Race in U.S.

[jon-mullen]

But that's not really in the spirit of Columbus Day, now is it?

I bet you could sell Obama on a Chicago or Detroit GP very easily but I'm not sure either would be any fun. I like the Vegas race idea but it only really works at night.

As for a purpose-built circuit other than Indy I'm at a loss and apparently so's the whole US for Cat I. Even if they built up some of the better ones you're still talking about having a GP in Jersey or Georgia or Salt Lake City, none of which would attract tourists like Vegas or Manhattan. Manhattan would be the clusterf**k of all clusterf**ks but atleast the place would get cleaned for once. Could definitely make for a good race at any rate.

I'm thinking street circuits are best for the US until F1's been over here a few times again and maybe USF1 makes small popularity gains for the sport. Then we should talk about upgrading a circuit or building a new one.

[mx_tifoso]

Las Vegas is nothing during the day, mainly because you could see the reality of things, which is not pretty nor elegant. The afternoon or night is the only time of day that the strip looks good.

[flynfrog]

...why not a new venue ? if places like turkey , singapore et al can find the money , why not the usa ?

This is an EXCELLENT point. We (the USA) are the world's economic leader (still hanging on), and yet we can't afford what Turkey, Singapore, etc can.

Well, dp, perhaps US has become the leader because its citizens try to make good bussiness deals, and after Indy F1 debacle, it takes balls of steel to take that kind of risk. People has to forget that incident before the first US GP becomes less of a risky deal.

My best guess, when Bill France and Ecclestone had a meeting (last year?) was that the deal was not done because France raised that very issue and then he asked for a special price. If that was the case, I bet that Ecclestone, having to deal with investors in many countries asking for a GP, did not give France a chance, to keep those other investors "in line".

We all know that the US has not become the world economic leader from making good business deals, but in actuality from
stealing the land & resources of the natives and through theft of labor from African slaves, but that is beside the point, if FOTA was truly interested in having a USGP any one of them, Ferrari, Merc, BMW, Honda, Toyota, or Nissan/ING(Renault) or even LG could easily put up the race sponsorship money like SAP did in the early Indy USGP races, but they dont so it must really must not be worth it.

And hopefully the IRL and F1 accept the World engine concept and we can see some of the F1 teams at the Indy 500.[/quote]
I cant believe how unbelievably close you just came to blaming the FOTA for slavery there. Now that is impressive

I can see why Ferrari Merc Toyota and the rest would not want to have a race in there largest market makes perfect sense to me. It comes down to Berrnie can get more money from other countries and the lack of interest if F1 here. No American driver anymore, although USF1 might change that.

[flynfrog]

Las Vegas is nothing during the day, mainly because you could see the reality of things, which is not pretty nor elegant. The afternoon or night is the only time of day that the strip looks good.

I agree I was once outside during the daylight in Vegas (I think on my way home from the saphire) It was not the same as only a few hours before that and the heat is terrible. But I think you are right a great track does not make a great venue

[Giblet]

It's actually called the Global Race Engine.

The idea was originally for a block that could be used for all series, all the way up to F1. Since the inception of the idea, the FIA has backed away from it being reasonable for F1. They understand the F1 teams want / need to build their own engines for their brand image, and that can't change.

The GRE has a feature in this month's issue of Racecar Engineering. While the GRE hasn't been designed or built in concept yet, the Mountune MT1 is a good example of the direction they want to head, and there is a lot the be said for the concept so long as it kept out out of F1.

The concept itself is sound, if you own an F2 team, and decide you also want to go rallying, or enter in a gt series, you can keep your basic engine. It will enable more teams to race in more series, for far less money. It will also let teams enter a series, with actual working knowledge of their engine. Not a year or two of clodding around the back of the field until it gets sorted.

The unit itself is a 2.0l, 16 valve inline four of alloy construction, which is designed to be turbocharged. The dry weight, including manifolds, flywheel, turbo, oil cooler and alternator, is under 100kg, with the block a la carte at less than 25kg.

It has a 30 degree incline for a low height, and has an integral dry sump / main bearing housing for strength and durability.

The MT1 reads like a blueprint for the GRE.

[Professor]

We all know that the US has not become the world economic leader from making good business deals, but in actuality from stealing the land & resources of the natives and through theft of labor from African slaves.

And the Russians failed to do a damn thing in spite of the fact that they politically enslaved all of Eastern Europe, much of Eastern Asia, a few 'Stans, etc. Oh, but the Union did one-up the US's three mile island affair with that natsy little business near Kiev. It think that was at Chernobyl.

And, Russia may still get an F1 race with Government money, money stolen from their own people's hard labor, or perhaps it should be considered their haphazzard/poor quality/poor productivity/poor wages labor.

At least Tony George spent his mother's and sister's money, not mine.

Oh, and there is currently no suitable race circuit in the US except Indy. And the privateer capitalists would not continue to bend over and take Bernie's "deal" up the rear.

[xpensive]

Historical comparisons like the above are always interesting to make. When the entire middle-east's combined xport, outside natural resources and xcept Israel, is less than Finland's, the Q is perhaps who made the most of the cards they were dealt?

[mx_tifoso]

the Q is perhaps who made the most of the cards they were dealt?

That's basically one of the best analogies for life itself.

[Ted68]

Well if there isn't to be another F1 race at Indy (pleeeze no!), upgrading Virginia International Raceway (VIR) near Washington, D.C. would be a great way to go.

What about adding a night race--I kinda dig that idea--around the streets of Vancouver, B.C as a North American GP in addition to the USGP and Canadian GPs. It's a great city and it's on the water, just like Monaco or Valencia. Even the bad part of town is cleaner than the Wilshire District in L.A.

And while we are on the subject of adding races, why not take care of our Latin American friends and bring back the Mexico City race? It's a great track! As Mexico is trying to position themselves as an automobile producing giant, it's a good bet that the government would back such a notion. Also, Mexico City is a pretty happenin' place these days.

There you go, three new races and not a Tilke in sight!

[Miguel]

I believe the chance of a night race in the US is almost zero. It's not zero because if you paid half a billion per year to Bernie to do it, he'd grant you a race whenever you wanted next year. You have to take into account that a night race in the US would start in Europe after midnight. That is, on Monday. Given the lengths to which Bernie has gone in order to improve european TV schedule, it seems unlikely that he'd contract such an "off-standard-schedule" race.

Of course, the race could take place at 6:00 am on Sunday, but then... who in the US with a sane mind (read: not a gearhead) would watch it?. Who would buy tickets for that?

[ISLAMATRON]

Nite races in the US take place on Sat nite.

[Miguel]

Nite races in the US take place on Sat nite.

This is even worse then than Sunday morning. Please keep in mind that Bernie only thinks about the european market. It doesn't matter if visibility at dusk is horrible in Melbourne, or if there's a usual downpour in Sepang at 5. If it pleases the casual european viewers, then it's OK.

[zoru]

Many say F1 lacks overtaking.

Wheel to wheel racing.
That's what we want to see.

And the U.S. has Cleveland!

It may not be a great driver's track,
but is one of the most awesome battle fields.

[ISLAMATRON]

Cleveland was one of my favorite tracks, and I love airport tracks(run them all the time myself) but cleveland is waaaaayyyyyy too bumpy for F1... plus it is cleveland...

There used to be an airport on the Chicago lakefront called Meigs field, that Daly had bulldozed shortly after 9-11, that airport would have been perfect for F1, it is a park now and wouls still be perfect for someone to transform into a temperory race site similar to Circuit Villeneuve, or Belle Isle in Detroit.

[jon-mullen]

Nite races in the US take place on Sat nite.

This is even worse then than Sunday morning. Please keep in mind that Bernie only thinks about the european market. It doesn't matter if visibility at dusk is horrible in Melbourne, or if there's a usual downpour in Sepang at 5. If it pleases the casual european viewers, then it's OK.

Saturday night would be a great choice if there's no Sprint Cup race or endurance race here. They could even put it on one of the broadcast networks, they're only ever showing bad movies or basketball on Saturday nights.

It would be at a great time for the Asians and Indians and Bernie cares more about them than he does the US anyway. And if it's 2000 - 2200 in Cleveland that's 0000 - 0200 in London, which is an EXCELLENT excuse to go to the sports bar. It's also the same time the Australian GP usually shows over here. 2000 - 2200 in Vegas is 0300 - 0500 is London and OK, that sucks but need I remind anyone we get up at 6 or 7 Sunday mornings for most of the calendar?