An interview with the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs Chairman, David Whale

Back in October, Motul announced their partnership with the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) as its official lubricant partner.

The FBHVC is part of the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens (FIVA), an organisation devoted to the preservation and continued use of historic vehicles.

The organisation offers their members support and advice to acquire, maintain and run historic vehicles from cars to motorcycles, buses, lorries, vans,  agricultural, military and steam vehicles. Not only that, they look after the museums that exhibit historic vehicles and in total have over 250,000 individual  members. Representing more than 500 clubs in the UK, with the support of Motul, the club is looking forward to the future under its mantra “yesterday’s  vehicles for tomorrow’s roads”.

Motul is proud to have become the FBHVC’s lubricant partner – one of only five prestigious commercial partners and the partnership was announced in time  for the 2021 Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show which took place at the NEC over the weekend of 12-14 November. FBHVC Chairman David Whale tells us more about this exciting new partnership.

DAVID, FIRST OF ALL, COULD YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE FBHVC?

We’re tied with FIVA and Motul has a global partnership with them. The FBHVC is the authorised national representative for FIVA in the UK. What that means is we’re the second largest national representative in the world, with just the US ahead of us. The role we fulfil is to look after the historic vehicle  community in the UK, and that’s very much replicated in many countries around the world. We’ve got over 500 historic vehicle clubs as members. We also look after the museums that exhibit historic vehicles, and we have got over 250,000 individual historic enthusiasts.

HOW DOES YOUR ORGANISATION SUPPORT HISTORIC VEHICLE ENTHUSIASTS?

It’s about maintaining the freedom to use the vehicles on tomorrow’s roads and doing that by helping people acquire historic vehicles, maintain them, and run them. And when we talk historic vehicles, we’re actually talking about several categories of vehicle: cars, motorcycles, buses, coaches, lorries, vans,  agricultural, military and steam.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO PARTNER WITH MOTUL?

When we started the conversation with Motul, the fact that they also have a relationship with the French federation, and have had that relationship since 2006, was fundamental.

WHAT DOES THIS PARTNERSHIP MEAN FOR YOUR ORGANISATION?

It’s incredibly powerful. The British federation has five commercial partners, and we’re quite careful about how we choose them, because fundamentally the partner has to be able to deliver value to the federation as a whole. And it also has to deliver value to our members. We have a policy of no conflict, so if we have a lubricants partner, as of now it’s Motul and we don’t talk to anyone else.

The two things that are probably most important to us, as far as the Motul offer is concerned, is the amount of passion they demonstrate. I actually had a conversation with Hélène Zaugg (Motul Chairman of the Supervisory Board) at the Goodwood Revival. She asked me how I perceive Motul, and my response was I see professionalism and passion. Her response to me was “I can buy professionalism, but I can’t buy passion”. And I think that has got to be  fundamental. We also see the interest of Motul from a heritage perspective. As this century evolves, heritage is going to be a major part of keeping our vehicles on the roads.

DOES THIS PARTNERSHIP MEAN YOUR MEMBERS GET SPECIAL CONCESSIONS WITH MOTUL?

Absolutely. We have a members’ area on our website where they can get access to special offers. On the public part of the website, we’ll have a lot of  information talking about Motul’s historic and classic products for our vehicles.

To read more about Witham Motorsport and Motul, and to see the Classic product range, click here.