Australia could soon be home to the biggest Grand Prix event on the international circuit, offering an experience to sustain new fans who have flocked to the sport following the success of Netflix series, Drive to Survive, the QUT Business Leaders' Forum has heard.
Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO Travis Auld said one in three people who attended the Grand Prix in Melbourne this year were coming for the first time and 43 per cent of the motorsport audience in Australia is now female, a demographic shift that will inform the look of future Grand Prix events.
"We want to be the biggest Grand Prix in the world but not at the expense of the experience," Mr Auld said.
"We had 452,000 at (the Melbourne Grand Prix) this year, that was another record … crowds in Melbourne have grown 50 per cent since pre-Covid."
Mr Auld said he could have sold more tickets to the March event but with a contract to host the Grand Prix in Australia until 2037, he was playing the long game to secure the future of motorsport in Australia.
"The reality is that the halo of Drive to Survive has to taper off, or at least it's healthy to think that," he said.
"Our job is to build an event underneath that so that when that halo drops off, the strength of the event withstands that and every promoter around the world is going to get judged as to the work that's been done beneath the halo that's been created, to build a strong, sustainable event."
Mr Auld grew up in the rural Victorian town of Tatura, two hours north of Melbourne, before studying a Bachelor of Business at La Trobe University and becoming a chartered accountant.
"My philosophy is that you're always a student, you're never an expert, so if I'm a leader now then I'm student of leadership I'm not an expert," he said.
"I was always curious; I would look for opportunities that would pop up even if they weren't labelled opportunities. So I just focused on what was next. I'm the wrong person to talk to about a five-year career plan."
He has had a close to 30-year career at the helm of some of Australia's largest sporting institutions, including roles as Chief Operating Officer of Essendon Football Club, Chief Executive Officer of Gold Coast Suns and Chief Financial Officer of AFL Australia.
Appointed head of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation in July last year, Mr Auld now leads the organisation responsible for hosting the two most prestigious international motorsport events in Australia – Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix and Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
"I went into that role not knowing a lot about motorsport, certainly not knowing a lot about the inner sanctum of motorsport," he said.
"But what's become clear is the principles of running a large sporting organisation are transferable. You have to understand your product and commercialise that. They are the same.
"The biggest difference between AFL and Formula One (F1) is the global nature of the sport, my biggest stakeholders are people in London and Spain and that wasn't the case for 20-odd years."
Mr Auld also talked about his time as the inaugural CEO of the Gold Coast Suns and guiding AFL clubs through the Covid-19 pandemic.
"I get the best out of myself when I'm challenged and when I'm in that space outside my comfort zone," he said.
"F1 is a good example of that, I've worked for 25 years in AFL, didn't get the AFL CEO role, had opportunities to stay in the industry and decided to do something else."
The QUT Business Leaders' Forum was attended by leaders from across Queensland, including Motorsport Australia Chair, Andrew Fraser and QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Sheil.
Travis Auld's son, Thomas Auld, who owns and operates WASH Performance and Wellbeing based in Queensland, also attended the event.
The next QUT Business Leaders' Forum will be held on November 18, featuring BHP President Australia, Geraldine Slattery and moderated by leading Australian journalist, Ellen Fanning.
