The FIA Institute will work in partnership with the Motor Sport Safety Development Fund to help fulfil the goal of raising the standard of motor sport across the globe.

FIA sporting clubs, especially those in developing countries, have been encouraged to apply for grants and the FIA Institute will also launch an Officials Safety Training project to help with the development programme.

Chaired by seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher, the Fund has been created to manage the distribution of motor sport safety-related grants from the FIA’s $60 million share of the $100 million fine imposed on McLaren-Mercedes last year.

It is controlled by a Management Committee under the administration of the FIA Foundation, a UK registered charity. The Committee is made up of Max Mosley, FIA President; Nick Craw, President of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States; Jean Todt, Member of the Board, Ferrari SpA and Norbert Haug, Vice President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

To encourage applications, the Fund’s Programmes Chairman Peter Doggwiler has given a number of presentations about the scheme. He was at the recent SATAC meeting in Kampala to give further details about the programme to African clubs. He also participated in the American Congress, in Lima, Peru in September 2008 and was present at the recent meeting of Region II clubs in Singapore.

Applications have been split between the three different pre-defined programme areas – a Young Driver Safety Scholarship Programme, an Officials Skills Safety Training Programme and a Facility Safety Improvement Consultancy Programme.

Potential projects range from schemes to improve the standard of motor sport officials around the world to the development of young drivers and the improvement of grass roots infrastructure.