Please discuss here all your remarks and pose your questions about all racing series, except Formula One. Both technical and other questions about GP2, Touring cars, IRL, LMS, ...
I assume the reason that is given is probably safety, especially if you consider these aren't even the big boy NASCAR cars. That's not to say it's a good reason, but probably the reason the FIA gives...
I would love to see F1 cars at Road America. It's pretty much the type of track that everyone on here is screaming for. Hell, I'd drive the 8 hours to see them in a heartbeat. Would be much nicer than driving 19 hours to Austin (although I've driven just as far to watch a single baseball game then drive home, so maybe it won't be that bad).
Yep, Road America has no F1 circuit rating. If the circuit and facilities were upgraded it would not be good enough for Bernie, I bet. He wants proximity to metropolitan areas, massive hotel capacities, an international airport and preferably Interstate access to the track. Even Indy did not match this and he complained about "all the wrong crowd".
Formula One's fundamental ethos is about success coming to those with the most ingenious engineering and best ..............................organization, not to those with the biggest budget. (Dave Richards)
I really don't see why it needs to be near a metropolitan area, other than maybe Bernie doesn't want to camp in the boonies. It's only an hour from Milwaukee. Does that count? Seriously, it wouldn't be that big of a deal to wake up a little early and drive an hour to the track. Hell, I used to make a one hour commute one-way just to get to work. While I've never been to Road America, from the Google maps aerial shot, there seems to be plenty of space for camping anyway.
Not sure what the "right" crowd is? For me it would be the one that happily pays for admission and enjoys the race...
I'm also not sure what the problem is with the facilities. It obviously has a garage capable of housing 43 NASCAR teams without complaint. Surely it could hold 24 F1 cars, no?
Let's all bash the Bernhard! I'm all with you most of the time. =D>
On topic, I have no idea what the media center, the medical facilities and the paddock space looks like. But I'm told that FOM is rather picky these days. But all this is doable if the circuit is upgraded and the race makes something like $30 mil from tickets. Would that be realistic at Road America with the low ticket prices we are told about?
Formula One's fundamental ethos is about success coming to those with the most ingenious engineering and best ..............................organization, not to those with the biggest budget. (Dave Richards)
The point I'm making is that IMS should find is easier to make ends meet. They have a similar crowd, they have a track and facilities ready to go. They can seat 200.000 spectators easily but they cannot break even. So you really have to find a state or private sponsor or a place that manages higher ticket prices as long as the average fee is above $ 26 mil.
I hope that Austin got the right ingredienents. They certainly meet the hotel, air port, interstate and metro requirement. They also will get kick start sponsorship. So perhaps all is better there if they build a scorcher of a track.
Last edited by WhiteBlue on 17 Jun 2010, 18:21, edited 1 time in total.
Formula One's fundamental ethos is about success coming to those with the most ingenious engineering and best ..............................organization, not to those with the biggest budget. (Dave Richards)
xpensive wrote:My point is that a 26 MUSD fee to pay off a loan for the benefit of MrE is outrageous.
It sure is, but it's reality.
Nobody can influence Mr. E's deals with the only exception when CVC exits and sells the business. Then the FiA has a veto right for the deal.
The exit is going to happen sooner than later. I really hope that Todt will have his sh!t togehter and impose future sanctioning fee limits and average limits on the new buyer.
Formula One's fundamental ethos is about success coming to those with the most ingenious engineering and best ..............................organization, not to those with the biggest budget. (Dave Richards)
It's really a shame that money has to get in the middle of things. Formula 1 cars and Elkhart Lake would make an awesome combination. Would it pull in the most revenue of the GPs on the current circuit? No, probably not. Would it provide a fantastic race for both those at the track and at home? More than likely...
Mystery Steve wrote:It's really a shame that money has to get in the middle of things. Formula 1 cars and Elkhart Lake would make an awesome combination. Would it pull in the most revenue of the GPs on the current circuit? No, probably not. Would it provide a fantastic race for both those at the track and at home? More than likely...
Steve, what do you think is the inherent quality of Elkhart Lake that makes it produce such good races?
Could it be that most US race cars that took to that track had lower down force and drag than F1 cars? If the answer is yes would that not have an impact on the race dynamics that we would have to expect from F1 cars?
Formula One's fundamental ethos is about success coming to those with the most ingenious engineering and best ..............................organization, not to those with the biggest budget. (Dave Richards)
Elkhart lake has hosted pretty much everything in terms of racecars over the years, xcept for F1 obviously, where the CART races in the late 90s and early 00s always seemed to sort out the outstanding drivers from the mediorities, why I'm sure it would be the same with F1 regardless of downforce.
The track is simply awesome, sometimes I wish that I was 15 years older or so to have had the opportunity to watch the 1000+ Hp Porsches there in the early 70s.
"I spent most of my money on wine and women...I wasted the rest"
I'm basing the assumption on CART races I remember watching there in the 1990's. Those were usually good races to watch, and those cars were high downforce/drag cars. Besides, Road America has a good combination of high speed straights and slow corners, which (in my opinion) makes for good races with these cars.
The Long Beach Grand Prix, Indy style, goes off every year here without a hitch and with a profit. The City of Long Beach was a customer of mine for years. When approached by F1 a few years back for moving the race there from Indy, a city official told me they were just too expensive.
Long Beach makes a large part of it's money from tourism. It has a racing heritage in F1 and a racing infrastructure already in place. It is also the busiest port on the West Coast. I love the city of Austin, but I don't see the Austin GP lasting more than three years.
If Long Beach can't afford F1, how does Austin? And Elkhart Lake doesn't stand a chance.
Heaven: Where the cooks are French, the police are British, the lovers are Greek, the mechanics are German, and it is all organized by the Swiss.
Hell: Where the cooks are British, the police are German, the lovers are Swiss, the mechanics are French, and it is all organized by the Greeks.
