No more Indy. Now where?

Bring back The Glen!

 

...I´d say Watkins Glen is a gorgeous track for F1 racing...

 

Do you mean no more F1 at Indy? When was this announced?

 

I'd love to see a road course. If not, Laguna Seca should shell out the money to bring F1 there.

 

Just what F1 needs...another street course in a place where racing is secondary and looking cool, and/or seeing pop culture's vulgar realities is paramount.

 

Miami? Near the Homested speedway. Close to all the south american fans,
Miami's an international city, girls, beaches ,did I say girls?

 

I think Daytona is the closest to being F1-ready. They already have those soft impact walls for NASCAR as they do at Indy. The tracks are very similar. Banked portion with flat infield. I would rather it be at Daytona because there's more to do than at Indy. You have the beach, Orlando (Disney, Universal, Sea World, etc), NASA, etc...

 

I doubt they could pull one off in Vegas by next year.
what about long beach?

 

+1.....but not enough room for runoff.

 

+1.

 

Frankly, I can't think of anyplace in the US that could pull it off. Except maybe Vegas. They certainly have the hotel space - and that's key. Gotta have rooms for all the people (teams and fans) that the event would attract.

Years ago (around 84 or 85), even before IMS purchased it, I got a tour of Watkins Glen with one of their staff. When asked about getting F1 back, they said no way. The facility upgrades alone would bankrupt them. They simply (back then) didn't want to deal with the requirements of Formula 1 - garages, pit lane, suites, stands, and infield facilities.

And now that NASCAR owns the track (what a travesty, IMHO), I suspect there's even *LESS* chance. At the risk of being overly blunt about it (just illustrating the "quality" of infield "facilities" at WGI), can you picture a european guy in a silk blazer and $1000 loafers peeing into a trough??? Not gonna happen.

Other than Vegas, who has the infrastructure to host all those people? Laguna Seca would be a great track (though not really an F1 track, in my mind), but where's the hotel space? SF? Too far, I would think.

Daytona? Yeah, right (see above about WGI).

Road America? Another great track with no infrastructure (or track/infield facilities).

Fontana? Hmmmm.... Maybe.

Texas Speedway outside Dallas? Possible, but doubtful.

Road Atlanta? Possible, but I think it suffers the same problems as WGI and Laguna Seca.

A Miami street race (or Long Beach, as was suggested earlier) might do it, but I doubt Homestead would...

and the list goes on. I don't think any other "roval" will get it - Indy was special, if they weren't "Indy" they couldn't have gotten away with that track layout.

Time will tell.

 

Is there gonna be a new thread of this every week? We've gone through lengthy, in-depth discussions about every place that's been mentioned.

 

+1

This horse has already been buried and people are still beating its grave side.

It's Las Vegas or bust.

 

Good morning!

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158448

 

Do you know the Daytona 500 exists? Lodging is NOT a problem in Daytona. Clearly you've never been there and if you have, you never took your head out of the sand (pun unintended) to notice. Like I said before, some families may even decide to lodge in Orlando to go to the attractions and just make the 50 minute drive to Daytona for the race. Logistics is NOT a problem at Daytona. They draw in more crowds than the USGP. Not to mention the large crowds for the Pepsi 400 and Bike Week. Nuff said.

 

I agree with you on the logistics at Daytona, but do you really want to replace one Mickey Mouse track with another one? The road track at Daytona is just as bad as it was at Indy.

 

Not really much of a choice in 1 year, right? Beggars can't be choosers. Would you want a completely flat road course instead such as a street course? The only other option would to not have the USGP until a course was built and that would take years.

The Rolex 24 layout isn't too bad. More bankings and high speed straights than Indy. Indy was maybe 50-50 for flat infield and banked track. Daytona is maybe 2/3 banked and 1/3 flat. A couple high speed portions broken with a chicane. I think it would be interesting until they build a track somewhere else. Maybe have Daytona for USGP east and LV for USGP west.

Plus, you can't deny that Daytona has a nice racing history. Maybe BMW Sauber would do some publicity stuff with their F1 cars on the beach with some custom tires. Like they did in Switzerland on the ice. It just all depends who is willing to shell out the money for it.
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Actually I would enjoy USGP at Daytona for just a year, simply for the historic importance of the place.

But as an event and as a track I much rather have something in Las Vegas. That town rocks and the F1 calendar could use more street circuits. I consider a street circuit the ultimate challenge as it leaves no margin for error and there should be more on the calendar. If you leave a few wide sections in there, people can even overtake.

 

I have a feeling there won't be a USGP in '08. It'll be back in '09 imo. Depending on scheduling, organizers have less than one year for the race (if in June) or a little over one year if it's back in September. Neither of which I see happening (like Spa). Although the Singapore street course didn't take too long to organize...

 

I'm hoping for Tampa..... Yea it works for me!

 

I do not even think that is has as much to do with the towns ability to room the # of people for the event, look @ a lot of the calendar in Europe, most of the tracks are in the middle of nowhere and an hour or two + drive to the track in the AM is not out of the question. There is no other track in the US right now that could handle F1, from the on track medical center @ Indy to the built for F1 only garages, it will take over a year to bring any of the current location up to standard. TV is not in love with the "street courses" either, they are a logistical nightmare and make for races that jump form shot to shot quickly for hours. My guess is that a USGP is done for time being.

 

how many times do I have to say it. A las vegas street race, or perhaps Miami is the only way F1 will succeed in America. Indy sucked good riddence to the worst track on the calendar.

 

I wonder if the pit girls would be hired hookers from the legalized brothels.