Entertaining sponsors used to just be part of the job for racing drivers Chris Buncombe and Richard Williams. But they soon realised they could turn their talent for hosting into a business.
In 2008 they founded Halcyon Events, a luxury hospitality and events company which offered high net worth individuals the chance to see behind the scenes of Formula One using contacts they had built up in the industry.
“[Richard and I] both met when we were about 12 years old in karting,” says Mr Buncombe, a director of Halcyon. “Most of the drivers in the paddock, we all grew up together. That’s the sort of relationships that we have.”
Briton Mr Buncombe attended Silverstone, the home of British motorsport, when he was just two months old to support his father, who was also a racing driver.
He started with motorcross in 1990 before moving on to karting four years later, when he competed in the British Kart Championship as a teammate to Jenson Button. Karting was also where he met his future business partner, Mr Williams.
Mr Buncombe started racing in Endurance GT and Sportscar events, while Mr Williams became an insurance broker and continued to race alongside his day job in the Porsche Supercup and other races.
“With personal sponsorship at that level, partners were needing more than just branding on a car. It needed a level of corporate hospitality and a sort of event experience,” says Mr Buncombe.
They each had different sponsors and partners who they would take along to some grand prix events within Europe, using their contacts in the sport to get them behind the scenes.
But it was three or four years later when the British duo decided to make a business out of it.
“The feedback we were getting from some of our sponsors was ‘wow amazing, fantastic,’” says Mr Buncombe.
“We saw it as an opportunity really at the high end, targeting high net worth individuals and targeting small numbers of people for the unique experience at a grand prix.”
So they launched their London-based business in the 2009 season, targeting handfuls of guests at select races in the beginning. By the end of the year they ran a Jenson Button suite within the Paddock Club of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that was attended by 150 guests.
“It was the first time that the grand prix had gone to Abu Dhabi so we had a lot of interest from existing clients and from new clients wanting to attend Abu Dhabi, it being the new exciting race to visit and obviously it was well received there.”
Six years on, the company has 16 employees, an annual turnover of £4 million (Dh24.57m) with plans to double this within the next three years.
And the Abu Dhabi race remains in the top three for Halcyon, both in terms of attendance and client spending.
“We have had private clients, two people, who spent over €100,000 [Dh504,256] for the weekend [in Abu Dhabi] with us. That’s involving a private plane, helicopter, a suite in a hotel, an awful lot of attention to detail in terms of requirements and requests of what is needed in their room, not necessarily expensive things but just attention to detail,” says Mr Buncombe.
However, most of Halcyon’s clients go for the arguably more affordable option of attending the Jenson Button suite, which the company still runs each year in the Yas Viceroy at the cost of US$4,000 per ticket for the weekend.
That may seem expensive but it is still cheaper than Paddock Club, a VIP viewing area which can cost anything between $5,000 up to $10,000. The company is also one of a handful of distributors of Paddock Club tickets, which are in high demand for the Abu Dhabi race.
“The reason it gets to capacity is that it’s simply not big enough, whereas the new facilities Silverstone have built will accommodate an awful lot more people than they tend to get there [in Abu Dhbai].”
This year, when the Abu Dhabi race returns once again to be the last in the calendar, Halcyon also plans to charter a boat in the marina, in addition to working with returning clients.
“I enjoy the challenges that come with running a business,” says Mr Buncombe. “For sure my heart is within the sport or motorsport and that’s my passion. So, very much, the sporting element of Formula One is my first love, but I enjoy being able to provide experiences for my guests and being able to put programmes and packages together to suit,” he adds.
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