KPerez

Yes, it looks like we are watching USF1's death spiral: http://en.espnf1.com/teamus/motorsport/story/8900.html
Sad but true....Stefan GP's gamble paid off!

Later, Ken

GG06MR

iTrader: (9)

"It was quite funny for us to hear some of the new teams saying they didn't know when they would fire up," Gascoyne said. "We knew from the day we submitted the entry when we could be ready. If you are a proper outfit, with a proper design and production schedule, you know exactly when you have to do these things."

Amen to that. What's sad is that USF1 is such a joke, that they disintegrated BEFORE the season even started.

jid2

iTrader: (62)

I don' think they will make it. Then they will come out and say that suppliers and sponsors were late and that their schedule got pushed out. They'll look to place the blame on others and say they just didn't have enough time. When in reality they were responsible for the issues by micro-managing, and not being able to stick to a project plan/schedule.

It's too bad. A US F1 team was a cool idea.

GG06MR

iTrader: (9)

^^^^ Cool idea for sure....and long in the making. Out of US pride, I'd rather they not field a car at all at this point, since I don't want them to make us look any less capable of competing at the highest level of motorsport than they already have.

fromWRXtoEVO

iTrader: (18)

The last US gran prix I saw the track was a total POS. Back then the teams had an issue with a high velocity curve and uncapable tires made for such forces. All the teams abandoned minus 6 cars.

If USA wants to be taken seriously what they need to do is to build a new track from scratch. Here in the US we have a tendency of painting a american football stadium and marked as a soccer stadium when is not. That is exactly what they did on the last US gran Prix, they put ugly plastic cones and they left existing painted lines on the surface.

Don't feel alone though, I think Monaco Gran Prix is even worse. As per the demand, I think we have millions of people that would love to see a US prix again, it is the matter of building a specific track for it.

Carlos

Balrok

iTrader: (15)

Ya I remember that, my dad's buddy went (lives in indy) and I remember seeing the news on it, but I thought it was a tire fault not a velocity deal.

However we do have grand prix's, called IRL. But the suck part about that is they further prove we don't have "premier" tracks to run on, becuase 70% of their sched is on OVAL's . All the money for the super high fencing, perfect surfacing, grand stands, super nice pits, etc etc etc is ALL in the ISC tracks because we are schmucks and can't seem to get away from NastyCar.

GG06MR

iTrader: (9)

It was a tire problem with the Michelin's. They couldn't handle the g forces on turn whatever, causing the rear left tire to delaminate, and spin the car off into the wall. Two cars had failures during Thurs/Fri practice sessions, and that was enough for the Michelin shod teams to not race, unless Bernie accepted the addition of a chicane to slow down the cars through that section of track. He did not, so the three teams with Bridgestones raced against each other in what was probably the most ridiculous race I've ever seen.

Blitz

iTrader: (11)

That doesn't mean there is a fundamental flaw with Indy. They just happened to resurface the track that year. The only reason the 6 Bridgestone-shod cars competed is because Bridgestone had inside information from its sister company, Firestone, that the surface was harsher and needed a different compound. No such luck for Michelin.

I was at the US Grand Prix in 06 and 07, the last year it ran. I'm not going to say it's the most exciting track in the world, because it isn't, but I still enjoyed myself. As far as fans go, you don't have to buy a seat if you get up early enough. Just pay general admission and go find a nice spot on the grass. Not many tracks allow that. I know a lot of people didn't like watching it on TV but it's not a bad track in person.

I don't think that's the case. A Grand Prix at Road America would be SPECTACULAR. The track is great. The infrastructure isn't. If someone dumped enough money into it to make it worthy of Bernie landing his helicopter there, you're not going to be able to build a cooler track. Watkins Glen comes to mind too. These places just need to be brought up to date. You don't need a new track.

GG06MR

iTrader: (9)

That's the problem. Those may be great tracks to host a race, but it's a money issue. Bernie doesn't want anything that isn't going to "showcase" the greatness of F1, which means complete and total excess. There are three options that come to mind with regard to holding an F1 race in the US. 1) Downtown LA, 2) Downtown New York, but most likely 3) Downtown Vegas. Just imagine an F1 car ripping down the Vegas strip at close to 200 mph!!! It would be insane, and EVERYONE would want to be there to watch it. When it comes down to it, it's going to need to be a street circuit where all of the money is, and they already have a trillion hotels around what would potentially be the circuit. Case in point, where do all of the american celebrities go to watch F1 races? That's right, Monaco. Not that it'll ever happen, but that's what I think they should do.

Ryan.Kauz

iTrader: (11)

Michelin found out about the flaw after thursday practice, had new tires manufactured which resolved the sidewall issue and with the same grip spec as was mandated and overnighted them from France to the racetrack.

It was Bernie Evilstone which disallowed their use as they werent available on Thursday.

Just saying before you go off and blame it all on the tire manufacturer there may be other factors at work here....

Lets not forget one of his favorite tactics of giving deadlines, then being completely unavailable until after the deadline. Oops....

GG06MR

iTrader: (9)

I am in no way blaming Michelin for the race not happening. They just initiated a series of events that led to Bernie making it impossible for them to do anything but "run what they brung". Michelin honestly did everything they could to resolve the situation, and I don't blame anyone other than Bernie for what happened at the US GP that year. Hell, if I remember correctly, Michelin even went so far as to refund everyone's money that attended the race, including travel expenses. What I want to know is....if Ferrari was running Michelin's instead of Bridgestone's, would the same decision have been made?! I bet not.

Fsae_Alum

You and I really are of the same mindset. Must be the S.A. water (or tacos or beer). I have been touting Vegas strip as the destination for F1 for some time now. It's got great potential. Let's look at all the upsides:
1.) TONS of hotel rooms....at the track/strip.
2.) Drinking already allowed...at the track/strip.
3.) Close to the airport (i.e. the track isn't in the middle of nowhere 90 miles from anything)
4.) Don't have to worry about parking as you can take the tram all up and down the strip.
5.) Already have multiple pedestrian bridges constructed over the strip
6.) Huge sidewalks that allow for placement of k-barriers and still have room to comfortably walk
7.) Casinos on site to bet on the racing
8.) Great food...at the track/strip
9.) Great advertising for Vegas hotels
10.) very easy to get flights into and out of as there are direct flights to Vegas from everywhere
11.) Nice size airport to handle all the inbount/outbound traffic
12.) The town is already set up with all the Audio Video expertise to broadcast the event
13.) Great clubs for all the after parties for the drivers, teams, etc...
14.) Vegas has money and is willing to spend it.
15.) Vegas is a cheap and popular tourist destination for european tourists due to the exchange rate
16.) Already have a Ferrari dealership right on the strip

I really do think this is a great place to have a race. I have gone so far as to approach some of my friends that are Casino managers there in Vegas about this. They said that this is something that would have to be headed up by the Tourism and Convention Bureau in Vegas as they are the only ones that can get the casinos to work together as would be needed for this.

Other great tracks would be Laguna Seca and Miller Motorsports Park IN Salt lake City. Miller has a great surface and outstanding pits...just out in the middle of nowhere.

GG06MR

iTrader: (9)

Cool. Should we start a petition to get the Vegas GP going? Do we need to create some sort of proposal? And when you moving back to SA?

Blitz

iTrader: (11)

I have to say, I'm impressed. Never having been to Vegas, I can't vouch for any of this, but it sounds great.

Quick, someone take a Google Maps screenshot of Vegas and trace a potential track!

Ludikraut

iTrader: (17)

I agree that Vegas would be a great option. However, unlike our middle-eastern friends, I don't see the Vegas community spending umpteen bazillion dollars with little to no return on their investment. With Bernies greed in the picture, I can only see new GP venues in developing countries, where national egos outweigh any budget considerations.

l8r)