Insuring Racing Drivers
Having made a living out of what was once described to me as one of the “more esteemed professions” I suppose that puts me in the category of either having to practice what I preach – or at least be seen to be practicing everything I tell clients to do, myself.
A couple of years back I decided in a moment of belated midlife crisis to don a helmet and take up the challenge of racing again in Sports 2000. I was lucky to be involved with a unique project and be a “works” driver of a modern Duratec March race car designed by a brilliant young mind, Kieron Salter who started life at the Reynard school of race car design. Part of the “uniqueness” was that I have completed a long standing project for a “world's first” motorsport website and we designed a colour scheme which emblazoned the words “I'm insured – are you?” across the front. I was very nearly caught out when some bright spark had the audacity to ask “...but are you?” and it set my mind the the consequences if I had NOT been insured and it is often these “consequences” that become overlooked or more pertinently, realised only too well after the accident. (LOW COST accident insurance for motorsport video)I have previously made reference to Contingency Insurance and this particular area addresses may of the “consequences” of there being an actual loss. In ordinary terms a factory may well insure for the material loss of the buildings, stock and loss of materials for the fire that ravages everything, but the business also looses income if it cannot function. The insurance of this interruption to the business is a “contingent” insurance and is something that should be advocated to any professional team or manager. What are the effects and consequences of X? Is always the question to have answered.
One such area where I encourage team managers and sponsors of professional drivers to consider is apart from the responsibility of making sure the driver has insurance, I advocate that teams and sponsors have a suitable policy that allows them to recover some or all of their lost “investment”- which might have even been accrued over the years. Some time ago I was looking after the interests of a sponsor who had varying degrees of interest in a handful of drivers and an F1 team. On the sponsor's books was also an individual who was well known, not for F1 skills (although he had a not unimpressive racing CV) but he was also into other “dangerous” sports. We ended up placing a significant programme for this sponsor, but we also knew that if anything was to happen to one or two of the key individuals (ie there should have a serious accident), then the sponsor would probably lessen their future commitments to the drivers. One business that could also be effected in this particular case was my own. At the same time I was also trying to encourage the client and sponsor to consider something to also protect their long terms interests further. It made sense, but something was lost in translation and my words seemed to fall on deaf ears....
Three months later, one of the drivers did have an accident while mountain bike training and at first it was considered to be very serious. It was at this point the sponsor seemed to peep into the world of hindsight and belatedly acknowledged the message we had been trying to percolate through the ranks. I took the unusual step of divulging the fact my own business had taken out the exact same insurance that the sponsor was being encouraged to address. Mercifully the injured driver went on to make a full recovery and was peddling again within nine weeks. The sponsor graciously accepted the point we had been trying to make. Although there were no more “accidents” for the time this sponsor remained within F1, because of the “safety net” that could now be put in play, the sponsor was able to enhance their commitment for the next two seasons – which benefited one of today’s young drivers in particular.
And should you be wondering, if anything awful should happen to this hotshot, or indeed should there be a concern concern for some motorsport insurance broker masquerading as a race driver, yes the consequences are well covered.....in both cases.
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