for racing cars and driver costumes were completely
booked. Michelin, Stanley, Aigo, Baidu and other well-known
brands became the designated products of the competition or
sponsored racing teams. 

    Great expense gives formula racing a reputation of
being the sport of "burning money". China as a
whole is not a wealthy country and racing competitions
needs to be popularized to continue. Compared with the 1
million dollar-expense necessary to cultivate a formula
driver, AGF drivers are more attainable in China. An AGF
driver only requires less than 100,000 Yuan and training by
the Organization Committee to have a chance to participate
in the competition. 
    
    Many qualified Chinese drivers have been constrained
until now. While strictly inspecting the sponsor level, and
guaranteeing the high frequency and high level of the
competition platform, AGF also invested towards reducing
driver expense, enabling more civil drivers to realize
their dream on the stage of AGF.  

    Some people have said that AGF's low price is suicide.
However, AGF knows that China's independent formula sports
are still in their infancy and need to further explore and
experiment. The operation mode has no previous mode to
follow. AGF needs to bravely break out into the field and
enlighten fellow countrymen's enthusiasm on formula racing.


    At present, in light of the star driver Cao Ying's
participation, unprecedented media reports, and broad
notice of the event across social fields, AGF has found a
road towards the pursuit of popularizing the formula sport.
The last station is set for Shanghai on December 8th and
9th, which hints at AGF's decision on running the F1
circuit and pursuing an international breakthrough. It's
believed that, in the future competition seasons, AGF will
more and more connect with commerce and entertainment, and
a China-centered Asian racing sport brand and commercial
platform will be primarily formed. 
            


    For more information, please contact: 

     Eric Zhang   P.R. News Manager
     Asian Formula International Open Competition
     Tel:   [phone] x8822
     Email: [e-mail]
     Web:   http://www.agformula.com

     Address: 
      Xueyuan International Tower, 
      Zhichun Road, No.1
      Room 606 
      Haidian District, Beijing, China
      100083