Grosvenor hopes to bring F1 to L1

Liverpool One developer-investor Grosvenor is in talks with motor sport industry bosses in a bid to get Formula One cars to race down The Strand as part of a planned city-wide Pageant of Power.

Liverpool Pageant of Power will include displays on air, land and sea organised by Grosvenor, Liverpool City Council and other partners between 22 May and 29 May.

The second anniversary of the opening of the £1bn Liverpool One regeneration project is on 29 May and Grosvenor is determined to celebrate in style.

Chris Bliss, estates director, said arrangements were still being put in place but he hoped to secure hovercrafts, performance motorbikes, speedboats, helicopter rides off Chavasse Park and the JCB display team.

Under plans being discussed with the council, the dual carriageway Strand would close after rush hour on the evening of Tuesday 25 May for a Formula One demonstration.

Grosvenor is working with the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power (CPOP) organisers to use the Liverpool event as a preview to CPOP on 17 & 18 July at Cholmondeley Castle in Malpas, Cheshire. CPOP held a small marketing event at Liverpool One last year and was impressed by the amount of tickets it sold, leading to its greater involvement in 2010.

The sight of Formula One cars in city streets is not unprecedented: a similar event in Regent Street, London in recent years was said to have attracted one million spectators. There is certainly plenty of precedent from the 2008 European Capital of Culture festivities for closing roads in Liverpool for tourist events. The Strand and neighbouring streets were closed for a weekend to make room for the La Machine giant mechanical spider.

Liverpool City Council confirmed talks were ongoing with Grosvenor and others regarding Liverpool Pageant of Power.