Motorsport UK’s Paid Licenses in Decline: A Revealing Investigation

Financial documents also reveal Director Pay and British Kart Championship Revenue

An examination of Motorsport UK’s licensing records over the past two decades reveals a consistent decline in paid licenses, even as recent shifts in reporting practices blur direct comparisons. The recent decline in like-for-like registration numbers for the Motorsport UK British Kart Championship correlates with a wider trend that is happening with British Motorsport, and it’s not exactly good reading.

A turning point came with the 2018 Annual Report when Motorsport UK introduced Kart PG (Parent Guardian) Licenses into its dataset. Unlike competition licenses that signify active participation, these administrative licenses are intended for oversight purposes. Their inclusion - especially in the realms of karting and overall licensing - has changed the totals relative to figures published in the 2017 Annual Report. To ensure a consistent long-term analysis, adjustments have been made to exclude these PG Licenses wherever possible.

2017’s Annual Report figures

The same years in the 2018’s Annual Report now boast higher numbers compared to 2017. These come from the addition of PG Licenses to the data set.

The challenge deepens further with financial reporting. Post-2018 documents filed via Companies House (as data for post-2018 for licenses is hard to come by) now offer only “Total Paid License” figures - figures that likely still bundle PG Licenses with traditional competitor licenses. Despite this shift, the broader trend remains unambiguous: participation in British motorsport is in marked decline. Since 2004, total competitor licenses have fallen by 17.06% - from 34,211 to 28,378 - with the note that these latter figures may or may not include PG Licenses.

2008’s Financial crisis saw a dip and 2020 witnessed an even more drastic decline in licenses. But a steady decline is clear despite a rising population.

Further complicating the historical narrative is the organisation’s previous practice of differentiating between “Total Licenses” and “Total Holders.” For instance, in 2004 Motorsport UK reported issuing 34,211 licenses to 32,889 holders - a discrepancy of 1,322, or roughly 3.86%. Similar gaps emerged in 2005 (2.06%) and 2006 (4.4%), averaging 3.36% over that period. If this trend persists, today’s total of 28,378 Total Paid Licenses would roughly equate to 27,395 individual holders, before we account for possible Kart PG additions. However, recent reports now aggregate data under “Total Competitor Licenses” without delineating individual counts, leaving such estimates in the realm of educated conjecture.

Older Annual Reports include ‘Total Holders’ which the later reports appear not to

Karting has been hit even harder. Between 2004 and 2018, the number of karting licenses plummeted from 5,419 to 3,229 - a staggering 40.41% decline, partly due to an Adult Exodus I detailed previously. Although efforts are underway to secure more recent data for the karting segment, no updated breakdown has yet been released that I can find. The 2018 Annual Report is the most recent document with full breakdowns that I have come across.

We only have data up until 2018, but the decline from 2004 has been steady and consistent.

Yet the narrative is not entirely one of decline. The introduction of free licenses - exemplified by the RS Clubman series launched in 2020 - adds a layer of complexity to the picture. These initiatives are aimed at reinvigorating grassroots participation, though they come with their own caveats. I, for one, hold an RS Clubman license yet harbor no intentions of competing, underscoring the mixed signals emerging from the sector.

Motorsport UK describes itself as “the national membership organisation and governing body for four-wheel motorsport in the UK, representing competitors, volunteers, clubs and fans.” and that “Motorsport UK is a not-for-profit organisation (limited by guarantee) that exists to service and grow the sport.”

The 2023 Financial Report also provided insights into executive remuneration for Motorsport UK. Twelve directors served the Group in 2023, unchanged from the previous year, with one acting as the sole executive Director. Notably, non-executive directors received no emoluments. The highest-paid Director earned a total of £309,948 in 2023, up from £296,728 in 2022, with £14,667 allocated for pension contributions. This sum, representing a significant 2.42% of the Group’s total income of £12,813,108, is reported without naming the individual involved. .

A glimmer of growth appears in the overall licensing numbers. Motorsport UK’s 2023 Financial Report stated that “the overall number of licences issued in 2023 totalled 68,764 which represents an 11% increase on 2022 which totalled 62,198.” This uptick is largely attributable to a surge in free RS Clubman licenses, which jumped from 25,492 in 2022 to 30,381 in 2023 - a 19% increase. Additionally, the new StreetCar initiative has drawn approximately 1,000 new licence holders to the Electric StreetCar demonstration during the Formula E weekend. Indoor karting, bolstered by a partnership with TeamSport and an exclusive membership requisite for the British Indoor Kart Championship, saw a 25% rise from 7,978 licenses in 2022 to 10,005 in 2023. It’s hard to ascertain what these figures mean given that indoor karting has existed for nearly 4 decades in the UK, and been very successful on its own.

Despite these pockets of growth, the overarching question remains: what do these shifts mean for the general health of British motorsport? The British Karting Championship, once a linchpin of Motorsport UK’s strategy, now stands at a crossroads. As the organisation itself noted in its 2018 Financial Report Report “... Motorsport UK took the organisation of the 2019 British Kart Championships in-house and quickly generated almost 550 competitor registrations, meaning they are set to be the biggest for many years. Motorsport UK will be investing in the event hosting clubs so that all their members can benefit from the success of top level karting.”

There are now questions about its future given the recently published registration figures which are currently at around 200, which represents a drastic 50% decline from where they were in 2022 at this point in time. It may be the case that the championships receive a flurry of late registration, but it won’t make for a comfortable time for those at Motorsport UK.

The 2023 Financial Report further underscored the importance of the championships to Motorsport UK: “The British Karting Championships reported revenue of £1,664k for 2023, a 14% increase on £1,457k in 2022 with key income streams being Championship registration fee, race entry fees, tyre sales and commercial partners.” These are not insignificant numbers and would represent over 10% of all the Group’s yearly income revenue.

In sum, while innovative initiatives and free licensing schemes offer a chance to boast of growth, the data paints a sobering picture of a sport at a crossroads. The figure of 65,000 licence holders in the UK somewhat hides the decline of paid licences from the headlines.

F1’s is booming, but is British Motorsport? We await 2024’s figures!