LB, Toronto & Elkart Lake should go to F1

[clydekart]

If the much talked about merger happens, B.E. should step in and convince Long Beech, Toronto and EL to become Formula One events. Yes, a lot of money would have to be sent for upgrades but if the merger happens, many CC fans are going to be looking elsewhere for their racing enjoyment.
Anyway, look for viewer increases in FI, ALMS, Moto GP ect. and progressive decrease in irl.

[Andrewmcm]

F1 will never race at RA - The Kink is far too dangerous in the FIA's eyes. Legge's crash there is evidence enough that there needs to be some serious run-off there to make it "safe" for F1 cars to go round that corner. Sure, the bikes use that little chicane bit, but that sanitises the circuit completely and removes the fastest part of the track.

Plus, does RA have the kind of facilities that F1 demands these days?

[clydekart]

I would never say "never" RA is one of the best, most exciting tracks in the world and F1 has the money. Why not buy the track and make the improvements. It probably would never happen, but it sure would be great for the OW fan.

[SoTex]

F1 wants huge money to race anywhere. F1 has no following to speak of in the USA. Therefore you can rule out all of those venues. I dont think F1 even has minimal interest of racing there. If Champ Car goes under expect the IRL to take its place.

[BobGarage]

I would never say "never" RA is one of the best, most exciting tracks in the world and F1 has the money. Why not buy the track and make the improvements. It probably would never happen, but it sure would be great for the OW fan.

f1 looked at RA before going to Indy.

F1 will not sink their own money into a track. If the owners/government won't do it then F1 isn't interested. Lucky for Indy there was an idiot in charge willing to thrown money down the drain the develop the infield to bring in F1.

[bblocker68]

Road America would need a ton of upgrades to be suitable for the F1 brass. I highly doubt it'll ever happen.

[gofastandwynn]

If the much talked about merger happens, B.E. should step in and convince Long Beech, Toronto and EL to become Formula One events. Yes, a lot of money would have to be sent for upgrades but if the merger happens, many CC fans are going to be looking elsewhere for their racing enjoyment.
Anyway, look for viewer increases in FI, ALMS, Moto GP ect. and progressive decrease in irl.

None of those tracks have the cash (Bernie is not exactly known for his charity) and none of those tracks are anywhere near up to FIA Grade 1 standards.

NEXT!

[Chaparral66]

Road America would need a ton of upgrades to be suitable for the F1 brass. I highly doubt it'll ever happen.

I think you'd only get one of the three, and Canada already has an event. Long Beach, if it happens at all. And why would this even happen?

[nanders]

Road America would need a ton of upgrades to be suitable for the F1 brass. I highly doubt it'll ever happen.

And if F1 ever got their hands on RA it would be ruined when they were done with it. It would have 14 chicanes and end up being a real long kart/motoGP type track. The real idea would be to keep F1 out of North America and get NASCAR to start staging races where F1 races.

[Cart750hp]

If the much talked about merger happens, B.E. should step in and convince Long Beech, Toronto and EL to become Formula One events. Yes, a lot of money would have to be sent for upgrades but if the merger happens, many CC fans are going to be looking elsewhere for their racing enjoyment.
Anyway, look for viewer increases in FI, ALMS, Moto GP ect. and progressive decrease in irl.

Why?

Just because CC fans doesn't like IRL, these venues should go to F1? What's the purpose?

[Rollo]

Bernie Eccleston is already planning on ditching the British GP and the Australian GP
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/02/06/smgars106.xml

Where can I buy the magical la-la drugs that whoever thought of this is on? I think that whoever came up with this is off with the faries.

[ChicagocrewIRL]

If the much talked about merger happens, B.E. should step in and convince Long Beech, Toronto and EL to become Formula One events. Yes, a lot of money would have to be sent for upgrades but if the merger happens, many CC fans are going to be looking elsewhere for their racing enjoyment.
Anyway, look for viewer increases in FI, ALMS, Moto GP ect. and progressive decrease in irl.

This "idea" is so much wishful thinking and bitter discontent and desperation to TG and his series that it is laughable at best. I don't want to kick anyone when they're down but posts like this make it hard to hold back.

To the author of the post: "AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN NOWHERE NO HOW SO MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIFE"

viewer increases ??? Oh yeah those great .001 CCWS ratings points will be hugely valuable to F1, ALMS, MotoGP .... blah blah blah

sheeeeeeesh

[Fangio]

F1 wants huge money to race anywhere. F1 has no following to speak of in the USA. Therefore you can rule out all of those venues. I dont think F1 even has minimal interest of racing there. If Champ Car goes under expect the IRL to take its place.

F1 has no following in the USA?
Try this, ask non-fan about what comes to mind when motorsport is mentioned. Besides NASCAR, what would be the next series? I bet it won`t be Champ Car or the IRL outside of Indiana. Most likely NHRA and then F1 together with the generic term "Indy car"....which nobody excepts us fans understands the meaning of.

The part about Bernie is true, I always get a chuckle when venues are named.
Bernie takes his circus to places that pay the going rate, end of story.
20 years ago, if F1 was leaving Europe and America for the Far East, a series like CART would have made a nice replacement.

[clydekart]

This "idea" is so much wishful thinking and bitter discontent and desperation to TG and his series that it is laughable at best. I don't want to kick anyone when they're down but posts like this make it hard to hold back.

To the author of the post: "AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN NOWHERE NO HOW SO MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIFE"

viewer increases ??? Oh yeah those great .001 CCWS ratings points will be hugely valuable to F1, ALMS, MotoGP .... blah blah blah

sheeeeeeesh

You are right--seeing the most high-tech cars in the world smash track records at Road America is wishful thinking. I would just as much see turbo-charged Champ Cars there but this also may be wishful thinking. Thus, the worshipper of the almighty dollar will settle for slow pieces of **** lumbering around a great race track-what a shame. But you can bet, I will not be watching--I will be screaming around a track on my kart or my GSX-R 750.

[Cart750hp]

You are right--seeing the most high-tech cars in the world smash track records at Road America is wishful thinking. I would just as much see turbo-charged Champ Cars there but this also may be wishful thinking. Thus, the worshipper of the almighty dollar will settle for slow pieces of **** lumbering around a great race track-what a shame. But you can bet, I will not be watching--I will be screaming around a track on my kart or my GSX-R 750.

Sure.

[Mark]

Remember F1 did race at Long Beach but they left because the track was too pokey.

[ShiftingGears]

...But I like having trees at Road America!

[nanders]

Remember F1 did race at Long Beach but they left because the track was too pokey.

You might be onto something. Now that F1 has changed to these Mickey Mouse style tracks the tight nature of Long Beach might fit in with their scheme ..... no!

[V12]

I'm sorry but the circuits you mentioned are classic and/or challenging, natural terrain and/or street circuits. Which The World According To Bernie says are really really really bad and F1 shouldn't race there.

We like flat, bland circuits, all designed by the same guy, subsidised by the country's government, of course said country should not be in Europe or the American continent either, which leaves all three of them right out!

</sarcasm>

[timshag]

Road America would need a ton of upgrades to be suitable for the F1 brass. I highly doubt it'll ever happen.


Also, there are not the hotel accomodations needed to satisfy Bernie.
It was hard enough to find a room in CART's heyday.

It would not be the place to host international travelers.

Other comments are about the kink are spot on.
Runoff areas around the track are insuffcient by F1 standards.

Besides, every year Bernie is threatening Silverstone he will walk away from them if they don't improve.

Where would that leave RA?

[hacker-pschorr]

Also, there are not the hotel accomodations needed to satisfy Bernie.
Bingo - there are not enough hotel accomodations for the July Vintage Festival.

[tbyars]

Actually, Bernie would probably take any venue willing to pay him the $30,000,000 to $50,000,000 sanction fee. (Writen out longhand for emphasis...do you have ANY idea how much money that is? It's not a line item in most municipal or race track budgets!)

[timshag]

Actually, Bernie would probably take any venue willing to pay him the $30,000,000 to $50,000,000 sanction fee. (Writen out longhand for emphasis...do you have ANY idea how much money that is? It's not a line item in most municipal or race track budgets!)

That isn't a budget, that is the gnp of a small country somewhere.

[markalaw]

The real question is how many of these tracks are capable of coming up with the $25-35mil sanctioning fee...plus travel expenses...F1 want to stage a race. All the rest of this rhetoric is fluff without the $$$ first.

[weeflyonthewall]

Remember F1 did race at Long Beach but they left because the track was too pokey.

They didn't leave, they just got too greedy. Chris Pook got tired of Bernie's antics and decided not to invite them back. Go back and see how many track configurations LBGPA had made to accommodate F1.
Toyota has made no secret of bringing F1 back to Long Beach if given half the chance.