Some purpose built tracks are going bankrupt because they are deprived of a star event to the profit of street circuits. Yet they are needed all year round for lower formulas, different series and grassroot sport that street circuits will never cater for.
Circuits are usually built for a whole calendar of races, not for one single event only. Street circuits don't support motor racing in general; they only pick the cherry on the cake.
But F1 circuits are more expensive and have a lot of requirements. Its a different world today. For example, you could never modify Laguna Seca to be an F1 venue. The local residents would never allow it. Look how difficult it was to get Miami and that's a street circuit.
Which F1 circuits? Monza, Silverstone, the Nurburgring, Red Bull Ring, Budapest, Spa, Zandvoort, Suzuka, Sao Paulo, Austin, Montreal, are permanent circuits holding GPs that are already built. All they need is maintenance and support. They are permanent tracks that host many races all year round. Some have driving schools, or are used for testing, track days, press days, etc ... What does temporary street circuits have to offer compared to that? They are a huge nuisance for those living around, disturb normal activities for weeks, and bring nothing to the sport apart from making a huge profit from one single race. Street circuits are the predators at the expense of permanent tracks, IMO.
What I said is that no country ever again (other than a dictatorship) will build ANOTHER dedicated F1 track. Its over. So any new venues will be some kind of street track or temporary track from now on.
My opinion is that we don't need to buid another dedicated F1 track. We should make better use of the permanent circuits we already have, and bring them to standards if necessary. As an example, look at the work done at Spa, a circuit in use since the 30s! Apart that they are featureless and without any history, "single use" temporary street circuits will not last; they will disappear when the financial support from local governments will cease.
A spectacle by design is Vegas. Race won’t have any meaning. Max to sew up title in 4 races. It’s just another “Super Bowl” from Liberty for celebrity and influencers lol. It’s aTV event!
So I guess we are saying the same thing? Because if you want a venue in another city or location its not going to be from building another permanent track. That ship has sailed... If LeMans never existed, do you think the French would allow it to be built today? No freakin way. AND its a temporary circuit.
I would agree with that. The best one can hope is that an existing track is elevated to modern F1 levels. Kyalami comes to mind.
Sure, us racers loved the OLD Kyalami, but do you think there is enough interest in F1 in South Africa to even justify 'fixing' a current track to F1 standards? F1 in Miami is 'party central', but Road America is a million times better circuit - but isn't 'party central'.
Liberty is prioritizing party central to aid promoters, who then can pay higher future fee's lol. Racing is not the highest priority for Liberty. Racing does not broaden the fan base enough to maximize profit. Volume does and racing is just a compliment to 'the party'. More cheaply designed street circuit superbowls with expensive tickets/food/and team gear for us 'fans'. The best race of the year did not involve F1 lol - Thank you Le Mans!!
I think there are enough party people in South Africa to make this happen. Personally I believe F1 should be racing on all continents.
I doubt it: the South African economy isn't in a good shape, and most of the audience deserted the country.
Well Laguna is a 2 mi. track while spa a 4mi track. Laguna residents are all about the noise. We have 92 db days mostly at laguna with few 103 db days. When everything is EV the anti-racing crowd will have a hard time closing tracks. EV's need a shorter course and who knows, laguna could rise again for electric F1.
Maybe the opposition to motor racing will fade away once the noise element dies down. Motorsport may even get the support of the ecologists then, EV racing becoming the showcase of a successful transition !
There isn't enough room there to house everyone. The Anti-racing crowd will just say 'look at all that electricity we are wasting'...
Definitely. The other argument is that "racing sets the wrong moral code and behavior" by glorifying automobiles, speed and individual winners. I'm not making this up btw. I have heard all these "arguments".
I don't agree. If there was enough interest it would happen, there apparently isn't. They left Canada for a year, then Canada begged for them to come back. We have how many races in the USA now? The gov't is not funding those, AFAIK. If you were to just go by fan popularity, there should be multiple races in Brazil and the UK.
Jesus, what do they want? They already ****ed it up by giving points to the top-10 instead of the top-6 like it had been 'forever'. But this was due to them paying homage to the fact there are just two teams capable of being in the top-6 at every race, which leaves just two spots left for others to get points....
I know. In 1998, we were invited to a celebration at Achères, West of Paris, to mark the centenary of the first official 100kph record. Established by Camille Jenatzy on an electric car (already!), this is considered as a milestone in Land Speed Record history. The small town had arranged some festivities, organised an exhibition, invited celebrities , politicians, and a couple of ministers attended. Soon before they were about to unveil of a new stone monument, the town mayor discreetly gathered those about to make a speech, with the instruction that he wanted to hear no allusion to speed ! Imagine that ! A Belgian friend of mine was about to read the speech he had prepared. He was caught by surprise by this, but soon recovered. When I asked him what he would do, he replied: "I will simply replace the word speed by velocity " He delivered his allocution as intended without one false note !!
My memory of F1 in Vegas in the 80s was that it brought nothing to the casinos. The F1 crowd didn't care about gambling, wanted the cheapest rooms they could find, didn't go to the shows, wanted affordable restaurants, etc. While it feels as if the new young F1 fan is into gaming and comic con and the Liberty celebrity circus ...I don't think that they will pay the absurd prices to see a race live...especially in Vegas. Very few are true auto enthusiasts...they just like the video flash.
When I was there, I remember Cesar's palace had an Alan Jones FW7 car on the casino floor. I thought that was ultra cool.
Looking at Miami, I think most, if not ALL of the 'celebrity' we saw were AT MINIMUM given free passes, free food, free drinks, rides to and from the facility, for them and their posses, I doubt any of them spent a dime. I think if you asked ANY of them to name an F1 driver from 20+ years ago you would not get an answer... Well.... maybe Bubba Wallace....
I only remember that it was brutally hot. But it was the last race of the season and after the race, the pit crews were busy selling swag....drivers' suits, windscreens, team clothing, anything they could get money for.
