Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Intro.
You're listening to the Motorsport Prospects podcast.
Hey, it's Mark from Motorsport Prospects and welcome to the Motorsport Prospects podcast. This is where we dive into the world of motorsport with the people who live and breathe it. From driver coaches and sponsorship experts to team owners, pro drivers and more. You'll hear real stories, practical advice and insights you can actually use, whether you're just starting out or already chasing success on the track.
Now, I've often been asked why I started Motorsport Prospects. I founded Motorsport Prospects and the Verified by Motorsport Prospects designation after hearing the same question time and again from drivers, aspiring drivers, their families and advisers. And that question was always, who can I trust? Many of them have struggled to find reliable guidance, so I created Motorsport Prospects to help them make informed decisions. The professionals I feature on this podcast represent that trust. So if you work with drivers or racing teams, building trust is one of the most important things you can do. Over the years, I found that being clear about what you offer, following through on your promises and genuinely caring about your clients goals makes all the difference. I put together some practical advice and a free white paper. These three essentials for motorsport business owners which share simple ways to strengthen relationships, attract the right clients and grow your motorsport business. Naturally, you can find it in the show notes or@motorsport prospects.com so let's get started.
My guest today is Dr. Harold Ian Miltner. Harry is the founder and Managing Director of HMS Sports or sorry, HM Sports, an international sports consultant and the founder of Formal Austria Race Academy. Welcome to the podcast, Harry. Thanks so much for joining.
[00:01:59] Harold Miltner: Well, thanks Mark, for the invitation, thank you for having me. And yeah, hello to everyone out there and all over Canada.
Global.
There we go.
[00:02:23] Mark Boudreau: You're the, you're the definition of, of, of how global motorsport is.
[00:02:27] Harold Miltner: Yeah, exactly, exactly. Believe me, believe me, if, if you're in Europe then, then you will need all those languages to, to come around. I forgot Deutsch. So good. Nabbed.
[00:02:38] Mark Boudreau: Oh, there we go.
So, based on your experience and expertise as a motorsport professional, what would be the one most important piece of advice that you, Harry, could offer a current or aspiring race driver?
[00:02:52] Harold Miltner: Well, actually, you've already said it. It's, it's trust. It is trust. You need to, you need what, whatever you do, if you, if you want to become a race driver, then, then, okay, probably, you know, you, you have already looked into the topic, you've already tried to find out, okay, what do I need to do? How do I need to train? Who, which, which categories do I need to drive, blah, blah, blah, blah, Blah. And all those things. You've been watching endless hours of Formula one on television, supposedly probably also drive to survive on Netflix, played, played F1 games on your simulator for 200 hours and so on so forth. So basically, you know, as an aspiring driver, you know all the, you believe to know all the things and actually you know all the ingredients, but you don't have the glue yet. Okay. That brings everything together.
And, and the glue is what you said in your introduction is to, to have professionals that support you in, in putting those pieces, puzzle pieces, into one big picture.
And, and there again, like you emphasized, you need people who, who don't just want to make money or want to put themselves up front, but you know, who really believe in you and really give you pieces of advice that you can actually use and people who you can trust. And that's what it's all about.
[00:04:22] Mark Boudreau: Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, and, you know, that's the whole point of motorsport prospects is to, is to identify people who are truly professionals, who truly. Who people you can trust.
And that's why I launched the, the Verified program, just because this is the problem. I mean, I was talking to a driver today and, you know, they said it's, it's. There are sharks, you know, that are everywhere in the motorsport ocean and trying to, trying to avoid them can become a challenge. So, yeah, the whole point. Yeah, exactly, you need to trust somebody. I mean, it's not just the money part, which is obviously a big, big part of it, but it's, it's your career, it's your reputation, and, you know, potentially being with the wrong people can set back your career and certainly your bank account by quite a bit.
[00:05:14] Harold Miltner: Well, yeah, I mean, you know, as you know, I've been. I've been in F1 for nearly 25 years now and, and in all that time, the sport has, has changed a lot. And.
But those, those sharks have been, have been swimming in the pool all the time, you know, and it's getting, it's actually getting worse by the minute. Yeah, but now it's also, you know, you also find it in, in support series and you also find it already in junior series, which is really, really sad.
But, yeah, I guess it's part of the game. And obviously, you know, you've got the market where.
Yeah, I don't know, if somebody, if somebody believes that he needs to pay $400,000 for an F4 seat, then, yeah, then probably some team is gonna ask for the amount. You know, it's, it's, it's ridiculous. It's a joke because, because in my opinion, if we start out on that amount of money then then in the end we'll only have 25 or 24 or 26. Lance strolls driving in Formula One.
And that is actually absolutely nothing against Lance Stroll's qualities because I, I think that he's treated very unfairly, especially by the media because I think he's a much better driver than they all describe him to be. But what he does have is he has a, basically an never ending financial background.
[00:06:42] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
[00:06:42] Harold Miltner: And that's what I'm referring to that, you know, if you, if you're, if you have that kind of background. Yeah. Then, then you can pay any price because it doesn't matter.
[00:06:51] Mark Boudreau: Yeah. And it sets the bar.
[00:06:53] Harold Miltner: Most talents, you know, most talents don't have parents who, who have, have achieved those successes that Lawrence Stroll has and so they don't have that much money.
[00:07:04] Mark Boudreau: Right.
[00:07:04] Harold Miltner: It's as easy as that.
[00:07:06] Mark Boudreau: Now you have founded something called Formal Austria Race Academy, which I featured on Motorsport Prospects.
[00:07:14] Harold Miltner: Yes, thank you.
[00:07:15] Mark Boudreau: Tell, tell me a little bit about the program, the, the reasons why you, you founded it and, and, and how it works. Because it's, it's not just a typical, you know, show up, you know, get driver training and then move on. Like there's a whole, there's a whole framework that the drivers are put into. So tell me a little bit about how that works.
[00:07:40] Harold Miltner: Yeah, well, basically in my, in my time in Formula One, obviously there's, there's not so many people work in Formula One who are based in Austria. I mean, there's, you know. Yes. With, with the Red Bull team and all that. It's like it's more than it used to be. And of course there's lots of, of suppliers who deliver engine parts and, and, and, and exhaust parts and whatnot, but those people are usually not in, in, in, in the limelight because everything they produce is super secret. So they're not going to be walking around and, you know, talking about it. So actually there's not that many people who are known and who work in Formula One for quite so, you know, for more than two decades. So I've been asked quite a lot of times if I could, couldn't do something for, for junior sports, junior drivers in, in Austria and, and also in Germany. And I said I was, I was happy to do something like, you know, like a support program, but I could only do it because, I mean, I'm not, I'm not poor, but I'm not a billionaire, so. So I could only do it if, if the preconditions were, were right and if the time was right and if all the setting was, was in place and then I'd be happy to help. And to be fairly honest, the, the very distinguished and, and at my end, highly respected Dr. Marco, who we all know, I guess. Oh yeah, yeah. He's, I, I always loved him because he like, he was great friends with Niki Lauda, one of my mentors. And, and obviously I got to listen to a couple of things that he said all through the years and there's lots of clever stuff, but there were also some things that I tend to disagree with. But that's a normal thing. But then once he said that because he, he's been asked a gazillion times by Austrian media why there is no Austrian Formula one driver with Red Bull or at least with racing bulls. And, and his, his reply was that they didn't find any suitable candidates and that, that made me so angry because if you look at drivers like Lucas Auer, you know, and Thomas Prioring and Ferdinand Habsburg and Philippe Eng and, and, and, and there's loads more. Klaus.
Yeah. I could go on like for the next two hours naming those Euler's drivers.
There's been so many talents who have proven worthy in Formula 3 and now we've got Charlie Wirtz and then Oscar Wirtz and Niklas Schaufer and they've all proven worthy in Formula 4, Formula 3 even higher up in GT cars. Now Eng and Habsburg are driving hypercars and something like that. So I mean, if you look at their careers, you know, they have, they would have been good enough. Okay.
The thing is basically Red Bull, Red Bull is, is actually an energy drink company. It's, it's not, it's not a manufacturer of cars. So obviously they, they look at, look at markets they want to conquer, which is a. Fair, fair enough, absolutely fair enough.
And they are from Austria. So obviously the Austrian market is in their pockets anyway. So why engage with an Austrian Dr.
Can also get an equally good driver from say, I don't know, Australia, but also at the same time then have a testimonial for the Australian market. Makes perfect sense and is absolutely economically sound. It's just that. Why not say it, you know, why can't you just say that, you know? Right. Because instead of offending, offending the Austrian high quality drivers.
And that was actually the point when I said, okay, now it's enough.
I want to do something to show because you see the Impact of Red Bull racing and of what Red Bull racing officials say in Austria is enormous. Okay. Because everybody's looking up. Austria is a small country and it's got a long standing tradition of Formula one, but, but now they've got their own team and a very, very successful team to its own. Right.
So obviously everyone's looking up to that, to what they say, you know, and everything they say is, is like, yeah, that must be the truth because they know what they're doing.
[00:12:24] Mark Boudreau: Right.
[00:12:24] Harold Miltner: Well, but it's not in this case. And that's why I said, okay, now I've had enough, you know, and then I've asked a couple of former Formula one people that, that I know really well and asked them, okay, I'm going to do this, going to do that and, and will you can you support me in doing this? And yeah, and they weren't quickly on board and I found a very good racing team in Raynauer Motorsport because I mean I don't have a racing team so I need to find a good partner, which I did.
Long standing Austrian racing team located just an hour south of Vienna. So perfect as far as you know, arrivals and shuttle and everything's concerned. So yeah, and then we sat down, we worked it out and in June 2024, after, yeah, say one and a half years of, of preparation, a whole lot of money, of investment, we launched the program and now after one and a half years we are actually about one year or even more ahead of our five year plan.
[00:13:28] Mark Boudreau: Oh great, great.
[00:13:29] Harold Miltner: And we're, we're very happy to be honest.
[00:13:34] Mark Boudreau: Good. Now like I had mentioned, I know that there's the, the racing component of it, but you do deal with off track training so tell me a little bit about how that works.
[00:13:50] Harold Miltner: Well, having worked for several Formula one teams, especially on the non racing side, because I'm, you know, I'm not an engineer or mechanic or something so I've been working in, on, on, on, on the sponsorship side, I'm an expert in sponsors, all those things, negotiations.
I've been working in PR and media and we've also, you know, catered for, for hospitality, so on, so forth and brand activations. Four teams, four sponsors. La la la with HM Sports.
I am absolutely aware of the fact that, that a racing driver does not just need to be fast and give good technical feedback, but actually once he puts on a helmet or she puts on a helmet, is in the car, they are, they are a marketing product as well because they represent the brand that they drive for and they represent Themselves as well, and they represent all their sponsors.
So it's actually asked a lot from, from Formula one drivers to do all. To do all those media events and to do the PR stuff and to do the brand activation stuff and whatnot. I mean, you know, talk to Kimmy Ryken and he can tell you a lot of stories about it.
But, you know, we're not looking at, at thoroughbred form the wonder if we're looking at kids, because let's be honest, you know, they, they're between, they're starting at 14 and then they come in and then they start racing at 15.
They're kids, they're teenagers. You know, they've got loads of problems themselves, you know, like growing up and
[00:15:26] Mark Boudreau: maturing and Which a lot of times people forget.
[00:15:29] Harold Miltner: Yeah, yeah, but that's why that we didn't forget because, you know, we saw that every day. You know, it's. Puberty is like girlfriends coming in and he's on a high and girlfriend's going out and he's on a low and, and you know, girls, girls experiencing things like their first, their first monthly periods and stuff like that, you know, it's like, it's all natural, normal things, you know, or they got like, they got exams in school and it didn't go well. So, so they're, they're, their minds are completely out of. Off track, not on the cock, not. Not on track, not in, in the cockpit. So it's like loads of things and.
[00:16:07] Mark Boudreau: Right.
[00:16:07] Harold Miltner: And most parents, yeah, they see the sport and I'm not here to blame the parents, but it's, it's much more complex than it looks. So we said, okay, if we're going to do this, let's look at the, let's look at the best examples there are, which is the, the, the, the Formula one teams academies.
I've got a very close connection to Scuderia Ferrari. So I looked at what, what are they doing at F Ferrari Academy, and, And obviously they are super aware of the fact that it's not just about racing.
So we said, okay, we going to do exactly what Formula One academies are doing.
Don't mix it up with F1 academy. But you know, what the Formula One team academy is doing, are doing. We do, we're going to do exactly the same. We just have to scale it smaller. A, because, because we're talking about younger drivers and B, because we don't have the same budgets. Right.
[00:17:07] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
[00:17:08] Harold Miltner: But thanks to my connections, okay, for. I could, I could convince the former F1 spokesperson to do our media training. And, and the passive, the theoretical media training, the active media training is done by the, a former Sky TV Formula one presenter.
[00:17:29] Mark Boudreau: Okay?
[00:17:30] Harold Miltner: So, and the, the, the medical checkup that is, is physical, mental and also nutrition is done by Austria's amongst the best sports medics there are. Okay, and what else, what else do we have?
We've got a lot of, a lot of things off track, a lot of things out of the cockpit where we train all those drivers.
[00:17:58] Mark Boudreau: Okay?
[00:17:59] Harold Miltner: Because, because they need this. Right?
[00:18:02] Mark Boudreau: Right.
[00:18:02] Harold Miltner: Because, for example, if you look at, if you look at social media, for example, you look at Instagram, like, okay, all the kids are using Instagram now. You know, us old guys are using Facebook, but they don't even know what that is anymore. So fortunately, fortunately, one of my, one of my colleagues is an absolute social media expert in, in the field of Instagram. Tick tock. And I don't know all the names and, and she, she teaches the kids because let's face it, all of those car drivers, all of those young formula drivers, they've all got the same pictures, right? They've got pictures of themselves in the car, they've got the pictures of themselves on the track, they've got pictures of themselves, I don't know, putting on the suit.
All of them got small video clips telling us about how training went and all those things.
All fine, all necessary, all interesting, all interesting. B2C.
Okay, but not B2B.
The question is if you want to sponsor and every driver needs sponsors, even in Formula one, even though people believe that, that those, those guys are just paid. But actually most guys are paid by the money that the sponsors.
Yeah, ask Franco Colapinto, for example.
The thing is that, that you have to offer something to sponsors that, that sponsors have a return of investment just because the guy is nice. Okay? You're lucky if, for example, you, you say, I don't know, you're the only Formula Ford driver from Andorra, okay?
Very small country, not known for their race car drivers, it's probably easier to find local, regional or national partners that support you. Again, super example, Franco Colapinto, had they got two Argentinian Formula one drivers, maybe the bank would not support him, but maybe the other Argentina. Okay, so, yes, but, so if you're from a small country, it's probably easier. Or if you're from a big country that has no racing drivers, it's also easier find sponsors. But if you're from, from a classic classic racing country, okay, say like Germany or, or, or Italy or Spain or Canada, long tradition in Formula One Especially in Formula one.
Yeah, it's hard to find, to find sponsors, you know, it's really hard to find sponsors because honestly, what can you, what can you offer a sponsor in Formula 4? Most Formula 4 series don't have TV stream broadcast. Most of them don't. Okay. They've got. Nowadays, most of them have live streaming. Yes.
How, but how often do you see your car if you're, you know, especially if you're a rookie, you're not expected to, to win every race.
[00:21:04] Mark Boudreau: Right.
[00:21:06] Harold Miltner: So you're probably not super much on television.
So we have to find ways in order to.
Yeah. Create something around it to make it interesting for sponsors to support you. And, and those are the things that we teach the drivers and also include their parents so they know what we're talking about.
[00:21:27] Mark Boudreau: Perfect. Now, formal Austria Race Academy. Is this only for Austrian drivers?
[00:21:37] Harold Miltner: No.
Okay. We do two, we do three things actually, as far as driver pool is concerned and we do more things as far as campaigns are concerned.
As for the, as for the driver pool, obviously we are there for karting talents. Yes, but you also, you know, you have to live in the present and maybe also look into the future. And obviously sim racing has developed to such an enormous level.
We know that ourselves because with HM Sports Informal last year, we, we have, we used to, we used to organize a sub series of F1 esports series in, in Central Europe. And two or three of our champions afterwards went. Went to F1 esports series. So we know very well how good sim races, good sim races can be actually also in real cars.
Our first alumnus, Simon Schrantz, actually came from sim racing.
[00:22:46] Mark Boudreau: Oh, okay.
[00:22:47] Harold Miltner: And it took us, it took us, I'd say, three quarters of a year to get him onto the level so he could compete in F4 Central Europe.
Okay.
Because it's a different approach. You know, if you're in a cart, then you know all the things that are haptic. You know, you know what it's like to face wind and rain, you know what it's like to.
Excuse me.
You know what it's like to fight other drivers. You know what it's like to be on the track, to speed, feel the speed and so on.
But you know nothing about a formula car.
[00:23:20] Mark Boudreau: Right.
[00:23:21] Harold Miltner: Because a card has no wings.
On the other hand, somebody who's doing sim racing in formula and all that, he knows so much about strategy, he knows a lot about setup of the wings, he knows a lot about all, all the, the engine parts of, and the technical parts of a formula car.
So that's really fascinating how much feedback they can usually get to the mechanic or the engineer.
But they're completely. On their first outings, they're completely surprised by. By the wind in their face or, or what the car, how the car wobbles when it's wet. Because that doesn't happen in sim racing. Yes, it wobbles a bit, but it's not the same, you know? Right. And of course, of course, unless you've got one of those super expensive supercharged simulators, you know that, that move in three with gyroscopic movement and all those things, and most of them don't.
You don't feel bumps. There's no bumps. Right.
[00:24:21] Mark Boudreau: That's true.
[00:24:22] Harold Miltner: Every track you drive on is really smooth in sim racing. So we approach those two. That's karting talents and top sim racers.
But our program is, is by. Is twofold. Okay. We've got two years of preparation. Okay.
So basically you can also join us if you already have one Formula 4 season on the books, but you want to move up to, you know, to a higher level of formula for racing. Because obviously there's lots of Formula four series around the globe, but not all of them have the same standards. Right?
[00:25:02] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
[00:25:02] Harold Miltner: Which is not down, which is not down to the organizers. I'm saying this is not a blame. It's just a. Basically a sporting. A sporting question. Just like, you know, if you play in, in the Scottish Premier League football is different than if you play in the English Premiership football, the level is obviously higher. And this is the same case in Europe. So you've got, you've got Italian Formula 4 and Spanish Formula 4 being definitely being the. The most competitive Formula 4 series.
And then, then you've got on basically one level, You've got the F4 Central European zone where we are competing. That's basically Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and then also the French and the British Formula 4. And then you've got an another tier with say, for example, the Nordic 4 is a Scandinavian formula 4 and. And so on and so forth. Right. So basically if you come from the Scandinavian Formula 4 and you're pretty good at that one, the next step you want to do is, is either if you can afford it, go to Italy and drive there, or you can come to us and drive in the formula 4 century European zone.
Because, for example, Oscar Wirtz, who, who won the series two years ago, went on to driving in Euro Cup 3.
So you can actually go directly to Formula 3 after that. Okay, so those, those are the three levels of drivers that we, we like to have on board. And then like I said, it's a two year program, meaning if you are a rookie, you do one season in an easier formula for surrounding to learn and do a lot of testing and, and then Maybe join the Formula 4 Central Europe ZN zone for the final race weekend to see where you stand.
And then the following season you do the entire campaign in F4 Central Europe.
If you already have one F4 season under the belt, you can go directly into F4 Central Europe and we'll support you there.
[00:27:11] Mark Boudreau: And, and like you, we were saying, it's, it's global, it's open to drivers of any nationality.
[00:27:16] Harold Miltner: Yes. So as you know, we've already had Hadi Mimasi and then Nicole Hovereda from Canada.
[00:27:21] Mark Boudreau: Yeah.
[00:27:22] Harold Miltner: With us. So yes, it is absolutely global. Anyone can come.
[00:27:26] Mark Boudreau: So now anybody listening that wants to find out more about the program, where would they go?
[00:27:33] Harold Miltner: The easiest thing is to, to email us. I mean they can go to our website which is really easy. It's called raceacademy.net okay, so they'll find everything on the website. They can also email us at officeformal Austria at, at For Austria, obviously.
Or if they're really lazy, they can just ask you.
[00:27:57] Mark Boudreau: Yes. And well, I'll put all these, all these links in the show notes so that they, they can, even if they're lazy, they can, they'll get them there.
[00:28:06] Harold Miltner: Well, there you go.
[00:28:08] Mark Boudreau: But absolutely, if they want to get in touch with me, I'll connect you guys.
So, so, yeah, well, this is great. You know, like I said, you've, you've been featured on Motorsport Prospects. It's a, it's a great program. We've worked together on a couple of different, with a couple of different drivers and yeah, it's, it's a very, it's a well rounded program. I think that's, that's the key.
All the details will be in the show notes. But before I let you go, I have one question for you, one final question. And that is favorite racetrack, Current or historical?
There we go.
And, and said with style.
[00:28:55] Harold Miltner: Yes, yes, yes, yes. No, no, I, I, I, I mean I love, I love Italy and I've, I've spent quite some time down there and, and I used to live in Milan. So yeah, it's very unfortunate that, that uh, we lost Roland Ratzenberger and uh, Don Sena, but, and I, we nearly lost Gerhard Berger in the fire in Imola, but, but still, it's my, it's my, it's actually my favorite track in Europe.
If we go global, I have to be very cheesy actually, but it's not on purpose. It's.
[00:29:38] Mark Boudreau: Hey, right at my footsteps.
[00:29:41] Harold Miltner: Well, yeah, the thing is, you see it just produces amazing races all the time. Yeah, yeah. And, and, and yeah, it's, it's one of those old school tracks that are, that are still drivable with, with nowadays SUV Formula 1 cars.
[00:30:03] Mark Boudreau: No comment.
[00:30:04] Harold Miltner: Yeah, well, no, no, no. I love those two tracks and those two tracks are actually quite similar from, from, from, from some of their racing strategy.
But yeah, no, those two tracks of the are actually the ones that I like best.
[00:30:21] Mark Boudreau: Nice. And, and you get an off track.
Both offer great culture and.
[00:30:28] Harold Miltner: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
[00:30:29] Mark Boudreau: And great food and, and food. I was just gonna say. Yeah. So yeah, they're win. Win.
[00:30:34] Harold Miltner: Yeah.
[00:30:35] Mark Boudreau: Harry, it was really great having you on the podcast. Really appreciate you taking the time.
Like I said, I'll put all the links out there for everybody who is interested in the formal Austria Academy. Like I said, we were saying, please remember that it is not only for Austrian drivers. That would probably help, but it is a global program. So if you're interested, by all means, check them out.
That is it for this week. This is Mark from Motorsport Prospects reminding you to stay fast, stay focused and keep chasing that checkered flag.
Thanks for listening to the Motorsport Prospects Podcast. For insights, advice and the latest news racers can use, visit motorsportprospects.com.
