Driving with Schumacher

Bizsport

 Beginning early next year, racing enthusiasts can look forward to making that dream a reality through a contest that could put an amateur driver into the cockpit of an F-1 car for a real Grand Prix race on the F-1 circuit.

 The Jordan F-1 team is getting involved in a reality TV show, in which an amateur will be trained and then in due course put in the cockpit of a Jordan F-1 car and actually race in the Grand Prix sometime in 2007.

 This pop idol-style selection of a winner who gets to enter the glamour world of F-1 is expected to draw huge TV audiences, which Jordan hopes will translate into funds that will revitalise their team and the sport in general.

 The first announcement of such a project came in Indianapolis ahead of the American Grand Prix this weekend.

 Eddie Jordan, the owner of the Jordan F-1 team, has been closely involved with Bernie Ecclestone, the F-1 supremo, in trying to devise new plans to promote the sport.

 Motor-racing over the last couple of years has suffered from dwindling interest from fans, because of the dominance of Michael Schumacher