VARSHA: F1 Needs To Be in America - Your Thoughts

I Got my Speed TV Newsletter and of course I wanted to read what Bob Varsha has to say about The USGP.
http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/38095/

Business is Business! or Are F1's U.S. Sponsors going to push Bernie into keeping the USGP on the Calendar?

Post your thoughts.

 

F1 doesn't need the US, but it would draw in crowds imo if it was in So Cal. Lots of people with money and many who enjoy motor racing. Indy is in the middle of nowhere. Make it a street course so you don't have to deal with spending a boat load on building a new track or ruining a track like Laguna Seca.

 

I agree with an F1 race in So Cal but please, no street course, that would be just awful. The Champ and LeMans cars can barely put power down in Long Beach as it is and in Houston they merely bounce around the course like seesaws.

 

Marketing alone should make it viable. You have the largest market in the world along with China.
Build a purpose built F1 track and it will draw 100k+ like it does in Indy. Most European races draw 100-120k. It would work. I agree that the promotion of it is weak.

 

F1 did run on the streets of Long Beach for a couple of years. When the manhole covers started coming up in the middle of the race, that was the end of the Long Beach GP. Detroit didn't last much longer.

Heck, my Alfa GTV-6 with Goodyear VRs used to tear up the paving on american streets.

Bernie may not like that he's not the big kahuna at Indy, but F1 needs a USGP more than the US needs F1. And having races moving around the US killed it before. Having Indy as a permanent home provides the continuity that F1 needs to attract regular audiences.

 

That's why you weld the man-hole covers down. Sorta like what they do in NYC for new years eve.

I don't think you can build a track in SoCal that would be priced well enough. Land there is expensive unless you go far away from the ocean where no one lives or wants to travel.

I don't ever see myself paying to go to Indy to watch an F1 race. I still have to get on an airplane so I rather go to Canada with a better track. Indy has to be the most boring track on the calendar...

 

I think Bernie is just trying to squeeze as much money out of the IMS as he can, but in the end the US is gonna have a GP. I just wish it was in Laguna Seca and not Indy.

 

Yes, they did weld them down.

Long Beach failed because nobody would go to it, and F1 wanted more $$$ to go there. Read the history on it - Bernie bailed it out one year, but it didn't last much longer.

Detroit went to Champ Cars because F1 got too expensive/wanted more money (sound familiar ?). I went every year and I LOVED IT.

If there is anyone on here that is a member of the FCA that went to it in 1984, and was at the FCA race party on race day, I'd love to hear from you.

 

Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio, Elkhart Lake, Road Atlanta, Brainerd, Lime Rock, Riverside, Bridgehampton, Ontario....

 

If a flying saucer were to land in Central Park, New Yorkers would strip it down to the frame inside two hours. They weld everything down in NYC.

I watched those races on ESPN2. On the last one, they mentioned that the city did a "study" which told them that bolting down the covers would be cheaper and "just as good". It wasn't.

 

Unfortunately, Riverside is now a mixed use real estate development. Ditto for Ontario.....

 

F1 is becoming more and more a car manufacturer's championship. The US is the biggest car market in the world.

=> Don't tell me F1 doesn't need the US. Just ask the heads of BMW, Merc, Ferrari, Honda, Toyota.

 

MB, BMW, Honda and Toyota would like more than the three current American F1 races...after all, America, particularly the USA is their largest market...

 

Another good reason the major teams should have split from FIA; Bernie Inc last year.
Bernie doesnt need the US F1 ?
Fair enough, F1 doesnt need Bernie.

 

Sure F1 needs the US market. Bernie is just a money grabbing idiot. He is rot with greed. Indy is a good race on a good track and it is not in the middle of nowhere. It is very excessible to many in the USA and Canada. Parkerfe...Some of your statement are making me wonder if you have ever watched an F1 race as there are only 2 races in NA not 3. When you combine that statement with the one you made a couple of days ago about Ferrari taking years to get back into it...it makes me wonder.

 

He said "American", not NA. Includes Interlagos.

 

It is all part of Bernie's positioning for negotiations. He is in control, the teams have agreed to that, basically because he is good at what he does.

Right now, there is only one working venue for F1 in the USA, and that is Indianapolis. And the USA is the largest market for Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, and Ferrari.

Unlike after the 2005 Michelin debacle, the Speedway is taking renewal orders for 2008. I believe we will have a USGP at least for 2008.

 

It would be terrible for an international sport like F1 not to hold a race in the USA. Everybody would lose - the fans, the sport, and the sponsors.

 

I award this insight the "beacon of reality" award for this thread.

As far as the track venue, I would almost rather watch the F1 cars on the traditional oval than doing that silly infield track they improvised.

Except then they would have to explain why they were not as fast as the real indy cars.

 

You mean roadsters? Not the present ugly/slow Indy Racing Laff cars.

F1- 2/3 the weight, more power, more downforce, more braking effect, the list goes on... Let's not get into the lightbulbs in the middle....

 

Pay attention now... let me see...1) Canada; 2) Indy; and 3) Brazil...that makes three in America according to old math...as far as taking years for Ferrari to get back up to par, as someone who has followed F1 since the 60s I have seen how long Ferrari has taken before...new F1 fans seem to forget Ferrari before the MS era...how long was it again since Ferrari's last WCC and/or WDC before MS? Unless and until Ferrari puts a team together like they had in the MS era, things will only get worse IMHO...money alone won't do it...just ask Toyota! xxxooo

 

I am not sure all that downforce nor the brakes nor the lighting fast transmission autoshifting would be what you really need for the oval - 205 mph max would certainly not be nearly enough. Nor am I sure that those little V8s could last 500 miles screaming their guts out at 18,000 rpm...but it might be a glorious thing to watch.

Anyway, the point being made (somewhat in gest) was that this Indy infield concoction is not a well qualified Formula One track...and that the oval offered arguably better racing,(both Indy Car or Stock Car) in the last few events.

It is obvious that the F1 Euro-Elite does not like America very much, except for our money. So, why do we give them easy cheap shots to ridicule our F1 effort (i.e. this silly venue, Fox coverage, and the famous tire-wardrobe malfunction)?

 

I don't think the "F1 Euro Elite" (whatever that means) doesn't like the US. Europeans have a lot of respect for the IMS and every year many Europeans come to the USGP. If they don't like America, why wouldn't they just watch a race in their own backyard?

The track in Indy is Mickey Mouse, no doubt about it and this country could do so much better, but it is all we got for the time being. Fox Coverage is pathetic, but then again similar things could be said about German RTL coverage. Has little to do with the country and much more with the wonderful world of commercial pay TV. Countries that still have "government TV" like eg. Switzerland do a much better job of covering the races: Uninterrupted and professional speakers.

The 05 tire debacle was a one off. Besides: It too had little to do with the IMS or the USGP. The egg ended up in the Euro faces of Michelin, Bernie, Whiting and Mosley. Tony George (whom I really don't like) came out unhurt.

 

Why do so many people dislike the Indy track ? ...I kinda like it...it has a tight infield for slow stuff which really gives spectators a close look at the cars in action and a long straight for high speed stuff into a tight turn 1...sure passing is difficult, but which F1 venue isn't?

 

From a spectator's perspective the USGP is one of the best races in the calendar (might be the best, but I haven't sampled all of them). It has fantastic infrastructure, easy access and great views from various points as you say.

But from a driver's perspective, the track is crap: No elevation changes, no interesting corners, the whole thing is way too short. Its only interesting part is the banked turn and the amazing long s/f straight.

The thing is, it could actually be so much better: If they gave up on the golf course and would move some earth around the track could actually become a lot more interesting.

PS: It is all relative. After all we are racing in Hungary and at Nevers. Both pretty poor excuses for a F1 track as well.