TV only for me
In High School our French teacher was actually a frenchman and he loved Napoleon. He used the entire time to tell us all about Napoleon's life and it made me a fan of the Emperor. Historically the occupation of Switzerland by Napoleon moved the backward country 100 years forward. He did a lot of good to Switzerland. Different strokes for different blokes. Now back to Las Vegas.
AMEX pre-sale of Start Finish line goes on sale on Friday at 10 Pacific time. Harmon Grandstand zone. All you need to do is go to Ticketmaster and pay with the Amex card. All others can buy after 2 days later. No pricing yet. https://www.ticketmaster.com/east-harmon-zone-skybox-hospitality-las-vegas-nevada-11-16-2023/event/17005D5480480D73 Image Unavailable, Please Login
Koval grandstands go on Amex pre-sale TODAY at 10 AM pacific. https://www.ticketmaster.com/west-harmon-zone-grandstands-las-vegas-nevada-11-16-2023/event/17005D53B40D10AC Image Unavailable, Please Login
Curious on thoughts regarding the track layout and whether it may lead to good racing. Suppose we won't REALLY know until we see the cars out there.
The start will be interesting. A bit like Monaco where they launch and then go immediately to a hairpin. The straight down the strip might be the longest on the calendar. Most likely a lot of passing going on there. There is no change in elevation though. I have been to the night race in Singapore. The event looks pretty fantastic under the lights.
https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/212370/albon-on-las-vegas-circuit-would-rather-go-to-real-american-circuit.html
Well Laguna is impossible for an F1 event. I suppose Road America. Not sure about Wakins Glen. I mean... they have COTA. That's not American enough for him?
Road America is another no-go: Cool track but no infrastructure and no hotels or anything. Glen could work, after all they had NASCAR there but it too is in the middle of nowhere. We don't need another Magny-Cours on the calendar.
Laguna has some similar problems plus issues with the track. There is no way the people of Monterey would allow it even if they could get the technical changes and garages / infrastructure needed --for which there is no appetite.
Well, I wish the Easter Bunny would lay a golden egg with a platinum core on my doorstep tomorrow but it ain't gonna happen so, I'm not wasting my time wishing for one.
Silly me ! I forgot that today's F1 audience wants hotels, restaurants, casinos, shopping centers, amusement parks, and other stuff, just to watch a race ! What they want is a race in the middle of a town. No wonder there are more and more temporary street circuits on the calendar ! Magny Cours wasn't bad, and you knew that the people who got there were die-hards, only interested in the racing, probably like Sebring.
I think it's the F1 sponsors who want the hotels, restaurants, etc....so they can entertain their clients, rainmakers, etc. You have to admit it's a spectacle....and if it is, or if it's not.....'Let's go get a big steak and a Martini! You like Cabernet, right?' Today's F1 'fans' are not anywhere close to those who populated The Bog at Watkins Glen in the '70s. It's entertainment... Sent from my SM-A102U using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Well you mentioned many times on here that you watch the races on TV, not in person. So it doesn't matter to you whether the place is in nowhere land. But to the 100,000 who go to a race (btw not enough grandstand for 100k in any of the places on the wish list) it actually matters that they can sleep somewhere in a hotel room and not in a tent. The days of the Nordschleife and camping are long gone. I don't need casinos or amusement parks, but I do like to spend the night in a decent enough hotel. If for nothing else than having a shower and a toilet. Portalets are not my thing. That said I'm no fan of street circuits either, catch fences are hideous. But it's not a question of either/or: All you really need is a big enough city nearby that offers the infrastructure, which btw also goes for the F1 teams: They want to spend their nights in a hotel bed and the stars prefer to arrive by private jet. And there are several of these places: Barcelona, Budapest, COTA, Montreal, Miami, all race tracks outside the city, no street circuits yet easy enough transportation to go to the race track. Laguna Seca, the Glen and Road America and Magny Cours are in the middle of nowhere with no useful infrastructure. Unfortunately the same is true for Spa and Silverstone, which is why I only visited those races once and it wasn't on raceday to avoid the endless traffic jam.
Yes, I know. It's a choice between watching racing on challenging and historical remote circuits, or putting personal comfort first. When I was involved in racing, I drove to all the places, to stay with my camping car (motorhome for some) in the paddocks, where there are shower facilities, etc ... That way, I was self sufficient, brought my own food, cooked myself, etc .. I kept that habit when I stopped racing, now going to dedicated camping sites around circuits. Being the outdoor type, I never liked hotels (or airports) anyway and much prefer the bohemian lifestyle at weekend, close to nature, sharing with like-minded folks. Beside, I was able to afford plenty of races over the years that way, and visited most of Europe . So I have a different mindset, and some of the inconveniences you quoted, never affected me. But I know the mentality is changing. Circuits like Spa (I lived nearby for a while), the Nurburgring, Monza, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Donington, or Silverstone are maybe on the middle of nowhere, but they are well worth the effort, from a racing point of view. Places like Monaco don't like people like me, and I am very unlikely to visit the artificial circuits of Miami or Las Vegas, but I know some will love them. Each to their own !
Of the 30 American tracks I have raced I think the best track really is CoTA. Could other tracks be modified for F1? Maybe. I really like Road America, Watkins Glenn, and VIR as really challenging tracks but they could be completely unsuitable for an F1 car without serious infrastructure change.
What are our thoughts on F1 cars on the Daytona road course? I’ve only driven it in the sim, but it seems like it would be fun to watch.
Actually Monza falls into my beloved category of real racetrack with a big city nearby: Milan has anything any traveler could ever wish for plus a 20 minutes train to the track. It is so convenient, that I have done the Monza GP many times.
That would actually work. A bit similar to F1 at Indy: The infield is a bit gimmicky, but you would have the complete infrastructure ready to go.
