MANAMA, Bahrain — The Max Mosley sex scandal dominated the weekend of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
On March 30, the British tabloid newspaper The News of the World published grainy photos, a two-page story and a video link in which it alleged that FIA President Mosley, 67, had taken part in a five-hour sado-masochistic sex orgy with five prostitutes, some dressed in prison garb or black leather uniforms, and using whips and chains, in a posh London apartment.
The newspaper strongly played up a Nazi concentration camp theme to the orgy, something Mosley says is not true.
But on April 6, the paper published an additional story that added more alleged lurid details and saying that there was such Nazi theme.
The newspaper says it will send copies of the video to the eight members of the FIA Senate plus the 222 auto clubs that belong to the FIA.
Any Nazi links would be ruinous for Mosley, as his father, Sir Oswald Mosley, was the head of the fascist party in England prior to World War II, and his mother, Diana, knew Adolf Hitler well.
The implications of the embarrassing affair go far beyond F-1 and motor racing because Mosley oversees not just racing but the 222 auto clubs in 134 countries worldwide that are members of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile.
Mosley says he still has support from those clubs. Some major clubs, however, including ones in the USA, Australia, Germany, Holland and Israel, have said he should consider his position.
“In the view of ADAC, the office of the FIA president, representing 100 million motorists worldwide, cannot be burdened by such an affair,” Germany’s club said in a statement. “For this reason, we advise the FIA president to carefully consider his position in the organization.”

“Had I been caught driving excessively fast on a public road or over the alcohol limit [even in, say, Sweden where it is very low] I should have resigned the same day. As it is, a scandal paper obtained by illegal means, pictures of something I did in private which, although unacceptable to some people, was harmless and completely legal.”
— FIA President Max Mosley in a letter to the ADAC

With 50 million members, the AAA in the USA is the largest auto club in the world. Contacted by National Speed Sport News, Yolanda Clark Cade, the managing director of AAA Public Relations, provided a statement in which the AAA called for Mosley to resign.
“While this matter may be viewed as private by some, the damage to the image of FIA and its constituents is clearly public,” the statement said. “For an organization — and its leader — to exercise the moral authority required to represent millions of motorists and sanction the activities of motorsport, they must uphold the highest standards of ethical behavior.
“AAA recognizes that Mr. Mosley has dedicated many years of his life to advancing the interests of mobility and motorsport. However, after careful consideration, AAA has conveyed to Mr. Mosley that it would be in the best interest of all concerned if he were to step down.”
Mosley penned a lengthy letter to the ADAC maintaining his innocence.
“Had I been caught driving excessively fast on a public road or over the alcohol limit [even in, say, Sweden where it is very low] I should have resigned the same day,” Mosley wrote in the letter. “As it is, a scandal paper obtained by illegal means, pictures of something I did in private which, although unacceptable to some people, was harmless and completely legal.”
F-1’s commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone, who has worked alongside Mosley in F-1 for 40 years, said this “is solely an FIA matter.”
“It doesn’t affect us [F-1] in any shape or form,” he added. “It’s not what I think; it’s what others think.”
Mosley has requested a FIA Extraordinary General Assembly be called.
This means that representatives of the 222 clubs would meet in Paris where Mosley would be able to put forth his case. The cost of flying all the members on first-class tickets and putting them up in five-star hotels is estimated to be about $2 million. It would take at least six weeks before such a meeting could be organized.