First London, now New York

[FourWheelDrift]

Grand Prix in New York anyone?

GrandPrix.com said:

A race track in New York Preliminary talks are now taking place for the construction of a major new racing facility on New York's Staten Island. A number of different location have been discussed but the International Speedway Corporation says it is concentrating its efforts on a 440-acre site at a vacant industrial site on Staten Island's waterfront near the Goethal's Bridge, which links the island with New Jersey. The site has a good network of freeways which link to Manhattan and Brooklyn, by way of the nearby Verrazano Narrows Bridge across New York Harbour. The plan is to build a 2.5-mile race track, which would be similar in size to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and could therefore have an infield road course. Formula 1 is keen to hold a race in New York but all attempts so far have run into trouble.

Beats the GP circuit planned in the 1960's in Central Park, which I have pics of the layout for.

[Eric Mc]

A Central Park GP was also scheduled for the 1983. It was so certain that it featured in BBC's preview of the season and they even interviewd ordinary New Yorkers in the street to ask what they thought about the idea. I videotaped the programme - which was part of a "Sportsnight" (remember that?).

Needless to say, the Central Park GP never happened.

[FourWheelDrift]

Wow, were there reactions to being asked about the GP? Responses like "what's a Grand Prix?"

Here's the circuit map of the older version I have, linked to the image not displayed here as it's quite big.

Very sweeping and curvy, good for the old cars amazingly a full seven miles of circuit!!!!!

www.mercia.biz/files/CentralParkGP.jpg

[Eric Mc]

Despite our assumption that F1 is recognised throughout the world, in the US it hardly registers with most of the public. Famously, back in 1990 or 91, the US GP at Phoenix attracted a smaller crowd than an ostrich race held a little further down the road on the same week-end. That's not to say that there are no F1 fans in the US, there are, but they are spread rather thinly.

[Chris_w]

FourWheelDrift said:

Wow, were there reactions to being asked about the GP? Responses like "what's a Grand Prix?" Here's the circuit map of the older version I have, linked to the image not displayed here as it's quite big. Very sweeping and curvy, good for the old cars amazingly a full seven miles of circuit!!!!! www.mercia.biz/files/CentralParkGP.jpg

Thanks for the pic FWD. I live two blocks away from Central Park and cycle that exact route daily (well, maybe not today, it's chucking it down...).

Would be great to hoon around in a car but a waste of time for F1. As you can see there's no straight worthy of the name and it's just too long for a modern F1 course. Overtaking would be impossible.

They could easily use a shorter loop though but that's assuming the New Yorkers are happy to have their beloved park taken over for a weekend. No chance. They just haven't got a clue what F1 is. Quite simply it has no profile here whatsoever. And that's what will scupper the Staten Island plan in my opinion

[FourWheelDrift]

These are the other 2 scanned pages of the article. As I say possibly could have worked in the 1960's but today...well they'd have to evict all the muggers and joggers first

www.mercia.biz/files/Page1.jpg

www.mercia.biz/files/Page2.jpg

[docevi1]

it's a cynical world, but I immediatly thought "FIA has realised they can make more money by putting the race on in New York".

Crying shame when the sport is allowing more and more people like me to spring up.

[Chris_w]

FourWheelDrift said:

These are the other 2 scanned pages of the article. As I say possibly could have worked in the 1960's but today...well they'd have to evict all the muggers and joggers first

No, it's the bloody roller bladers that are the real menace!

A GP three minutes walk from my front door...

[williamp]

Eric Mc said:

A Central Park GP was also scheduled for the 1983. It was so certain that it featured in BBC's preview of the season and they even interviewd ordinary New Yorkers in the street to ask what they thought about the idea. I videotaped the programme - which was part of a "Sportsnight" (remember that?). Needless to say, the Central Park GP never happened.

Eric, wasn't that the year they decided to host the Gp in a car park as Las Vegas instead??
From memory, it turned out to be a rather good race

[Eric Mc]

No, the Las Vegas GP was earlier. Just to show how many venues were used in the US for GPs, the list is as follows:

1959 - Sebring
1960 - Riverside
1961 to 1975 Watkins Glen
1976 - Long Beach AND Watkins Glen
1977 - Long Beach and Watkins Glen
1978 - Long Beach and Watkins Glen
1979 - Long Beach and Watkins Glen
1980 - Long Beach and Watkins Glen
1981 - Long Beach and Las Vegas
1982 - Long Beach, Detroit and Las Vegas
1983 - Long Beach and Detroit
1984 - Detroit and Dallas
1985 to 1988 - Detroit
1989 to 1991 - Phoenix

And then nothing until the first Indianapolis race in 2000.

Having said that, the Indianapolis 500 always counted for the World Championship - even though it wasn't run to F1 regulations. World Championship status for the 500 was withdrawn in 1960 due to lack of interest.

[williamp]

Hmmm. A Grabnd Prix at Sebring. Might be interesting!

[Eric Mc]

Sebring is still used but I don't lnow hopw much it resembles the layout used for the GP. It's essentially an airfield circuit using taxiways and sections of runway.

[anonymous-user]

laguna seca would get my vote as an alternative US Gp location. i used to love watching the CART races there!

[Eric Mc]

To preserve the nature and uniqueness of most circuits, the rule should be KEEP F1 AWAY. I would hate to see Laguna Seca or Road America given the Hilke/Bernie "makeover". Let F1 bugger off and run in some third world desert for all I care.