OCTOBER 29, 2004

Bulgaria? Just the place for F1!

It seems that Formula 1 is willing to go just about anywhere so long as the money is right. With Turkey and Mexico coming on to the F1 calendar, all that is now left is a race in Bulgaria. And why not? It seems that "a consortium of businessmen from Germany, Switzerland and Benelux" are willing to put up the money to build a $250m F1 track near Sliven. The development will include hotels, a hospital, parking, a casino and even a filling station. The project is being backed by Sliven's mayor Yordan Lechkov, who will supply the land for the track at Ramusha, a village to the east of Sliven.

The city is located at the foot of the Balkan mountain range and is famous for very little apart from picturesque local rock formations which are thought likely to wow the huge influx of rock-keen tourists which the Grand Prix will bring.

Lechkov is a famous soccer player, who used to play for German Hamburger SV.