RE: Legal street racing in Coventry
Discussion
RoverP6B said:
That's a false argument and you know it. Having just one track in the country, like some other countries (some of them even European), would do nothing for motorsport. It always amazes me that there are so many Finnish F1 drivers when, to my knowledge, there isn't a single permanent circuit in Finland. My question was, what's the point in setting up a racetrack on public roads, including (temporary?) pit and hospitality complexes, grandstands(?) etc, when there are established motorsport venues (one of them considered among the greatest in the world by many) within an hour's drive of Coventry? The lesson of Box Hill must be learned - and that is that there has to be PROPER consultation, not some mere lip-service exercise asking a few dozen people who mostly don't even live in the locality if they think it'd be nice if...
I live in Coventry, it is most definitely not in Warwickshire!Also, I think you have completely missed the point of what they are doing, it isn't going to be an F1 type affair with a pit complex and grandstands/hospitality etc, think more grassroots!
zeppelin101 said:
All the same, it isn't technically in the county of Warwickshire. No idea why not.
/thread derail.
Coventry left Warwickshire to become part of the West Midlands many yrs ago (I suspect something to with development grants). Warwick uni is in Coventry bizarrely. This left Warwickshire without a city./thread derail.
Edited by PositronicRay on Monday 27th October 12:03
RoverP6B said:
That's a false argument and you know it. Having just one track in the country, like some other countries (some of them even European), would do nothing for motorsport. It always amazes me that there are so many Finnish F1 drivers when, to my knowledge, there isn't a single permanent circuit in Finland. My question was, what's the point in setting up a racetrack on public roads, including (temporary?) pit and hospitality complexes, grandstands(?) etc, when there are established motorsport venues (one of them considered among the greatest in the world by many) within an hour's drive of Coventry? The lesson of Box Hill must be learned - and that is that there has to be PROPER consultation, not some mere lip-service exercise asking a few dozen people who mostly don't even live in the locality if they think it'd be nice if...
I was being Ironic. My point was that just because there are existing facilities doesn't mean there isn't room for another, particularly when it's something different.I'm just glad that Coventry will be put on the post-millennium map once again, and this time not for coaxing cats into bins...
(For those of you who missed it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warw... )
(For those of you who missed it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warw... )
Edited by sunnydude959 on Monday 27th October 21:57
MC Bodge said:
Why would anybody oppose this?
Never underestimate the power of the NIMBY 
There's a hell of a lot of people for whom motorsport (and of course the bigger picture such as tourism, etc) mean nothing and who couldn't bear the idea that they might have their weekend trip to the local retail park disrupted! Fingers crossed it comes to fruition though.
MC Bodge said:
Why would anybody oppose this?
Miserable b
ds perhaps?RoverP6B on the original thread about closing roads for motorsport said:
I have no interest in motorsport, sorry. Remind me why we have circuits if we need roads for racing on too? Any road quiet enough to be closed for motorsport will be too narrow and dangerous for the speeds involved. Like I said, having experienced being imprisoned in my home on several occasions by cycle races, it is something I don't want to see happen again and which I would not wish to impose on anyone else. The majority of the public couldn't care less about motorsport and would certainly not be at all sympathetic to a few Paddy Hopkirk wannabes wanting to keep them in their homes for a day or more. Want to go racing? Hire a circuit. Want to go rallying? Go and use a forest track. Just don't impose your hobby on those of us who rely on your venue as the means of accessing the outside world from our homes and vice versa. Certainly, any attempt to bring street racing to this part of the world will meet with strong opposition from me and from very many others. My heart was gladdened to read the other day that the organiser of several of these cycle races round hear has just gone bust!
Thread here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...That^ post fourth one down and it gets worse!
RoverP6B said:
If Britain didn't have such a wealth of racetracks and disused airfields, I'd have more sympathy, but there are so many motorsport venues within easy reach of Coventry, including Silverstone, that I can't see how you could make turning the Coventry ring road into a racetrack stack up from a financial POV - building pit and hospitality facilities, presumably, putting in run-off areas, reprofiling junctions, kerbs etc... the cost would be immense. Add in the disruption to normal business and I can't see it working economically. Far easier just to go to one of the many existing motorsport venues nearby (of which Silverstone is easily the most and best developed).
I guess they should stop running the Manx TT as well. Plenty of safer venues to go to. How negative can you be? You don't need all of that... just drive fast as you can with a concrete wall either side of you. What can go wrong? They aren't running a race, more like a rally stage. Probably 1 lap of the ringroad at a time. With somewhere near the Transport museum used as a staging area. I.e a car park. I went to Cov Poly back in the early 90's. Used to get my Talbot Horizon down there pretty rapid. LOL.
There's no businesses operating along the ring road and closing it doesn't stop people getting into the city. Most of the islands pass over and under it. The exception being the Foleshill road/B4119 junction, which is probably wide enough for a nice start finish area,m with grandstands. The Rail station is at the bottom end of town, and the bus depot at the top. I was working in Cov when they held the Olympic foot ball matches, and depsite there being an extra 20,000 people coming in by train it was really well run.
For spectating - I'm assuming 2 lanes for 1 carin a time trial is plenty, so they can use the outer clockwise ring for the driving, and the inner anti clockwise for spectators. Given that if someone does lose it, centrigual forces are likely to send them away from the crowd and over the edge into freefall.
[edit] I forgot to add - the only building you need to do is putting out some cones on saturday morning, just to make sure Aunty Ethel doesn't meet a XKR5.0 at full chat on the way into Ikea.
Edited by TransverseTight on Tuesday 28th October 02:30
Centurion07 said:
Thread here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
That^ post fourth one down and it gets worse!
Yeah, and I don't apologise for that. I'm not really interested in motorsport per se and the closures around here have caused a lot of problems, without bringing any economic benefits for local traders, most of whom reported around 2/3rds loss of business. Now, when I wrote that, I never thought I'd see a major road like the Coventry Ring Road closed for motorsport, and it's perhaps less crucial to people being able to get around, so if the locals are happy with it, good luck to 'em. That^ post fourth one down and it gets worse!
TransverseTight said:
I guess they should stop running the Manx TT as well. Plenty of safer venues to go to.
Considering the horrendous rate of fatalities and other casualties the TT has racked up every year, I wouldn't oppose such a course of action.TransverseTight said:
just drive fast as you can with a concrete wall either side of you. What can go wrong?
Err... really?TransverseTight said:
There's no businesses operating along the ring road and closing it doesn't stop people getting into the city. Most of the islands pass over and under it.
Hence my comment above. This isn't remotely comparable to the A24 or the Box Hill Zig-Zag.Craikeybaby said:
I live in Coventry, it is most definitely not in Warwickshire!
Also, I think you have completely missed the point of what they are doing, it isn't going to be an F1 type affair with a pit complex and grandstands/hospitality etc, think more grassroots!
Correct, I used to live in Baginton which was classed as Warwickshire. Since August I've been living in Chepalfields which is classed as the West Midlands.Also, I think you have completely missed the point of what they are doing, it isn't going to be an F1 type affair with a pit complex and grandstands/hospitality etc, think more grassroots!
Back on topic ... I travel on the ring road as part of my commute and in a Megane part of the ring road are some of the worst surfaces I've driven on ... especially between the Cov Uni and Ikea junctions
Edited by HJMS123 on Tuesday 28th October 16:08
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