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Is motorsport “a race out of place”?for their city. In particular, this paper highlights thevalue of a holistic understanding of the impact of thelocation of mega-motorsports events.Epiloguecapital was about to end, and that the economicreasons for staging mega-sports events (always hotlycontested) could no longer be validly argued. We canlook back to a time where we realised that themarketing of sporting events could not be consideredindependently of major challenges facing the world.RESEARCH PAPERLet’s take a look into the future, 30 years ahead(though the scenario that follows could easily occurearlier or later). Peak oil has passed, accompanied bywidespread economic collapse, poverty, starvation andongoing wars over remaining oil supplies. Coincidingwith the passing of peak oil, climate change hasentered a catastrophic stage at which unpredictablefeedback effects have led to a runaway increase intemperatures, prolonged droughts and more frequentand severe bushfires, floods and hurricanes. Incombination, these have produced an environmentthat is increasingly unlivable for humans and millionsof other species.At this stage, our children may well ask us: “Yourealised 30 years ago that oil production was about topeak globally, and that human activity, particularly intransport, was responsible for climate change likely tohave catastrophic impacts?” We will answer: “Yes.”Our children may then ask: “And you allowedmotorsports events, using huge amounts of fuel,creating greenhouse gases, and encouraging a cultureof conspicuous consumption, to be staged insignificant urban spaces, adding to the glorification ofa sport that symbolised much of what you knew weneeded to change?”Now let us consider an alternative scenario, one thatis also vastly different from today. Our lifestyles aresimpler, more locally based, with stronger localcommunities and local food production, sustainabletransport systems and energy sources based on solar,tidal and geothermal sources. We can recall the timeat which our political leaders decided to place thehealth of present and future generations ahead of theshort-term profit-making interests of privatecompanies. We can recall a time when our leaderssuddenly realised that the period of flexible global© 2009 International Marketing ReportsAcknowledgmentsThe inspiration for the title of this paper came fromthe titles of the paper on graffiti by Tim Creswell(1992) and the thesis by Timothy Keeffe (2000).See below for details.BiographiesPaul Tranter is a senior lecturer in geography at theSchool of Physical, Environmental & MathematicalSciences, University of New South Wales. His researchinterests include child-friendly environments andresilient cities, the public health impacts ofmotorsport, and the promotion of active transportthrough the concept of ‘effective speed’. His recentresearch features an examination of the implications ofpeak oil for children and child-friendly cities.Mark Lowes is an associate professor in thedepartment of communication at the University ofOttawa. His primary research area is sport andcommunity development. Most recently he hasinvestigated the role played by megasport events inthe economic and cultural growth strategies of cities.76 International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship ● OCTOBER 2009 ●