keith, on 25 October 2011 - 11:03 PM, said:
Street cicuits will be a lot safer than their racetracks.
The danger is in oval racing in the USA, and largely thanks to the colossal average speeds. North America has many excellent road courses - Road America (Elkhart Lake) is a superb facility, Laguna Seca one of the best driver's circuits in the world - but none that come up to F1 'standards'. Dan Wheldon, who was killed two weeks back in Las Vegas, was a friend thanks to continued involvement in my website (
www.updatef1.com) and will be missed.
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I have always wanted to see a New York street cicuit.
So have I and, more importantly, so has Mr Ecclestone. When I last interviewed him - a rare opportunity that - he professed to me that he had three locations he wanted to see street races on: New York, London and Paris. There are, however, clear problems, especially that of shutting down a major city - no matter how small a part - for three days. Singapore, the greatest of the 'modern' street circuits and an instant classic - manages it by running at night; Abu Dhabi, a hit and miss affair, by being able to afford to shift all the camels into compounds.
There is another problem with any US F1 race, and without wanting to alienate those who do enjoy the sport in the USA, it's that the country as a whole is not interested in it. This has been a major thorn in the side of the car manufacturers who see the US - naturally - as a major market; Honda and Toyota, both having made a recent exodus from the sport, were partly influenced by the demise of the US GP; I have no doubt Honda will be back when the new engine regulations kick in, have it on good authority that VW is also developing an engine, and there are talks of Hyundai - believe it or not - and a couple of others being interested. Securing not one, but two, races in the USA is something that will sway them to the positive.
The lack of a US F1 driver also adds to the problem The best have plenty of opportunity to make a living in Indy, Nascar and so on, and do so without having to fly around the world every other weekend. The US has its own single seater legends, and they tent to be patriotic. The last 'major' US import to F1 - I am, apologies again, ignoring the Canadian Jaques Villeneuve and the many South Americans- was Michael Andretti who, in the early 90's, chose to dovetail his McLaren job with racing an Indycar back home. His schedule didn't lend itself to results, and a serious talent was squandered. Scott Speed doesn't count.
If F1 can find a serious footing anywhere in the USA it's with this project, and I welcome it with open arms.
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Remember the ones they played with in this country, the one in Birmingham millions spent on that, too many winging gits spoiled any chance of it being made permanant. Then there was that exhibition in London.
The Birmingham project was interesting, but picked the wrong series. It's a little known fact that the organisers, when presenting the project, were offered the chance of a 'No Championship' F1 race with guaranteed entries, to be run back to back as a budget event with th British Grand Prix. Instead, they plumped for F3000, and lost a fortune.
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Could have a Bedlington GP, start at bank top, race to first bend on stead lane. up to front st ,right at red lion, down glebe bank, right onto schalksmuhle way, left to beech grove, left onto victoria /rothesay tce (good noise on long straight), right onto jubilee, down furnace bank, up hairpin right up to horton right again past atlee park x 55
Bank top to stead lane, just for the start
Lovely idea; I'll dig it out for you when I can, but we actually came close to an international touring car race around the streets of Stockton......
As always, for all your F1 latest, it's updatef1.......
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