Now that FOTA And FIA have come to a compromise allowing F1 racing to continue as a single series, and now that Bernie Ecclestone remains supreme (along with CVC), and now that we can get back just plain racing, perhaps it would be time to discuss the idea of racing in North America, indeed the USA.

Let us consider where we should go racing:
1) Indianapolis, IN - world-class facilities with a new track layout, yet untried by F1, but well-like by MotoGP. currently midway between east and west coasts, and in the middle of sunny Indiana, where the deer and antelope play. Perhaps under a little controversy over who controls the George family; nonetheless, the site of the last 10 F1 races in America. The fans there might be more open to F1 racing with US team with hopefully worthy US drivers participating.

2) Watkins Glen, NY - out in Northern New York State, site of the early Grand Prix races in America. Close to Ithaca and other upstate cities for housing, in the same vein that Magny-Cours' location in France.

3) Long Beach, CA - site of the west coast Grand Prix for F1 in American during the 1980's, a good place for warm weather, fast women, and fast cars, but currently under contract for annual race in the spring with IndyCar racing.

4) Las Vegas, NV - home of the infamous Vegas Strip with a surreal facade and landscape, lots of sand, and faster women and warm weather. Site of two previous Grand Prix many years, but would bring a warm feeling to Bernie's heart to see Ferrari racing alongside the MGM Grand Hotel Casino.

5) Daytona, FL - home to NASCAR racing's mecca, with higher banked curves than Indianapolis, a full-road course, close to plenty hotels, warm weather with the occasional hurricane, and warm women.

6) Road America, WI - in the middle of "sunny" Wisconsin, near lots of hotels in the area of the Wisconsin Dells and Elkhart Lake, a well-established road race course, and near the current home of David Hobbs, and of course plenty of cheese. Close to Chicago, IL, which may be the site of Summer Olympics in 2016, if chosen.

7) Atlanta, GA - home of the petits LeMans for ALMS, with low banked turns and good road course, near plenty of hotels in Atlanta with good southern living style.

8) Laguna Seca, CA - in Northern California, with a challenging road course, but may be limited for passing. Track is well appreciated by MotoGP and road racers. In the middle of the wine country of California, and hence the inspiration for the corkscrew turn.

9) Detroit, MI - with road race course on Belle Isle, near the former home the big 3 auto companies of america, and with Fiat taking over Chrysler, perhaps may be open to development with money from Maranello, Italy.

10) New York City, NY - to be developed at an undisclosed location, for an undisclosed track layout in an area, where real estate prices have alway been at a premium, and under financial conditions, which are currently challenging to say the least.

Also - let us not forget - it would be good to get the race in Canada and perhaps Mexico reestablished, to allow the teams to divide the costs of travel over two - three races and allow for full North American experience. The Canada race would likely be in Montreal, ON at the Gilles Villeneuve speedway, although Mosport would be one alternative. The Mexico race would probably be in Mexico City at the local race track there.

cloudman - 25 June 2009 11:48 AM

Now that FOTA And FIA have come to a compromise allowing F1 racing to continue as a single series, and now that Bernie Ecclestone remains supreme (along with CVC), and now that we can get back just plain racing, perhaps it would be time to discuss the idea of racing in North America, indeed the USA.

Let us consider where we should go racing:
1) Indianapolis, IN - world-class facilities with a new track layout, yet untried by F1, but well-like by MotoGP. currently midway between east and west coasts, and in the middle of sunny Indiana, where the deer and antelope play. Perhaps under a little controversy over who controls the George family; nonetheless, the site of the last 10 F1 races in America. The fans there might be more open to F1 racing with US team with hopefully worthy US drivers participating.

2) Watkins Glen, NY - out in Northern New York State, site of the early Grand Prix races in America. Close to Ithaca and other upstate cities for housing, in the same vein that Magny-Cours' location in France.

3) Long Beach, CA - site of the west coast Grand Prix for F1 in American during the 1980's, a good place for warm weather, fast women, and fast cars, but currently under contract for annual race in the spring with IndyCar racing.

4) Las Vegas, NV - home of the infamous Vegas Strip with a surreal facade and landscape, lots of sand, and faster women and warm weather. Site of two previous Grand Prix many years, but would bring a warm feeling to Bernie's heart to see Ferrari racing alongside the MGM Grand Hotel Casino.

5) Daytona, FL - home to NASCAR racing's mecca, with higher banked curves than Indianapolis, a full-road course, close to plenty hotels, warm weather with the occasional hurricane, and warm women.

6) Road America, WI - in the middle of "sunny" Wisconsin, near lots of hotels in the area of the Wisconsin Dells and Elkhart Lake, a well-established road race course, and near the current home of David Hobbs, and of course plenty of cheese. Close to Chicago, IL, which may be the site of Summer Olympics in 2016, if chosen.

7) Atlanta, GA - home of the petits LeMans for ALMS, with low banked turns and good road course, near plenty of hotels in Atlanta with good southern living style.

8) Laguna Seca, CA - in Northern California, with a challenging road course, but may be limited for passing. Track is well appreciated by MotoGP and road racers. In the middle of the wine country of California, and hence the inspiration for the corkscrew turn.

9) Detroit, MI - with road race course on Belle Isle, near the former home the big 3 auto companies of america, and with Fiat taking over Chrysler, perhaps may be open to development with money from Maranello, Italy.

10) New York City, NY - to be developed at an undisclosed location, for an undisclosed track layout in an area, where real estate prices have alway been at a premium, and under financial conditions, which are currently challenging to say the least.

Also - let us not forget - it would be good to get the race in Canada and perhaps Mexico reestablished, to allow the teams to divide the costs of travel over two - three races and allow for full North American experience. The Canada race would likely be in Montreal, ON at the Gilles Villeneuve speedway, although Mosport would be one alternative. The Mexico race would probably be in Mexico City at the local race track there.

Prolly not. As you said, Bernie reigns supreme and the current schedule is his doing. The only way I see F-1 back in the US short term, is at Indy since its the only track that is up to F-1 standards. And only if Bernie can cover his 500 million dollar annual debt by adding venues at a lower price. It is doubtful that IMS can come up with the sanctioning fee that is nearly double what the paid two years ago. And those two items are the problems with all the other fine tracks you list. They will take considerable upgrades for Formula One, and they will have to have tons of cash for Bernie to bring it there at all. Indy and all US venues are in the same situation as Silverstone, they are private ventures and so they don't have the sort of capitol to play with that government supported tracks do.

Furthermore, so long as Bernie is running the show Formula One is not going to travel to Detroit, or Elkhart Lake WI or Atlanta, it is beneath him and many of his fellow travelers to go to such thoroughly proletarian garden spots.
The good news for IMS is the man who talks to Bernie is no longer Tony George. The bad news for IMS is no one from IMS seems to be talking to Bernie.

These forums never cease to amaze. How many times is it for this topic? 100? 1,000? It's like a significant portion of the posters here have short-term memory loss.

Here's the only two words that matter when it comes to a U.S. race.

SANCTIONING FEE

Forget about what tracks are suitable for F1 (Indy is the only one at present), forget about whether the teams want to be here, Ecclestone getting paid is all that matters.

Right now, no one in the U.S. wants to pay his ransom, which sucks as a fan, but I can't blame any track or government entity for not wanting to do so.

The U.S. might get a race when Ecclestone is no longer in power or when he dies. Maybe.

By 2013 we will see huge changes at FOM, and by then we might see racing actually taking place in front of race fans. Until then, we should be glad for television.

FOTA's unofficial 2010 schedule was a lot more appealing than what Bernie and the FIA have been putting together.

March 3 Buenos Aires Argentina
March 21 Mexico City Mexico
April 11 Jerez Spain
April 25 Portimao Portugal
May 2 Imola San Marino
May 23 Monte Carlo Monaco
June 6 Montreal Canada
June 13 Indianapolis United States
July 1 Silverstone United Kingdom
July 25 Magny-Cours France
August 15 Laustizring Germany
August 29 Helsinki Finland
September 12 Monza Italy
September 26 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates
October 10 Marina Bay Singapore
October 24 Suzuka Japan
November 8 Adelaide or Surfers' Paradise Australia

ericok - 25 June 2009 12:42 PM

FOTA's unofficial 2010 schedule was a lot more appealing than what Bernie and the FIA have been putting together.

March 3 Buenos Aires Argentina
March 21 Mexico City Mexico
April 11 Jerez Spain
April 25 Portimao Portugal
May 2 Imola San Marino
May 23 Monte Carlo Monaco
June 6 Montreal Canada
June 13 Indianapolis United States
July 1 Silverstone United Kingdom
July 25 Magny-Cours France
August 15 Laustizring Germany
August 29 Helsinki Finland
September 12 Monza Italy
September 26 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates
October 10 Marina Bay Singapore
October 24 Suzuka Japan
November 8 Adelaide or Surfers' Paradise Australia

Pure bargaining chip.

If FOTA were serious about racing at these tracks, they'd be putting the screws on Ecclestone.

Regarding Vegas, IIRC Bernie's plan was a new infield course at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which is a few miles north of the strip. That still seems like the best option to me out of the ones you listed - it satisfies both Bernie's lust for glitz and glamour, and the manufacturer's desire to be close to their customer base. Plus it seems like it would be reasonably doable, with some hope of getting some local funding (lotsa luck getting a Republican uber-capitalist mayor like Bloomberg to agree to public financing of an F1 circuit).

If we're laying out all the options, however, let me add these two possibilities:

11) New Jersey Motorsports Park (http://www.njmp.com/overview.html) - this is a new circuit in South Jersey, reasonable driving distance from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and DC. It's currently got two road courses, each of which by itself is really too short for an F1 race; however, it appears that it would be fairly simple to connect the two, creating a new circuit that would be long enough. Unclear how close it is to meeting F1 safety standards.

11) Riverside Motorsports Park (http://www.rmpracing.com/) - this is a new circuit under development in Merced, CA. It's a reasonable drive from the bay area, and easily accessible from anywhere on the west coast by flying into San Jose or Oakland and driving from there (while Merced does have an airport, it's tiny). The proposed road course is 3.5 miles, and since it's brand new they could easily design it to meet F1 standards. Absolutely no chance of local or state financing, of course, and their original funding sources have dried up for now. But if they could get the funding back on track once the economy recovers (and if Bernie is willing/forced to be more reasonable), it might be a good choice.

3) Long Beach, CA - site of the west coast Grand Prix for F1 in American during the 1980's, a good place for warm weather, fast women, and fast cars, but currently under contract for annual race in the spring with IndyCar racing.

Already been there. Left F1 for CART in 1984 because of high sanctioning fee (Good Ol' Bernie), just ask Chris Pook. Back then the cost was one third of F1 price to organize CART race.

There are very few circuits in the US that could hold an F1 race right now. Indy is the most obvious having held 8 from 2000-2007.

Going through the list in the 1st post:

Watkins Glen stands no chance. Its safety facilities are nowhere near adequate for F1 & the pit/paddock facilities are also not upto F1 standards.

Long Beack already holds the Indycar & ALMS races, its safety standards are upto scratch but again its Pit/Paddock facilities are not, in fact there non-existant since I don't believe there are any pit garages in the pit lane.

Las Vegas stands a chance if they can put together a street circuit or build the rumoured Road Cource at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Daytona Speedway stands no chance under the current layout. Its got the facilities but I would guess that the banking is too steep for F1. In teh banking the cars would bottom out badly & tyres would be put under massive load.

Road Atlanta, its a good layout & the circuit safety doesn't look too bad, Im not sure how good the other facilities are.

Laguna-Seca, good track, safety facilities are reasonable & I believe they recently build a pit/paddock complex, untimately im unsure at how good these new facilities are.

The Detroit, belle Isle circuit has several problems. Firstly its a poor layout & more importantly there are no Pit/Paddock facilities.

stefmeister - 25 June 2009 05:08 PM

Watkins Glen stands no chance. Its safety facilities are nowhere near adequate for F1 & the pit/paddock facilities are also not upto F1 standards.

The other big issue with the Glen is that it's out in the middle of nowhere. The only airport within a reasonable driving distance is Ithica, which is way too small to handle the crowds.

Long Beach already holds the Indycar & ALMS races, its safety standards are upto scratch but again its Pit/Paddock facilities are not, in fact there non-existant since I don't believe there are any pit garages in the pit lane.

Even if they could build some decent pit facilities, there's no way they could fit an F1 race into the schedule - they're not going to kick out IRL or ALMS, and there's no way they'd shut the town down for a second weekend.

Laguna-Seca, good track, safety facilities are reasonable & I believe they recently build a pit/paddock complex, untimately im unsure at how good these new facilities are.

Much as I'd love to see an F1 race at Laguna Seca, they'd have to regrade the corkscrew to prevent F1 cars from bottoming out, which would destroy the character of the course. It's also likely that the local access roads would require a massive upgrade, which would be prohibitively expensive.

stonethecrows - 25 June 2009 11:58 AM

The good news for IMS is the man who talks to Bernie is no longer Tony George. The bad news for IMS is no one from IMS seems to be talking to Bernie.

Uh, when did that happen? i.e. Tony George is out. When Robin Miller said it? Hmmmm....does he have a vote?

Enquiring minds and all that!