Quote from BurnOut69 :

Im 10 minutes away from the track, what do you need to know?

Was wondering how it has affected the rest of the city. Traditional street circuits are like the circus coming to town: everything stops and there's an air of celebration. The Valencia circuit seems to me a bit like the building of the Millennium dome here in London: a speculative attempt to turn polluted land into capital that will line very few pockets.

Don't know what I think of it as a race track yet. Reminds me a bit of Long Beach, in that it seems to have some seriously fast curves.

Well you're spot on. Basically the local government is trying to boost the glamour of the city with things like La Ciudad de las artes y las Ciencias (which is REALLY cool) but its a money blackhole, The America's Cup (which nobody gave a sh1t about), the pope's visit and now the GP.

In few words, theyre spending HUGE amounts of money to promote the city, which is usually a good thing, but not in this case since there are loads of things to improve in the city that come before ships and single seaters.

Anyway, the bottom line is that we already have a really beautiful city without street circuits, so come and visit us!

Quote from BurnOut69 :

Any major motorsport in Spain is a guaranteed full

Then why were half the seats empty in Barcelona for the GP in the mid- and late-90s, but as soon as Alonso came along in '01 and started to have success in '03, the venue suddenly exploded?

Maybe they werent "exploding" as you say but obviously financially viable otherwise they wouldnt have given us two venues.

Quote from BurnOut69 :

Maybe they werent "exploding" as you say but obviously financially viable otherwise they wouldnt have given us two venues.

You didn't answer the question, you're arguing semantics about exactly what 'exploded' means in that context. The venue has had a sell-out crowd for the past few years, whereas the decade before that it was barely half-full. Therefore your statement that any major motorsport event is full isn't true. With this trend so obvious to foreign fans tuning in on TV, is it any wonder why so many of them conclude that many are just Alonso-sheep who don't really care about F1?

There are plenty of real motorsport fans who don't care too much either way about Alonso, and that's great, but there are a depressing number of fans who don't care about or understand F1 but have simply jumped on the FA bandwagon. Those types are inevitably going to arouse derision from real F1 fans.

I dont know what % of people that goes to the tracks are alonso-sheeps (and I wouldnt say you can, either), but I can assure you there are enough motorsports fan that go to the racetrack many times per year and thats why we have seen WTCC, Superbikes, Lemans, FIA GT, Moto GP and Im sure Im forgetting some.

AFAIK Alonso doesnt run in any of those, yet FIA & FIM have Spain (and Valencia) highlighted in their calendars.

And believe me, I cant stand too much people that has discovered F1 with Alonso, but saying the whole country are Alonso sheeps is insulting when we have had multi-world champions in several motorsports for decades.

Quote from Lateralus :

With this trend so obvious to foreign fans tuning in on TV, is it any wonder why so many of them conclude that many are just Alonso-sheep who don't really care about F1?

hmmm more like spain was a bike country before Alonso, Alonso introduced new comers to watch F1, which some of them become real F1 fans, who doesn't go to the circuit just to watch Alonso.

plus the second half of the last decade was a down time for F1 world-wide, mainly due to the economic crisis and some boring racing.

Quote from BurnOut69 :

saying the whole country are Alonso sheeps is insulting

I agree, but no one here has said that.

Bear in mind I'm only talking about F1 here, not other motorsports. I'll ask again - is it any surprise that foreign F1 fans assume that a significant portion of the annual GP crowd are just bandwagoners when the attendance figures suddenly double in the span of just two or three years?

I'm not arguing that this conclusion is an accurate one, but surely you can at least see why they arrive at it. Hopefully it isn't true at all, and that F1's surging popularity in Spain is permanent and won't dissipate with Alonso's career ending.

Quote from Lateralus :

is it any surprise that foreign F1 fans assume that a significant portion of the annual GP crowd are just bandwagoners when the attendance figures suddenly double in the span of just two or three years?

Not getting into doubling spans and %s since no one can (accurately), but of course your assumption is correct, saying the opposite doenst make any sense, since there are media sheeps everywhere. However, I have to say that Alonso has given an incredible boost to motorsports in general, not only F1. Since he is winning we have the best F1 TV coverage EVER, we have GP2 broadcasted and several formulas.

Im not an Alonso fan (the same way I dont hate Hamilton), but heck, you can bet I want him to be interesting for the media again

ANY country who has a champion gets interested in his sport. England & Fogarty, Australia with Doohan or the US with Rainey & Schwantz (the good times!!).

Anyone going to any Formula1 Races later this year or next year?

I'm maybe going to Great Britian next year then sit at hangar strait.
306 euro's for 3 days, watch also the GP2 races

Quote from aroX123 :

Anyone going to any Formula1 Races later this year or next year?

I'm maybe going to Great Britian next year then sit at hangar strait.
306 euro's for 3 days, watch also the GP2 races

Get tickets for Stowe or the luffield at the end of the lap.

Quote from Jertje :

Don't diss the Olav, he makes everything seem interesting and has just the right amount of enthusiasm :>

I agree on the enthusiasm part. And his impulsiveness (which causes 95% of his mistakes) adds a nice touch but I would rather have coverage that's more aimed at people with some knowledge about racing. The way he always mentions that whenever someone is significantly improving his laptimes that he must be getting lighter really makes my toes curl.

Ferrari introduce a new oil system this race. Video is in Italian, well, the orange parts are oil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_ZDiKOe-HY&eurl=

And something epic has happened. HE LAUGHED!!!!

Picture was probably taken two milliseconds before the camera man got punched.

Quote from aroX123 :

Anyone going to any Formula1 Races later this year or next year?

I'm maybe going to Great Britian next year then sit at hangar strait.
306 euro's for 3 days, watch also the GP2 races

pay 99 pounds and sit on the banking, there's no better way.

Does this link work for anybody in the uk..... video wise i mean.

http://www.itv-f1.com/VideoLive.aspx

Edit: dumass itv annouced it started at 9.00 but it started at 9.30

Quote from rc10racer :

Does this link work for anybody in the uk..... video wise i mean.

http://www.itv-f1.com/VideoLive.aspx

Edit: dumass itv annouced it started at 9.00 but it started at 9.30

It works for me, but it seems that now it works for you aswell :P

Just saw Bourdais almost hit the wall. And Trulli saying the car isn't looking good.

Quote from diablo21 :

Ferrari introduce a new oil system this race. Video is in Italian, well, the orange parts are oil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_ZDiKOe-HY&eurl=

And something epic has happened. HE LAUGHED!!!!

I wish I could understand - anyone fancy translating what he said.

From the graphics it looks like oil squirters under the pistons - that's not impressive. I kid you not, but the Toyota 3S-GE road engine from 1993 in my racing car has these as standard.

Quote from Xaid0n :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D52uNQfqiwk well the track looks pretty boring

I know its noot as good as like say Spa Francoschamp
but boring with al respect but.. are you crazy

Quote from tristancliffe :

I wish I could understand - anyone fancy translating what he said.

From the graphics it looks like oil squirters under the pistons - that's not impressive. I kid you not, but the Toyota 3S-GE road engine from 1993 in my racing car has these as standard.

I think it was more to do with the oil coming trough the canal in the (thing that connects piston to crankshaft which i forgot :S) and out of the side of the pistons.

Quote from Chrisuu01 :

I know its noot as good as like say Spa Francoschamp
but boring with al respect but.. are you crazy

I think the track is even more boring than Monaco. Just as Monaco, barely any passing opportunities and the walls aren't as close to the track as in Monaco.

If it doesn't rain it will be very boring, I guess.

Quote from deggis :

Err... wasn't nearly half of the road purposely built?

Are you suggesting that for example in Monaco the road(s) weren't built on purpose?

"Where did you come up with all this road?"
-"Err, it was sorta by accident... Not like I ment to put asphalt on the ground"

Quote from hyntty :

Are you suggesting that for example in Monaco the road(s) weren't built on purpose?

"Where did you come up with all this road?"
-"Err, it was sorta by accident... Not like I ment to put asphalt on the ground"

Smartass? Traditional street track uses completely or mostly existing roads (built for everyday road use), like Adelaide, Monaco, upcoming Singapore (only some parts are not, afaik) or most American street tracks like Long Beach.

Most of the road this Valencia Street Circuit is using didn't exist before Bernie decided to built it. I guess that also explains the heavy concrete barriers.

It's not really a street circuit, because the roads are not actually used as streets. What it really is, is a circuit with no gravel run off areas and walls close to the track, which is why it looks so boring and is smoother than most proper circuits. Hopefully we will get some good camera angles on the fast sections though, otherwise the whole thing will just look ugly and sterile.

Quote from BenjiMC :

I think it was more to do with the oil coming trough the canal in the (thing that connects piston to crankshaft which i forgot :S) and out of the side of the pistons.

Yes, mainly the oil going through the connecting rod and piston to cool that off..