Nov 17, 2005... Formula One cars will have to be fitted with silencers if organisers want to stage any more races at Italy's Monza circuit, an Italian court has ordered. Judge Marco Manunta upheld a complaint by residents from Biassono, a small town near the famous Monza track, who said their lives had been transformed into a living hell by the roaring of racing car engines at the circuit. The court order, issued earlier this week, banned all motor sport activities at Monza which involved "the use of vehicles not fitted with an appropriate silencing system". La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper quoted the judge as saying motor racing was a "superfluous, dangerous and socially useless activity that had a major impact on the environment". The paper quoted the circuit managers as vowing to appeal against the ruling. "At this moment in time we would not be able to host Formula One," circuit director Enrico Ferrari told the daily. The circuit, which traditionally stages a Formula One race in early September, is co-owned by the municipalities of Monza and the nearby city of Milan. City officials indicated that they were confident they could overturn the ruling. "It is right to protect the environment but it is also right that we should avoid excesses that might wipe out important traditions," said Milan deputy major, Riccardo De Corato.
"superfluous, dangerous and socially useless"?? Mamma mia! This judge should worry that someone like Luca Brasi doesn't show up on his doorstep. And hasn't the Autodromo been there since about 1928? This is like people who move near an existing airport and then complain about the noise. Idiots!
Say what you want about USA, but I can't imagine a judge in Indy saying anything like that...I guess maybe Indy really is the Motor Racing Capital of the World! The only SILENCERS IN F1 should be earplugs!
The legal system in Italy has to be one of the most convoluted and idiotic systems in the Western world. Just look at all the nonsense surrounding the implications of a racing driver dying in Italy...
Unless they've lived there since like 1922, I don't think they have any right to complain. But that's just common sense talkin.
This is expected. If it goes through, watch for other tracks to follow suit. At Indianapolis, the track is literally across the street from houses/homes. In Montreal, the cars can be heard when on track from downtown. They should suck it up and squash this.
Not so. In Englishtown NJ there is a dragstrip that has been there since about the 60's. They are under threat yet again by morons that bought houses there and are complaining about the noise. There was a drag strip in Long Island but that one did get closed down for that reason, i think.
Hey, he forgot that they should also have 5mph bumpers, turn signals and go through emmissions testing!
Have there been any lawsuits from the people that live in and around the Nurburgring? Isnt there a 24hr race that goes on there still? Plus all the other traffic it gets.
Guys this is Italy here. The world home of drama. Every once and a while someone raises a stink about the track and it is news for a few days but NEVER affects the race. I remember a few years back when the buzz was about some trees that had to be cut down and the environmentalists said that it was the end of the GP. Lemme tell you that in Italy they would bulldoze a forest and take out an orphanage run by nuns if it meant that the GP would run. This will blow over.
I'm going through hell to get to college to bust my ass to only work even harder after college so that I can HOPEFULLY be a part of that socially useless activity! No par l'Itatliano but that Judge can show the people that worked much harder than he ever will by kissing all our asses as far as I'm concerned!
They closed Flemmington speedway for the same reason and Nazareth speedway that I went to since the sixties was being harrased by people who built houses nearby in the last 10 years and they were getting LEGS before they pulled the plug, Next thing you know it will be Watkins Glenn or ...
People buy houses they think are cheap then start activist behavior to get rid of the "nuisance" to raise their property values. This behavior has been going on a long time in the airplane community. The airports have generally been there 50-80 years before the homeowners, but they move in anyway. The only reason the airports survive with housing up to the airport fencing is because most are owned/managed by local governments that took FAA money and that comes with Federal requirements to keep the airport open. Otherwise the homeowners lobby the city council or county supervisors and eventually get their way because they are votes and the council/supervisors don't care about precedence or history unless they face a Federal lawsuit. The only way that race tracks will be able to survive suburban encroachment is by making sure they keep a very large buffer zone of property they own or large properties (such as farm or ranch land) held by owners friendly to them.
