MOTOR SPORT/Formula One: Bernie Ecclestone and bankers acting for the bankrupt Kirch media group have offered to buy off a threat from a consortium of major car manufacturers who are threatening to start their own grand prix world championship from 2008.

Before its collapse, Kirch owned a 75 per cent stake in SLEC, the company originally founded by Ecclestone to manage and exploit Formula One's commercial rights - which currently provide the top 10 competing teams with about 15 per cent of their income, a combined total of around £140 million.

Now Kirch's bankers are offering the car makers a 30 per cent stake in the business, which is valued at around £1.4 billion, if they will scrap their plans for a separate series and offer unconditional support for the existing Formula One infrastructure.

While their stake will be reduced, the bankers will hope to profit from a growth in the value of their remaining stockholding in the Formula One business.

The manufacturers - who have invested massively in the sport through their sponsorship of various competing teams as well as by supplying them with engines at a cost of anything between £30 million and £60 million a year - believe the offer is insufficient and have lobbied for a figure closer to 80 per cent.