London Grand Prix

[wolfhound]

This is what the track in London might look like from the cockpit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH85r...ature=youtu.be

[m1fcf]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Bernie being all nice and friendly. Maybe it has something to do with keeping the 'tax man' off his back? (allegedly)

"You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours".

I think it is more to keep his German accountants out of the news - I am sure this is no coincidence to have arrived the day after the sentence was delivered in the court case.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by werner

Indeed only Indanapolis comes close with attendances near 250.000 people.

Indianapolis gets over 250,000 and Le Mans is always very very close to that (I think 242,000 is the record).

But these events are very crowded with one having almost continuous granstand seating over 2 miles and the other being spread out over almost 9 miles.

You could fit 270,000 in the London Grand Prix, just very few of them will live to see the chequered flag packed in like that.

[nickyf1]

Having a Grand Prix in London would hurt Silverstone. It already costs a complete bomb to go to a Grand Prix. Many will have to choose one or the other.

If they are serious about having a City Grand Prix on the British Isles, they should consider Dublin, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow or Edinburgh instead.

[VIVA GT]

I See that Sniff Petrol have posted their opinions:
http://sniffpetrol.com/2012/06/29/moongp/

[garcon]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I See that Sniff Petrol have posted their opinions:
http://sniffpetrol.com/2012/06/29/moongp/

That's about as likely. And as sensible.

[Knowlesy]

F1 definitely needs another street circuit. We just don't have enough of them.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I See that Sniff Petrol have posted their opinions:
http://sniffpetrol.com/2012/06/29/moongp/

Sniff Petrol's great... I had to do a double take on whether it said vile microperson or vile micropenis

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

I think Flavio might have the right idea, I have found some more on the subject in Joe Sawards blog.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/...t-one-on-mars/

The logistics of running a GP in central London look extremly difficult, first dealing with all the regulatory problems and then the sheer logistics of building a track in one of the world's busiest cities. To build a street circuit for F1 will take weeks rather than days after which it all has to come down again.

London GP - a sleight of hand from Bernie Eccelstone who's on the eve of becoming an international fugitive. Bernie needs to do better than that. A Moon GP in conjunction with Virgin Atlantic. Moon buggy aero-kits? How would DRS work? Now that might distract everyone from Bernie's current problems.

[expaddockrunner]

Originally Posted by Mekola

I do not understand why a street circuit when England is plenty of classic historic tracks, headed by Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Donington.

yes, donington has hosted f1 before, at a very last minute change, if remember right in 93, what a grand prix it was. up there with some of the best. the opening lap down the craner curves, someone getting the fastest lap, via the pit lane, and a lotus doing the whole race with one stop!. no doubt i will be corrected if any of this wrong, it was 20 years ago, next year.
think i it was all the water we took on that weekend, and snow i think at mallory on the monday!
it was easter time.

anyway, back to the modern gp problem, we almost donington for good, when f1 WAS due to return to the park.

i guess brands paddock is too small!,

which brings me to london!, nice track, if it ever worked.
but where does the paddock go.
also, i guess closing london down for three days, it will never happen.

[expaddockrunner]

thx Wikipedia

plans were made to have an Asian Grand Prix in 1993 to replace the Mexican Grand Prix on the schedule. However, these plans failed to materialize. Instead, Bernie Ecclestone added a race at Donington Park to the schedule, which brought back the European Grand Prix moniker. The race was the brainchild of Tom Wheatcroft, who had been trying to bring F1 to the track since an abortive attempt to host the British Grand Prix in 1988. The first (and so far only) race at Donington Park resulted in Ayrton Senna's victory in wet/dry conditions.

The Williams were 1-2 in qualifying with Prost on pole ahead of Hill, Schumacher, Senna, Wendlinger and Andretti. At the start, it was damp and Schumacher blocked Senna and both lost time and Wendlinger took third. Having dropped to fifth, Senna quickly passed Schumacher at the third corner. He then went after Wendlinger, passing him through the Craner Curves with Schumacher and Andretti trying to follow through. Schumacher went through but Andretti hit Wendlinger and both were out. Senna went after Hill now and took second at McLean's Corner. Now Prost was the target and the lead was taken at the penultimate corner - the Melbourne Hairpin. Going into the second lap, Senna led Prost, Hill, Barrichello (who had started 12th), Schumacher and Lehto.
The track began to dry and everyone pitted for dry tyres. Lehto was fifth, having started from the pit lane, but he retired with handling problems on lap 14. Berger took the place but he too retired with suspension problems six laps later. It rained again and the leaders now pitted for wets. Schumacher stayed out and was leading but spun off on lap 23 because he was on the wrong tyres. The track began to dry and everyone pitted once again with Senna having a problem and losing 20 seconds. Prost now led Senna, Hill, Rubens Barrichello, Derek Warwick and Herbert.
It began to rain and the two Williams stopped for wets while Senna stayed out. It was the correct decision because it began to dry again. The Williams stopped yet again for dries. Prost stalled in the pits in his stop and when he rejoined, he was a lap behind and down in fourth. Barrichello was now second but it rained and then stopped again. He went to the pits twice and by now Hill was in second, albeit a lap down. Barrichello, third, had trouble with his fuel pressure and retired, giving the place to Prost. Senna set the fastest lap on lap 57, on a lap when he drove into the pitlane but aborted the pit stop, showing that there actually was a shortcut through the pitlane. This is due to the grand prix configuration of Donington, which has the pit entry before the final hairpin corner onto the start/finish straight. This is possibly the only fastest lap in modern F1 history set by driving through the pitlane.
Senna won from Hill and Prost, having made four pit stops in the wet-dry conditions compared to Prost's seven, which is a record that stands as of 2011.[citation needed] Johnny Herbert finished fourth for Lotus by stopping only once while all the other finishing drivers stopped in the pits several times. Patrese and Barbazza took the last two points scoring places. By the end, Senna had lapped the entire field except for one car and finished over a minute ahead of second place Damon Hill.
[edit]Classification

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by expaddockrunner

yes, donington has hosted f1 before, at a very last minute change, if remember right in 93, what a grand prix it was. up there with some of the best. the opening lap down the craner curves, someone getting the fastest lap, via the pit lane, and a lotus doing the whole race with one stop!. no doubt i will be corrected if any of this wrong, it was 20 years ago, next year.
think i it was all the water we took on that weekend, and snow i think at mallory on the monday!
it was easter time.

anyway, back to the modern gp problem, we almost donington for good, when f1 WAS due to return to the park.

i guess brands paddock is too small!,

which brings me to london!, nice track, if it ever worked.
but where does the paddock go.
also, i guess closing london down for three days, it will never happen.

The streets of central London would possibly be the most spectacular venue you could ever hold a Grand Prix on. Any other city in the British Isles doesn't even come close to London in terms of its panache and international stature. Bernie would give his right arm to make it happen [but no doubt would end up keeping it and taking that of the promoter's as part of the deal ]. It would be by far his greatest life achievement.

However, for a million and one reasons - all of them stupid IMO - it will never happen. More's the pity.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

F1 definitely needs another street circuit. We just don't have enough of them.

Agreed. But what F1 really needs right now is an oval race, so that we can really see what racing is all about.

Rockingham is ready when you are.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by Mekola

I do not understand why a street circuit when England is plenty of classic historic tracks, headed by Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Donington.

Donington and Brands Hatch have already been "touched up" by Bernie once. Thankfully, neither happened, though Donington came close to ruin. Frankly, I don't want another British track ruined by F1 and its "safety requirements". To have an F1 event at either Brands Hatch or Donington would mean having to move the barriers back another 20 feet and have tarmac run off at every corner. That is something I don't want to happen to two very good traditional venues such as Donington and Brands Hatch. Take a look at the tragedy of what happened to Mt Fuji. A great circuit ruined; and what for? So F1 could go there for 2 years then get bored then go some place else, and whats left in its wake, another modern, soulless "modernised" race track. I shed a tear for Mt Fuji, you have my sympathies.

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by JohnD

henners,
have you ever been on the M6 around Birmingham at rush hour?
=crush hour

john

or the M42 for that matter...