OldGuy

Pete I 2nd buttonWilow and Willow Ranch BBQ
Robin you try to come accross as cosmo-world eductated intellectual but if you think Indy is Sophisiticated
You dont know anything -Bakersfield has the infrastructure the sophistication and the gravitas to host a F1 event when not at the Willow Ranch BBQ Back bar.
If the Buck Owens Museusm cant provide the vino and night life that F1 needs WHO Can?! there is a new Costco and plenty of Comfort Inns to hold the whole F1 crew (and they have free cocktails between 5-7 PM) the Kern River flows through town to park the yachts on (if it hasnt dried up by then)

By the way the best place to drink in Salt Lake City is Squatters Microbrew and resturaunt( home of the Dual Suspension Ale) in downtown. As a GPS engineer I have been to the International Technical meeting (Insitute of Navigation- ION) there probably 7 times in the last 20 years as well as the 2002 winter Olympics-Plenty of places to drink including Hooters-that would satisfy Robin international tastes (they have 20 wings and Dom Perigon for $125)
Dallas Ft Worth My home town and favorite travel destination lately (working JSF and Lockheed being in Ft Worth) it is way more non Texan than it used to be. Lots of transplants and its lost of lot of its Texanish. Half the trucks dont even have gun racks anymore. So Robin your fear of TOO MUCH Texan is gone now But LOTs of money remains. Its Central and lots of Non-Stop Flights to Europe so that makes it easy to get to DFW airport.
Laguna Seca seems to me to be a logical course it has the penache of Monte Carlo (not as much as Bakersfield but it will have to do) with all the culture and some of the finest restuaraunts hotels in the world. But I am not up on the tracks condition. Of course SFO is nearby and that makes it an easy in and out for fans.
I still think Button Willow is the place unless you want to move up to Rosamond and Willow Springs?
(Robin just having a little fun)

Nordschleife

My dear Old Zimmer frame -

I don't 'try and come across' as anything. If you read what I have written I have described Indianapolis as one of the nastiest places visited by F1. I said the mechanics like it - cheap girly bars and Mechanix gloves, if that's your idea of sophisticated......

For your information, gravitas has nothing to do with F1. And yes I've been to Bakerfield, I understand its the most Ozone polluted city in the US. Your humour is heavy handed.

Don't be so insecure, I said I like DFW, I just said I'm not sure that F1 has much to offer Texas. And F1 doesn't need to be run in a dusty paddock in the middle of nowhere.

As far as I am aware, neither Dallas nor Fort Worth is doing anything practical to attract F1 there, so your point is moot.

F1 has been run in a Vegas parking lot before and it could happen again, my point is, why not think of somewhere interesting and attractive to hold a race, and not somewhere at altitude. Monterey is a great place, to be honest, I am not sure how much work needs to be done to make the circuit suitable, I also suspect those who make the decisions there might not welcome it with open arms.

As far as GPS is concerned, is your point that it works even when the operator is out of it after too much time crawling in and out of micor-breweries? I am well aware of the matelot's tendency to navigate from one watering hole to another.

R+C

JayP

Two Words- North Dallas. I've never seen so many shallow, fake people. Perfect for F1. If F1 Texas were promoted like the Byron Nelson Golf Tourney, people would knock each other down to be seen there.

Eagle's Canyon can be one of the best circuits in F1. The owners can see to that. All it takes is being a pal of Bernie.

It's a moot point since Bernie wants to make Las Vegas the 'other Monte' with a night event on a temp course. You'd thought he'd learned that lesson from Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix.

OldGuy

Robin I am glad you like my fun with bakerspatch.
and caught my humor and yea I have had to nagivate from Squatters to
the Goat Head Saloon in very..Uhm... foggy..conditions.
I wasnt trying to imply you come across in anyway but you are quite
comso compared to some of us (me) and it did play nicely with my
feeble attempt at humour with bakerspatch- It IS very polluted
Methane from the cows I guess
Thanks for not taking any of that seriously.
Have you been to the Willow Ranch BBQ?

carreracup21

Well that may be true, so obviously the fact F1 is here must make it the other way around, exposure in the US is more important for F1. Specifically, the US represents a huge market for all those fancy sponsors that keep F1 going. Whether Bernie likes it or not, big business pulls his strings and they want to sell their stuff here. Even if F1 ends up racing at some half *** venue, they will still be coming. I don't see a few folks in Singapore or wherever replacing the US market. Putin, on the other hand, may play more of the, "oops this pipeline needs to be shut down", to get his way.

mrbill_fl

did anyone say...... Daytona..................
yet?

or another large I.S.C. track would be my guess..

F1 + NASCAR

God save us.....

gt3skea

so character is determined by photographs and ones ability to place it on a particular place and track? miller is a great place to watch a race, ask the fans who doubled the amount at the alms race this year... and pay attention over the coming years to see how it does. miller is different, and thats what many would like - and helps define character... if it was an f1 season of monaco 1-12... that would have no character, reagardless of how much you like to see the cars for a split second every lap on that track.

Nordschleife

the assertation that drivers '*hate' Monaco is patently false - to the contrary, drivers love street racing. Having had some input into one street race that ran for several years I can say that the street race on the Wellington waterfront brought huge entries from Europe (twice the distance from London to Los Angeles), including works teams from Alfa Romeo and BMW. The greatest bike race in the world is run on streets - the Isle Of Man TT race.

There is a magic about racing on streets. It is very very stimulating for competitors and spectators alike.

I find it extraordinary that nobody here her has expanded upon the possibilities of running a street race somewhere interesting.

I have suggested the West side of the Hudson, or DC, or somewhere in the Bay Area, or Chicago, or Venice Beach or New Orleans. I've seen the way contractors build car parks in Nevada and I'm not enamoured of the concept of building a circuit in a Vegas hotel parking lot and as the casinos survive on bovine herds of gormless punters arriving ceaslessly to be escorted into their slaughter houses by jacob's sheep, they aren't going to build a track down the strip.....

Believe it or not, the French are getting enthusiastic about running the French Grand Prix on the street in Partis or Versailles (Magny Cours is 'uncool' and only do-able by helicopter).

Thre are only two volume manufacturers in F1 that sell cars in the US, Honda and Toyota, neither of which is doing very well. There is never going to be great growth in the US market, unlike China, or India, or the Pacific Rim, or Russia, or the Middle East. Fifteen years ago the case for a US Grand Prix was unanswerable, now it is not so unequivocable. Ferrari will sell cars in the US, Grand Prix or not, as will Mercedes and BMW, VAG/PAG is smart and races in other series - win at Le Mans and the benefit lasts all year, win a Grand Prix and its good for two weeks. Renault and FIAT don't sell cars in the US. F1 goes where it is welcomed, you might have noticed that negotiang the US borders is not a pleasant experience these days.

So, if you want a F1 race, find somewhere nice to hold it. Otherwise we will just comke over for the Monterey Historics, the National Air Races and the Tevis Cup, oh and always Sebring because that is what you have to do to win Le Mans.

R+C

jester911

Having just driven there I think Barber would be a great track for F1. During the weekend there was talk of getting former F1 cars/drovers for an exhibition during a race weekend. It is wide enough that there may even be a pass or two.

srf506

I think the Daytona International Speedway road course would be really interesting with F-1 cars running backwards on it. I'd like to see a McLaren or Ferrari handle those high banks.