They do join the banking at a relatively low speed (twice, actually, counting the back straight chicane), but the transition would still need to be smoothed out. Furthermore, what I really meant was that the banking is 33 degrees and they'd be at full throttle around it for quite a long ways, both in NASCAR turns 1 & 2 and in turns 3 & 4 (and the tri-oval). The road course runs essentially the entire oval plus the infield section.
They do join the banking at a relatively low speed (twice, actually, counting the back straight chicane), but the transition would still need to be smoothed out. Furthermore, what I really meant was that the banking is 33 degrees and they'd be at full throttle around it for quite a long ways, both in NASCAR turns 1 & 2 and in turns 3 & 4 (and the tri-oval). The road course runs essentially the entire oval plus the infield section.
yea then when no one is looking someone will steal all the cars' rims
There used to be a street circuit in D.C., in the parking lot of the football stadium, iirc. It was good for a temp street circuit, but pretty blah in general.
Actually it was because the oval had been diamond-grinded during the off-season, which resulted in a very very coarse surface. NASCAR and the IRL had tire issues as well. Bridgestone did not have issues because their sister company, Firestone, tested for IRL and passed the results on to Bridgestone. Michelin did not have this luxury, and thus, were un prepared for the corse surface on the oval section.
However, it has been said that F1 cars do not like the banking at any track; that "banked" corner at Bahrain included.
I think that it is slightly ironic that the three countries regarded as being the "richest" can't afford/are unwilling to upgrade for proper F1 tracks; Britain, the US, and Canada. In Britain, there is issues surrounding Silverstone. In the US no one wants to invest to upgrade their facilities, and in Canada we only have 3 real pro-level tracks as it is (Mosport, Mont Tremblant and Circuit Giles Villeneuve in Montreal) and lets face it, Montreal is a piss-poor track.
All the modern Tilke tracks are built by governments that are prepared to subsidise millions to build huge new tracks. Whilst our governments aren't interested in poring cash into F1 and we're left to try and run the tracks as a commercial venture, which Bernie doesn't make easy.
Well, that clears that up. I spose our Governments should focus on getting out of debt, rather than racetracks anyways. I'm happy with my ALMS anyways. I'll probably never pay to go to an F1 race anyways.
Indy's content with IRL and NASCAR. I mean really. What is the US grand prix??? It was just a regular race (not like Monaco or something).
Now what does indy have in store for the IRL and NASCAR? The famous Indy 500 and one of NASCAR's crown jewels the Brickyard 400.
Indy's content with it's races for now
Many deaths and injuries even after track changes to prevent them. The Sponsors weren't happy with the venue either and the area was surrounded by "a squalid bog", as one source put it.
Between 1961 and 1980 it hosted 20 Grands Prix.
Unlike NASCAR fans, the F1 crowd seems to demand something better than an RV to get plastered in.
There is no city with the facilities an F1 event demands anywhere near Watkins Glen. I don't see who would dump the dollars into the venue to bring it up to a reasonable standard in any case.
I would love Laguna Seca, and the location is better, but it too would need big investment.
It would take a real ideologue with cubic dollars to build an F1 venue worth seeing in the US. Its just much cheaper and more profitable to Xerox a 1.5 mile oval and sell crappy beer to hundreds of thousands of Southerners.
There is no city with the facilities an F1 event demands anywhere near Watkins Glen. I don't see who would dump the dollars into the venue to bring it up to a reasonable standard in any case.
I would love Laguna Seca, and the location is better, but it too would need big investment.
It would take a real ideologue with cubic dollars to build an F1 venue worth seeing in the US. Its just much cheaper and more profitable to Xerox a 1.5 mile oval and sell crappy beer to hundreds of thousands of Southerners.
America is the richest country in the world ,yet they dont even have a suitable track to hold an F1 Grand Prix, shameful....
Do what China did, just plant $250 million dollars on the most state of the art track possible and you have an Formula 1 Grand Prix..
Like come on! since when does America show weekness to the communists..
Do what China did, just plant $250 million dollars on the most state of the art track possible and you have an Formula 1 Grand Prix..
Like come on! since when does America show weekness to the communists..
A suitable track isn't determined by how much it costs. F1 is a global sport and all of the equipment required to race is flown and trucked around the world to each event. It's a miracle of logistics. F1 circuits need to be very accessible to the teams and their staff and all of their gear. Additionally their needs to be enough amenities available like places to eat, accommodation and access to an international airport. The track itself needs to be in good condition and of suitable configuration to match the performance of the cars. Dangerous circuits and F1 traditionally do not mix well.
America has big dollar venues already, but none entirely suitable for a regular GP. For F1 in the past they sometimes just threw together a street circuit or an airport circuit but with negative results and a bad response from drivers and teams for the bone-shattering or dangerous layouts.
The Fuji circuit in Japan was not used for F1 for a long time but recently returns to the F1 calendar after an upgrade. Many other circuits around the world are no longer used either for one or more similar reasons as described above.
The USA has hosted races at: Indianapolis, Sebring, Riverside, Watkins Glen, Long Beach, Las Vegas (in the Caesar's Palace Hotel Car Park!), Detroit and Phoenix.
Weakness
About the Shanghai track IMO that was a waste of money. I mean sure it made great entertainment, but the money could have been used to help other things such as vast poverty and better the living conditions in the country. But china did what I expected china would do and what's done is done
America has a lot of great tracks (IMO too). Sure they dont have the extravagant GP tracks that the other countries has. But they have quite a few track that would probably fit the schedule like Laguna Seca, Streets of St. Petersburg, Sebring, Las Vegas, Cleveland, Portland, Houston and Daytona infield.
There's a few reason why America is so uninterested in building a new heavy duty GP track.
1. Lets face it, America's addicted to oval racing. We have USAR, NASCAR, IRL, ARCA, Grand-Am, etc. American oval tracks are one of the bests in the world and currently we're fine with that (Talladega, Indianapolis, Daytona, Bristol, Martinsville, Myrtle Beach, etc).
2. America is heavily in debt. My ecomonics teacher showed us how much we are in debt AND IT IS SCARY. Right now building a GP race track might not be an important thing right now with America at a crisis moment (yes we are in a crisis moment no matter how much the politicians deny it).
3. America has a lot of road course series running their own road courses and the current courses are just fine. (ex. the American Le Mans) ChampCar is also just fine with their road courses.
So all in all, there's more on America's mind then building a new track. Currently oval racing is making a lot of money (with NASCAR's increase in popularity and Danica Patrick's in IRL
illepall) and the current road courses that America has is serving it's purpose, which is to host american road series and some international GT or touring car series. Seriously, America could careless about Formula 1. (No offense to F1) American fans are also still quite sore from the 2005 American GP incident 
Forgive me for being a bit dim, but surely it would be a private owner that would build a track, not the american government?
You are forgiven....
No, you are correct, we would not have a nationally built speedway.
My best guess is that the USGP should be off for a couple years, than return to Indy in 2010. Hopefully some rules changes by then will allow the cars to take advantage of the long straightaway for easier drafting passes.
No, you are correct, we would not have a nationally built speedway.
My best guess is that the USGP should be off for a couple years, than return to Indy in 2010. Hopefully some rules changes by then will allow the cars to take advantage of the long straightaway for easier drafting passes.
Yes, but economic disaster which is coming, will influence the whole country (and the world) and isn't only the headache of the government. Interest rates and inflation rises, the amount of moving money gets smaller because people use less and investments become more risky. Making an huge investment on something that is used few times a year, in the current economic situation and where it's heading to, would be pure madness and financial suicide for anyone.
....but then again, most F1 venues/cities report that their local GP brings millions in cash to their local and national economies. 
True, was thinking after that post that there is always lots of foreign money involved. But on the other hand, if one race brings few millions and the track costs hundreds of millions, plus the upkeep, I don't know how it could be profitable to build a track only for F1 use.
New F1 tracks will be built to countries that are experiencing extreme growth and aren't that expensive yet, because any investment will increase in value very quickly. US is becoming the opposite very soon.
It could be still used for the American LMS, Champ cars.. etc, but America really could do with a Full state of the art race curcuit..
We have a long history in America of publicly funding privately owned sporting venues. Claims of how they will pay off in increased economic growth and what not are almost always pure bullshit. Boondoggle would be the appropriate way to describe most such projects. As big of an F1 fan as I am, I would not support a largely subsidized operation for the same reason I don't support having the Olympics come round NY.
The last ALMS race I went to had fewer people in the stands than most Nextel Cup practice sessions. Most forms of road racing in the US just aren't economically viable. I suppose it wasn't always this way, but like I said earlier I don't know why any investor with a brain would invest in a high quality circuit instead of Texas Motor Speedway copy #14...unless of course they have a couple billion in their pocket and would really like a US F1 event.
The last ALMS race I went to had fewer people in the stands than most Nextel Cup practice sessions. Most forms of road racing in the US just aren't economically viable. I suppose it wasn't always this way, but like I said earlier I don't know why any investor with a brain would invest in a high quality circuit instead of Texas Motor Speedway copy #14...unless of course they have a couple billion in their pocket and would really like a US F1 event.
Yes but the question is WHY build another track?? The ALMS, Champ Car, etc series are just fine with their courses. Sure it might improve the racing, but the current tracks aren't unraceable.
Besides, America is addicted to oval racing at the moment (as i stated before in my posts). So America as one of the greatest state of the art oval tracks. (Daytona, Talladega, Bristol, etc). Right now the tracks that's getting the most money are ovals and I sure as hell dont think that F1 would race on an oval (but it would be interesting to see).
Oval is boring and it will lose all its Euro viewers...
1. That's ur opinion
2. It's true that many European viewers think oval is boring but NOT ALL.
3. American continent (not just america) racing fans generally like ovals and stock car series and they are making tons of money.
As a note: IMO F1 in Oval will be boring because the gap between the frontrow and backrow cars are so great that it'll become a 3-5 man show. (in fact that sometimes happen on road courses). In order for them to have a good exciting oval running they'll need the midpack/underdog cars to be a little faster then they are right now (Think NASCAR 1-20 all within 5 seconds). And plus they'll need to extend the field to about 30 for a good oval race, or else it'll just become another IRL
All this is highly improbable and that's why F1 will never race on an oval. But F1 on an oval is not the worse thing that can happen........F1 ON A DRAGSTRIP IS
Meh, we also have a lot of money-making pro wrestling.
I call both societal problems...
It will be way too hard for teams to adjust to it though, becuase they came from proper race curcuits providing downforce, curcuit tyres and such, to an oval track which only has left hand high speed turns, and anyway curcuits are way safer and with a car like a F1 safety always comes first.
I'm sure few small cars can race around track without all that fuzz and circus, just make smaller event of it and there is no problem.
No F1 @ Indy in '08
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