AN INSIDE VIEW – LAW IN MOTORSPORT

An Inside View – Law in Motorsport

Experience is one thing Sven Burchartz brings to the table in both a legal and a motorsport sense.

As an owner of Melbourne-based law firm Kalus Kenny Intelex and part-owner of Tickford Racing, Burchartz has a unique perspective on the role law plays in motorsport, with things like driver contracts, team acquisitions and various deals for sponsors, manufacturers and suppliers.

He has advised a variety of motorsport identities on various legal and commercial issues, and this is when he identified a need for advice and expertise in the motorsport industry.

While Burchartz advises several key players at the highest levels, he also helps everyone at all levels of the sport, as well as in many cases their non-motorsport businesses and ventures.

Burchartz currently races a Porsche 911 RSR in Touring Car Masters and sat down with Auto Action to discuss how the legal sector ties in with motorsport.

Does the fact you’re actively involved in motorsport as a competitor also give you an insight into how the sport works?

Yes, it does. Motorsport is a business as well as a sport. Its product is seen as an entertainment output, but it’s a business and it lives in a highly regulated environment at a FIA or Motorsport Australia level, or at the Supercars level if that’s the competition.

There are so many components and relationships within that, including sponsorships, brand management, reputation, intellectual property, people issues, drivers, suppliers, manufacturers.

What sort of legal work does the sport require?

I spend a lot of time making sure the agreements and documents that deal with relationships, like driver agreements, sponsor agreements, intellectual property licensing, people, acquiring parts – all the things that are unique in the way they operate in sport, let alone motorsport – are done.

What other elements are involved in the sport from a legal perspective?

There are a myriad of things that come up in motorsport from the regularity framework right down to premises, leases and equipment. Teams like Tickford, Triple Eight, Walkinshaw and many others have massive investments in capital infrastructure and machinery. These things aren’t cheap, so they need financing contracts. The myriad inputs are no different for a motorsport business as they are to any other manufacturing business.

Read the rest of the interview in Auto Action #1785, available right now.

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