I sometimes wonder what sponsors get out of motorsport. In the BTCC, for example, there are a lot of ‘trade’ sponsors – like Pirtek, a “fluid transfer solutions” company. But it’s by no means always about selling to Johnny Armchair watching at home: there are considerations for business-to-business opportunities, hospitality and that sort of jazz. Apparently.

As a broker on the foreign exchange markets, you wouldn’t assume that FxPro would directly market to the regular motorsport fan. But they seem to be – and that intrigues me.

Their branding is all over the World Rally Championship, and admittedly the concept of Miss FxPro 2010 isn’t exactly crediting the public with a great deal of intelligence.

But their Formula 1 activities are a little more interesting. Most obviously, they sponsor Virgin Racing. To complement that, they launched the FxPro Currency Race, with F1-related prizes up for grabs. It’s quite clever: you choose the pair of currencies to trade, and your little F1 car’s performance is based on how that trade performs in real time.

It’s a touch bizarre as a game. It’s effective though: not only does it promote the brand, but it teaches the punter what foreign exchange trading is all about – presumably in the hope that they’ll indulge in a little of it with FxPro. And that is crediting the public with a bit of intelligence – which is to be encouraged.