Comments on: The disappointment of Valencia shows that fans have been forgotten

By: Brakefluid

Brakefluid — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:05:27 +0000

Before anyone else waxes lyrical about the A1-Ring, go to youtube and find footage of the Osterreichring. It was without doubt one of the best tracks in existence. A real track for real Grand Prix racing. But we don’t get any of that now do we?

By: Motorsport Update » Blog Archive » Formula One bangs another nail in it’s coffin!

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:09:42 +0000

[...] and the track was pretty naff compared to Silverstone! DoctorVee really hit the nail on the head here, because Ron was of course referring to the quality of the toilets! The race, the track and the [...]

By: Pink Peril

Pink Peril — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:07:14 +0000

I was looking forward to the race, a new circuit is *usually* something to anticipate. But I was always a bit cynical the this 2nd Spanish GP was more of a cash cow for Bernie, rather than any attempt to liven up racing.

And so it proved to be.
Gawd, I hope Sinagpore is better – I leave in 3 weeks for the race, and I don’t want to have parted with a lot of hard earned for another Valencia-type race…..

By: Onebrow

Onebrow — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:26:52 +0000

Just a quick note in support of the A1 ring. It was an excellent circuit, I can remember many an interesting race there. The tight right hander at the top of the hill (turn 2?) was always a great overtaking place.

By: Steven Roy

Steven Roy — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:44:12 +0000

I meant to say I love the Cumbernauld GP line. I am sure they could link up a few roundabouts and make a track.

By: Steven Roy

Steven Roy — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:38:12 +0000

Great piece doctorvee. I made the suggestion elsewhere that Tilke should get himself a simulator and run cars line astern to see what happens. he should be banned from touching another circuit until he has done that.

The one piece of sympathy I have for Tilke is that he is not given the best starting point for producing great tracks. Apart from Turkey every other track he has built has been on flat land and you can’t build great circuits on flat land.

Regardsless of simulators or anything else there is one simple fact that made it obvious that Valencia would not produce a great race. 25 corners in around 3 miles is ridiculously too many.

The A1 Ring was a pale imitation of the mighty Oesterreichring but it did produce good races regularly and probably had fewer corners than any circuit since the 60s. A few flowing corners are fun to drive but a few corners and lots of straight between them keeps the field together and produces better racing. I just wish Ecclestone, Mosley and Tilke could figure out that simple fact.

As another example. It is widely recognised that the finest piece of motor racing ever seen was Dijon 1979. How many corners did Dijon have? Not 25.

By: LJH - Brits on Pole

LJH - Brits on Pole — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:34:20 +0000

With the proviso that Rocket Ron’s quotes are from the Daily Fail, which means they are as likely to have been made up by a sub-editor as uttered by him, I wouldn’t find much to argue with in what you say. Even more embarrassing when you realise that he’s a vice-president of the BRDC and therefore could be expected to show Silverstone a little more loyalty and respect.

This has been on my mind lately, due to the likelihood that the 2009 British GP will be the last held here for a while. And I think the thing bypassing the sport’s elite is possibly that Silverstone, Donington and any other potential British F1 circuit you care to suggest would be catering to their exacting standards for one week out of every 52. Why should they embroil themselves in planning nightmares and potential bankruptcy for a seven-day event that would do very well to break even?

Valencia was an absolute dog of a race – and it’s not only the fans that are beginning to question the status quo. An interview with Gary Paffett on the verge of the British DTM round saw him saying he thought that series offered a much better deal for fans than F1.

Justin Wilson has also said he’s very happy racing in the US, thanks, and would not consider returning. And these are men who know their F1 stuff.

Listening to Bernie’s recent Sportsweek interview, in which he hoped an earthquake would finish off the 2012 Olympics, I was struck by how much he sounds like a cranky, querulous old man who’s used to getting his own way and who no-one will stand up to. Oh, wait…

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:07:37 +0000

You’re a fan of the A1 Ring Neil? That’s funny. It always seemed to be a deeply unpopular circuit, but I think that was party because it was being unfairly compared to the Österreichring. And unless I’m mistaken it was Hermann Tilke’s first F1 circuit — the very first ‘Tilkedrome’!

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:03:22 +0000

I wonder what we’d have to do to get them to scrap this and bring back A1 Ring?

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:25:15 +0000

> If you ask me, the Singapore Grand Prix has disaster written all over it

Maybe the street lights will fail and we won’t have to see the bad bits…