No matter where it goes or if it stays at Indy the most important thing to grow the event and keep the fans it to give value to the specator. The inagural event drew something like 400K fans right...where did they go? They spent their $ getting rapped on hotels, parking, zero access to teams and drivers (unless lots more $) and for what...to have the priveledge of seeing the F1 circus from afar or on the big screen? There was no value in that not to mention the following BS races like MS/RB and last years tire issues... I can go to the 12hrs of Sebing or 24 Hrs of Daytona and for a little $ get access to pretty much anyplace I want, for however many hours I can stand it until I puke. Similarly in CART or IRL I can get a pit pass for a nominal fee and get close to the drivers, cars and teams. This is why I stopped going to INDY...lack of value, lack of access and lack of feeling that I attened a car race and not a broadway show. OTOH, I have to say that after seeing this years event on TV, they have made great strides in making F1 more accessible to the American fan, and they need to keep doing that if they want to keep the fans and thus the event.
No not 400k the first year. Not even close. The Indy 500 draws around 300k. The first F1 race at indy drew around 150 or 175k. This year a bit over 100k and according to the announcers on speed it has the biggest attendance of all the f1 races. So if thats true...whats the problem. They will never fill that place up. Its just to big plus to many of the stands just don't have a view of the track.
Laguna Seca is, IMO, becoming much more feasible as time progresses. There have been large amounts of Run off space added to The Corkscrew(almost 100 yard if my memory is correct, as well as completely moving the old bridge down track a ways) and many many other places on the track have been modified in order to fit more run off space for motogp. The track also was recently paved and has had numerous other improvements to both the track and the facility in general. I think the area could handle the lodging requirements, just like for the weekend of the historics and the concours' although traffic could be a pain. Please look at the pictures of some of the recent changes which have taken place during the last few months: Laguna Seca Update
The Speed announcer is talking up USA motorsports abit too much. Monza gets 220k yearly. Nearly all the races do 100k+. Soo its on average with other tracks and the Indy prices are cheaper than most of the other tracks as well. Lets not forget the American population is about the same amount as all of Europe, so 100k or 300k in USA isn't that crash hot when countries with 1/4 the pop are getting the same numbers. As I don't live in the USA, I personally don't care which track in the USA gets it, as long as its not a boring track layout but realistically the numbers(spectators) that make the track only account for less than 1% of the total worldwide viewers and if they had 400k or 0 spectators, it doesn't really hurt F1 coffers only the track owners.
Branson??? ROFLMAO!!!!! I fell out of my chair when I read that. What a hoot!Just think of the great pre parties at the Andy Williams theater. We could even have Wayne Newton sing the Nat'l anthem with Yakov Smyrnov. D.C.? Maybe we can schedule it between disgruntled protester marches. How do we keep the theives and thugs off the fans? D.C. = Don't Come. Seriously Chicago O'Hare would be able to handle the International influx. You can fly to/from almost anywhere in the world from there direct! No flying in and having to rent a car for the foreign tourists. The best hotels and nightlife. Who wouldn't want to see the F1 cars buzzing thru lower Whacker drive! Rememeber the 1980s Blues Brother's movie? Really, I was thinking more along Lakeshore and around the Soldier field area.
A Chicago grand prix has been my secret fantasy since I was little. But we all know it will never happen. A lakefront race was this/close to happening in the early 80s but was killed off in the 11th hour thanks to an organized protest against the lost access to park and lakefront space for the 3 days it would be closed off. Having it here would require way too many impossibilities, things like breaking the stranglehold on the companies who pave our roads. Unions and connections here are as strong as anywhere, and they would never go for using new road materials that would last more than 1 year Ask anyone who deals with the trade shows--you have to deal with 4 unions just to set up a booth. And now Mayor Daley is making a serious bid for Olympic Summer games in '12 or '16!
The Saturday edition of the USGP RED BULLetin has some interesting comments from Mario Andretti and Jacques Villeneuve: Mario thinks they should basically expand on the existing infield and make it better (by using more of the golf course etc). Jacques' idea is to have a 2nd USGP in Las Vegas on the strip at night (!) with floodlights. Either way, I'd be happy.
Please, please, NO MORE street circuit! That's not what F1 is about. Monaco is still on the calendar because of historical connection, etc..., but most of the street races I have seen in F1 have been appalling. Remember Long Beach? Las Vegas? (in a car park, for Goodness' sake!) or horrible Detroit? Now I hear of Chicago, Washington or Miami. No, No, and No!! F1 is ROAD RACING and should be run on tracks that feature road conditions (no 90 degree corners, no oval profile, no banked corners), just like normal roads. Look at Spa, Monza, Suzuka. The US have perfect road tracks like Watkins Glen, Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca (fabulous), with altitude changes, challenging corners, and this is where the USGP should be run. Not around the blocks or in a parking lot! That's a place for kids to race go-karts!
I like the idea of the race at night under the lights, I read that as well, but, it's hard enough to see them during the day when flying by so D@mn fast. Just leave it where it is at Indy, Make the improvements to have the track without banking and add the second race to the U.S. in Vegas. We do need 2 of them since this friggin' country is so big. It would get more people from this side of the country to go if it were a lot closer. Not that it has mattered to me the last 2 years. I still went to Indy to see all that beauty and hear that lovely music (the cars). I would not mind it being at Laguna Seca since it is only a 2 hour drive for me. Problem is this, It would take more time to get through the valley and get into the gate to park my car than it would take for me to drive to get there.
Isn't that the truth! Think about the size of Europe vs the US and then there are countries (Germany) the size of a single US state who have 2 races. It just ain't fair.
Ding, ding, ding... we have a winner. Laguna is quickly becoming a track the FIA would homologate. The FIM has (obviously) already done it. The improvements that have been made are looking more and more like they have the FIA in mind. The more recent of which being "shaving" the bump leading into The Corkscrew. It was place there motorcycles would get REALLY light when motoring up the hill (trust me, i've nearly become airborn there) and cars could easily do the same if some air got underneath. The CorckScrew not suitable for F1 cars? pullll-lease. Champ and Indy style cars seem to make it through there just fine, same goes for ALMS cars. I wouldnt be the least bit suprised if it heads to Laguna. And for those that say its not "safe" enough... the fact of the matter is, F1 will race on any track that is "good"($) for F1, safety aside (refernce Monaco).
Hurray for Laguna!! It's a beautiful road circuit, with elevation changes, challenging corners and so on. F1 cars should be spectacular there. Should test the brakes! Years ago European GP riders compained about the lack of run-off area in the last corner (before the pits), but John Koscinski called them pansies and they stopped moaning. I only hope that Bernie is not going to say that the parking lot is not adequate, or that there is no enough toilets or hotel rooms in the area: the usual kind of irrelevant excuses he uses when he elbows a track project.
Those are not irrelevant excuses. F1 is a business, and you can't sell tickets to people who can't find a room and get to the track.
The Las Vegas Motor Speedway is currently undergoing a major renovation that I think might be to earn an FIA certification on thier road course so F1 could possibly race there. Vegas would be optimal, not only because I live here, but because it is appealing for more than just a race. Also, a Champ Car race is coming to downtown Las Vegas from what I hear, and the City Council has already approved the money to renovate the streets to be suitable for racing.
Laguna, Laguna, Laguna! All I know is, that the track "sells out" for big events (like the F-1 motorcycle race) and all those people figure out where to stay nearby. And F-1 doesnt really make their big money on per-race attendance, it's made on the TV deals, so I don't know how much Bernie cares about the attendence difference between the number of people who currently go to Indy and what a sell-out crowd would be at Laguna (anybody know what those two numbers would be?). Then again, Bernie would dig up his grandmother if he found out she had a shilling in her casket, so maybe I'm wrong here... Did anybody see Andrea Bertolini drive Shuey's car at Laguna in '04 screaming down the corkscrew! It was amazing! Laguna Seca is an amazing track and would show well to the rest of the world. Indy is....Indy! Let Indy be Indy, not a Formula One venue... For the sheer "big U.S. city" spectacle aspect, a street race in Chicago would be pretty damn cool, too (it would look awesome on TV).
Lets face it...A street race will never happen, cause todays drivers and organizers have no furry flesh balloons! Bunch of pusses I would drive a Maserati 250F with no seatbelt and a helmet made from marshmellow peeps around Chicago if I had the chance! Its all...The sand trap is too small, the wall is too close, my feet hurt..... What we need is a new series...Cars with self melting tires, 8 Turbos, 20-cylinders, drinkholders and no automatic shifting. You get the point right? -ol' time hockey, like Eddie Shore, eh?
I vote Road America. Here are some previous comments from an old thread: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18628&page=3
Oh yeah. They tried to beat the track record of 1'07". Couldn't do it in the few laps they had. 1'09". But it was awesome, none the less. Even better was when they had all the 250 GTO's racing on the track. It was my favorite Monterey historics ever. BTW, Cooper is the marque this year.
Just back from Road America where the BRIC is one wonderful event. That said, this otherwise beautiful/magic place has absolutely no business staging a modern F1 race. Aside from being in the middle of friggin nowhere, there is zero infrastructure. Zero for the visitors and zero for the teams. Oh and btw: The track is about half as wide as it should be. Not beating up on Road America. I love that place. But let's be realistic here. If you want to make it MODERN F1 ready, you might as well start from scratch some place else. Probably cheaper.
